Makerere needs a servant leader

By Patrick  Ajuna

The search process for the substantive vice-chancellor (VC)  of Makerere University is almost complete as the university council has already identified and selected the two best candidates from the many who had shown interest in the job. The only simple task that is remaining is for the chancellor, Prof. Mondo Kagonyera, to exercise his mandate by appointing one of the two as the new VC. 

I must applaud the two finalists, professors Barnabas Nawangwe and Ddumba Sentamu, the current acting principals of College of Technology, Art and Design and College of Economics and Management respectively for having been deemed the most eligible candidates to take over the mantle of the oldest and most prestigious university in East Africa. 

While both candidates have done tremendous work in their respective colleges, they must realise that the task of leading Makerere Universty is enormous and demands extra effort with selfless determination. This means that successes registered at faculty level may not have much bearing on their future performance at the top most Makerere job as the case of professors Livingstone Luboobi and later Venancius Baryamureeba can testify. 

One of the challenges Makerere has been facing for years is poor administration characterised with wrangles, power struggles, selfishness, lack of transparency, dishonesty, suspicion and mistrust, accusations and counter accusations among others as subsequent administrators fail to learn from their predecessors. 

Since both candidates are acquainted with the Makerere environment because of their long serving experience there, it is essential that whoever is chosen for the VC job establishes a close working relationship with his opponents through mutual trust and respect. This is because during the interviews, each of the last five candidates had an area where they performed better than others on administrative, academic, financial and integrity levels, among other aspects. 

It is good the outgoing VC, Baryamureeba, has already pledged to support whoever wins. I implore our good professor to do so in a good spirit for the sake of our cherished university. 

I am one of those who walked out of Makerere University with my post-graduate academic transcript on graduation day in 2011 as opposed to the three months hustle I had to go through to get my bachelor’s degree transcript seven years ago. 

I also benefited from Barya’s online registration process innovation that has made the day-long queues that used to characterise the registration process at Makerere a thing of the past.

 Basing on this, his services are still needed in whichever capacity, especially at such a time when Makerere is making strides in the process of repositioning itself. 

As the new Makerere VC assumes office, he will have to come to terms with the fact that the court of public opinion will not accord him much time to be subjected to a thorough scrutiny as Baryamureeba can testify. 

It is true that Makerere, like other public universities, is poorly funded by the Government, but this should not be used as an excuse for failure to perform because  the university generates a lot of money from thousands of its private students.