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Authorities at Makerere University have insisted on the implementation of the development and technology fees despite a spirited objection from the students who want the fees scrapped.
The University Council imposed technology fees of Shs. 50,000 (US$30) and development fees of Shs. 123,500 (US$74). According to the authorities, the technology fee is meant to help the university to cater for Internet bandwidth while the development fees will be allocated towards the completion of the expansion of the Main Library.
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| Graphic/Jared Ombui |
On Wednesday, 23rd September 2008, in response to a petition by a group of students called Concerned Students Association, the Parliament started investigations into the handling of financial matters of Makerere University.
The investigation will be conducted by the Parliamentary Social Services Committee and will look into financial impropriety and the disputed fee increment that has cause outrage among the students’ community. “We are going to overhaul Makerere before it is too late because we feel there is a lot at stake,” Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, the Committee Chairperson, told The Ivory Post.
However, the Dean of Students, John Ekudu told The Ivory Post that the new fees are legitimate because they were decided by the University Council and approved by the Senate, the highest decision-making organs of the university.
“If anything is to be changed, it would necessitate calling the University Council to sit [again] and decide on it,” Mr. Ekudu said. “The problem with students is that they have failed to follow the right procedure to have their concerns heard.” He added that if students need to have their grievances solved, they should learn to discuss with the authorities instead using the “wrong forum”.
The Dean insisted that the decision to charge the now contentious fees was agreed upon because the University needed to raise Shs3.4bn (US$ 2,045,726) for completion of expansion of the library as a condition for winning a US$ 2.5 million grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. Makerere University outbid other African universities to win the grant to develop a model library in sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the proposal, all the 27,534 first-year and second-year government- and private-sponsored students would each contribute Shs. 123,500 so that the University can raise Shs. 3.4bn within two years. However, Minister of State for Higher Education, Gabriel Opio, later directed the University to refund the fees to the government-sponsored since the government subvention to Makerere would cover this cost.
Following the furore over the new fees, the Dean of Students and the University Librarian, Dr. Maria Musoke, convened a meeting with student leaders to explain how and for what the development fee is to be used. However it emerged during the meeting that the University Librarian’s explanation of how the disputed development fee will help in sustaining the model library hit a dead end as the students’ representatives vehemently disagreed. They instead proposed that the fee be completely scrapped.
The Students’ Guild President, Robert Rutaro, told journalists that he is opposed to the new fees but called upon the students to remain calm as his cabinet continues to consult with the University management. “This fee is too high for the poor parents to pay and should be scrapped,” he said, “I totally oppose it because my cabinet was not consulted. I want students to know that when this issue was debated in the Council I opposed it and I will continue opposing it.”
In the same meeting, the Chairman of Concerned Students Association, George Jjagwe, called on the student’s leaders not to listen to the “sweet talks” from the administration and advised them to rise up and fight injustices facing the students.
Asked for his take on issues raised by the Concerned Students Association, Ekudu called it an illegal association that is not registered with his office and vowed to handle it accordingly. But the University’s Legal Officer, Mr. Goddy Muhanguzi Muhumuza, told The Ivory Post that although the association is free to present its petition to Parliament, it was wrong to start telling students not to attend lectures and, in some instances, blocking those who are willing from entering lecture rooms.
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