TOP STORY! Ugandans lose millions in the ONC Iran scholarship scheme

Kampala: The Office of the National Chairman (ONC), headed by Hajjati Hadijah Namyalo, the self-confessed “Chief Muzzukulu,” publicly published a communication in the national media on October 10, 2023, requesting applicants to an Iranian government-funded education scholarship.

The communication stated that air tickets, accommodation, health care, and everything else would be catered for, but those who went have reported a total absence of even the most basic of needs and rights.

Those who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity claim to have ultimately spent millions of shillings on something that never turned out to be as advertised, not even close.

70 students went for the scholarship, and according to them, each person had to pay 4,000,000 shillings, yet they had announced everything would be catered for.

ONC speaks out

Moses Kintu, the spokesperson for ONC, acknowledged that about 70 Ugandan students were awarded scholarships in Iran, adding that they are studying.

‘’The only issue I got was with a person who was doing private law; she course units she expected to get were not in the curriculum, but she was advised and adjusted,’’ Kintu said.

Kintu refuted the allegations of not finding the courses they were offered, insisting that they are not true, that continuing students are studying, and that they expect to get more scholarships from other countries.

‘’We are thankful we got this opportunity and those studying are continuing; however, I got a situation where someone had applied for a course with documents that did not tally with what he really wanted to do, so if the person is guided and changes the course with interest in that, what’s wrong?’’

Kintu told this news portal that the scholarships were free, but each scholarship can come with conditions, like air tickets.

‘’ONC doesn’t charge money; the Iran team assisted them to go ahead and arrange their air tickets, and our role was to ensure the people were protected as ONC; we did not receive any money as ONC,’’ he insisted.

Kintu also acknowledges that though the scholarships were free of charge, as the process continued, they had some changes that were again not necessary to republish but were communicated to the beneficiaries.

‘’In this process, we had over ten meetings involving the beneficiaries, parents, and next of kin, and this was all being shared. Someone paying a fee is not a problem, but was the fee communicated or concealed?’’

He asserted that there were certain conditions on these scholarships, which he believes all the participants had knowledge about.

Relatives want to meet President Museveni

Relatives of Iran scholarship beneficiaries are demanding to meet President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.

They want to be refunded and disciplinary action taken, accusing Hajjat Namyalo and her administration of fraud, money laundering, human trafficking, torture, hunger, and forced Islamic radicalization in Iran.

In one of the ten petitions to President Museveni, as seen and copied by our snoops from several of the complainants, they are seeking compensation and administrative action against Office of the National Chairman (NRM) officials.

One of the petitioners stresses that he paid $800 to Amrah Safaris at the Embassy of Iran, claiming it was received by ONC official.

As a copy of the receipt was attached, another meeting was held on January 5, 2024, where they were told to pay an extra $150 before January 12, 2024.

‘’The reason for this was that they had booked air tickets, but the school was not ready to receive us,” he added.

In a letter from student leaders from one of the universities, Ahlul-Buyt International University in Iran, the writers claim some of the students could not bear the conditions and have since found their ways of returning to Uganda, but with all their former jobs now gone.

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