{UAH} Kyambogo University now a ghost campus
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Kyambogo University now a ghost campus
An empty restaurant just outside the campus. Photo by Abubaker Lubowa.
Posted Thursday, September 13 2012 at 00:00
IN SUMMARY
The closure of Kyambogo University has turned the campus and its neighbourhood into a ghost town. The lecturers' strike is not only affecting students and teaching and non-teaching staff, but also other activities in the neighbourhood that survive on the large student community.
I am at Kyambogo University. The clouds are threatening to release a bountiful of rain. The trees in Peace Park are swaying as if in a livid demonstration towards the university's closure. When I came through the gate at the Eastern side of the university at 4pm, the campus was deserted and still as death. The wind rose to a deafening pitch. The only sign of life at campus was the momentary rumbling of a few vehicles and boda bodas that pass along the lonely routes of the university.
It is hard to believe but for many a fresher, like the one seated opposite the senate, the university has been indirectly closed for a month. On his laptop, this engineering student paints a picture of sadness. "I have not got a feeling of what it means to be in a lecture room, I don't even count myself as a student," remarks Mark Muwanguzi. He is not alone. Others, without hostels and with university halls as their only source of abode and food, have already packed up their bags and headed to lands near and far.
The students are not the only ones facing the heat. Just near the Banda stage, another woman is fraught with worry over what she is going to do, considering she had just got a loan from the bank. "I borrowed Shs1m from the bank with hope that I would be able to repay in within two weeks of the start of the semester," a desolate Faridah Mukwaya narrates. "We suffer indirectly, I have children to look after, I have house rent to pay, (and) I see no hope in this situation."
Someone's meat…
But not many look at this as a sad moment. When the university officials were locked in a struggle that did not seem to be making headway a glorious radiance beckoned on many students' faces. They thought this was an answer to their prayers. Some of the prayers included those who still wanted to finalise writing their internship and industrial training reports. Others had prayers of having enough grace period to pay up the tuition. But for students like Mary Nakyanzi, "Enough is enough, we are tired of being idlers. We want to get value for what we came for when we chose to join university."
In the tour around the university, myself an idler of sorts, I try to look up what the current message on the Notice Boards says. One such notice is from the Guild cabinet that had pleaded for lectures to begin by September 3. However, there happens to be no official communication from the university. The offices of the deans are closed. Some glasses to the office doors are shattered; water from the nearby lavatories can be heard running with great intensity. The motor vehicle and machine workshops which provide income for staff and non-staff are also closed up. The only sign that life ever existed in this place are a few metal parts lying about and two to three lecturers whispering to each other. The grass has grown to lengths; former paths created by students are beginning to sprout grass again.
Had there been a few grave yards in the green fields of Kyambogo at the moment, one would not be mistaken in declaring it a cemetery. But the graveyards lie in the students' hearts; they lie in the hearts of graduands whose hope to graduate in October continues to diminish day by day. As I continue my journey, I see another man whose signature blue shirt has not been changed. This pancake seller's container would be empty by 2pm but it is now 5pm and it is full. With a fleeting smile, and a hand on his cheek, Moses Lutaaya has also got a taste of the closure.
The lecturers seem ready to call off the strike yet by calling off the strike, another party would celebrate victory. They are hanging by the wall, confused about the sides to take, whether to heed to the students' cries or to tighten their grip until the vice chancellor, Isaiah Ndiege , leaves office. All in all, the atmosphere at Kyambogo University can only be summed up in one sentence. It is a ghost town whose lonely inhabitants at the moment wander around like residents in a calamity stricken area trying to fulfill their boring lives.
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