Graft: Makerere students ask Museveni to resign

Makerere University students last week circulated a 10-day ultimatum to Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni to resign in light of the rampant corruption in his government and the ailing economy.

The students, aligned to opposition political parties, were reacting to recent revelations that Museveni personally signed away Ush142 billion ($60 million) to businessman Hassan Bassajjabalaba as compensation for cancelled contracts and a $740 million fighter jet purchase that critics argue is not in the national interest.

The students threatened that “massive demonstrations will rock the capital” if Mueveni did not step down.

“We have given the president up to the 26th of this month.

If he does not resign, we will stage the biggest civil demonstrations this country has seen, with Makerere as the epicenter.

There are many other concerned citizens behind us,” said Andrew Angulo, Uganda Peoples Congress chairman at Makerere University.

The university staff, meanwhile, are currently agitating for the government to pay salary arrears and top-up allowances and raise salaries. They are demanding that the lowest teaching staff grade salary be raised to Ush8 million ($3,300).

It was recently revealed in parliament that the Bank of Uganda paid Ush142 billion ($60 million) to Bassajabalaba last year to compensate him for losses he incurred in city market deals between 2005 and 2008.

 “That’s unfair. You cannot pay these billions to an individual when an institution that generates knowledge and its labour force is neglected for years,” said Dr Tanga Odoi, chairman of Makerere University Academic Staff Association (MUASA).

Makerere University is currently enjoying a high profile, having last year unveiled a prototype electric vehicle, the Kiira EV, designed by students on a shoestring Ush114 million ($47,500) budget.

This and other groundbreaking research and innovations saw the university rise to eighth in Africa in the latest university rankings.

The project co-ordinator for the Kiira EV, Paul Isaac Musasizi, a lecturer at Makerere, said after completing the two-seater car, his team at the Centre for Research in Transportation Technologies (CRTT) is embarking on a bigger project that will require cash injections over the next five years.

“We are looking at bigger projects,” he said.

“The immediate plan is to develop a 28-seater to address public transport in the city. But we are also looking beyond this into marine transport, aviation... it will take time to incubate the technology.” However, he said, CRTT’s annual budget is “a paltry Ush450 million ($187,500).”

The demand for Museveni’s resignation represents a shift in approach by Makerere students, whose protests have hitherto centred on grievances specific to student welfare rather than national issues.