UTC Kichwamba rises from the ashes

UTC Kichwamba rises from the ashes

Felix Basiime

& Joseph Mugisa

Kabarole

June 8, 1998 is a day still fresh in the minds of many Ugandans. On that fateful day, rebels of the Allied Democratic Front raided Uganda Technical College Kichwamba in Kabarole and burnt 80 students alive in three dormitories.

The rebels also abducted more than 100 students. Felix Basiime and Joseph Mugisa talked to a survivor of the attack, one of the college's lecturer and the principal about life after the attack.

Simon Mwesigwa, 30, sells secondhand bags on High Street in Mbarara Town.

Mr Mwesigwa failed to complete his Brick Laying and Concreting Practice (BCP) certificate course at Uganda Technical College Kichwamba, on the Fort Portal-Bundibugyo Road after the June 8, 1998 attack on the college by rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

The rebels burnt three dormitories, leading to the death of 80 students and abducted over 100 others.

Mr Mwesigwa is the only known person who survived the inferno but the burns he suffered could not allow him continue with his studies. The rebels also burnt the college lorry.

"Rapid gun shots woke me up at around 5 am and after 30 minutes I heard students yelling but I feared to open my door from the tutors' quarters which is about 200 metres away from the college," Mr Steven Byabazaire, the acting head of section, Agricultural Engineering and Mechanics at the college, recalls.

“I kept peeping through the door and I saw a naked student running but could not identify him. I kept indoors until 7am when I heard voices outside, I opened and found three out of eight dormitories were in ashes. Some students were standing in the compound terrified, it was nasty" Mr Byabazaire adds as tears roll down his cheeks.

School reopens

Less than 100 students reported back to the college when it reopened for the subsequent academic year but Mr Mwesigwa failed to report because he was still in hospital.

"I went to bed as usual after preps. I dreamt about bomb sounds but when I woke up it was real fire, our dormitory was set ablaze and there was a stampede as everyone was looking for an escape route but our door was locked from outside," Mr Mwesigwa says, adding: "I managed to go through the window but others failed and I fled for my dear life with burns to a nearby church and people took me to hospital."

Some members of staff and students left the college which was closed for a year.

"About 100 very courageous students returned out of 500. Others had been abducted or perished in the fire. Others went to other institutions, tutors who had money fled to Fort Portal Town and rented houses there, fearing another attack despite the presence of a UPDF detach at the college," Mr Byabazaire says.

Those students who continued with studies at the college had to sit for their exams at Uganda Polytechnic Kyambogo (UPK) because Kichwamba was left incapacitated to hold exams for that year.

"It took some time for parents to bring their children here. It took more than seven years for the college to regain the 500 students' enrollment capacity but we have now fully recovered" says Mr Byabazaire.

"When that incident happened, the college was closed for one year because parents were scared, some teachers fled," the principal of the college, Mr Jerome Adutu told this paper in a separate interview.

"When the college re-opened, we first took the teachers and students through psychological guidance and counselling" says Mr Adutu adding: "Since then, the government deployed a unit of UPDF. We have peace and enrollment is growing beyond the original capacity."

It is now 12 years after the attack and UTC-Kichwamba has recovered steadily. Mr Adutu says the college administration has asked the government to upgrade the college into a polytechnic so that it can start offering higher diplomas.

PR campaign

Mr Adutu says in 2006, they embarked on a national wide public relations (PR) campaign which has attracted students from all over the country.

He says in 2005 there were 196 boys and nine girls, in 2006 there were 261 boys and 19 girls, in 2007 the number of boys rose to 362 and that of girls to 22, in 2008 there were 460 boys and 28 girls, in 2009 there were 541 boys and 55 girls and this year the college has 577 boys and 77 girls. "We have really reached our peak. The PR strategy has worked and the presence of UPDF at the college has contributed a lot, staff and students are confident," he says.

Mr Adutu adds that in July 2005, the government gave the college a new truck following a presidential pledge. In 2008, the government gave the college Shs655 million for the renovation of buildings that were burnt during the ADF attack. "With this money, we have been able to rehabilitate four workshops, 21 staff houses, two new hostels and set up a new administration block" says Mr Adutu.

