A Letter of dismissal whatever your place in society triggers panic and a sense of helplessness
My pursuit for fairness cost me my position at Uganda Christian University. Dismissal at the end of my second year left a bitter taste of injustice in my mouth.
Before my expulsion from University, I was an academic beneficiary of the kind fruits the societal tree of charity bore. After mother broke up with father, she took me and my siblings to her mother in Mpigi where we enrolled into UPE. Two years later, I came to Kampala where mother had returned. Lack of space in her single rented room meant I couldn’t live with her. I enrolled in a school the area Councillor had started to provide free education.
Before long, costs of running the school forced the poor woman into requesting parents for contribution. We were too poor to afford.
An aunt who vended charcoal took me to another school. I was demoted to Primary 2 from primary 5 as a prerequisite to securing a scholarship. Every evening, I endured chants from pupils who lined the school fence chanting.
‘An old man in P.2, an Old Man in P2.’
I was never deterred. I was keen on catching up. I negotiated with my former school so that they could allow my sister study under a scholarship I had benefited from. She was allowed to study. It was cheaper than affording another school.
When I joined secondary, I sold peanut butter (odii/kipoli) packed in polythene bags within school; in the school holidays breaks, I served as a porter at building sites in a bid to raise income. I braved through.
I watched the pine trees I had laboriously planted get destroyed by malicious relations. The organization which sponsored my education has always been kind to me.
When I walked to Seroma High school seeking admission into A’level, the deputy head teacher asked to see the ‘student.’ She was surprised to learn I wasn’t a parent but rather ‘the student.’
I enrolled at the Law school of Uganda Christian University. I’ve always appreciated the fact that our world is strongly secularised. I voiced my concerns over the unwritten rule that only an Anglican could be a Guild President at Uganda Christian University. I was disturbed by the University’s failure to unify. I’ve always respected the faiths of others, despite being a Muslim. I refuse to judge one by who/ what they believe in, having once been adopted by a Christian family in Mbale for a good period of time. The organization which catered for my education operates in the confines of the Christian faith.
To sideline one’s leadership abilities basing on this particular rule wasn’t fair. When a student died inside a hostel affiliated to the University 30 minutes after an accident. I was chastised for branding the University Clinic a lazy dog. I personally felt life had been lost in a manner I considered unfortunate. That hadn’t been the first time I was chastising the University clinic for negligence.
When a resolution was passed increasing tuition without consulting students, I wrote a letter demonising the illegality of the increment for non consultation of students, key stake holders in the University. The total increment imposed on residents was 470,000 UGX. I found this unacceptable and decided I would empower my colleagues by writing to the university.
The university administration was surprised by my decision to dispute the increment. What the University failed to understand is that I wasn’t doing this for me. I had taken a stand for others, I had taken a stand for the countless beneficiaries of loan schemes. I had taken a stand for the various privately sponsored students labouring to raise tuition. My sponsors could afford to pay any amount of tuition, not everyone was lucky though.
On the last day of that semester, students assembled at the Agape Square, in a peaceful consultative meeting while they awaited the Vice Chancellor to address them. The meeting was labeled a demonstration. There were no placards, no chants, no procession or violence. The meeting wasn’t called by me. I wasn’t even around University that morning. I and a colleague, Simon Semmuwemba were branded ring leaders. Simon had equally been critical in demanding for accountability for funds collected. We were summarily deemed improper elements, summarily tried by the University Disciplinary Committee and dismissed.
I stood my ground against unfairness and lost my student status at University. “I have always strived to see people liberated. My convictions have often turned me into a subject of public criticism. I discovered that there’s no liberty that can be achieved by an illiterate man. Once a man attains liberty, the men behind him, attain liberty.
Yasin Sentumbwe, 27. Mukono.
