Uneb to pay schools Shs600m for cancelled exam results

Uneb executive secretary Mary Okwakol (L) hands over the 2016 UCE results to the Education minister, Ms Janet Museveni, at the Office of the President in Kampala in January. Photo by Eric Dominic Bukenya

What you need to know:

  • During our interview, Mr Odongo referred this newspaper to the board’s lawyer, Mathias Ssekatawa of Masembe, Makubuya, Adriko, Karugaba and Ssekatawa Advocates (MMAKS) for more details.
  • Saturday Monitor, however, failed to speak to Mr Ssekatawa. Several requests to fix and reschedule appointments with him failed.
  • Some Uneb officials, speaking off the record, say the precedent now raises fears of repeat lawsuits. Mr Odongo was, however, confident that measures introduced to prevent them being sued again will provide sufficient protection.

KAMPALA. Following a long-running court battle, the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) has accepted a Court of Appeal order to pay millions of shillings to pupils of three schools whose results were cancelled seven years ago.
The national examinations body last week said it chose to bring the protracted matter to a close because it has lost a lot of money in legal fees paid to defend itself without success. Its latest unsuccessful appeal was dismissed with costs two years ago.
Uneb’s executive secretary, Mr Daniel Odongo, has told Saturday Monitor that the whole affair could cost them about Shs1 billion in damages, costs and legal fees.

“It is true some schools sued Uneb for cancelling their results some time back. We lost and appealed but have lost again. We are not going to keep in this because it involves paying a lot of money to our lawyers,” Mr Odongo told Saturday Monitor in an interview last week.
“We have decided to pay the schools although we don’t have it (the compensation money) now but we want this to get out of our way. You can talk to our lawyer Mr Ssekatawa of MMAKS for details,” Mr Odongo said.
He declined to give more details, saying Mr Mathew Bukenya, his predecessor, was in charge at the time. A taxation-of-costs hearing in the matter has been scheduled for next week on May 2.
This hopefully ends a story which can be traced to a Fort Portal High Court ruling in which 141 pupils of Kabarole’s Kibiito, Bubwika and Makondo primary schools were each awarded Shs500,000.
The pupils won the award after they dragged Uneb to court on January 5, 2010 for cancelling their Primary Leaving Examination results in 2009. Unconvinced by the ruling, Uneb brought the matter to the Court of Appeal in Kampala where it appealed on six grounds.

On September 10, 2015 Court of Appeal justices A.S Nshimye, F.M.S Egonda Ntende and Geoffrey Kiryabwire upheld Judge Alfonse Owiny-Dollo’s ruling of March 2010 in the High Court of Fort Portal.
Mr Dollo had ordered that PLE results of the affected candidates be released and each pupil be paid Shs500,000 in compensation. The Court of Appeal judges also ruled that the award money attracts a 21 per cent interest per year from the time the case was filed until Uneb completes the payment.
“There is no amount of money that can atone a pupil for the loss in educational opportunities. We are unable to interfere with the award of Shs500,000 per pupil made by the trial judge as we find it adequate,” reads part of the judgment.

“Considering this appeal is being heard five years since the grounds for judicial review first arose and there was a stay of execution, setting the students further aback, we find that interest at 21 per cent per annum from the date of filing till payment in full is reasonable. The appeal is dismissed with costs here and in the court below. We so order,” Court of Appeal ruled.
This means that Uneb has to pay a lumpsum Shs103.6m to be shared by each of the 141 former pupils. In addition, a lawyer with Kahwa Kafuzi and Bwiruka Co-Advocates who argued the case, has filed a bill of costs totalling Shs470.6 million. It is this bill of costs which is coming up for a taxation hearing on May 2.
These amounts exclude what Uneb has spent on its lawyers.
Mr Richard Bwiruka, the lawyer who represented the schools, said Uneb was taking their time to pay his clients and asked the exams body to respect the court decision.

Court documents show that Uneb withheld the candidates’ results for alleged examination malpractice. The judges, however, found that Uneb ignored the rules of natural justice when they never invited the pupils to defend themselves.
“It is possible that this could have been true but the due process to ascertain this was not adhered to… One clear indication of this was the failure to afford the affected students a fair hearing which is a non-derogatory right conferred by the Constitution,” ruled the judges.
Mr Christopher Rwakigumba, the then head teacher of Kibiito, has told Saturday Monitor that all their affected pupils were forced to repeat P7 in 2010. He said no amount of payment can compensate for the trauma they went through.

“Uneb was told to pay us but they have never paid us. Uneb thinks they are untouchable. Sometimes the mistakes are of their own making and they want to punish schools especially those in upcountry setup. They know that these schools don’t have the money to pursue them in court. I am glad we braved and won,” Mr Rwakigumba, who has since retired, said.
“In fact when we sued Uneb, many people started calling us mad but we stuck to our ground. Parents and schools countrywide fear to sue Uneb out of fear. It is good to expose Uneb that takes itself as a lion in the jungle,” he added.

Mr Peter Mugabe, a former parent at Kibiito Primary School remembers the road to victory with sadness.
“It was so disappointing,” he said. “As a parent, you are expecting results of your child only to be told they are not coming. We agreed as parents to sue Uneb after listening to our children because they had no case. We won but while other children reported for Senior One, we were advised in the middle of the year to ask our children to repeat. We wasted time and incurred double costs for them to repeat. I was paying Shs280,000 per term.”
During our interview, Mr Odongo referred this newspaper to the board’s lawyer, Mathias Ssekatawa of Masembe, Makubuya, Adriko, Karugaba and Ssekatawa Advocates (MMAKS) for more details.
Saturday Monitor, however, failed to speak to Mr Ssekatawa. Several requests to fix and reschedule appointments with him failed.

“I am busy and I don’t know whether I will find time to meet you,” Mr Ssekatawa said through his secretary at their offices on Diamond Trust Building in Kampala.
This is the first time a school challenges Uneb over cancellation of results. Almost every year, Uneb cancels results of some students implicated in suspected examination malpractices.
Some Uneb officials, speaking off the record, say the precedent now raises fears of repeat lawsuits. Mr Odongo was, however, confident that measures introduced to prevent them being sued again will provide sufficient protection.