A couple of hours ago, Steven Jeremy Ntambi returned to an old tweet from 2011 explaining how his final year project, the Kiira EV project was stolen by his university professors Sandy Stevens Tickodri -Togboa and Paul Isaac Musasizi. The Kiira EV project originates from Makerere University to develop hybrid electric cars in Uganda.
In Uganda, the project became very popular when the first Kiira EV vehicle was launched by H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on 24th November 2011 as the first electric car to be manufactured in Africa. After the launch the project was given a vehicle plant in Uganda where the Kiira Vehicle Innovation Program was launched and the project has since manufactured the Kayoola solar buses that will be used for transportation in Uganda.
According to Ntambi, his professors always scoffed at his project because they thought it was too ambiguous and therefore impossible to come to life. However after the student team presented the global teams and the president approved their project, the professors returned to the project they didn’t believe in and said that it was always their “dream”.
When Ntambi was out of the country after pursuing his Masters, he was told to leave and never return to the project. He said, “Innocently I came back and thought that since we has support it was now time to move forward…I was only met by immediate instruction never to return to the project by Professor Tickodri and Paul Isaac Musasizi. The people I invited to supervise the project.”
Ntambi says that he decided to come out now with his story because he believes that Paul Isaac Musinguzi might be doing it to other innovators on the project. He also added that it has taken a lot for him to come out with his story because he was intimidated by death threats.
He believes that because he kept silent for long, the habit has continued to persist and some of the best innovators who were hired have continued to leave the project. The project according has great potential and could even be better if it wasn’t for the greed of his professors.
Mr. Paul Isaac Musasizi is currently the CEO for the Kiira Motors Corporation in Uganda. Currently so statement has been made to clarify the statements made by Musasizi.
Read the rest of the tweet here