Dear Makerereans, render me your support, I will render you my untiring service

Beware of people in the convocation race who are working tooth and  nail to ensure they are lifted high by the university rather than working hard to lift the university. And please do not count me among those scheming to be lifted high by the position in the convocation leadership. I offer myself in order to provide strategic leadership for the good of the university.

I have a track record. I am the only person that vehemently refused to be bribed when I was secretary general for the non-residents community. Because I was leading government-sponsored students whose
allowances were unfairly delayed because some crooked characters first  had to do business with that money to accumulate profits and /or interest, I would have eaten millions of money if I was corruptible  and compromisable.

Some of you must be remembering the November 2003 mega strike that coincided with the installation of Prof Apolo Robinson Nsibambi as a non-head of state chancellor of Makerere University. You may need to
recall that after I commanded my forces to take action, the following day I went to meet the Dean of  Students Mr John Ekuddu. In the Dean's office I met Yusuf Kiranda. I told off Mr Ekuddu and assured him he had no business being in office if he was not prioritising students' welfare. Because of my radical stance against injustice, two days after the strike students' allowances were deposited on their accounts.

You may also need to recall that I served a jail term in Murchison Bay Prison Luzira for opposing the 126% fees increment. Those of you who want a person that will always say yes to fees increment overtures, I
advise you to vote for my opponents not me.

Personally, I know that Section 2 of the Universities and Tertiary Institutions Act clearly spells out that public universities are to be run or maintained out of public funds. Therefore, I expect Makerere University to be the most affordable and cheapest University for purposes of building for the future. Those who think that poor parents and students are always going to be financiers of the last resort to Makerere University must forget that.
I will use my  privileged position put excessive pressure on the Government of Uganda to fund Makerere University adequately, pay both academic and non-academic staff handsomely, remit adequate funding for academic research so as to dissuade our professors from the demonic consultancy research whose findings are largely misleading and I will hold convocation press/media breakfast meetings every month. Makerere must reclaim its past glory. It must be the Harvard of Africa once again. It is you and I to ensure that our alma mater Makerere reclaims its past glory.

It is in the best interest of all alumni of Makerere that we reclaim our number one position because then our paper will be very marketable across the globe. Render me your support I will reciprocate by  rendering you my unwavering and untiring service.

Gerald Karuhanga, declare your stand now vis-a-vis Makerere Convocation elections

I am inspired and deeply honoured to learn that very many alumni and staff of Makerere read what I post here on this forum and assure me that I am the only person with the wherewithal to hold the flag of Makerereans as the convocation chairman and convocation representative to the university council.

The support you have given me so far remind me of the support Makerere University students of our time always gave me whenever and wherever I would offer myself to lead.

I was not very ambitious during my time at the University. I only wanted to become an international diplomat or a professor. Accordingly, I read international relations and diplomatic studies. I dropped sociology (which could have aided me get a first class) for French because I needed an international language for diplomacy.

Nonetheless, I continued to read and work very hard so much so that I remained on Dean's List and my grades are classified as very good. The seven leadership positions that I held at the same time did not bog me down to the extent of making me fail.

Indeed, I am no the road to becoming a fully-fledged professor of political science having taught in two universities, conducted academic research with the most brilliant professor of law John-Jean Barya. I intend to write five incisive books in the next five years and the first one is coming in the next four months.
Those who have read about Plato - political scientists, lawyers and philosophy graduates/students know well that knowledge is virtue and those with virtue are the ones best suited to lead.

Of all people vying for the position of chairman convocation, I am arguably the only one who engages the public in intellectual discourses. The rest are mobilising mobs behind the scenes and want the mobs to hand the leadership of the most significant institution in Makerere University to them.

They are paying subscription for members well knowing that once they are there they will recoup their expenses a thousandfold. We must say no to these vultures who are scheming to pounce on the Makerere University convocation funds as if it is a carcass.

