Father Grimes chess championship that happened between 6th to 9th May 2023 at St Mary’s College, Kisubi (SMACK) ended in a farce after over 800 participants were detained for over 3 hours at the calling of the school head Rev. Brother Simon Mpanga.

Over 55 secondary and primary schools were at St Mary’s College Kisubi for the tournament.

The Uganda Chess Federation had written to the school in advance but Bro. Simon Mpanga did not communicate to the school administration and when the schools turned up for the tournament, everybody was in shock and it took a while for the matter to be resolved. Apparently, in his true style, he had forgotten and had not communicated to anybody at the college about the tournament.

Bro. Mpanga in breaking with tradition refused to attend the opening ceremony at which the host headmaster is expected to welcome the participating guests. Our sources say that behind the scenes he demanded that the Uganda Chess Federation first pay Ugx 80,000/= per participant or else he did not want to be party to their activities. They undertook to pay once the tournament started and after defraying some expenses. He thus refused to attend the opening ceremony and even the closing ceremony since they had not yet paid the money.

At the end of the tournament and in an unprecedented move, security personnel were ordered to hold everyone hostage until Bro. Mpanga received his money. Everybody on campus from the parents, coaches, and the children was locked in as seen in a clip-on Twitter handle of a one Solomon Tumwesigye who broke the news to the world. This went on well into the night.

According to a whistleblower, there was a disagreement between the chess federation and the Bro. headmaster who all along was acting as if he was hosting the participants on his personal property. He thus ordered a total lockdown of the whole campus until he got his money. The whistleblower further states that this money is not receipted and does not appear anywhere in the school books.

Terrified children, some of the as far as Mbarara, watched on as the menacing soldiers ordered that no one walks/drives out until the impasse was resolved.

Sources that spoke to theGrapevine relay that it was Rev. Bro Simon Mpanga who gave the orders in absentia. They reveal it  is not the first time Bro. Mpanga’s name is being brought to the fore over money and double dealing.

At St. Mary’s College Kisubi which he is now fronted to head, he is accused of eating money of the students who were going outside the country for debate and some have completed their S6 without getting their back. He purported he would process passports and visas for them to go attend debate in South Africa and USA whilst they were in s.3. Whereas some who pushed hard were refunded by the school. Others were not so lucky and left the school four years later without their money nor passports.

It is also revealed that while at SMACK, he deceived a parent that the school vehicle was stuck in a bond and that it required 7000 USD for taxes and the parent gave it to him while it was for his personal use. The parent has never been refunded to date

They also point out that the SMACK Entebbe House was renovated four years ago with tenants. He collects money that is never remitted on the school account it goes to personal use.

They also say that he got shs30m from the school claiming that he was going to renew the lease for the SMACK Entebbe house which up to date has never been processed or even accounted for. Imagine this is the fellow now being put in charge of over 3 bn collected every term.

“His greed is unprecedented for a man who is supposed to live a life of chastity. One wonders where does this money go? One theorizes that he is using the brotherhood to amass wealth and as soon as he is in position to live the life he craves outside brotherhood, he will then quit the institution,” the whistleblower says.

Our whistleblower says Bro. Mpanga has lately been chest thumping that if he could defeat the First Lady who wanted Bro. Mugabo to take over as Head Teacher, who else can touch him?

“He behaves like a man on a mission. If he can brazenly hold citizens hostage and no action is taken by police, then indeed we are inclined to believe that the man who defeated the first lady to become headmaster of such an esteemed institution as SMACK is indeed untouchable,” the whistle blower concluded.

By Grapevine Reporter

Makerere University students have petitioned the election tribunal challenging the outcome of the 89th guild election polls.

Oremo Hillary Odwee, one of the guild aspirants in the recently concluded polls, and Kidega Moses are contesting the election results in which the former was defeated by Maseruka Robert with a difference of 27 votes.

The petitioners say the extention of the voting time from 5pm to 7pm may have affected the election results. They also argue that whereas they have proof of students that voted Oremo at Jinja campus, the electoral commission registered zero votes in his favour.

Makerere University electoral commission (EC) extended the voting time for last Friday’s polls due to technical glitches that disabled first year students from voting within the stipulated time frame.

The petitioners want EC to conduct fresh elections for first year students and also have the servers checked to verify the votes they registered at Makerere Jinja campus.

Makerere University students went to the polls last Friday and NUP’s leaning candidate Maseruka Robert emerged Victor with a small margin of 27 votes.

Maseruka became NUP’s flagbearer following the disqualification of the party’s flagbearer Margaret Nattabi. Nattabi was disqualified on grounds that she held a ‘Kimenza’ at Mitchell Hall contrary to the Makerere University guild statute 2022 that bars physical campaigns.

Members of Parliament on the parliamentary education committee have pinned Makerere University’s vice chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe for suffocating students and running the institution like a military barracks.

MPs were bitter with Makerere University management that had appeared before the education Committee on April 17th and expressed their worry with how management is handling students’ affairs.

Michael Kakembo (MP Entebbe Municipality) said they are scared with how management is handling issues at Uganda’s premier university.

“Makerere University is where you expect everyone to grow politically. When you suffocate these people, they are missing a stage and you are going to see people who are very funny when they are grown up. All of us are equally scared with the way you are managing students’ affairs at Makerere University, “Kakembo said.

Phiona Nyamutoro (National female Youth representative) castigated Makerere University management for weakening the students guild.

“It is unbecoming and it is giving Makerere a very bad outlook. The students guild no longer has an input in the affairs of the University.  Makerere is supposed to be a breeding ground, not just for academics. Why are these students being suffocated? Why are their rights being stamped on? We aren’t being happy with the way the guild affairs are being handled, these students aren’t just participants in that University, they are stakeholders and should be treated as such,” Nyamutoro said.

In his defence, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe said the statute was as a result of students violence. Nawangwe further claimed that times had changed and students are no longer debating peacefully as they used to in the past.

“The Guild Statute came about because of the growing violence among the students, you know that last year, we lost a student. The situation that MPs are talking about when they were there, it isn’t the same situation… The debates in the guild elections had become just fighting and that is why every time we had elections, we had so many students injured,” he said.

Nawangwe also said that he has opened up the space for students to debate as opposed to allegations that he is suffocating debate. He, referring to the Makerere at 100 guild dialogue, said that students had three dialogues in the previous leadership.

Makerere University last year banned partisan politics due to election violence that resulted into the death of UCU student Bewate Michael Betungura.

Different political players have castigated Makerere University for banning partisan politics.

Makerere University disqualified two guild aspirants in the recently concluded guild elections that is NUP’s Margaret Nattabi and Sulaiman Namwoza. The duo was accused of holding physical campaigns contrary to the Makerere University guild statute 2022.

By Nickson Maberi