In a matter of days, there will be a leadership crisis at Kiira College Butiki if First Lady Janet Kataaha Kainembabazi Museveni’s Ministry of Education and Sports does not intervene in disagreements between the newly posted headteacher and the old boys (OBs).
The Kiira College Butiki Old Boys Association (KICOBA) has expressed its disappointment with the Education Ministry’s decision to appoint Paul Mwogeza Isabirye as the new school headteacher.
Since 2009, Mwogeza has served as a headteacher in two schools: Nakabale SS in Luuka District and later Kaliro High School. He is expected to begin work this week, taking over from Michael Kisaame whose retirement takes effect on Thursday, March 09, 2023.
But Kiira College Butiki (KCB) OBs say Mwogeza is not experienced enough to take up the job and to give the school the revamp it so badly needs. They also said they would have preferred to be consulted by the ministry before the posting of the new school boss, and that as far as their concerned, Janet Museveni should have sought their consent before appointing Mwogeza.
Through their KICOBA Chairperson Dr Aggrey Batesaaki, the OBs have petitioned the education ministry’s Permanent Secretary Ketty Lamaro asking her to reverse her decision.
In their letter, three pages long, to PS Lamaro, the old students complained that Mwogeza’s appointment undermined “the Old Boys’ efforts to have the most preferable candidate.”
“We, as Old Boys, have rejected him [because] he lacks requisite experience, [and has] no desired track record of performance both academics and co-curricular. He is not an Old Boy; doesn’t know the culture and the history of the school,’’ Batesaaki wrote to PS Lamaro.
“Children’s discipline is not monitored yet the school motto is ‘discipline and hard work.’ Children are not eating well. Teachers are not motivated, and their allowances from PTA are not paid on time.”
Meanwhile, the OBs want the Education Ministry to pick a headteacher from any of these people: Samuel Watakyala, the Kitayundwa Seed School headteacher; Christopher Isabirye, the St Stephen SS Bugiri headteacher; John Stephen Ziraba, the Buzaya SS headteacher; and Moses Ssemwanga, the Iganga SS deputy headteacher.
But Mwogeza is waiting for Kisaame to hand over office to him. It remains to be seen if the OBs will block him from entering his new office as they await the ministry’s response to their petition or if the ministry will reverse its decision at all.
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