I continue to hear that my brother Hon Gerald Karuhanga is still in the race which I highly doubt unless I get it from the horse's mouth. Nonetheless, in case and I am saying just in case Gerald K Karuhanga continues to be in the race for chairmanship, his strategy does not work for him and I can openly assure him that he is riding for a fall. I have never seen Gerald Karuhanga lose any election. I saw him become a powerful Makerere Students Guild Speaker; I saw him elected a Guild President and he served excellently well.

I prevailed on UYD students in Lumumba (because I am an elephant and a Democratic Party member) to give him a breathing space when they were up in arms against him. I told them the most important thing is that the empire had a president and the rest was commentary.

Gerald has been and continues to be very helpful to me. But I am worried he is not open to me. I have made several efforts to talk to him and he does not pick my calls. All efforts I make to talk to him are geared towards convincing him to become my vice chairman since he is already too busy with state duties and is doing excellently well as a member of parliament. There is a limit to which one can stand astride. When one overstretches himself/herself, he or she is bound to be torn apart.

Makerere is straining and parliament is straining and stressful. To prove my point, at the age of 31, Gerald Karuhanga's head is full of grey hair. It is because he thinks a lot. If he did not probably goons in this country would have killed him given his frank and honest razor sharp criticism.
But also friends are saying, "you and Gerald are the most resourceful people that we do not want to miss on the convocation leadership" they add, "please, sit down and see how best you can work together".

I have always remarked about Center for Constitutional Governance (CCG) an organisation whose dejure executive director is Hon Maj (Rtd) Okwir Rabwoni. CCG operates from the convocation house but members do not know how it ended up there.

Hon Gerald Karuhanga is the single most important person that gave CCG shelter at the convocation house. And the reason is simple. He admires Hon Okwir, sees him as a mentor and would do anything to offer a helping hand. I have told Bruce Balaba countless times that Gerald did the inevitable. Even if it was me I would have given Okwir domicile. The only difference is that personally, I would have gone further to regularise their stay through tabling the matter in the AGM which was never done.

In the foregoing I remarked that Okwir is a de jure executive director. The de facto Executive Director of CCG is Bireete Sarah. Sarah chooses whatever is done at CCG. Currently she is furious with CCG Board chairman  Bishop David Zac Niringiye because Niringiye raised certain questions that did not go down well with her. Bireete Sarah is excessively corrupt. She is arguably more corrupt than corruption. You all know that she was convicted over a corruption scandal in the ministry of foreign affairs under the great lakes region project. I know she did not appeal but she is out of jail. How she got out of jail without going through the formal legal processes, she herself and the NRM government know better.
Corruption and constitutionalism are incompatible. Now Sarah is busy eating (read stealing) donor funds majorly from DGF and she wants us to believe that she is working to promote constitutional governance. She does not understand what constitutional governance is and what it is not. And because I have always asked tough questions she seems to be the one driving Gerald Karuhanga to stand against me and divide the vote from right thinking alumni and staff members of Makerere University. Hon Gerald Karuhanga needs to pronounce openly whether or not he is standing. I have declared my stand and it is up to the rest to sort themselves out vis-a-vis my stand.

