The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | On 7th March, National Unity Platform- NUP candidate, Lubega Vincent Nsamba, 22 was declared new Guild President of Makerere University after winning the hotly contested polls by a margin of only four votes.
Nsamba, a second-year student pursuing Social Sciences garnered 2,540, his closest competitor Ariho Edmond an Independent candidate got 2,536 while Fulugensio Kasekende came third with 1674 votes. Sixteen candidates competed in the race.
For the third time, the guild polls were conducted online after the University council ruled so in 2022 after an incident in which a Uganda Christian University student, Betungura Bewatte, died during the election campaigns.
The University council later implemented a Guild Statute that imposed a permanent ban on all physical guild elections and instituted a ruling that mandates the future elections of student leaders be conducted through virtual means and also stopped the influence of political parties in the University Guild affairs.
Nsamba took oath today after winning a petition that was earlier filed by the runner up Edmond Ariho.
In an exclusive interview with Uganda Radio Network-URN, Nsamba trashed the entire process of online campaigning and voting saying that it has condemned the students their constitutional right of freedom of expression and vowed to advocate for changes from his first day in office.
URN: Who is Nsamba?
Lubega Nsamba: My name is Lubega Vincent Nsamba, am a son of Nsamba Vincent and Najjumba Ruth from Lwengo district, Jaaga village, but I have spent the biggest part of my 22 years in Entebbe Municipality because that is where I had my education. My first primary school was Kabyooga Primary School in Lwengo, later joined Rainbow Primary School in Entebbe and later joined Nabbunga Fountain of Education in Kalisizo where I finished primary level with four points. I went to Maryland High School Entebbe for my lower ordinary level before I joined St Julian Gayaza for A level.
URN: Did you have leadership positions in your school life?
Lubega Nsamba: Absolutely, when I was at Maryland, I was the sanitary prefect. When I went to St Julian High School Gayaza I served as the President which relates to head prefectship in other secondary schools.
URN: Lets get to Makerere, how did you manage to win this election considering that you are just in your second year and you were only contesting for the first time?
Lubega Nsamba: it was a tough one but what I put in first place was God, because we are having an election under a system that is not verifiable, you can not verify whether you are the actual winner or not, so we leave things to God. It is not like the physical election where you knew that from COBAMS I have this number of votes because they have been counted under your vicinity and your watch or the watch of your agents, but we are operating under the system where you are just told you are the winner. But by God’s grace, I emerged to be the winner, but we campaigned, it was a tedious campaign where you have to reach out to each and everyone, and the platforms for us to campaign are surely very limited because if you engage so much with students to the extent that you get so much physical with them, you might yourself disqualified from the race.
URN: Do you consider your four-vote margin victory convincing given that it has already been contested?
Lubega Nsamba: To me, it is convincing because no law of the constitution says someone for them to be convinced about their win, they should win with a particular margin, and under article 75, close 3 of the constitution of Makerere University, it speaks to the fact that a candidate who has the simple majority will be declared as the Guild President-elect.
URN: What is your view on the Online election at the University?
Lubega Nsamba: I think this is a sham election, we cannot continue with this as a society Makerere because I believe this infringes and impedes our capabilities as leaders, even the voters themselves are removed of the right for them to scrutinize their leaders and also interact with their leaders because they just keep watching us sending them videos online, they do not get to interact with us as students, and that’s why one of my key focal points in my manifesto is harmonizing of the statute so that we see how we can get back to the physical elections where you have to stand on a podium, share your views with students so that they can choose leaders whom they believe can better represent their interests and aspirations because where they are sending us to go, the University council, is a space for dialogue, and intellectual discourse. So how are students going to be in a position to pick out that particular individual in this kind of process? So I’m ready for a fully-fledged challenge constitutional against that particular statute.
URN; The Guild statute prohibits you from being affiliated with any political party; in fact, even after winning the NUP primary, you never publicly identified as NUP. What is your plan for this?
