The battle against the tuition increment at Makerere University is going to bring out all the dirt there is against Uganda’s premier institution of higher learning. Like they say in Luganda, “katandika butandisi.”
The latest our snoops have picked from the struggle is that the university that is crying over low income, budgeted a whooping 100M for tea in the main building alone in 2016. Hilarious? We think not.
According to Godwin Toko, a Lawyer in Kampala, who was a Guild Representative Councillor (GRC) representing the School of Law then, the university administration pushed forward and approved a budget for the financial year 2016/2016 which had 100M covering office tea in the main building.
“It was ridiculous! Imagine 100M for just office tea, how much do you think was budgeted for lunch?” Toko told Campus Bee when we contacted him.
The lawyer revealed the shocking statistics after a heated argument with a member of the university administration who sought to justify the increment in tuition at the Ivory Tower citing the need by the university to accumulate income for its expenditures.
“They need to worry about their expenditure before they even think about increasing the income. Halls of Residence and lecture rooms are in the same state you left them 10 years ago but they’re spending 100M on office tea. What will the increment now cover? Shoe polish for university officials?” Toko joked.
On his part, Makerere University social media manager Mathias Ssemanda acknowledged that the university has put in place financial control measures that are checking such illicit expenditures and that there has been progress since then.
