WAR AT LIRA VARSITY! Attorney General Rushes to Campus as VC Tells Council Boss: “RESIGN If You Can’t Stay in Your Lane!”
By Our Reporter
LIRA: A full-blown power war has erupted at Lira University, forcing the Office of the Attorney General to dispatch a high-powered delegation from Kampala as bitter infighting between the University’s top leaders threatens to spiral out of control.
On Monday, August 3, 2026, a team from the Office of the Attorney General led by Deputy Solicitor General Charles Ouma held a high-level meeting with the University’s Top Management Committee to deliberate on what officials described as “pertinent university issues.”
The Lira University delegation was led by Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Jasper Ogwal Okeng and included University Council Chairperson David Geoffrey Opiokello, Appointments Board Chairperson Onyik Bosco and other senior university officials. The closed-door meeting took place at the Education Block Medical Library.
The intervention comes as a bitter leadership feud between the Vice Chancellor and the University Council bursts into the open through explosive letters exposing a fierce struggle over who is really in charge of the institution.
The drama began after the University Council, in a letter dated July 27, 2026, demanded that Prof. Ogwal-Okeng explain a string of administrative decisions he made after resuming duty from sick leave on July 13.
Council questioned why the Vice Chancellor had returned to office earlier than expected, whether his sick leave had been lawful, whether he had obtained medical clearance before resuming work and why he allegedly reversed several Council resolutions that had been made during his absence.
Among the controversial decisions was the status of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs), who had been assigned to perform the functions of the Vice Chancellor while Prof. Ogwal-Okeng was away.
But instead of backing down, the Vice Chancellor fired back with an explosive response dated July 31, accusing Council Chairperson David Geoffrey Opiokello of repeatedly interfering in the day-to-day management of the university and acting outside the law.
Prof. Ogwal-Okeng reminded the Council chairperson that under Section 31(1)(i) of the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act, the Vice Chancellor is the University’s chief academic, administrative and financial officer, with exclusive responsibility for running the institution’s daily affairs.
He accused Opiokello of bypassing the Office of the Vice Chancellor by issuing operational directives directly to university staff and exceeding the powers legally granted to him.
According to the Vice Chancellor, the Council Chairperson’s role is limited to presiding over Council meetings and consulting the Vice Chancellor in accordance with the law, not running the University’s daily operations.
Prof. Ogwal-Okeng directed that all future operational and administrative communication be routed through the Office of the Vice Chancellor and insisted that Council decisions must only be communicated through formally adopted resolutions.
He also warned university staff against implementing what he described as unlawful instructions issued outside the University’s established procedures.
Then came the bombshell.
In one of the strongest sections of his letter, the Vice Chancellor bluntly told the Council Chairperson that if he could not operate within the legal framework governing public universities, “the most responsible action for you is to resign.”
The explosive letter was copied to the Chancellor, the Minister of Education and Sports, the Attorney General, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, members of the University Council, the University Senate, the Academic Registrar and the University’s Legal Department, signalling just how far the dispute has escalated.
The extraordinary exchange has exposed deep cracks in the University’s leadership, with both camps invoking provisions of the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act to justify their actions in an increasingly public power struggle.
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