Court dismisses case against Makerere University

The High Court in Kampala has dismissed a case in which a Makerere University official sued the institution for failing to appoint him as its Principal Registrar as ordered by the Makerere University Staff Appeals Tribunal.

Daniel Kiganda was employed by the University on May 21, 2010, as an Administrative Assistant (Information Systems) in the office of the Academic Registrar, and later in July 2013, he was promoted by the respondent’s Appointments Board to the position of Senior Administrative Assistant in the same office.

In 2018, he applied for the advertised positions of Principal Registrar and Senior Assistant Registrar and was shortlisted for both positions and invited for interviews.

However, he scored 50 percent and was not appointed to any of the positions on grounds that he scored below the pass mark of 60 percent. All the applicants who scored above 60 percent were appointed to the positions, with their appointments taking effect on 5 and 6 June 2018.

In July 2018, Kiganda lodged an appeal to the Tribunal, contesting the way in which he was interviewed and seeking several orders from it the Tribunal made its ruling on the matter on 17 August 2021 and held that the applicant had been treated unfairly during the interview process for the position of Principal Registrar.

The Tribunal then ordered that the respondent’s Appointments Board appoints Kiganda as Principal Registrar – an order which the respondent did not carry out.

He then dragged the University before the High Court accusing its appointments board of unlawfully failing to implement the tribunal’s recommendations and sought orders the have him appointed on the said position and over Shs400 million in damages and compensation.

However, Justice Daglous Singiza dismissed the said case with no orders to costs for lack of merit and that the University had no malice when it failed to implement the tribunal’s orders.

Written by Ruth Anderah