Exclusive interview: MUBS Guild President Kiyega Speaks Out On NUP Wave, Says His Message Won
Makerere University Business School (MUBS) Guild President Rogers Edward Kiyega has said that his message won him the January 2022 votes, rising above other candidates.
Democratic Party’s Kiyega was declared winner following a hotly contested election.
The former St. Peter’s S.S, Nsambya Head Prefect emerged victorious after garnering 874 votes against his closest rival Valentine Ogwang of National Unity Platform (NUP) who got 785 votes. National Resistance Movement’s Nimrod Kakayi came third after garnering 694 votes.
Others included Bagumirabingi Joseph 363, Abisinguza Arnold with 93 and Kabaseke Edward who managed 06 votes.
Kiyega was recently sworn in as the new Guild President.
We caught up with him and below is what he said:
The message that earned you votes. What was it about?
My message to the voters was very simple. We were coming directly from a time whereby we were supposed to do online education due to the Covid-19 pandemic. So, my message was that we need to get out of the Covid situation and forge a way forward. We can’t keep living and then Covid is the reason why A,B,C,D didn’t happen. My message was simply asking them to believe with me that at the end of the day, we need to move forward. In addition, of course we had a manifesto that was very clear. Most of these of course revolved around how to get over the Covid situation and move past that stage and link us (the students) to the world out there through the creation of partnerships that could either earn us part-time employment, full-time or internship opportunities.
Tell me more about partnerships…
The mere fact that our institution is academic based, most of our achievements are geared towards achieving academic excellence (of students). But in addition to that, I also thought it wise that we could have that little bit of extension.
Who have you reached out to so far?
We have reached out to the Bank of Africa, Equity Bank and such other organizations.
What’s the response?
The response is positive. So, we are trying to see how best to widen our scope of coverage.
Back to the polls. Do you think the voters picked the right manifesto?
I strongly believe.
The NUP wave. What does that mean to you?
I should say that for the past 10 years, 7 or 8 Guild Presidents came from our party (DP). There is a reason for that. Those who came before us saw it wise that at the end of the day, we don’t have to be driven by the parties that we come from but be driven by the challenges that we face today. That’s exactly how we run our campaign as a party. So, with or without the wave, we are always focusing on the challenges that affect us (students) and it’s not about which party that is out there that t is making noise or that that is making news because at the end of the day, whatever might be making news out there may not necessarily have to make news in our University. Whether you come from NUP, NRM or FDC, if you have a genuine tuition challenge, that won’t be looked at like you belong to any particular political party. When you have missing marks, addressing your issues shouldn’t be based on the fact that you are from a certain political party or not. If you are having challenges with a certain lecturer, that challenge won’t be driven by the fact that you come from a specific party or not. That is what we understood from the past that the challenges we face are not because you belong to any political party. I don’t even see why we should be driven by such waves of mindset that have to be taken into the University because if you are to look at our friends at the main campus, they failed to focus on the challenges affecting students and even when you say that they are pointing them out, chances are that they are pointing them out for political reasons. Some Guild Presidents think that if they don’t talk ill about the Vice Chancellor, or their head of institutions, they don’t make news yet in actual sense, what a Guild President should be doing is, you should be the bridge between the students and the administration. You can’t be the bridge if you are always attacking the other end of the bridge. That means that at the end of it all, one person is not going to benefit. So, I am thinking that, yes, the wave is there but as the young generation of leaders, we should always focus on how we can be a solution-oriented regime other than trying to build on the chaos that is out there in the political world.
What do you tell the students you lead?
My message to all MUBS students in this country is that we should be united by the challenges that we face as students and as such, we should be united by the fact that we need to draft solutions to these challenges. The fact that we are all temporary occupants of the offices we hold, our struggle should be to leave the University or the students in a better state than the ones we found there. So, we should all focus on drafting solutions that affect all of us the students, other than focusing on exactly how we can divide ourselves. Yes, I am attached to the Green party but my agenda is to leave the students and the University better than the one I found. If my party has any agenda that is different from us solving the challenges that we are faced with, then we always should focus on what will make the students feel much better. That’s the message I am also sending to all other student leaders across the country. To out voters, I encourage you to stay strong and be solution-oriented, it’s very important. The challenges we face will never get done. However, we should always focus on getting the solutions at least to the challenges that we face now so that even those that will come after can be driven by the same message
Who is Rogers Kiyega?
Rogers Edward Kiyega is MUBS current Guild President and subscribes to the Democratic Party (DP). Kiyega is an alumnus of St. Peter’s S.S, Nsambya, where he spent six years. While there, he was a Library Prefect (O-Level) and in his A level, he was the Head boy and Head Prefect.
Kiyeg joined MUBS in 2016 for a diploma in accounting and finance in 2016 and became a student leader, a GRC and at the end of my diploma. At the end of the 2-year course, he got the opportunity to serve the University as the Electoral Commission Chairperson. He rejoined MUBS at Bachelors level. In the past regime (2019/2020), he was the Finance Minister. It gave me a good platform of being the current Guild President. The young man from Mukono was born on June 18.
