Uganda’s top University, Makerere has resumed issuing academic transcripts, almost four months after the system was closed amidst reports of marks alteration.
The Academic Registrar, Alfred Masikye Namoah, says the university has finally concluded verification of individual students' results and fully commenced issuing of transcripts.
In April, Makerere University closed the online results system it uses to enter and store students' examination scores and suspended the issuance of academic transcripts due to alleged fraud. Namoah sent results for all the 14,897 students that graduated in February back to their respective colleges/schools for verification before transcripts are processed.
But he now says the exercise is complete. "We are issuing transcripts. The verification exercise is over and all colleges have submitted their reports and we are releasing the transcripts based on these reports," Namoah said.
Namoah however adds that police is still investigating circumstances under which four administrative assistants in the office of academic registrar reportedly altered marks for some students to enable them graduate. The four are Mike Barongo, the head of ICT, Dennis Mbabazi, Joyce Namusoke, and Christopher Ntwatwa.
Just a day before the graduation ceremony in February, the university management deleted names of 53 names from the graduation list after they were found to have been included there illegally.
Namoah declined to comment on whether the colleges during verification found other students who were illegally entered into the system for graduation.
"You go and ask Richard Byarugaba Richard who is in charge of transcripts. I don't know what the reports say but when I received them, I forwarded them to him. But what I know we are issuing transcripts," Namoah said.
Byarugaba, the Acting head of the University Senate Transcripts section, declined to speak insisting that the Academic Registrar had full knowledge of the reports and that he was not the university public relations officer.
"There is nothing that shows that you were sent here by the Academic Registrar. If he wants me to speak, he should bring you here or write you a chit," Byarugaba said while pushing our reporter out of his office.
Even when the academic registrar sent his secretary, Byarugaba insisted he was not the official spokesperson of the university.
The delay in issuance of transcripts had attracted a students' petition to the vice chancellor on May 25 asking him to handle the issue with utmost urgency.