I am writing as Makerere University alumnus who shares the pride of having gone through the mighty ivory tower.
I have watched with pain as the events of the strike against 15 Percent fees increment unveil and unanswered questions run into my mind. Before I take on the critical issues of what is happening at Makerere.
There is this common pattern that is vivid. Makerere University goes to strike during or towards the National general elections period. The strike is usually castigated by students, lecturers or political figures.
In 2011, the University went to a severe strike which led to the closure of the university. In 2015/2016, it went to another strike that hit the headlines of news across the globe with BBC and CNN reporting about what was going on. It is nearing National elections with a few months left for Presidential nominations slated for mid next year. What coincidence is it that the Public institution goes to strike every election period?
There is no institution that doesn’t have issues but there is always a scientific way to deal with them. Why has Makerere continuously employed destructive industrial action?
Political Influence
Politicians who in a way have run out of options to defeat the current government through legitimate and democratic methods have made public universities a target to put the country in turmoil to give it bad publicity on the national and international arena.
Politicians are continuously funding students to organize strikes to create an impact that Uganda is in a very bad state. In the current strikes Hon. Francis Zaake bought and supplied tires meant for burning during the strike which were hipped near the Eastern Gate of Makerere. However, he delayed paying those meant to burn them which failed his operation.
Apart from Makerere and Kyambogo which have been major targets, there is more information that has been revealed that the group funding University strikes has now moved on to fund even private universities. Nkumba University has been targeted for its strategic location along Entebbe road which is used by International people to and from the Airport.
Nkumba University students are planning to protest a new policy that is meant to ensure students pay in time. A policy that requires them to have authority cards for access to University and lecture rooms only after paying a certain percentage of fees. The plan of the strike is to block the main road to Entebbe so as to depict the country as though it is on the verge of collapsing.
Back to Makerere University, the university has the most reluctant and affordable way of paying tuition above the overall subsidized tuition.
I was a student of Makerere on a privately sponsored program of Journalism and communication. And being from a humble background, I always paid my tuition in three installments. Sometimes four. This still goes on. If anyone ever uses the Banks within Makerere during University exam periods, u must have witnessed that students crowd them paying the last tuition installments only a day or hour before the exams. The issue of strikes is being just policy. It has been politicized by anti-government forces with hope to bring the regime down. Students are being used which is absurd.
Superiority complex and a sense of entitlement
Makerere University students and lecturers have a sense of entitlement as already noted by Andrew Mwenda and Ofwono Opondo. They are alumni of the University, they know what they are talking about.
There are sayings like “there are only two Universities in Uganda, I.e Makerere, and others.” In my days at the ivory tower, we matched in strikes and some lectures guided us on how to do it, instead of advising us to use better methods.
Makerere University football university team has been banned several times from the university league due to this bad culture. Students stop games with violence when they are on the losing side with chants that no one beats Makerere. That’s the kind of culture.
Brutalizing the university students may not end the strikes, but a long term solution needs to be thought and it must be an inclusive measure that caters to all stakeholders right away from the students, lecturers, students, and lecturers.
Non-governmental Organisations and Opposition politicians must, however, stop financing the strikes because they do not only breed bad results in the higher education but also cause unnecessary alarm in the general national security.