Lubega Nsamba: As a youth leader in the NUP, because back in the constituency am a youth chairperson of NUP youth in Entebbe Municipality, it is something that did not go well with me because they are denying us the privilege of us appreciating the core values and principles of our various political parties when we are still occupying this university space, so to me I believe that section of the statue that denies us that privilege is supposed to be amended and those are some of the commitments I pledged to Makerereans that am going to advocate for because this is something that clearly infringes on our privileges and rights as students because that country itself and the supreme law speaks to the right to associate to any political organization freely, i believe this is a statute that offends all the articles in our supreme law.
URN: Your predecessors swore the same thing when they were first elected, but nothing has changed; the statute remains in place; what new techniques are you planning?
Lubega Nsamba: I do not want to blame my predecessors, because we are in a very unpredictable space that we are operating in. I believe I have the passion and commitment to push for that. I’m not saying that it will be achieved within my lifetime because this is an intergenerational struggle, so do not expect instant coffee solution. Even when the goal is not achieved now, but know that a foundation is going to be created towards achieving whatever we aspire to achieve.
URN: What are your next steps if you are unable to convince the University Council to repeal the statute? Do you intend to go to court?
Lubega Nsamba: Absolutely, and I have a plan of holding various consultative meetings with various students at the University for us to take a particular decision because you realize that every decision comes with costs because you will receive threats and intimidations. But, we are going to hold consultative meetings with Makerereans where we shall ask them for their opinion because we represent their interest. If they agree with the opinion of getting to court and establishing a fully-fledged constitutional challenge against this draconian statute, then we shall share with them the prerequisites for us to do that which prerequisites are expensive, and we shall need some costs.
URN: The University administration has been under fire for limiting free expression, and many students who have previously attempted to protest have been suspended or sent a warning letter; what is your response to this?
Lubega Nsamba: This is one of the things that bothers me, that’s why I said in one of my preambles that one of my focal points in my reign is trying to see how we can harmonize the statute because it is the one that has put us in such a space, we find ourselves where all the basic freedoms have been suppressed and it all routes deep from that very statute. So we are saying that we are ready to challenge it to see that freedom of speech and expression is back at the hill, because why we are even losing it to the peripheral in the world ranking as Makerere University is attributed to the suppression of these freedoms, because we were we occupying that space then, is because were involved in a lot of research writing articles, but we are now living in a space where just writing a particular article in the newspaper you are going to be threatened. So, we are going on to inform students that if the world rankings are down for Makerere University, your degree you who think that you do care about the affairs of your University, will affect you directly because your transcript will hold for nothing. forty or fifty years back, the transcript of Makerere meant a lot but what we need to ask ourselves why this has changed, it is because those spaces have been shrunk, the world is now not hearing what Makerere has to say because we are engulfed under that fear of suspensions, so we trying to change that.
URN: How different will you be from many of your predecessors who were accused of betraying their electorates when they went to the University Council and deviated from what they had initially promised?
Lubega Nsamba: This speaks to the threshold of satisfaction of some of the colleagues, and it now depends because me who has told you that I already have future aspirations, my threshold of satisfaction is too broad, I can even have an interest of aspiring for the Presidency of this country. So I am not one who is going to perform that way, I have to put my boots on the ground to do the good work so that even the outsider community can appreciate how am handling leadership in Makerere to be in position to trust me with a bigger office such as a member of parliament.
URN: Still on that, there are rumors that you intend to run for MP in Entebbe Municipality and are using your position as Guild President to prepare for your next move.
Lubega Nsamba: Yes, I have a clear interest to aspire as the next Member of parliament of Entebbe municipality, that’s not something I can hide because the people on the ground already know it, I have already informed them. As a young lad who has aspirations, I also aspire to be in such a space like I aspired to be the Guild President.
URN: What factors will you take into account when choosing the Vice President, and the full cabinet?
Lubega Nsamba: Those who have been around me can attest to the fact that however much you are my friend, when it gets to public office, it gets to competence, ability, and capability, and transparency.
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URN
