Strikes in Makerere University are not going to be the same if the new regulations passed the University Council as local media is reporting are anything to go by.
According to media reports, the top decision making organ of the institution has put in place stringent code of conduct guidelines that not only outlaw many of the most common features of strikes at the university but also stretch into students bedrooms and and internal body organs.
Should students engage in strikes as the university has become notorious for, the last thing they should dare do is set up roadblocks, collect money commonly known as “akatwaalo” from motorists, light fires, destroy the environment or any other form of violent conduct.
The university has in recent times seen an upsurge in student strikes which have on many ocassions ended violently with police and students engaging in running battles and some students injured. The hooliganistic approach to these strikes by some students has greatly sullied the university’s image and by extension made it harder for recent graduates of Makerere to get jobs.
Perharps in reaction to the various fellowships sprouting up everywhere on campus, the council has also allegedly banned holding prayer sessions in ungazetted places.
Early this year, a row erupted between the organisers of the popular Afrostone fellowship that used to take place at Livingstone hall and university management after the worshippers were precluded from holding their fellowship at the hall again. This was after some residents at the hall complained that the fellowship was depriving them of sleep and also interfering with their revision.
It is alleged that consequently, the organisers sued the university for infringement on their freedom of worship, although the university was declared a secular institution in a famous 2003 lawsuit brought against it by Sharon Dimanche, who was a student at the same university by then.
Not done yet, the guidelines signed by the university council’s Chairperson Eng. Charles Wana Etyem and Gazetted in mid July have also outlawed any form of sexual immorality acts on campus as well as the imbibing of any alcoholic drink.
Currently, just a month after the regulations took effect, the famous Mitchellex bazaar where taking of alcohol is the order of the day for some is happening at Mitchell hall for the next one and a half weeks. If the goings-on there are anything to go by, enforcing the new regulations is already proving to be one uphill task for the university.
The punishments awaiting any student who violates any of the guidelines include dismissal from the university, replacement of damaged property, suspension from the hall of residence and others.
When Campusbee sounded her out for a comment, Makerere University’s public relations officer Ms. Namisango Ritah declined to comment on the matter, saying an official communication will be made at a later date.
Students have received the news with mixed reactions. Shakirah, a 2nd year student welcomes the new regulations and says it is high time the university enected such to reign in hooliganism at the institution.
However, other students we spoke to are anything but amused by the regulations. “Is the university going to hire sex police to smoke out those engaged in the immoral acts?” Myra, a student of I. T. quipped.
“I am aware that not everyone who stays in Muk is a student. Some people actually have residences inside the campus, isn’t it illegal for the university to pass such a regulation affecting home owners as well? The law is simply too vague.” Another student at the School of Social Sciences added.
