LINDA TUSIIME SHOOTS BACK!

ABWOOLI RUJUMBA OMURUNGI W'ABASAMBU, the Linda I talked of in my last correspondence with you shot back rather scarthingly. Here is the full text of her reply:

"Clearly you are rash in delivering opinions and more so with no candor what so ever. And while you may in the same spirit throw accusations at the Monitor, give it time, maybe you'll find your article in next weeks' paper. But what I can tell you is that the I completely understand the basis for your reaction to what you called a reckless opinion. And as much as it may seem unfair, biased, pick any word you may. I still firmly believe that something needs to be done about the large numbers at the university.

By having so many students government universities have resorted to creating courses just to cater for the huge numbers. I know what Iam talking about here because I did one of such courses and have heard potential employers say over and over again, ‘When was this course created? X should have been enough!’’ And I can’t be blamed for this. It was not my fault that I had to get a degree so had to opt for the course I was given because so many already were enrolled in my original course and nothing could be done.

So sir, I understand why you may think Iam simply cultivating beliefs sowed by what you referred to as the NRM cadres but don’t you worry about the trend our education system is taking. I mean, don’t you worry that at the rate we are going where everyone is fighting to get ‘papers’ very soon even those with post graduate diplomas will be deemed useless.

I’ll admit I am upset by the unrealistic financial trend Makerere is taking but it upsets me more to have parted with so much money and still not have attained nothing much of substance. I always thought we were too many in the lecture rooms, that the lecturers didn’t really give some of us the attention we needed, that as much as I paid for so many of the services, I couldn’t even access them.Reason;the numbers! It always comes back to the numbers. To our society that thinks no body is worth their salt without a degree. The potential employers who start judging applicants basing on degrees even for the simplest of jobs that a high school leaver could have done. Why does everyone all of a sudden think that attaining a degree is a matter of life or death? One doesn’t need to have a degree to make it in the world.

It is this belief that is making us think that university education is a right. It is Secondary education that is a right. But what point is this right if after completing, one can’t make a name for themselves because unemployed graduates have reduced themselves to taking the jobs meant for them. What point is this right if children are convinced to go to the university, waste time studying baseless concocted courses just so they can attain a degree and apply for jobs they could have done 3 years ago!

And then again, maybe the answer isn’t to increase tuition fees at the rate they are going but then it’s not my place to look for solutions to the problems that are plaguing our education system. God knows I have plenty of ideas up my sleeve but at the rate decisions are made in this country, the best one can do is look at a solution weigh its pros and cons and see how best to support it. And, because I am upset by the large numbers of unemployed, under qualified and immature graduates walking the streets, that my friend is what I did.

In conclusion, though I may not know who you are, my best guess is that you are a student of law because of your obvious and loud outburst,throwing facts all over the place because you believe your ideas and notions to be superior to others. I do not mean to wage war. I am not a reporter.I am simply a citizen of this country who has had enough of the carelessness of the government universities-Makerere in particular and the impact on its graduates. I was simply giving my comment. Surely, a student of law(if that is what you are) should comprehend its meaning."

Son of my father, So precise was my reply:

My Dearest Sister Linda Tusiime,

Pardon me for using that tone I chose to use in my last correspondence with you over the heart-breaking Varsity hikes. Allow me also take occasion to salute the civility you so admiringly exuded whilst responding to my letter of complaint. This country needs many more of your tolerance and ilk. Bravo Sister.

Your guess is right! Am a Law reader at Makerere, the once fittingly- named 'Harvard of Africa'. How spot-on that resemblance was!

However that aside, am still lovingly married to my well-held belief that the over 100% sporadic hike in the tuition fees of University fees is utter segregation, annihilation of the hopes of the deprived, and a design of mischief with the sole purpose of wiping the poor student from the face of Makerere.

Linda, whereas I see no tangible reason to disagree with you that the tuition hike is inevitable if Makerere is to recapture the glorious ages long gone, I vehemently detest the way this was unfairly done.

You just cannot afford any reason for this cruel act to a poor coffee farmer in the deepest and most remote part of Kijunjubwa- Masindi who hoes his day away to see to it that his son attains University education.

Should it then be taken, as you convincingly argue in your published article, that University Education is a lucrative and precious prize that the poor peasant cannot claim however dire his efforts? Is it also humane that such a hardworking farmer and committed citizen should cry and lick the salt taste of his own tears simply because a privileged few cannot reverse this evil policy? This is a beautiful epic of how humanity can tend to be cruel to its own!

Linda, how many ministers do you know of, if there is at all, that cruise or are cruised in cars of less than 400 Million and maintenance of which require engineering expatriates imported from London whose emoluments are counted in hundreds of dollars?

How much of tax-payers money is lost to corruption annually?- 500 billion to the exact, a proud figure that makes your pearl- motherland Uganda stand out and occupy a place in the envied balcony of the world's ultra- corrupt countries.

To be specific, how much of your money was handsomely parceled out to Super- minister Hon. Amama-Mbabazi in the Temangalo act- of- coffer slaughter even after flouting rules of procurement?

How much did your your patriotic President's monster jet cost?- 88 billion Ushs!

How much did the renovation of a megastructre designed to shock and amaze, the People's State House of Entebbe cost you, your friends and all Ugandans?- 100 million again counted in dollars!

And how much is the budget of Makerere?- A paltry 55 billion Uganda shillings if am to take the estimates of the academic year 2008/09 given to me by a friend.

Linda, as I stated earlier, I believe that the tribulations of Makerere and other collapsing tertiary institutions can so ably be solved by an unusual intervention of Mr. Museveni's government.

Imagine the government forking out all those monies mentioned above not to buy sleek cars with the functions of humans, world- acclaimed megastructures and Jumbo jets but in the alternative sinking all this money into our crumbling institutions.

If our 'liberators' are not kind enough as to be that benevolent, let then the tuition hikes be limited to such a ceiling as 7% 'for the love of God and charity' as those denied Justice in the courts of law could petition the King in medieval Monarchical England. This can from then on be gradually increased at a reasonable tune of 3-4%.

Dear Linda, such is a brief of my contentions but may I once again salute your commendable trait of tolerance. Those who associate with you must be a lucky and proud lot for they benefit from such an unusual endowment.

May the Omnipotent guard you.