By Our Reporters
First Lady Janet Museveni, who is also Minister of Education, has rightly concluded that for the entire education sector to stabilize, sanity must be permanently established at Makerere University. This will neccesitate undertaking steps that will ensure the culture of rampant endless strikes is halted once and for all. Sources reveal that to achieve this ideal, the First Lady and her entire Ministry leadership have worked out a comprehensive strategy to permanently stabilize Makerere that has always had violent strikes and thereby giving Uganda as a country a bad name. The Minister has rightly realized that it’s difficult (if not totally impossible) to have stability when the top management leadership isn’t cohesive. “In the past there was no cohesion as the VC quarrelled with his Deputy and with the University Secretary as well,” said a knowledgeable insider. It will be recalled that as VC, Prof Baryamureeba was never on good terms with the US David Kahunda Muhwezi who was also the accounting officer. Baryamureeba was also not on good terms with his DVC Prof Sandy Tickodri who eventually chaired the Senate meeting that voted him out in 2013. His successor Prof Ddumba-Sentamu also didn’t have good rapport with Kahunda and his Deputy Prof Barnabas Nawangwe. This makes it difficult even for council to have effective oversight over the University. “Once the guys at the top aren’t united, you keep getting staff strikes which lead to student strikes. This must end at Makerere and once Makerere stabilizes, the others like Kyambogo will be much easier to tame and pacify because they always benchmark on Makerere being the country’s premier University,” said one of the sources advising Janet on how to pacify Makerere. As such, the First Lady, who is determined to have pacification of Makerere as part of her legacy, is determined to use the process to constitute a new council to ensure an efficient results-oriented leadership takes charge of the Council which is the top most organ of the University. Current chairman Eng Wana-Etyem is among those the Minister is consulting to ensure the council continues to be comprised of men and women of great integrity and repute that can steer the University foward making it possible the Janet vision of the chaos-free campus possible to realize.
MOVING FOWARD:
Firstly the minister, who has so far done well helping to consolidate the relationship between Makerere & government, wants to make sure there is no vacuum in leadership at the Ivory Tower. Etyem’s term ends in December and the Minister is determined to ensure that very day as the old council expires, there is a new one to instantly take charge. “The minister is convinced that once there is a strong council in place to supervise management, then it will be easy to achieve total pacification,” says a source privy to the Minister’s plan. Gratefully, three of the council members must come through the education ministry as the government niminees or representatives on council and one of them naturally becomes chairman of the governing council. “The minister has the ball in her court. She must nominate good guys who have an idea of why it’s important for Makerere to be stable and be in the hands of prudent leadership at council level.” Janet is also grateful so far that the current VC Prof Barnabas Nawangwe is so far working well with his US and the DVCs namely William Bazeyo (F&A) and Prof Okello Ogaang (DVC Academics). The process to recruit substantive DVCs is ongoing following the publication of the job advert in newspapers last week. Okello, whose performance hasn’t been very good on the account of frail health, will be replaced by a more vibrant DVC to give better leadership to the Senate and the academic wing. In the case of William Bazeyo, who has been holding forte as DVC F&A but in acting capacy, it’s hoped he will apply and get to be substantively recruited. The government hopes that once those two positions are substantively filled, there will be cohesion and decisive leadership at the top which is very important if staff and students concerns are to be properly addressed always with top management and governing council pulling in the same direction. Lack of cohesion and intrigue has in the past caused some top leaders to be accused of conniving with and inciting students and staff to keep striking in order to hurt those they don’t agree with. For comments, call, text or Whatsapp us on 0703164755.
