By Mulengera Reporters
During a Tuesday morning wide-ranging interview with journalist Aggrey Baba, the Mulengera Media panel asked Makerere University student leader Claver Peter Kyajja about how he thinks the outgoing Vice Chancellor Prof Barnabas Nawangwe will be remembered. And generally what his legacy will look like.
He answered by making it clear that the little he knows about Nawangwe is based on open sources of information because he has never closely interacted with him. He observed that much as the VC has done many great things, including presiding over unprecedented levels of infrastructural transformation, his legacy will be blunted by the fact that he has been one professor who is clearly against freedom of expression.
Kyajja, a 3rd year BCOM student at COBAMs and who stood for Guild President earlier this year, said that to a larger extent it’s the crashing of dissent, free speech and freedom of expression among both students and staff that will dominate the Nawangwe legacy when time comes for the history books to be written about his tenure.
He said that because of the iron-fisted approach of the Vice Chancellor, students and staff who had opinions about the quality of governance and the human rights situation in the country have all opted to play it safe by keeping quiet about political persecution some of the University’s outstanding alumni have endured.
He gave the example of Dr. Kizza Besigye and his lawyer Erias Lukwago, both of them Makerere products, going through endless incarceration without Makerere staff and students being able to demonstrate their displeasure about the same.
He implied that Makerere should ordinarily have taken the lead in speaking out against political persecution and the general violation of human rights in the country but not even a single statement of solidarity can be issued because of the fear Prof Nawangwe has instilled in staff and students alike at the Ivory Tower.
Renowned for his eloquence, the DP-leaning student leader also extensively discussed the hunger crisis afflicting majority students at Makerere as was recently profiled and reported by the state-owned New Vision. More details can be accessed via the full YouTube video interview embedded under this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofLk9YfVoZY. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
