During a meeting between President Yoweri Museveni and top Makerere University officials headed by Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, the NRM leader suggested that it is not a good idea for Makerere University to pay its lecturers using students’ tuition fees.
The meeting, which was held last Friday at State Lodge, Nakasero was also attended by the Minister of Education and Sports, Hon. Janet Museveni.
“These are government workers. They should not be paid using students’ tuition fees. They should be paid by Government,” Museveni emphasized.
The president also directed the Makerere University administration to compare their tuition fees structure with that of other public universities within the country and also within the East African region and come up with a reasonable tuition policy.
While talking about the recent military brutality during the Makerere demonstration against tuition increment, Museveni revealed that it is not the work of the military police to do that because they are not trained to manage crowds like the Police would do.
“My worry about the military police deployment at Makerere University is that they are not trained for that. The military are supposed to deal with crimes like terrorist attacks. They can back the Police but not to head the security at the University. I am going to direct the Inspector General of Police, Martin Ochola, to develop a security plan for Makerere University,” Museveni said.
As Makerere University students get prepared to sit for their end of semester exams (starting November 18th), Museveni advised that the students should be allowed to do their exams before explaining that people whose only wish is to fail the university are the ones engineering the idea of postponing the upcoming exams.