Gulu university graduates from 2016 are in fear of losing their degrees after the faculty head was interdicted on alleged tribal grounds.

On December 8, 2023 David Obol Otori, the Gulu University Secretary wrote to Dr. Shadat Mutyaba Ssemakula Mohmeded, the Dean Faculty of Law interdicting him while the top university management proceeds with investigations into his academic papers and other personal information.

Otori claims that there were changes in names particularly on Dr. Shadat’s Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) and Diploma in Laws documents.

He put him to task to provide substantive evidence showing that they were legally completed.

However, theGrapevine has learnt that there is a section of concerned citizens who are set to petition Prof. Dr. Eli Katunguka- Rwakishaya the chairperson of National Council for High Education asking him to force Gulu University to recall all law degrees awarded to graduates during the tenure of Dr. Shadat.

One of the persons who petitioned Prof. Katunguka said that a person who lacks the required academic papers cannot supervise and pass graduates because he lacks the expertise and knowledge to do so.

“The Dean of a faculty is a very important person because he or she is responsible for overseeing the functioning of the Faculty, mentoring and supporting faculty members, and attracting suitable persons to teach at the Faculty. The Dean is expected to lead the process of curriculum and pedagogy review at the Faculty. The Dean should enrich interaction and professional experience of faculty members. So, the degrees of Gulu University graduates are questionable,” a petitioner said.

Gulu University Vice Chancellor Prof. George Openjuru Ladaah told Uganda Radio Network in an interview on Thursday that the University realized the inconsistencies in Shadat papers during a recent validation exercise for all staff.

He added that they hadn’t paid much attention to the accused’s academic documents since joining the University in 2016 until recently when he was asked to provide certified copies and also offer more clarification on the discrepancies detected.

When contacted, Dr. Shadat said, “I was written to, with a week’s notice to appear before the appointment board. I sat for 7hrs, and when I was called up, they just apologized before my lawyers and myself,” he said.

He added Dan Norrach Odongo who was the chairman of the meeting told him that he will be called the next day to present his case.

Unfortunately, he instead got an interdiction letter on that very day at 7:30pm.

Dr. Shadat insists that the university secretary didn’t have jurisdiction to write to him the interdiction letter since the matter has already been referred to the appointment board which has never sat to listen to the complaints against him.

He explained to theGrapevine that his academic record is very clean and that he is ready to produce all the persons he studied with from primary school to university in England.

He revealed that he started his education from Kisozi Ranches primary school where he studied from up to primary four.

He later join Bwara Primary School in Masaka district and the school confirmed that he sat his Primary Leaving Education (PLE).

Among the pupils he study with is celebrated NBS Television news anchor Rukh- Shana Namuyimba Kitaka, Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence(CMI) boss Dean Kaare, Adam Sendegeya and others.

After primary, he joined Gombe Secondary School and his headmaster was Hajji Lubega Waggwa.

He sat for his O-Level at Kawempe Muslim Secondary School and his headmaster was Hajji Matovu.

Among the students he studied with is Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) lawyer Musa Kabega, High Court judge Faruk Lubega among others.

He attended his A-Level at Kibibi Secondary School and among his Old boys is Nasser Basajjabalaba a city businessman, Abdru Kayongo and others.

After A-Level, he traveled to England for further studies and obtained his Bachelor of Law from Kingston University, he did a Diploma course as a Solicitor and qualified as a barrister and started practicing law in England.

He obtained a Master of Law at Kingston university and PhD from Brunel University all in London.

His legal documents were confirmed by England’s Solictor’s Regulation Authority of England and Wales in July 2020.

He explained that when he came back, he went to the National Council for Higher Education to certify his academic papers which was done.

He then presented them to Gulu University before he was given a job.

He added that he is the only person who went to the National Council for Higher Education to certify the academic papers he obtained from abroad.

Other staff including university top management didn’t bother. It is on these grounds that he pleaded with the Inspector General of Government (IGG) to pick interest into the matter.

