Probe team picks up Makerere files
An entourage of Makerere University top officials during one of the graduation ceremony. File photo
What you need to know:
- The 10-member committee faulted government for paying attention to lower education by promoting Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education, leaving higher education to the private sector.
- In 2011, following a staff strike over salary increment that paralysed institution’s activities for more than a month, the government instituted a Prof Omaswa-led committee to look at the university’s job-grading structures, reward mechanisms and the resultant grievances and disputes that have often cropped up at the institution.
KAMPALA. Makerere University executives yesterday handed to the new Visitation Committee copies of three such past investigations, implying that Dr Abel Rwendeire’s team plans to frame its work based on outstanding issues from previous recommendations.
“The committee visited Makerere today [yesterday] and asked for three reports, which the authorities submitted. They promised to get back after reading the reports and inform the university on the timeline of the investigations,” a senior official said.
They picked reports of inquiries by the Prof Francis Omwaswa, Prof Kabaasa and Prof McGregor committees, which, among other things, found that Makerere University was underfunded, overburdened with temporary staff and poorly paid employees.
The new Visitation Committee began work yesterday and is expected to complete its work within three months. It was unclear if the university, which President Museveni in his capacity as the Official Visitor unilaterally closed on November 1, would remain shut when under investigations.
The closure of the university was precipitated by a students’ strike in the wake of a mid-semester industrial action by the academic staff over unpaid allowances.
The closure
The indefinite closure of the university has left students stranded and a planned January 2017 graduation hanging in balance.
Elsewhere at Mulago hospital, the country’s only national referral hospital, health workers are stretched and many patients get no or delayed treatment in the absence of medical students from Maerere’s College of Health Sciences.
The Dr Rwendeire committee that President Museveni appointed last week is expected to examine the different facets of the problems afflicting the university and propose lasting solutions.
In 2011, following a staff strike over salary increment that paralysed institution’s activities for more than a month, the government instituted a Prof Omaswa-led committee to look at the university’s job-grading structures, reward mechanisms and the resultant grievances and disputes that have often cropped up at the institution.
Two years later, the 10-member committee faulted government for paying attention to lower education by promoting Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education, leaving higher education to the private sector.
They noted that the university was underfunded, available resources not well utilised, while there were duplications in administrative positions.
