By Otim Nape
Makerere top management boss in the names of Augustine Tamale has resigned his job as University Bursar. Tamale, whose resignation letter we have gotten hold of, confirms to this news website that he has indeed written to his superiors notifying them of his readiness to quit at the start of June. Tamale, who replaced Joshua Karamagi, is quitting before his contract ends. After a lot of quarrels, he was appointed in 2016 for a 5 year contract but he is quitting midway the tenure he was supposed to serve. His predecessor Karamagi also quit mid-way into his contract which means this Bursar’s office is increasingly becoming too hot for whoever has been posted there following the departure of legendary Ben Byembabazi. It will be recalled that Tamale defeated a gentleman from NCHE who many of the Makerere top bosses had preferred for the juicy post of University Bursar. Tamale won the interviews twice and kept emerging number one prompting his haters to argue that it was wrong for the interviewers to have used Executive Interviews which disfavored the NCHE gentleman who kept being 2nd in the interviews clearly trailing behind Tamale. When Makerere bosses dragged their feet refusing to appoint him even when he had clearly twice passed the interviews, Tamale pondered reporting to the IGG protesting the Makerere top bosses’ indecisiveness. This cracked them up and he was reluctantly recruited as head of Finance department. There was restructuring around the same time (2 years earlier) resulting into Dr. Florence Nakayiwa’s Planning Directorate being merged with Finance. Nakayiwa is a good results-oriented lady and her supporters were unhappy seeing Tamale becoming her boss as a result of the restructuring. This battle too has been on with Nakayiwa’s adherents wondering why such a well-qualified lady with a PhD can be made to serve under Tamale who merely has masters and no PhD.
JACKIE AYOREKIRE’S ROLE;
But the Nakayiwa matter was the smaller part. The real hardest problem Augustine Tamale (formerly of Vision Group) faced related to the overbearing influence Jackie Ayorekire is increasingly assuming at the Ivory Tower. Officially, the curiously very powerful babe from Kanungu serves as Ag Manager Grants & Revenue services at Makerere which falls under the Finance department. “But in practice she has always wielded much more power than Tamale her real boss. She has her way of wining favors of the top bosses including the Council Chairman Eng Wana-Etyem. Tamale is her supervisor and each time he has complained that Jackie is underperforming, the Makerere bosses would write to him a warning letter asking him to back off. He would give his views and they are all rejected as not good enough yet whatever his adversary Jackie proposes is endorsed without question,” said a Makerere top management source insisting that the frustrations that forced Tamale to quit had more to do with Jackie Ayorekire’s growing influence than with any other factor. “The same Jackie Ayorekire predicament that exactly befell his predecessor [Joshua Karamagi] has befallen Augustine Tamale. There is no way anyone is going to overcome that lady as long as her godfathers both at Makerere and Parliament are still calling shorts at Makerere.” The University created a revenue collections unit headed by her which Tamale saw as an attempt to shield her from his direct supervision. Reports from her revenue unit have sometimes gone directly to the VC, a thing that many see as undermining the office of the University Bursar. Tamale’s people were uncomfortable with Ayorekire’s headship of the revenue unit but were eventually cowed into silence. “You can’t stand up to Ayorekire and survive at Makerere anymore. You simply can’t because the big men at the very top believe in whatever she says,” explained a concerned insider. “She brought down Karamagi and Tamale has also fallen. You must be Ayorekire to accomplish so much [failing two Bursars] in just less than 5 years.” The superrich babe from Kanungu first joined Makerere with a diploma, later did a Bachelors’ degree and a master’s degree (MBA) plus many professional qualifications relevant to her position. Tamale’s supporters in the Bursar’s department also sharply disagreed with Ayorekire on the tenancy of the souvenir shop that sells with Makerere trademarks in the rooms next to the University Printery. This is in the parking just outside the Ivory Tower/Makerere Main Building where all the big men sit and take decisions from. Tamale’s supporters wanted to have a comprehensive audit to establish the discrepancies in the rent that the owner of the souvenir shop pays Makerere monthly but they didn’t go far because Jackie Ayorekire, the revenue unit boss, wasn’t sufficiently supportive of that audit exercise. Many guys operating private businesses in the University often overlook the bursar Augustine Tamale arguing its only Ayorekire’s word that counts and carries weight. Some time back, someone petitioned IGG calling for some stringent action being taken to trim Ayorekire’s powers and her supporters have since grown suspicions that members of the Augustine Tamale’s camp might be behind the whistle blower petition to the IGG whose officials confirmed to us something has been reported against Ayorekire. It’s also true that haters, including