Jubilee School Kids' Tablets Being Sold Cheaply in Uganda

It has emerged that the tablets promised to Class One pupils by the Jubilee administration in 2013 are being sold cheaply in Uganda.

A hawk-eyed Kenyan recently shared a Facebook page advertising and selling the tablets branded with the Government of Kenya (GOK) and the Digital Literacy Program logos at UGX150,000 (Sh4,000) each. The seller behind the advertising Facebook page said he was based in Kampala.

It also emerged that another trader based in Uganda was selling the same tablets for Sh3,700 each. The lower price was revealed by one buyer who was introducing other customers to his supplier through Facebook.

Last year, 71 tablet computers that had been stolen from a Kenyan primary school in Busia County were recovered by police officers in Uganda.

A 24-year-old man identified as Evans Wanda was apprehended at an illegal border crossing while ferrying the electronic gadgets to the neighboring country on a motorcycle. 

Following the arrest, Ugandan authorities notified their Kenyan counterparts, who went to Lwakhakha police station in Uganda to pick up the laptops and the suspect.

The tablets had been stolen from Moding Primary School in Teso and a report of the theft was filed on March 31st, according to Bungoma DCI officer Joseph Ondoro.

The Digital Literacy Program was one of the Jubilee government’s main agendas when it came to power in 2013 where it pledged to issue laptops to every Class One pupil to entrench ICT in teaching and learning in primary schools.

The administration later abandoned the program midway having spent billions to buy tablets and instead decided to build a computer laboratory in each of the 25,000 public primary schools in the country.