Makerere University staff say they will be forced to appeal to the US Embassy and other human rights protectors to save them from Prof Bernabas Nawangwe's actions
MAKERERE | The Makerere University Joint Staff Associations has asked Vice Chancellor Barnabas Nawangwe to rescind a suspension of a top academic forum and check his 'suspension attitude'.
Prof Nawangwe last week unilaterally suspended the Deans' Forum citing complaints about its legality but the joint staff, in a strongly-worded letter, say the VC should have first investigated the claims.
"We demand that you rescind your impugned suspension of the Deans' Forum," the joint staff said in their terse June 4 letter.
"And that you refrain from attitudes and actions that are prejudicial to the fundamental human rights and academic freedoms of members of the Makerere University community."
Also read: Nawangwe suspends Makerere forum he himself launched, cites legality
The University's associations of academic staff (Muasa) and administrative staff (Masa), as well as that of the National Union of Education Institutions, say should Prof Nawangwe fail to heed their counsel, they will be forced to appeal to other human rights protectors.
"We'll demand sanctions against him for abusing human rights," said Dr Jude Ssempebwa, the Muasa general secretary.
The threat of lobbying for sanctions come as Uganda is shrouded in a mist of recent US and UK actions on politicians over corruption.
Opposition National Unity Platform party has claimed it lobbied for sanctions imposed on the Speaker of Parliament and two former ministers.
In their letter addressed to Prof Nawangwe, Dr Robert Kakuru of Muasa, Bennet Magara of Masa, and Isaac Okello of NUEI, cited the vice chancellor's alleged high-handedness in various suspensions some which were found inappropriate and annulled by the Appointments Board, Staff Tribunal and the High Court.
They also cited a recent move to investigate the School of Law over its conduct of semester examinations using the satirical essay on Parliament and its business.
These, they say, gives the university community the fear the vice chancellor and others in the university's management will "illegally constrain and violate their inherent human rights and academic freedom".
Prof Nawangwe last week unilaterally suspended the Deans' Forum citing complaints about its legality but the joint staff, in a strongly-worded letter, say the VC should have first investigated the claims.
"Although academic staff invariably expect and accept scrutiny of their work and are accountable as is by law required, they are synchronously entitled to due process, including presumption of innocence," the joint staff said.
"Suspension of the Deans' Forum, if at all, should have followed investigations and not the other way round."
The joint staff say the vice chancellor had taken the decision to suspend a forum he himself inaugurated in 2019 over "mere complaints by people that you did not specify".
The university deans and principals were due to attend a training retreat from June 6-7 under their academic umbrella, whose overall aim is to promote academic excellence through collective action, capacity building and harnessing each other's capabilities, experiences and best practices.
The joint staff said these associations contribute greatly to the university's vision and are rightly protected by Article 29 of the Constitution of Uganda.
"The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda (1995) as amended does not cloth you with any powers to deny Article 29, and you must not treat the Deans' Forum differently from similar associations like Makerere Academic Leaders' Forum and Professors' Forum, of which you are a member," the letter says.
To contribute to the university's work and to realise their full potential, they added, staff and students depend on assurance that exercising their freedom of association and conscience will not lead them into conflict with management.
But the suspension of the Deans' Forum, recent stance on examination an end of semester examination from the School of Law, among others, "inevitably deprive the staff and students of this assurance".
"Such actions, even if eventually vacated leave indelible scars of self-censorship, to the detriment of staffs' and students' productivity," they said.
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Nawangwe suspended the Deans' Forum when he was scheduled officiate at the opening on June 6, according to Dr Arthur Tugume, dean of the School of Biosciences.
"Pending resolution of the legality of this forum, all activities of the Forum are hereby suspended," he wrote on Wednesday, May 29.
Prof Nawangwe on Wednesday said the Forum had outlived its usefulness.
"The Dean's Forum is an internal matter," he told Nile Post. "It is not in the law. It was launched by me and its usefulness has expired."
Dr Tugume told Nile Post that the developments were "quite interesting" given the objectives and purpose of the Deans' Forum.
The Forum, which brings together Deans from 29 schools of Makerere, has its origins in the series of training and sensitisation workshops organised for academic leaders by former Deputy VC for Academic Affairs, Dr Umar Kakumba, and Directorate of Research and Graduate Training, starting in mid-2019.
