makerere university to fight sex crimes

By Moses Nsubuga (New Vision, Kampala)

March 12, 2006: Makerere University has drafted a sexual harassment policy to check the alleged rampant sexual violations at the university.

Allegations are rife that male lecturers bully female students into giving in to their sexual demands in exchange for marks in exams and coursework.

"Our policy is ready. If the Senate approves the draft policy, then lecturers accused of abusing students sexually will be brought to book," Evelyn Nyakoojo, the Senior Assistant Academic Registrar, said on Friday.

Nyakoojo, the former head of Gender and Mainstreaming at the university, was speaking at Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel, Entebbe, during an annual planning workshop for the department.

The draft policy says that a lecturer involved in sexual harassment faces a caution, suspension or dismissal.
It also says that findings from a 2004 analysis of gender issues indicated, among other issues, the absence of a sexual harassment policy and mechanisms to address abuses arising out of relationships of power.

The report identified "glaring multifaceted incidences of sexual harassment at three major levels - staff to staff, staff to students and students to students".

The draft policy will initiate an examinable academic course unit on ethics and human rights for all first year students, to develop a culture responsive to diversities.

The acting Academic Registrar, Hajati Fatuma Sebutta, said the University Senate would, in its next sitting, discuss recommendations to improve the scheme which awards females 1.5 bonus entry points as well as the gender terrain at the university.

Sebutta also advised university students to be careful about love relationships as they have the capacity to adversely affect their academic performance.

"Because of relationships, many students have ended up not graduating. I caution you (students) against pornography, which has influenced many of you into engaging in acts like rape, homosexuality, lesbianism and prostitution, which expose you to sexually Transmitted Diseases like HIV/AIDS," she said.