By Yvonne Mutesi
Members of the UCU 28th Guild government joined the September 26 National Cleaning Day exercise, responding to a resolution passed by the 28th Guild Parliament earlier this month to participate in the national initiative.
Led by the guild speaker Derrick Kakooza and MP Non residents Mark Kaweesa, the student leadership mobilized both guild members and the surrounding community and the 7 start cleaning crew took active ownership of their shared environmental responsibility.
For the Guild members, participating in the exercise offered a different kind of leadership experience. It was leadership that could be seen not from just the parliamentary chambers, but through ordinary tasks: picking litter, sweeping, clearing waste, and working alongside other members of the community.
The significance of the participation also lies in its timing. The Guild had formally committed itself to the exercise through its parliamentary process, making the September 26 activity an extension of a decision taken inside the Guild chamber.
Reflecting on the unexpected magnitude of student involvement, Favour Maombi Veera, MP for International Students, highlighted the sense of unity and shared cause during the exercise:
“Today, the cleaning day was so good. The number of people that I expected… actually really turned out a lot in huge numbers. It gave me time to refresh myself, cleaning, and working together. Actually, I’ve never done this before, but I was so glad to have this experience as well.”
Jesse Julius Ecuru, MP for Agricultural Sciences, emphasized the vital relationship between environmental hygiene and public health standards within student residential zones:
“Cleaning the environment is part of health, and sensitizing about how we can maintain our health comes from good hygiene and sanitation. We have come, we have cleaned the environment, everything is clean, and then it gives us an assurance that our people will live in good health standards. Working with the students and the community has been so amazing.”
Mark Kaweesa, MP for Non-Residents, pointed out that the exercise was a multi-stakeholder venture that aligned student governance directly with municipal leadership and campus cleaning services:
“This was our first initiative as the 28th Guild government and parliament at large in regards to putting in place the orders from the Office of the Prime Minister for National Cleaning Day. We came together and partnered with Seven Stars, the Mukono Youth Council, the Deputy Mayor, engineering students, and other student leaders. We have done well, and I want to assure you that we shall have more cleaning days as the Guild government and Mukono people.”
For the UCU Guild members, therefore, the exercise presented both an opportunity to serve and a reminder that civic responsibility extends beyond organized events.
Derrick Kakooza, Speaker of the 28th Guild Parliament and MP for the School of Law, underscored that a university’s duty to its surrounding ecosystem does not end at campus gates
The UCU community is not just within our gates. It moves beyond the gates to where students live and where they get their foodfor example, Kauga and Bugujju. That’s the UCU community. So we rallied behind the leaders of Mukono and the Guild leaders to make sure that we take part. The community was responsive they cleaned where they stay and packed the rubbish at the roadside for pickup.”
Different students for different faculties also expressed their sentiments on the activity.
“I felt privileged to be working with members of the guild seeing them lead by example and take up this initiative was really humbling” Sahrif Kayondo from the school of Journalism.
Elizabeth Dricciru from the school of Nursing says “ it’s important to keep our environment clean and this helps in preventing break out of diseases which can be controlled and I participated because as a health student I believe I am helping in preventing some of the diseases like Malaria, flu”
Bringing the local government perspective, Margaret Nattabi, Female Youth Councillor for Mukono Municipality and Minister for Social and Community Development Affairs, noted how the partnership solved logistical bottlenecks that previously plagued local sanitation drives.
“Mukono Municipal Council collaborated with UCU students to clean around the UCU community parts of Kauga, Bugujju, main roads, and students’ hostels. Mukono Municipal Council was able to provide a vehicle so that whatever trash or garbage we gathered was put directly into the car and taken away. Ever since these cleanings started, we have had a challenge where trash stays on the road for days, but today, wherever we cleaned, trash was taken immediately.”
Uganda’s National Cleaning Day was introduced in July 2026 through the office of the prime Minister, with the last Saturday of every month designated for communities to come together between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. to clean homes, schools, roads, drainage channels, markets, and other public spaces. Government says the initiative is intended to encourage collective action while building a lasting culture of environmental responsibility.
