In Ntungamo District, The Acting District Education Officer plus the Acting Ntungamo Municipal Education Officer, and at least six head teachers and classroom teachers have been charged with abuse of office and causing financial loss to the government.
In an investigation by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, approximately 40,000 ghost pupils in Ntungamo schools were discovered following a 2024 audit.
Grade I Magistrate Esther Asiimwe of the Anti-Corruption Division Court in Nakasero read out the charges to Mr. Fred Bahati, the acting Ntungamo District Education Officer, and Mr. Gordon Nabasa, the acting Ntungamo Municipal Education Officer, who appeared before on Tuesday. They denied the charges and were remanded to Luzira Prison until March 20 and March 18, respectively.
Also remanded were Mr Nabaasa Rushegera Abias, the former head teacher at Ntungamo Primary School; Ms Allen Komuhangi, head teacher at Ruhoko Primary School; Mr Mununura Benards, head teacher at Mato Primary School; and Mr. Ntereire Geofrey, head teacher at Kikoni SDA Primary School.
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Two teachers from Nyakyera Primary School, Ms Nkumiriizi Molly and Mr Tunanukye Marsaile, were also charged with conspiracy to defeat justice. They were remanded until March 28, pending a bail application ruling.
It should be known that while the six head teachers and education officers face charges of abuse of office and causing financial loss, the teachers are accused of conspiracy to defeat justice for allegedly registering nursery school pupils as P.1 pupils in order to inflate numbers.
In 2024, the State House Anti-Corruption Unit spent two months investigating schools in Ntungamo. It discovered that although the government had been sending capitation grants to schools for 121,094 pupils across 249 government-aided primary schools, only 80,000 pupils were actually found to be in existence. This discrepancy indicated that over 40,000 “ghost” pupils existed, leading to an estimated financial loss of approximately Shs 1 billion.
The investigation revealed troubling discrepancies in the number of pupils reported at various schools. For instance, Ruhoko Primary School in Ntungamo Municipality, which had only 187 pupils, received capitation funds for 532 pupils. In another school in Rushenyi County, which had 415 pupils, the school received funds for 1,028 pupils. These inflated numbers had been used to justify capitation grants for at least three years, from 2022 to 2024. Less than 10% of the schools in the district had accurate pupil enrollment figures.
This is not the first time Ntungamo District has been caught in the corruption spotlight. In 2023, there was a discovery of 12 Ghost Health Center IV facilities and 28 other ghost health centers in the district.
Recently, local councilors called for the resignation of the Chief Administrative Officer, Mr Mathias Ndifuna, and the Principal Human Resources Officer, Ms Jennifer Muheirwe, over payroll mismanagement and abuse of office.
Ntungamo District Chairperson Mr Samuel Mucunguzi noted that the investigations are part of an ongoing effort to clean up the management system and create a corruption-free district.
“There are many districts facing similar challenges, but because they are not taking steps to clean up, you never hear about them in the news. We are working on a system that would make being corrupt impossible for any officer. We want to clean up everything and start working properly,” Mr Mucunguzi said.
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