In a bid to redeem its good image, Uganda’s oldest university, Makerere University has launched a campaign aimed at fostering good relations with the neighboring villages that have over the years been targets of violent strikes by its students.
The initiative to establish the good relations with the neighbouring communities was launched on Thursday by the university’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe alongside other officials and students’ Guild leaders.
Dubbed,’ Make Connect Initiative’, the campaign will involve planting of trees and cleaning of the dusty villages that surround the university and host many of the private hostels that offer accommodation to students that don’t stay within one of the best universities in Africa although internal administrative wrangles continue to hurt its mission of producing best human resource for the global labour market.
The initiative will run under the theme, “Celebrating Makerere’s diversity and contribution through community outreach.”
Prof. Nawangwe said, “I will participate and I am going to mobilise the administration to participate.”
The planting of trees and cleaning these areas is aimed at reconciling the residents with Makerere students who have for long destroyed their properties and businesses during the violent strikes.
The Students’ Guild President, Julius Katerega commended the initiative saying: “It is an appreciation of the roles Makerere University in social transformation and improving the livelihoods of people which all together contributes to national development.”
He said the initiative intends to create a platform for community inclusive interaction, diversity and celebration of the university’s diversity and also create awareness on the services Ugandans can tap into at the university.
He said that the initiative would also provide free career guidance and other related services to Kampala people next month.
Residents have over the years known the university’s students as being violent as they have on several occasions lost property because of the strikes in the university.
Residents in the neighbourhood have welcomed the initiative and hope to join hands with students and university leaders to clean their surroundings that are littered with all sorts of rubbish including solid materials, plastics, food leftovers, human and animal excreta, just to mention but a few.
“We welcome the initiative and I hope it can be done every year,” said Abdu Karim, who stays and operates boda boda business in Makerere Kikoni.
“We actually hate students because when they strike they target our businesses as if we work in the university. I hope the new initiave by the university to reach out to us will change our negative attitudes towards students who have for many years destroyed our properties and businesses,” said Hadija Nakimuli, a businesswoman in Wandegeya.
The four–phased initiative started Saturday with ‘The Greening and Cleaning Campaign’ where the students, alumni, well-wishers and the staff members planted trees and cleaned neighbouring suburbs of Wandegeya, Kikoni and Kasubi.
