By YAHYA SSEREMBA

Article Summary: Dr. Josephine Nabukenya and Dr. John Ngubiri had become virtual dictators at the College, withholding staff allowances for no clear reason. The new development leaves the duo redundant.

Author Biography: Yahya Sseremba is the publisher of The Campus Journal news website.  

The vice chancellor of Makerere University has taken over the management of the College of Computing and Information Sciences in a radical step intended to end an internal struggle for money that had wreaked havoc on the unit.

In a letter dated 28, March 2013, a copy of which The Campus Journal news website has obtained, the VC Prof. John Ddumba-Ssentambu instructs the acting principal of the College, Dr. John Ngubiri, to hand over office to the deputy vice chancellor in charge of academic affairs, Prof. Lillian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza, on 2, April 2013.

"The Management retreat that met on 25th - 26th March 2013, discussed and noted that the management of the College of Computing and Information Sciences had continuously become a challenge,” Prof. Ddumba’s letter reads in part. "The purpose of this communication is to inform you that the Office of the Vice Chancellor has taken over the management and administration of the College of Computing and Information Sciences.”

The takeover comes as teaching staff members plot to pass a vote of no confidence in the Dean of the School of Computing and Informatics Technology, Dr. Josephine Nabukenya, and as non-teaching staff conclude a strike over non payment of their top-up allowances.

Earlier last month, teaching assistants and assistant lecturers laid down their chalk when the administration of the College, particularly the School of Computing, insisted that they were not entitled to any payment for teaching evening classes.

This struggle is rooted in the privatization and commercialization reforms that Makerere adopted in the 1990s.

Genesis of the problem

As western-imposed policies forced government to cut public expenditure on higher education, East Africa’s finest institution of higher learning started admitting fee-paying students in order to survive.

Whereas the little revenue that still came from government catered for staff salaries and other centrally-executed activities, the revenue that was collected from private students remained at faculty level to pay top-up for staff.

This top-up was necessary since lecturers, who initially taught small classes of only government-sponsored students, were required to teach much larger classes of government and private students combined. They were also required to teach evening classes of solely private students.

Whereas other faculties duly paid top-up to their staff on a reasonable basis, the School of Computing used an unclear criterion that allocated huge sums of money to PhD holders, associate professors and full professors on the one hand and gave peanuts to teaching assistants and assistant lecturers.

While the so-called senior staff received roughly shillings 3 million as monthly top-up, the rest, generally known as junior staff, were paid just about shillings 300,000. This disparity marked the first area of contention, with the cheated party arguing that top-up should be determined by salary scale, not by unclear standards that favour a handful of individuals.

The second area of conflict was the failure to pay junior staff for teaching evening classes. When the teaching assistants and assistant lecturers went on a sit-down strike in February over these issues, Nabukenya, the Dean, threatened to dismiss them.

But the vice chancellor intervened and, in a letter addressed to the principal of the College dated 8, February 2013, ruled that all extra activities, including the teaching of evening classes, "be paid for”.  He added that top-up allowances "be paid according to rank/salary scales”.

But far from implementing these directives, the leadership of the College, particularly Dr. Ngubiri and Dr. Nabukenya, continued playing hide and seek and failed to pay the teachers what rightly belongs to them.

Nabukenya seems to be a power-hungry, money-thirsty woman who does not shy away from hullabaloo. Exploiting the absence of Prof. Ddumba earlier this month, she allegedly manipulated a deputy vice chancellor to block the payment of top-up, claiming that contract staff, another name for teaching assistants and assistant lecturers, were not entitled to such allowances.

This irritated the affected teachers who consequently started mobilizing each other to get rid of Nabukenya once and for all. Junior staff members enjoy a numerical advantage sufficient to constitute the two thirds majority required to kick Nabukenya out of office.

It was at this point that Prof. Ddumba intervened once again, this time totally ridding the faculty of the stubbornness of Nabukenya and her henchmen.

"This is therefore to request you to hand over office to the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs) by Tuesday, April 2, 2013,” the vice chancellor ordered Nabukenya’s immediate boss, Dr. Ngubiri.

"By copy of this letter, all members of staff of the College are duly informed and requested to accord the new Ag. Principal due support.”