Makerere VC speaks out on Besigye’s fundraising campaign

The vice-chancellor of Makerere University, Prof John Ddumba-Ssentamu has said that as an institution they don’t welcome a fundraising campaign that was launched by the former FDC’s presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye.

During a phone Interview with Campus Bee, Prof Ddumba said Besigye should not interfere with how the institution is run because the money he was to collect wouldn’t solve anything.

“I’m wondering who told Besigye that Makerere was closed because of lack of money? It was closed because of the many strikes that were at the university,” he said.

Prof Ddumba added: We are not party to that fundraising as management… What could the money he was to collect solve? Would it pay the salary arrears,” the Economics professor wondered.

Following the continued closure of Makerere, Dr Besigye gave government a 10-day ultimatum on November 22, to have the third-best university in Africa reopened. It’s today that he and his team of a few MPs and other ‘well wishers’, following the expiry of the ultimatum, decided to launch the fundraising.

But their plans were thwarted by heavily deployed police who arrested several of those who turned up including the Makerere LCV Chairperson, Doreen Nyanjura, Ingrid Turinawe, Simon Wanyera who is a student leader, while Besigye’s car was blocked from the way.

To some students, the campaign to fundraise money for “heavily indebted” Makerere was good, while others never welcomed it.

For Steven Mayombwe, who is a GRC of school of Languages, Literature and Communication (SLLC),  fundraising itself isn’t a wise decision at all.

“FDC can do something much better. If they fundraise this month, then how about the next one? I am team permanent solution to Makerere woes,” Mayombwe said.

He added that MPs who flanked Besigye wouldn’t have pushed for the fundraising, but would  have rather used their powers to revise the Public Universities’ Act so as to increase more funding for the institution.

Makerere University was closed on November 1 by President Museveni due to the strikes that had gone violent. By then, lecturers had laid down their tools over failure by university management to pay their salary arrears that had accumulated from February to October this year, totalling to Shs28bn.