Makerere Vice Chancellor: Candidate profiles

Last week, Makerere University closed the one month application period for the University’s top job- the Vice Chancellorship. At about 5:00pm, Thursday, the triple locked box, held by two Police officers-one with a gun on his back was lifted to the main building Common room hall to signal the end of receiving applications for candidates for the coveted but controversial seat. With only the five members of the search committee and Police allowed in the room to witness the opening of the box; nine big brown envelopes marked clearly “APPLICATION FOR THE POST OF VICE CHANCELLOR,” were unveiled. This meant that these were the only people that had applied for the job. Education’s Abdu Kiyaga brings you the profiles of the candidates.

Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba- Current Ag Vice Chancellor
Baryamureeba is the incumbent who won the job two years after presenting what was seen as the best work plan and performance in interviews for the job that also has a crowd of contenders. Professor Baryamureba celebrated for his achievements as Dean of the Faculty of Computer and Information Technology was seen to bring vibrancy and innovation to the university. Indeed, he succeeded in reversing a worrying trend of Makerere posting poor rankings of various international bodies to return it to competitiveness especially with ranking groups like Webmatrix. But his success in academia was somewhat undermined by constant trouble his admirers blame on enemies he made trying to get the job or friends who felt betrayed after he failed to satisfy their demands yet they had helped him ascend to the office.

Baryamureba is facing a multitude of investigations ranging from financial mishandling to academic impropriety.

The youngest to become a professor at Makerere in his chosen field of computer science, Prof. Baryamureba has risen through the ranks of Makerere University in a short time having been appointed as an assistant lecturer at the Institute of applied Economics in 1994 after he had attained a degree in Mathematics at Makerere. He went on to attain a Master’s degree in the same field in 1995; became Dean of FCIT before he became Vice Chancellor in 2009.

During his two year tenure in his acting capacity numerous developments have come through; the idea of students having their transcripts before graduation, increase in the number of female students’ enrollment and completion rate with the help of the Female Scholarship foundation has gone up.

With a roller-coaster life, he still appears to be the same calm man at each University event. He never forgets talking about what the university has achieved during his reign; from being the second best placed university “below the Sahara desert and north of the Limpopo.”

Prof. Elly Katunguka Rwaskishaya- Head School of Graduate Studies
Education; BVM (MaK), MVM(Dublin), Ph.D.(Glasgow)

Popularly known for disseminating a dossier contesting Prof. Baryamureeba academic papers, Prof. Katunguka aims to revamp the university back to its old golden days. He handed in his application letter on deadline day.

His tenure as the head of the school of graduate studies expires this year and he will come into the race not forgetting that he lost the same spot eight years ago when he battled with Professor Livingstone Luboobi who became the University boss that time round.

The Veterinary Medicine Professor earned his Master’s in Dublin before he travelled to Glasgow, Scotland for his doctorate.

Prof. Augustus Nuwagaba- Education; BSWSA (MaK), MSc Population and Development (LSE), PhD). (Mak)
During the launching of events to commemorate the 50 years since Uganda got independence, he was rubbished by the President for comparing the rate of growth between Uganda and Asian countries which he claimed were at the same level of development by the time of Independence.

The President reminded him that, the social structures of countries such as China, Singapore among others in terms of especially the number of educated people was far much higher than that of Uganda at the time.

However, this does not mean that he is not one of the most respected economists in the country. This can be judged with the different research projects he has done for organisations such as United Nation’s Development Programme (UNDP) by his consultancy agency- Reev Consults International Limited.

Currently an Associate Professor of Social Works/Population and Poverty in the Department of Social Work & Social Administration, at Makerere University, he will hope to focus on staff welfare, a thing he did best when he was still the chairman of Makerere University Academic Staff Association (MUASA) between 2004-2009.

Prof. Edward K. Kirumira- Deputy principal College of Humanities
Education; B.A. (Mak), MA (Exeter), PhD (Copenhagen/Harvard)

Putting into mind that he lost to one of the opponents in the race back in 1999, Prof. Kirumira is ready not to extend his losing streak yet again to Prof. Baryamureeba.

Twelve years down the road, the soft spoken professor must have noticed what went wrong and has got remedies to it. He is famous in the Social Sciences’ students whose marks among the Arts students are not delayed unless there are reasons that are explained during lectures to avoid any form of confusion.

Prof. Tonny Oyana- Associate Professor at the Southern Illinois University.
Education; Bsc. Urban Planning and Economic Geography (Peking University- China), Msc GIS (China). Ph.D. GIS (NY)

With an 18 years research experience, Prof. Oyana who is currently a Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Geographic Information Science (GIS) at US based Southern Illinois University.

However, he faces a tall order to prove that he can handle activities of a university that he has not been closely engaged with.

Ass. Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe- Ag. Principal, College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT)
Education; MSc (Arch), Kiev Institute of Construction Technology (KICT), PhD., KICT, 1989

To earn the top job at a University he has served since 1987 will be the best accolade Prof Nawangwe could get in reward for his service. He will boast about how CEDAT has become the “Mother of innovations” at the 89- year old institution.

The yardstick will be the students’ assistance to manufacture the Kiira EV automobile prototype which will begin its country tour starting tomorrow as well as work in progress 40 seater Kayola bus.

He is also the patron to the Makerere Engineering society.

Prof. Dumba Ssentamu- Ag. Principal College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS)
Chairman Board of Directors, Centenary Rural Development Bank (CERUDEB)

Education; BA. Economics (MaK), M.A. Economics (University of Waterloo, Ontario CANADA), Ph.D. Econ (MaK).

No candidate in this race to find the 9th substantive Vice Chancellor of Makerere University has vast experience that Prof. John Dumba Ssentamu.

Since 1977, the 55-year old professor has been serving the university both on part time and full time basis.

His administrative acumen saw a transformation of CoBAMS former Faculty of Economics Management (FEMA) to a modern college with a cutting edge in research. It was during his tenure that the National Development Plan was drawn at the facility.

He is also known for spreading word against use of pamphlets by students which he says that has culminated into a poor reading culture especially among university students.

Prof. Elisam Magara- Senior Lecturer East African School of Library Science (EALIS)
Education; B.A BLIS (MaK), PGDC Sc (MaK), MSc. Inf. Sc (MaK).

There is not so much under his name but since he has such a chance to explore himself, he could be the contest’s wild card supposing his name is forwarded to the Senate for further verification.

Education will brig you the profile of the last contender in the race, Prof Edmund Bizimenyera next week.