Elijah Semugabi, the self-styled evangelical bishop who is in trouble with the law for allegedly conning hundreds of parents by promising them scholarships for their children, may face new additional charges of fraud.
Teachers and support staff at Bishop Elijah High School in Munyonyo reported Semugabi to the office of the Assistant Resident District Commissioner for Makindye accusing him of unlawfully withholding their salaries. They said they had not been paid for the past three months and requested the assistant RDC to intervene in the case.
Julius Arinaitwe, the headmaster of Bishop Elijah High School, says that during the meeting, Semugabi presented documents indicating he had given his teachers part payment. Arinaitwe was shocked by the claim. He says the documents presented were daily lists the teachers signed to receive their 1,000 shilling transport refund.
According to the headmaster, Semugabi altered the lists, adding extra zeros and ones to the 1,000 shillings to misrepresent how much he had paid them.
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Elijah Semugabi has been summoned to make a statement at Katwe Police Station today.
Meanwhile of the 500 students who enrolled at Bishop Elijah High School in Munyonyo this year, only 65 are left. The staff say there is no money to buy food for the students and they haven't had a proper meal since Monday.
The headmaster said Semugabi squandered the students' registration fees and candidates for the national O-level exams may not be able to sit for the exams. He said whenever he asked Semugabi to release the registration fees, he was told not to interfere in the process.
Over last year's Christmas holiday's Semugabi, who is the pastor of Christian Faith Center, placed numerous announcements on local radios advertising scholarships for underprivileged students at his schools in Gayaza and Munyonyo. He said that for a small registration fee, the students would receive quality education and support from foreign donors.
However shortly after the school term opened, the students discovered that the promises made to them would not be fulfilled. At the Gayaza school, students used their classrooms as dormitories and bathroom facilities were shared by boys and girls. The staff of very young teachers was hardly able to manage the student population and students were regularly denied medical attention and food for minor offenses.
