The Part-Timer Who's Taking On Makerere University

by Rosebell Kagumire

Over 200 students at Makerere University, in Uganda, could miss their graduation due next January 2009. This is because a part-time lecturer who hasn’t been paid for a year by the university is withholding student’s dissertations and marks until the university clears his monies.

Mr. Booker Sentongo, who has been a part-time lecturer in the Department of Geography at the university since year 2000 on the tourism programme, demands just over Shs 1.6 million ($837 US dollars) accumulated over a period of one year.

According to a letter from the office of Dean Faculty of Arts to Sentongo, over 200 students may not graduate as scheduled in January 2009 if the lecturer does not release the marks in time.

“…reconsider your actions and urgently submit the marks that you are holding because time is running out for students who have to graduate in January 2009. After submitting the marks, you can call on the undersigned to discuss amicable ways of handling the matter of unpaid claims.”

In a letter dated October 15, Sentongo wrote to the head of department saying the faculty had failed to pay him Shs 630,000 ($329) for marking dissertations in the year 2006/007 and other unpaid claims including marking coursework, examinations and field reports amounting to about Shs 830,000 ($434).

In the letter, Associate Professor Abasi Kiyimba Assistant Dean of Faculty of Arts said the non payment of Sentongo’s salary and allowances is because the university is cash strapped.

“The university is experiencing financial difficulties that make its various units unable to meet all their obligations on time,” said Kiyimba.

This is just another example of how the never-ending financial crisis of Makerere University is affecting the quality of education of an institution that was once the best in the region.

“…the scripts, dissertations and marks that you are holding are a property of Makerere University; and by illegally withholding them, you are holding 225 students at ransom,” the letter reads in part.

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