My promise to the gallant Makerereans

Here is what I stand for as the next Chairman Makerere University Convocation.
1) My leadership will work tooth and nail to ensure that Makerere University has its own publishing house akin to what other prestigious universities do own. The Makerere University printery shall give way for Makerere University Publishers/Press.
2) During my leadership Makerere University shall run a weekly News Magazine wherein I and other prominent alumni and staff will run regular columns on issues of governance, constitutionalism, rule of law, democracy and all societal issues from a holistic perspective. There is nothing that stops Makerere University Convocation from running a weekly magazine.
3) My leadership shall erect a radio station with a national and regional coverage with a view to engaging the entire populace on issues that matter. The programmes will be broadcast in various languages. In the near future, we shall pool resources and have a television station. We must work through and with the media if Makerere is to regain its past glory. And, I insist all is possible. It only requires us to decide that we want a, b and c. Remember there is nothing impossible since ours is a world of possibilities.
4) My leadership shall start a serious research institute to carry out academic research but also applied research that is necessary for development. This will equip our young but talented graduates to build a career in research. For sure, research is a sine qua non for development.
5) My leadership will put in place a sturdy secretariat of not less than fifty members to purely run convocation matters. I feel so sad to find that memberless NGOs far outshine Makerere University Convocation, an organisation to which all alumni and members of staff are members.
6) I, together with my team shall create a data base of everybody who has gone through the gates of Makerere as a student, lecturer, professor, and administration staff or even support staff. This data base will help us reach out to key stakeholders to provide solutions that have beset Makerere University.
7) I shall fight root and branch, body, mind and soul, left, right and centre for the welfare of Makerere University students for they are all our young siblings and we are their big brothers and sisters.
8) During my tenure as a university council member, fees increments will be a thing of the past. Section 2 of the Universities and Tertiary Institutions Act (UTIA) is clear. A public university is run out of public funds. What it means is that all students of Makerere University including private sponsored students must never be denied access on the basis of exorbitant and prohibitive fees. Private students are in particular meant to be subsidised.
9) My leadership will take Makerere University convocation to the people in the countryside including to all East African countries and the diaspora. Thus, we shall have a regional office for each of the four regions respectively, we shall have convocation offices in Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi but also South Sudan. And we shall have an office in the diaspora to make Makerere a global University.
10) My leadership will start a Makererean Think Tank on all socio-economic and political issues. This tank shall majorly do academic research and disseminate findings through publications and public fora. Never again will anything take place in Uganda without the input of thousands of intellectuals that Makerere has churned out.
11) My leadership will mobilise and organise all Makerere Alumni around issues of a socio-economic nature and ultimately we shall form a social movement that will dictate to our national and regional leaders on what must be done. This social movement if I can be allowed to borrow a leaf from the words of Martin Luther shall ensure that nobody in Uganda or outside bends their back to enable other people ride on it.
12) Via the data base, we shall share all the opportunities - jobs, scholarships, short fellowships, research grants and so forth to all Makerere Alumni and staff.
13) My leadership will spearhead constitutional amendment to ensure that students also participate in the voting for the Convocation leadership. One may ask, “how can they vote yet they are not alumni and are not allowed to stand?” My answer to such a question is, there is nothing strange, there is nothing spectacular, there is nothing new about it. We men vote for Women MPs but cannot stand. The justification is that women issues and concerns are directly or indirectly concerns of men. This is because every woman has either a husband or a father or a brother. Likewise, the convocation is represented at the university council. Council is the supreme decision-making organ of the University. Council decisions affect students as well as staff. The convocation right now comprises of alumni and staff but not students. We need to make it more embracing and make the campaigns for leadership positions vibrant, open and more participatory and inclusive.
14) My leadership will categorise members on the basis of voluntary subscriptions. We shall have platinum category of members, diamond category, gold category and silver category. We shall endear the alumni, staff members and former staff members to Makerere University by making the Convocation relevant.
The above and very many ideas that I, you the distinguished members and my team will generate will ensure we begin on a journey of having an egalitarian society based on the principles of social justice and human dignity.

Mak Convocation elections

October 16 at 6:58pm · Kampala · Edited ·

Well, it seems I am the only one vying for the convocation chair so far. I have proved that my brother Hon Gerald Karuhanga is not going to stand for that post as was reported in the Red Pepper. Gerald K Karuhanga says as a youth MP he is too busy to be in two strenuous offices at the same time. What he has not yet done openly is to campaign for me which I expect he will do.
I have a long history with Gerald. I joined campus in 2001 when he was in senior five at SMACK. And that is when we became friends. Gerald admired my ability to talk what others feared in a conference involving SPLA at Pope Paul Memorial in Ndeeba. By that time I was the secretary general for PAUSU (Pan African Universities Students' Union) an organisation I started with comrades Richard Muhumuza, Namara Doreen Karokora, Rukidi Mpuga Elijah and a few others.
Gerald had to look for me in 2002 at the CODESRIA General Assembly. I was perhaps the first to know how he performed in A level exams apart from his parents; I supported Gerald to be the Makerere University Guild Speaker, I supported him as he vied for the post of Guild President; when UYD students were up in arms against him in Lumumba, I told them "the empire has a guild president, please keep the name of the empire high". Me and Gerald are like siamese twins. We definitely cannot vie for the same position.

