Six years fruitless journey in search of education

It’s almost six years now since he started fighting for his right to pursue a degree. Alphonce Lusako has gone everywhere, from one office to another to seek the help of officials responsible with education but all his efforts have been in vain.

The determined young man however, has not lost hope. He strongly believes he will continue with university studies regardless how long it takes to get justice.

In 2011, together with 50 other students, 27-year-old Lusako who was in his third year at the University of Dar es Salaam, pursuing a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting degree, was expelled from university. They had organised a students’ strike, protesting against government’s decision to send back home first year students in public universities on budget deficit grounds.

They appealed against their expulsion and requested the University Council to reverse its decision, in Lusako’s words, ‘to violate their right to study in the public university.’

The Council rejected their request and filed a case against them at the Kisutu Magistrate’s Court (Criminal Case No. 270 of 2011). They were charged with two offences of unlawfully gathering and defying the police force’s order to disperse during the strike.

On August 30 2012, the court dismissed the case but when they went back to university, Lusako and colleagues were not allowed to resume studies. Surprisingly, 38 of their colleagues (out of the 51 students who had been expelled) were re-admitted to the university.

“The remaining 12 of us embarked on diplomatic means to gain re-admission. We went to every official that we thought could help us go back to university so that we could complete our studies.”

Lusako laments that they wrote to the Director of Universities, Prof Silvia Temu, the then education minister, Dr Shukuru Kawambwa, the former Prime Minister, Hon Mizengo Peter Pinda and the then Home affairs Minister, Hon Shamsi Vuai Nahodha.

The team also sought intervention from the Human Rights and Good Governance Commission and also the Parliament through its steering committee responsible with education matters, which was chaired by Mrs Margaret Sitta, MP for Urambo who once served as minister for education, but their efforts never paid off.

“Because none of the measures worked, we sought the assistance of advocates from Legal and Human Rights Centre and the Tanganyika Law Society, and filed a case at the Kisutu Magistrate Court, believing it was the remaining option to get our right. Unfortunately, it was a long and time wasting process.”

Last year, Lusako and colleagues decided to take the matter to President Magufuli.

“We wrote to the President requesting him to intervene in the matter believing, and we still do, that he will help solve our problem.”

Lusako is thankful they received great cooperation from the President’s aides in education and legal matters. They held several meetings at the State House with the Director of Universities, the Ministry of Education and the then Executive Director of the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU), Prof Yunus Mgaya.

“On February 12, 2016, TCU wrote to the University of Dar es Salaam instructing it to readmit the expelled students, citing the Universities Regulation 43(1) GN 226 of 2013, which states that a student who has been expelled from university on disciplinary grounds is allowed to reapply in the same university or others,” says Lusako.

It is on this ground that in the same year, “I applied for admission in three universities through TCU’s Central Admission System and was selected to study Economics at the University of Dar es Salaam, my second priority after Law which is my life dream.”

Dream to be a lawyer

Because his dream is to become a lawyer, Lusako decided to switch courses from Economics to Law.

“The administration office accorded me full support by approving my transfer. Even the undergraduate Deputy Vice Chancellor confirmed my transfer.”

Surprisingly and unexpectedly, eight months into his studies, another catastrophe hit, aimed at putting a stop to Lusako’s education, as he puts it.

“It was on January 30 as I prepared for the first semester university exams when I received an expulsion letter informing me that I had wrongly been admitted to the university. I was very shocked and hurt. It was really hard to bear, ” says Lusako sadly.

He rushed to TCU for help so he could proceed with exams but the process involved writing an official letter to the commission. He was promised that his matter would be worked on and that he would be contacted. Lusako is still waiting for TCU’s response.

TCU’s Director of Admission and Documentation, Dr Kokuberwa Mollel told Sound Living that they have already responded to Lusako’s letter but Lusako insists he is yet to hear from TCU.

Dr Mollel says it is not true that Lusako was wrongly admitted in the University of Dar es Salaam since he, like other students, was admitted through the Commission’s Central Admission System that is unlikely to make mistakes.

“He was not wrongly admitted; ask him to tell you the truth. He reapplied to go back to university and we (TCU) sent him to study economics in the University of Dar es Salaam’s School of Economics but he transferred to the School of Law.”

According to Dr Mollel, Lusako was not supposed to switch courses since a student is not allowed to pursue the same course that he was taking at the time of expulsion. According to her, Lusako was supposed to wait for four years if he wanted to study the same course.

Lusako maintains that at the time of expulsion in 2011, he had been pursuing a degree in Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and not Law as Mollel claims.

No apology, no studies

When reached for comment, University of Dar es Salaam’s Vice Chancellor, Prof Rwekaza Mukandala said Lusako was among students who were expelled from the university after organising a strike, which is lawfully wrong.

“It is the University Council that made the decision to expel them from university, hence it has the mandate to readmit them or not after they make an apology, but Lusako is yet to do that,” says Prof Mukandala.

The don says after realising that Lusako was readmitted in the university, ‘through under hand measures,’ as he puts it, his admission was cancelled.

According to the professor, Lusako will never be readmitted to the university unless he makes an apology to the University Council for the destruction he and his colleagues caused.

Prof Mukandala says that Lusako and his colleagues were given an opportunity to appear before the disciplinary hearing to defend themselves, and that those who appeared before the committee were allowed to resume studies.

“Lusako and his colleagues did not, hence the University Council maintained its stance to have them out of university.”

Lusako refutes the professor’s claims saying they were not called to defend themselves before the disciplinary committee.

According to Prof Mukandala, Lusako’s admission was cancelled in January because it was invalid given that he had not apologised to the council for the mistakes that led to his expulsion in 2011.

Had Lusako not transferred from the School of Economics to which he was selected to study by TCU, to the School of Law, his admission would not have been cancelled according to Prof Mukandala. The mistake he made, Prof Mukandala says, “is to transfer to the same course he was discontinued from. That is not allowed unless he gets approval from the University Council which he would only receive if he would make an apology,” maintains Prof Mukandara.

Despite several calls, Prof Silvia Temu who is director of Higher Learning at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology could not be reached for comment.

Lusako’s father, Mr Alphonce Mwamwile, says he and his family are hurt by their son’s predicament and that the whole family is devastated.

“It hurts me so much, not only me but the whole family. There’s nothing I can do to help my son. I wish I could send him abroad to study,” says Mr Mwamwile, a Kondoa District Education Officer for primary schools.

“I have personally taught many students, some who are now senior officers in both government and private sectors. They always made mistakes and as a parent, I always gave them a second chance. Today they are making a huge contribution to the nation. I am not happy with the way my son has been treated.”

Lusako believes he is being victimised and thinks there might be a hidden agenda that he is not aware of. He says he does not deserve such a punishment- of being deprived of his basic right to education.

He wishes the country would be governed according to the constitution and the rule of law and warns; “If we govern universities through revenge, personal hatred and allow university chancellors to be above the law, we will end up causing chaos.”

“I have given the matter a lot of thought and have realised my persecutors are not battling with a person called Alphonce Lusako, but with his education. Their main weapon is my parents’ poverty. I have decided to leave the matter in God’s hands so that he can fight this battle for me,” says Lusako as tears flow down his cheeks.

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