How Mak PhD feud drew attention of First Lady

Two years, two directives from First Lady and Education minister Janet Museveni, a court ruling and dozens of accusations and counter-accusations later, Peter Ntale’s doctoral studies only raises eyebrows.

Mr Ntale should have graduated with a PhD in Education Management from Makerere University’s College of Education and External Studies (CEES) two years ago but last week, he watched bemused as students whose dissertation reports came in after his toasted their mortarboard in the air.

He has twice petitioned Mrs Museveni over what he terms as “witch-hunt” and “continuous violation of university guidelines, bias and injustice” in the pursuit of his doctoral studies.

And twice, Mrs Museveni has written to the University Council chairperson, Dr Lorna Magara, instructing that Mr Ntale’s complaint be concluded.

In a February 15 letter, the Education minister said: “Mr Ntale states that even after your previous intervention, the acting Dean of the East African School of Higher Education Studies and Development (EASHESD), Dr David Onen, has since stalled the finalising of the re-examination process which has hindered the completion of his doctoral studies.”

Dr Magara told this paper the matter was already being investigated.

“This issue will be resolved,” she said.

She did not go into the specifics of the investigation when probed further, saying the “results will be communicated in due course.”

Mr Ntale first submitted his PhD thesis on March 11, 2020. His is not an isolated case; Sr Stella Kamanzi, John Habimana, Sophia Geera and Ahmed Katalemwa have all been in the same boat since 2020. They are at sea.

Prof Anthony Mugagga, the CEES principal, said “if indeed they have problems, why have they not come to my office as the chief?”

To Ntale, the question is baffling. He has been to the same office for nearly three years now, under two principles.

Prof Mugagga was appointed in February last year, inheriting the students’ issues from Prof Fred Masagazi. The latter declined to comment on this story.

“Who told you to call me? There is a new regime, Makerere has structures and policies so refer to the College,” Masagazi said.

The trials of the PhD candidates mirror those of other students who are often victims of deep-rooted schism that has riddled Uganda’s premier institution of higher learning for years.

As well as the students, the Graduate Handbook and other university policies are often victims of the infighting.

Stalling and ‘watch-hunt’

February 10 was the second time Mr Ntale was seeking Mrs Museveni’s intervention. Both times, the First Lady’s principal private secretary, Irene Kauma, has written to Dr Magara on behalf of the ministry’s permanent secretary to ask that the Council resolve the matter.

Mrs Museveni’s first intervention, on August 21 last year, saw a flurry of activity from the university leadership.

Prof Mugagga on October 24, 2022, instructed Mr Ntale to submit two copies of his dissertation and a compliance report. He also directed that lead supervisor, Assoc Prof Jude Ssempebwa, slow down and that Dr Badru Musisi take charge.

However, the student opted to submit the book to Mr Mugagga directly, citing “deliberate and unrelenting mismanagement” of his doctoral studies.

“I trust that you, and not the acting dean and former dean who have exhibited bias against my progress, are independent and able to solve the problem justly and professionally,” Mr Ntale wrote to the principal.

Dr Onen told this paper that he has no reason to malice Mr Ntale.

“I have done what it takes to process seven of our PhDs and five Masters students who graduated last Tuesday and I am working with the principal to arrange for Ntale’s defence in line with university policy,” he said.

Following Mrs Museveni’s Valentine’s Day directive, Prof Mugagga refuted claims that they were biased against Mr Ntale.

“The candidate had very bad work which was failed by the external examiner and one internal examiner,” he wrote to the vice chancellor on February 17.

“The work was also re-examined by Dr Joseph Kimoga, Prof Fred Bakkabulindi and all concurred that the work was not worthy of the name of Makerere University PhD.”

Mr Ntale said Kimoga examined his book twice, at proposal stage where he passed it with 68 per cent, and at committee level.

“Bakkabulindi also re-examined my thesis when he was part of the higher degrees committee. He found 14 areas where the external examiner had messed up the examination of my thesis. All these happened between 2019 and 2021,” he said.

Daily Monitor couldn’t verify the claims with Prof Bakkabulindi.

