Nebbi LC5 Chairman Papers Forged â€" UN

By Felix OsikeTHE Nebbi LC5 chairman, Esrom Alenyo, was nominated on a forged certificate of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).Alenyo, who is seeking re-election, presented a forged UNESCO certificate in broadcasting, which is being challenged by Michael Odubu and Ukweda Rukuba from Nebbi.Alenyo claimed to have attended a 26-month broadcasting course for radio programme producers from October 2, 1962 to December 3, 1964.The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) equated Alenyo’s qualification to an ‘A’ level certificate, the minimum academic requirement for LC5 chairpersons.Teddy Mugote, the Electoral Commission deputy spokesperson, said Alenyo was cleared on the strength of UNEB’s letter. “The commission does not have powers to change their position. It can only be changed by court,” she said.Alenyo yesterday said, “It was an elementary course for broadcasters organised by the UNESCO experts in Radio Uganda.” He said he had explained his position to the commission but some people were trying to malice him.However, UNESCO, said the certificate was not genuine and that they did not have such a course.Anastacia Nakkazi, the UNESCO Secretary General in Uganda, said the certificate did not bear a UNESCO logo or title and signatory, and therefore could not be genuine.In a January 30 letter to UNEB, the commission and Alenyo’s lawyer Ali Akida, Nakkazi wrote, “we have received confirmation from the UNESCO headquarters in Paris that they have no record of such a course.”She also said by the time Alenyo claimed to have enrolled for the course, Uganda was not yet a member of the United Nations because it was not independent.The New Vision has seen an e-mail message from Claude Ondobo Ndzana, UNESCO’s Deputy Assistant Director General, based in Paris, France, sent to the Uganda office on January 25, 2002.It reads, “Our archives do not mention any 26- months UNESCO course on radio broadcasting organised in 1962 in Uganda. The training sponsored by UNESCO is not so long.”Alenyo’s certificate is signed by Michael Emojong as the permanent secretary and Ms. M. Gibbs as the UNESCO course coordinator. However, UNESCO investigations have revealed that the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Information from 1964-65 was Dr. Richard Katongole and not Emojong.The Criminal Investigations Department is probing the matter. A CID source said, “we are looking at the documents Alenyo presented to UNEB and to the Electoral Commission to establish whether he contravened the law.”It is an offence under section 330 of the Penal Code Act to knowingly and fraudulently utter a false document.Ends