Beware of vultures, fellow Makerereans

Be aware of this team of lost young men comprising of Chris Niwandinda, my brother Robert Rutaro, Nuwajuna Justus K, Kankiriho Julius Rwakifari, Julius Atusasire Kikongi, Namara Dennis among other. Another team is led by Masete Kenneth while Tanga Odoi is reported to have subscribed for 1000 members. They move around collecting the names of Makerere University Alumni and staff and they pay for them annual subscription of Shillings Ten Thousand (10,000) each in exchange for votes come December 13, 2014. This is horrible. Anybody who cannot pay a subscription of 10,000 and is an alumnus or staff member of Makerere should not vote.
How do these guys account for the money they are spending? Does it grow on trees? Where do they get this money? Will they not spend all the years as leaders recouping the money they spent? What do they stand for? Do they even qualify to vie for positions in the Makerere University Convocation going by the 2013 AGM resolution which clearly forbids people that have not been attending the AGMs from contesting for leadership positions? How do you lead an organisation you have no knowledge about? I demand that the minutes and attendance lists for the past four or so years be availed so that the members can know the schemers and those that are genuine.
I have not paid subscription fee for anybody and I will never do it in my life because it is immoral, illegitimate and illegal. Those who do such are vultures ready to pounce on the billions of money that the convocation controls. Chairman Bruce Balaba talk about it. Ever since I became a member of the convocation we have never held elections but selections and we continue to have office bearers. I cannot accept this vicious practice to continue. Enough is enough

Here is what I stand for as the next Chairman Makerere University Convocation.

Makerere University is sick

Library closes on Sundays yet the university depends on evening students majority of whom do work and therefore have time to read on weekends.

Student welfare remains wanting.
1) I, together with the team the Makerere University alumni and members of staff will give shall create a data base of everybody who has gone through the gates of Makerere as a student, lecturer, professor, and administration staff or even support staff. This data base will help us reach out to key stakeholders to provide solutions that have beset Makerere University.

2) I shall fight root and branch, body, mind and soul, left, right and centre for the welfare of Makerere University students for they are all our young siblings and we are their big brothers and sisters. 

3) During my tenure as a university council member, fees increments will be a thing of the past. Section 2 of the Universities and Tertiary Institutions Act (UTIA) is clear. A public university is run out of public funds. What it means is that all students of Makerere University including private sponsored students must never be denied access on the basis of exorbitant and prohibitive fees. Private students are in particular meant to be subsidised. 

4) My leadership will take Makerere University convocation to the people in the countryside including to all East African countries and the diaspora. Thus, we shall have a regional office for each of the four regions respectively, we shall have convocation offices in Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi but also South Sudan. And we shall have an office in the diaspora to make Makerere a global University. 

5) My leadership will start a Makererean Think Tank on all socio-economic and political issues. This tank shall majorly do academic research and disseminate findings through publications and public fora. Never again will anything take place in Uganda without the input of thousands of intellectuals that Makerere has churned out.

6) My leadership will mobilise and organise all Makerere Alumni around issues of a socio-economic nature and ultimately we shall form a social movement that will dictate to our national and regional leaders on what must be done. This social movement if I can be allowed to borrow a leaf from the words of Martin Luther shall ensure that nobody in Uganda or outside bends their back to enable other people ride on it.

7) Via the data base, we shall share all the opportunities - jobs, scholarships, short fellowships, research grants and so forth to all Makerere Alumni and staff.

