By Wafula Malik
On the weekend before the January 2017 Makerere graduation, Dr. Fadhiru Pakoyo Kamba (who heads Pharmacy dep’t) sent for a copy of the Monitor newspaper. He wanted to see how well his department’s list of graduands had been printed. As he perused it, he was shocked to see students he believed would never graduate were on the list of people graduating later that same week. These included Rogers Lincoln Mushabe and Alex Madile. He rang some lecturers in his department asking whether Mushabe, who had accumulated 16 retakes, had indeed completed them to be on the graduation list. They all said the man still had retakes and they had never cleared him for graduation. The lecturers were unanimous in wondering where the Academic Registrar Alfred Namoah’s department had got the marks to get him into the graduation booklet. On verifying with the graduation booklet, the dons confirmed Monitor hadn’t made any mistake. The duo were in the booklet. They rang and spoke to colleagues from other departments which, like Pharmacy, also fall under College of Health Sciences (CHS). Other lecturers too confessed seeing re-takers on the graduation list. Kamba blew the whistle by reporting to his Health Sciences School Dean Dr. Rose Chalo Nabirye immediately. The matter was brought to the attention of Namoah who advised the graduation goes on and the understanding was the students whose names were fictitiously appearing on the list would be nabbed as they came for their transcripts. Investigations were subsequently carried out recently resulting into four senior CHS employees being reprimanded by the Appointments Board (AB). These are CHS Deputy Registrar Hajjat Fatuma Nakatudde and Senior Administrative Assistant Paul Apunyo whose dismissal was decided during the AB’s 5th October meeting. Their would-be supervisors Dr. Chalo and Dr. Isaac Okullo (who as CHS Deputy Principal is in charge of academic affairs) have been demoted from their administrative duties. They remain mere lecturers. According to 8th October letters, written by Director Human Resources Adnrew Abunyangu, the officials by omission or commission enabled falsification of results enabling the Mushabe and Adile (along with many other students) to prematurely graduate. Prematurely because you can only graduate after you have passed all your course units to the extent that you have no retakes pending.
INVESTIGATING THE SCAM;
Complaining that Chalo and Okullo weren’t acting and treating the matter with the seriousness it deserved, Dr. Kamba reported to the CHS Principal Prof Charles Ibingira who took to Vice Chancellor Prof Barnabas Nawangwe. The VC tabled it in a top management meeting and a committee was instituted to investigate. The inquiry was led by Prof Noble Banada with members being Quality Assurance Director Dr. Vincent Sembatya, Pathology Associate Professor Okwir, Law School’s Dr. Ronald Naluwayiro and Director Legal Affairs Henry Mwebe. The committee established that unauthorized access (call it hacking) was occasioned onto the computerized exams management system of the University for the sole purpose of making unauthorized results entries. Academic Registrar Alfred Namoah was among the witnesses interrogated and he disclosed that the students’ details were illegally tampered with replacing the retakes with the desired marks dubiously qualifying them to graduate. The falsified results were made at awkward time sometimes as late as mid night, 2am, 4am & 5am. “As far as I’m concerned as AR that is when the system is supposed to be off and inaccessible and there was a bypass,” Namoah told the inquiry making it clear that could only be an illegal access bypassing all the controls embedded in the system. Such illegal activity could clearly only happen with some collusion with insiders at AR office. Namoah, whose evidence some say exonerated the accused persons as they too can never gain access, was testifying in the presence of both Nakatudde and Apunyo. The duo later on testified in a way that gave them away as people who were responsible for Mushabe and Alibe’s being added onto the graduation list. They maintained the late night entries (for which they denied responsibility) were reflective of the students’ results they too had in their possession. However, they couldn’t satisfactorily explain where they got the marks from since the lecturers who handled and taught the students maintained they still had retakes. One of them claimed the results were got from a computer but couldn’t explain why that computer had marks for only two students. The rest of the students’ results were submitted by the respective lecturers in hard copy form. And in any case not more than 30 Pharmacy students were to graduate as far as the department was concerned. But here was a list with many more students. The duo went as far as producing “forged” minutes of the CHS Academic Board which sits to ratify the graduation lists before finally being submitted to Academic Registrar in Senate. CHS Principal Prof Charles Ibingira and his Deputy Okullo wrote to the inquiry disowning the said Academic Board meeting. The duo maintained there was only one such board meeting that considered the graduation lists and denied being aware of the 2nd subsequent meeting Nakatudde and Apunyo were referring to claiming it’s the one which authorized inclusion of additional names on the CHS graduation list. In the subsequent inquiry meeting, chief complainant Dr. Kamba led a team of 8 other Pharmacy department lectures who came and testified against Nakatudde and Apunyo. The lecturers maintained that Mushabe and Adile still have retakes and weren’t due for graduation. They produced their evidence to that effect. “We have been receiving many petitions from Pharmacy department people reporting each other. And its public knowledge there is a lot of intrigue there and the dons never agree on any one thing but on this occasion they were unanimous in insisting that the students had retakes and weren’t fit for graduation,” said a top official close to the inquiry. “The lecturers also disowned the purported dissertation that was claimed to be source of the field work marks that were given to the two students to enable them graduate. The lecturers asked who supervised and marked the student for that ghost dissertation and the answers weren’t forthcoming. The course coordinator denied ever assigning any supervisor to the student or ever seeing any field work marks and this sealed the fate for Apunyo and Nakatudde.” The official added that Nakatudde was nearly going to survive but the testimony of the Pharmacy dons made her case (which had been eased by Namoah’s testimony) very complicated. The official also claimed that Apunyo had previously been implicated in similar falsification at Statistics department but was curiously transferred to CHS instead of being reprimanded. The Statistics case remains a dent on his HR file.
