By THE OBSERVER UG
Dr Shadat Mutyaba Ssemakula Mohmeded
Gulu University management has interdicted one of its senior lecturers over alleged inconsistencies in his academic documents and personal information.
Dr Shadat Mutyaba Ssemakula Mohmeded, dean of the faculty of law was interdicted on Friday last week following an investigation conducted by the university’s top management. Ssemakula appeared before the top management between October 26 and December 2 this year to respond to inconsistencies noted in his academic documents, changes in names, incoherent and irreconcilable age, and educational history on his file.
Gulu University secretary, David Obol Otori, in a December 8 interdiction letter, notes that different documents among them academic documents, national identity cards, and employment identity cards belonging to Ssemakula bear different names.
Otori highlighted that there were changes in names particularly on Ssemakula’s Uganda Advance Certificate of Education (UACE) and diploma in law documents. He tasked the accused to provide substantive evidence to show they were legally done. Otori notes that Ssemakula’s birth date on his documents indicates he was born in July 1983 and managed to sit for the primary leaving examinations (PLE) by the age of approximately seven years.
Additionally, the documents reveal Ssemakula sat for the Uganda Certificate of Examinations (UCE) at Kawempe Muslim senior secondary school in 1995 at the age of 12, and later sat for UACE in 1998 at the age of 15.
Ssemakula however reportedly provided new details regarding his birthdate, academic documents, and employment background in a letter to the chairperson appointments board dated November 28, 2023, solemnly affirming that his date of birth is January 25, 1978, instead of July 25, 1983.
According to Otori, the new details provided by Ssemakula have created the need for him to shed more light on information on his national identity card and birth certificate which bears the date of birth as July 25, 1983. Equally, the university management has asked Semakula to provide more details on his final transcript for his bachelor of law attained from Kingston University in 2007, diploma supplement for his master of law attained in 2009 from Kingston University, and a supporting letter dated November 23, 2016, from Brunel University in London.
Gulu University vice chancellor Prof George Openjuru Ladaah said in an interview on Thursday that the university realized the inconsistencies during a recent validation exercise for all staff. Openjuru said they hadn’t paid much attention to his academic documents since joining the university in 2016 until recently when he was asked to provide certified copies and also offer more clarification on the discrepancies detected.
“We asked him severally to bring us an explanation, but he failed. So, we asked him to step aside as we investigate,” said Openjuru.
Ssemakula however says the interdiction isn’t about his academic documents, but a tribal fight that has been against him for many years.
“This issue is not about academic documents at all. I have been in Gulu and all my documents were accredited by the National Council of Higher Education, and they have the records. I was able to provide my education documents right from my primary level,” said Semakula.
He also accused the university management of failing to provide him a chance to be heard, arguing that at one point, he was called to appear before the appointment board but was kept outside the meeting room for seven hours.
“I was called to appear before the appointment board at 1 pm. When I went there, I sat out for seven hours up to 8:30 pm and after they told me they were busy and the following day, the interdiction letter came out,” he added.
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