The Makerere University Appointments Board’s decision to refuse law Prof John Jean Barya a post-retirement contract which has been rejected by the university’s Staff Appeals Tribunal.
On top of that, Prof Barya was also granted 100 million Shillings in general damages by the Tribunal, which was presided over by Dr. Henry Onoria, the recently appointed chairperson. Furthermore, the Tribunal also ordered the board to reexamine the decision, which was deemed to be unjust.
This judgment comes after Prof. Barya successfully appealed a 2021 decision that had rejected his 2020 application for a post-retirement contract. He had submitted it after 30 years of teaching at the School of Law.
Prior to reaching retirement age on May 15, 2020, Barya submitted an application for a post-retirement contract on January 28, 2020. However he kept working in the Department of Public and Comparative Law while he awaited a response on his application. After not hearing back, he wrote the Director of Human Resources on September 14, 2020, asking for an update on his application.
However, the Vice Chancellor could not approve his post-retirement contract because he was not teaching and was not conducting research as the Director of Human Resources informed him on December 15, 2020. He applied for a post-retirement contract with the Appointments Board on January 11, 2021, and the Board rejected to award him a contract in response.
However, Barya asked the Tribunal to reverse the Appointments Board’s ruling, mandate that the University reimburse him for the wages he would have received had his post-retirement contract been accepted, and pay him damages he had suffered during the proceedings.
The Tribunal concluded in its ruling that, at the time the Appointments Board had questioned Barya’s workload, there had been no proof in the form of a lesson plan outlining the Professor’s method of instruction. As a result, the Tribunal concluded that the Appointments Board had not fairly considered all of the available information and had not appropriately evaluated it.
After the decision, he spoke to the media and argued that the Vice Chancellor had acted unfairly. He maintained that the appointments board’s decision to reject his contract was actually motivated by his ongoing advocacy for improved terms and conditions for Makerere University faculty, not by the pretextual explanation offered by the university.
He went on to say that the decision will teach students to obey the law and establish a precedent that the Vice Chancellor and management cannot override any academic unit’s decision.
Apparently, Prof. John Jean Barya was highly vocal about national concerns as well as those impacting the academic staff at Makerere University while he was a lecturer at the Law School.
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The distinguished Barya also frequently organized and took part in open forums and seminars where he promoted democracy and accountability in the nation as well as better working conditions for university employees.
In the process, he fostered animosity among the nation’s political elite as well as among Makerere University authorities.
