Makerere University has this morning re-opened after two months of closure.
President Yoweri Museveni closed Makerere University on November 1st 2016 after lecturers laid down their tools protesting failure by University management to pay their salary incentives for 6 months.
These were later joined by students who were demanding that lecturers return to class. But the president closed the Ivory tower down to end the strikes and prevent damage of people’s properties.
Late December 2016, a decision was reached by the lecturers under Makerere University Academic Staff Association (MUASA) to call off the strike to enable a Visitation Committee look into their affairs. The Education and Sports Minister Janet Museveni then announced President Museveni's decision for the university to open.
"I have communicated the resolutions to H.E the President, who is also the Visitor to all Public Universities in Uganda. The Visitor has now directed that since MUASA had been the cause of the closure of the university in the first place, now 'He welcomes the patriotic act of agreeing to resume teaching' therefor, Makerere University Council should now make the necessary arrangements for the University to re-open," the minister wrote.
But as the university re-opens today, an ultimatum has been set for all students to pay up their tuition fees by January 16th to enable them prepare to sit for their first semester examinations.
Meanwhile, the 67th graduation is set for February 21-24. The Ivory Tower always holds its graduation in January of every year, but its closure led to postponement of every activity.
Despite re-opening, lecture rooms were still empty as more students are arriving from their villages where they had been sent, considering the closure affected their halls of residence and hostels.
