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Old ghosts still haunt Kyambogo University
Students walk past the administration block at Kyambogo University recently.
It is a good campus given its location and serenity. But when one walks into the gates notices nothing amiss until somebody conversant with the politics at institution narrates the story. This is Kyambogo University which is currently a hotbed of accusations and counter accusations. What is perplexing is that the infighting that had receded in the five or so years has reared its ugly head again sucking in top department heads and outgoing members of the councils.
In a letter dated June 1, 2012 and addressed to the Inspector General of Government , a whistler is accusing some department heads of taking advantage of some ‘weak’ students and fraudulently awarding them examination marks and grades they do not rightfully deserve in exchange for money or sex ,a practice popularly referred to as ‘ marks for sex’ at universities.
The whistle blower also claims that some department heads ‘unethically’ direct certain lecturers to alter marks of certain students through small written chits or verbal instruction to favour or disadvantage such students.
“The above evils have been most common in the department of Economics and Statistics in Kyambogo University at the time (name withheld) was the head,” says the whistle blower. “They have also been common in the department of Sociology and Social Administration in the same university,” “Many former and current students who were affected are very bitter and willing to testify should an independent and technical inquiry be instituted,” the whistle blower adds.
But Mr Lawrence Madete, the university publicist rubbished the claims, describing it as a calculated move by some individuals who are fighting their ‘own wars’ within the university to taint the good image of the institution. This could be premised on the bad blood between some staff and executive committee members of the university academic staff association with the former accusing the latter of failing to relinquish office, a matter that recently ended up in court.
“You know running a huge university like Kyambogo is not easy. There are individuals amongst us here who feel jealously of the strides management is making and are making all such wild allegations to portray us in bad light,” he said adding. “And if there is any case of such a nature, which I am sure is not true; the culprits will face disciplinary action.”
He said the current administration promotes and observes ethical standards which he said had helped put the university back on its feet .This is the second petition in three months to the IGG’s office from a whistle blower about the same university. The first was made in April in which the whistle blower accused some members of the university council of being behind the alleged illegal parceling of the university land.
The spokesperson of the Inspectorate of Government Ms Munira Ali confirmed that they had received the petition saying they were still ‘studying it’. “ We have received numerous petition from Kyambogo University and on that particular one we are still studying the allegations to see whether they have merit. If they are factual, we shall definitely commence investigations,” she said by telephone on Friday
Genesis of the problem:
Wrangles are not new at Kyambogo, an institution which was formed in 2003 after merging Uganda Polytechnic, Institute of Teacher’s Education, Kyambogo and Institute for special Education. A long serving staff at the university who preferred anonymity to discuss the matter freely told Education Guide that there is still some staff who were unhappy about the merger of the three institutions.
