A student leader aiming at East Africa

He tells me he is sorry for keeping me waiting but that I should wait a little longer as he was still meeting some students who had come to explain their tuition problems to him. After about 20 minutes, Mugume emerges out of his office followed by four other students.

Clad in a black suit, dotted maroon tie and white shirt with well-polished black shoes, Mugume wears a smile on his face. He softly asks his secretary to stamp on the letters he had signed on before he ushers me to his office. But before we can even sit down, another student comes in with a letter for signing which he does and later sends him to the secretary for stamping. I ask if we can close and lock the door for a smooth interview but he declines.

“My brother, you will pardon me. This office has to remain open to the people who entrusted me with it. It is not my office but their office,” he says.

Before we finally settle down, his first concern is the neatness of the place. He requests to first put his table in order.

Throughout the interview, students keep coming in amidst interruptions of phone calls mainly from those in need of his help.

Mugume might have emerged the winner after he came ahead of two opponents, Simon Peter Ifuke and Samuel Lubwama but the task ahead of him is big. He is optimistic and determined that he will overcome all the challenges – with God’s help.

The confident Mugume says, he was so sure of winning because he had worked for it tirelessly.

“I am someone who never goes into something unless I am sure of doing it the best way. If you want the best, you have to do your best to get it and that is exactly what I did. I already saw myself as the guild president of a university even when I was joining from my senior six vacation,” he says.

Cut his teeth in a political family
Born on November 13, 1989 at Rukoni, Ruhama County, Ntungamo District to Enoch Baitwa, a veterinary doctor and former local council politician, and Ms Baitwa a business woman in Ntungamo, Mugume is the fourth born in a family of seven children. He might not have thought of joining politics but through the influence of his father several years ago, Mugume also thought he could give it a try.

“My father was a local politician in our village, I was the closest child to him and whenever he went to speak at rallies, I went with him. With time, I thought I could also do the same. I started owning up responsibilities in the community and eventually when time for campaigns started at Kitwe Town Primary School, I stood and won as the head prefect,” Mugume recalls.

Since then, he got courage to go higher and he has never looked back. When he joined secondary school at Mbarara High School, he also became the house prefect and later library and information prefect at Valley College which he joined for his A-Level.

At Uganda Christian University, he is studying for a Bachelor of Laws. While here, he started a mentorship project called the Insider. He was also elected as the President of International Justice Mission UCU Chapter before becoming the Vice President of East African Students’ Association and President of Ntungamo Inter-University Students’ Association.

“When I felt that it was time for me to lead this university as the guild president, I owned up. Because of my diligent service to the students in the previous positions, the voters saw a leader in me and they supported me,” Mugume says.

In life, he believes that people who seek recognition without doing anything to transform the society positively are not worth being leaders. He believes in the slogan; “Walk the Talk” enabled him to convince his fellow students to vote him into office. According to him, most leaders today just enjoy talking and being seen but in the actual sense, they never deliver to the expectations of their voters.

“Great leaders do not get titles in order to serve but rather serve in order to be recognised by being given titles. Serve before you think of being awarded. Serve diligently, purposely with care and without reservations. Most leaders today especially in Uganda just enjoy talking but when you go on the ground, there is totally nothing positive they have done for their people,” he says.

He, however, says there are some leaders who have really served and met the expectations of the people. He says this while pointing out some of the people in Uganda he has looked up to as his role models.

“People like the former Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, His Grace Henry Luke Orombi, Apollo Nsibambi, Eriya Kategaya and Ruhakana Rugunda are some of those leaders I look up to as my icons. They have served faithfully and diligently with a clean record. If you are to follow them up, you will discover that they did this right from when they were young. As young leaders, we should all keep in mind that our kind of leadership today determines our fate tomorrow,” he says.

Mugume also believes that if people want to succeed in life, they must always have a positive mind that they will succeed and work towards it. The student leader says that everyone wants something in life but only those who go for it with a positive attitude are the only ones who achieve what they want.

“When you want something, you have to go for it. In all these, you must keep a positive mind. You are what you think,” he says. He notes that if people want to succeed, they must be willing to listen to others, help, mentor, share ideas, involve them in everything being done and pray for them.

During his term of office, Mugume says he hopes to promote accountability and transparency, serve the interest of the students better, involve the students in the guild affairs, promote their welfare at the university and above all, champion the East African Community (EAC) affairs in higher institutions of learning.

Looking ahead
“I believe as youths, the future is in our hands. We need to think and look beyond our borders. That is the reason I am leading the campaign for the integration of EAC. Once it is realised, there are many opportunities for employment, scholarships, exchange programmes, market for goods among others,” he says.

In his free time, Mugume reads the Bible, spends time with friends and family and jogs. He describes himself as a principled, God-fearing, respectful, foresighted, honest and a kind person.

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