Alupo woos Kyambogo graduates to vote Museveni in 2016

Alupo woos Kyambogo graduates to vote Museveni in 2016

KAMPALA. The Minister of Education Jessica Alupo has urged graduates  who are leaving universities  to vote President Museveni into power again in 2016 ,saying majority of them have been beneficiaries of  the Universal Primary Education (UPE) and other government programmes.

While presiding over the 11^th graduation ceremony of Kyambogo University Wednesday , Alupo emphasised the need by students to apply the skills attained to ensure that they help government  achieve  the much touted Vision 2040.

“Some of you are beneficiaries of NRM education, immunisation and peace and security among others, so we expect a lot of support from you in the coming elections”. Alupo told graduates. It would be his fourth electoral contest as president, having taken power in 1986 after a five-year guerrilla war before winning elections in 1996, 2001 and 2006.

In 2016, Mr Museveni would have ruled for  30 odd years, more than the combined tenure of all Uganda’s former presidents. Apolo Milton Obote who ruled the country twice, was president for under 10 years. 
Mr Museveni has won the last four elections  with a bigger margin ,but three of them have been contested ,with the opposition disputing the fairness of the polls.
A section of NRM MPs and some former ministers who have since fallen out of favour with Mr Museveni have on several occasions said  that the party has lost track of its  key ideals.

A total of 7246 students are graduating with certificates, diplomas, bachelors masters and Phds in different disciplines from the university in a three days exercise with 211 graduates  attaining 1^st class degrees.

Alupo also noted that the NRM government is committed to improving education and that’s why it has set aside Shs 75 billion for Kyambogo University to establish laboratories and train staff. She also reiterated government’s commitment  to have all professors in public universities paid a monthly salary of Shs 15 million in the next financial year of 2015/2016.

When meeting Makerere University top management last year ,Mr Museveni said government will increase allocation for salaries of teaching staff in all public universities from the previous Shs180 billion to Shs300 billion and  students will only be meeting utilities like water and electricity not contributing to their lecturers' pay,as a way of averting endless students’ strikes at the institutions.

However ,the university vice chancellor Prof Eli Katunguka reminded government that Kyambogo still grapples with the challenge of under capacity and poor welfare which  has slowed the morale of many staff .

“The current establishment is still below 4 percent  and the university has continued to rely on part time staff  who are very  difficult to manage. The university council and management shall continue engaging government so that this issue is addressed”.  Katunguka added.

Meanwhile ,Kyambogo has unveiled nine new courses to enhance research. These include; PhD  in Food Technology, Masters in Food Processing Technology and Masters in Animal Production among others.

Uganda’s public universities have over the past two decades or so experienced under-funding which has some how affected effective delivery of services especially in the area of Research.

Government’s priority of resource allocation to, and within, education sector is more towards primary and secondary education than higher education. So, both   universal primary and secondary education programmes are adding upward pressures on higher education, but government has always appeared to be ill-prepared to address this challenge.