By Dorothy Nagitta & Jessica Ssebano
Kyambogo University has commenced investigations against one of its staff accused of defiling a visually impaired student of a secondary school in Mukono District.
In a statement issued yesterday, the university administration said a committee has been instituted to invest gate the allegations.
“The attention of Kyambogo university management has been drawn to reports from some sections of the media indicating that a member of our staff has been involved in unfortunate sex scandals,”the statement reads in part.
“The management will take all the necessary actions to address this form of gross misconduct or criminal behaviour per the university’s internal disciplinary rules,”it added.
A source at the university, who asked not to be named because they are not authorised to speak to the media, said the student of Sir Apollo Kaggwa, Nakisunga, in Mukono District was raped by a senior university staff after returning from a conference in Nairobi, Kenya.
According to the source, the visually impaired student was a beneficiary of a programme funded by Royal Dutch Visio, an organisation that supports children with visual impairments in secondary schools in many parts of the country. The organisation partners with Kyambogo University to implement its programmes.
The sources revealed that on October 7, the victim together with other students went for the conference in Nairobi. The team was led by a senior staff inthe Faculty of Special Needs and Rehabilitation at Kyambogo University.
After the conference on October 14, the students returned to Uganda late in the night and the accused university staff was entrusted by the team to drop some of them to their homes using his vehicle.
“One girl woke up the following morning and found that she had been penetrated. So, she rushed to school and reported the matter to the administration. The school telephoned the parents of the girl who stay in Arua (West Nile),”the source explained.
On October 23, the student in the company of her parents reported the matter to Jinja Road Police Station. The accused university staff was arrested and detained at Jinja Road Police Station until October 27 when he was granted police bond.
Mr Patrick Onyango, the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, he said was unaware of the allegations but promised to cross-check and get back. In the same way, the programme coordinator and technical staff of Royal Dutch Visio could not be reached for an interview since their known telephone numbers were unavailable by press time.
The source revealed that since their return to Uganda, the accused staff has never returned to work. Mr Deogratius Waddimba, the head teacher of the Sir Apollo Kaggwa SS, Nakisunga, said the victim is currently sitting her Senior Four exams.
He said the police came and recorded a statement from different students and staff members.
