National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) head offices in Ntinda, Kampala. PHOTO/FILE
The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) has clashed with public university leaders over the selection of representatives to the National Council.
NCHE claims its decision to oversee the election of a University Senate representative followed a meeting of Vice Chancellors of Public Universities at Gulu University on July 25. However, the Public Universities Forum’s leadership says it was not part of that meeting.
A letter from the acting Executive Director, Rev Can Dr Alex Kagume, states that vice chancellors asked NCHE to convene a meeting of delegates of the Public University Senates and preside over the election of a representative of Senates from among themselves.
It is against this background that NCHE has asked universities to each forward two names of delegates of the Senate to the NCHE not later than Friday, August 16.
NCHE indicates that a meeting of the delegates of the Senates is scheduled to take place at the NCHE Secretariat on August 20, starting at 10am.
“At the meeting, the delegates will elect one person from among themselves who will serve as a representative of Public Universities Senates at the NCHE Council,” the letter quotes in part.
However, the leadership of Public Universities Forum have protested the move, saying they did not clear NCHE to organise the elections of their Senate representative on their behalf.
The chairperson of the Public Universities Forum, Prof Eli Katunguka, expressed his shock upon receiving a letter from the NCHE that seemingly took over the mandate to convene a meeting and elect their Senate representative.
“I am shocked but not surprised by this development. As Chairperson of the Forum, I received a letter from NCHE on July 11 from Prof Okwakol, instructing me to convene a meeting to elect a representative of the senates of public universities. This letter was copied to Dr James Nkata, the Vice Chairperson of the Forum,” Prof Katunguka said.
He added: “I now see a letter signed by Dr Kagume, Deputy ED, NCHE, inviting all Vice Chancellors of public universities to convene at NCHE on August 20 to elect the senate representative.”
Prof Katunguka clarified that the meeting referenced by NCHE was actually of the Uganda Vice Chancellors Forum (UVCF), which includes both public and private university VCs and has no mandate to represent the Public Universities Forum. He also pointed out that neither he nor the vice chairperson attended the Gulu meeting.
“Prof Okwakol has instead taken over the control of the National Council and wants to do everything as she pleases,” Prof Katunguka added.
Dr James Nkata, the vice chairperson of the Public Universities Forum, when contacted, remarked that the NCHE Secretariat should not play a role in selecting members of the council who are their supervisors.
“The Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act does not specify how we are supposed to elect our representatives to NCHE. It stipulates that universities should choose their representatives from among us. NCHE, therefore, is not part of public universities,” he said.
Prof Katunguka, and Dr Nkata did not attend the Gulu meeting.
Prof Celestino Obua, the vice chancellor of Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), said he awaited clarification from Prof Katunguka and was unaware of NCHE’s decision.
In contrast, Prof Paul Waako, the vice chancellor of Busitema University, who attended the Gulu meeting, mentioned that the majority of universities did not have an issue with NCHE conducting the elections on their behalf.
“Given the controversies surrounding this year’s elections, who should lead the elections? Let the body that oversees the operations of these universities take the lead this time. I do not have any problem with that,” Prof Waako said.
When contacted, Rev Kagume, who wrote the letter to the universities, declined to comment, stating he wrote the letter on behalf of the Executive Director, Prof Mary Okwakol, who was unavailable for comment.
Background
The disagreement began in January when Prof Mary Okwakol, the head of the NCHE, rejected the reappointment of Prof Katunguka, the former chairperson, as the Senate representative of public universities.
Prof Eli Katunguka the Kyambogo University Vice Chancellor who also doubles as the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) chairperson. PHOTO / FILE
Prof Okwakol argued that the election process used by the public universities to reappoint Prof Katunguka was irregular.
However, the universities contended that the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act does not specify the procedures each constituency should follow in electing their representatives to the Council.
In response, Prof Okwakol wrote to the Minister of Education to protest Prof Katunguka’s reappointment for a second term, citing his lack of membership.
Both President Museveni and the Minister of Education had in June cleared the re-appointment of prof Katunguka.
However, the President last month reversed his decision and instructed the universities to reappoint their representatives to the National Council and has directed the NCHE to submit two names from which he will choose the chairperson.
According to the law, a person can only be appointed or re-appointed as the Chairperson of the National Council if he or she is a Council member. This means that since Prof Katunguka’s membership was protested, the universities need to sit and re-appoint him or another person.
Public universities were scheduled to meet on August 9 to select their representative to the Council. However, the NCHE’s intervention in overseeing the elections has caused divisions within the institutions.
