Decolonising the Neoliberal Ledger: A Critical Phenomenological Study of Ubuntu-Led Financial Stewardship versus Corporate KPI Managerialism at Makerere University

This study investigates the epistemological conflict between Western-centric corporate Key Performance Indicator (KPI) managerialism and the indigenous African philosophy of Ubuntu within the financial governance of Makerere University. Operating within a qualitative single-case study design grounded in critical phenomenology, the paper explores how academic administrators navigate the structural tensions of marketised budgeting versus communal accountability. Data collection comprised a qualitative doctrinal analysis of Ugandan policy frameworks and judicial decisions, paired with semi-structured interviews (n = 12) and two focus groups of six participants, involving a total of 24 purposively selected senior administrative figures, academic leaders, and legal counsel who concurrently hold traditional or communal leadership roles. The findings reveal that New Public Management (NPM) frameworks impose an alien ledger system that commodifies academic labour, defunds community-facing initiatives, and enforces automated commercial exclusions. Conversely, administrators operationalise Ubuntu-led financial stewardship, manifested through informal mutual-aid resource pooling and traditional consensus-driven dialogue circles (Akakiiko), to subvert and resist these rigid metrics. The study concludes that the uncritical imposition of strict commercial metrics degrades the socio-educational mandate of public universities in Sub-Saharan Africa. It recommends that the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and university governing bodies reform regulatory frameworks to integrate pluralistic, relational accountability models.