GUILD ELECTIONS KICK OFF, CANDIDATES TO UPLIFT UNIVERSITY IMAGE
“This is the time to save Makerere from the drip it’s on in Mulago and have a pro-student management. I have come to deliver Makerere from the vampires of high tuition, from the horrors of privatization, and the terrorists of poor sanitation,” said Mr. Robert Okware, one of the candidates vying for Guild Presidency at Makerere University.
Okware and seven other candidates fired up Makerere with marching bands, branded, cheering supporters, and promise-filled manifestos, at the start of the campaign rallies held at the Makerere’s University Hall, on Monday, ahead of the Guild Elections due March 16th 2009.
Kinyanjui Phillip “Philo” Kimani, the first and only international student to contest for the highest student leadership position at Makerere, promised ‘fireworks’, as he urged students to co-operate to influence change.
“Makerere’s degenerating goes without saying, and we should work together as Ugandans, Kenyans, Tanzanians, Sudanese, Rwandese and Burundaise, to revive student activism,” he said.
The only female candidate in the race, Ms. Husnah Natukunda, contesting on the FDC party ticket, cautioned students about those who shake their hands and make empty promises.
“Makerere needs better leadership, and if you want to see that being done, you should entrust the job to a woman,” she said.
Seemingly the crowd’s favourite, Mr. Kisuule Robertson “Castro” , vowed to break the bureaucracy in the processes leading up to getting Identity Cards and transcripts. He also pledged to loby for advanced serviceds like internet hotspots in all halls of residence. Previously only Africa Halls had an internet hot post. Quoting South African Bishop Desmond Tutu, “If you remain silent against injustices, you are on the said of the oppressor,” Kisuule, the NRM candidate said.
With Samuel Ariiho in the driving seat, female students will be assured of a bigger representation on the Guild Executive, while a Legal Team will defend students against illegal detention and present an offensive against the privatization of halls.
Although many of the candidates were backed by different political parties, some were independent. Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) however did not field a candidate after failing to raise the money needed to register their candidate.
Students and academic staff of Makerere University can only hope for the best man to win, to help revamp the collapsing image of the 86-year-old institution, which has been mired with inefficient management, students’ riots, academic staff strikes, bureaucratic systems, and shortage and misuse of resources.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
MAKERERE TO ABANDON BALLOT BOX FOR ONLINE VOTING
Students of Makerere University will soon bid farewell to making long queues under the scorching sun, when the institution reverts to online voting, as opposed to the traditional ballot box system of casting votes, previously used.
This was revealed in an interview with the Guild Minister of Information, Mr. Onesimus Twinamasiko, who said that the proposal for students to go to the polls via the internet was in the offing and would begin in March 2009, when the students vote for their next Guild president.
“We were using ballot papers to vote previously, which was tiresome and time wasting, but come March 16 2009, Makerere will have a hassle free voting system,” he said.
In the online voting system, students who show up to cast their votes, will get a password from the electoral officials. On punching the password into a computer, a student will be able to access the university network, the voter’s registry, a list of names of the candidates. Only one vote can be cast, and once that is done, any other vote cast using the same password is invalid.
Although Guild Presidential hopefuls and some students are optimistic about the new voting procedures, members of staff who talked to Daily Monitor are not so enthusiastic about the online voting.
“I do not think this online thing is going to work,” said Mr. Agaba Issa Mugabo, a lecturer of Mass Communication. “With a student population of about 30,000 students, many of whom do not know how to use a computer, it can’t work. Besides, how many computers are you going to provide,” the Don added.
The university has a population of over 30,000 students and the Faculty of CIT, which is spearheading this innovation, has about 700 desktop computers, some of which will be used for voting.
Mr. Kisuule Robertson, one of the contenders for Guild Presidency, however believes that the online voting system will increase speed, efficiency, and transparency in the voting exercise.
“We are only going to try this out for the first time and I believe it will work. Any problems may be only technical but not with the process,” Kisuule, also Chairman of Livingstone Hall said.
Voting will be done at computer stations which will be communicated prior to Election Day, and students who may not wish to use the online system, can opt for the traditional ballot box, availed at the Freedom Square.
