As the visitation team appointed by President Museveni to investigate financial issues at Makerere University gets down to work, questions are being asked as to why President Museveni ignored recommendations for an earlier committee he set up following strikes in 2011.
BAKER BATTE LULE revisits the circumstances that led to the Professor Francis Omaswa report of 2014 and summarizes its ignored recommendations.
On November 1, 2016, President Museveni closed Makerere University after a lecturers’ pay-strike that had been joined by students. Museveni later appointed a visitation committee chaired by Dr Abel Rwendeire to look into the causes of such strikes and recommend a way forward.
However, activists such as FDC politician Kizza Besigye criticized the move as a waste of resources. Besigye said Rwendeire should just refer to the 2014 Prof Francis Omaswa report that extensively inquired into Makerere University and made edge sound recommendations.
OMASWA TASKFORCE
The Omaswa-led Task Force was inspired by a September 2011 strike by Makerere University teaching staff over unpaid allowances. In the aftermath of the strike, stakeholders met at the office of the then prime minister, Amama Mbabazi, to chart away forward.
The meeting was attended by senior officials from the ministries of Education and Sports as well as Finance; the chancellor, University Council members and other senior university managers. They agreed to set up a taskforce to find lasting solutions to Makerere’s endless strikes.
“It was agreed that the long-standing grievances and resultant disputes between the university staff and management should be comprehensively and sustainably resolved. This would mitigate further deteriorating staff morale, and negative industrial relations; given their deleterious impact on the overall performance and pursuit of the core mission of the university,” read part of the 204-paged report released in 2014.
The taskforce was composed of notable individuals with extensive knowledge of higher education. These included Prof Francis Omaswa (chairman); Prof Foster Byarugaba, Prof John Kiregyera, Dr Wilberforce Turasingura, Dr Patrick Mangheni, Godwin Kakama, Maggie Kaddu Baliddawa, David Opio Okello, Simon Mugalu Kamya, and Jolly Uzamukunda.
KEY TASKS
The group was tasked to review the current macro and micro organizational structures of the university towards recommending the most suitable structure for the university to operate efficiently.
They were also tasked to conduct a job analysis followed by a job evaluation of all the jobs in the university towards establishing salary levels commensurate with the nature and volume of work, and as informed by best practices.
Other tasks were to recommend the optimal establishment for each unit and advise on the required competencies for each unit with a view to recommending the ones to maintain and those to abolish in the university set-up and to develop strategies of improving current financing sources of the university.
Among other findings the committee discovered mismanagement of the university’s resources, leadership failure, lack of accountability and failure to teach on the side of lecturers.
ALLOWANCES
Before Makerere University merged the more-than-30 types of allowances payable to its teaching staff into what is now called the incentive allowance, the Omaswa report had advised that many such allowances should be abolished.
The report noted that allowances had been perceived as a way of enhancing salaries that were inadequate to cover the cost of living. It proposed the enhancement of salaries for teaching staff so as to abolish allowances.
“With the proposed enhanced salary structure, it is recommended that allowances, with the exception of responsibility and clinical allowance, be pegged to the base pay and a 20 per cent across all grades and consolidated pay,” the report says.
According to the report, only those teaching staff that exceed the minimum workload should be paid an extra allowance not exceeding Shs 50,000 gross pay per hour of extra workload beyond the prescribed minimum load.
“The taskforce recommends that the university should urgently undertake a comprehensive review of the practice on payment of allowances,” notes the report.“It should develop a policy on realistic categories of activities that will qualify for payments of allowances for work that is beyond and above the prescribed workload of a given position.”
COUNCIL REFORMS
The committee discovered that the university council, which is the institution’s supreme governing body, needed to be reformed.
“To achieve the desired cultural transformation in the governance and administration of the university, the taskforce recommends reforms in the composition and structure of the university council,” the report says.
According to the taskforce, it is critical for a university council to have highly-competent, professional and experienced members if it is to operate effectively in a business-like manner.
