Makerere University main gateBy Prisca WanyenyaThe Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has raised concerns over Makerere University’s failure to disclose the value of 77 active court cases against the institution, arguing that the omission distorts its financial position.The concern was raised by PAC Chairperson Patrick Nsamba during a meeting held on October 26, 2026 to consider the December 2025 Auditor General’s report for Makerere University.“How many cases are against Makerere University? Why don’t you recognise contingent liabilities? Did you inform the Accounting Officer how much they sued you for? We are not talking about cases where you took people to court, but contingent liabilities where they took you to court. You should always indicate how much you are most likely to lose,” Nsamba said.University Secretary Yusuf Kiranda told the Committee that most of the cases concern individuals encroaching on University land, but Nsamba clarified that contingent liabilities arise from cases where the institution is sued.“The cases are specially to do with our land. We have not indicated how much we are likely to pay in those matters, so we are not able to have the figure,” Kiranda said.Following the correction, Kiranda promised to improve financial reporting going forward.“I get it, I think that is an area of improvement for us. We have not been asking our legal department to give us an indication of how much,” he said.Nsamba asked the University to improve its reporting.“Your accountant must know that a case is ongoing but the most it is likely to cost us is this. It is provided for in the law that you are supposed to recognise these contingent liabilities,” he said.During the meeting, it was revealed that one of the cases was filed by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) in 2021, where the University was accused of not remitting employee benefits.Kiranda said the Minister of Finance had approved the Makerere University Retirement Benefits Scheme as a superannuation scheme, and under the NSSF Act 1985, when an employer has a superannuation scheme, its employees are no longer eligible for remittance to NSSF.“The outstanding debate between the Minister of Finance and NSSF is whether the money which Makerere collected before 2021 needs to leave the Makerere University Retirement Benefits Scheme and go to NSSF or whether it can stay. The challenge is that when the Minister approved the scheme as a superannuation scheme in 2021, all Makerere staff were eligible to receive their benefits from NSSF or to send them to MAPS. Many staff directed NSSF to send their money to MAPS, others picked it,” he explained.UGX857m Condoms BudgetMeanwhile, Makerere management was also questioned over failure to supply condoms despite receiving UGX857 million for the activity in the 2024/25 national budget.According to Auditor General Edward Akol, government warranted about UGX370.647 billion to the University, of which UGX355.793 billion was spent. Despite the 96% budget performance, activities worth UGX4.058 billion were fully implemented, while six outputs with expenditure of UGX15.950 billion were partially implemented and 22 outputs whose expenditure could not be assessed were not implemented.Karim Masaba (Mbale Industrial Division) said one of the affected activities was the fight against HIV/AIDS where the University received UGX857 million to procure 100,000 condoms but none were distributed.“They are supposed to give our students about 100,000 condoms, and they didn’t provide even one condom and yet they used all the money. And yet we know universities are areas of very high activity,” Masaba said.Nsamba weighed in: “The case of condoms is a bad one, but it is good to hear. Did you find the prices too high, what happened?”Kiranda clarified that distribution of condoms is not done directly by the University, but that Makerere acts as a subvention for the Infectious Disease Institute, one of the institutions leading HIV/AIDS care not just at the University but also in public hospitals like Mulago National Referral Hospital. The post Makerere Under Fire Over Undisclosed 77 Court Cases and Unaccounted Shs857m for Condoms appeared first on Business Focus.