A week after the probe committee on Makerere University started work, it has become clear that the institution could reopen at the end of February 2017, at the earliest.
CHRISTOPHER TUSIIME has been sounding out hostel owners about what they are preparing for 2017. Most hostel owners we met are urging students to come for the reopening of the university prepared to pay afresh for the restart of the semester. This despite the fact that most students were forced to leave before the end of the semester.
On November 1, 2016, President Museveni ordered for the indefinite closure of Makerere University over lecturers’ and students’ strikes that had lasted for days.
The next morning, all students residing in halls of residence were given up to 9am to vacate them. Police also ordered those in the private hostels affiliated to the university to leave immediately. Some hostels complied while others ignored the call. However, fearing for their lives, many left the hostels anyway, far ahead of the December 17 date, when the university was originally scheduled to close for a Christmas break.
Now a survey has found that the students will have to pay fresh residential fees when they return. Consider JB Girls’ hostel in Wandegeya. Here, Ephraim Ayikobua, the custodian, was unequivocal, that students’ contract with the hostel is still valid.
“Clearly, we agreed with students that they will be here from August 22 up to December 17. So, the closure of their university cannot end this agreement,” Ayikobua said. “For us, if the students come after that date, we are charging them afresh.”
He argued that the hostel did not chase any students as they also host those from other institutions. However, he indicated that students, who opted to leave, could have been motivated by the extra charges levied following the university closure.
“How can you let students keep around, use water and electricity for all the weeks the university will be closed and you don’t charge them extra money? How shall we now pay for those bills?”
However, he may be in for a fight with some of the returning students. Phiona Beero, a student residing in JB Girls’ hostel, insists she won’t pay extra when she returns.
“We were never told about those contract things and me I left the hostel the day the university was closed … I’m not going to pay any other money for this semester even if it resumes next year because I had fully cleared the rent,” Beero vowed.
However, we found Ayikobua’s policy in force at Aryan hostel in Kikoni, where the manager, Suzan Akol, explained that the returning students will be asked to come with a parent or guardian for a special meeting with the hostel’s management before they can be allowed back in.
“This meeting is intended to remind students that we had signed a contract with them to stay at the hostel from August to December 17,” she said.
“Even after the university closed, we never asked them to leave. Some even come here at times and go to their rooms. So, if they come after December, we shall actually meet them and tell them to pay more money to cater for the additional time they will be here.”
These rules are also being implemented by Nana hostel and its new ladies-only hostel. According to a notice there, students will pay a new fee after December 17.
FEW EXCEPTIONS
If all this seems overwhelming, there are some exceptions. For instance, at Olympia hostel in Kikoni, the custodian, who insisted on only being referred to as Ruben said, students were only asked to pay Shs 30,000 for the rest of the month, and for returning students to have their leases extended to the end of the semester in March.
“Here, we have international students, some from Korea and Japan. So, how can you tell such students that you go back to your home? We decided to allow them to remain behind. When the university opens, students will just come and sleep until the first semester ends,” Ruben says.
Olympia, known for its expensive rooms that range from Shs 900, 000 to Shs 1.4 million per semester (depending on the amenities on offer), is currently open with only 10 Makerere University students.
This also applies at Kefrenc hostel in Makerere East (just before the Ku Bbiri roundabout), where management is only preparing to welcome returning students.
According to Alex Ssekyanzi, the custodian; “We told them that those who were to remain had to pay only Shs 30,000 [for the three months] while those who couldn’t manage this little money were asked to leave immediately.”
Ssekyanzi says a few students accepted the offer at Kefrenc hostel. Saphrah Amumpaire, is one such students. She paid the Shs 30,000 and is comfortable keeping around Kefrenc hostel, out of hope the university could reopen tomorrow.
“I’m afraid of going home today [in Mbarara] and campus reopens the next day; it would be so inconveniencing and expensive for me,” says the third-year student of education.
Kann hostel, a stone’s throw away from Makerere University’s small gate, is following the same rules as Kefrenc. According to Abdullah Matovu, the custodian at Kann, only a handful stayed behind after the university closure.
“We asked students to leave so that when the semester resumes, they can be allowed to come back without paying more rent, but there are those who refused to leave,” Matovu explains. “Those ones are now paying for each unit of electricity that they use… but when the semester reopens, we won’t charge more rent.”
However, one of those who were made to leave against their will, Happy Ali, is not impressed.
“I had decided to remain behind because Wi-Fi was still on, and so, I was using free internet to communicate with my friends. But when I failed to get money for electricity, I forced myself to go home. Kann managent is so unfair,” he says.
TUITION FEES DILEMMA
But that won’t be the only thing causing a headache, when the university reopens. According to University Public Relations Officer Ritah Namisango, the University Council is expected to sit to discuss a harmonious way of collecting tuition fees balances, from those who had not yet completed payment.
“University council will sit and see how to enforce the new fees policy that requires students to clear tuition and functional fees before the twelfth week of every semester,” Namisango says.
It should be remembered that in July this year, Makerere University, in consultation with the prime minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, the students’ body, parents and stakeholders, adopted a new fees policy.
According to the policy, all students are supposed to pay a commitment fee of Shs 200,000, within the first three weeks of every new semester. A student, who fails to abide by this policy, can expect a Shs 20,000 fine. The policy stipulates that all students should have cleared fees to zero balance by the twelfth week.
However, the closure came six days away from the 12-week deadline. Namisango says privately-sponsored students are best advised to clear their fees balances even before the university reopens, to avoid inconvenience.
The university council will also sit to consider the living-out allowances (LOA) for state-sponsored students, who live off campus. By policy, all government-sponsored, non-resident students in all public universities receive LOA to cater for their rent, especially when they can’t get space in university halls of residence. Students, who take their lunch at Makerere, are entitled to Shs 580,000 while those who opt for private meals get Shs 720, 000 per semester.
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