He claimed that his troubles started when he hosted the end of year Law Dinner at the university which was graced by; Supreme Court Justice Mike Chibita, Justice and Constitutional affairs minister Norbert Mao, Archbishop John Baptist Odama and other government and cultural dignitaries.

“From that point, the university Vice Chancellor and other top university management started thinking that I was threatening to take over their offices which is not true. They have been fighting me because of my tribe and religion,” Dr. Shadat said.

He added that for some time now, he has been getting death threats from unknown people who have been trailing him in a Toyota Hiace.

He reported the matter to police and other security agencies.

He accused the university Vice Chancellor and the university secretary of having a malicious agenda to character assassinate him through staging fabricated accusations including giving marks after having sex with university girls.

He pleaded with the first lady, who is also the Minister of Education and sports, to intervene in his matter so that he receives justice because he is also a Ugandan.

By Grapevine Reporter

On the Matanga hill in Masaka city is seated a 10-acre world class Hill View primary school Matanga with international standards and educational services despite teaching a local curriculum.

The school which is yet to celebrate its one year anniversary has been an academic hub in Greater Masaka and the country at large due to its balanced curriculum which offers all-round well balanced education to children from different backgrounds.

Our in depth research has proven that in just a space of a few months, the school proprietor has invested over 2 billion Shillings in the school in terms of educational services and infrastructure.

Who is behind this mega project?

Our investigations have revealed that 30-year-old Ssentongo Fredrick Lugonvu alias Mwana wa Taata, a Buganda based journalist, life coach and business man who mainly deals in hardware stores, all the way from Busubi Village Lwengo District is the proprietor of Hill View Primary school Matanga.

Our team contacted the proprietor Ssentongo Fredrick Lugonvu, a humble and down to earth soft speaking gentleman and throughout our eight minutes conversation with him, he remained lip tight on whether he owns the multibillion school.

However this was not shocking due to his nature of being a reserved person whose strength and weak points are hard to determine.

We made an impromptu visit to the school and the first impression at the gate gives you a clear picture of how an international school must be. With unmatched conducive environment and well set up infrastructures, the school is seated on Matanga hills with a cool breeze from Lake Birinzi.

After introducing ourselves we were directed to the office of the public relations officer of the school who took us through what makes the school stand out among other schools in the area and the country at large.

A humble and jolly but equally principled PRO Nambaziira Mariam told us that the school is systematically run starting from the School management committee, head teacher and his deputies, heads of departments, Heads of section, non-teaching staff and the pupils’ leaders.

She told us that the question of ownersip doesn’t arise since he is not involved in the day to day running of the school.

She however revealed that at the grand opening of the school on 30^th November 2023, the owner will be made known to the public.

What makes Hill View Primary school Matanga unique?

Pupils are only required to clear school fees and their personal necessities because other requirements like; school uniform, mattresses, basins, jerry cans among others are provided for by the school.

We noticed that Hill View Primary School Matanga provides a balanced nutritious diet to the pupils. It also offers co-curricular activities especially; games, sports, aerobics, music, dance and drama with each item having its independent facility.

As we toured the school, we found a new three stored flat building being erected.

What is its capacity?

According to Nambaziira, more structures are to be set up and once completed, the school will accommodate about 3000 boarding ambassadors as they are referred to in their school language.

To have a virtual view of this impressive paradise, you can visit; website at www.hillviewmatanga.com

St. Mary’s College Kisubi (SMACK) is among the “ivy-league” schools in Uganda, with many prominent old boys.

According to a 2018 published report, St. Mary’s College Kisubi is the most prestigious school in Uganda, owing to its excellent academic performance and all-round nurturing of its students.   However, this stands to go up in smoke, following a mutiny that is brewing at the 117-year-old institution.

An exclusive dossier seen by this website reveals that a rebellion looming among staff members who are living in a cloud of misery.

