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A strike erupts in Mbarara university over the lack of toilet facilities

Tear gas and gunfire shook up Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) in Mbarara City as students rioted over the lack of proper washroom facilities and internet.

MUST students on strike

Several students burned car tyres around the main hostels and others were involved in running battles with the police as they chanted about the university’s “poor policies”.

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There was the issue of systems development in academic register’s office they explained to us. But then you realise that somebody got a CGPA of 4.2 and then suddenly these results change and somebody has 3.9. Like how? Some had their results corrected but the majority have failed to be worked on. Why?” said Justus Kizito Mugyenyi. the Guild President of MUST.

GPAs may be calculated at the end of a course, semester, or grade level, and a “cumulative GPA” or CGPA represents an average of all final grades individual students earned from the time they first enrolled in a school to the completion of their education.

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Mugyenyi said they have spent 4 days without water in the washrooms the boy’s hostels.

We have only two functional toilets, we have only two functional washrooms…when you go to the faculty building it is worse. There no sockets in the faculty buildings, it’s now coming to three weeks without sockets. There’s no lighting,” he added.

Mugyenyi also complained about not being facilitated to do official work for the Guild Office on behalf of the university and the student body.

However, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of MUST Angella Nyakato said that “management and the leaders” had a meeting which ironed out many of questions the students are striking about.

But, she added, even if you tell this to the students, they are so agitated that they “don’t want to know.”

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Management is replacing the electricity lines that were vandalized, they are replacing the toilet facilities that were destroyed. It has taken for days, yes, but it is being handled,” said the PRO.

Strikes are not something new in MUST.

Earlier this week, there was a student strike and in 2019 unanimously agreed to lay down their tools until the vice chancellor, Prof Celestino Obua, stepped down.

The lecturers accused Obua of a lack of transparency and allegedly embezzling funds meant for operations of the university.

Dr John Emenyu, the chairperson of the Mbarara University of Science and Technology Academic Staff Association (MUSTASA) said the university council failed to handle their issues with urgency and so they had no choice but to lay down their tools.

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Again, in 2021, Mbarara police, led by the Mbarara city Police commander John Rutagira, went toe-to-toe with rioting students while putting out burning tyres set ablaze across the campus by the students.

The students wielded sticks and angry threats as they crossed through the Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, commonly known as Mbarara Hospital, and is a teaching hospital for MUST.

This forced the Hospital Superintendent Celestine Barigye to call for police deployment.

Among the issues is the issues affecting the students back then orbited around physical classes, extension of the semester with appropriate scheduling of lectures and exams, one-off supplementary exams during the academic year 2020/21 for individuals who missed final exams of Semester 2 Academic Year 2019/20, access to all university premises like the library, Computer Laboratories, no additional tuition fees, functional fees and accommodation fees to people staying in University Halls of Residence.

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