The minister of state for Higher Education, Dr John Chrysostom Muyingo, has declared that government is ready to reopen the Makerere University, once striking teaching staff reconsider their position and return to work.
In an interview with The Observer, Dr Muyingo explained that the president’s action of closing Makerere University almost a month ago was prompted by the lecturers’ decision to withdraw their services.
The staff were upset at the non-payment of their nine months’ incentive arrears. This irked students, who staged a violent strike, burning tyres and closing roads in and around Makerere.
“You know very well that all of us; government, the parents, students want to see the university reopened.
“The lecturers are the one who closed the university by refusing to teach,” Muyingo said.
“For us, we wanted the university to remain open; we wanted teaching to continue and research to be done but people refused to teach.”
The minister was also at pains to declare that the president was no to blame for the parents and students, who are complaining about the closure.
“Even the supreme law; the constitution of Uganda gives such powers to the president. Did you want the president to just look on when his voters were trying to destroy one another? You should help the public to understand this really,” Muyingo added.
The minister was also at pains to explain that the Makerere probe would resolve the problems at the hill, once and for all.
“This time we are very committed as government to put right what has gone wrong in Makerere University.
I have to tell you that government is going to pump money in Makerere if the problem is money,” he said. “We are just waiting for the results of this committee and we put everything right. You will see Makerere glittering; just give us time.”
Muyingo added that once the probe is completed, the university will improve immeasurably, and the solutions will impact on the other public universities.
“This time we are very committed as government to finding a lasting solution to all problems Makerere has been having. We are tired of seeing fights at our biggest premier university,” he added.
“We want it to be the best university in the country, the region, if not the whole of Africa.”
The president recently closed the university after a staff strike triggered a student riot that destabilized much of Wandegeya. The Makerere University Academic Staff Association (Muasa) has stuck by the guns, insisting that they will not return to class unless nine months of allowances, now held in arrears, are paid.
Since then, a probe into the affairs of Makerere, has sat to deliberate over the problems affecting the oldest public university in the country.
That probe, headed by former Muasa chairman, Dr Abel Rwendeire, is now studying various reports on the problems of Makerere before public hearings can be conducted.
The probe will report to the president at the end of February 2017. After this, the president will decide how and when the university reopens. Already, the closure has affected several activities at the university.
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