Tuesday, 11 March 2014

Interesting Article

This is an article that appeared in the Newspapers., I found it interesting

Mubs paralyzed by top dogs row

Tuesday 07 January 2014
New Vision
What began as a quiet power fight between the principal of Makerere University Business School, Waswa Balunywa, and his deputy, Dr Samuel Ssejjaaka, has come to a head with an investigation that reveals interesting findings.
In August 2012, Balunywa was out of the country. Consequently, his deputy Ssejjaaka was in charge.
Dr Ssejjaaka, who is ordinarily in charge of academics at Mubs, was keen to improve capacity among a number of staff who had earned PhDs.
He made some promotions and among those promoted was Dr Moses Muhwezi, called on to become director for Quality Assurance.
On his return, an angry Prof Balunywa reversed the promotions, arguing that they had been made without sufficient consultation.
The decision was humiliating for Ssejjaaka. He was left an angry man, realising that his authority had been violated. Many employees at Mubs were also taken aback by Balunywa’s decision.
“If you are not a very strong person, it can leave you with a bruised ego, and you even fail in your work here,” an employee said. The matter simply ignited what is now a long-running wrangle between the two men.
Officials at Mubs say Balunywa and Ssejjaaka have since been engaged in a cold war, including trading angry letters. Ironically, they had been close friends and worked well together to establish Mubs.
Alarmed at the sudden hostility between the two, the former chairman of the Mubs Council, Dr Colin Sentongo and his deputy Dr Frank Ssebowa intervened. Both spoke to the two men on two separate occasions but failed to reunite them.
Committee report
After this intervention failed, the Mubs council sat on October 14, 2013 and set up a three-person committee. It was composed of Dr John Kiyaga-Nsubuga as chairman and Victoria S Byoma and Steven Kasangaki as members.
The committee studied correspondences between Balunywa and Ssejjaaka and interviewed the two feuding officials as well as other staff. The committee wrote its report on November 12, 2013 and presented it to the Mubs council for consideration.
The council has since asked Balunywa and Ssejjaaka to write, explaining what they intend to do about the report’s findings.
Committee findings
According to a copy of the report that The Observer has seen, Balunywa accuses Ssejjaaka of underperforming in his duties, which include supervising academic programmes. On the other hand, Ssejjaaka complains that although the two are peers, Balunywa treats him like a junior partner and does not respect him.
He also complains that Balunywa routinely reverses the deputy principal’s decisions “with little regard to the humiliation and loss of face that this causes him.”
The committee concluded that the conflict resulted from flaws in the institution’s structure, which was previously overlooked because the two were friends.
“The deputy principal is supposed to be in charge of academic affairs, but the deans do not report to him. They report to the principal,” reads the report in part.
The report adds that the principal has too much power and influence at the institution.
“With the exception of the internal auditor, who reports to the Audit Committee of Council, all the other 15 senior staff report to the principal,” the report reads.
The committee concluded that this would mean that the principal is swamped with administrative duties without enough time for strategic issues, while the deputy principal relies on work delegated to him by the principal.
Recommendation
The committee recommends that Balunywa and Ssejjaaka should work to repair their relationship either by themselves or through a mediator, suggesting Prof John C. Munene, another senior member of staff. The committee also suggests a revision of the institution’s structure to put academic affairs directly under the deputy principal’s ambit, to make the office holder’s support to the principal and Mubs more clear cut.
The committee further tasked Mubs to comply with their obligation to give the deputy principal a car or compensate him accordingly.
“The fact that the school has not been able to buy him a vehicle due to financial constraints does not remove his entitlement,” the report concludes.
Meanwhile, Muhwezi, whose appointment was revoked by Balunywa, has since been promoted by the principal to dean of the faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business Administration.
Other view
A long-serving Mubs  staffer has told us on condition of anonymity that the real feud between the two men was caused by the knowledge that Ssejjaaka’s contract expires in July.
“Balunywa may be privately hoping that Ssejjaaka is not popular with council, the appointing authority, which would make it easier to dispense with the deputy principal,” the staffer said.
Another staffer added that Balunywa might have his eye on another employee becoming deputy principal.
“In the past Ssejjaaka did not raise a finger when others were being shown the exit, his time has come – that is how things are here.”


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