Kyambogo University has complained about it’s failure to collect revenue in terms of tuition fees amounting to shs.23.2bn after education institutions were closed in 2020 as one of the measures to curb the spread of COVID 19.
This was revealed by the Acting University secretary Mr. Arthur Katongole while appearing before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, during the scrutiny of the 2021 Auditor General Report.
According to the audit report, the university had projected to collect shs.77.146bn from tuition fees but only shs.40.930bn was collected and this negatively impacted the implementation of planned activities at government level.
An additional shs. 19bn was collected when the university opened for finalists in November 2020 and March 2021 for continuing students.
Mr. Katongole attributed the failure to collect the remaining balance to the negative effects of the COVID 19 pandemic.
“As we speak, we no longer run per academic years and because of that, we are not moving as we are supposed to. That has caused a problem but we hope to have stabilized by next year,” the Acting University secretary said.
He also accused some students of failing to take up places in the university after they have been admitted in preference for other higher institutions of learning, something that has also contributed to the deficit, since tuition projections and estimates are made basing on the number of admissions given.
Mr. Katongole also talked about the low staffing levels at the University that stand at only 31%. This has forced the university to resort to hiring private staff, a trend they say is unattainable.
Currently there are 1023 staff comprising of 510 teaching staff and 513 non teaching staff.
The university had an approved budget of shs.217.76bn of which 207.22bn was released.
Only 124.5 bn was utilized and payment of staff salaries amounting to shs. 85.7bn took the biggest percentage.
General expenses totaled to shs.9.2bn, communications 800M, utility and property expenses shs.4.8bn
