Since 2008, the National Unity Platform’s (NUP) candidates have won the election for Makerere University’s guild president for a hill that has repeatedly shown to be a stronghold of opposition.
Before the NUP’s resurgence in 2018, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) had held the advantage as president, presenting three of the four victorious candidates.
Only Roy Ssemboga, a member of the Uganda Young Democrats (UYD), the Democratic Party’s youth wing, intervened during FDC’s tenure as Makerere University’s 82nd president; David Bala served as the institution’s 81st president. Paul Kato of FDC and Papa Were followed Ssemboga as the next two participants.
Out of the eight candidates that competed for the position in this year’s elections, Lawrence Alionzi alias Dangote (NUP) was declared the winner yesterday with 5839 votes, or 54.16 percent, becoming the 88th guild president at one of East Africa’s largest Universities. He now becomes the fourth NUP candidate to win in the previous four years.
With 2,079 votes, or 14.9% of the total, Mr. Hussein Ibra of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) came in second. Justus Tukamushaba, a candidate for the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), came in third with 1758 votes.
Blessious Namirembe received 359 votes, followed by Carlton Muyinda (338), Ronald Mugisha (106 votes), Edward Nalwangu (237 votes), and Honest Natumanya (24 votes), who finished last.
Alionzi Lawrence, also known as Dangote, is an electrical engineering major in his fourth year of college. He served as the former Northcote Nsibirwa Hall speaker.
Dangote screamed the NUP slogans and their associated Makerere chants as he said, “I am really thrilled and I appreciate my party for what they have put in to make sure that we achieve this win for the people of Uganda but most significantly for the valiant Makerereans.”
“Let’s teach a song together, you, us, eeh Dangote. Allow us to handle, he replied, jogging out with a group of people that included young men in vests and women in bras and other provocative clothing. The early drizzle added to the group’s revealing clothes.
Early in July, during the height of the campaigns, violence marred the election. Batungira Bewatte, 27, died from wounds he received in an alleged brawl that left him with injuries like those on a stabbed body.
The campaigns were put on hold by the university administration until this month, when they were allowed to be voted in online, though many students claimed that they had trouble with it.
Since 2008, the NUP has had successful candidates, such as Mr. Julius Kateregga, Ivan Ssempijja, and Shamim Nambasa, the outgoing president at the moment before Dangote was chosen yesterday.
The NUP’s chairman of institutions, Mr. David Musiri, stated: “We have brought the needs of the people to the forefront, and it is also a national history that Due to the restrictions placed on their freedoms at universities, students have always stood with the oppressed.
When asked why they lost control of the Makerere University presidency, Mr. Walid Lubega, the FDC youth chairman, responded, “The political landscape has changed, but we have not. In particular, when it comes to the chapter that dealt with universities, the party needs to be better equipped. We already have Kyambogo University in high gear, and we intend to do the same with Makerere so that we may once more triumph.
A constitutional review commission was set up to look at the voting procedure after the election process was abruptly suspended. This election was marked by violent incidents, including the death of a student who was canvassing for the FDC candidate.
The Makerere University council decided to hold Guild after a student from Uganda Christian University was fatally stabbed during the final guild rally in July. Unlike past years, this time the voting process at the Hill was conducted online as instructed.
