The Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura is at Makerere University, overseeing the operation to have all students leave the campus immediately.
Gen. Kayihura’s rush to Makerere follows a directive by President Yoweri Museveni issued yesterday, ordering for the closure of the university indefinitely after lecturers and students went on strike, with the former protesting non-payment of their arrears, while the latter were complaining that their lecturers had abdicated responsibility to teach.
But the lecturers are also resolute they will not go back to class before being paid their arrears, collectively amounting to billions of shillings.
By press time Gen Kayihura, Vice Chancellor Prof. Ddumba Sentamu and other officials were holding a closed-door meeting in the Main Building trying to find a solution for the standoff, while sections of students are saying they have ‘no where to go’.
Meanwhile, opposition presidential candidate Dr Warren Kizza Besigye has urged the students to defy the President’s directive, describing it as a ‘ridiculous order’.
According to Dr Besigye, the government is acting sloppily by failing to pay the lecturers while it can afford to bail out a private bank (Crane Bank) that is ailing.
Established in 1922, Makerere University is Uganda’s leading institution of higher learning and has produced alumnae including four Presidents for all the three original members of the East African Community (EAC).
The Presidents are Yusuf Kironde Lule, Godfrey Binaisa, Emilio Mwai Kibaki (former president of Kenya) and Julius Kambarage Nyerere, the founding president of Tanzania.
