Three Makerere University Students Charged with Unlawful Assembly

Three Makerere University Students have been today charged with trespassing at the University’s main premises, taking part in unlawful assembly by Buganda Road Chief Magistrate in Kampala.

Frank Bwambale, David Musiri and Roy Rugumayo appeared before Grade one magistrate Joan Ketty Acaa on Wednesday to have the charges formally read to them. They however denied all charges against them and were subsequently granted a cash bail of Shs200,000 after court retaining their National IDs as surety.

The three were suspended by the University on September 12, 2018 when they were allegedly found in the University’s Nkrumah hall of residence assembling in a manner suspected to invoke other students cause a breach of peace.

The trio that have been ordered to return to court on October 4, 2018 to start trial, is said to be part of a group that masterminds a series of riots to protest the 15% tuition increment by the University.

This followed the Student Guild leadership proposal of 15 per cent increase to the university council to consider after they protested the 45 per cent and 91 per cent raise that had been proposed by the council earlier this year.

The Makerere University Vice Chancellor, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, confirmed that council sat and approved the proposed 15 per cent.

“Council has approved a new fees structure for the undergraduate students starting 2018/2019 with an increase of 15%, this was a figure which was proposed by the students themselves so council decided to approve it,” he said.