KAMPALA – Makerere University leaders have said their protest against the 15% per cent tuition fees increment policy is ongoing.
Addressing journalists in Kampala on Saturday, November 2, 2019, the vice Guild President, Ms Judith Nalukwago, said they will continue their peaceful protest until university management scraps the fees policy.
Ms Nalukwago says they are planning to hold a general assembly at the Freedom Square in Makerere, on Monday, to forge a way forward.
She said they will not be forced to return to class without being heard. Ms Nalukwago said they want the university to scrap the 15 percent tuition increment, reinstate all suspended students and withdraw armed security operatives from the institution’s Freedom Square, a converging area for students.
She also fired the Guild Prime Minister, Mr Emmanuel Obbo early this week, for issuing a communication indicating that they had called off the strike.
On October 31, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, the vice chancellor, issued a statement asking students to return to class, saying the situation was calm despite some hiccups. He said the semester would continue as planned and reminded students of examinations which are scheduled to start on November 18.
Ms Nalukwago told journalists that Prof Eria Hisali, the Principal of College of Business and Management Science together with Mr Gordon Murangira, the Personal Secretary of Prof Nawangwe, should be suspended and investigated for their role in brutalising students. She accuses the two, especially Prof Hisali of sanctioning security to mishandle students.
The students said they intend to sue the university for violating their freedom of assembly and association, freedom of speech, failure to protect its own students against barbaric security forces who barbarously beat them up and destroyed their property.
