Makerere University yesterday issued a terse statement disowning political critic, Yusuf Sserunkuma.
The statement said Serunkuma does not “hold a PhD from Makerere” and is not currently affiliated with it.
The university latched on to the fact that Serunkuma has not yet completed his PhD studies a matter that was a subject of a court ruling.
The university’s statement comes on the heels of Serunkuma’s expose on how some people at Makerere university worked tooth and nail to ensure that prof Umar Kakumba’s contract as deputy vice chancellor (academic affairs) was not renewed. He contrasted Kakumba’s predicament with that of his boss, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe whose contract had been swiftly renewed under questionable circumstances.
The articles published in The Observer, were hard-hitting and exposed the fact that the university had been “captured by the state.”
Serunkuma appears to have hit where it hurt most.
Some people had expected the university to respond to Serunkuma’s allegations and put the record straight. But Makerere instead chose to target the messenger and ignored the message.
Yet what Serunkuma has been “exposing” is not new to anyone who has followed Makerere’s affairs since Nawangwe took over the reins.
Once regarded as a prestigious institution of higher learning, the university has run to the dogs or the dogs have come to it.
Student numbers have leveled off, lecturers fear for their future, and the vibrant student debates are no more. Guild elections have been watered down that they resemble prefect selection in a backwater secondary school.
Even the “Freedom Square”, the hallowed one care piece of land that for decades has been used as an assembly ground by students has since been fenced off.
Critics like Serunkuma are quickly silenced with threats. But for how long will the university carry on like this? Who will save it from itself?