Makerere University closure bites business
Nov 17, 2016
Since President Museveni’s directive on the closure of Makerere, the business community surrounding the university continues to despair.
No business in sight. A Bodaboda cyclist waits for elusive customers at the Makerere University main gate.
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- Those still operating within the university are doing it illegally. Poverty has driven them to the limits.
- Only the University's main gate remains open. However, a hole has been cut into the wire mesh where security guards charge fee for illegal entry and exit
The news that government is going to pay Makerere university staffers their November salary even after the closure of the institution is a scant consolation for the business community around the campus.
Since President Museveni's directive on the closure of Makerere, the business community surrounding the university continues to despair.
Tweets about Museveni Closes Makerere University
Misery, abject poverty looms at Makerere
"We are struggling to survive in this harsh business environment. Those who sell perishables have since followed the students out of campus after their supplies got rotten without buyers," Seth Mujuni, says. He stealthily operates a kiosk behind Complex Hall.
Mujuni's only customers are Makerere University students who have defied the directive to go home. The others are the two security guards at a nearby ATM installation. These only take turns to yawn and don't offer serious business prospects.
The visibly hungry and students hang around the kiosk with hope he can extend credit facilities at least for the perishable items.
"What do you want me to do? Even if I stay home, my things will still get spoilt. I come here to console myself that I report for work. The reality is for how long I will live this lie?" he rhetorically asks.
Drop in the ocean: A stenographer attends to a client at an office below Mitchell Hall, Makerere University.
Visibly incensed, the surviving students threaten to savage us when it dawns we are documenting their plight.
Makerere University continues to be a valuable contributor to the economy of Wandegeya and other neighboring areas.
Restricted access to University
On Monday, (14 November), Dr. Rose Nassali Lukwago, the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Education and Sports in a letter to the University Secretary, Charles Barugahare, revealed that despite the indefinite closure, staff will receive their November pay since they were not dismissed.
Since the president's directive, all offices were closed and staffs were asked to park all university cars and hand in their keys.
A tour of the university's facilities on Wednesday showed that most of the facilities were closed. There was an eerie and haunted feel at the lecture rooms, halls of residence and many more installations.
University Hall, a main gateway to the university looks like a museum from afar. (Photo by Betty Amamukiror)
Prison walls: No human in sight as cockroaches and rats peep from the barricaded walls in the halls of residence.
Ghost streets: The once busy streets teeming with a sea of students are deserted. (Photo by Joyce Nakato)However, amid all the gloom, some have opted to soldier on. Isa Lukwago operates a stationery shop at one of the garages below Mitchell Hall. Water and power have been cut off as a way of dissuading students from staying. He till reports to work and uses a generator. That innovation hasn't guaranteed him work.
"I have bills, worker and rent to pay. That's why I report to work," he starts
Lukwago's woes are compounded by the fact that there is only one operational gate (the main gate). The chances of a customer walking in to his dinghy room, with many more offering similar secretarial and stenography services in Wandegeya add to his misery.
For every problem, there is a solution. With the Eastern and Western gates closed, he reveals that some of his customers access his shop by navigating through a gaping hole cut from the newly erected wire mesh. He will not tell where.
"The students are our main source of livelihood. Even if the lecturers and other non-teaching staff are paid, it doesn't translate to improved fortunes for us. Government should open the university as a matter of urgency," he pleads.
Outside business feel pinch
Outside Makerere University, most outlets have been turned to serve the student community. Merchandize shops, boutiques and restaurants form the bulk of business. These are feeling the pinch, although gradually.
"There is a great decline in the number of people branching to buy designer outfit," Eva Nabankema, a fashion designer operating below Wandegeya's Eastern gate reveals. Before the closure, she would get 15 walk in customers and sell to the tune of sh100, 000 a day. Due to low business, she spends her time playing Ludo (It has been branded an idler's game).
Photo by Betty Amamukiror
Although many businesses have suffered due to the closure, some are progressing normally. A taxi tout revealed it was business as usual. "You mean the university was closed? Where do all these passengers come from?" he sarcastically asked.