Prof. Isaiah Omolo Ndiege
By Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa
In Summary
They only resumed work after the university council
decided to dismiss Ndiege, a decision he later challenged in court which
ruled that he had only been sent on forced leave
Prof. Isaiah Omolo Ndiege became Kyambogo
University Vice Chancellor in January 2009. But he has endured a
challenging tenure, with a section of staff fighting him, accusing him
of undermining his subordinates and running down the institution. Last
year, the feud came to a boiling point when staff laid down tools,
forcing the institution to close for some weeks. They only resumed work
after the university council decided to dismiss Ndiege, a decision he
later challenged in court which ruled that he had only been sent on
forced leave . But the council last month dramatically went ahead and
extended his leave by 90 days and by the time the leave ends, he could
be out of office for close to a year. Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa caught up with with Ndiege.
1. On September 18 last year, you were sent on forced leave and eventually dismissed What actually went wrong?.
It was as a result of a strike by staff alleging that I had mismanaged the institution, which is not true. Investigations by the adhoc committee of council did not find any mismanagement by myself. In fact, they commended me for above average performance in very difficult situations. Secondly, the education and sports committee of Parliament which also investigated the allegations did not find any incidences of mismanagement. Similarly, they commended me for above average performance. So, the claims were neither here nor there. It is simply a trick which is being used to get me out of the institution in a similar manner that Prof. Lutalo Bbosa was actually removed from Kyambogo University. So, it’s habitual of Kyambogo staff to accuse their vice chancellors and top management of mismanagement when they disagree.
It was as a result of a strike by staff alleging that I had mismanaged the institution, which is not true. Investigations by the adhoc committee of council did not find any mismanagement by myself. In fact, they commended me for above average performance in very difficult situations. Secondly, the education and sports committee of Parliament which also investigated the allegations did not find any incidences of mismanagement. Similarly, they commended me for above average performance. So, the claims were neither here nor there. It is simply a trick which is being used to get me out of the institution in a similar manner that Prof. Lutalo Bbosa was actually removed from Kyambogo University. So, it’s habitual of Kyambogo staff to accuse their vice chancellors and top management of mismanagement when they disagree.
2.How can those problems be addressed?
First, the University and Other Tertiary Institutions Act should be amended to change the composition of council in favour of non-staff members and give the chief executive (vice chancellor) enough teeth to bite. Secondly, we must introduce performance contracts so that each staff is answerable to his performance. Thirdly, we need to nurture a culture of accountability, transparency and honesty in the institution.We should also think of promotions and appointments based on merit rather than know-who.
3.What do you consider as your biggest achievements in the three-and-half years you were in office?
I endeavoured to introduce the culture of being open and honest and encouraging staff to work hard. And at the same time I embarked on improving rewards in terms of salaries and allowances so that staff can be motivated. I also introduced a culture of encouraging staff to do research by allocating enough money for research and also set aside some money for staff development. In addition, I set to improve infrastructure and service delivery to enhance the quality of education. And of course there were debts to be paid which I cleared. I inherited a debt of Shs16 billion in salary arrears, Shs26 billion NSSF arrears most of which was penalty. And on salaries, by the time I joined, our salaries were lower than those of Makerere and in 2011 we harmonised them. We also introduced a top up allowance ranging between Shs100,000 and Shs2 million depending on one’s job description. On top of that, we topped up staff salaries by Shs100 million every month because the government doesn’t pay full salary to staff. I have also recruited 300 out of 1,200 staff and I found the student enrollment at 14,000 but by last year it had risen to 28,000.
When I came, there was also a backlog of 157,000 certificates dating back to 1987 which had not been printed or signed and I cleared them in 2010. I also noted that many of our former students had no transcripts because the process was taking one to two years simply because the system was manual. But during the 2010 graduation, we provided the transcripts within one month and certificates after six months.
Our students used to be the last to graduate (in February) which was a disadvantage to them because they were the last to go to the market. So, in 2011, we moved the graduation to December and issued the transcripts in January, giving our graduates advantage over others. In fact, the list of achievements is endless but I should also point out that all vehicles at Kyambogo were grounded and there were only two serviceable ones but I have managed to secure four buses and 15 double cabin pick-ups for officials, a fully-fitted ambulance and three tricycles to transport disabled students across the campus.
We had also saved Shs10 billion for infrastructural development which we were supposed to use to put up an office block for the academic registrar and lecture blocks.
I endeavoured to introduce the culture of being open and honest and encouraging staff to work hard. And at the same time I embarked on improving rewards in terms of salaries and allowances so that staff can be motivated. I also introduced a culture of encouraging staff to do research by allocating enough money for research and also set aside some money for staff development. In addition, I set to improve infrastructure and service delivery to enhance the quality of education. And of course there were debts to be paid which I cleared. I inherited a debt of Shs16 billion in salary arrears, Shs26 billion NSSF arrears most of which was penalty. And on salaries, by the time I joined, our salaries were lower than those of Makerere and in 2011 we harmonised them. We also introduced a top up allowance ranging between Shs100,000 and Shs2 million depending on one’s job description. On top of that, we topped up staff salaries by Shs100 million every month because the government doesn’t pay full salary to staff. I have also recruited 300 out of 1,200 staff and I found the student enrollment at 14,000 but by last year it had risen to 28,000.
