Up to and during the graduation ceremonies of Makerere University, the Ministry of Education was going through a bad time in the press. There was the issue of a scam involving more than one million US dollars. Then, the case of importation of graduation gowns came in – and so on and so forth.
Take the issue of gowns. Before this time there had been no case of gowns, until we learn of importing gowns from India. Yet before that when the gowns were being sown at Wandegeya by tailors there, there had been no report of a mishap. Why did whoever, think that importing gowns from India was a better idea and was less cost effective than having them made in Wandegeya?
It means that somebody had got a brainwave of how to make a quick buck, a bribe or possibly a kickback from the parents of the graduands. In this country of endemic theft, this cannot be ruled out. Vice Chancellor Wanangwe sought to dampen the criticism by immediately apologizing for the impropriety, which was not convincing. He should advice his betters that university education is continually dampening in the country.
Phillip Bisangwa
Kampala
