Hearing of case against suspended Mak students deferred

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  Makerere University has suspended hearing of cases in which three students were suspended for participating in the strike against fees increment.

The students are Dhabona Job- Bachelor of Community Psychology, Mutatina Seiz- Bachelor of Commerce and Frank Bwambale pursuing a Bachelor of Journalism and Communication. 

Bwambale and Dhabona were scheduled for their hearing on Tuesday, January 14 while Mutatiina was due for Thursday, January 16, 2020.

Prossy Katongole Kyazze, the secretary to the Students Disciplinary Committee of Makerere University says the students will have to wait until after the graduation ceremony for hearing of their case.  

The university’s 70th graduation ceremony that runs for four days started on Tuesday this week and concludes on Friday, January 17, 2020. A total of 13,509 are graduating.

She says that a new hearing date will be communicated.

The three were on October 30, 2019, suspended for allegedly participating in the fees must fall demonstration and subsequently charged with destruction of university property, inciting of violence, and circulation of inflammatory information that called for defiance among others.

They were suspended alongside other nine students while 26 others were issued warning letters. While Siperia Mollie Saasiraabo and Simon Ssenoga were later exonerated by the disciplinary committee, several other students remain uncertain about the fate of their suspension.

The students were protesting the 15 percent cumulative increase on tuition fees, a policy that came into effect in August 2018.

The strike disrupted activities at the university, both academic and administrative; private businesses in and around the university, its halls of residence within the University and affiliated/registered private hostels and neighbouring communities.

They wanted the policy scrapped on grounds that it was unfair to privately sponsored students.

Bwambale says that the Disciplinary Committee did not communicate to them on time and they had already travelled from home for the hearing.

He is sceptical about the adjournment citing interference in the disciplinary committee work by some members of the University management.

“The way they do things is not really fine. Remember, at the closure of 2019 they plunged into our festive holiday and still they did not work on us. So, in my view the adjournment suits in their entire script of pre-planning their verdict. We reliably understand that they are a semi-autonomous body working under pressure from some external force,” says Bwambale.  

He argues however that he intends to rely phone recordings as part of his evidence of intimidation by university officials.

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