allAfrica.com: Uganda: 'They Kicked Me Out for Doing My Job At Makerere' (Page 1 of 2)

In this last part, former Makerere University Academic Registrar, Dr Mukwanason Hyuha exposes the 'dirty tricks' and 'politics' that forced him out of the institution - to its detriment

It is worth noting that, on the charges [brought against me], it was discovered that, for example, I had not misappropriated any university funds. I was the principal signatory to the Academic Registrar's account.

However, I could never withdraw even a cent from the account without the bursar's signature and approval. To make any withdrawals from the account, I had to write to the bursar justifying what the funds to be withdrawn were to be used for. The bursar would then raise and sign an invoice and send it to me for signature.

The signed invoice had to be checked by the internal auditor and the permanent representative of the external auditor at the university. This way, even the bursar could never withdraw a cent from the account without my signature.

The only way the bursar had access to funds generated by my department without recourse to me is by, say, refusing or delaying to credit the account in time. This is because all accruals were deposited on a collection account to which I had no access; the bursar then was expected to transfer appropriate amounts to various accounts (including those of Faculties and other income-generating units).

By writing to the University of Dar es Salaam, it was discovered that I had been legally granted the right to use the title "Professor" since 1987. In fact, the last letter the Minister of Education and Sports wrote to me was addressed to 'Prof. M. Hyuha', after painfully having discovered that I was entitled to the usage of the phrase. Mr Kadilo can check the records at the university.

It was also discovered that my daughter changed from private to government sponsorship after due permission had been obtained from the Ministry of Education (although the ministry had gone to the extent of denying, in a newspaper article, that they had allowed her to).

Miraculously, all copies of the letter granting the permission had disappeared from the Vice Chancellor's file, my file, the file of Africa House (her hall of residence) and from the ministry's file (hence, the denial)! Fortunately, the girl still had her copy. Moreover, this change had been effected by one of my deputies (Mr Gershom Eyoku) who was then Acting Academic Registrar since I was on leave. Mr Eyoku was/is known for his love for details and accuracy that there was no way he could have changed my daughter's sponsorship status without such permission.

It was discovered that I had never dealt with the issue of buying an air-conditioner for my new office. Mr Sebastian Ngobi had handled the matter (through laid down procedures).

Yes, on examinations, it was true that such an incident had occurred: I had organised the processing of Uneb 'A' level (not Makerere) examinations in my unoccupied house on the main campus of Makerere University.

As soon as it was appointed, the special Uneb committee under my chairmanship had to organise the setting, processing and conducting of 'A' (UACE) examinations to be sat two months later.

The committee did not want to risk processing the examinations in the Uneb offices in Ntinda, since we had not yet discovered the source(s) of leakages in regard to previous examinations. Hence, the committee decided to use a house that had been allocated to me as Academic Registrar.

It was empty and secure enough for the purpose. All typing and related processes were done in that house before the examinations were taken to the 'factory' for typesetting, printing and packaging. No leakage occurred; and no other examinations were processed in that house or any other premises of mine thereafter.

The said Uneb's Mr Bukenya and the special committee members are my witnesses on this issue. It was noted that one of the Banyole (my tribesmate) had been admitted in my absence on results obtained from Kings College, Budo.

The then Acting Academic Registrar (Mr Godfrey Bazanye-Nkangi) had signed the admission letter, not me. The other Banyole had also been admitted appropriately, although when the going became tough and rough, many persons denied their involvement in the matter--before the cock would crow seven times, so to speak. And so on.

I received a letter signed by Mr Sam Byanagwa (then Acting University Secretary and now an honourable MP) on the orders of the Appointments Board suspending me from the office without ever having received a charge sheet from the Board, to which I would have reacted in writing and in person before the Board.

The letter stated that the Board was suspending me on the basis of only two counts, rather than the 15 or so. Without recourse to the normal procedure, which I was fully aware of, the letter of suspension in a way stated that it had been proved that the charges were correct!

web allafrica.com	Enter your search terms	Submit search form
OR subscribers use AllAfrica's premium search engine


Use our pull-down menus to find more stories