A Makerere University lecturer this week went up in arms with Prof Mahmood Mamdani, the head of the Makerere University’s Institute of Social Research (MISR) after being ejected from her department office.
Dr. Stella Nyanzi, a lecturer and researcher at the Institute was early last week kicked out of her office by Prof. Mamdani for her refusal to follow the institute’s policies.
In the April 4th eviction letter, Prof Mamdani explained that Dr Nyanzi despite several instructions was the only researcher that refused to take part in the institutes’ PhD Program.
“Regretfully, you are also not a participant in any of the related MISR research programs,” read part of the letter. “I regret this notice asking you to vacate the office you are currently occupying and hand over the keys to the property manager…”
Dr Nyanzi on receiving this notice, rushed to Makerere’s Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, who wrote back asking Mamdani to hold the eviction until the matter is amicably resolved. Mamdani reportedly declined this directive.
Dr Nyanzi protests her eviction
Riding on her remarkable social media clout that she enjoys, Mrs Nyanzi has since spun this seemingly minuscule internal conflict into a major national issue, playing both the gender and race cards.
In a string of Facebook posts, Nyanzi accused Mamdani of trying to avenge his expulsion by President Idi Amin from Uganda on her.
Mamdani is a third generation Ugandan of Indian ancestry. He was born in Mumbai but grew and studied in Masaka and Kampala. Both his parents were born in neighboring Tanzania but relocated to Uganda.
In the 1972 expulsion of Asians decreed by Amin, Mamdani left the country for a refugee camp in England in early November just as the three-month deadline was approaching for people of Asian heritage to leave the country.
In a strong worded social media rant, Dr Nyazi said she was being the “sacrificial lamb.”
She posted, “Mahmood Mamdani is expelling me out of my office just like Idi Amin Dada expelled Asians out of Uganda. I refuse to be the sacrificial lamb to atone for Idi Amin’s evil. Power really gets to some men’s heads!”
In his calm response however, Prof Mamdani tweeted that MISR “doesn’t take institutional decisions on the basis of an individual’s political beliefs.”