IG orders Fort Portal officials' dismissal over forged academic documents

The Inspectorate of Government (IG) has ordered the Town Clerk of Fort Portal City, Ambrose Ocen, to immediately dismiss four officials who allegedly presented false academic documents to access employment in the public service.

The officials include Charles Aheebwa (town agent), Grace Kenyange (town agent), Kellen Muhimbise (accounts clerk), and Jane Rose Kembabazi (town agent).

In addition to their dismissal, the Town Clerk has also been ordered to stop any salary payments to the implicated individuals and cause them to appear before the Fort Portal City Service Commission for appropriate disciplinary action.

The Deputy Inspector General of Government, Anne Twinomugisha Muhairwe, issued the directive on April 30, 2025, following investigations by the IG’s Fort Portal Regional Office.

“By presenting forged documents for purposes of employment in the Uganda Public Service, Aheebwa, Kenyange, Muhimbise, and Kembabazi acted contrary to section 328 of the Penal Code Act, Cap.128 which provides that; Any person who knowingly and fraudulently utters a false document commits an offense of the same kind and is liable to the same punishment as if he/she had forged the thing in question,” Muhairwe stated.

She said their actions also constituted gross misconduct as described in Section F-R, (7) (a) of the Uganda Public Service Standing Orders, 2021.

The Deputy IGG stated that it is the conduct which destroys the relationship of trust and confidence between the public officer and a Ministry or Department or an Agency or a Local Government, and renders the working relationship untenable.

“Gross misconduct shall result in retirement in public interest or dismissal, and it shall include commission of offences under the Penal Code Act in the course of one’s duty,” she explained.

The Town Clerk is supposed to inform the IG of the action taken within 14 days. The IG urges all accounting officers to stick to the recruitment guidelines as provided in the Public Service Standing Orders, 2021.

Background

The IG launched an investigation after receiving a complaint alleging that several Fort Portal City Council employees had been hired based on forged academic credentials.

Investigations into the matter established that Charles Aheebwa presented a forged certificate of Social Work, purportedly from Nsamizi Training Institute of Social Development and a false Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE).

He also presented a forged Diploma in Social Work and Social Administration, purportedly from Ndejje University where he claimed that the documents were inserted into the personal file without his knowledge. He indicated in his application to join the service as a Town Agent, that he had the qualifications.

Kenyange presented a false Diploma in Public Administration and Management supposedly from Uganda Christian University in order to remain in service as a Town Agent.

Although she denied knowledge of the said document, it was the basis for her retention in service.

Muhimbise joined the service in 1990 as an Accounts Clerk in the office of the Education Officer on account of a forged Uganda Business Education Examinations Certificate.

Whereas she later obtained a genuine Accounting Technicians Certificate of Uganda from ICPAU, her initial entry into government was based on a forged academic document.

Kembabazi was retained in service as a Town Agent having presented a false Diploma Transcript in Social Work and Social Administration supposedly from Uganda Christian University.