When I came, there was also a backlog of 157,000 certificates dating back to 1987 which had not been printed or signed and I cleared them in 2010. I also noted that many of our former students had no transcripts because the process was taking one to two years simply because the system was manual. But during the 2010 graduation, we provided the transcripts within one month and certificates after six months.
Our students used to be the last to graduate (in February) which was a disadvantage to them because they were the last to go to the market. So, in 2011, we moved the graduation to December and issued the transcripts in January, giving our graduates advantage over others. In fact, the list of achievements is endless but I should also point out that all vehicles at Kyambogo were grounded and there were only two serviceable ones but I have managed to secure four buses and 15 double cabin pick-ups for officials, a fully-fitted ambulance and three tricycles to transport disabled students across the campus.
We had also saved Shs10 billion for infrastructural development which we were supposed to use to put up an office block for the academic registrar and lecture blocks.
4.You went to court challenging what you termed as unlawful dismissal and court ruled in your favour, why is it that you haven’t reported back to office?
Court said I went there early and I should allow the internal process to take place. I was expecting to be asked to go back to office but instead an emergency council meeting was called the next day and I was sent on a another 90 days forced leave (which expires in August) and I was not told why the forced leave was extended. I wrote back asking them why they had done so and up to now I have not got a reply.
5.A section of staff vows that they will lay down tools again if you dare step in office again. How do you plan to handle that?
I don’t want to start predicting what will happen and what will not, but we shall cross the bridge when we get there because there are laws and everybody has to abide by them. We cannot have a situation where people do things without following the existing laws. I have a letter of appointment as a vice chancellor of Kyambogo University and that letter has not been revoked. Therefore, if I am asked to go back to office by which ever body – let it be the IGG, court, ministry or council, I will go back. They (staff) are the ones who petitioned council and Parliament to investigate and good enough, they all exonerated me. So, if I have not mismanaged the university, which was their complaint, why don’t they want me back? They cannot have their cake and eat it. The seven months I have been away can tell whether I was the one mismanaging the university or not. Let them compare and see. How can I leave Kenya and come to mismanage a university in Uganda? Those are just lies to hoodwink the public.
6.Why don’t you give up on Kyambogo and do other things since staff doesn’t like you?
You know, you don’t choose your neighbours but you can choose your friends. Similarly, you don’t choose who you work with but you have to work with them. If we were to throw away people we don’t want to work with, then we will have no institutions. Some staff don’t like me because I had wanted to institute discipline in the institution, which people were not used to, some are uncomfortable with a Kenyan leading a Ugandan institution while others are uncomfortable with my level of remuneration - thinking that I am earning a lot of money. They also think I have blocked them from getting riches from Kyambogo through fraud and irregular land sales. So ,there is no question of mismanagement. It is basically people who have their own interests who are very determined to see me out. And by the way, efforts of kicking me out didn’t start yesterday. They started as soon as I came in June 2009.
People started writing to the ministry and the IGG claiming that i was tribalistic, killing the institution and mismanaging funds. Between June and September the same year, I received two threatening notices under my door. They even went to court and there was a court order that kept me out of office for a week. In December 2009 ,there were anonymous messages sent to council members trying to scandalise me. Letters to the ministry continued and in 2011, senior members of council and staff went to the minister to lobby for my removal and in March 2011 , the minister of higher education had to come to council to tell members to let me do my work because what had been reported was false.There are factions in Kyambogo which have been fighting over the years and I never joined any of them. And at some point One (faction) believed that I was working with another faction and the corrupt faction is the one that has been fighting to remove me all along. In 2010, when a council member resigned, the one who came in was already recruited and told to make sure that I don’t finish my term (which expires in December) and he is the one on the forefront of fighting me. So, I have never had peace at Kyambogo and if peace was there, I could have achieved much more. The current fighting is because they feared that I was going to get a second term.
7. What can you say about the current tuition fees fraud and the continued mismanagement of the institution which was earlier blamed on you?
I saw that coming. In fact I was the one who instructed Mr Henry Duku( the university chief internal auditor) on May 17, 2012 to carry through audit on all fees collection accounts basing on the intelligence information I had gathered. He only managed one faculty after a year! In July 2012, I also asked the university bursar to provide me with bank statements for three faculties: Arts and Social Sciences, Education and the School of Management & Entrepreneurship for scrutiny. He has not done so to date. People were collecting money, issuing receipts of full payment yet they were not actually banking it .The scale of the fraud is mind boggling and I don’t think that whoever is concerned is working alone .People have been complaining that I usurped the roles of the University Secretary and Chief Internal Auditor but where were they when all this was happening?
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