Hundreds of Copperbelt University workers and lecturers Wednesday morning connived to lock up Vice-Chancellor Professor Naison Ngoma’s office demanding his resignation saying he had failed to run the institution.

CBU lecturers and staff have accused Prof Ngoma of dictatorial tendencies in his style of leadership which they said have affected operations of the institution.

A check at CBU found the workers singing “Chi Ngoma eeee, fumapo uleya, watuchushya uleya, fumapo uleya! (You Ngoma, you must resign and leave the institution. You have made us suffer for too long),” outside the locked office.

For over a year now, salaries have been delayed and the workers have now vowed to continue with their peaceful protests until Prof Ngoma steps down.

They said this through CBU Unions Spokesperson Dr Derrick Ntalasha after a meeting held this morning at campus.

And when contacted, Professor Ngoma who at the time of the call was still locked-up in his office, lamented that the workers did not give dialogue a chance.

“Every institution has its own challenges and they have to be addressed in a proper manner. That is not the way to go. These colleagues could have given discourse a chance. Discourse is the only way to resolve issues. Without this, we can’t achieve our objectives,” Prof Ngoma said.

He denied the allegations levelled against him.

“These allegations that have continued to be levelled against me for years are baseless. We are an institution with proper procedures to follow.
We will wait for authority, but this is not good,” said Ngoma.

Before noon, armed police officers opened Prof Ngoma’s office and whisked him away.

Meanwhile, lecturers have started receiving their December salaries.