Makerere University Chancellor Crispus Kiyonga announced the appointment of Prof. Sarah Evelyn Nabwire Ssali as Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Academic Affairs last week.
Kiyonga described the former Dean of the School of Women and Gender Studies as an outstanding scholar, administrator, and leader whose service will further strengthen the University’s academic excellence.’
However, sources reveal that Prof. Ssali’s appointment was hatched inside the cloistered boardrooms of the ivory tower at the expense of her predecessor, Prof Umar Kakumba, during the tumultuous leadership of the current Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe.
Despite consistently high performance appraisals, Prof. Kakumba’s contract was not renewed, and he was replaced by an acting DVC, Prof. Buyinza Mukadasi, in circumstances perceived as suspicious. Highly placed sources suggest that Kakumba’s appraisal reports mysteriously vanished, and the process to replace him was allegedly designed to favour Prof. Sarah Ssali, a member of the University Council and Senate representative. “They ensured that the process suited a specific candidate. You can imagine that this is the first time a position was advertised and re-advertised, and only one candidate qualified. This was suspicious,” revealed a source at the university.
Makerere University, Uganda’s most prestigious public institution, was previously an ideological wellspring of vibrant debate. A few professors who spoke on condition of anonymity claim that the university is a fortress of censorship and intimidation, drowning out free debate and expression. The university has now been placed in a chokehold symbolic of the deeper malaise afflicting other independent institutions currently under political and military capture.
Some of the allegations include a carefully-calibrated purge targeting staff who are deemed to be ‘outspoken and independent-minded’ in favour of ‘obsequious teaching staff and cadres.’ Prof Kakumba appears to have been the latest victim of the purge.
According to highly-paced sources, Kakumba’s stellar appraisal performance was personally supervised by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe. However, when Prof. Nawangwe’s contract expired, the University Council, chaired by Lorna Magara, acting on legal advice from the Attorney General, renewed his contract without re-advertising the position, citing satisfactory performance. In stark contrast, Prof. Kakumba’s case took a troubling turn. “His appraisals mysteriously disappeared,” a source revealed to EACIR. The Council committee, which was meant to undertake his evaluation, did not take off, and eventually someone else was appointed in an acting capacity.
On 22 August 2025, the Office of the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) received a petition contesting the process for selecting the Deputy Chancellor, Academic Affairs.
It read, “The impugned search committee for the position of Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs, has continued efforts to fill the position in an illegal way, despite your ongoing investigations into the matter. The committee will present one candidate on Monday, 25th August 2025. This is contrary to the terms of reference that required the search committee to present a minimum of three candidates for the Senate to choose one as it is mandated by section (32) (1) of the Universities and other Tertiaries’ Institutions Act, 2001 [as amended].”
The petition reads further: “The committee will present one candidate because the eligibility criteria were deliberately manipulated to ring-fence the position for Prof. Sarah Ssali, a member of council for now over 15 years, and was in the council when the exorbitant eligibility criteria (and which you are investigating) were made in February 2025.”
The petitioners raised a query regarding a conflict of interest. “The committee of the said search committee [Prof. Masagazi-Masaazi] applied for a post-retirement contract, and his school, [The School of Education], did not recommend him for the contract due to the lack of necessary requirements. Ironically, Prof Sarah Sssali is the chairperson of the sub-committee of the Appointments Board that is evaluating Prof. Masagazi-Masaazi’s application for the post-retirement contract. This is a clear case of conflict of interest,” the petition reads, “as Prof. Masagazi-Masaazi is keen to use his search committee to push Prof. Ssali through as the sole candidate for DVC (AA), while she uses her position to secure his post-retirement contract,” the petition reads.
The petitioners asked the IGG to halt the process until investigations are complete, arguing that this would safeguard the integrity of Makerere University’s employment systems and prevent “an unconscionable precedent where individuals abuse their positions to ring-fence senior management posts and circumvent statutory procedures.”
The Inspectorate of Government publicist, Munira Ali, did not respond to the questions when asked to comment on the inquiry. This coincides with the expiry of the four-year contract of the Inspector General of Government, Beti Kamya, and her two deputies, Patricia Achan Okiria and Anne Twinomugisha Muhairwe.
The Academic Registrar, Prof. Buyinza Mukadasi, later notified the chairperson and members of the Makerere University Senate of a special meeting scheduled for February 26, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. Among the items on the agenda was the constitution of search committees for the positions of Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs), Deputy Vice Chancellor (Finance and Administration), and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Finance).
The job description was reportedly tailored to her academic profile, and only she appeared qualified under the manipulated criteria, resulting in her being the sole applicant.
Further controversy surrounds the conduct of the selection process.
The search committee for the DVC Academic Affairs was reportedly pre-formed by the Vice Chancellor and presented to the Senate for approval—a departure from established legal procedures.
The committee is also facing allegations that the entire process was devoid of merit and staged to favour Prof. Ssali.
Similar irregularities have been reported in the recruitment for the DVC Finance and Administration. In 2023, Prof. Anthony Mugisha was recommended as the best candidate. But the University Council rejected this recommendation and commenced another search for a suitable candidate. However, the process was halted by the Inspector General of Government (IGG) after a formal complaint was lodged.
Prof. Kakumba has refused a second evaluation after the dismissive treatment of his appraisal, prompting the University Council to initiate a fresh search, which has also faced allegations of bias and procedural irregularities. Staff members have expressed concerns over the transparency of these appointments, with formal complaints highlighting attempts by the Council to usurp the Senate’s legal authority in forming search committees, and claims that job descriptions were manipulated to favour certain candidates.
Makerere University faces mounting pressure to resist academic capture, restore transparency, uphold meritocracy, and reinforce its reputation as an academic beacon.