Makerere University Vice-Chancellor Barnabas Nawangwe might have sighed with relief that Dr Kizza Besigye's health condition iced the hot tea that was threatening to spill in his cup following allegations that he was irregularly promoted and appointed.
In 2017, Professor Nawangwe was appointed vice-chancellor of Uganda’s Makerere University. His appointment followed a promotion to full professor four years earlier.
However, critics argue that both the promotion and subsequent appointment violated university and national higher education regulations.
“Where are the publications that enabled Mr Nawangwe’s promotion [to full professor] in 2013?” asks Associate Professor Jude Ssempebwa, a dean at Makerere.
Dr Ssempebwa has since been suspended for “absconding from teaching.” His "comrade at arms" and academic staff's representative to the University Council, Dr Deus Kamunyu, was also controversially interdicted just a day to a crucial council sitting.
Kamunyu was thus barred from attending the sitting at which the election of Prof Anthony Mugisha to the position of deputy vice-chancellor or finance and administration was annulled.
He had been expected to lead the voice against what the academic staff have been fighting, citing Nawangwe's attempt to install his preferred administrators and loyalists to the position.
Statutory Regulation No. 50 of 2010, issued by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), stipulates that to become a professor, one must have two books published by a recognised publisher and 10 peer-reviewed journal articles.
“At Makerere, Section 14.2 of the Promotion Policy (2009) states that publications in refereed journals are the most serious test of one's scholarship,” Ssempebwa contends.
“The key word here is journals. In the past, staff who submitted conference proceedings for promotion were rejected. The academic staff are asking one question: where are the journal articles that made Professor Nawangwe’s promotion in 2013 possible?”
Mr Nawangwe insists that the requirement to publish two books “was not and has never been a mandatory requirement for promotion to professor as alleged by my detractors.”
His administration amended the University Human Resource Manual in 2022, modifying several laws, including one that allowed him to be reappointed for a second five-year term despite reaching retirement age.
The retirement age for professors was raised from 70 to 80, ensuring that his current term expires while he remains within the legal age limit.
Nawangwe is not the first Makerere official to be accused of academic fraud. In October 2020, Professor William Bazeyo, then acting deputy vice-chancellor for finance and administration, resigned after the NCHE questioned his PhD.
Dr Vincent Ssembatya, NCHE’s director of quality assurance and accreditation, said the regulator was aware of the complaints against Nawangwe and that “the university deserves an exemplary leader.”
Established in 1922 as a technical school, Makerere University is one of Africa’s oldest and most prestigious English-speaking universities.
Since his appointment as vice-chancellor in 2017, Nawangwe has been accused of suppressing dissent and stifling student activism.
His administration has issued numerous memos and suspensions to both students and staff, including the deans’ forum he founded but later declared illegal.
On August 1, 2022, Nawangwe suspended Sulaiman Namwoza, a medical student, for holding a digital gathering on Google Meet.
In 2023, Isaac Byaruhanga attempted suicide after being informed of his indefinite suspension from the university alongside fellow student Arnold Muganga.
The two had participated in organising guild campaigns, which Nawangwe’s administration had banned.
In the 1980s, many students joined Yoweri Museveni’s rebel forces and fought to bring it to power in 1986.
Such was the spine of Makerere, a hub of student activism, But East Africa's most illustrious university has seen increased restrictions under Mr Nawangwe, leading to allegations that he has government backing to suppress student movements.
Public scrutiny
Public scrutiny of Nawangwe intensified late last year when preacher Martin Ssempa challenged his leadership.
Ssempa, who previously ran a church at Makerere before it was shut down during the Covid-19 lockdown, accused Nawangwe of infringing on religious freedoms.
“Please pray that Professor Nawangwe will give us a Christmas gift by resigning from Makerere,” Ssempa said in December.
Nawangwe responded in his New Year’s message, calling Ssempa an “expired pastor” on an “evil mission.”
“Through this expired pastor, these undisciplined individuals are trying to question my credentials, particularly my publications,” he said.
Asked about his publications and alleged irregular promotion, Mr Nawangwe told this writer in January that Makerere staff were “literate enough to access the publications.”