“The current university council is too large to be effective. The constituencies and profiles of members should aspire to provide effective, competent and visionary leadership and modern corporate governance practices to a university of the 21st century,” the report said.
Specifically, the report recommended that the university council should consist of 13 members with extraordinary skills and proven excellence in management. It added that members should be past or present holders of responsible positions in society, especially notable personalities in teaching, research and academia,with high moral standing and integrity.
The current Makerere University council that is chaired by Dr Charles Wana-Etyem has 23 members, including a vice-chairperson, the vice-chancellor and his two deputies, as well as representatives from the ministries of Education, Finance, Gender, two government appointees, and two academic staff representatives, among others.
TRAINING OF LECTURERS
The report also recommended that all academic and administrative staff should be provided with induction and ongoing training in the core functions of the university.
“The current trends in global higher education are embracing competency-based education as an approach for producing relevant and responsive graduates. The taskforce recommends that it should be extended to the rest of the university,” the report says.
The committee also discovered there was a huge gap between student/staff ratios as compared to what is recommended by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE).
Physical facilities such as classrooms, laboratories, libraries, e-learning facilities and operating budget were all not commensurate with the student numbers. The report recommended a gradual reduction in student numbers to suit the available facilities.
“The taskforce recommends that the university council, senate and the VC immediately review the policies on students’ intake and take action to ensure that overtime arrangements are made to ensure that facilities and staff are consistent with guidelines promulgated by the NCHE,” the report stated.
SPLIT EDUCATION MINISTRY
The report also discovered that the current mandate of the ministry of Education and Sports in overseeing Universal Primary Education (UPE), Universal Secondary Education (USE), BTVET, tertiary institutions and sports is bigger than that of neighbouring countries.
“Consequently, the coordination and oversight of universities, science, technology and innovations is fragmented, and not synergised. The taskforce, therefore, recommends the establishment of a new ministry for Higher Education, Science, Technology and Industry in order to create necessary synergies and focus attention of universities, higher education, science and technology.”
NATIONAL SERVICE
The Omaswa report observed that during their consultation with government ministries, a passionate appeal was made for the re-introduction of National Service.
“The exposure of students either before or after entry into the university to National Service holds the potential to orient their thinking as responsible citizens and patriots,” it says, adding: “The taskforce recommends that government through the ministry of Information and National Guidance takes up this matter along with the Patriotism Clubs Initiative already in place.”
The report also noted that to ensure that graduates and products of Makerere University meet the expectations of prospective and current students, as well as expectations of the labour market, “It is important to undertake regular tracer surveys of Makerere’s graduates and products.”
It added that such information will be used as feedback to improve on the quality of teaching, learning and research.
GOVT CONTRIBUTION
The report further noted that while it is desirable and essential for Makerere as an academic institution to enjoy a degree of autonomy as a public university, there is need for oversight and supervision of the university by government as provided for in the law.
“Reciprocity between university autonomy and government supervision has not been mutually reinforcing,” the report noted.
VICE CHANCELLOR ROLE
The report further noted that there is a conflict of roles between the vice chancellor, the university secretary and the deputy vice chancellor for finance and administration. It recommended that the VC becomes the accounting officer rather than the current arrangement where the university secretary is the accounting officer.
“The current law is clearly a source of conflict between the office of the VC and DVC (F&A) on the one hand, and that of the university secretary on the other; regarding oversight, responsibility and accountability for finances and general administration of the university. This is an anomaly that needs to be corrected by possibly merging the office of the university secretary with that of the office of the DVC F&A,” it says.
The report also agreed with Prof Ddumba-Ssentamu’s view that the top managers of the university should be appointed rather than elected as is the case now.
“In view of the call from the majority of the stakeholders within and outside the university, the taskforce recommends a reform of the electoral process and the amendment of the Act so that all university officers are appointed, and not elected.”
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