A section of Members of Parliament from Karamoja has criticised the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) for what they describe as a premature verdict on the proposed Karamoja Peace and Technology University.
The concerns follow remarks by NCHE Executive Director, Mary Okwakol, who told the Parliamentary Education Committee that the university project had stalled due to failure to meet accreditation guidelines under the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act.
Prof. Okwakol said the university promoters had failed to follow required procedures, noting that compliance with NCHE guidance would have enabled them to secure a provisional licence.
“The problem is that the university council members are not listening to the National Council for Higher Education. If they had followed the procedures, they would by now have a provisional licence,” she told the committee.
However, Peter Abrahams Lokii, the Member of Parliament for Jie County in Kotido District, disagreed with the NCHE position, accusing the regulator of preempting due process.
Lokii, who also serves as an ex-officio member of the Karamoja Peace and Technology University (KAPATU) Project University Council, argued that Prof. Okwakol should have allowed the standard procedures followed by other public universities to run their course.
He dismissed claims that the project had stalled, insisting that the committee overseeing its establishment had fulfilled all necessary requirements for approval.
“The statements that it has stalled, it has failed, or it has not complied are already sending signals. Under normal circumstances, they should have allowed the process that other universities have gone through for KAPATU to follow as well. It is not true that we stalled,” Lokii said.
The proposed Karamoja Peace and Technology University is expected to expand access to higher education and support development in the Karamoja sub-region.