The staff members and support staff have petitioned the Ministry of Education and Sports against the mal-administration perpetuated by the school headmaster, Bro. Simeon Mpanga. This, after similar attempts to get redress from the Inspector General of Government (IGG) hit a dead end.

In the missive to the Permanent Secretary (PS), the staff members detail that among many other problems, there are glaring discrepancies in workers’ salaries.

“The previous college administration and the PTA Treasurer, Mr. Ronald Kasozi, who also doubled as Treasurer to the BOG, made inquiries into the workers’ salaries where upon he harmonised all payments to ensure equity and fairness,” they say.

They further explain, “The new administration, under Brother Simon Simeon Mpanga, enhanced salaries of arts teachers on government payroll, as well as all teachers on BOG contract to bridge the gap at least by 50%, which was really a good and empathetic gesture. However, some teachers were intentionally left out of this increment, which is unfair. Therefore, we suggest that there should be a payroll audit to harmonise and ensure fair pay for all and the arrears be paid to the affected employees,”

The aggrieved parties also reveal that there is divide and rule of the staff.  They claim Bro. Simon Simeon Mpanga has deliberately divided the staff for his selfish interests.

“At first, he divided the staff basing on tribal grounds but when he realised that this would bring him trouble in the near future, he started doing it indirectly by dividing the staff basing on the period an individual teacher and other employees have served at the college.”

In addition to the above, they say Bro. Simeon Mpanga is is fond of humiliating and embarrassing some staff members during weekly Friday staff briefings.  During these meetings, he always threatens and intimidates these victimised teachers with transfers.

To those who are paid by the BOG, he is always threatening to cut down on their number and replace them with teachers on government payroll yet he has at the same time brought on board many teachers and support staff not on government payroll. This is traumatizing and severely damages the self-esteem of the employees on top of killing the morale and self-drive every worker should have.

It is revealed that some teachers do not attend Friday staff briefings for fear of being humiliated and embarrassed.  There are fears that this may eventually impact negatively on the general performance of the school.

“It would be okay if he privately summoned us (teachers) to discuss where we could have gone wrong.  It is sad that he relies on spies and rumours before humiliating us during the meetings,” they claim.

They say that in relation to the above, some workers have been falsely accused and framed for offences they know nothing about.

A case in point is a class teacher whom Bro. Simon Simeon Mpanga unjustly accuses of extorting money from parents to conduct online lessons yet it is actually the parents themselves who demanded for the service and even formed a committee to manage the finances and the programme.

He also accuses teachers of using the parents-teachers WhatsApp groups to campaign for and rally support behind some parents into the PTA Executive positions.

They say this is not true as parents overwhelmingly voted Counsel Michael Musisi-Chairman PTA, Dr. Medard Bitekyerezo-Vice Chairman PTA, Mr. Ronald Kasozi-Treasurer, Mrs Alice Guloba-Vice treasurer, Dr. Achan Okiria Patricia-member, Col. Joseph Fred Onata- member and Eng. Tugume Ayebare-member because of the trust and confidence they have in them as far as serving the interest of the College is concerned.

It is also revealed that Bro. Mpanga also accuses teachers of not closing the WhatsApp groups as he instructed which is not true.

“Honestly teachers closed the groups on his instructions even without clear reasons for the closure of these communication channels. However, because of the many events that have been taking place at school, some parents who are also administrators of these WhatsApp groups often reopen them to keep the fellow parents who are unable to attend, abreast with what is transpiring at school.

It should be noted that this directive of WhatsApp closure by Bro. Simon Simeon Mpanga is against the fundamental human right of freedom of expression and association as clearly stipulated in the National Constitution of the Republic of Uganda chapter four, article 29 section (1), sub section (a) and (e).

They claim that some of Bro Mpanga’s accusations bode on the macabre. “It is sad to mention that some accusations are as cheap as blaming some employees for practising witchcraft and this is enough to cost someone their hard-earned job,” He himself is known as a witchcraft practitioner hence the suspicion that like him, others too do practice it.

