The five-member committee appointed to investigate sexual harassment at Makerere University revealed that the biggest public university in Uganda habours a ‘climate of impunity’ in which sexual harassment and abuse takes place. This was revealed through a report addressed to the institute’s Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe released on Monday.
The report states that staff and students know the notorious perpetrators; stories do the rounds in hushed whispers but rarely are the perpetrators held to account. In some cases, perpetrators are indeed reported, however the relevant units rarely take the appropriate investigative action. This is particularly true for academic “stars” who attract huge financial grants into the university, or who are respected by their peers and students. The fear of law suits is another reason why many cases are not tried and concluded. The culture of impunity that surrounds sexual harassment and rape at the university thus allows for the vice to thrive. Such impunity was demonstrated by the fact that while this Committee was conducting its investigations, a fresh case arose, with an allegation involving an individual from the Academic Registrar’s Department however, investigations into this case were ongoing at the time of writing this report.
“Over the years, several known perpetrators of sexual harassment and assaults at Makerere have got away unpunished and continue with employment at the university. Persistent incidents of sexual abuse are routinely swept under the rugs. In addition, there is a deeply unchecked “fraternity” culture among male students, which produces, reinforces and poisons the campus environment with sexist vulgarities and profanities. Such culture emboldens the perpetrators to act with impunity, engendering a culture of silence that allows the abuse to continue unabated. When victims sense that perpetrators do not face serious consequences, they do not bother to report other cases, thus unwittingly protecting the predators,” the report reads in part.
“Additionally, the physical infrastructure and organizational environment at Makerere University is highly conducive to serial sexual harassment. Most buildings on campus do not have 24-hour security or surveillance cameras. Although street lighting on campus has improved tremendously, there are still several dark spots along walkways. For example, part of Mary Stuart Road between CEDAT and Lumumba Hall has no functioning lights and West Road is totally dark. The university boundaries are extremely porous and all types of people enter campus unchecked. The majority of students stay off campus and many live in hostels outside the main campus. The university does not provide any security for such students, such as a night-time escort service, leaving them vulnerable to sexual assaults. Although there is a police station on the main campus, there is no regular security patrol on the campus grounds.”
The committee recommended that a safe and secure environment on campus would go a long way in reducing incidents of sexual harassment and abuse. Apart from the Policy and Guidelines against Sexual Harassment, Makerere University has several other policies, including the Gender Equality Policy, the Professional Integrity and Standards Policy and the Human Resources Policy. However, these policies are not effectively implemented. The general university failure to enforce policies has generated a culture of impunity and a belief that the bark of the policies will never be accompanied by a serious bite.
