IUIU boss must step down - Government

The Rector of Islamic University in Uganda, Dr Ahmed Ssengendo.

What you need to know:

The Rector is accused of running down the 25- year-old Islami -founded institute by employing relatives and friends in key positions which has compromised accountability at the university main campus and its branches.

KAMPALA

Government has renewed its efforts to throw out the Rector of Islamic University in Uganda, Dr Ahmed Ssengendo, whom it accuses of running down the 25 -year-old Islamic-founded institute.

Speaking to Daily Monitor yesterday, State Minister for Foreign Affairs in charge of Regional cooperation Asuman Kiyingi said Dr Ssengendo’s exit from IUIU is long overdue and government is doing whatever is possible to remove him from office.

“President Museveni has not changed his position on Dr Ssengendo. The problem is that the Organisation of Islamic Conference which funds the institution has failed to act,” the minister told this newspaper in a telephone interview yesterday.

The accusations
Mr Kiyingi also accused Dr Ssengendo of employing relatives and friends in key positions which has compromised accountability at the university main campus and its branches.

Mr Kiyingi said the IUIU council chairman, Dr Abdullah Umar Naseef, has already been asked to convene a council meeting to decide Dr Ssengendo’s fate but the latter has used his influence to delay the process. Dr Ssengendo also doubles as secretary to the council.

“In May, the secretary general of OIC (Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu) wrote to the president communicating that he had asked Dr Naseef to convene council as a matter of urgency to decide Ssengendo’s fate but he is playing all tactics to delay this process and deceiving donors that the university will collapse if he leaves. But by hook or crook, we shall kick him out,” the minister added.

Asked why Dr Ssengendo has not been arrested to face the law, Kiyingi said security agencies are closely monitoring his movements and ‘very soon’ he will be locked up. “It is just a matter of time .You wait!” he added. The minister was responding to Dr Ssengendo request that government speeds up the process of selecting its new representatives to the council to enable the institution carry on its academic and expansion programmes.

No representation
Government has not been represented on the UIUI council for a year following the expiry of the tenure of its three representatives and the new members, who were appointed in March, were rejected by the Muslim community who are the biggest stakeholders in the institution.

While speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a training workshop for new IUIU students in Kampala last week, Dr Ssengendo said such allegations leveled against him were unfounded and that is why “I am still a free man”.

“There are some individuals in government who had deceived the president but he investigated the matter and got the truth. OIC had earlier challenged them to arrest me if they had evidence but they failed because those accusing me are just fighting their personal wars,” he added.

Government has since March been pushing for Dr Ssengendo’s exit over alleged subversive activities and turning the institution into ‘a JEEMA recruitment ground’-which allegations Dr Ssengendo vehemently denies. Dr Ssengendo was appointed Rector of the university in 2004, replacing Dr Mahdi Adam.