School protests mother's sh445m demand

Jun 05, 2014

Sir Apollo Kaggwa Primary School has rubbished a mother’s sh445m demand for her purportedly maimed child who was caned, saying the boy is attending school and not incapacitated as alleged.

By Andante Okanya

Sir Apollo Kaggwa Primary School has rubbished a mother’s sh445m  demand for her purportedly maimed child who was caned, saying the boy is attending school  and not incapacitated as alleged.

The school’s rebuttal is contained in its written statement of defence filed on May 30 at the civil division of the High Court in Kampala. It was filed through Majoli, Bogere, Mutakirwa  Advocates.

Lilah Babirye laments that her son Naswif Katongole’s future ambitions of becoming an engineer and sports man are no more, as he has lost over two years of continuous normal education.

But she school asserts that the mother is being dishonest, and that it is has evidence  indicating that he is attending school  and is now in senior two at Makindye Secondary School.

“The defendant shall aver that the first plaintiff(Katongole) never lost any year in school.The defendant shall further contend that the plaintiffs are not coming to court with clean hands,” the defence  states in part.

It adds that Katongole completed his Primary education at Busabala Primary School in 2012  and obtained aggregate 12.

The case arose on May 14 when  mother and son  jointly filed a civil suit, claiming he became disabled as a result of being caned in September 2011.

Seven schools operate under the name Sir Apollo Kaggwa.The boy aged 10, at the time, was a pupil at the Old Kampala  branch.

In her plaint, Babirye states that her son was severely beaten on the waist and back by two teachers Grace Lumu and Joseph Owino.She states that Katongole developed severe injuries, deep sharp pain, and psychological impairment and mobility complications.

But the school contends that Katongole was never battered, and never suffered the purported injuries as a  result of the caning.

The school also denies liability for the actions of the teachers, saying it does not condone corporal punishment. The school says the teachers were sacked over the saga.

“The alleged teachers were on a frolic of their own, and the defendant is not liable. The government and  education policy is against corporal punishment and thus the alleged teachers were relatedly dismissed,” the defence states.

Babirye claims her son’s predicament, implied that she lost $178,000(about sh445m) in earnings for two years, that she could have earned from her job at the United Nations in India.

But the school says she has never worked for UN, and that she will be quizzed during trial to adduce proof. The school says she has never earned such income, and therefore has no claim.

It acknowledges paying the plaintiffs £20,000(about sh84m) for the boy’s treatment in England. Among its court documents, the school has attached a memorandum of understanding(MoU), dated August 29, 2012, between it and Babirye, showing payment of the money.

However, the school laments that Babirye and her son are only bent on enriching  themselves, and have todate not given accountability on the expenditure, as stipulated in the MoU.

The case file has been allocated to Justice Benjamin Kabiito. However, a hearing date is yet to fixed.

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