Court stops NCHE from taking action on Fairland

Kampala

Court has temporarily stopped National Council for High Education (NCHE) from implementing the revocation of Fairland University provisional licence until a pending case is determined.

Mr John Eudes Keitirima, the Registrar of the High Court in Kampala, issued the interim stay on Wednesday until March 26 when the main case is heard.

The order comes two days after NCHE revoked the operating licence of the Jinja-based institution citing failure to meet the minimum set standards. NCHE, responsible for overseeing that the public receives quality education from institutions of higher learning, had also warned that qualifications from this university will not be recognised.

However, NCHE Senior Legal and Corporate Affairs Officer, Ms Faridah Bukirwa, yesterday said the court order was issued after the licence had been revoked. “The action has been overtaken by events. We have already made the decision because the licence was revoked on March 11 while the injunction came in on March 13,” she said in a telephone interview.

In a statement, Fairland University management said the alleged shortfalls in both the NCHE’s letter to the university dated March 11 and the press release are ‘imaginary’.

“There is no way such shortfalls determined in 2005 could remain constant and without any slightest change at all for more than eight years later,” said the university vice chancellor, Prof. Solomon Wakabi. He added that NCHE’s decision was ‘unfortunate’.

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