University managers speak out on university’s closure

By Damali Mukhaye and Robert Muhereza

Officials from the Great Lakes Regional University have spoken out about the abrupt closure of the institution by the National Council for Higher Education.

The Council yesterday ordered closure of the Kanungu-based University for one month over contested ownership and poor governance, leaving hundreds of students stranded.

However, the university director, Honest Wilkins Natukwasa says the decision by NCHE to halt the institution’s operations is not fair.

He says there was abuse of the process to reach that conclusion because key stakeholders were not consulted and the decision was done at haste.

Natukwasa adds that the ownership issues should not have affected the continuity of the University operations.

According to the general circular pinned at the University’s main notice board signed by Dorothy Kabugo on behalf of the Vice Chancellor the students who had paid fees for this semester, will have it forwarded to the next period of study when the university officially re-opens.

The closure comes nine days after the NCHE blocked the graduation ceremony of the same institution due to unending fights between the current management and alleged founder members who had set different graduation dates for the same students.

Written by Noelyn Nassuuna