Kyambogo University ordered to reinstate assistant laboratory technician

KAMPALA - The Industrial Court has ordered Kyambogo University to reinstate Ronald Kikonyongo as an assistant laboratory technician on a permanent basis.

In a judgment delivered on March 4, 2026, the court also ordered that Kikonyongo be paid shillings 10 million in damages in addition to his reinstatement.

“It is hereby ordered that the respondent (Kyambogo University) shall, within fourteen days calendar days of service reinstate the application to his former position of employment, or to a position of substantially equivalent status, renumeration, and benefits, effective from March 18, 2022 the date of original award and restore all employments benefits, including but not limited pension contributions, and other statutory entitlements,”

According to court documents, in 2010, following a press advertisement, Ronald Kikonyongo joined Kyambogo University as a website assistant on a one-year contract effective September 2010.

It was recommended that he be confirmed in employment after successfully completing his probation period on June 14, 2011.

The vice chancellor of Kyambogo University resolved to regularise his appointment.

However, the human resources department advised that he be appointed on a contractual basis as an assistant laboratory technician, with the appointment backdated, until he was abruptly removed from the payroll in July 2017.

Aggrieved by the decision not to confirm him on a permanent basis, Kikonyongo petitioned the Industrial Court of Uganda, challenging the actions of Kyambogo University.

The court subsequently found that the university had breached its contract by failing to confirm him.

The court, presided over by Justice Anthony Wabwire Musana, found that the failure to confirm the claimant after the expiry of Kikonyongo’s probationary period was a breach of contract.

The court ruled that he had been unfairly treated and should have been integrated into the position of assistant laboratory technician on permanent terms.

The court further found that he had been unfairly removed from the payroll and was entitled to salary arrears of shillings 20 million, as well as general damages of shillings 10 million for the inconvenience caused, with interest at 15 percent.

Justice Musana, however, declined to award costs, saying the matter resulted from an omission by Kyambogo University and directing that each party bear its own costs.

“In keeping with the dicta of this court on costs and considering the finding that the order of reinstatement was an omission in the orders of the court in the original award, it is our view that neither party should be burdened by the other’s costs,” Musana said.