some who support Augustine Tamale and his predecessor Joshua Karamagi, have never stopped grumbling about the generosity with which the Makerere top management treated Ayorekire when her husband (Dr. Jimmy Ayorekire) who is a senior lecturer at Social Sciences, fell sick having been diagnosed with cancer. This was a few years ago and Makerere contributed over Shs100m towards her husband’s treatment in India. “That treatment thank God was very successful and the man is back on his job at Social Sciences and even when he returned, Jackie Ayorekire’s godfathers ensured another $9,000 was found to complete the rest of the treatment in Uganda,” a knowledgeable insider told this news website. Many also remain concerned about the manner in which she was elevated from salary scale M6 to M4 as soon as soon she completed her masters. Some even question her suitability to hold the position of manager in the finance (assistant bursar) department let alone being the Ag Manager Grants and Revenue. Reliable sources say that the ex-VC Ddumba Sentamu was reluctant to appoint her as Ag Manager Grants and revenue “but the big men prevailed on him and he reluctantly appointed her.” She is also sociable and active in University activities. She was for instance very visible in the festivities that marked new VC Prof Barnabas Nawangwe’s enthronement late last year. As the one who controls and oversees Grants, Jackie Ayorekire is very powerful; a thing that has naturally won her many friends and enemies alike. “Many are envious seeing how fast she has been rising and that is expected even though she isn’t an angel,” cautioned one of the reliable Mak sources we spoke to for this article.
AYOREKIRE DEFENDED;
Whereas Ayorekire persistently shunned our phone calls and whatsapp messages, two influential Makerere top Council/management officials defended her. One was a lady and the other a male respectively holding governing council and management positions. The lady, who is a long serving council member, explained that “Dr. Jimmy Ayorekire benefited for his medical treatment because he is a University staff and not because he marries Jackie; let those telling you such also fall sick and see if they won’t benefit.” The female council member enumerated some of the other staffers on whose medication University money was spent. “There was Dr. Monica Musenero who was in VET before going for an international assignment in West Africa during Ebola outbreak. Her child suffered blood cancer and the University paid for the treatment abroad. Dr. Nuwagaba was chairman MUASA and he mobilized BoU and the Rotary people to supplement on what the University offered. There was Prof Karemire and many others who were equally supported when ill because we didn’t have the insurance scheme those days,” the Council member recalled. “Yes Jackie may not be an angel but let’s be truthful when assessing her as a public official.” The same official explained that there is no way Ayorekire could have undermined and been antagonistic “to Mr. Tamale and Mr. Karamagi because they have always been her referees and professional recommenders each time she has required such.” The council member insisted “she is always contributing to the overall performance and output of the Finance department and the credit goes to the bursar and not herself.” The male member of the top management laughed off claims that Jackie isn’t sufficiently qualified for the assignments the top officials always give her. “I won’t talk much to avoid biasing you but what I know, and many will agree, is that she is an achiever in terms of qualifications. She joined that department when Ben Byembabazi was still bursar as a diploma holder. These are many years ago but she has managed to transform herself with an MBA, a degree in BCOM and ACCA when those she found in the department are just there. I suspect they are now fearful she could become bursar and this is why there is all this anger targeting her,” the top management member said. “But I insist keep trying; send messages until you speak to her so that she can tell her own story better.” This male official said he has closely worked with Ms. Jackie Ayorekire and realizes many work colleagues are envious of her career accomplishments. Whereas in his letter he simply cites personal reasons, some say Tamale is quitting because of the trauma the findings of the Visitation Committee occasioned on him regarding things like former employees in whose name salary continues to be paid long after they left. Recently a top management team appeared before MPs and a lot of the tough questioning was directed at Augustine Tamale, something that is understood to have greatly perturbed him to feel targeted. But another official, renowned to be his close friend, said Tamale has lately been applying and doing interviews and it’s possible he has finally got a less stressful better paying job elsewhere. “Makerere is a good experience but you get stressed too much yet you earn peanuts compared to peers elsewhere. That is why Karamagi left; he got a better job in the energy agency and his children now study abroad. This is why people leave Makerere for greener pastures because our pay isn’t competitive,” said a colleague insisting Tamale must have got a new job. For comments, call/text/whatsapp us on 0703164755!
