Makerere University students on strike
Apr 15, 2011
MAKERERE University students yesterday rioted following a proposal to raise their fees from sh3m to sh6m per student per year.
By E. Ssejjoba and S. Nakandah
MAKERERE University students yesterday rioted following a proposal to raise their fees from sh3m to sh6m per student per year.
The riot came only hours after the university administration announced that the proposal had been shelved pending further consultations.
The Police fired tear gas in running battles with the enraged students who set fire on telephone booths around the main Library, Faculty of Sciences, Senate building and other places. The Police also blocked the students taking the demonstration outside the campus to destroy more property.
Some students who were drinking alcohol pelted the police with stones and sticks while chanting. Some carried tree branches and erected barricades on university roads, broke into kiosks and looted merchandise.
The students also hijacked a Red Cross ambulance and drove it around the campus, while other students stormed the exhibition at the faculty of Food Science and Technology and looted the foods and drink that were on display.
The guild deputy prime minister, Kennedy Lamunu, said students were angry over the proposed tuition fees increment and their leaders’ efforts to get an explanation from the administrative had become futile.
“We stand with the students. This is a public university that gets funds from government and donors but we see no accountability. All the facilities and structures are in poor state,†she said.
She said the students’ leadership had not been consulted about the proposed increment.
The university secretary, Muhwezi Kahunda, recently told the Parliament public accounts committee that the sh6m increment was an average cost, but would differ from course to course. Kahunda told MPs that the new fees structure should take effect next academic year.
Kahunda told the committee that the proposed figures were recommended by the Auditor General after a study on how much it takes to educate a student in a public university.
But following a public outcry the university on Thursday decided to shelve the increment pending further consultations.
MAKERERE University students yesterday rioted following a proposal to raise their fees from sh3m to sh6m per student per year.
The riot came only hours after the university administration announced that the proposal had been shelved pending further consultations.
The Police fired tear gas in running battles with the enraged students who set fire on telephone booths around the main Library, Faculty of Sciences, Senate building and other places. The Police also blocked the students taking the demonstration outside the campus to destroy more property.
Some students who were drinking alcohol pelted the police with stones and sticks while chanting. Some carried tree branches and erected barricades on university roads, broke into kiosks and looted merchandise.
The students also hijacked a Red Cross ambulance and drove it around the campus, while other students stormed the exhibition at the faculty of Food Science and Technology and looted the foods and drink that were on display.
The guild deputy prime minister, Kennedy Lamunu, said students were angry over the proposed tuition fees increment and their leaders’ efforts to get an explanation from the administrative had become futile.
“We stand with the students. This is a public university that gets funds from government and donors but we see no accountability. All the facilities and structures are in poor state,†she said.
She said the students’ leadership had not been consulted about the proposed increment.
The university secretary, Muhwezi Kahunda, recently told the Parliament public accounts committee that the sh6m increment was an average cost, but would differ from course to course. Kahunda told MPs that the new fees structure should take effect next academic year.
Kahunda told the committee that the proposed figures were recommended by the Auditor General after a study on how much it takes to educate a student in a public university.
But following a public outcry the university on Thursday decided to shelve the increment pending further consultations.