HEADTEACHER UNDER INVESTIGATION AND
CONMEN BEHIND COMMISSIONER SAM KULOBA DOSSIER - FREEMAN NEWS-UG
INVESTIGATION UNCOVERS THEREGRETABLE LIES.
Freeman News-UG is known for its credible online reporting broke the story of an anonymous dossier titled “OPEN CORRUPTION AND IRREGULAR DEPLOYMENT OF STAFF BY THE COMMISSIONER SECONDARY EDUCATION, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SPORTS”.
Aware of the gravity of the allegations, our undercover reporters swung into action to verify these allegations against a very senior government official hitherto known for his meticulous service to the government as Headmaster and now Commissioner under the no-nonsense First Lady Mama Janet Kataaha Museveni.
The Dossier begins with an individual claiming ownership but later mutates into individual writing which raises a red flag as the Association of Secondary School Headteachers of Uganda (ASSHU) has established mechanisms of grievance resolution rather than blackmail under the guise of whistle-blowing.
Regarding retirement, our investigative journalists uncovered that the known retirement date for Commissioner Sam Kuloba is 24 th December 2023 as per National ID details.
We can confirm from our credible sources that he has not sought a contract even when he would be eligible based on his record of service.
Efforts to verify this information were indeed very revealing as no such letter has been written and sent to concerned officers.
With Ministries, Departments, and Agencies in Uganda increasingly known for succession fights, our investigative team could not rule out the hand of some officials who feel they have been in the “queue” for too long to be behind such malicious accusations though could not independently verify the same.
An interview with a ministry official
names withheld due to the sensitivity of the matter revealed the same; “Commissioner Kuloba wanted to have an early retirement when his Wife passed on to concentrate on his Businesses which the late had been running for over three decades but he was convinced out of it” This surely wouldn’t be the conduct of a public servant seeking a contract extension, Freeman news can authoritatively conclude.
The allegation of mobilizing ASSHU leadership under Bro. Mugabo Headteacher of St. Henry’s College Kitovu and Mr. Emuron Luke were independently verified with no iota truth in them.
No known ASSHU meeting has been held and the two addressed it with any minister in attendance. Bro. Mugabo is a newly elected Chairperson who replaced Mr Okiria formerly of Soroti SS while Mr Emuron Luke is the Regional chairperson and a member of the Central Executive committee, who strongly denied ASSHU being behind such a damaging dossier associated with its leadership in an interview with us.
“ASSHU doesn’t conduct its affairs like this, we have many avenues to address our grievances if any. The Commissioner has been very supportive and we wonder why this is coming up and our name is being soiled and associated with such malicious propaganda. We would like to take exception” Mr. Luke Emuron, Headmaster of St. Peters College Tororo.
Regarding the World Bank project of funding the construction of Seed Secondary Schools per Sub-County, the allegations were found to be wild and lacking in facts. This project was a fulfillment of the NRM Manifesto by the President of Uganda who promised one secondary school per Sub-County.
The World Bank known for its robust guidelines came up with a water-tight and corruption-free criteria before project implementation. Commissioner Sam Kuloba who heads the secondary department was just a member of a wide committee and there was no way he would have influenced up to three secondary schools in one district.
Relatedly our investigators further established
that one of the schools mentioned (Bwagogo) is actually in Manafwa District, not Bududa. The project is further managed in phases and only one school has been completed.
Regarding political ambitions, there is a popular appeal on the ground for Sam Kuloba to contest with many Constituents interviewed expressing excitement at the prospect of him contesting for Member of Parliament in the 2026 general elections.
Regarding the recommendation of Staff for suitability interviews, Freeman News-UG has since established that it’s the function of the Commissioner of Human Resources to second names for suitability which is a known procedure for Gap filling as opposed to the Laborious and expensive recruitment process. Indeed, vacancies existed and there was a leadership vacuum affecting service delivery.
No complainant was available to substantiate the claims of bribery as these were selected based on seniority. Further, a local Councillor of Nyondo Sub-County has confirmed to us the Headmaster of Namawanga Secondary School in Busiu Sub-County, Mbale District Mr. Wandulu
Dismus is under investigation for inflating enrollment and obtaining fraudulent grants in hundreds of millions of shillings from the Government.
The same Headteacher feels that Commissioner Sam Kuloba has frustrated his transfer to a bigger school even when he clearly has pending corruption investigations.
‘’I personally petitioned the State House Anti-Corruption Unit to investigate the Headmaster of Namawanga for inflating numbers. Imagine he wanted to be transferred to Mbale School for the Deaf even with such pending cases.”- Councillor Shimali Peter.
Documents obtained by our media indicate that the transfer of Bro. Mugabo from Kitovu to Kisubi was halted because the Archbishop of Kampala was not consulted by the Education department of the Diocese.
The Minister of Education and the Permanent
secretary directly supervised this process of arriving at an amicable solution. No proof of bribery was adduced and indeed this remains the usual malicious statement from only one who has a personal vendetta.
Our team further established that the claim of the Commissioner being rare is untrue and imaginative in nature.
The government established a clock-in system which makes absenteeism difficult.
The secondary department is one of the busiest making absenteeism by such a high-profile officer unimaginable.
A senior Public Service official familiar with the workings of Government interviewed for this story intimated that officers at the policy level such as Commissioners and Directors are always engaged in back-to-back meetings therefore much of the work is done for Desk Officers.
Allegations of failure to work harmoniously were unverifiable but our team reduced them to rumors as no staff in the ministry known for regular meetings has raised the same.
Our investigative journalists further observe that the Ministry has robust supervision systems and departments that are headed by many commissioners.
These include DES, Private Schools Department, Planning, Procurement, Special Needs, Higher
Education, and Teacher Training among others. The Ministry therefore can’t be labeled as a one-man Ministry.
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