Following the bloody strike that has been going on at Uganda’s oldest University, Makerere University over the past week due to a suggested 15% increment in tuition, many people have come out to speak and condemn the University management, the latest being DPs Norbert Mao.
In a press conference held on Tuesday, the Democratic Party (DP) demanded for the dismissal of the Vice Chancellor of Makerere university Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe with immediate effect for failure to lead the institution in the right direction.
Addressing journalists at the party headquarters on Tuesday, DP party president general Norbert Mao said the government should always reconsider the kind of people appointed to manage universities because such a great institution needs people with better management skills.
Mao, a former guild president, said the university needs to be run by professional managers who know how to run a university and manage people.
“I think it is time for the Makerere to start looking for the new vice chancellor, we call upon the government to dismiss him and I think the students should add that to their demands .when I was the guild president we convene the general assembly and dismiss the vice chancellor ourselves as students,” Mao said.
He encouraged the students to struggle intelligently by using the organs of the guild council to resolve their issues.
“Let the guild representative sit and pass resolutions. Let the general assembly of guild be convened so that you can discuss these stinging issues,”he said.
Mao said Makerere should not be compared to other private institutions because public universities must be affordable by both the poor and the rich, as he further urged the university management to consider rescinding the 15% tuition increment policy.
He said the policy is aimed at promoting social injustice were the rich will only be able to afford the university leaving the poor behind.
“Makerere university is a public university and we demand that the government should meet the bulk of expenses, secondly in any increment ,it should be based on agreement,” he said.