Members of the Kyambogo University governing Council have reflected on the position of Chancellor which will be vacant effective May following the expiry of Prof JM Sebuwufu’s two terms tenure. Three names were proposed by council members during last week’s meeting that was chaired by Dr. Goretti Nakabugo, the Council Chairperson
The three names proposed included former Makerere University Vice Chancellor Prof Ddumba Ssentamu, Prof John Okeddi (who preceded Dr. Nakabugo as Council chairman) and the founding Kyambogo VC Prof Lutalo Bbosa who majority Kyambogo employees would like to see carry the day because they are now nostalgic about those old days. They assert that Bbosa is the man who would successfully oversee the fight against land grabbers at Kyambogo because he knows everything about the close to 1,000 acres of Kyambogo prime land which land grabbers have never stopped to menacingly look at.
Bbosa supporters in Council are now saying Okeddi’s name was floated by people who would want to see land-grabbing succeed because the elderly (nearly senile) scholar from Teso sub region can simply not marshal the zeal to fight or make anyone uncomfortable. They also claim that the name of the much revered Prof Ddumba Ssentamu was fronted by haters who wanted to spoil Lutalo Bbosa’s chances since the two veteran Professors hail from the same ethnic community. As the two seemingly stronger camps of Bbosa and Okeddi battle, Ddumba might carry the day just like he did in Makerere where he surprised skeptics and became new VC after Venascius Baryamureeba at a time he was least expected.
In that race (2013), the bigger fight was between Baryamureeba and Barnabas Nawangwe and Ddumba only got a sympathy vote as many saw him as a consensus candidate to re-unite Makerere after the Baryamureeba–Nawangwe ruinous war.
At their subsequent meetings, Kyambogo Council members will be voting and whoever gets the highest number of votes will have his name sent to the President (the Chief Visitor) to make the formal appointment. Some Council members are already claiming that the rich and mighty who want to see Okeddi carry the day have gone as far as offering financial gratifications to some of the potential electors all aimed at ensuring the frail Professor becomes Kyambogo University Chancellor.
In a related development, Kyambogo University academic staff members have ganged up to oppose the impending reappointment of Prof Elly Katunguka as their Vice Chancellor. They are meeting for their General Assembly meeting on 10th March, 2022 to find some way forward. They are threatening to lay down their tools unless the position of VC is openly competed for as opposed to getting Senate and Council rubber-stamping Katunguka’s reappointment for another 5 years. They are claiming that the incumbent VC has become too powerful to the extent of leveraging on his First Family connections to unilaterally appoint Deans and Heads of Department as opposed to dons electing their preferred colleagues.
Some of them are also claiming that there is a pro-Katunguka candidate who is being groomed to become the Director for Graduate School at Kyambogo yet the person is typically an administrator with no demonstrable background in teaching.
They are also accusing the incumbent of closely working with Arthur Katongole and Bazilio to deflate and render the University Secretary Charles Okello powerless. That the incumbent CEO has also been sidelining senior dons in favor of junior ones while appointing Deans and Heads of Departments. They are also speaking of a plot to frustrate Council Chairperson Dr. Goretti Nakabugo out of Kyambogo so that her Vice Sarah Lubega Babirye and Bright Mugisha become Chairperson and Vice Chairperson respectively.
