Join security agencies, Museveni advises students
Jan 22, 2009
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday passed out 485 cadres, 391 of them students of Nkumba University.
By Milton Olupot
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday passed out 485 cadres, 391 of them students of Nkumba University.
The cadres, who had been undergoing training at the campus ground for the last three weeks, covered military drills, military science and political science.
Museveni inspected a guard of honour mounted by the cadres, before witnessing a march-past parade.
A selected number of cadres demonstrated their knowledge in dismantling and re-assembling an AK-47 rifle.
The President invited the students to join security agencies like the army and the Police when they complete their studies. “
I am happy to learn that you want to join UPDF when you finish your courses. You are welcome,†he said.
Museveni also argued that charging foreign university students higher tuition fees was discriminatory and should be discouraged. “The fees should be standardised. We should not have discrimination among students, it is bad business,†he said.
The President was responding to a request by G.W. Rembo, the guild president, who appealed for standardisation of fees.
Museveni blamed the division of Africa for the persistent poverty in the continent and stressed the need for the East African countries to integrate in order to create bigger markets that will stimulate development. He reiterated that regional integration was a key to transformation in Africa.
“Once you are a bigger market, you are more attractive to investors.â€
Museveni said Africa has for long been divided and this was why it was colonised by the West.
“Unity is strength. Unity will enable us compete with others,†he said, adding that Americans had gone to the moon and China, Russia and India had followed.
“A black man cannot be secure unless we unite. For now, we are like ants that can be sprayed (with pesticides) any time and they all perish,†Museveni warned.
The Nkumba vice-chancellor, Prof. Paul Mugambe, who welcomed the President on his first ever visit to the university since its inception over a decade ago, thanked the Government for granting the institution a charter.
He said cadre training was an annual event, adding that three others had been conducted in the last three years. “We aim at blending academics with national consciousness by instilling in the students a strong sense of responsibility and community service,†he said.
Mugambe appealed for financial assistance from Government to enable the university complete construction of the library and the health centre projects.
He thanked the Government for its assistance to the university, especially in the Oluwoko Malaria Research Project and for donating a bus to them. Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire, one of the facilitators of the course, said the problem with Africa was people who do not want to seek knowledge, but want to seek leadership.
Entebbe mayor Steven Kabuye urged other universities to start similar cadre courses.
Present was Lt. Col. Ndahura Atwooki, the deputy political commissar and Sarah Bananuka, the Entebbe deputy resident district commissioner.
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday passed out 485 cadres, 391 of them students of Nkumba University.
The cadres, who had been undergoing training at the campus ground for the last three weeks, covered military drills, military science and political science.
Museveni inspected a guard of honour mounted by the cadres, before witnessing a march-past parade.
A selected number of cadres demonstrated their knowledge in dismantling and re-assembling an AK-47 rifle.
The President invited the students to join security agencies like the army and the Police when they complete their studies. “
I am happy to learn that you want to join UPDF when you finish your courses. You are welcome,†he said.
Museveni also argued that charging foreign university students higher tuition fees was discriminatory and should be discouraged. “The fees should be standardised. We should not have discrimination among students, it is bad business,†he said.
The President was responding to a request by G.W. Rembo, the guild president, who appealed for standardisation of fees.
Museveni blamed the division of Africa for the persistent poverty in the continent and stressed the need for the East African countries to integrate in order to create bigger markets that will stimulate development. He reiterated that regional integration was a key to transformation in Africa.
“Once you are a bigger market, you are more attractive to investors.â€
Museveni said Africa has for long been divided and this was why it was colonised by the West.
“Unity is strength. Unity will enable us compete with others,†he said, adding that Americans had gone to the moon and China, Russia and India had followed.
“A black man cannot be secure unless we unite. For now, we are like ants that can be sprayed (with pesticides) any time and they all perish,†Museveni warned.
The Nkumba vice-chancellor, Prof. Paul Mugambe, who welcomed the President on his first ever visit to the university since its inception over a decade ago, thanked the Government for granting the institution a charter.
He said cadre training was an annual event, adding that three others had been conducted in the last three years. “We aim at blending academics with national consciousness by instilling in the students a strong sense of responsibility and community service,†he said.
Mugambe appealed for financial assistance from Government to enable the university complete construction of the library and the health centre projects.
He thanked the Government for its assistance to the university, especially in the Oluwoko Malaria Research Project and for donating a bus to them. Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire, one of the facilitators of the course, said the problem with Africa was people who do not want to seek knowledge, but want to seek leadership.
Entebbe mayor Steven Kabuye urged other universities to start similar cadre courses.
Present was Lt. Col. Ndahura Atwooki, the deputy political commissar and Sarah Bananuka, the Entebbe deputy resident district commissioner.