Prime
What it Means To... Be in a sex-for-marks fix
What you need to know:
He was one of those lecturers, who were very strict on the dress code of female students. So, it was a shock when he approached her for sex.
I was happy to be admitted to Kyambogo University, which I had always wanted to go. Although I was not offered the course I had applied for; a Diploma in Procurement and Logistics, I went to study there to avoid the frequent chaos and strikes in other universities like Makerere.
At Kyambogo, I was confident that I would successfully complete my course without incident. It felt like a dream come true until I went to the second year.
The beginning
It started one evening at 6pm when, as usual, I walked into the common room to sign for my course work marks in Economic Theory. I had failed this course unit in my first year and I was required to re-take it in my second year for me to graduate.
Mr John (not real name), the lecturer then, asked me, “Hellen, have you really come to sign for the few marks you got?”
“Sir, there is nothing I can do about it,” I replied.
“We can do something about it,” he told me. “Give me your phone number. I’ll call you”.
Thinking that he wanted money, I left the room. On my way out, I met Grace, a friend of mine, who called later to ask what Mr John had suggested. I told her and it turned out that he had also asked for her number.
He was the kind of lecturer who could not stand indecently dressed female students. If girls came for his lectures wearing high heels, ear rings, tight blouses, short skirts or trousers, he would chase them out of the room.
He would further embarrass them by inquiring whether they had come to a discotheque or for prostitution. All the girls wore long skirts to his lectures and those who did not own them would borrow from friends. He was like a father to us.
He called me the following day and asked to meet at a certain bar at 6pm in Bweyogerere on pretext that fellow lecturers would see him talking to students at the university and would misunderstand him.
In my long black skirt and money in the bag, I was at the bar at the agreed time. I had just ordered for a soda when he came and informed me that he was well known in that bar and that we should go somewhere more private.
His “somewhere more private” was a lodge where he had already ordered for a room. “Don’t worry, we are just going to talk”, he reassured me as we got into the room.
I sat on the bed and he was still telling me not to get scared when someone knocked at the door. The person at the door gave him condoms, which he put in his shirt pocket. My mind flagged a red alert and all I could do as I held my bag tightly, and and prayed that my lecturer does not rape me.
At the lodge
He then came closer and said, “Don’t be scared, you are 18 and you know what you are doing.” I told him that I thought what he had wanted was money. But he assured me that he had enough money.
Shamelessly, he suggested that I could be his son’s girlfriend and, at the same time, sleep with him. He went to the bathroom and returned completely naked, without even a towel to cover his genitals.
I refused to sleep with him and he asked me to at least touch him, which I did not do either.
Asked for the same thing
I stood up to go and he shouted at me to sit back on the bed. “I am doing you a favour. Give me something and I give you something in return. Unless you want to retake that paper next year,” he bragged.
I could not have any of it so he went to the bathroom and dressed up. He asked me to leave the lodge with him so that the onlookers would assume that something had happened between us.
We took the same taxi where he offered me Shs1,000 for transport. I let him know that I had enough money for transport.
“Never tell anyone about what happened here because I have never been so embarrassed,” he demanded.
“Yes,” I instantly replied, inwardly thanking the Lord for leaving that room ‘unharmed’. In the meantime, he had set an appointment with Grace for the following day in Kireka where he asked her for the same thing: sex.
The aftermath
All this happened in one week before the final exams, which would determine whether I would get the diploma or not. I sat for the exams and waited. When results were released, Grace had a 35 per cent and I had a 48 per cent.
I was required to retake the paper the following year for the second time. On the other hand, if Mr John would remain the lecturer, it would mean we would have to retake the paper for a good number of years.
Grace and I planned to write to the Kyambogo University Chancellor but on asking around, we found it was a long process. So, I decided to write a letter, which I put in the faculty suggestion box. The letter briefly stated that Mr John should be assigned to another group for reasons that could not be disclosed therein.
To my pleasant surprise, he was allocated to another group. We retook the course unit, passed it and graduated a year after our course mates had.
As told to Carol Nambowa
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