BIGGER PROBLEM;
Another official quoted what Chris Ntwatwa (the former exams systems administrator now on suspension) casually told some people in Wandegeya on Friday. “He laughed sarcastically and said just wait and see. Many more are going to be caught and are either dismissed or demoted,” the official says adding that it’s possible this is just the beginning of total clean up at Mak. The Banada committee gave their report to VC Nawangwe. They recommended deeper investigations on grounds that problem of results falsification to make unqualified students graduate was clearly wide spread beyond just CHS. They recommended an in-depth University-wide inquiry. They also made reference to the fact that this falsification for purposes of January 2017 graduation wasn’t only in Pharmacy department. They hinted on similar happenings in other units of CHS including Nursing, Dentistry & Medical School etc. A red flag was also raised on many students who have over time been illegally enrolled in the different departments & schools of CHS. Many of them are now in 2nd & 3rd year. The different officials anonymously told us that this is going to be investigated separately with a more comprehensive inquiry to be announced soon. “The Makerere name has been disreputed for too long and here is the opportunity to take initiative and clean up. It will pain but there is no other way out. Leadership has to be manifested and the time is now,” said the official adding that similar reports had been made to previous VCs but no action was taking fearing to scandalize the University.
STUDENTS SPEAK OUT;
The Banada inquiry interfaced with Rogers Mushabe whose evidence didn’t help his situation much. He was asked for proof that he had paid the retake fees which is a pre-condition for any student to validly sit the retake papers. Mushabe, who has been on the Pharmacy course since 1999 when he was first admitted, produced receipts for only 2 retakes and couldn’t explain how he sat the other 14 retakes without paying the relevant retake fees. “Even if he had lost them, there is always a record to refer to since things these days are digitally stored,” said Mak officials close to the inquiry. Whereas the recommendation is for his degree to be revoked, Mak hasn’t written to him as yet. Sources say the legal experts are fearful he could sue the University and be awarded billions in damages in case his degree is revoked over the actions of the University agents. “He has been a student for more than 20 years and it has really been very painful for him. He is angry and ready to sue the University the moment that letter is delivered to him,” said one of the lawyers closely advising Mushabe. The University rules set a maximum period within a student must complete his course. But that was waived in Mushabe’s case because he was covered under a blanket amnesty the Prof Livingstone Luboobi-era Senate offered to all students who were on the verge of being dismissed for failing to finish within stipulated time. So why then have Chalo and Okullo had to be demoted? “It was innocent negligence on his [Okullo] part as Nakatudde’s supervisor. He signed the minutes of the 2nd CHS Academic Board meeting which actually never took place,” sources said. And Chalo? As Health Sciences School Dean to whom Dr. Kamba reported, she was found not to have acted as expeditiously as expected. “Chalo and Okullo were supposed to immediately investigate after the January 2017 graduation and report to their CHS Principal Prof Charles Ibingira but they didn’t,” says a source. Then how does Ibingira get away with it? “The Principal is exonerated even by appointment. It’s the Deputy Principal who by appointment is answerable for all academic matters in a college and that’s how Okullo couldn’t escape.” And why is Namoah not reprimanded yet as AR he is overall in charge with graduation matters? “The College system presupposes a decentralized way of transacting academic business and making decisions. And all that was the business of the College. The Academic Registrar only receives a list of names that have been passed by the College Academic Board. That’s what they rely on to compile the graduation booklet.” Some sources say Okullo’s hands must have been tied because the very people that were being implicated are the ones who constitute the secretariat that should have coordinated the investigations at College level. Acting upon the Banada committee report, the AB sat on 5th October and sealed the fate of the affected employees. But Prof Nawangwe says this shouldn’t be end of the road for the affected staff. They can appeal to the Staff Tribunal which recently directed the re-instatement of MISR’ Stella Nyanzi. Headed by a judge, the Tribunal has been efficient and independent and it’s expeditious in hearing any appeals taken before it.
