By Ivan Tsebeni
Not very many contenders would love to discuss the aftermath of their elections most especially if they didn’t make it! To others, even meeting their former competitors would be a big burden to bear. Even those who make it to positions of leadership tend not to look back at their former competitors, examples may be everywhere. To Rachel Mirembe Sserwadda and Philip Ayebare Bravo, this seems not to be their definition of politics.
During the Upendo Mikono Fellowship organized by Herbert Bobics, the two former Guild Presidency aspirants at Uganda Christian University [UCU] met and shared tales of the twists, toils and spoils that made up their political contest.
Bobics is the Chief Executive Officer of Upendo Mikono Fellowship, an initiative formed to enlighten youths on leadership and successful stakes of life.
The chat that was moderated by Bobics saw a number of UCU students turn up to listen and learn from their leaders. This was the first ever recorded chat between the two former rival contenders who seem to be turning into friends with the sole aim of fronting students’ needs.
In her talk, Sserwadda admitted that Bravo created a hard time for her as he was known to have a lot of money. This roused prolonged laughter among the audience. Sserwadda said she would use Africa Youth Leadership Forum (AYLF), an organization known for mentoring leaders to iron out tribalism which sometimes plays out in the politics of the university .
“We shall be signing a memorandum of understanding with AYLF on Thursday to ensure students are guided on issues of leadership and politics. We intend to use it to rethink the politics of UCU,” Sserwadda said.
To Bravo, propaganda from the rival camp and his strong love to keep up with his personal values might have caused his failure. He says that he spent days in bed after he realized he didn’t make it.
He however believes he can serve the people even without a position. He revealed that he had a meeting with Sserwadda after the election to forge a way forward for the electorate.
Asked what he would have done if he had gone through, Bravo said he would have one full week off for celebrations as he planned to bounce back to office with positive energy.
“Hah! I Would be so happy. I should have taken off some time to celebrate the victory,” Bravo said.
Much as his supporters have demanded that he contests again in September elections, Bravo seems to be taking a slow pace to respond. He skipped the question when his supporters demanded to know about his plans for the next election.
“For now, I’m concentrating on the School of Business. We have some challenges like the lack of a president, and so we are trying to sort that out . I do not have the best answer to that right now,” Bravo said.
Over 25 students from UCU attended the fellowship which according to the organizer will take place every Tuesday of the week.
For more information, please follow the YouTube channel at ‘Upendo Mikono Fellowship’.
