I am being probed, says MUST boss

Mbarara- The Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST)Vice Chancellor, Prof Celestino Obua, has responded to allegations of mismanagement of office placed against him by his staff saying he is waiting for the university council probe.

“I have directives from council not to comment on these allegations. I cannot interfere with the investigations by going to the media,” Prof Obua told Daily Monitor on Friday.
The academic and non-teaching staff at MUST have given the university council a two-weeks ultimatum to address their concerns raised in an April 4 petition against Prof Obua.

Members of Mbarara University of Science Technology Academic Staff Association (MUSTASA) and the non-teaching staff association last Thursday warned they would take industrial action if the council fails to act.

The petition signed by the MUSTASA chairperson, Dr John Emenyu, and Mr Charles Kakuru, the chairperson of non-teaching staff, contains eight concerns and five recommendations to the council.

The staff accuse Prof Obua of financial mismanagement, suffocating operations of the grants office, disregarding policy on staff training and development, and staff harassment and intimidation.

They also accuse the VC of not heeding council directives, flouting university transport policy, influence peddling and breaking procurement and disposal guidelines. They also accuse Mr Obua of absence from duty and providing wrong information to the university council.

“Please make reference to the petition that came to the university council against the harassment of Ms Hanifa Nantongo. We strongly believe the Prof Obua should have been held responsible for the same even if he was eventually forced by the council to re-instate her appointment,” the staff said.

“He maliciously wrote to the funders to withdraw funding for her PhD Scholarship (and) provided false information to the Ministry of Public Service regarding her status. We believe this should not have gone unchecked and punitive measures should have been taken for abuse of authority and deterrent measure for future leaders of MUST,” the staff added. “For the past 30 years DAAD [the German academic exchange service] has been the largest organisation offering annual scholarships to staff for both Masters and PhD programmes. Please note that these scholarships are tenable at MUST. To date we have received information that MUST has been suspended from the scheme due to failure by management to carry out their duties...” reads the petition in part.

The staff also alleged that Prof Obua has altered his original terms of employment with interests of influencing his reappointment without following procedure. His five-year term expires in October.

Recommendation
They recommended that council carries out a forensic audit and that the university secretary steps aside as investigations proceed for avoidance of interference.

The staff also suggested an extra ordinary joint meeting of university council members, senate, staff and student representatives be urgently convened to seek harmony.

The staff had threatened to go on strike on April 18.
“We were supposed to start our strike today (last Thursday) but we met several stakeholders in the region who promised to address our concerns,” Mr Julius Taremwa, the secretary MUSTASA said.

The chairman of the university council, Dr Ben Mbonye, on Monday said they have given the staff timelines for addressing their concerns.

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