It has always been rumored that celebrated Makerere super Lady Jackie Ayorekire is also super rich. But now well corroborated details have emerged showing she doesn’t only own plush rental properties mostly in the Namugongo-Kiira neighborhood but she also has a knack for business. It has been reliably revealed that the much favored lady from Kanungu, for whose enjoyment and gratification the revenue unit was created at Makerere, has a few acquaintances with whom she discusses business deals including the equally wealthy James Ninsiima who is the Bursar College of Health Sciences. Ayorekire’s most envied rental property is famously known as White House. When it comes to business initiatives, she has many of them including the very lucrative Makerere souvenir shop from which many former DVCs for long tried but failed to evict her. When he had just become Bursar a few years ago, Augustine Tamale queried the tenancy of this souvenir shop outside the Main Building but got threatened by Ayorekire’s godfathers and kept quiet.
Tamale was wondering why there was ambiguity regarding rent that shop tenant pays yet Ayorekire, who is charged with revenue collection, was seemingly not in a hurry to act. When he was still DVC, Bakibinga also tried to query the thing but somehow gave up because answers to the hard questions he was asking weren’t forthcoming. Prof Robert Ikojja Odongo got the opportunity to serve as Ag DVC F/A in 2012 and became inquisitive about this tenancy. He was amazed as to why this shop wasn’t owned by the University yet it has the authority to sell stuff with Makerere logo.
He raised many questions demanding for answers and when he got none, he wrote to Ayorekire demanding that she closes her souvenir business immediately. According to Ikoja, who has since quit Makerere to help found Soroti University as pioneer VC, 30th December 2012 was the deadline that had been given to Ayorekire. She is indeed a super powerful lady because today, 6 years later, her shop has never moved even an inch. Instead it’s guys questioning rent payment over the same that have had to miserably leave Makerere as Ayorekire consolidates.
The latest to fall in such a way is Augustine Tamale the Bursar who resigned a few days ago. In December 2013, almost a year later, then DVC Nawangwe wrote a letter urging KCCA Revenue Director “humbly requesting” him/her to allow the souvenir shop to enjoy some fiscal exemptions including not paying trading license. Whatever the truth is, this Souvenir shop is lucrative business because on big ceremonial days like graduation, hundreds of excited stakeholders buy very expensive items like Makerere-branded ties, shirts, sweaters and other things. On such days this shop floods with customers including those coming to take memorable photographs. Indeed the shop management even hires additional attendants for such days.
In a related development, in our possession are two payment vouchers clearly showing how easily Ayorekire’s signature can be or has been used to access money. For instance there is a voucher of 11th May 2011 that was used to very easily access more than $14,000 for unclear purposes. The person requisitioning for the money signed in Ayorekire’s name and this same voucher was passed by someone using the signature of the same Ayorekire. That isn’t all. On the same day, another voucher seeking $15,000 was initiated and approved by someone using the same Ayorekire’s signature.
For illustration purposes, we are reproducing all these documents including the two letters for Ikoja and Nawangwe plus the two mystery vouchers. For comments, call/text/whatsapp us on 0703164755!
