Students hoping to join Soroti University this year will have to wait another year. According to Rose Achimo, secretary to the Soroti University Taskforce, the institution’s facilities are not yet fully in place.
Achimo said they would not rush to open the university, expected to be a centre for health science and technology in the area.
“The taskforce acknowledges the support the government is extending to Soroti University since the inception of this project,” she said. “We have so far received Shs 16bn, but due to competing demands, funds earmarked for 2016/17 will not be adequate to see that this university starts.”
However, Achimo said most of the funds had been paid to the contractor. The university was slated to open for classes this academic year 2016/17, but construction of lecture halls, the lack of a university council and slow recruitment of staff combined to halt the process.
The revelation came during an engagement the institution held with leaders from the greater Teso region, including Katakwi, Serere, Amuria, Kaberamaido, Kumi, Ngora and Bukedea districts, last week.
Despite calls to reconsider, Achimo insisted: “We need to complete construction, procure teaching materials, deal with external works, set up support services and recruit staff next financial year; then the university can open.”
The university’s academic registrar, James Gregory Okello, added that late disbursement of funds by government had also frustrated their plans to open for business.
“The contract for the construction of the university was signed by the ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports (MoESTS) and Complant Engineering Ltd at a sum of Shs 18.6bn, so far Shs 10bn has been paid, a total of Shs 8.5bn is remaining, so this balance is slowing the works,” he said.
He explained that the contract, supposed to run for 26 months, started in July 2014 and 75 per cent of the work had been completed.
“The speed of the contractor is faster than that of the remittance of funds; quarterly release does not accommodate the magnitude of the work covered,” Okello said.
After the meeting, a dissatisfied Benard Eumu, the district chairperson for Ngora, insisted that the university start in its current state and develop over time.
“Let us start with what we have, after all the programmes start with theory part, for anybody to say that we need a laboratory at this early stage is wrong,” he said.
However, John Steven Ikong, Soroti RDC, disagreed, saying Soroti University was not for the locals alone and area leaders ought to respect the views of the taskforce.