Sued last month by Habib Buwembo for lack of academic qualifications to be MP, Lubaga South legislator Kato Lubwama on Friday filed a robust defence in the High court.
Represented by three law firms, Lubwama said he gained admission to Makerere University’s Diploma in Music, Dance and Drama (MDD) in 1992 largely because he was a “talented drama actor.”
Buwembo, in his petition, filed out time, claimed that Lubwama shouldn’t be in parliament because he failed O-level examinations. He said the MP should never have been admitted to Makerere University in the first place.
However, the MP who is sued alongside the Electoral Commission and Makerere University, contends that Buwembo’s petition is misconceived, incompetent and in bad faith.
In defence of his academic papers, Lubwama says he sat Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) at Nabagereka primary school in 1983 and O-level at Old Kampala Secondary School. At the time of writing his PLE, Lubwama says, he used the name Kato Paulo. At that time, according to him, Uneb didn’t offer certificates or pass slips.
But in his petition, Buwembo claims that the MP didn’t get an O-level certificate because he failed the national examinations. At O-level, Lubwama obtained F9 in Mathematics, English, Chemistry and Physics each. He also got passes in History and Commerce, and credits in Political Education, Geography and Christian Religious Education.
According to Uneb, Lubwama earned grade 7. Only division one to four candidates qualify to get an O-level certificate and can, therefore, proceed to A-level or do other courses. In his response, Lubwama simply says he sat O-level at Old Kampala Secondary School in 1988. He doesn’t categorically state if he passed the exams or not.
MDD DIPLOMA
Buwembo accuses Makerere University of erroneously, illegally and fraudulently admitting Lubwama through the mature age entry scheme on January 20, 1995.
It’s his contention that Makerere flouted mature entry policies in the process of admitting Lubwama. Although Lubwama had earlier said he was admitted to Makerere University for MDD after sitting mature entry examinations, he has since shifted his position.
Lubwama now says he was admitted to Makerere after sitting what he calls “the special entry examinations.” The exams, he says, were open to all; so, he was not required to be 25 years of age as alleged by Buwembo.
“That I was not at the time of my admission at the third respondent [Makerere University] required to have applied five years after completing PLE or UCE because I was a special applicant [talented drama actor]. I was only required to pass special entry examinations,” he says.
Rule A of the policies governing mature entry in 1992 required applicants to be 25 years old. However, by the time Lubwama applied, he was 22 years old, going by documents now in court.
Rule B of the mature entry scheme states that applicants must have completed a minimum formal education of both primary and secondary education at least five years prior to the year of seeking admission. Lubwama didn’t meet this requirement either.
There are four years between 1988 (the year he sat O-level and 1992 (the year he sat mature entry exams), instead of the required five. Lubwama’s other Achilles’ heel is the admissions letter issued by Makerere University, which required him to produce his original certificates of either O or A-level: he provided a results slip.
On the discrepancies in his name, the MP explains that his full name is Kato Paulo Lubwama but adds that his academic documents or certificates were issued in what he calls “partial names.”
While his PLE and UCE documents show that the comedian-turned-legislator is Kato Paulo, his diploma bears the name Kato Lubwama. He says that he clarified the sticky issues around his name in a statutory declaration dated September 28, 2015, before he was nominated as a parliamentary candidate.
“I am not aware of any other person claiming any of my said certificates and or academic documents,” Lubwama says.
Lubwama further scoffs at Buwembo’s suggestion that he has never submitted his papers to the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) for verification.
“That I was properly nominated and I’m informed by my lawyers, which information I verily believe to be true, that there was no need for clearance from the National Council for Higher Education in consultation with Uneb pursuant to the provisions of Section 4(13) of the Parliamentary Elections Act since I hold qualifications above the minimum academic standard,” Lubwama stated.
MAKERERE RESPONDS
In a surprise development, Makerere University academic registrar Alfred Namoah Masikye last week wrote a letter clarifying the circumstances under which Kato Lubwama was admitted. In his January 11 letter to M/S Nalukoola, Kakeeto Advocates, Lubwama’s lawyers, Masikye said the MP was admitted legally.
Masikye explained that a 17th meeting of the University Admissions Board held on May 3, 1978 received and considered a recommendation from the faculty of Arts board meeting that accepted that in addition to the normal university entrance requirements of A-level (for direct entry) or mature age entry into the two-year diploma in Music, Dance and Drama, the course be extended to people who are already committed to the performing arts and have the necessary experience and skills who can pass the entry examination set by the department of Music, Dance and Drama.
The letter adds that the 2002-2004 university prospectus further stated that unlike other programmes, admission to the Diploma in Music, Dance and Drama through the special entry examination be open to all. This, he said, was the window that Lubwama used to join Makerere.
“Mr Kato Lubwama sat and passed the university special entrance examinations as a bona fide candidate, having fulfilled all the requirements for admission for that programme in 1992. He was consequently admitted to pursue a Diploma in Music, Dance and Drama which he successfully completed in 1995 and was awarded a Diploma in Music, Dance and Drama by Makerere University on the 20th January 1995,” Masikye’s letter concludes.
However, when contacted, Habib Buwembo’s lawyer, Isaac Ssemakadde, said the latest revelations by Makerere only expose the rot that is at Uganda’s premier university.
“All this rot in the mature age entry had been known for a long time and this case will expose and hopefully combat it once and for all,” Ssemakadde said. “It doesn’t matter the amount of lipstick that a pig wears, it can’t win a beauty contest.”
dkiyonga@observer.ug
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