Dorcus Inzikuru

THE greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually fear you will make one…This is exactly what Government and the law makers are doing to our public universities; by delaying the decision to directly appoint Vice Chancellors in public universities.

The confusion at Makerere University, which is not arguably the best university in the country, was on Monday this week splashed in the global eyes. The whole world at least got to know that one of the best universities on the continent was in a mix over a mere search of a Vice Chancellor.

As the day broke, there were already indications that the last phase of public presentations by the seven candidates for the university’s top administrative job was headed for a ditch.

When the time came, this came true. As six of the candidates shunned the interview process y protesting the way the search process was being conducted, their fellow contestant Prof. Venansius Barya went ahead and declared to the public his plan for Makerere, if reappointed.

Word coming in is that the Council has now ordered the Search Committee to proceed with the process, and ignore those who shunned the interviews.

The rest of the candidates, argued that the process was flawed, twisted and needed a quick comb; before they could stand on the same podium with Prof. Baryamureeba to tell the world what they were planning to do for one of the continent’s best universities. 

I was there. I saw and felt pity for the great Makerere.

This was a clear reflection of the disease that has for years been eating down the university. The image of the public universities, especially Makerere University, has taken a beating in the last one decade with top officials of the university busy washing dirty linen in public.

Amidst all this, the biggest spark of all controversies in universities has always been salaries, allowances, promotions, and the scramble for the top administrative jobs of the Vice Chancellors.

As Makerere, the leading public university; continues with the selection process of a Vice Chancellor, there have been so much bickering, accusations, revelations and probes.  But, this never surfaces in private universities even when there is a change of the Vice Chancellor.

For almost a decade, cutting through regimes of Professors, John Ssebuwufu, Livingstone Luboobi and now Venansius Baryamureeba; there has always been ‘wars’ between the staff and management; with some resulting in to nasty strikes.

Apart from the quick need of enacting Statutes that guide the operations of universities, I believe there is need for direct appointments of the vice chancellor in public universities.

This would be a shift from the current system where the Vice Chancellors are voted on in the University’s Senate and later Council, before a name(s) are forwarded to the Chancellor for appointment. It seems, even with the change of office bearers, there will always be bickering, till the issue of conclusively solved.

Under the current University and Tertiary Institution Act which is under review, there is will be a Search process which receives applications, shortlists and interviews candidates.

Section 31(3) adds that, “A search committee composed of two members from the University Council and three members from the University Senate shall identify suitable candidates for the post of Vice Chancellor and forward them to the Senate to nominate three candidates for recommendation to the University Council.”  

Senate forwards three names, from which the Council choses the best candidate(s), to forward to the Chancellor. The Vice Chancellor is appointed by the Chancellor on the recommendation of the University Council.

The University and Tertiary Institutions Act, was enacted in 2001. It was amended in 2003, and later in 2006, to fill the gaps that had been identified at the time. Despite the amendments, public universities were not moving on smoothly, due to inadequacies in the law.

Consequently, in March 2006, President Yoweri Museveni in his capacity as Visitor of all Public universities, appointed a 12 person Visitation Committee to Public universities. 

The Committee completed his work in 2007 and Government subsequently issued a White Paper with key recommendations. The Paper was presented in Parliament in 2008, and referred to the Social Services Committee, which made consultations in Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, and USA.

The Committee on the VC issue had recommended that, “to improve the current elective system of officials and top academicians which has been prescribed by the law, public universities should consider a system which combines the search approach and the elective approach.”