Ntungamo police arrest college principal over sexual harassment

Police in Ntungamo District are holding a college principal for allegedly sexually harassing his female students.

Police identified the suspect as Gaston Twesigye, the principal of Ntungamo Comprehensive Vocational College. His arrest came after one of his victims reported the matter to the authorities for action.

Ms Ronah Natukunda, a student pursuing a certificate in Records and Information Management says that after refusing sexual advances from Twesigye, he made sure that she fails the exams by refusing to submit some of her results to the Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB).

“One day he chased me out of the examination room claiming I had fees balance that I needed to first clear. It took the intervention of some lecturers for him to allow me in, an hour later,” she said.

Ms Natukunda narrates that the principal would on several occasions ask her to meet him in private places as late as 10pm or to come to his office in the evening hours if she wanted to check her examination results.

"I spent a year at the college without being able to see my own examination results apart from being told by friends since it was a college practice for students to get their results personally from their lecturers. When I would go for mine, he would tell me to come in the evening which was a bit tricky,” she said.

She adds that apart from denying his victims examination results, he would give them heavy punishment like cleaning all the toilets once they did not give him what he wanted.

Ms Nankunda, like several other students, reported the issue to police after their final results came out and they had several retakes.

The Rwizi Regional Police spokesperson, ASP Samson Kasasira confirmed Twesigye’s arrest saying they were supposed to arraign him in the Ntungamo Chief Magistrates Court Thursday evening.

“The principal was arrested on September 22 from the RDC’s office where he had gone to respond to the allegations. The RDC ordered his arrest after finding out that he was a habitual sexual harasser. We have since preferred sexual harassment charges against him ahead of his arraignment in court,” he told the Monitor on Thursday morning.

According to the Ntungamo RDC, Mr Geofrey Mucunguzi, many of Twesigye’s former students came to his office reporting similar cases and some had the evidence.

“Twesigye has been harassing female students who refuse to sleep with him and it has been his habit. Many of his former students have testified against him, some recorded while extending sexual advances and they have that evidence,” he said.

However, Mr Twesigye in his defence claims that this is a deliberate plan by his competitors to fail him.

“I do not know what these girls are saying. I know someone must have used them just to tarnish my name because I cannot do something like that,” he said Thursday.