Leaders discover 2,520 ghost pupils

Authorities in Bukomansimbi District have discovered a total of 2,520 ghost pupils in primary schools.

The ghost pupils were discovered during an inspection of public schools by district leaders led by the deputy Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Mr Fred Kalema Pax and the district National Resident Movement (NRM) chairperson, Mr Shafik Mwanje during the first term.

Preliminary investigations by both political leaders and police indicate that the administrators of the schools connived with the district education officer, Mr Patrick Zziwa, and the inspector of schools, Mr Fred Mutebi, to inflate the enrolment numbers.

Both officials deny the allegations.

In an interview with the Monitor on Monday, Mr Mwanje said this was done to defraud the government.

“The government injects a lot of money in the education sector, but it is absurd that its employees are the ones who want to put it down. We are going to expose whoever is behind this so that other districts can learn from us,” Mr Mwanje said.

Mr Kalema said: “… we will resume our on-spot inspection in second term and this will help us know the actual enrolment in public schools and save taxpayers money.”

In an interview with the Monitor on Monday, Mr Twaha Kasirye, the southern region police spokesperson, said the two officials recorded statements with the police over the matter.

He added that the scam began in 2019.

At Kyamabaale Primary School, the school head claimed to have 364 pupils, but a head count revealed that there were only 107 learners, while St Andrew’s Primary School, Kayanja was found to have only 157 pupils but official school records indicated that there were 423 learner at the institution.

St Sebastian Primary School only has 88 pupils but the head teacher had claimed that there were 691 learners.

Other schools inspected include Lwenkuba Primary School, which was found to have only 30 pupils but the administrators had claimed it had 462 and Makoomi Primary School, which has 108 pupils but had registered an enrolment of 580 learners.

Earlier, Mr Samuel Kityo, the head teacher of Makoomi Primary School, told the RDC that they were told by officials in the district education department to inflate the enrolment numbers “to enable them get enough money to run the school”.

“Please do not arrest me. Let me tell you the truth. It is true we have few pupils in the school but our bosses in the district education department are the ones who told us to write ghost pupils so that when the money comes, we share it with them,” Mr Kityo said.

Mr Zziwa said he was surprised to learn that there were ghost pupils in the schools.

He asked the RDC to give him time to investigate all public schools and later submit a report to him.

 “It is not true that we are in connivance with the school heads, let everyone carry his /her own cross,” he said.

The creation of ghost pupils alone, according to the Ministry of Finance estimates, costs the taxpayer some $11 million (about Shs41 billion) annually.