Karamoja Peace and Technology University (KAPATU) Limited’s attention has been drawn to statements made by Prof. Mary J. N. Okwakol, Executive Director of the National Council for Higher Education, while appearing before the Sectoral Committee on Education, Parliament of Uganda on 9th April 2026. According to the official social media (Twitter/X) handle and website of the Parliament of Uganda, Prof. Okwakol informed the committee that “the KAPATU Project had stalled after failing to meet accreditation guidelines, because the proposed governance structures fall short of the legal requirements set by the council; that KAPATU, a Catholic church founded initiative is seeking public university status; that the structure of the Catholic Church as a foundation body is not permitted; and that the initiators of KAPATU resisted NCHE’s advice to apply for a private university status.”
Karamoja Peace and Technology University (KAPATU) Project Unveiled
Therefore, KAPATU hereby clarifies as follows:
1. The promoters of KAPATU take very strong exception to these false allegations that are deliberately designed to mislead H.E. the President of Uganda, Parliament, the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and all stakeholders.
2. The false allegations by the ED NCHE fit in a deliberately calculated pattern of distortion by some actors within NCHE, MoES, and Attorney General’s Chambers which we are sure are aimed at failing all efforts towards the realisation of the first ever university in Karamoja Region.
3. The establishment of KAPATU is in strict compliance with the provisions of the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act Cap 262. Specifically, the promoters have fully complied with the conditions set out in the Letter of Interim Authority which was issued by NCHE on 19th April 2024.
The Letter of Interim Authority required the promoters of KAPATU to do four specific things namely:
i. Mobilise funds;
ii. Acquire requisite infrastructures and academic facilities;
iii. Organise academic and administrative human infrastructures;
iv. Do any other thing that may further the development of the proposed university to maturity.
4. The Promoters of KAPATU have fully complied with all the requirements in the Letter of Interim Authority as outlined above.
For avoidance of doubt, the promoters have mobilised enough funds. For example
H.E. the President has donated UGX 30 billion; the promoters have mobilised international development partners with EUR 300 million (UGX 1.2 trillion) to invest in KAPATU for provision of water for the entire Karamoja region and the entire university infrastructure immediately the provisional licence is granted; the promoters have availed sufficient physical infrastructure for immediate opening of the university, including a well-resourced functional library with both physical and electronic resources; offices, lecture halls, accommodation for staff, a police post and electronic surveillance systems for security of persons and property, fast internet connectivity, water and electricity, the new administration block currently at 42% completion and funded from the partial release of UGX 10 billion out of the UGX 30 billion provided by H.E. the President; more than 150 acres of land for university development and expansion.
This by far exceeds the minimum requirements set out under Section 101 of the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act, Cap 262 for establishment of a private university. As a matter of fact, no university in Uganda has ever started with these resources.
5. KAPATU applied for a Provisional Licence on 27th October 2025; has been vetted and a team sent by NCHE has verified that all requirements for issuance of the licence were in place and the findings from the verification report were presented to KAPATU Promoters.
Therefore, for the ED NCHE to state that KAPATU has failed to comply before the NCHE Council sits to consider the application, is a deliberate effort to bias members of the Council against KAPATU’s application.
6. It is a fact that the Catholic Dioceses of Kotido and Moroto together with the Catholic Lawyers Society International are the initiators of KAPATU. It is also a fact that the Letters of Interim Authority are issued to private institutions under the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act. It is also a fact that KAPATU applied for a Provisional Licence as a private institution, has been vetted and verified by NCHE.
It is therefore disingenuous for Prof. Mary J. N. Okwakol to state before Parliament of the Republic of Uganda, that KAPATU has refused to become a private institution.
7. Section 27(m) of the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act permits the Catholic Church to participate in founding a university. It is therefore wrong for ED NCHE to suggest that the Catholic Church is prohibited by law from participating as a foundation body.
8. The promoters also hereby clarify that the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church derives authority from the Code of Canon Law, as provided in Canons 381, 391, 393, 800, 807, 1254, 1279, 1310 of the code of Canon Law. These provisions vest in the Bishop jurisdiction to act for and on behalf of the Diocese and the Church as regards matters of administration, higher education and management of property.
In specific reference to university education, the Bishop has jurisdiction to establish a university in his diocese. This is specifically provided for in Canon 807 of the code of Canon Law to the effect that:
“The Church has a right to establish and govern a university for the purpose of deepening culture and fuller development of the human person and to assist the church’s mission and teaching”
Therefore, the decision by the Ordinaries of Kotido and Moroto Catholic Dioceses, to establish KAPATU is fully within their jurisdiction to do so. More so, this is consistent with our Constitution that permits Canon Law as part of Uganda’s jurisprudence.
9. The Governance Structure of KAPATU: Regarding the Governance Structure, the promoters wish to draw attention to a letter that the ED NCHE wrote to the University President and copied to H.E the President and H.E the Vice President, among others, Ref: NCHE/GR/78 dated 13th November 2025, in which she alleges that H.E. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda and H.E. Maj. Jessica Rose Epel Alupo, Vice President of the Republic of Uganda are conflicted in accepting to be the Founding Chancellor and Founding Deputy Chancellor of KAPATU respectively. The promoters of KAPATU would like to state as follows:
i. H.E. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and H.E. Maj. Jessica Rose Epel Alupo hold positions of Founding Chancellor and Founding Deputy Chancellor by virtue of point 8(2)(b) of the NRA 10-Point Program, by reason of their roles during the NRA Liberation Struggle and by the fact that they are part of the KAPATU founding thought processes. These positions and the persons holding them are non-substitutable.
ii. The appointment process that put them into the above positions was by organisations outside the jurisdiction of NCHE and this position is irrevocable.
iii. There is no legal impediment to the appointments in (i) and (ii) herein above under any law.
Twinobusingye Severino
President, Catholic Lawyers Society International
3rd University Vice President and Chair Council, KAPATU
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