The daughter of the late Brig. Gen. Patrick Kankiriho has won the Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) guild presidential election.

Daisy Arinda, who stood as an independent, was declared the winner on Friday (May 3) after defeating two other candidates.

Arinda, who is a second-year Civil Engineering student, now becomes the 36th guild president and 3rd female guild president of MUST.

She hashtagged her campaign poster #Brillance in Unity.

The race attracted: Wilson Mugazhu from the National Unity Platform party and Joseph Kisitu from the Uganda Young Democrats, which is the Democratic Party’s youth wing.

Agriculture minister and Kibale East MP Frank Tumwebaze was one of those who took to X to congratulate her upon winning the election.

“Thank you for making your late dad Brig Gen Kankiriho proud,” the minister said, sharing a photo showing a delighted Arinda draped in the national flag after winning the election.

The late Kankiriho, who was the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Second Division Commander, died in April 2013 at Nakasero Hospital in Kampala aged 52. 

The UPDF reported the former bush war fighter died from multiple organ failure after suffering from liver and heart complications for three years. 

Survived by four children and a widow, Deborah Kyokunda, Kankiriho was buried at his home in Burimbi, Kiruhura district.