Makerere, militarism and Musevenism

It is Makerere again! For the umpteenth time. This term, it is ostensibly tuition fees: #feesmustfall. This though, is a symptom of a much larger malaise.
Makerere is our jewel. It is one of the very few institutional redoubts, truly national, precious and priceless. It is arguably the only higher institution of learning we have that comes close to being a truly university campus – where uncensored ideas contend, student activism flourishes and is a crucial site for critical national debates. Ugandans who have attended Makerere appreciate this. On their part, the rulers have fought hard for long in vain, to capture Makerere and turn it around. To his utter irritation, a recalcitrant Makerere refuses to acquiesce to the commands of the ruler-in-chief.
The ruler wants the university under his command and control because it potentially can breed trouble for him, which is precisely what a national university campus should do: Cause trouble for the rulers by nurturing civically aware citizens and enriching public discourse through spirited and intrepid debate. Over the years, various attempts to capture the university included trying to get the academic staff association under the leadership of quasi regime functionaries and cultivating a network of ‘NRM lecturers,’ the latter a rather farcical and phony construct, but one actively and shameless pursued for long. Being an academic, especially one at the nation’s topmost and premier university necessarily means espousing a level of independent-mindedness; how then can one be a mobiliser and operative of a political party, worst of all, the party in power in what is evidently a militaristic authoritarian regime?
In the past, attempts to have a pliant chief executive officer at Makerere, the vice chancellor, tended to fail. For what it is worth, a certain ancientness and conservatism characterise many old-school academics. Getting them to be tools at the disposal of the rulers can be difficult.
This was the case with successive Makerere vice chancellors - from Prof Senteza Kajubi to Prof John Ssebuwufu and Livingstone Luboobi to Ddumba Ssentamu. These were institutionalists attuned to the essence of a public university. None of them would invite the military to take over the university campus and freely maim students – a despicable move, to say the least.
In recent years, however, the rulers and the authors of one-man-rule for life, which we can aptly call Musevenism, thought they had found a breakthrough - having a university administration with a high school mentality. Running a university as though it were a high school dovetails well with the ruling logic of militarism – the overriding belief in the force of arms.
Musevenism also installed as chair of the University Council, the topmost decision-making body, someone whose qualifications and experience in higher education management may not stand critical scrutiny. After all, meritocracy is not particularly important in the scheme of things of Musevenism; rather, such factors as nepotism and cronyism take precedent. Yet, to be sure, Makerere remains a hot potato. Fixing it through cheap and quick manoeuvres is perilous.
At one point, an announcement came through that there would be no more strikes or demonstrations at Makerere. The vice chancellor told us that such behaviour was now history. How so sure? Because of his resolute administration that had the assured back of militarism. Any attempts to protest would be met with swift and summary dismissal or arrest and detention at the behest of the military. To treat a university like a high school is to herd students, intimidate them into being slavish and subservient. It also entails projecting the university as a place where learning is technocratic and controlled, not expressive, iconoclastic and questioning.
The matter of tuition fees at Makerere is undoubtedly real. For many years now, I have paid and still pay fees for several immediate relatives studying at Makerere. Therefore, fees increments affects me directly. For me though, this is not the issue. Makerere is a public university. It has to be funded publicly or through some other arrangement. The Ugandan taxpayer paid my fees to attend Makerere just like countless other Ugandans. Today, there are students paid for by taxpayers through all sorts of schemes, including the controversial and questionable State House Scholarship Scheme.
Why then should other students pay? What is more, even if students paid a lot more than they pay now, the fiat of fees increment cannot instantly fix the endemic financial crises at Makerere.
The struggle at Makerere is the fight for the soul of our premier institution of higher education, and by extension, a struggle for the soul of the nation. How matters turn out at Makerere mirrors the present and in all likelihood presages the future ahead for the country.