The re-examination after Mrs Museveni’s first directive last August was by Dr Irene Etomaru (internal) and Assoc Prof George Wilson Kasule from Kyambogo University.

Prof Mugagga told the vice chancellor that Kasule returned Mr Ntale’s book on January 2, and Dr Etomaru on January 4. Both examiners had given the candidate positive rating.

With the 73rd graduation ceremonies around the corner, other candidates had their defence duly processed. Mr Ntale’s book was shelved until January 17.

The Graduate Handbook says that after a candidate has passed, the School goes ahead to conduct the viva voce without delay.

“The public defence is set after the independent reviewer gives us the date,” Mugagga told this paper, adding that Dr David Kabugo, the devil’s advocate, was handicapped by another candidate’s review.

The ugly fight

Mr Ntale’s woes drag whoever attempts to look into it to an abyss. In 2021, he told Daily Monitor that it had taken more than a year before he was examined. At the time, Dr Ronald Bisaso was the dean of EASHESD.

Bisaso’s position as dean had already created a rift with his erstwhile backer, Ssempebwa. Their relationship worsened when Bisaso was elected deputy principal and the dean’s seat was instead handed over to Dr Onen.

The bitter fight that ensued drew a whirlwind that engulfed the academic dreams of Mr Ntale and other students.

“Mr Ntale is a victim of hatred against me,” Dr Ssempebwa told Daily Monitor. “He must fail, as proof that I’m not doing my work. Indeed, the only way he can make progress is if I step aside.”

But Mugagga has, in various reports, said the candidate and his supervisor have been indulging in blackmail to earn the PhD without following the due process.

“During last week’s graduation, Dr Ssempebwa had a PhD student, Eric Gita, how then can he claim bias and malice?” asked Mugagga.

But Ssempebwa said his principal was engaging in a straw man’s slur.

“The real issue is what the policy says. Once a student has passed, the dean must call a defence without delay, and that is what Onen did for the other students, three of whom had their reports return after Ntale’s,” he said.

“But in Ntale’s case, Onen sat on the book and did not send it to any devil’s advocate even after I reminded him several times. The principal had a legal and moral duty to tell the dean to organise the defence. But he did not. He cannot refuse responsibility for the student’s delay to graduate.”

Prof Mugagga, in his February 17 report to the vice chancellor, faulted the dean for “being slow to respond” but stressed that it was “out of fear of being faulted.”

Mr Ntale insists he was deliberately failed. His attempts to find a solution at the High Court in 2021 failed as Justice Musa Ssekaana dismissed his petition on the grounds that the court was not a place for students to run to on matters that universities had clear policies on how to resolve.

The court, the judge ruled, should not get involved in examination administration and management by questioning the external examination report.

Mr Ntale’s negative report had come from Prof Wilson Muyinda Mande, the vice chancellor of Nkumba University.

Among others, Muyinda flagged Ntale’s book because the candidate only spent 11 months in the field although it was the School that had approved the work plan.

The Nkumba don also indicated that Ntale’s thesis fell short of “typical standard” because the volume was only 49,500 words. He said no less than 50,000 words was acceptable.

But Mak academics say Muyinda used Nkumba guidelines to assess theses of Makerere candidates.

The particular issue was in contention in 2017 when Prof Bakkabulindi was not impressed with how Muyinda had assessed Mary Kanyiginya Tizikara’s dissertation.

In a 17-page report, a copy of which this newspaper has seen, Bakkabulindi punched holes in dozens of Muyinda’s assessments, flagging many as being based on Nkumba guidelines.

In an email response, Prof Muyinda said he was appointed by Prof Paul Birevu Muyinda, then deputy principal, and it is only to his office he was to respond.

“I cannot discuss a student’s assessment in a newspaper. The assessment is confidential,” he said.

However, concerns remained that Muyinda was reappointed as an external examiner in total disregard of the university’s policy.

Graduate Handbook stipulates that an external examiner can only be appointed to serve for a period of three years with a possible one-year extension. Thereafter, they cannot be re-appointed until a period of one year has elapsed.

This paper understands Prof Muyinda has been an external examiner at EASHESD for 15 years. Prof Mugagga said he had replaced Muyinda and all other “external examiners who had overstayed” when he took over office in February last year.