Makerere once-again resumes search for Deputy Vice-Chancellor

EDUCATION |

THE Makerere University Council has instructed the Senate, for the third time to make initiate a search process, for a new Deputy Vice-Chancellor in-charge of Finance and Administration; to replace Prof.  William Bazeyo who recently resigned.

The University's Vice-Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe told ‘New Vision' on Friday, "The Council has directed that a search process for the deputy Vice-Chancellor be redone. We expect the Senate to start the process next week."

Nawangwe also confirmed, that in the meantime, Dr Josephine Nabukenya has been appointed as acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Makerere University, for a period of one year; until a substantive Deputy is appointed.

Dr. Bazeyo, who has been holding this office in an acting capacity; resigned following queries over his academic qualifications. The petitioners argued that he was not fit to hold or even contest for the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor. But in his resignation, he cited, "Personal and Family" as the reasons for quitting.  

He also withdrew his candidature from the then-ongoing search for the substantive Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Finance and Administration).  In a message posted he posted on the university platform, Bazeyo noted, "I wish to thank you all for the support you rendered to me as I served and made a contribution to our great university. For those that I could have offended while I executed my duties, I sincerely apologize. I would like to believe that together we can make a bigger contribution so that we leave no room to be judged by history."

Bazeyo, save his contribution to bringing research funds to the university during his stay, he has been covered in a string of disputes with a section of alumni questioning the credibility of his qualifications.   The petitioners argued that he obtained his PhD from the Hawaii-based Atlantic International University, which is not recognized by the United States Department of Education.  But, to be eligible candidates for the seat of a Deputy Vice-Chancellor, one should possess a PhD from a recognised institution.

The National Council for Higher Education concurred with petitioners, and in its letter to Makerere's Search Committee, noted that it did not recognise the qualifications from the Atlantic International University.

Genesis

Makerere University has been in a search of a Deputy Vice-Chancellor; for almost three years. This fell vacant in 2017 when Nawangwe, who held it was appointed to take over as the university's Vice-Chancellor. 

Prof. Bazeyo replaced him in an acting capacity. And later emerged the best candidate, when a search for a substantive Deputy Vice-Chancellor was put up in 2019. However, the High court quashed the results of the search process, when some of the candidates in the race petitioned the High Court; saying the exercise was ‘unfair and unlawful'. 

But, before a new committee was instituted to conduct a fresh search, Bazeyo was re-appointed by the Chancellor, in acting capacity despite an uproar from his competitors. The withdrawal of Prof. Bazeyo from the fresh search process had left two candidates in the race; Prof. Anthony Mugisha and Associate Professor Allan Katwalo.

Nabukenya to hold office temporarily

Nabukenya was appointed this week by the Chancellor Prof. Ezra Suruma; to deputise Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe.

Prof. Suruma's instructions are grounded in powers vested in him under Section 56(1) of the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act, 2001 (as amended).

Nabukenya will serve alongside Assoc. Prof. Umar Kakumba, who is also a Deputy Vice-Chancellor, in charge of Academics.

She is an Associate Professor of Information Systems at the School of Computing and Informatics Technology, Makerere University.

She has over 15 years of experience in Information Systems development, implementation and evaluation, and ICT Policy and Strategy formulation in the application domains of Health and Government.

Her PhD is in Information Systems from Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on IS in the areas of: Analysis & Modeling of Data /Information Flow; Impact Evaluations; Strategic Information Management; Enterprise Architecture and Collaboration Engineering.

She is the Academics Director for the PhD & Masters Health Informatics Programmes. Before joining Makerere University in 2002, she worked with the ministry of health as a Senior Information Scientist and conceptualized the automation of the Resource Centre for electronic data storage and retrieval; and actively participated in the HMIS and data warehouse evolution.

She is the Founder and Chair of the Health Informatics Research Group. She is a member of the Uganda eHealth Technical Working Group, and Digital Health and Interoperability Working Group of Health Data Collaborative.

She was part of the 10-member Core Team that developed the Uganda eHealth Policy and Strategy and collaborating with the Ministry of Health (MoH) for its implementation.

Details from the University also show that she is leading research on the development and implementation of the: National eHealth Enterprise Architecture and HIE Framework for Uganda; Standards and Interoperability for electronic/digital health in Uganda; and Data Use and Interoperability for Health Facilities.

She also handling research on Automation of the National Client, Health Worker and Health Facility Registries respectively, using the Immunization Programme as a case study.