Nakaseke seeks govt opinion on sacking 20 head teachers

Authorities in Nakaseke District are yet to sack 21 primary school head teachers in Nakaseke District for using forged academic transcripts despite a recommendation by the Inspectorate of Government (IG), the Daily Monitor has learnt.

The district leaders say they have suspended the head teachers and sought legal interpretation from the Solicitor General over the IG’s directive.

“I confirm the suspension of the 21 teachers for a month. I wrote to the Office of the Solicitor General seeking guidance on how to proceed with the cases and expect the feedback soon,” Ms Sarah Nakalungi, the Nakaseke CAO, said in an interview.

The leaders argue that while the head teachers admitted to forging the degree academic transcripts to gain promotion, their earlier recruitment into public service has no record of forgery.

“This challenge has dragged on for a long time. But the 21 head teachers are now serving a suspension as we wait for guidance on the way forward,” Mr Ignatius Kiwanuka Koomu, the district chairperson, said early this week.

Mr Koomu also warned of a staffing gap should the group be dismissed. The investigations into the forgery of academic transcripts began in 2022 after a whistle-blower wrote to the CAO, alleging that the head teachers bribed the District Service Commission officials to gain promotion and confirmation as substantive head teachers.

This publication could not independently verify the bribery claims.

In January 2024, the Deputy IGG, Ms Anne Twinomugisha Muhairwe, asked the Nakaseke CAO to submit the names of the 21 head teachers to the District Service Commission for dismissal from service for uttering forged documents. “The uttering of forged documents is tantamount to misconduct under section (F-R) and 5(N) of the Public Service Standing Order, 2021,” she said in a January 23, 2024, letter.

What IGG says 

The IG further revealed that submission of false documents violates the principle of integrity expected of a public officer provided for under section 3.0, F-5 of the Uganda Public Service Standing Orders.

The IG also ordered the District Service Commission to forward the teachers to the Nakaseke District Police Commander for further investigation with a view to possible prosecution.

The IG said through its investigation, it established that the head teachers forged academic transcripts of different disciplines; Bachelor of Education (Primary), Bachelor of Arts with Education and Diploma in Education. The academic papers had purportedly been obtained from different universities, including Makerere, Kyambogo, Kampala International University, Kampala University and Uganda Martyrs University.

Documents seen by this publication indicate that the teachers admitted to the forgery of only the diplomas and degree transcripts but not the Grade III certificates earlier presented to the District Service Commission for recruitment into the Public Service under Nakaseke District Local Government.

Nakaseke District Local Government has since appealed the pending dismissal and sought the opinion of the office of the Solicitor General on the way forward.

Looking back

This publication has also learnt that since the matter has lagged for more than three years, some of the affected teachers have since returned to school and have acquired genuine academic papers.

The 21 head teachers were part of the more than 120 teachers that responded to a recruitment advert for deputy head teachers and head teachers by Nakaseke District Service Commission in 2021.

The affected teachers were already serving as acting deputy head teachers and head teachers. But a whistle-blower reportedly petitioned the CAO over the alleged irregularities. The CAO forwarded the cases to the Inspectorate of Government for further action.

RECENT CASEThe Inspector of Government in a January 17, 2023, letter directed the CAO of Nakaseke District to interdict Ms Lydia Nakanwagi Wamala, the head teacher of Sakabusolo Primary School, over forgery of academic transcripts.

The IG states that the suspect, Ms Nakanwagi stated before the investigation team that her Grade III certificate and Registration by theMinistry of Education were not genuine but had been picked from Nasser Road in Kampala.

The Auditor General’s report for FY2021/22 pointed out that five secondary school teachers in Nakaseke District used forged minutes of the Education Service Commission to access the payroll and drew Shs148m as salaries during the same period.