By Marvin Twiinawe
The Uganda Christian University (UCU) 25th Guild Government has now served for over a month without a financial year Budget.
Timothy Ddumba’s Government took Oath of Office on 24th Jan 2023 after a petition by the 1st runner up Jorem Edonu contesting the November 2022 Presidential results did not impact a thing.
Ddumba’s Government then officially took over office on 24th Feb ,2023 in a hand over ceremony that was presided over by the Dean of Students Affairs Mrs .Bridget Mugasira.
Since then, the Uganda Christian University (UCU) 25th Guild Government has been serving without an official Students Guild budget yet it has run some activities including the inter-faculty tournament.
According to Chapter 10, Section 95 , Clause (3) of the Students ‘ Guild Constitution of Uganda Christian University, The Guild Parliament pass a Guild budget before the beginning of each fiscal year, which budget shall reflect the objective of the Constitution to promote the the General Welfare of all the students of Uganda Christian University.
Such budgets shall be submitted to the financial advisor and the University Council, through the Student Affairs Board, as defined by clause (5) of Article 99, for his or her review before the beginning of each fiscal year.
Section 99 Clause (2) states that the President with approval of the Director of Student Affairs or Dean of Students shall authorize the expenditure of the Guild Finances, and the Minister of Finance for necessary references shall keep the documents of expenditure.
But ever since the Guild parliament passed the Shs216 Million budget about 3 weeks ago and sent it to the DOSA’s office for approval, it has since not been approved hence delaying release of funds.
The Deputy Speaker of the 25th Guild Parliament, Rt .Hon Emmanuel Edonu in an interview with UCU Focus Tv stated that Parliament had passed a shs 216 Million Budget pending the DOSA’s approval.
“We were given a sum of about shs 216 Million to budget on and we sat down as Parliament to appropriate the money to different Ministries,” said Edonu.
“We have presented our final budget to the office of the DOSA and we are waiting for approval from her,” he added.
The Guild president H.E Timothy Ddumba said last year in his manifesto that he was looking at prioritizing the ICT sector, the students Guild Fund among other promises.
With the Budget yet to be approved, it means that all these promises and various student activities still hang in balance especially the Guild Fund which is an initiative that helps students with tuition challenges, with at least a little penny to clear their balances before doing their End of Semester exams that are just less than two weeks away.
Other student activities that have been affected by the delay in approval of the Guild Budget include the Guild Bazaar which often happens at the beginning of the semester but didn’t take place due to lack of funds.
The inter-faculty tournament that has been carried out despite the delay in the approval of funds has also been criticized due to the fact that there were no monetary prizes for the winner and also for individual performances such as “Man of the match accolades.”
With less than three weeks to the end of the January Semester, it’s still not clear when the Final students Guild Budget will be released.