8. My leadership will spearhead constitutional amendment to ensure that students also participate in the voting for the Convocation leadership. One may ask, “how can they vote yet they are not alumni and are not allowed to stand?” My answer to such a question is, there is nothing strange, there is nothing spectacular, there is nothing new about it. We men vote for Women MPs but cannot stand. The justification is that women issues and concerns are directly or indirectly concerns of men. This is because every woman has either a husband or a father or a brother. Likewise, the convocation is represented at the university council. Council is the supreme decision-making organ of the University. Council decisions affect students as well as staff. The convocation right now comprises of alumni and staff but not students. We need to make it more embracing and make the campaigns for leadership positions vibrant, open and more participatory and inclusive.

The above and very many ideas that I, you the distinguished and my team will generate will ensure we begin on a journey of having an egalitarian society based on the principles of social justice and human dignity.

Millennium 3 Generation (M3G)

Millennium 3 Generation (M3G)

M3G is a Think Tank cum Pressure Group born out of the realization that Uganda in the 2^nd Millennium has cross-cutting generational challenges and or problems. It has been started by the University Graduates churned out in the current third millennium and it believes that the M3G graduates of universities and other tertiary institutions must play a leading role in providing solutions to our national cross-cutting problems.

Our society is beset by ills such as graduate unemployment, excruciating poverty alongside massive wealth in a few hands, disease, seemingly incurable corruption, sectarianism, favouritism, greed, almost total absence of integrity, inter alia. These ills have resulted into mediocrity even in the most sensitive public offices. These and many others are the issues that M3G sets out to address.

M3G is different from political parties in a sense that its primary aim is not to capture state power. However, M3G doesn’t discourage its members from seeking political leadership positions and believes in offering political solutions to the socio-economic malaise since it is largely caused by politicians either by commission or omission. Accordingly, we shall reign in politicians to stop committing errors of commission or omission that result into excruciating misery to the masses. We envision a society where the masses will not pay for their leaders’ sins.

M2G is different from NGOs in a sense that a number of NGOs’ agenda tends to be donor-driven and some NGO employees are motivated by a pay cheque not necessarily addressing citizens’ socio-economic challenges.  But also many NGOs wait for donors to set a pace for them hence being accused of being donor-driven.

As M3G, we shall emphasize social justice and not charity and this we shall ably do it through civic education premised on our activities that include research, monitoring and documentation; debates, seminars and workshops; radio and television talk shows and leadership grooming and training. We don’t intend to seek for donor funds to build hospitals and schools and equip them. Rather we urge the government that collects revenue from taxpayers to build hospitals, schools, stock them with drugs and scholastic materials and ensure access to education at all levels on the basis of merit regardless of one’s socio-economic status. We shall seek funds from donors, members, friends and well-wishers to ensure that we turn our problems into projects.

M3G shall however work together with government, political parties and all other civil society organisations through networking and partnerships to churn out a shared national agenda.

Ours is a purely voluntary, not monetary-driven group of selfless citizens who believe that Ugandan problems must have Ugandan solutions. We seek to build a generational social movement bigger in scope than the trade union movement and the pan African movement.

Our Beliefs

We believe that justice is more important than charity, so our people need justice not charity

We believe that we must be solution-oriented not problem-oriented

We believe that as a generation we don’t have problems but projects.

Our Motto

“We must be the change we wish to see in Uganda”

Our Mission

To heal Uganda and make it a better place for all Ugandans by providing generational solutions to generational problems

Our Vision

A society in which the masses don’t pay for their leaders’ sins.

Objectives

        i.            To carry out ideological orientation for all Ugandans so that collectively citizens can agree on national ethos, values, ideals, morals, norms and evolve principles for social transformation.

      ii.            To sensitize the masses about their rights, responsibilities and state duties through civic education, workshops , seminars and debates

    iii.            To wage a protracted people’s battle against corruption and all forms of abuse and misuse of office in both the public sector and civil society sector.

    iv.            To train and groom leaders

      v.            To inculcate a generation doctrine of selflessness and patriotism in the current generation

    vi.            To build people’s capacity by empowering them with tools to assert and demand their rights

  vii.            To debate and critique national programmes and policies

viii.            To enhance critical thought and analysis

Target Groups

1.      The youth who include students, school drop outs and graduates

2.      Workers

3.      Women

4.      Children

5.      The elderly

6.      PWDs

7.      Traders

We shall have specific programmes for each of the above specific interest groups

Activities

a)      Research, monitoring and documentation

b)     Debates, seminars and workshops

c)      Press conferences

d)     Leadership training and grooming

Membership

Open to people who share our vision, ideals and objectives subject to approval by the administrators.

