By Irene Best Nyapendi
A week to the International Labor Day celebration on May 1, 2024, Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi received a phone call informing him that the national medal awards committee had vetted and selected him among the people to receive an award. 

“When I received the call informing me that I was among the medal awardees, I was overwhelmed with joy and emotion,” the Uganda Christian University (UCU) Vice Chancellor  said. 

The Diamond Jubilee Medal, which he was awarded at the national celebrations in Fort Portal City, is reserved for people who have made remarkable achievements in leadership in public and private sectors. On that day, Prof. Mushengyezi was among 57 other people who were honored with various medals. The Office of the President has a system of recognizing and rewarding Ugandans who have distinguished themselves in service to the nation with outstanding acts of achievement and heroism. 

UCU Vice Chancellor, A great achiever of humble beginnings

Overwhelmed with joy and gratitude for the honor, Prof. Mushengyezi reflected on his humble beginnings, growing up in a modest rural family where his late father didn’t attend school at all, and his mother stopped in Primary Two. 

He narrated an incident at the age of 11

when he was severely ill and he couldn’t attend school. He was referred to Atapara Mission Hospital in northern Uganda, which was run by Christian missionaries. The medical personnel assured his mother that the facility was the best place to treat his severe condition.

“When we got to the hospital, the doctors examined me and told my mother that if she had not brought me in, I wouldn’t have lived beyond 48 hours,” he said. “When the national medal was pinned on my jacket that morning, I reflected on how far God had brought me. The young boy who was about to die in Primary Five was now receiving a national medal, and this thought evoked emotions in me.”

He wished his late parents had witnessed this moment.

According to Mushengyezi, the medal is a gift from God and a vote of confidence in his diligent service to humanity, and to Makerere and UCU. He acknowledged their role in elevating him to the position of Vice Chancellor that he holds today. 

“This medal is a vote of confidence in me, but also a vote of confidence in our university,” Mushengyezi said during an interview with Uganda Partners in his office at the UCU Main Campus in Mukono. 

“I share the medal with UCU because I am sure I was noticed because of my current position at the institution,” he said. “I also dedicate it to my late mother and my wife who have been a great source of prayer support.”

UCU Vice Chancellor’s Contribution to the education sector

Mushengyezi has dedicated 35 years to the education sector in Uganda, first as a secondary school teacher at Mbarara High School in western Uganda in 1989. He returned to school and made further academic progress, from a Bachelor of Arts degree at Makerere University where he graduated with First Class honors in 1996, to a Doctorate from the University of Connecticut in the USA in 2007. He rose through the ranks at a fast pace, becoming an Assistant Lecturer, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Head of Department, and Associate Professor and Faculty Dean at Makerere University, before joining UCU in 2020 as Vice Chancellor. 

When he came to UCU in 2020 at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, he spearheaded drastic measures to ensure continuity of learning, shifting the university from in-person learning to online studies and assessment. This was a tall order since staff and students had little prior experience with this pedagogical model. His efforts made UCU an exemplary model for online learning in Uganda, attracting study visits from many universities.

As Vice Chancellor, Mushengyezi has led UCU through challenging times financially. He implemented innovative measures to ensure continuity of learning, and with the support of the University Council, he pushed through reforms that enabled the university to cut costs, close unviable units and academic programs, and save significant funds that have been channeled to infrastructure development, staff welfare, digitizing operations, and improving efficiency in service delivery. Under his leadership, UCU has achieved significant milestones in a short time, including purchasing new property and constructing a new block at Kampala Campus without borrowing from the bank. In 2024, he led the Management team to roll out a seven-year Campus Transformation Initiative, with a drive to elevate UCU campuses to international standards in all aspects of university life.

Throughout his career in the education sector at Makerere, Prof. Mushengyezi won and coordinated many research grants and managed partnerships with several universities and international agencies. Before he left Makerere, he and the Dean of Social Sciences (Prof. Andrew State) had just won a $800,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation to establish a Centre of Excellence in Research, Teaching and Learning at the university. He was part of a network of university programs worldwide, including the Norwegian Program for Capacity Development in Higher Education and Research for Development (NORHED), the African Humanities Program funded by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the International Fellowships Program (IFP) of the Ford Foundation, among others.

His efforts also secured a large grant from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) to train teachers to write bilingual books for primary school students under the Universal Primary Education (UPE) program by the Government of Uganda. The project equipped many Primary Schools with reading materials in mother tongue and English in Lira, Alebtong, Gulu, and Iganga Districts. He also initiated several academic modules to teach literature and media for young people at university.

