By Spy Uganda
What began as one of Uganda’s most admired partnerships in education has spiraled into a sensational public saga, complete with accusations of betrayal, violence, and a bitter battle over billions. The once-solid union between Kampala University founder Prof. Badru Dungu Kateregga and his wife, Ms. Jolly Shibaiha Kateregga, has erupted into a dramatic showdown that’s gripping the nation.
At a highly charged press conference held at the university’s main campus, the revered academic, now in his later years, pulled back his kufi to reveal a scar on his head — which he claims resulted from a physical assault by his wife.
“She wants me dead,” Kateregga alleged, his voice trembling with fury. “She wants everything I’ve built, and she’s doing everything to erase my legacy.”
At the center of the turmoil lies a tangled web of property disputes, inheritance battles, and control over one of Uganda’s largest private universities. The professor claims that Ms. Kateregga — formerly the university’s director of finance and board chair — is attempting to exclude his other children from his will in a bid to secure his empire for herself and her own children.
“She told me to cut the rest of my children off. That’s when I knew I had to resist,” he said.
But Ms. Kateregga isn’t retreating. In a pointed response, she dismissed her husband’s accusations as cruel distortions of their long-shared history.
“I devoted my life to this man and this institution,” she said. “Now I’m being labeled a poisoner, a gold-digger — it’s not just false, it’s insulting.”
Their fallout has spilled beyond words. Prof. Kateregga claims he has been forcibly removed from his own Buziga mansion, which he says predates their relationship. He accuses Jolly of trying to rewrite the university’s origin story, asserting she was merely a student in 2009 — years after he founded the institution in 1993.
“She never co-founded this university,” he said. “I added her name on the property to protect her, and now she’s turning that protection against me.”
Jolly, however, maintains the home was jointly acquired and denies ever evicting her husband. “I’m the one being pushed out of university affairs,” she said. “What I’ve faced is not justice. It’s betrayal.”
And the feud only deepens.
While Ms. Kateregga claims she once helped rescue the university from a Shs6 billion financial crisis, her husband alleges she didn’t even complete her tuition — and instead used their romantic relationship to climb the ranks.
“I was blinded by love,” he admitted. “And that cost me dearly.”
To add fuel to an already explosive conflict, rumors of poisoning and paternity disputes have surfaced. Prof. Kateregga clarified that the poisoning suspicions originated from his older children, not him directly — yet the damage to reputations and trust is evident. Ms. Kateregga insists she stood by him through serious illness, even coordinating his overseas surgeries.
But as the dust refuses to settle, the heart of the matter remains clear: legacy.
“I have more than 18 children,” the professor emphasized. “She wanted only her children to inherit. That’s not how this ends.”
What was once a love story and a shared vision for education has now turned into a high-profile, deeply personal war — one unfolding in the glare of public scrutiny. As legal showdowns loom and emotions run high, Uganda watches this tragic unraveling of a power couple, unsure of how — or when — the final chapter will close.
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