MAKERERE-students of Makerere University have petitioned The Leader of the Opposition in parliament, Mathias Mpuuga challenging the university council’s decision to suspend student politics at the institution.
In their petition, the students challenge the decisions of the university council which they argue contravene the provisions of the Universities and Other Institutions Act.
The university council suspended the students’ guild and indefinitely deferred elections for the university’s 88th guild president after Betungura Bewatte, a student at Uganda Christian University (UCU) was killed in bloody clashes that pitted supporters of the National Unity Platform (NUP) against those of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) on the last day of the campaigns on 14th July 2022.
The students demanded that Parliament prevails over the University Council to reinstate the guild and all students’ leadership structures to enable effective representation of students on the various university boards as required by law.
Speaking to the students, Mpuuga expressed concern over how the university is being managed which he said risks turning the university into “a big primary school.”
He further urged the Makerere University administration to work with security agencies and get to the core of the investigation and bring to book Bewatte’s killers.
