Do the Math...

I got this email today.

Dear Almni,

As a Ugandan, am getting ashamed to say I am!!!, becoz this takes away a healthy chunk of that guilt.

I am utterly buffled, dismayed and disturbed at the lax with which people in "authority" use power in backward regions of the Earth. You would expect a "learned" man like Ekudu to fathom that Nutriton, Relaxation and Income are key factors that influence learning.
Tons of students at Makerere earn money doing secretarial work in the dorms, store their fruits and vegetables in those fridges and avoid all wrong intention...arround the Uni (due to idle minds)...by watching t.v to cool off the hard day's work.

The ban on T.Vs, Fridges and Computers in residence halls is not only ignorant, it's devoid of reason and empathy. While Ekudu, and probably most of his decision-making posse might have grown up in the pot, radio and typewriter era, times have changed and they need to realize that too.

So umeme wants sh 58million for electricity, are you telling me the Ugandan government (small "g") can't come up with that amount, yet it can splash over Sh 20 million on Landcruisers for Ministers and members of parliament (small "p")? And what happened to all that money from the timber snatched from Congo?

While the western world is making all universities wireless, Uganda is making it a crime to own a computer? Psssst!

Murphy

Fight Ignorance, please pass this on.



Makerere bans TVs, fridges
ALEX NSUBUGA & RICHARD WANAMBWA
KAMPALA

MAKERERE University has banned the use of fridges, television sets and computers in all students' halls of residence. The move, it has emerged is meant to cut down on the huge power bills Makerere is facing.
The Dean of Students, Mr John Ekudu, wrote to all university hall wardens on September 12 instructing them to effect the ban. The students are back at the university but it's not clear whether the university authorities are going to force them to return the TVs and computers home.
The university has had a blackout for the last three weeks after Umeme disconnected the power due to non payment of Shs 58 million. When contacted yesterday, Mr Ekudu bluntly said electronic equipment are not allowed at the university. "Whoever has been to Makerere knows the rules, so we are trying to implement those rules," he said by telephone.
He said the decision originated from the university council. He said the council was concerned that the university was spending most of its budget on electricity. "The expenditure on power is high that's why I was told to inform the wardens to implement the rules," he said adding that the university authorities will meet and see how best to enforce the directive. The directive has however attracted an outcry from students who say the university authorities are attempting to deny them their fundamental rights.