Core Values

        i.            Integrity

      ii.            Team work

    iii.            Equal opportunity

    iv.            Tolerance

Strategic partners

Government, political parties, donors and CSOs.

Secession talk

Mitayo Potosi Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:15:41 -0700

*Dear Mr Nuwagaba,

Many Ugandans who have travelled and seen governance in other counties came
to see federalism as the medicine to solve all the problems that you mention
below.

There is a whole dozier that has been written by these Ugandans.
It promises to deliver answers to all the secessionists grievances, and much
more !!

And the authors represent a range of our ethnic groups.


It is unfortunate that Mengo's self-seekers corrupts and latches itself on
this concept.
It is a concept we have to liberate from them.

Recently, the draft was passed on to Betty Kamya, by one Ugandan.
But I wonder whether she is the right person to sell it Ugandans.

Brother Nuwagaba, you have nothing to lose by reading it.

Me too started off opposed to it, in the mistaken belief that it was an
extension of the buffoonery from Mengo.

I was pleasantly surprised.

Mitayo Potosi.
=================== *

Secession talk is a pointer that something is wrong

Vincent Nuwagaba
Members of Parliament from the greater north comprising West Nile, Karamoja,
Lango, Teso and Acholi sub-regions have lately been making calls for
secession. This is not the first time the greater north is making calls for
secession and these calls haven’t been exclusive to them. MP Hussein Kyanjo
(Makindye West, Jeema) has in the past made spirited calls for secession of
Buganda, citing marginalisation.

Sadly, instead of  looking at the reasons advanced, some Ugandans have opted
to vilify and demonise those calling for secession. I think we are being
uncritical and naïve. Those making calls for secession are expressing their
discontent. Rather than scold them, we should exhort government to treat all
citizens equally. Surprisingly, the government is not comfortable about this
secession talk, yet it has failed to address the concerns raised. Should the
greater north remain in subjugation?   All of us would like to live in a
country where we are not discriminated against.

The government’s act of recalling Ambassador Onen from the East African
Community Secretariat was just a trigger but there were deep-rooted problems
that re-ignited the secession talk. Even if Ambassador Onen had not been
recalled, he wouldn’t be a solution to the greater north in as far as
marginalisation is concerned. Clearly, the NRM has ignored its blueprint,
the Ten Point Programme, whose point number three and seven were
consolidation of national unity and elimination of all forms of sectarianism
and elimination of corruption and misuse of power respectively. I point out
point number three and seven because whoever talks of marginalisation is a
victim of either sectarianism or corruption and misuse of power or both. I
am firmly convinced that sectarianism is one of the highest forms of
corruption that we are witnessing in this country, for sectarianism leads to
the misallocation of resources. Furthermore, sectarianism undermines
institutions as the office bearers pay more allegiance to their political
godfathers at the expense of institutions, systems, rules and structures.
Sectarianism is both inimical and antithetical to patriotism which President
Museveni is preaching.

 Those raising the secession voices are victims of sectarianism, corruption
and misuse of power. They are simply showing that something is amiss. And we
must applaud them for demanding a fair share of the national cake.
Otherwise, there is no reason for them to remain in a country where they are
perpetually marginalised. What I find disagreeable however is their
conviction that the western part of the country is benefitting. There are
individuals in Western Uganda who are favoured but there are also many from
the same region who are indubitably marginalised. Marginalisation is not
exclusive to the north. Just because my area Member of Parliament is a
minister does not mean I am benefitting even when I have no job, no drugs in
our health centres and if our roads are in a sorry state. We have five
counties and five ministers in Bushenyi District but only one Member of
Parliament, who incidentally is a backbencher, has registered visible
success through an organisation known as Integrated Community Based
Initiative.

