Makerere University staff are up in arms against what they see as a plot to ‘illegally’ hand the incumbent vice-chancellor Professor Barnabas Nawangwe a new contract.
The development came up during the recent Joint Staff Association meeting which brought together members of Makerere University Academic Staff Association-MUASA, Makerere University Administrative Staff association-MASA, and the National Union of Education Institutions-Makerere chapter.
The MUASA Chairperson, Dr. Robert Kakuru who spoke on behalf of the staff, noted that they have been wondering why the University Council is silent on the issue yet Prof Nawangwe’s contract is left with 1 month and 15 days.
Prof Nawangwe’s term of office is elapsing in August this year, following his appointment in 2017. However, a section of the staff claims that he has been positioning himself for another term amidst queries about his eligibility.
The big debate currently consuming staff at Makerere hill rotates around the fact that the vice-chancellor is 66 years old, which places him above the 65-year upper age limit for the office.
Makerere has had an age limit as one of the requirements for the position of vice-chancellor for many years. Earlier rules kept out candidates above 60 years of age. However, the 2017 Search Committee extended the upper age limit when they announced that candidates interested in the post could be between 40 and 65 years.
At that time, the modification is said to have been tailored to give Prof. Ddumba-Sentamu, who had already clocked 64 years of age a chance to contest for reappointment. However, Ddumba declined to seek another term. It is now a public secret that there is an ongoing review of the human resource manual to increase the retirement age for staff.
The joint staff association executives are worried that this process might also be abused. “There is an ongoing review of the human resource manual to increase the retirement age for staff, and note that due to underhand methods, the policy might be applied retrospectively,” the staff stated in a letter to the university council chairperson.
