The director of Lira City Comprehensive Secondary School, located one kilometer south of Lira City, adjacent to Bong Cao-Mini market on Kwania Road, has accused a prominent school director of jealousy, defamation, and abetting unlawful arrests at his school.
Mr. Okello Denis Johnson, the director of the school, has dismissed the allegations levied against the arrested staff members of the school as baseless. They were arrested under SD REF 18/12/06/2024.
The incident occurred a day after some radio stations in Lira City reported that some junior directors of Lira City Comprehensive Secondary School were arrested over a simple defilement case in Adok sub-county, Dokolo district by the police.
Mr. Johnson said they opened the school to improve the level of education in the Lango sub-region, but ever since the school was established, they have faced challenges from the former director of another school in Lira City West, who is allegedly jealous and keeps instigating the arrest of their top members.
He stated, “Whoever wants to fight should do so academically using books and pieces of chalk, not through baseless allegations and conspiracy to commit a felony, as it is always happening to our staff under such director’s influence.”
Mr. Johnson called upon Lango elders and Lira City authorities to expose such school directors who are punishing and tarnishing the names of innocent, bright teachers due to dark-heartedness and concocted organized arrests.
He said that in October last year (2023) and around March 2024, three of their staff were remanded in Lira prison due to the efforts of one school director who has been fighting tooth and nail to see the downfall of Lira City Comprehensive Secondary School.
Mr. Johnson called upon the Commissioner of Education and Sports to come to the school’s rescue by independently investigating the embattled school director in question so that the over 200 learners can study without any intended external interference.
Mr. Johnson refuted claims aired on some radio stations in Lira City implicating his school teacher in a defilement case as a very big lie. He clarified that the woman in question is a mother and is old enough, not a 17-year-old as earlier alleged, and she is not a student but rather a housewife who divorced her husband recently.
He blamed the current allegations against his three arrested staff members on a pre-planned move by the father of the child in Dokolo district, who does not even know the surname of the woman they claimed was defiled.
Without mentioning names, he said he wants security intelligence to take an interest in a private school askari who is intimidating people based on his previous military background. He suspects this individual to be a UPDF deserter who committed a crime sometime back around Kampala but is now hiding in one of the private secondary schools in Lira City West Division.
Mr. Okello Denis Johnson confirmed this statement to the media during a press briefing held on Wednesday morning in the school compound.
