Makerere University is seeking service providers to run two canteens at Mary Stuart Hall.

The canteens at the biggest female hall of residence have been closed since May, when a fire outbreak destroyed property including the canteens on the first floor of the building. Since then the building has been undergoing renovations.

The university administration has come up with a new bidding requirement for possible service providers which requires that a staff member owns the canteen and thus rendering the previous service providers ineligible.

According to Hasfa Kabejja, a communications officer in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, “letters have been sent to university staff informing them of the bidding process and seeking those interested in running any of the two canteens at the hall.”

“The canteens will be reopened soon since we have finalised with the renovation. We are only waiting for the university administration to announce the final winning bidder,” said James Byomuhangi the chief custodian.

This will come as a welcome relief to the students of the hall who have sometimes had to walk up to Kikoni, a city suburb west of the university, in the night looking for food.

Brenda Malinga, a second year student who is resident at the 65-year-old hall, the closure of the canteens have exposed students to great security risks including moving to either Kikoni or Wandegeya to buy any requirements or resort to the use of the canteens at the neighbouring Lumumba Hall.

Asiimwe Ahumuza Yvonne, the Chair Lady of Mary Stuart Hall, told this reporter that she is working closely with the university administration to ensure that the canteens open soon.

A police report pointed to the canteens as the likely source of the fire that gutted the hall. It highlighted the state of their electrical connection at the time of the fire.

Built in 1953, the hall was named after Mary Stuart, the wife to Bishop Edgar Stuart. Bishop Stuart was third bishop of the Diocese of Uganda who served between 1935 and 1953. Mary Stuart had worked hard for the betterment of women education during her time in Uganda.