Dr Abel Rwendeire, the chairman of Makerere’s visitation committee, which is inquiring into the university’s perennial problems, has been urged to look into mismanagement rather than focus on lack of funds as the source of its problems.
In December, President Museveni named the committee to investigate and make recommendations. Makerere University was closed by the president for two months following a sit-down strike by university academic staff joined by students over unpaid arrears.
On Wednesday, the nine-member probe team met with the management of the Uganda Management Institute (UMI) along Jinja road to consult and draw some lessons on how to address the university’s perennial problems.
Journalists were not allowed to attend the session. However, speaking to The Observer after the consultative meeting, James Nkata, the director general of UMI, which is widely regarded as a well-run public tertiary institution, said understanding the university’s problems is a key component in the effort to find a lasting solution.
Nkata said he told the committee that 80 per cent of the problems at Makerere are internally generated, and that 20 per cent are externally imposed contrary to the public view that the government is making the university fail.
“You can’t get a mathematics professor to manage Makerere…It’s like getting a nun to act as a midwife,” Nkata said.
The visitation committee plans to visit all public universities and a few selected private universities such as Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala International University, and Uganda Christian University to get tips on best practices and policies.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Nkata said he strongly recommended to the committee that government withdraws direct funding to the institution and instead give it grants.
“Government should start granting the university. These grants are competed for; if Makerere want say Shs 50bn, they should show cause why they want it. That is the norm with all international universities,” Nkata said.
“Makerere’s problems are basically financials. Not that the funds are not there, but they are poorly managed internally,” he added.
The other recommendation, he proposed, is for government to distinguish between the higher education system and the university system. He said Uganda needs to create a higher education system, which embodies all institutions.
He called for the establishment of a university system which harmonises all university operations across the country, and the quality, standards and management framework.
Nkata recommended that the management abilities of individuals running the affairs of the university should be probed to establish whether they possess the requisite skills and expertise.
“Being a professor in a university does not qualify you to be a vice chancellor,” he explained. “An undergraduate student who is doing management at Nakawa, if he/she qualifies, can manage Makerere better than a professor of mathematics.”
FORENSIC AUDIT
Asked on Wednesday to clarify on the motive of the student head count at Makerere, Rwendeire said due to a mismatch in the numbers of students at management level, there is a likelihood that financial crimes are being committed and thus a need for a “financial forensic audit.”
“…If the registrar is saying there are 42,000 students and then the bursar collecting the money says there are 37,000 students. So that is 5,000 students who are registered but the bursar says they have not paid or they have not captured them,” Rwendeire said on the sidelines of the event.
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