• UCB closed, dining halls turned into lecture rooms
• Female, male students share lavatories

 College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS) closed one of its blocks at the beginning of the semester.  Uganda Commercial Bank (UCB) building, one of the University’s unfinished buildings has been closed due to the leakages, and cracks.

Formerly, the college has been using the ground floor for conducting lectures.

Why relocate

According to Eria Hisali the Deputy Principal College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS), UCB shall be demolished to put up new structures for lecture halls and rooms since its renovation would simply be a waste of public funds.

“There is no need to renovate a building which was never finished and is phased for re construction as it is already too old.”

Mr. Hisali also adds, “We are interested in protecting the lives of students and we really had to make such a decision. We could not wait for a disaster to happen on students and so we had to shift the students.”

From dining halls to lecture halls

Students have been relocated to the various halls of residence to have their lectures.

Earlier on, at the beginning of the semester, the university management effected some of the new changes into the running and management of the university. These among others were the implementation of the university council decision to outsource meals in the halls of residences. Four serving points were provided at University hall, Africa hall, Mary Stuart, and Nkrumah.

The halls where meals are not served such as Livingstone, Lumumba, Mitchel and Complex have been turned into lecture halls to facilitate the ever growing numbers of students. 

Students’ reaction

Alex Sebatuka a class representative BBA evening noted that in addition to walking long distances from hall to hall, missing lectures is at times inevitable.

“We normally have lectures in different halls and as you know, they are far apart. For example, on a daily basis we have 2-3 lectures and you find one in Lumumba and another in Livingstone,” says Sebatuka.

According to Annah Namatovu first year student of BBA, ladies are mistreated in the male halls of residences.

“The situation is not convenient, we share toilets with boys and these toilets especially in Mitchell are very dirty and in a sorry state. We feel our health is dared,” said Namatovu.

Students locked in Lumumba Hall

On Friday September 19, student residents of Lumumba Hall while having their meeting locally known as “Kimeza”, locked first year students of BBA who were having lectures in Annex building at Lumumba hall demanding respect for Gongom.

“It was around 8:00pm last Friday when Lumumba guys locked us in their hall. We were closed for about one hour, our lecturer pleaded with them to atleast release the girls but they refused until they finished their meeting,” says Muhenda Oscar a first year student of BBA.

Way forward

“We have received complaints from the students over the lavatory issues and we are in touch with the students’ leadership and the hall management. We have managed to lobby for those toilet facilities that were formerly used by the kitchen staff and hall officials to help our female students access them when they are having lectures there,” says Eria Hisali.

When asked about lighting in these dining halls, Hisali said they have procured bulbs and tubes for installing lights in the “lecture halls”.

“I am glad, we have secured and released some funds for the purchase and installation of lights in these “lecture halls” to enable good learning environment,” he added.