Since early last week, rumours have persisted alleging that MAK’s guild president Bala David crossed over to the NRM party in Mbale District, where President Museveni had held campaign rallies earlier in the day. Campusbee understands that Bala was in the same district to attend a burial on that day.
In a cryptic facebook post, Bala called upon students to dismiss all rumours about him “with the contempt they deserve.” It’s not clear whether that post was particularly directed at the allegations that he had joined NRM or not. However, sources close to him say Bala denies having crossed to the party.
This, despite a picture in circulation on social media showing him shaking hands with the president. But does meeting the president always symbolize one’s crossing to NRM?
Our sources intimate to us that Bwowe Ivan, Bala’s predecessor who is still held in high regard by the students, had a top-secret meeting with President Museveni at State House in the aftermath of one of the many strikes that characterised his term of office. The fruits of that meeting allegedly include a state of the art Toyota Prado UAX… that Bwowe asked for and received from the president. It is this Prado that he later traded off for a more economic Toyota Harrier which he cruises in of late.
Less than a year since Bwowe’s said meeting with the president, the bespectacled law-graduate-to-be is contesting on a DP ticket to be Member of Parliament for Buyamba County.
Back to Bala’s alleged conversion to NRM, students at the Ivory Tower don’t seem amused by the reports, with many coming out on social media to condemn him while others are threatening to impeach him come next semester, accusing him of having sold out their soul to the “dictator”.
The students’ displeasure is understandable, as NRM seems to have fallen out of favour with students at the Ivory Tower. Indeed, Makerere has not had a guild president belonging to Uganda’s ruling party since John Teira’s reign in 2010. Whether Bala crossed to NRM or not, no one knows better than himself. What is obvious, however, is that Art. 29(1)(e) of Uganda’s Constitution protects every citizen’s freedom of association. On the other hand, Art. 10(3) of Makerere University Students’ Guild Constitution empowers students to impeach a guild president. The same Constitution is unclear about the grounds upon which a guild president can be lawfully impeached.
Could crossing to another political party be one of the grounds for impeachment?
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