When pressed further, he added: “What is your interest in this matter anyway? Do you think all the international professors who reviewed my publications over the last 30 years are fools?”
Social media activists, tired of speculation, took up the issue. Agora Discourse, a nonprofit led by human rights activists, launched the hashtag #MakerereUniversityExhibition, exposing Nawangwe’s policies.
Dozens of suspension and warning letters have since surfaced online.
University Council chairperson Dr Lorna Magara confirmed awareness of the allegations, saying relevant university and government bodies were reviewing them.
Asked whether this included re-examining Nawangwe’s promotion, she responded: “All matters are under review.”
Nawangwe fights back
On February 9, Mr Nawangwe took to X (formerly Twitter) to defend his credibility.
“Following weeks of speculation by street preachers and foreign-funded agents regarding my academic qualifications, I have found it necessary to make public my academic credentials,” he posted.
“I hope this will put to rest a debate clearly designed to intimidate me into abandoning my mission of eliminating hooliganism at the top black university on earth.”
He outlined his academic achievements, claiming to have been Uganda’s top primary school student in 1969 and again in lower secondary school in 1973.
However, he admitted to low grades in advanced secondary school exams, attributing them to being self-taught.
Mr Nawangwe said he was admitted to Makerere for a civil engineering degree in 1976 but left for Russia due to political reasons.
However, former President Idi Amin’s son, Hussein Lumumba Amin, disputed this, claiming his father’s government had sponsored Nawangwe’s studies.
The Nile Post could not independently verify the claim.
Mr Nawangwe’s CV does not mention his alleged Makerere admission, raising further questions.
In Russia, he studied architecture at the Kyiv Civil Engineering Institute, earning an MSc in 1983 and a PhD in 1989.
Many Ugandans have questioned how a student without a bachelor’s degree could enrol for a master’s. However, the Nile Post verified that in the Soviet system, students could study for five consecutive years and earn a master’s degree.
His spirited defence only prompted further scrutiny. Leonard Egesa noted that in 1975, when Nawangwe claimed to have been admitted for civil engineering, Makerere did not admit students directly into specialised engineering degrees.
“The specialisation started after Year Two,” Egesa said. “BSc degrees with engineering specialisations only began much later, in the 1990s.”
Of 19 publications Mr Nawangwe listed, only nine fall within the relevant period between his promotion to associate professor in 2004 and full professor in 2013. Of these, none appear in peer-reviewed journals.
“Nawangwe’s publications are primarily conference proceedings, which do not meet the standard required for peer-reviewed journals,” Ssempebwa insisted.
Recently, Mr Nawangwe created an Academia.edu account to increase online visibility for his work.
However, Academia.edu has been likened to “Facebook for academics” and lacks the prestige of databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, and Springer Nature.
A Scopus search found three documents by Nawangwe with a total of 45 citations. He had no presence on Springer Nature or Web of Science.
Of the 19 publications he listed on X, only four meet peer-review standards, six short of the minimum required for vice-chancellor appointment in 2017.
A university principal, speaking anonymously, alleged that academics seeking favours have added Nawangwe as co-author on their publications.
“That’s how someone with no prior publications in peer-reviewed journals suddenly has numerous citations in Scopus-indexed journals,” the principal said.
Mr Nawangwe now has papers in fields beyond his specialisation, including public health, research management, and higher education.
University quality assurance director Cyprian Masinde initially declined to comment but later insisted all procedures were followed, dismissing the allegations as “blackmail.”
However, questions remain over why the selection committee listed ‘Nawangwe Umoja Barnabas’ under different names, raising concerns about integrity during his appointment.
The advertisement for the position of vice-chancellor listed integrity as one of the required qualifications.
The search committee for the top job was chaired by Irene Ovonji-Odida. While it was not immediately possible to reach her for this story, Mr Bruce Kabasa, a member of the committee, defended their work.
He said the issues raised were “careless and confused leads” by a section of disgruntled officials.
“He has stamped out hooliganism, dealt with abscondments through the newly-introduced biometric system, enforced staff and student discipline, improved infrastructure and service delivery,” Mr Kabasa said.
He said the claims that the university manual and other laws were flouted in the appointment and promotion were “lies repeated severally that appear true to some”.