News reaching the Ugandan Daily this afternoon is that of the protests that have sparked off within Makerere University staff members which are against the University’s decision to search for a new Deputy Vice chancellor in charge of finance and administration during a period where all academic institutions are closed.
This comes after the High Court nullifying the appointment of Prof William Bazeyo saying that his appointment was irregular hence calling upon eligible people to fill in the vacant position in the university administration.
The main cause of the protest is that the search is being done in the Lockdown period disadvantaging some staff members who may be interested in the position but are unable to move to the university most especially those in the boarder districts.
On addition to this, the staff members accuse the current Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe for appointing the people to be on the search committee yet he shouldn’t interfere in the exercise being a member on the Senate.
According to Dr Deus Kamunyu, the chairperson of Makerere University Academic Staff Association (MUASA), Prof Barnabas Nawangwe selected a search committee without consulting other senate members and this can cause irregularities in the choice of who to put in position of the Deputy Vice Chancellor.
“While the university was under lockdown, you sent a WhatsApp message to Senate in May, communicating that you had unilaterally decided in your capacity as chairman of senate to request the already disputed search committee to start the search process,” Kamunyu wrote to Prof Nawangwe.
The staff members want the Senate to restructure the search committee and also the search for people to fill the available vacancies to be rescheduled to when universities open.
The staff want the senate to constitute a new committee to lead the search process when schools reopen.
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