Mr. Twinamasiko said the purpose of introducing the online method of casting votes is to eliminate cases of election malpractice and vote rigging, which students previously complained about, making the electoral process more transparent, and increasing student participation in the voting exercise. He noted sadly that many students had been exempting themselves from exercising their voting rights with the excuse of long lines and a generally slow process.
Online voting is an initiative from the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology at Makerere and will be supervised by the Directorate of Information and Communication Technology (DICTS).
The innovation is hoped to ensure peaceful and complaint free transitions of power of the leaders and increase the community’s trust in the students as intellectuals, an image the Guild believes has been tarnished by election related violence.
“We are intellectuals and we want to reveal this to the world through a streamlined voting process,” Twinamasiko said.
He further revealed that a survey conducted by the Guild showed that 80% of the student population was in favour of online voting.
Although the Guild would like Uganda’s Electoral Commission to adopt a similar method, the possibilities are minimal, given the low literacy levels and uneven distribution of ICTs throughout the country. Makerere University will be the first university in Africa to hold online elections for its leaders.
‘GOVERNMENT GIVING PRIVATE SECTOR A RAW DEAL’
The government is putting Uganda’s economy in a possible economic trap by excluding members of the private sector in negotiations on policy making for Uganda and the East African Community, the Chairman of the Private Sector Foundation of Uganda has said.
Mr. Gerald Sendaula, who is also the former minister of Finance, told Daily Monitor in an interview, that policy makers have continuously denied the private sector the chance to participate in talks on formation of a customs union and other trade agreements, which may result in unfavourable terms for the country.
“We are looked at as unsuitable or incompetent, assumed not to be capable of making any contribution to the formation of policy and yet these policies affect us,” Sendaula said. “The officials seem to know it all, yet they do not,” he added.
The embittered former minister accused the government officials of always putting off meetings with members of the private sector, and yet other countries in the proposed East African Community have greatly involved theirs private sectors in the negotiations.
“In fact we were supposed to have a meeting last Monday. And if we keep waiting, we may reach the time to implement EAC policies, and find that they will not work for Uganda, merely because government excluded us,” he said.
In August 2008, before the second round of negotiations on a regional Common Market in Nairobi, the government of Uganda rejected pleas by the private sector for protection in form of tariffs, compensatory mechanisms, and regulatory frameworks to address imbalances in areas such as construction, education and insurance, to allow the local industry to catch up with its regional counterparts.
Mr. Sendaula, who revealed that the president, who confessed that government is not the best business operator, and so decided to privatize, however applauded the current government on its various achievements in the economy, citing that nonetheless, much improvement is still needed.
“The work of government is to regulate and so far it has done a good job, but government doesn’t know how a customs union can be formed and made to work, how do you pay it? But the private sector has the experience,” Mr. Sendaula said blaming government officials for traveling all over the world to make trade and economic deals and agreements, without consultation from the private sector.
With the persistent financial melt down, Uganda’s economy is beginning to feel the crunch, with foreign companies like GTV closing shop, and many more to follow. More than ever, members of the private sector believe that agriculture remains the narrow escape route for our vulnerable economy. However, government policies are still impractical and elusive.
Recently, government formed a partnership with some agro-based private sector companies, which it would give seed, to sustain the country’s agricultural production.
However, to Mr. Sendaula, what the government ought to direct more energy to, is value addition to agricultural produce.
Uganda continues to export agricultural products like bananas in their entirety, even with innovations like the possibility of making banana flour. Dr. Florence Muranga, a lecturer at Makerere’s Faculty of Food Science and Technology, conducted a research in which she showed that banana can be turned into flour, a possibility of earning more forex than raw banana.
The ex-minister, now an established farmer, urged government to return to the drawing board and design policies that will work for Uganda, with consultation from the private sector.
PROTECT CHILDREN IN KONY OPERATION- STUDENT BODY URGES
Children in the combat zone, where Uganda’s national army is hunting rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), should be a priority for the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, a student rights body has said.
Addressing a press conference at Makerere University on Thursday, the students said the vulnerability of children in conflict zones was a serious matter comprising the first ever offence to be formally tried by the International Criminal Court.
The Uganda Law Students Society, an inter-university body of Law students, said the trial of Thomas Lubanga should show both the LRA and the army how important protection of children is, and should therefore make the rescue of child soldiers in Kony’s camp, top of the agenda in the operation Lighting Thunder.
