The Inspector General of Government [IGG] Irene Mulyagonja has halted the process of recruiting the executive secretary of the Uganda National Examinations Board [Uneb], after citing irregularities in the exercise.

The Observer has learnt that Education and Sports Minister Jesca Alupo was last week directed, to halt the process, pending an investigation into the "alleged flouting of the procedures" by Fagil Mandy, the chairman of Uneb.

"You are, therefore, hereby directed to halt the recruitment process for the post of the executive secretary, Uganda National Examinations Board until our investigations into the allegations above have concluded or until further orders from this office," the IGG's January 15 letter to Minister Alupo, reads in part.

The IGG based her investigation on 17 independent allegations which culminated from various complaints from various individuals against Mandy. The position of executive secretary is currently held by Matthew Bukenya, whose term of office expired last year.

Some 53 candidates applied for Bukenya's job, with Dr John Bosco Ntangaare, a lecturer at Makerere University, being appointed, effective April this year. But various people complained that Mandy used his position to pick people he favoured and lock out those he did not.

Mandy responds

Interviewed for this story, Mandy dismissed the allegations against him although he accepted having fully participated in the process given his position in Uneb.

"As the board's chairman, I oversaw the recruitment exercise and it moved on so smoothly. We have been very careful while selecting the executive secretary because it is a sensitive job and of all the meetings, there is no way I could miss a meeting which appointed the secretary," Mandy told The Observer by telephone on Saturday.

Asked about his relationship with Ntangaare, Mandy said: "That he is my associate, how? I have never worked with him; he is not my friend. He went through because he performed [better] than all candidates, that is all."

Mandy said he was ready to make his case before the IGG: "There is nothing that was not transparent," he said. "I think people are bitter because they could not manoeuver through because the process was so transparent."