Makerere HR disowns affidavit in Nyanzi case

Mar 07, 2019

Last year, Nyanzi sued Makerere University seeking payment of her salary as per the orders of the University Staff Appeals Tribunal.

KAMPALA-In a twist of events, Makerere University human resource director, Andrew Abuyang has disowned part of the statements contained in his affidavit regarding Dr Stella Nyanzi's employment contract.

In his affidavit signed on December 10, 2018, Abuyang indicated that Nyanzi's contract expired on October 17, 2017 but during cross-examination on Wednesday by Isaac Ssemakadde, Abuyang said it expired on October 17, 2018.

"My Lord, that document was drafted by our legal team and for me I just signed on it. Therefore, this could be a typing error," he said attracting laughter in court.

The court was presided over by High Court Judge Lydia Mugambe.

Last year, Nyanzi sued Makerere University seeking payment of her salary as per the orders of the University Staff Appeals Tribunal.

She accuses the University management of contempt of the Tribunal directives by failing to pay her outstanding salary arrears on top of reinstating her position.

Last year, the Tribunal chaired by Prof. George Omunyokol ruled that Nyanzi's indefinite suspension was illegal and offended Section 63(2) of the Employment Act, 2006, which says that an employee cannot be suspended for more than three weeks or the inquiry period.

Abuyang told court that he does not remember the legal officer who brought the document to him for signing, something which did not go well with the judge.

Order 19 of the civil procedure rules, states that affidavits are meant only to contain facts known to the deponent.

However, Abuyang conceded that Nyanzi's prolonged suspension was against the university human resource manual.

Nyanzi has been on suspension since 2016 until she was sacked early this year.

The mother of three has been on remand since November last year when she was charged with offensive communication and cyber harassment over her alleged indecent Facebook posts against President Yoweri Museveni and his mother Esteeri Kokundeka.

The case has been adjourned to April 17, for further hearing

 

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