I am turning Makerere upside down to pour out dirt – VC

What you need to know:

  • Interview. In the eight months that he has been at the helm of Makerere University, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe has made drastic changes that have at times been widely criticised.
  • It is as a result of his changes that students went on a three-day strike this week.
  • Derrick Wandera caught up with the vice chancellor.

Eight months into your tenure as Makerere vice chancellor and looks like your honeymoon is over. A strike is underway [happened last Monday]. Is this a situation you hoped would never have occurred under your tenure?
No, my honeymoon ended the very day I entered into power because that is when I started working. Strikes at Makerere are normal and we only appeal to the students to embrace better ways of communication. We can handle all these things without heading into strikes.

But what is Makerere University’s real problem? Is it financial, administrative or political?
What I know is that some of the problems happening here are more than we see. We are working to mitigate all these and soon we shall get solution. Already we are in touch with a number of stakeholders and students leadership, we shall continue to engage them at that level. But this is not a problem for Makerere alone; it cuts across all public universities. Changes normally come with different reactions and of course changes in Makerere affect all the other public universities.

Since assuming office as VC, you’ve announced a raft of changes and reforms that some have called, “stupid” or “draconian” and “not thought through”...
Who are the people saying the thoughts are not thought through? All these changes were decided and approved by the council, not just one person. We cannot control the public and I would like to warn the people who are public figures not to use words before they think, otherwise they will be construed to be stupid themselves. They should not speak before they have understood; they are talking about the highest university in Africa. So for you to come out and say this is stupid, then I doubt their intelligence.
Makerere guild president accuses you of intimidating students on social media, and some staff members accuse you of demotivating them with statements such as “go if you want”. How is your relationship with them?
I might be the first VC to be on the same WhatsApp groups with students and their friend on Facebook. Sometimes they come and talk stupid things, I answer them back in the same stupid way which makes the group interesting. I have explained that to them and they have understood, it is just about social media.

Makerere has again been hit by a sex scandal. What is the university’s strategy to get a lasting solution to this problem?
First of all, I would like to tell the whole country that Makerere University policy provides zero tolerance to sex-for-marks. We shall act as swift as possible if any case is put to our attention and this is just an example.
So students and anyone harassed should be ready to report and be assured of a response.

Going back to your changes Prof, some people accuse you of turning Makerere University upside down…
Someone asked me this very question and I told him yes. Yes, I am turning it upside down such that the dirt pours out and we remain with the pure substance.

There has been talk of scrapping meals from the halls of residence. How will this be implemented?
The university started to divest from catering for students two years ago, we got service providers to provide the food and we pay them because the students were increasingly complaining of poor quality food.
This has come in with a number of challenges because the service providers are demanding for more money and we don’t have the money. The students then said the food was becoming bad every day, so we did a survey to see which students wanted to be given their money and more than 50 per cent supported the fact that they should be given money to facilitate for their meals. It is from this that the university council came up with the decision.

From the look of things, can this work out?
We already give the non-residents which has worked for the 4,000 non-residents out of the 6,000 government-sponsored students for their accommodation. It might not be enough, but that is what we get from government. The ones who are remaining are the smallest number, so it should work.

Can Shs4,000 be enough for meals?
If the money is not enough then that is not our problem, it has to come from the stakeholders to see if the money has to be increased or not. Some students go and add onto what they have been given through their own means because that is what we are given. We are given Shs4,000 for every student. That is the money we intend to give them.

For breakfast, lunch and supper?
This money is for meals per day.

Have you any idea how much a plate of food is sold outside there?
I am not here to make surveys of how much a plate of food is. Like I told you, we are already giving money to other students, so we are sure it is enough.