TAKING MAK TO COURT;
We spoke to sources at Mbabazi Kiboneka & Co Advocates the law firm that has been representing Nakatudde and Apunyo since the inquiry began. The lawyers are permitted to and have indeed been appearing in all the sessions of both the Banada committee and the AB inquiry meetings. The lawyers said they have been instructed to challenge the dismissals of their clients. They are dwelling on procedural aspects to make a case that the rules of natural justice were flouted. They claim that whereas the evidence of Namoah and other AR department witnesses exonerated their clients, the AB arrived at a contrary finding. They are also raising conflict of interest concerns claiming that some of the AB members had previously conflicted with Nakatudde and can therefore not be expected to judge her fairly. They refer to AB Chairman Bruce Kabasa whom they say conflicted with Nakatudde as MASA (Administrative Staff Association) Chairperson. Back in 2014, Kabasa chaired a committee on the best way to restructure administrative staff functions at Mak and a MASA delegation appeared to give their views. Ruth Iteu, who was a MASA executive member, appeared and quarreled with Kabasa and efforts were undertaken to expel her from the University service over misconduct. Nakatudde stood with Iteu saying she acted exactly in the way MASA executive had instructed her. The lawyers say since that time, Kabasa never liked Nakatudde who annoyed Mak management further when she went to Court challenging the reappointment of AR Namoah and former University Secretary Kahunda Muhwezi. “Court advised out of court settlement and Mr. Kabasa was assigned to coordinate that reconciliation. In one of the reconciliation meetings, he had an altercation with Nakatudde,” the lawyer said. But a well briefed official defended Kabasa saying: “Bruce didn’t participate in all these hearings as it was Jude Mbabali in the chair including on the day the dismissal decision was made.” This shields him of allegations of partiality leading to the dismissals. The lawyers also plan to challenge the dismissal decision on grounds that Mak lawyer Henry Mwebe was the chief interrogator in the Banada inquiry and played the same role in the AB referral proceedings. They also challenge the circumstances under which the AB turned itself into a Disciplinary Committee and yet it’s the same AB that subsequently directed Abunyangu to effect the dismissals. But the Universities Act gives the AB all those powers.
MAK’S PLAN B;
Makerere also has contingent plans having learnt from past experiences including that of Margaret Etusa. In order to disorganize the affected officials and stretch them further, a decision has been taken to lodge a formal complaint with CIID resulting into criminal proceedings being commenced against the dismissed officials because falsification amounts to fraud that is actionable in criminal law. “Once they are under criminal investigations, they will become overstretched and their efforts for Judicial Review and other civil actions will become crippled,” said a top official. “We have already boosted our legal department with four more lawyers being recruited. Mwebe’s era is different from Gobby Muhumuza [ex-Legal Director] who often didn’t prepare properly. The new requirement is that whoever takes the University to court must sign up an undertaking indicating readiness to pay costs in case they lose the case and vice versa. In the past we were lenient and Mak lawyers never imposed costs on staff who sued and lost the case. We are reducing on reliance on external lawyers in favor of strengthening in-house capabilities.” The official says that by suing, the affected four officials might deplete their savings at the end of the day. “Forget about procedural technicalities they might raise. They substantively have a very bad case and going to court will only make the University more resolved to decisively fight them…They are going to find themselves on a prolonged criminal trial similar to that of Kazinda and Christopher Obey which won’t be a good strategy,” said a source close to the renewed and expanded Mak legal team. “We have irrevocable criminal evidence against them because all the witnesses of the two processes were video-recorded meaning even if you get some remedies from civil proceedings, that won’t diminish criminal liability in the criminal court. That is the mistake Etusa made-provoking the University yet guys were ready to let her get away with mere demotion as opposed to what awaits her now.” It’s said that the impending in depth investigation will concentrate mostly on College of Business & Management Science, School of Law, School of Education & Psychology where similar falsification is said to be wide spread. Sources say Law has over 30 falsification cases that have been pending for years. Some concern students who even finished LDC and are out practicing as well as some people who are already MPs among other public office positions. For potential witnesses, the University is counting on already suspended officials like Chris Ntwatwa who is believed to know a lot. For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755.