Thomas Lubanga, once notorious rebel leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is on trial at the International Criminal Court, for war crimes and enlisting children below 15years to fight in his army.
Since the beginning of Kony’s warfare in 1986, over 30,000 children have been abducted in the past 18 years, and many are still remnant soldiers carrying rifles and, fighting in his army.
“The government should be concerned that children are victims being used as child soldiers in Kony’s camp, and should therefore not attack indiscriminately, but be conscious of protecting these children,” said Brian Bamwesigye, the association’s president.
The students, who criticized the laxity of government involvement in protecting children, said rigorous child protection rights and, an efficacious children’s court should be put in place to settle crimes committed against children, including, child sacrifice, child labour, abduction, child trafficking, and defilement.
“Children’s rights in Uganda have been abused. Uganda subscribes to the International Convention on Children’s Rights, and so if we have a legal framework, why is not working,” Bamwesigye added.
Addressing the problem of child sacrifices, the students’ body called on the government to stop merely making rhetoric statements about children’s rights and proposing what they called shoddy procedures like the court martial to handle such, but implement operational judicial procedures against child sacrifice.
In Kampala alone, about six children were reported to have been killed in cold blood in ritual murders.
Students of Makerere University will soon bid farewell to making long queues under the scorching sun, when the institution reverts to online voting, as opposed to the traditional ballot box system of casting votes, previously used.
This was revealed in an interview with the Guild Minister of Information, Mr. Onesimus Twinamasiko, who said that the proposal for students to go to the polls via the internet was in the offing and would begin in March 2009, when the students vote for their next Guild president.
“We were using ballot papers to vote previously, which was tiresome and time wasting, but come March 16 2009, Makerere will have a hassle free voting system,” he said.
In the online voting system, students who show up to cast their votes, will get a password from the electoral officials. On punching the password into a computer, a student will be able to access the university network, the voter’s registry, a list of names of the candidates. Only one vote can be cast, and once that is done, any other vote cast using the same password is invalid.
Although Guild Presidential hopefuls and some students are optimistic about the new voting procedures, members of staff who talked to Daily Monitor are not so enthusiastic about the online voting.
“I do not think this online thing is going to work,” said Mr. Agaba Issa Mugabo, a lecturer of Mass Communication. “With a student population of about 30,000 students, many of whom do not know how to use a computer, it can’t work. Besides, how many computers are you going to provide,” the Don added.
The university has a population of over 30,000 students and the Faculty of CIT, which is spearheading this innovation, has about 700 desktop computers, some of which will be used for voting.
Mr. Kisuule Robertson, one of the contenders for Guild Presidency, however believes that the online voting system will increase speed, efficiency, and transparency in the voting exercise.
“We are only going to try this out for the first time and I believe it will work. Any problems may be only technical but not with the process,” Kisuule, also Chairman of Livingstone Hall said.
Voting will be done at computer stations which will be communicated prior to Election Day, and students who may not wish to use the online system, can opt for the traditional ballot box, availed at the Freedom Square.
Mr. Twinamasiko said the purpose of introducing the online method of casting votes is to eliminate cases of election malpractice and vote rigging, which students previously complained about, making the electoral process more transparent, and increasing student participation in the voting exercise. He noted sadly that many students had been exempting themselves from exercising their voting rights with the excuse of long lines and a generally slow process.
Online voting is an initiative from the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology at Makerere and will be supervised by the Directorate of Information and Communication Technology (DICTS).
The innovation is hoped to ensure peaceful and complaint free transitions of power of the leaders and increase the community’s trust in the students as intellectuals, an image the Guild believes has been tarnished by election related violence.
“We are intellectuals and we want to reveal this to the world through a streamlined voting process,” Twinamasiko said.
He further revealed that a survey conducted by the Guild showed that 80% of the student population was in favour of online voting.
Although the Guild would like Uganda’s Electoral Commission to adopt a similar method, the possibilities are minimal, given the low literacy levels and uneven distribution of ICTs throughout the country. Makerere University will be the first university in Africa to hold online elections for its leaders.
‘GOVERNMENT GIVING PRIVATE SECTOR A RAW DEAL’
The government is putting Uganda’s economy in a possible economic trap by excluding members of the private sector in negotiations on policy making for Uganda and the East African Community, the Chairman of the Private Sector Foundation of Uganda has said.
