By Mulengera Reporters
On Monday, the deputy IGG Ann Muhairwe drove to Nabisunsa Girls school where she presided over the launching ceremony for the Integrity Ambassadors Club, through which her employer, the Inspectorate of Government, hopes to amplify the fight against corruption through increased keenness among the country’s youngsters.
During her engagement with the students and staff, Ms Muhairwe directed the assistants she travelled with to give out papers to enable students, who attended the session in their hundreds, write their grievances pointing out things they would like to see done better by the administration, teachers and fellow students-and non-teaching staff too.
A massive heap of chits resulted and Muhairwe, saying there was no time to go through the whole of this that same day, made a random sampling and picked out a few, whose contents she read out as part of her speech, which centered on integrity and the need for each and every Nabisunsa student to sign up and become a Club member.
One of the chits she read out had a student anonymously crying out and calling on the IG to intervene and severely reprimand some of the school staffers, including the askaris at the gate and some of the teachers, who mistreat and physically molest their parents on the school premises when they come around for meetings, visitations or for some other reason.
The student revealed the name of one of the harshest male teachers at Nabisunsa who she said was in habit of administering corporal punishment and committing acts of brutality and torture targeting not just the students but their visiting parents or guardians too.
A clearly appalled Ms Muhairwe read out the entire chit and students ululated when she faced their headmistress and sternly declared to her “you have to make sure this stops immediately.” Clearly shocked that such can be done to parents in such a big public school, Muhairwe asked the students, who filled the school’s very large main hall to capacity, “have I been lied to?” And the answer was a loud ‘no.’ This amounted to the chit writer’s claims being corroborated.
The Deputy IGG told the headmistress Hajjat Janat Namujuzi Kakumba that the Inspectorate was immediately taking up this matter and that the teacher will be summoned, thoroughly investigated and severely sanctioned once established to have acted that way. She said unknown to a lot of people in Uganda, such acts amount to torture which the laws of Uganda abhor. As students chanted praises, the Deputy IGG said the teacher was going to be summoned and investigations formally commenced into his conduct.
The other chit she read out corroborated this one as the writer accused the headmistress of merely looking on as even security guards and askaris at the gate mistreat, molest and even physically torture/abuse visiting parents by way of beating them up. Muhairwe said this too was unacceptable and threatened to consider opening wider investigations into the alleged human rights violations and abusive conduct by some of the staff members at Nabisunsa Girls.
The much-cheered Muhairwe informed the headmistress that there was nothing personal because the Inspectorate has always intervened in schools like hers, whenever called upon, as the same is mandated under both the Constitution and the Act of Parliament that establishes the IG, whose mandate and powers she (at length) explained at the commencement of her address at the Monday afternoon session.
Besides promising to come back on a weekend to have more time to exhaustively listen to students’ grievances and sensitize the Nabisunsa community even more, Ms Muhairwe also called on the headmistress to re-activate the suggestion box system so that students can have the platform to fearlessly and anonymously report to her office their grievances on good time as opposed to things escalating into explosive moments.
She also called on students to reduce on their resentment and anger and to also do their part by becoming better-behaved girls. She warned against other wrongful forms of conduct such as abusive use of social media, which some of the chit writers complained about, making it clear that the same is criminal and contrary to high integrity levels expected of students at such a leading academic institution in the country. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
