OPINION: Despite the challenges, Makerere still remains incomparable 

WRITTEN BY:  Ignatius Hosiana

There was a time when being an Ivorian (Makerere student) was one of the most beautiful things about Uganda: It was a dream that you had from childhood and a big motivation to most of us while still in high school.

There was a time when to me there was no other university but the Ivory Tower and much as Makerere University was characterized by strikes, I knew that was part of the deal after all there is a bad side to everything. The dark side of the moon and black twinkle of the stars.

There was a time when being in Makerere earned a great deal of respect for you were in a historical and one of the best Universities in Africa.

Today, I wonder whether that status still stands! Does that status still count when we have a fat debt that might kill the university with complication that come with such a state and who is to blame for the debt for in old times, we always blamed the government but the government is the investigator in this matter. Could they be investigating themselves?

Does the status stand when Members of Parliament and other well-wishers have to gather to collect money to pay our debt? Does the status still stand when it’s clear we can’t stand alone? Does the status stand when apparently without that debt being cleared I cannot graduate, albeit the business school has nothing to do with it? And much as it’s a branch of the dying Mvule tree, it has managed to supply it’s leaves responsibly to avoid such unnecessary deficiencies?

Does the status still stand when the Business School wants to break away now more than ever and what will I call myself when we finally break away? Will it still be Makerere University Business School or will I have to watch my dream vanish, not because I didn’t do enough to climb the Ivory but simply because the tower crumbled?

Could this be the first incident when a butterfly turns into a caterpillar, will we soon be forced to resign to cocoons instead of flying in bright colors, heads high? Are we losing the status, are we going from grace to grass? I guess time will tell, but before that happens, pray for Makerere University and hold your head high for much as you are trapped in a quagmire of questions and politics, you are living many people’s dream. You are a Makererian and nothing, I repeat, nothing can ever be better than that.