All is not well at the ‘Ivory Tower’, where Professors Ddumba-Ssentamu and Barnabas Nawangwe are trading accusations of indiscipline, reports BAKER BATTE LULE.
A fresh row has erupted at Makerere University, this time round pitting vice chancellor John Ddumba-Ssentamu against his deputy for finance and administration, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe.
Makerere is still recovering from the effects of a two-month closure over staff and student strife; and the latest conflict will only further dent the image of Uganda’s premier university. In a January 30 letter to Nawangwe, Prof Ddumba-Ssentamu accuses his deputy of financial mismanagement, disrespect and insubordination, among other things.
Ddumba-Ssentamu says Nawangwe has in the past written several letters that ridicule and demean the person of the vice chancellor. His letter was copied to members of management and the university council chairman, Dr Charles Wana-Etyem.
“On a number of occasions you have made derogatory verbal utterances and disparagingly shouted at me in management meetings. This exhibits gross misconduct and disrespect on your part. Indeed your actions have caused enormous humiliation to me. Owing to your incessant disrespect, I’m left with no option but to write this letter of caution. I sincerely hope that you will reflect and change this behavior,” the letter says.
Ddumba- Ssentamu adds that he used the recent two-month closure of Makerere to scrutinize departments overseen by Nawangwe – and found glaring misconduct and abuse.
The letter accuses Nawangwe of mismanagement of money, especially donations for development projects, payment of police officers who are not employees of the university, and mismanagement of the payroll, including paying former staff.
Ddumba-Ssentamu also found several bank accounts in the name of the university that were not authorized either by the university bursar or the secretary. All these, the letter says, happened while Nawangwe looked on. Ddumba-Ssentamu also questioned Nawangwe’s decision to give out university land to private companies without following the laid-down procedures.
“The key question worrying me is why these aspects clearly under your docket were not enforced; and why you did not brief me as my deputy,” Ddumba-Ssentamu says. “I must point out that acting on council’s authority during the period [the university remained closed] was an eye-opener to a number of irregular financial transactions,” he said.
IRREGULAR PAYMENT TO POLICE
The letter also questions Nawangwe’s decision to recommend an increase in the allowances of Jackson Mucunguzi, the University Police OC and chief security officer, from Shs 750,000 to Shs 2,353343, an increment of 212%.
“As DVC you ought to have understood by now that the accounting officer has no powers to determine anybody’s salary or allowance,” Ddumba-Ssentamu says.
“I wish to state that the chief security officer and officer in charge do not fall in the structure of Makerere University…My view is that the money should be recovered from whoever is responsible.”
NAWANGWE HITS BACK
Three days after receiving the letter, Nawangwe wrote back, a hard-hitting missive addressed to University Council chairman Wana-Etyem. Nawangwe described Ddumba-Ssentamu’s letter as defamatory.
He says the ‘serious’ allegations are aimed at tarnishing his (Nawangwe’s) reputation in the eyes of council and management. He explains that according to the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act, he, as the deputy vice chancellor, is only answerable to the University Council, not the VC.
He quotes article 32(4) of the Act that says, “The second deputy vice chancellor (F&A) shall (a) Assist the vice chancellor in the performance of his or her functions and in that regard shall oversee the finances and the administration of the university. (b)Perform such other functions that may be delegated to him/her by the vice chancellor or assigned by the university council.
“Thus the law clearly states that the deputy vice chancellor is responsible to council, and not the vice chancellor,” Nawangwe says, accusing the vice chancellor of spreading hearsay and failing to understand the relevant law.”
Nawangwe also addresses Ddumba-Ssentamu’s allegation that he is influencing the return of kiosks banished from the university in 2013. He says Ddumba-Ssentamu interfered with his (Nawangwe’s) plan to demolish illegal structures in collaboration with KCCA. He adds that instead, Ddumba-Ssentamu rushed to employ “hooligans” to demolish the structures after paying them Shs 4 million in breach of procurement procedure.
“Indeed the structures are coming up once again presumably under his orders.” Nawangwe says.
In response to the claim that he authorized the increment of the allowance of the chief security officer/ OC police station, Nawangwe says that upon requests by the officer, he made recommendations that were accepted by the university secretary.
“Knowing Prof Ddumba-Ssentamu and his open dislike for the chief security officer [Jackson Mucunguzi], the university secretary went further and presented the recommended rates for discussion at the management meeting,” Nawangwe adds.
About Ddumba-Ssentamu’s claim that he unearthed a lot of irregularities in the finance department, Nawangwe dismissed it as ‘hot air’and accused the VC of usurping the powers of the accounting officer.
“His interference has led to wastage of time by staff in that [finance] department who, instead of concentrating on their duties, are forced to dig through payment vouchers of transactions of many years back looking for evidence of misappropriation,” Nawangwe wrote.
He also throws back what Ddumba-Ssentamu defined as disrespecting and humiliating verbal attacks. He, instead, said that when he became deputy vice chancellor, he found a situation where management meetings were, “nothing but shouting duels between Ddumba-Ssentamu, and other members of management all of whom he accused of sabotage.”
He adds that on several occasions, he has advised Ddumba-Ssentamu on the need to respect colleagues and develop a spirit of collegiality and teamwork.
“My advice has often fallen on deaf ears; I suspect that this is what Prof Ddumba-Ssentamu refers to as disrespect.”
Nawangwe also claims that Ddumba-Ssentamu wants to discredit his deputy’s ‘many policies and innovations’ because of fear that some people are out to take his job.
Nawangwe concludes his four-page letter by advising Ddumba-Ssentamu to concentrate on his work instead of “spending time gossiping with junior staff in Senate building and finance department…”
DDUMBA/NAWANGWE SPEAK
When contacted, Ddumba- Ssentamu acknowledged authoring the letter but declined to discuss it further, arguing that it reached where he wanted it to reach.
“I don’t know how you got those letters but for me I have no more comments…”Ddumba-Ssentamu said.
For his part, Nawangwe acknowledged receiving and replying to Ddumba-Ssentamu’s letter. He added that he had tried to have a good working relationship with Ddumba but in vain.
“I have no problem with Prof Ddumba-Ssentamu but I keep on hearing that I’m one of the persons fighting him,” Nawangwe said. “This has complicated our working relationship because he thinks I’m out to take his job especially that I emerged as the best at Senate when I contested with him for VC position.”
When asked whether he was still interested in the position when it becomes available, Nawangwe said: “With the headaches that I’m already getting I don’t know whether I’m still interested.”
bakerbatte@obsrever.ug