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Uganda: Makerere University Cuts Food Rations
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New Vision (Kampala)
14 May 2008
Posted to the web 15 May 2008
Chris Kiwawulo
Kampala
THE soaring food prices have strained the budget of Makerere University, forcing the administration to cut down on students' meals.Besides reducing the quantity of food served, the university has also revised the menu at various halls of residence.
"We have been subjected to posho and beans without any other meal for a week now. This is unfair," a second-year social sciences student of University Hall said.
In the past, the menu used to have meat, rice, chicken, matooke, sweat potatoes, posho and beans alternated for lunch and supper, in addition to bread and milk for breakfast.
The Dean of Students, John Ekudu, explained that the change in menu resulted from the ever-increasing food prices, adding that they were working hard to ensure that the students did not have the same meals for days.
In a circular on Monday, Ekudu wrote: "As you may have noticed, food prices have gone up but the funding to the university remains the same. As a result, some items might be missing on the menu."
He asked the students to bear with them until the end of the semester, explaining that the university had no extra money to cater for the soaring food prices.
They would ask the Government for more money to cater for next semester, he added.
The notices have been pinned at various halls of residence. Authorities said this was a proactive measure to avoid student demonstrations.
Currently, the university spends about sh1,800 per day on each of the 6,000 students who take meals at the university.
This means that the university spends about sh1.4b on food per semester.
"Next semester, the university should cut the budget of other things and increase the budget for food to match the increasing prices and ensure that the quality is not compromised," said guild president Robert Rutaro.
Prices of foods like matooke, millet flour, cassava and sweet potatoes doubled in the last six months.
The prices have forced many secondary schools to increase school fees by between sh10,000 and sh30,000 for the next term.
The increase is partly due to the high price of fuel on the international market, the increased demand from Kenya, which saw food production in the fertile Rift Valley hampered due to the political crisis, and increased demand from South Sudan, which was previously supplied by both Kenya and Uganda.
Only rice, which is being imported, has seen a price hike as a result of the world-wide trend.
According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, inflation rose from 7.5% in February to 8.1% in March due to increasing prices of food.
Finance minister Ezra Suruma explained that this was due to unfavourable weather and high prices of commodities which are a result of high demand for Ugandan food items in the region.
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He said he was confident inflation would be contained at 5% in the next financial year.
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