CBU dons decry ‘sub-standard’ management style

THE Copperbelt University Academics union (CBUAU) says it is troubled with the continued failure by the University Council to provide proper management skills.

The Union has also ex- pressed disappointment at the council's mismanagement of the recruitment process of a new Vice Chancellor using a substandard advertisement.

CBUAU General Secretary, Willie Ngosa, said the union had always valued the impor- tance of dialogue between em- ployer and employee.

He said his union had on several occasions engaged the university council whenever aggrieved by CBU manage- ment's decisions.

Mr Ngosa said it was clear university council had not been sincere in dealing with chal- lenges affecting the institution.

He said the union had writ- ten numerous letters to the university council, highlighting the many challenges and ille- galities that were perpetuated by the CBU management but that the council had decided to ignore the union with impuni- ty.

"The university council is mandated by law to act in the

interest of the university and not for individuals.

"Just recently, the universi- ty council through the office of the registrar advertised the position of CBU Vice Chancellor and the union expressed concern to the ef- fect that the advert had fall- en short of the requirements and qualities of the position," he said.

Mr Ngosa added that the advertisement was substan- dard and resembled one that had been tailored to target the qualifications of a partic- ular person of interest to take up the position of the Vice Chancellor at the university.

He alleged that the uni- versity had been messed up because of recruiting individ- uals that had no idea of how a university was run.

Mr Ngosa said it was sur- prising that despite efforts by the union to ensure that

the university was run in line with the higher education Act number 4 of 2013, the search committee that was appoint- ed by the university council failed to restore sanity and order at the institution.

He observed that systems at the institution had broken down such that only the views of certain individuals were taken into consideration.

He advised the council to acquaint itself with the high- er education Act for it to fully understand its mandate.

"The union will stand ready to fight injustices should the university council continue failing to provide an oversight regarding the matters affect- ing the university.

"We will not hesitate to pass a vote of no confidence against the university coun- cil should we continue seeing the institution going through the same challenges," he said.