Nuwagaba had spent 17months out of university service following his dismissal on May 23rd, 2018 by the University Appointments Board for alleged extortion and bribery. However, the university Human Resource Director, Richard Mugisha reinstated Nuwagaba in a September 10th, 2019 letter and deployed him as the Chief Custodian of the College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology –CEDAT.
REINSTATED: Elias Nuwagaba - Chief Custodian and Former Personal Assistant to Prof. Nawangwe
Makerere University has
finally reinstated Elias Nuwagaba, the former personal assistant to the Vice
Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe.
Nuwagaba had spent 17months
out of university service following his dismissal on May 23rd, 2018 by the
University Appointments Board for alleged extortion and bribery.
However,
the university Human Resource Director, Richard Mugisha reinstated Nuwagaba in a September 10th, 2019
letter and deployed him as the Chief Custodian of the College of
Engineering, Design, Art and Technology –CEDAT. He
says the decision to reinstate Nuwagaba stems from the 602 and 604 University Appointments Board meetings held on July 3rd and
August 19th that agreed that the university tribunal orders be implemented.
The decision to sack Nuwagaba was reached in the 565th
meeting of the Appointments Board, which noted that while employed as the Chief
Custodian of the Main Building, the officer solicited and accepted money from
M/S Just Clean It Ltd in 2016, which brought injury and disrepute to the image
of the university.
They also noted that while employed in the capacity of
Personal Assistant to Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe in his capacity as Deputy Vice
Chancellor (Finance and Administration), Nuwagaba evicted occupants of the Edge
House No. 37 without authorisation, which was injurious to the image of the
institution contrary to Section 5.7 (8) of the HR Manual.
In 2018, Uganda Radio Network published a story in which
Nuwagaba accused Bruce Balaba Kabaasa, the former Chairperson of the
Appointments Board for using the Main Hall for more than five years without
paying rent, yet the facility is meant to be rented out at Shillings 2 million
per day.
The accusations were part of a dossier he sent to the staff
webmail accusing top university managers of defrauding the institution and
fabricating cases against him after exposing some of the irregularities they
are involved in. It is these issues that landed him a dismissal. Following his appeal to the Staff Appeals Tribunal against
the decision, the Tribunal set aside the decision in its ruling of April 16th and
directed his reinstatement to his former position a Chief Custodian.
However, instead of reinstating him, the university assigned
his residential House No. 179 Kasubi View at the university to the Peace Centre
under the Department of Religion and Peace Studies and attempted to evict him. On
August 16, 2019, university officials attempted to evict Nuwagaba from the
university house when they threw his property out and disconnected both power
and water from the premises.
Nuwagaba has since through his lawyers Rwaganika & Baku
Advocates sought UGX 120m compensation for property loss, and special damages
of lost items during the attempted eviction.