National Female Youth MP and former Guild President of Makerere University Anna Adeke revealed a disturbing ordeal of his chapter as a Makerere University student while addressing students in a Tweet Chat at Telepresence Centre (Senate Building).
Adeke, who went on to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Law was speaking at a Tweet Chat organised by The Association of Women Lawyers in Uganda (FIDA) in commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism Against Sexual and Gender Based Violence on Friday November 16th.
Adeke was expanding the concept of sexual harassment in universities from the usual Lecturer- Student harassment to include harassment by students on fellow students.
“The vice is not only in matters to do with marks but also among students themselves and some do it ignorantly in the name of ‘culture’ and tradition” Adeke said.
She narrated the sexual harassment she faced in the build up to her guild election when students would ‘demand’ that she hugs them if she wanted them to vote her. A tradition commonly referred to as “aka hug” in Makerere and predominantly practiced by the male population on the female, never vice versa.
“During my election, they sang shaming songs for me and it is such culture in Makerere that makes sexual harassment comfortable” she added.
She revealed that the harassment manifested itself more and more as the voting drew closer to and she was almost denied campaigning time and space at Lumumba Hall if she had totally refused to dress “Gongom” (Lumumba Hall’s prize replica of an erect ancestor) with a condom.
Luckily for her, she went on to win the race but she says that she regrets not being able to make amends to rectify the situation on sexual harassment in Makerere. Instead, she believes she got the chance to redeem herself and impact meaningful change when she was elected to parliament where she moved the motion to look into sexual harassment tendencies in universities.
Adeke believes for the vice to be totally eradicated in the institution, the power gap between students and staff must be revised. She said even if the student, in the circumstances, accepted to have sex with the lecturer, that type of consent would still be wanting.
“There can never be rightful consent if there is no balance of power. In whatever circumstance, the students will always be underpowered to give rightful consent” she said.
While calling out all stakeholders to join in on the fight against sexual harassment and while citing the exploits of the late educationist and St. Lawrence schools proprietor Prof Mukiibi, Adeke said the topic shouldn’t just be in institutions of higher learning but all learning institutions all over the country.
For her part, the Programs Manager at FIDA, Mercy Munduru acknowledged steps that the university is taking to curb the vice of sexual harassment but wondered if the situation was the same in institutions that have not had anyone shine a light on them.
“Makerere University is one of the universities that has at least taken a step to try to look into sexual harassment and find solutions to the vice. But what about the rest of the institutions?” she asked.
The Tweet Chat also had NBS reporter Raymond Mujuni, and Makerere University Gender Mainstreaming Directorate’s Eric Tumwesigye.
