Jinja SS students strike over witchcraft
Mar 03, 2008
THE Police yesterday engaged students of Jinja SS in running battles after they went on strike protesting alleged witchcraft by the headmaster.
By Charles Kakamwa
THE Police yesterday engaged students of Jinja SS in running battles after they went on strike protesting alleged witchcraft by the headmaster.
A fresh goat’s head and skin purportedly dug from underground which lay in the compound sparked off more protests as the irate students claimed Moses Mukwaya was the brain behind them.
The items were removed from underneath a brick structure built last year near the assembly ground. The structure, whose purpose the students and teachers claimed they did not know, was broken before the ‘fetishes’ were taken out.
The students waved placards reading: ‘Even the rich cry, Mukwaya gooo..,’ and ‘Save Jinja SSS’. They also blamed the headmaster of declining standards and poor feeding.
Several glass windows were smashed and classrooms littered with soil but the student leaders claimed the acts were the work of ‘certain people’.
“You people keep accusing students of wrongdoing but we as student leaders have our spy network and know that there are some big people behind all this.
Unless the root cause of the problem is tackled, Jinja SS will never stabilise,†one of them told a Police officer.
The students claimed that the boarders woke up at about 5:00am for morning preps and found the school in disorder.
Mukwaya told The New Vision by phone: “I’m right now in a meeting and I don’t want to give you half-baked information. Please call later.â€
Efforts by the district Police commander, Chris Barugahare, to calm students proved futile. He later advised them to return home as the matter was being discussed.
However, once outside the gate, the students turned violent and pelted vehicles, passersby and the Police with stones.
Two weeks ago, cooks, and cleaners protested due to unpaid salary arrears. Former headteacher Abdu Mulawa was forced out in 2006 after many strikes over mismanagement.
THE Police yesterday engaged students of Jinja SS in running battles after they went on strike protesting alleged witchcraft by the headmaster.
A fresh goat’s head and skin purportedly dug from underground which lay in the compound sparked off more protests as the irate students claimed Moses Mukwaya was the brain behind them.
The items were removed from underneath a brick structure built last year near the assembly ground. The structure, whose purpose the students and teachers claimed they did not know, was broken before the ‘fetishes’ were taken out.
The students waved placards reading: ‘Even the rich cry, Mukwaya gooo..,’ and ‘Save Jinja SSS’. They also blamed the headmaster of declining standards and poor feeding.
Several glass windows were smashed and classrooms littered with soil but the student leaders claimed the acts were the work of ‘certain people’.
“You people keep accusing students of wrongdoing but we as student leaders have our spy network and know that there are some big people behind all this.
Unless the root cause of the problem is tackled, Jinja SS will never stabilise,†one of them told a Police officer.
The students claimed that the boarders woke up at about 5:00am for morning preps and found the school in disorder.
Mukwaya told The New Vision by phone: “I’m right now in a meeting and I don’t want to give you half-baked information. Please call later.â€
Efforts by the district Police commander, Chris Barugahare, to calm students proved futile. He later advised them to return home as the matter was being discussed.
However, once outside the gate, the students turned violent and pelted vehicles, passersby and the Police with stones.
Two weeks ago, cooks, and cleaners protested due to unpaid salary arrears. Former headteacher Abdu Mulawa was forced out in 2006 after many strikes over mismanagement.