There has been unrest at Kyambogo University for the past two days leading to running battles between Police, Local Defense Unit (LDU) and students pushing for the reinstatement of their guild president, Jonathan Tundulu. It all started the Guild Representative Council (GRC) impeached Tundulu citing lack of leadership skills and disrespectful character.
Kyambogo University Vice Chancellor, Professor
Eli Katunguka is accusing students from Makerere University and Makerere
University Business School (MUBS) of stirring violence at Kyambogo. Prof. Katunguka says they have
intelligence reports indicating that students from the two institutions are
fueling violence against Kyambogo university management.
There has been unrest
at Kyambogo University for the past two days
leading to running battles between Police, Local Defense Unit (LDU) and
students pushing for the reinstatement of their guild president, Jonathan
Tundulu. It all started the Guild
Representative Council (GRC) impeached Tundulu citing lack of leadership skills
and disrespectful character.
However, the student fraternity
accuses management of conniving with external forces to remove Tundulu who is
allied to the ‘People Power’, a political pressure group led by the Kyadondo
East MP, Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine. On Friday evening, police picked Tundulu
and locked him up at Jinja Road Police Station on charges of inciting violence.
Professor Katunguka explains that the students’
guild cabinet decided to impeach the guild for allegedly concentrating on
national politics and abandoning his responsibility towards students. URN has established that on the morning of September
25th, Tundulu called a meeting of his cabinet but he didn’t show up.
It is on
the afternoon of the same day, that the GRC constituted and questioned the Guild
president for instituting an ‘illegal vetting committee” to assess the
minister’s performance. Tundulu would later be impeached on October 2,
2019 by an overwhelming majority of 74 GRC members, six (6) abstained while 4
voted against the impeachment.
There were two invalid votes. According to
Katunguka, immediately, after the vote of no confidence, Tundulu’s team
rampaged destroying university property and disrupted lectures.
//Cue in: “The team that supports…
Cue out: …very quickly.”//
The provisions for moving a vote of no
confidence in the guild are provided for in Article 10 of the Kyambogo Guild
constitution. Katunguka has called for calm in the university. “While students continue to exercise their
powers as contained in their guild constitution, I call up on all students to
remain calm, concentrate on their studies and avoid all manner of hooliganism,”
says Katunguka.
He says those who want to cause trouble will not
be allowed and that the police will be on the look out to arrest anyone
disrupting the peace of others.
//Cue in: “I have been here since…
Cue out: …is not there.”//
According to Katunguka, Tundulu has appealed
against his impeachment, saying the university management and council will now have to
decide the fate of the students’ leadership.
“The impeachment process is not yet completed
because the president has appealed and he is allowed to appeal. And a provision
in their constitution says that once the president is impeached, then fresh
elections must be held. That’s the matter we shall discuss later because a
fresh election requires about 180 million Shillings which has not been budgeted
for,” Katunguka said.
Katunguka says a small group of misguided youth
is disrupting activities at the university. He contends that the group is bent on causing violence
and disruption;
“The challenge we have had with the current guild
administration is that they have been unwilling to listen. I called them for a
meeting to discuss their issues and they refused to come! If you can’t have a
meeting with your vice chancellor to discuss your issues, how will they end?”
he asked.
A number of students interviewed by URN, said management was simply against their guild president
who has refused to compromise on their demands to have the 12 weeks’ tuition
policy rescinded.
Vox Pops
//Cue in: “The twelve
weeks’ police…
Cue out: …like other people.”//
Tundulu told URN on
Friday that he had severally written to the university management on the
student grievances particularly the 12-weeks tuition policy in vain.
But Katunguka insists that he has no powers to rescind the policy, arguing that
the students must pay fees to enable the university run effectively.
