By Mulengera Reporters
Unknown to a lot of people, Prof Mamhood Mamdani has strong ideological and political links to President Yoweri Museveni the two having closely related during the anti-Amin struggles through the 1970s. As such, many at Makerere are fearful the man has deep connections to the powers that be. Sources say that during Prof Ddumba-Sentamu’s days as VC, top management became so disgusted but not much action was taken to chase away the much loathed Madman for fear State House might react in fury. It will be recalled it was in protest to Mamdani’s leadership style that Dr. Stella Nyanzi undressed and later got expelled from Mak. Many dismissed these as actions of a mentally deranged woman. But subsequent events have shown Mamdani himself isn’t an easy character to relate with and many are now saying: “It’s simply not possible that everybody else is wrong at MISR or at Mak except one man Mamdani.” And the latest to bitterly fall out with him is Yusuf Serunkuma, a PhD student, who has lately been appearing regularly on radio/TV talk shows to market Bobi Wine’s People Power approach to politics in Uganda. He has previously argued that to effectively counter a strong president like M7, you need to have a structureless movement similar to Besigye’s Defiance or even Bobi’s People Power. Serunkuma, who has extensively researched on the history of failed states like Somalia, says once they are known the struggle leaders will be targeted for harassment or even bribery. Now Serunkuma’s PhD (commenced in 2012) is in trouble after MISR director Mamdani becoming hostile to him. Serunkuma has petitioned courts having failed to get remedy within Mak. Mamdani insists Serunkuma’s PhD work is substandard and wanting, a thing other officials have disagreed with. These include bosses in the CHUSS College and Professors Abbas Kiyimba & DVC Okello-Ogwang who are the student’s supervisors. Yet there are many other Mak scholars who have dragged Mamdani to court protesting his draconian policies at MISR. They include Vincent Nuwagaba, Judith Ikiring Obore, Dr. James Ocita and Dr. Virgin Tallio. They are all driven by the feeling that Mamdani is too connected for Mak management to give any remedy.