Mr Adutu adds: "We are now overwhelmed by the applications every year, we are congested, we appeal to the government for help in equipment for training, library, more hostels and lecture rooms," "We need a bus because we cannot transport the students on lorries," he says. UTC-Kichwamba has not been left alone to rise from the ashes, a number of International organisations and universities have supported it.

Among them, the Netherlands Organisation for International Cooperation in Higher Education (Nuffic) which has supported the college in ICT and staff development, establishing a new curriculum and public awareness campaigns.

There is a student exchange programme with Hanze University, a university of applied sciences, located in Groningen in the northern Netherlands, which has helped in management information system, while Kyambongo University has helped in training staff, Makerere University training in ICT and Fort Portal based Mountains of the Moon University (MMU).

"We develop the skills here and MMU markets them," says Mr Adutu. In September 2009, the Netherlands government donated 100 computers and other ICT equipment and cameras to the college.

The Netherlands government is also sponsoring seven lecturers from the college who are undergoing different degree and masters' courses at Kyambogo University.

The college now holds graduation ceremonies every year.

The Minister of State for Higher Education, Mr Mwesigwa Rukutana, during the April 23 graduation ceremony said: "I thank the college administration for restoring the glory of the institute after the 1998 massacre."
                                        END

Survivor of Technical College Attack Sells Bags for a Living

Felix Basiime

Mbarara (5 June 2010)

Mr Simon Mwesigwa, 30, is the only known student who survived after the rebels set three dormitories ablaze. Mr Mwesigwa escape through the window of a burning dormitory. He talked to Saturday Monitor's Felix Basiime and below are excerpts:

Where do you come from?

I come from Ndaija in Mbarara District.

What course were you studying at Uganda Technical College Kichwamba?

Brick Laying and Concreting Practice (BCP) Part 1 and 2 certificate.

Which dormitory were you staying?

I was residing in Alexander Dormitory.

Tell us what you saw and heard on the night of the attack.

I went to bed as usual after preps, but there were some people outside at the campus. I didn't mind about them and I slept. I dreamt about bomb sounds and when I woke up it was real fire, the next dormitory was on fire, within few moments, our dormitory was set ablaze. There was a stampede inside as everyone was looking for an escape route but our door was locked from outside.

At what time do you think the attack was carried out?

It was in the wee hours of the morning at around 5am.

What did you do next?

All our dormitories had one door while the windows had burglar proof, so I jumped out of bed dressed only in pants and picked my blanket, I tried to go through one of the windows but failed. My blanket had already caught fire, I dropped it, then I remembered the window through which we used to sneak to go and dance in the village parties. Within seconds, I managed to go through and I fled for my dear life with burns to a Catholic church near our college.

Don't you think other students used the same route to escape the fire?

I really doubt because there was one student who tried to follow me but failed because the fire was so intense.

Before you reached the church, didn't you meet the rebels outside?

No, I did not see any. I think they had taken off.

Who did you find at the church by that time?

I found there some people, they took me inside the house and gave me first aid and in the morning they took me to Kitovu Hospital in Masaka District.

Why do you have burns on the face and arms and not other parts of the body?

You know I used to pass through my panya, (shorter route) with the legs first, so that is how I burnt my face and arms because they were the last parts of my body out of the dormitory as I escaped.

For how long were you in hospital?

For two months. After that I feared to go back to Kichwamba.

Why were you afraid to go back to Kichwamba College?

I still had the fear in me and the burns could not allow me do practicals of building, so I tried to repeat Senior Four at Bujaga Secondary School (in Mbarara District) but students rejected me because of my burns.

The stigma was so high, two days later I had to leave this school and sat at home in Ndeija dejected.

So what did you plan to do next?

I tried plastic surgery in 2000 and it was successful, then I worked as a guard at a health centre in Kikagate (Isingiro District ) and in 2005 I joined politics as a mobiliser for NRM in Mbarara. In 2006, I joined Senior Six at Mbarara's Viana High school, a private school, some good Samaritans footed my bills but I could not make it to university.

You selling second-hand bags in Mbarara Town, how did you resolve to do this business?

I tried to join the police and army after Senior Six but both forces rejected me due to my physical appearance. I then joined the driving school in 2007. I became a broker at Rwebikoona Market because few people could hire me to drive their cars. I had mobilised some money and I started selling the bags in 2009.

If given any help, would you go back to school to complete your academic ambitions?

I don't want to go back to school now. I want help to expand my business; I have a family and two children.

                                    END