O-Level students of Bulo Academy School in Mpigi went on strike yesterday evening following reports that the school administration had misappropriated money meant to pay for Uganda Certificate of Education exams.
Ivan Nuwamanya, the Mpigi District Police Commander, explains that the headmaster of Bulo Academy, Hussein Mulwanya collected 4.8 million shillings from Senior Four students to pay for their examinations. However he neither remitted the money to the Uganda National Examinations Board nor to Kikomeko Memorial School, the center where the exams were to be held.
Nuwamanya says the strike was spared off when 40 students of Bulo Academy went to Kikomeko Memorial School to prepare for their exams and were informed that they were not expected. He says they rushed back to their school, but on arrival found that the headmaster had disappeared.
A riot ensued with the Senior Four students destroying school property with stones and sticks. Students from other classes joined the strike and their teachers fled for their lives.
The students later stormed Nakatooke village in Butambala after receiving information that their headmaster was hiding at his house in the village. Armed with sticks, stones and paraffin they threatened to burn down his house, forcing him to come out, pleading for his life.
The headmaster was beaten within an inch of his life and was only rescued when anti-riot police intervened in the riot.
The police arrested Hussein Mulwanya and are holding him at Mpigi Police Station for questioning on the disappearance of the exam fees. Officer Nuwamanya says Mulwanya confessed to diverting the money and pledged to compensate the students.
But the situation at Bulo Academy remains tense. The students are furious that they may not sit for their exams which begin on October 15th because of the headmaster's fraud.
