In light of the revelation that NEARLY 80% OF KYAMBOGO UNIVERSITY SENIOR ACADEMIC STAFF who responded to a single call for academic research proposals had their proposals disqualified on grounds of PLAGIARISM, I was reminded of my April 2016 rant against a fraudster who plagiarised my work:

 “PLAGIARISM=THEFT=CORRUPTION= POOR QUALITY OF LIFE” 

I wrote:

I read the article of the other ‘scholar’ and every single word contained in it was familiar. I thought, wait a minute, this sounds exactly like my writing style. So I checked out the links to my own work and I discovered that Samuel Okulony, the other author, had extensively plagiarised my work.

You may want to note that, according to information online, Okulony is actually the “Programmes and Research Coordinator” for an organisation that he works for; an organisation which has the word “Governance” as part of its name.

Okulony, according to his online staff profile, purportedly has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Kyambogo University. This discovery further incensed me.

How could one who holds such a position and have such academic qualifications resort to stealing other peoples work.

In other words, how did this fraud get such a key job in an organisation such as that?

How did he get a degree from an academic institution such as that?

It would appear that the most recent Kyambogo University scandal,  “64 Kyambogo University Lecturers Miss Research Grants Over Plagiarism”, is not an isolated incident and that Kyambogo University seemingly has for a long time perpetuated a travesty of awarding degrees to fraudsters, those who plagiarise their way through.

Fellow active citizens of Uganda, let us take some time to digest the implication of this and we will surely understand why the horrendous state of affairs in our country. It is such fraudsters who are perpetuating the sad state of affairs through corruption and because of corruption. It is they who nurture spaces where over 80% of grants awarded are done on the basis of pre given kickbacks. Read more on the kickbacks in Isabella Akiteng’s “Dear Donor”

The call to action by my genuine-scholar-friend, Timothy Laku, says it all:

The copy-paste culture needs to be eradicated, and academia needs to be proactive and relentless. Change starts from these “ivory towers” of knowledge.

And this is exactly one of the major reasons as why our CPAR Uganda project to mentor university student interns is important and is worth your support. If you decide and are so inclined to support our initiative to mentor student interns, click here https://goto.gg/34700 and make a donation.

If you want to support CPAR Uganda in other ways, including in-kind donations, towards mentoring student interns, please do not hesitate to email us on info@cparuganda.com