Polly Bandola, a fourth year student pursuing a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery is currently being held by police for trying to burn Mitchell hall of residence in Makerere University as well as threatening to harm Frank Mugwizi, the hall warden.
According to the Kampala metropolitan police spokesperson, Patrick Onyango, Bandola was on Monday found with a five litre Jerrycan of petrol in his room, which they termed as clear evidence that he was plotting to burn down his hall of residence.
“Yesterday (Monday), we got a report from the warden of Mitchell hall about a student who had threatened to harm him just because he had been told to leave his room. He also threatened to burn his hall of residence,” Onyango said.
Bandola reportedly got three retakes and according to the university policy, such a student is supposed to leave the hall of residence and start taking care of him or herself even when that student is government sponsored.
According to the warden, Bandola refused to vacate the room as per the university policy, which is believed to be the genesis of a clash between the two.
While talking to NTV, some of Bandola’s friends who preferred anonymity revealed that the allegations are untrue. They revealed that the said petrol belongs to one of them who uses it to ‘clean and repair machines’, explaining that it wasn’t five litres as alleged.
Bandola’s friends also claimed that he is being framed by the university management following his previous participation in several protests against their plan to increase tuition fees.