By Moses Alinda
MUNI: A section of Muni University students have expressed their grievances about how the institution’s administration is poorly running the institution.
Addressing the media in Arua town recently, the students from various faculties who spoke on condition of anonymity say the administration has scrapped off the school practice allowances without the consent of the students, yet the money of Ugandan shillings 80,000 is paid as tuition by students per semester.
The aggrieved students Both private and government-sponsored students further say the landlords are sending them out of their houses due to accumulated rent arrears, and others have become malnourished as a result of hunger since they cannot afford the meals.
They further say they have been surviving on mangoes in the nearby villages, which have now been cleared, and as of now they have nothing to eat.
The students, especially in the nursing section, have been left stranded as they have to walk to Arua regional referral hospital via the deadly Barifa forest early in the morning to attend the patients in the hospital on an empty stomach, which has threatened the lives of some students, especially the ladies, as they face challenges in Barifa, thus affecting their performance in the hospital.
The meetings that have been organized between the administration and students have not yielded any fruit, as both parties have failed to agree.
The students accuse the guild president of neglecting them as the situation worsens.
When contacted, Victor Ogenrwoth, the guild president at Muni University, said the university has not received money yet, but the students will receive their allowances by July 20th, according to the meeting they held with the institution administration.
He says the challenge he has faced with the students is that they want their issues addressed, and then he says such issues need a diplomatic way of handling them.
However, the university secretary, Banya Emmanuel, says the university has a shortfall in the budget as a result of the increase in semesters in a year.
Because of the COVID-19 effect, each semester has two pairs of students, which has increased the number of semesters.
He says they wrote to the ministry of finance for a supplementary budget, which was not honored.
The money paid by private students has been taken by the Uganda Revenue Authority.
On Monday, a section of students were arrested in Arua town as they were speaking to the media.
The media personality working with Vision Group who was recording them was also arrested by Arua Central Police Station but later released.
According to reliable sources, students have been prohibited from moving out of the compass and engaging in any media activity; however, the students say that that is an infringement on the right to movement and freedom of expression as constituted in the constitution of the Republic of Uganda.
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