20 years later, journalist Rumanzi resits S6 to change judiciary

Senior Six (S6) national examinations started amidst a drizzle in Ntungamo District on Monday with a renowned 38-year-old journalist resitting his Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) finals after 20 years.

Perez Rumanzi, a Daily Monitor correspondent in the Ankole Sub-Region, is amongst Kyamate Secondary School’s 165 candidates for the 2023 academic year.  

The father of three is looking to improve results posted as he scored 13/25 points, offering History, Economics, Literature and Geography (HEL/G) in 2003 before the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) changed the grading system around 2015.

“Now, I’m taking History, Literature and Divinity/ICT. Three major things forced me to go back to school. One is that I want to be a professional lawyer to change the face of the judiciary since the one we have is rotten due to corruption.

Rumanzi’s second reason follows his appointment as the Ntungamo Lions club youth coordinator, thereby tasked to address youth matters.

“Thirdly, I was not serious while studying many years ago according to how I perceived the syllabus but now things have changed for a human being to understand the global issues,” he observed of his past results as he studied at St Gerald’s SS Nyakibare in Rukungiri District.

Speaking to Monitor before his first exam on November 13, Rumanzi said he is “challenging himself in line with his childhood dream of becoming a lawyer and advocate for justice for society’s poorest often undermined in courts.

He also has dreams of helping his country overcome case backlog.

“I took a case to court in 2016 but up to now I have never received a judgment. I also have many civil friends who are also crying and lamenting. Going back to school will shape me to be relevant and cause change in the system,” Rumanzi remarked.

The newsman previously posted 31 aggregates in Senior Four UCE exams at Kabwohe Secondary School in 2001. He would later join UMCAT School of journalism in Kampala before obtaining a diploma in journalism at Makerere Business Institute, and later- a diploma in peace media and counter terrorism after online studies at Park University in California.

Seeking to get a bachelors degree, Rumanzi many years ago enrolled at Makerere University but abandoned the course due to what he termed as “financial problems.”

“There are some pertinent issues I had failed to tackle at certain levels. I have to rectify those errors for a degree before going for masters,” he said.

Rumanzi is optimistic to score the current maximum 20 points.

“This will act as an eye opener for students to understand that there are some challenges beyond what they think and a show of possibility to other people like me who fear going back to school because of they fear laughing at them.

Recently, he went for night prayers in Kibeho Rwanda in order to excel in the forthcoming exams.