Following today’s voting by Makerere lecturers to suspend their strike, the vice chancellor of the university Prof John Ddumba Ssentamu has said the date of reopening the campus will now be determined by the president.
In an interview with Campus Bee, Prof Ddumba commended the lecturers for their decision to call off a strike that had seen the campus get closed for close to two months, adding he and council can’t make an autonomous decision of opening the campus.
“Chairman council [Dr Eng Charles Wana-Etyem] will communicate to the president, ministry of education and find a way forward,” said Ddumba, who is also council member.
After today’s four-hour meeting, lecturers of the oldest institution of higher learning, under their umbrella body, Makerere University Academic staff Association (Muasa), voted to suspend a strike that had drawn a public outcry, labelling them as greedy and unpatriotic.
From the voting process, 81 lecturers voted to call off the strike while 56 wanted the strike to continue with campus closed.
According to the chairman Muasa, Dr Muhammad Kiggundu, the association started in 1989 and currently has 7000 members. But only 137 turned up to vote.
From the meeting, Campus Bee learnt that the whole Muasa executive was tired of the strike, including Dr Kiggundu himself.
But in a another separate interview, Dr Kiggund told Campus Bee that their retreat doesn’t mean they are cowards.
“We are going to continue negotiating with council to see that our salary arrears are fully paid. It’s not a matter of trying to squeeze water out of a rock. So we are saying that late the visitation committee do its work in a favourable condition., that is when the campus is open and they are able to talk to lectures, students, non-teaching staff. That way, they will be able to get recommendations that will solve Makerere issues once and for all,” Dr Kiggundu explained.