They relay their shock at a recent discovery that the teachers’ representatives on the Board of Governors were not democratically elected by the staff but appointed by the Head Teacher for his selfish interests.

“This was total violation of the guidelines of electing members of the BOG by the different constituencies as clearly stipulated in the Education Act 2008, Act 13 section 58, 59. We recommend that the Board of Governors be recalled and the different constituencies be given the right to democratically choose representatives of their own choice,”

Bro Mpanga Sidelines Deputy for office messenger

Worth noting also is that the current Head Teacher is always at cross purposes with the subjects he is supposed to be carrying out administrative work with.

It is surprising to note that rather than delegate his deputy in charge of administration, Mr. Justus Katatumba and other administrators, he instead assigns responsibilities to an office messenger a one Kasozi and his cohorts.

No wonder, weekly administrative assessment meetings which were regular in the previous regime for purposes College progress are no longer held.

Members are simply informed of the final verdict of the Headteacher during the weekly Friday briefings whether it is viable or not to the surprise of other administrators. This affects both staff and students since all this is not reflected on the term planner.

“It is so saddening to note that Bro. Simeon Simon Mpanga falsely accuses his deputy Headteacher in charge of administration, Mr. Justus Katatumba and a section of staff members, of fighting his administration. It is obvious that he is using this as a tool to justify eliminating this whole group. In truth, this is absolutely false. It has been discovered that he is playing this dirty game with the Chairman BOG by feeding him with false information tarnishing a section of staff and planning together how to get rid of these innocent people without giving them a listening ear,” they claim.

They say that everyone’s surprise, on Tuesday 13th June, 2023 during the swearing-in ceremony of the democratically elected prefects, Bro. Simeon Mpanga announced that he had created new prefectorial posts which have not been there before.

He even suggested some names, especially of the losers of high posts. This did not go well with the entire students’ community and staff who believe in fairness and democracy.

Students believe that these appointed prefects should have been subjected to the normal procedure of applying, vetting, campaigning, being voted for and being sworn in before being given instruments of power.

Students are sceptical that the sole purpose for these prefects is to spy for the head teacher and enforce his selfish interests among the

students.

Many a time, students have been heard complaining about these prefects as they have been seen mistreating fellow students, especially those who did not vote them.

In the first place, their roles are not stipulated nor streamlined.

In relation to the above, this clarifies a case in the previous year’s prefectorial elections

when he planted a candidate at the last minute, on the post of Head Prefect to contest against the preferred and most popular candidate.

They claim that he shamelessly went ahead to campaign for his candidate among the S. 1 and 2 classes which had the largest numbers that were young and easy to convince. To date, he still witch-hunts this innocent boy he plotted against.

They write that ppreviously, the AGM and visitation had been planned (on the term planner) to take place on the same day Saturday 8th July, 2023. However, this was changed abruptly whereby the two events were separated, shifting AGM to the following Sunday 16th July, 2023. On a Sunday, few parents are expected to turn up as they would have on a Saturday.

“Furthermore, parents were informed through their children that no parent would be allowed to see or interact with their children to discourage them further. This, we came to learn later that the two events combined would attract so many parents who would interfere with his selfish interests of influencing his own choices to the PTA executive. This went according to plan as indeed the number of parents that turned up was quite less,” they write.

They claim that those and many more instances point to Bro Mpanga’s maladministration and unfortunately, the unsuspecting public knows nothing about it.

“We are grateful to Rev. Fr. Ronald Bwanika-the College Chaplain for his endeavours to keep the staff and administration solid, we are forever indebted to him.  It should be noted clearly that this aggrieved group is not against Bro. Simon Simeon Mpanga-The Ag Head Teacher as a person neither do they wish him anything bad but we are fighting for the protection of all employees’ rights, freedoms and fairness,” they concluded.

By Grapevine Reporters