As the race for Guild President heats up, we caught up with candidate Bright Atuhaire to find out what got him into the race and what he plans to bring to the presidency, should he win.
By Timothy Okurut
Who is Bright Atuhaire?
Bright Atuhaire is a law student at Uganda Christian University and an aspirant for Guild President. I am a Born again Christian by faith. I believe in leadership more than any other thing. Without good leadership, nothing can go on well.
What’s your leadership background like?
Throughout my journey, as a student in the various schools, I’ve been a leader. In primary, I was a head prefect. In my O-Level I joined King’s College, Budo. I became a leader starting from as low as a dormitory captain. I joined the junior Interact Club. In A-Level I joined Mengo Senior School, I became a class councilor and then I became the Chairperson Council. I went on to the district level in Kampala and I became the Chairperson on the Central Executive Committee Kampala District. All this exposed me, because while there, I was sharing platforms with Guild Presidents of universities.
Why do you want to become the Guild President?
Different professionals, for example lawyers, will always take enough time to practice for their profession. Why does it have to be that when it comes to leadership which is essential, people usually come out of the blue? That’s one thing I always disagree with. I believe that I must have actually been good at what I was coming for and I was ready to take on the training and the mentorship that it needed and here I am.
Briefly tell us your three-point manifesto.
The first point on my agenda is tuition, second is student welfare and the third is effective representation. It’s high time we came up with new ideas. I’m bringing up the car wash. It was organised in Makerere University Business School by the 2018 Guild Government and it yielded results. All the students who are willing to contribute to those who don’t have tuition will come in and wash the cars. The car owners then will give us some money, not for washing their cars; the idea is that they contribute what they can towards someone’s tuition. We can make it interesting. At the end of the day we are able to collect more money because the Guild fund is just not enough.
The Vice Chancellor discontinued student entities from autonomously organising fundraising events. How then will the car wash idea thrive?
The best thing to do is to talk and advocate to the people in authority. The Tuition Run is no longer under the Guild government, that is something we want to change.
Under welfare, what are your key targets?
We want to develop and restructure clubs and associations. Secondly, we want to talk about security and provide a solution to it. We want to light up different places. The way through it is to work with the hostel owners association to actually contribute to the lights themselves.
You have been a leader in the 27th Guild Government (State Attorney), what did you achieve?
I didn’t have that much of a substantial position, mine was to give legal service where it was due. I did my part. Particularly where it came to issues of accountability, I gave my advice.
The 26th Guild President broke electoral guidelines during her campaign, running a car procession on campus and soliciting support from foreign students. What’s your stand on that?
I don’t believe in violation of any rule. That’s not going to happen with us. I’m someone who abides by the rules and the guidelines, there’s no way I would violate that, I don’t even buy it.
Similarly, there were complaints that the 27th Guild budget was enforced with major illegalities. It never had the Parliament’s approval, did you caution the President on this?
Those are procedural errors, they are what they are. The law is what it is, so that was an error. There is no need of cautioning her because she knows, she’s a student of law.
What would you want to achieve most for the government, considering the low Guild budget?
I would want to push for activities that benefit the students, if there’s any activity that benefits the students, I would want to push for that.
