Govt investigates Kibuli head teacher over sex with students

KAMPALA. The ministry of Education is investigating the headmaster of Kibuli Secondary School in Kampala on accusations of sexually abusing his female students.
Mr Ali Mugagga was sent on forced leave some time back pending completion of the investigations which the ministry of Education started a fortnight ago.

According to sources close to the investigations, who declined to be named, Mr Mugagga was given 36 days of his annual leave starting on January 23 to allow the investigators conduct their work without interference.
The investigation is headed by Mr Sam Kuloba, the commissioner in-charge of secondary education at the ministry. He is assisted by Mr Benson Kule, the deputy director of education standards at the ministry.
The ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mr Alex Kakooza, gave the probe committee two weeks to submit its findings about Mugagga’s alleged sexual escapades.

Other committee members are: Mr Ismail Mulindwa, the commissioner in- charge of private schools; Mr James Sanya, who is in-charge of the Education ministry’s human resource and Ms Angella Nakafeero from the Gender department.
“We have not yet concluded the investigations into the alleged sexual misconduct. We are in the final stages. We hope to conclude by end of next week,” Mr Kuloba said in a telephone interview but declined to give further details.

Inquiry
In a letter to Mr Mugagga, a copy of which Daily Monitor has seen, Mr Kakooza noted: “The social media is awash with allegations that you have been involved in sexual misconduct with students in schools where you have worked as head teacher. Whereas it is not the practice of the Public Service to act on such informal sources of information, I have found it necessary to institute investigations into this particular matter given the gravity of the allegation. If the allegations are true, apart from having a criminal bearing, they would constitute a breach of the teachers’ code of conduct and ethics for the public service and would amount to a misconduct for which disciplinary action has to be taken.”

Sources say the probe committee has already interviewed teachers and students at Kibuli Secondary School to give their account of what they know about Mr Mugagga’s behaviour.
However, Daily Monitor learnt that the investigators have not met Mr Mugagga because he had been admitted to Mulago Heart Institute, but he has since stabilised and was discharged last week.
It is not clear though whether his ailment was triggered or escalated by the distress of the allegations against him.

Mr Mugagga did not respond to our repeated calls to his cellular phone yesterday.
However, sources have indicated that Mr Kuloba’s committee was waiting to meet Mr Mugagga for questioning before finalising and submitting their report to the ministry’s Permanent Secretary by end of next week.
Social media has been awash with allegations that Mr Mugagga sexually abused some of his female students while he taught at Gombe Secondary School and maintained the behaviour later at Lubiri Secondary School and Kibuli, his current duty station.

At Kibuli SS, some teachers were reluctant to comment on Mr Mugagga when Daily Monitor approached them. They argued sexual allegations are “complicated.” They also doubted the competence of some of the probe committee members to do satisfactory investigation as their records at their former schools were also “tainted” with similar allegations.

Recently, State minister for Higher Education, Dr John Chrysostom Muyingo warned teachers and head teachers to observe the teachers’ code of conduct and protect students that parents entrust them with.
He added that the ministry had started investigating some school administrators for allegedly abusing their students sexually.
“We have had cases of some of our colleagues who have misbehaved with their students of the opposite sex. We are still investigating some of these cases. You need to protect the profession. Be fair to your profession, be fair to the parents and students. We will not hesitate to act,” he warned at the Senior One students selection exercise in Kampala about two weeks ago.

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