By Kefa Senoga
To graduate at Uganda Christian University (UCU), it is not enough to pay full tuition and pass all the exams. A student has to show proof by clearing with the different departments at the university, before they join the graduation list. And this clearance requires the physical presence of students at the offices of the students guild, finance, hall of residence, UCU Alumni and library, among others. This is something that Ddumba Timothy, UCU’s new Guild President, wants to change.
“The process of clearing for graduation is quite lengthy, needing students to travel back to the university,” Ddumba said, promising the university’s students that he already has a solution.
“Where the finalists are, is where we should be,” he said during his campaigns, noting that they are in advanced stages of setting up a digital clearance platform, so that a final-year student can be able to clear virtually, and only turn up at the university for graduation. Should Ddumba see his proposal through, it will be a game changer for UCU’s final-year students.
Ddumba, a second-year student of Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, won the November 18, 2022, elections for the position of UCU Guild President, defeating his rival, Jorem Edonu, by 190 votes. The winner polled 1,515 votes, against Edonu’s 1,325. Ddumba becomes UCU’s 25th Guild President, in a year the institution is celebrating its silver jubilee. He takes over from Mirembe Racheal Sserwadda. When Ddumba was announced winner, Edonu, who was also in the room, congratulated him with a hug.
“What makes online voting user-friendly is that an international student can also participate; for instance, someone from Kenya who is not in school can also vote,” Sekiziyivu Daniel, one of the members of the university’s electoral commission, said.
Ddumba’s victory in the third virtual elections at UCU means that for the first time in four years, the university will have a guild president outside the School of Law. Due to the Covid pandemic, UCU started a virtual online voting process for its student leaders in 2020.
Ddumba, who received significant support for the campaigns from his family and friends, promised to be a guild president who stands for the interests of the students.
“During my reign, the students will feel the benefit of our government. We shall not stop encouraging them to approach us with the different ideas that they have in mind, to make UCU a better place,” Ddumba said, adding: “We shall open doors for students to know how their money is being spent and used by the guild government.”
The new Guild President called for unity among the students who contested and urged the winners to show magnanimity, stressing that “we are one family in the UCU community.”
Before UCU, Ddumba attended the elite King’s College, Budo, where he was the head prefect. He says Budo was the cradle of his leadership growth because, through his leadership at the school, he learned to communicate, and to manage people.
