Students from the Juba branch of Kampala University stage a demonstration, demanding answers for being told to miss graduation. | File Photo.

Uganda High Court has terminated the case of South Sudanese students seeking graduation from Kampala University’s main campus, having completed studies at the embattled Juba branch.

The verdict dated 19^th of October 2022, and extended to Eye Radio, was issued by the presiding Judge, Justice Boniface Wamala.

The Kampala high court stated that the applicants have not presented satisfactory evidence to the court that any grounds for judicial review existed in the case.

And that their application completely fails, and they bear a cost to the accused, Professor Badru Dungu Kateregga, who is the University Vice Chancellor.

In an email, the students lawyer forwarded the court ruling to each of students.

“Dear Students, I thought that we would get the Ruling on notice. However, I have just received it via my email. We lost on facts, which I strongly believe to be misconceived,” said students lawyer Steven Nelson in an email forwarded to his clients.

“You had and still have a good case, only manipulated. You performed extremely well on the law.” added the lawyer.

However, the representative of the embattled Juba-based students, Oyiki Sirino Castino told Eye Radio that they will appeal against the verdict within 14 days.

“Why is the VC is refusing to graduate us but he needs money from us? The court did not look to this,” Sirino told Eye Radio on Friday morning from Kampala, Uganda.

According to him, the court has asked the students to compensate the respondent.

“We have been the complainer, we sued the university because they have not been fair enough to us, and again, now the ruling is saying we should pay the cost to the respondent, but we have the complainer and instead we wasted a lot.”

“We wasted four years paying money to them and even traveling from South Sudan up to here these are the costs that, the university should look to, but how come again you need us also to pay money for the person who has been cheating on me, that why we have to make that appeal before the fourteen days expired.”

With the court verdict, the situation has become more complicated for the 300 students, who now risk failing to graduate, should they lose the planned appeal.

The Vice Chancellor, Professor Katerega said before, that the Juba-based branch of the university, which has managed to graduate some of its students in the last few years, is illegal.