Ironically, there are many people from western Uganda who are frustrated as
a result of unemployment, poverty, poor service delivery, among others. But
for them they are caught between a devil and a deep blue sea as they cannot
call for secession. If you are here in Kampala, the talk is that Westerners
are ‘in the thing’; when you go to the west, the talk is that the Banyankole
are ‘eating’; if you go to Ankole, the talk is that the Bahiima are ‘eating’
and possibly among the Bahiima, the talk is that it is the Basiita ‘eating’.
This is a pointer that each region and ethnic group feels some level of
discontent and marginalisation. The difference is only in the magnitude with
some regions feeling that they are more marginalised than others. Let
government embrace meritocracy and in the allocation of public valuables as
opposed to allocation of the national cake on patronage basis. Remember, all
Ugandans pay taxes and have a right to benefit from their taxes. Truth is
that virtually all Ugandans are faced with more or less similar problems and
should adopt similar means to solve them.

Mr Nuwagaba is a human rights defender
vnuwag...@gmail.com

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Open letter to Kadaga that never was published, December 12, 2009

Vincent Nuwagaba

An Open letter to Uganda’s Speaker of Parliament

Honourable Speaker,

I have had several conversations with Honourable Rose Sseninde, the Chairperson of the Social Service Committee of Parliament in regard to Makerere University student’s petition for which you wrote to me on the 4^th November 2009 acknowledging receipt but also saying by copy of the letter, the chairperson of the Social Services Committee is requested to present the petition. 

Honourable Speaker, on occasions I have talked to the Chairperson I have been told a similar petition was presented and parliament resolved that it had no powers to restrain the university council to rescind its decision on fees hike since the university council was mandated by the Universities and Tertiary Institutions Act to set the university fees. And that she would look a fool to present a petition whose material facts are similar to the one on which decision has already been made. I was left convinced that maybe if we are to trust Parliament, we are ploughing the sands. I will not labour to articulate the concerns raised therein since your office has a copy of the petition but I will raise a few issues in regard to my conversations with Honourable Sseninde.

I’ve told Honourable Sseninde that shouldn’t  this matter be handled expeditiously, parliament should expect an unprecedented strike by students and lecturers because lecturers pay fees for their children hence fees hike should translate into proportionate hike in their remunerations. Of course MPs have already hiked their emoluments in the wake of increased costs of living which include paying fees! She told me whoever strikes will be expelled and I said should they expel us for exercising our rights, we shall sue the university and the consequences would be grave. I am sure you know there is a precedent. 

Although I have not looked at the petition that was reportedly dismissed by Parliament, I strongly believe the issues may be related but the prayers are different. Our petition doesn’t in anyway fault the university council but asks the government to increase funding to the public universities and reverse the already passed fees increment so that students top on the fees due to them next semester.

This petition is also different from the other one in a sense that while the quashed petition came from the Students’ Guild leaders, this one is from the direct victims themselves – the freshers. It is prudent you take this one more seriously since it is he who wears the shoe that knows how much it pinches.

Honourable Speaker, we know that Parliament is the legitimate and institutionalized mouthpiece of Ugandans. Hence, we were not redundant to bring the petition to Parliament and we feel shocked to learn that you have no powers over the running of public universities. Otherwise we would have petitioned the Constitutional Court or the Uganda Human Rights Commission since we know that education is a right provided for in Article 30 of the constitution and other international human rights instruments ratified by Uganda. Please, note also the international law principle of Pacta Sunt Servanda in article 26 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties namely that, treaties and instruments once signed must be observed.

This issue requires political not legal solutions. Otherwise, many MPs and the ruling party will be paid in a similar currency come 2011. H.E Mkapa said in his lecture at Makerere University that fees increment is counterproductive and governments in Africa must design student loan programmes. Food for thought. As we build for the future!

Mr. Nuwagaba is a human rights defender.

Cell: +256772843552 email: mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com