Campus Bee is in possession of what appears to be a leaked email thread from some of Makerere University’s lecturers begging the university’s PR machine to step in and save their image in light of the “damaging” sex for marks investigative story, NBS, a local TV Station aired on Monday.
In the thread, one of the authors also asks the TV station’s editorial and news team to “put on halt the airing of the clip on sex for marks for the good of the University”. “We would like the matter which is sensitive to be given a balanced coverage, and also to think of the other Lecturers whose image is at stake”.
The thread details some of the concerns from individual members of staff. One of these is a seemingly paranoid Aaron Mushengyezi from CHUSS:
“I watched the [sex for marks story] focusing only on Makerere University. Clearly, the entire news story was done in bad faith to dent Mak’s image. For example, in one case, a female student is “sighted” going to a lecturer’s office in COBAMS around 9PM and the TV reporter and Police storm the office and arrest the two, even though the reporter himself confesses they did not find them in a compromising situation.
I kept wondering: what makes it a crime for this lecturer to talk to the student when we, as a university, decided to run evening classes from 5 to 10PM? In the other cases “investigated”, only one lecturer is at least given a chance to give their side of the story, even though he declines.
Of course, we shouldn’t protect any member of staff who may be engaged in unprofessional conduct. But our PR team shouldn’t allow the university’s image to be rolled in the mud with this kind of frivolous, malicious, one-sided reporting. It is very bad.” On 31/05/2016b at 09:04 am, Michael Walimbwa, an Assistant Lecturer and Learning Technologies Specialist at the College of Education and External Studies weighed in: Dear colleagues, Yesterday NBS TV on its investigative journalism series presented a ‘thrashing’ presentation related to sex for marks at Makerere University that left me speechless!”.
Walimbwa proceeds to call the allegations in the story “baseless and unfounded. For that matter, I am requesting the PR officials to swing into action, otherwise some people out there may believe the entire story that is so denting to the image of this institution,” he concludes. In the thread, none of the lecturers either acknowledges or condemns the sex for marks acts by some of their colleagues or sympathizes with the victims of this dreaded vice, although many students who study from faculties like FEMA and CIT that Campusbee spoke to affirm that the practice is an open secret.
Apart from expressing concerns that the story is damaging the university’s as well as their reputation, it is not clear what has triggered panic among these lecturers who now want the broadcast of the sex for marks investigative story to be halted.
Are they really concerned about the university’s image, the “biased” nature of the investigation as they allege, or are merely worrisome of themselves or known colleagues being exposed in subsequent broadcasts? Your guess is as good as mine.