Mr. Gerald Sendaula, who is also the former minister of Finance, told Daily Monitor in an interview, that policy makers have continuously denied the private sector the chance to participate in talks on formation of a customs union and other trade agreements, which may result in unfavourable terms for the country.
“We are looked at as unsuitable or incompetent, assumed not to be capable of making any contribution to the formation of policy and yet these policies affect us,” Sendaula said. “The officials seem to know it all, yet they do not,” he added.
The embittered former minister accused the government officials of always putting off meetings with members of the private sector, and yet other countries in the proposed East African Community have greatly involved theirs private sectors in the negotiations.
“In fact we were supposed to have a meeting last Monday. And if we keep waiting, we may reach the time to implement EAC policies, and find that they will not work for Uganda, merely because government excluded us,” he said.
In August 2008, before the second round of negotiations on a regional Common Market in Nairobi, the government of Uganda rejected pleas by the private sector for protection in form of tariffs, compensatory mechanisms, and regulatory frameworks to address imbalances in areas such as construction, education and insurance, to allow the local industry to catch up with its regional counterparts.
Mr. Sendaula, who revealed that the president, who confessed that government is not the best business operator, and so decided to privatize, however applauded the current government on its various achievements in the economy, citing that nonetheless, much improvement is still needed.
“The work of government is to regulate and so far it has done a good job, but government doesn’t know how a customs union can be formed and made to work, how do you pay it? But the private sector has the experience,” Mr. Sendaula said blaming government officials for traveling all over the world to make trade and economic deals and agreements, without consultation from the private sector.
With the persistent financial melt down, Uganda’s economy is beginning to feel the crunch, with foreign companies like GTV closing shop, and many more to follow. More than ever, members of the private sector believe that agriculture remains the narrow escape route for our vulnerable economy. However, government policies are still impractical and elusive.
Recently, government formed a partnership with some agro-based private sector companies, which it would give seed, to sustain the country’s agricultural production.
However, to Mr. Sendaula, what the government ought to direct more energy to, is value addition to agricultural produce.
Uganda continues to export agricultural products like bananas in their entirety, even with innovations like the possibility of making banana flour. Dr. Florence Muranga, a lecturer at Makerere’s Faculty of Food Science and Technology, conducted a research in which she showed that banana can be turned into flour, a possibility of earning more forex than raw banana.
The ex-minister, now an established farmer, urged government to return to the drawing board and design policies that will work for Uganda, with consultation from the private sector.
PROTECT CHILDREN IN KONY OPERATION- STUDENT BODY URGES
Children in the combat zone, where Uganda’s national army is hunting rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), should be a priority for the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, a student rights body has said.
Addressing a press conference at Makerere University on Thursday, the students said the vulnerability of children in conflict zones was a serious matter comprising the first ever offence to be formally tried by the International Criminal Court.
The Uganda Law Students Society, an inter-university body of Law students, said the trial of Thomas Lubanga should show both the LRA and the army how important protection of children is, and should therefore make the rescue of child soldiers in Kony’s camp, top of the agenda in the operation Lighting Thunder.
Thomas Lubanga, once notorious rebel leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is on trial at the International Criminal Court, for war crimes and enlisting children below 15years to fight in his army.
Since the beginning of Kony’s warfare in 1986, over 30,000 children have been abducted in the past 18 years, and many are still remnant soldiers carrying rifles and, fighting in his army.
“The government should be concerned that children are victims being used as child soldiers in Kony’s camp, and should therefore not attack indiscriminately, but be conscious of protecting these children,” said Brian Bamwesigye, the association’s president.
The students, who criticized the laxity of government involvement in protecting children, said rigorous child protection rights and, an efficacious children’s court should be put in place to settle crimes committed against children, including, child sacrifice, child labour, abduction, child trafficking, and defilement.
“Children’s rights in Uganda have been abused. Uganda subscribes to the International Convention on Children’s Rights, and so if we have a legal framework, why is not working,” Bamwesigye added.
Addressing the problem of child sacrifices, the students’ body called on the government to stop merely making rhetoric statements about children’s rights and proposing what they called shoddy procedures like the court martial to handle such, but implement operational judicial procedures against child sacrifice.
In Kampala alone, about six children were reported to have been killed in cold blood in ritual murders.
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