Makerere disqualifies NUP candidate from guild presidential race

KAMPALA, UGANDA: Makerere Guild Electoral Commission has disqualified the National Unity Platform Candidate in the forthcoming University Guild Presidential Elections over the alleged involvement in a political debate that turned violent injuring a student in the process.

Ms Margaret Nattabi (NUP) was disqualified alongside Mr Suleiman Namwoza (Independent NUP leaning candidate) for allegedly organizing a Guild Kimeza on the night of April 05th 2023 at Mitchell Hall on the night of April 5 2023, an exercise which was banned from the university.

The political debate is said to have later turned violent leaving one student identified as Robert Sserunjogi injured in the process. Sserunjogi is said to have been among the participants in the Kimeeza campaign.

In a letter dated April 06, 2023, Mr Levi Tshilumba, the Chairperson of the 89th Guild Elections said the two candidates have since been disqualified as their actions are contrary to the University’s Guild Statute, Section 10 which calls for a violent free election process.

”This is to inform the Makerere University students’ body that Guild President aspirants Nattabi Margaret (Complex hall) and Namwoza Sulaiman (Michael Hall) have been disqualified from the 89th Guild Presidential race,” Mr Tshilumba wrote.

“The participation of Nattabi and Namwoza in this event is contrary to Makerere University Guild Statute 2022, Section 10, which stipulates that student elections shall be virtual unless otherwise determined by the University Council,” he added.

However, source at the venue revealed to this publication that NUP’s Nattabi was not even at the venue where the scuffle happened and that the Dean of Students first met both Nattabi and Namwoza and tried to forge a way forward that seemed non-violent.

The dismissal of the two leading candidates according to sources that asked not to be named said the dismissal of Ms Nattabi and Namwoza is part of the plot by the University Administration to determine who sits on the University Council, the highest decision-making organ of the University.

Ms Nattabi when contacted for a comment on the matter said the University had always wanted to block her from participating and winning the election and “Now, they are fulfilling what they long wanted.”

In 2022, Makerere University Council banned physical guild elections at the institution following the death of a student in a scuffle during campaigns for guild elections.

The elections were suspended in July after the death of Micheal Betungura Bewatte, who was a law student at Uganda Christian University, Kampala campus. Betungura had joined his FDC counterparts at Makerere to rally support for his old-time friend Tukamushaba who was the party’s flag bearer.

The University Council subsequently banned all future physical guild elections at the University and ruled that going forward, student leaders would be voted virtually. This was decided even before the committee started probing Betungura’s death.