Rugunda commends leaders' unity at Busoga College Mwiri

By Eddie Ssejjoba    
        
KAMPALA - Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, the Special envoy for special duties Office of the President and Prime Minister emeritus of Uganda has commended leaders of various departments at Busoga College Mwiri for the unity and working together, which he said would encourage students to perform better and remove confusion and intrigue.

He said he was pleased to receive a strong team of leaders, led by the chairman board of directors, Dr. Herbert Kyeyamwa, the President of the Mwiri Old Boys Association (MOBA), Dan Mushabe Kakaire, the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) chairman Stephen Wakasenza, the headteacher Peter Sibukule and his deputy, the Rev. Xavier Tino.

“I am so happy to receive this team when everyone is happy and I only see smiles, this is unlike those days when leaders of various departments would be quarrelling and pointing at each other, this is good and will encourage students to perform better,” Dr. Rugunda, the patron of the college stated. 

He was last Friday addressing a team that went to his office at Kingdom Kampala to give him a report of the current status at the school.

Responding to various requests, the former premier said he would join the campaign to eliminate asbestos roofs at the traditional school, and he agreed that it is a health risk that should be treated as a matter of concern to every stakeholder.

Former Premier Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda (L) gestures to some of the members of a team from Busoga College Mwiri who gave him a report about the school's current status as their patron at his office at Kingdom Kampala. Right is Daniel Mushabe Kakaire, the President of the Mwiri Old Boys Association (MOBA), the PTA chairman Stephen Wakazenza, and the deputy head teacher Rev. Xvier Tino. This was Friday, February 21, 2025. (Credit: Eddie Ssejjoba)

“We need to replace the asbestos roofs at the College, we should work together as stakeholders to achieve this including involving the Ministry of Education and Sports,” he stated.

In his report, Dr. Kyeyamwa indicated that infrastructure development remains one of their biggest challenge with over 2,000 iron sheets needed to replace the roofs of teachers’ houses. He said they started on the campaign to eliminate asbestos and approached various companies including the Roofings Group and got pledges that were yet to be fulfilled.

He asked the patron to support their campaign saying despite their achievements, the matter of the cancerous roofs still remains a big challenge.

“I am going to ensure that we benefit from the Ministry of Education and Sports school programme of distributing iron sheets to schools, but I am also going to get involved by approaching many of our friends in companies that can donate iron sheets to get rid of this problem,” Dr. Rugunda told the meeting.

He was however excited about the school's performance in the just concluded Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) results, saying although the school is not yet where it needs to be so far so good.

Reacting to the head teacher report, which indicated that all UCE students passed in Result One, with the majority achieving As and Bs,, adding that the new curriculum favours mainly traditional schools like Busoga College Mwiri with all the facilities in place for the learners to acquire vocational skills. 

“The headteacher promised us positive changes, and this high performance is just the beginning, please ensure the school excels even better,” Dr. Rugunda said.

He explained that Busoga College Mwiri means a lot to the nation and ‘us as individuals and we would like to see it excel’.

He commended the school environment, saying it was one of the best and was unequalled in terms of academics and the freshness and ambience, and asked the students to take advantage of it to excel.

Former Premier, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda (R), gestures to the headteacher of Busoga College Mwiri Peter Sibukule, and the school chairman board of directors, Dr. Herbert Kyeyamwa after meeting a team that gave him a report as patron of the school, on Friday, February 21, 2025. (Credit: Eddie Ssejjoba) 

“I’m also extremely happy with the financial management, it is good to hear that we don’t owe people any money, this earns us respect, we don’t want to be a cause of people’s failure,” he stated.

He commended Mushabe for opening up relationships with big schools that are doing well academically.

 On the request for the school to acquire 200 computers, the former premier said it was a legitimate request because learning computer skills were the order of the day.

“I will also get involved and I will have a word with the minister of ICT and the boss of the Uganda Communications Commission because we relate well, I want them to help us acquire these computers,” he assured the team.

He said it was interesting that Mwiri was in a lower band of charging school fees but competing with schools that are charging more money. “Let us remain as cost-effective as possible and deliver,” he said.

Sibukule said the school has 805 students on attendance but was targeting 1,000 this year, with 69 teachers, although 30 teachers were not yet on the government payroll.
   
He said that the quality of learners was improving, and feeding of both students and teachers was good, plus improved welfare for teachers, which he said was one of the reasons the students’ performance had improved. 

Mushabe told Dr. Rugunda that they had increased the number of subscribed OBs from 43 to 600 members by 2024 and so far raised sh110m in pledges and cash. 

He said they had undertaken several projects including sponsoring needy and bright students and providing various equipment to the school.

Through Mwiri League, he said, the OBs converge every month to play games and use it as a mobilization tool.