A cross section of members of parliament want Professor Barnabas Nawangwe to resign for failing to get along with staff and students. Nawangwe appeared before the education committee yesterday to explain why the university has descended into a battle ground under his watch. They have asked him to step aside to allow sanity return at the institution.
Honorable Asuman Basalirwa, the Bugiri MP, asked the vice chancellor to slow down on suspensions and expulsion of students but rather resort to an amicable way of conflict resolution. “When it comes to handling students, be parental because suspensions and expulsions cause a lot of tension.”
Members of the education committee further accused him of high handedness which has caused unrest at the university for a couple of weeks in the previous month which followed the 15% tuition increment that the university management imposed on the students for five years.
Student leaders led by the guild vice president Judith Nalukwago, told MPs that they had earlier learnt that the 15% increment is only applicable to tuition fees but later learnt that the functional fees is also affected moreover cumulatively. They are also unhappy about the increment in medical fees and ID fees.
The parliament has also learnt that due to tuition fees increment at Makerere University, about 1000 students have discontinued their studies. This is so unfair to the students and has thus prompted them to appear before the education and sports committee to bring their woes to their attention. This followed the unproductive engagement which the student leaders and the guild representative council had had with the university management.
