Officials at Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) headquarters in Kamwokya, Kampala have expressed their disappointment with the way Makerere University is handling students’ guild presidential elections for 2023-2024 after two of the main opposition party’s candidates were disqualified from the guild race.
In a statement announcing the disqualification of Sulaiman Namwoza and Margaret Nattabi from the guild race, Levi Tshilumba, the Chairperson of the 89th Guild Electoral Commission, claimed that the candidates had acknowledged taking part in the ‘kimeza’ at Mitchel Hall in which a student was injured.
“This is to inform the Makerere University Students bods that Guild President aspirants Nattabi Margaret and Namwoza Sulaiman have been disqualified from the 89th Guild Presidential race. This follows the above Guild President aspirants holding a ‘kimeza’ at Mitchell Halt on the night of April 03, 2023 ensuing in a scuffle where a Makerere University student, Sserunjogi Robert, was beaten and suffered severe injuries. Both Nattabi Margaret and Namwoza Sulaiman acknowledged that they participated in the “kimeza’ of the night of April 05, 2023 from 08:00 pm to 09:00 pm at Mitchell Hall,” wrote Tshilumba.
“The participation of Nattabi Margaret and Namwoza Sulaiman in this event is contrary to the Makerere University Students Guild Statute 2022, Section 10b which stipulates that Student elections at the University shall be virtual unless otherwise determined by the University Council and also contradictory to the Makerere University Students Guild Constitution 2022, Article 67 1b which stipulates that Elections at the University shall be virtual unless otherwise dictated by the University Council.”
But NUP Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya, who previously served as Makerere University Guild Speaker, described a regulation that was used to disqualify the candidates as a “crazy” one.
He pointed to a state of fear in which students are encouraged or rather compelled to shun opposition political parties. He confirmed that even Namwoza was a member of NUP but had chickened out party primaries because he could not risk disqualification since the university has banned involvement of national parties in guild polls.
Describing the move to suffocate students’ freedom of political expression as a ‘criminal approach,’ Rubongoya suggested that President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni’s National Resistance Movement (NRM) was desperate to have one of its members winning the guild presidency after a long time.
“NUP candidate Nattabi Margaret disqualified from the Makerere University Guild Election over a ‘Kimeza’ contrary to a crazy statute that bans political parties and makes elections virtual! Other candidates asked to distance selves from parties, especially NUP or be disqualified!” wrote Rubongoya.
“The other disqualified candidate Namwoza Sulaiman is our member, but made a decision not to participate in the primaries for fear of being disqualified. After so many years of NRM not winning any election, they resorted to this criminal approach. Crazy times we’re living in!”
The decision to make all guild elections virtual and to ban political parties at Makerere University came after a student was killed during campaign chaos. (See Details Here).
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