Makerere VC Nawangwe/ Courtesy Picture
Makerere University Vice Chancellor has blocked the planned student-organized guild elections that was slated for August 9th, 2022. Students led by the outgoing Makerere University Guild Shamim Nambasa had planned to organize elections for the new Guild President and their respective College Guild representatives.
They circulated posters in different student “WhatsApp” groups inviting them to the planned guild polls. While there were no signs of elections on the campus on Tuesday, the Vice-chancellor wrote suspending the “planned” elections. In an August 9th, 2022 letter addressed to the chairperson of the 88th Guild Electoral Commission, Nawangwe insisted that there will be no elections at the University this semester.
“It has come to the attention of the University management that the 88th Guild Electoral commission has called on students to have an election on 9th August 2022. I would like to remind the electoral commission that any move to hold elections this semester contrary to the resolution by the University will have serious consequences for you as an individual,” reads part of the letter.
Adding that; “The University management would like to re-affirm its position that there will be no elections this semester and hereby call on the students at Makerere University to prepare for the forthcoming examinations. Any move to hold or mobilize students to turn up in any act of illegality will face disciplinary action”
While addressing a press conference at Grand Global Hotel on August 3rd, 2022, Nambasa together with some of the Guild aspirants asked the University council to reinstate the Guild leadership and elections, claiming that the University cannot run without student representatives.
The university council resolved to suspend the guild elections following the chaotic campaigns last month that resulted in the death of Bewotti Batungura, a student from Uganda Christian University. The university council also suspended all activities in the senior common room, caretaker government, and all guild leadership structures.
The Council further set up a six-member committee to review all operations of the student’s leadership before a final decision is made. On July 29th, 2022, student leaders led by Sulaiman Namwoza, the speaker of Lumumba hall selected a committee of five students to engage the University council to reinstate the Guild leadership.
Nambasa however, says that their attempts to reach out to the Varsity council have not yielded positive results. Kelvin Luyombya, the General Secretary of the select committee explains that student leaders play different roles that can barely be emulated by the University administrators, and the absence of the Guild leadership affects many students.
