Makerere University appointments board and the legal team of Dr. Stella Nyanzi have been given thirty days to resolve the stalemate over her reinstatement as a research fellow at Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR).
Early this month, University Staff Appeals Tribunal chaired by George Omunyokol quashed minutes of the 544th university appointment board meeting held on February 10th, 2017, which found Dr. Nyanzi guilty and confirmed her six months suspension. The board also recalled Dr. Nyanzi and transferred her to Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC) at the School of Law in a bid to mitigate the conflict at MISR.
Dr. Nyanzi was in April 2016 when she stripped naked to protest what she called mistreatment by MISR Executive Director, Prof Mahmood Mamdani. After quashing the minutes of the appointment's board, the tribunal ordered the university to conduct a fresh hearing. The decision of the tribunal means that Dr. Nyanzi should have been recalled and reinstated as a research fellow at MISR.
However, this hasn't been possible since Dr. Nyanzi was suspended again in March 2017 for insulting the First Lady and Education Minister, Janet Museveni on social media. Dr. Nyanzi's lawyer, Isaac Ssemakkade, says the university appointments board claims, that they haven't concluded investigations into the fresh accusations against her client because she is facing criminal prosecution in court.
"This is meant to give the employer and the employee time to reach an amicable agreement before the hearing of the second appeal. We have both agreed that these thirty days are enough to discuss the issues in a friendly way. The tribunal made a directive that Dr. Nyanzi should be returned but the appointments board seems to say she cannot be reinstated when there are ongoing criminal proceeding in court and she is serving another suspension," Ssemakade told reporters.
Ssemakade says the criminal proceedings are likely to take a long time and shouldn't be used as a ploy by the university appointment board to shy away from implementing the decision of the tribunal. Section 5.11 of the Makerere university human resource manual says "when criminal proceedings are instituted against an employee in the court of law, no proceeding for his or her dismissal upon any grounds involved in the criminal charge shall be taken or proceeded with until the conclusion of the criminal proceeding and determination of any appeal there from."
The second case that the tribunal was supposed to hear today is an appeal by Dr. Nyanzi protesting her second suspension triggered by her social media posts.
