By URN
Makerere University lecturers through their Association- Makerere University Academic Staff Association- Muasa have asked security agencies to intervene and provide necessary security for Lecturer Dr. Jimmy Spire Ssentongo, who has reportedly faced life threats.
The staff made this plea in a press statement released in response to Dr. Sentongo’s public disclosure regarding threats to his life.
“Our attention has been drawn to renewed threats to the life of our member Dr. Jimmy Spire Ssentongo, circulating on X formerly Twitter among other media,” reads the Muasa statement. “We take these threats very seriously, cognizant of recent reports of detention of people incommunicado; the murder of Lwomwa Daniel Bbosa; the attempted assassination of General Katumba Wamala and the murder of his daughter; and Dr. Sentongo’s advocacy against corruption in the course of his work as a senior lecturer at Makerere University and as a public intellectual.”
In their plea, the lectures want the Inspector General of Police, Chairperson of Joint Forces Command of Uganda, and other relevant local, national regional, and international agencies to take immediate and concrete steps to afford Dr. Spire the protection he requires from any threats to his life and work.
On Tuesday Dr. Ssentongo, Senior Lecturer Department of Philosophy, College of Humanities and Social Sciences through his X handle, said that he had received information that Parliament had secretly asked Uganda Communications Commission- UCC for his communication details to trace him with alleged intentions to harm him.
“UCC, you may accept to be used in those evil selfish schemes, but whatever you are doing, I’m aware – because many people in there are not happy with the trend we are taking, and that appreciate our cause in demanding for accountability and responsive service,” Spire wrote on his X on Tuesday.
Concerns heightened when Dr. Ssentongo went offline after posting the tweet, prompting worries about his safety from several social media users. This prompted his colleagues to issue a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
This development came nearly three weeks after the Makerere Don led an online protest using the hashtag #Uganda Parliament Exhibition to expose the abuse of office and gross mismanagement of public affairs at Parliament.
The exhibition leveled several allegations against high-ranking officials including Speaker Anita Among, Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa, as well as members from the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) and the opposition.
Among the accusations were claims of nepotism, corruption, and unethical conduct in securing parliamentary positions and engaging in fraudulent activities for personal gain.
However, the allegations have since been labeled as falsehoods, and recently, Speaker Anita Among vowed that she would not respond to the issues raised in the parliament exhibition saying that they are baseless.