Through Mushengyezi’s passion for community development, he led a team that founded Franciscan Investment Co-operative Society in 2010, a financial institution based at St. Francis Chapel Makerere that grew to 2,877 members and a portfolio of Shs. 26 billion ($6,936,498) by December 2023. While he was a Dean of the School of Languages, Literature and Communication at Makerere University, he founded a staff savings association called Tushirikiane, which has grown to about Shs.1 billion ($266,788) in savings. These financial institutions have transformed the lives of many families and contributed to the government’s programme of eradicating poverty.

“These are things I did out of passion to contribute to the community’s transformation. I did not imagine that because of such engagements I would one day merit nomination for such a distinguished national award,” the UCU Vice Chancellor said.  “I extend my gratitude to the President of Uganda, and all individuals who were involved in the nomination and vetting process for this national medal.”. 

Mushengyezi encourages others to never give up: “Never allow any adversity to kill your vision in life; sometimes life is not a straight line. I had to first pursue a diploma course, become a secondary school teacher and then go to university later. Some things require patience, focus and hard work.”

A Vice Chancellor of a university serves as the chief academic, financial and administrative officer of the institution. He or she advances the university’s mission and vision and ensures compliance with the legal requirements and expectations of the Government of Uganda and its organs. Prof. Mushengyezi is one man who is certainly serving this calling with passion and commitment.

He is married to Patience Rubabinda Mushengyezi and they have four children. They have also raised and supported the education of 14 other young people in their family, and these are now serving the nation in various sectors of the economy.

By Kefa Senoga
When asked to name one contribution she has made in journalism that makes her overjoyed, Assoc. Prof. Emilly Comfort Maractho smiled and straightaway gave the answer: “Reviewing and redesigning the journalism and communication curriculum is one of the proudest things I have ever done in my career and in journalism.” 

Maractho said the revised curriculum was influenced by discussions on “what kind of journalists and communication professionals we want to prepare.”

The curriculum Maractho referenced was “a more practical” one taught within what was earlier called the Department of Journalism and Media Studies.  Then head of journalism in the Faculty of Journalism, Media and Communication (now School of JMC), Maractho had the lead role in the emphasis on practicality when reviewing and redesigning curriculum within requirements of the National Council for Higher Education, which mandates revisions every three years. 

In the revised curriculum, Maractho said they intended to give the journalism and communication students not just the knowledge, but also the skills. For instance, she says, a person needs a solid understanding of economics in order to be a successful business journalist, and that was the thinking behind the introduction of course units like business and economics journalism in the curriculum.

Maractho found herself leading the curriculum review because shortly after obtaining a PhD in 2017, she was named the head of UCU’s Department of Journalism and Media Studies. The previous office bearer, Prof. Monica Chibita, had been promoted to the position of Dean in the then-newly established Faculty of Journalism, Media and Communication.

UCU Empowering Academia Through Leadership

Six years after her promotion to senior lecturer and head of department of Journalism and Media Studies, Maractho has been promoted from the level of Senior Lecturer to Associate Professor in Media Studies. Maractho says that this promotion is more of an acknowledgment of her accomplishments in the spaces of media, communication and development. 

“To be an associate professor, you must have significantly contributed to a particular discipline through research, publications, experience, and the work that you are doing in that field,” says Maractho. She has also written many papers and Chairs the Schools’ Media, Democracy and Development Research Group.

Maractho’s venture into media academia began in 2005 when she took a postgraduate program in environmental journalism at Makerere University, and took shape in 2012 when she moved to Daystar University in Nairobi, Kenya, to pursue a master’s in communication, majoring in media studies. Initially, she studied development studies at Makerere University, where she graduated in 2003 with a bachelor’s in development studies. Thereafter, in 2007, she pursued a masters in development studies in 2007 at Uganda Martyrs University Nkozi.

Maractho says she desired to study journalism at the undergraduate level, but did not secure the points to qualify for a government scholarship. Furthermore, her parents  could not afford to pay for the course on a private sponsorship.

“My mother agreed to pay for a course whose tuition she could afford and development studies was among the cheapest courses; actually, it had the lowest tuition at the university, so I enrolled for that,” Maractho asserts.

Nevertheless, Maractho didn’t give up on her lifelong passion. After her university education, she joined Uganda Electricity Distribution Company limited and did part time work as an editor for the Westnile, a community newspaper whose target audience was northwestern Uganda. That is how she enrolled for a postgraduate course in environmental journalism at Makerere University in 2005.

Since undertaking her Master’s in Communication at Daystar University in Nairobi, Maractho has seamlessly integrated herself into the media and journalism academy. Subsequently, in 2014, she embarked on a PhD in Cultural and Media Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.

Maractho’s May 2024 promotion to the level of Associate Professor coincided with her appointment as chairperson of the board of the African Center for Media Excellence (ACME), a non-profit organization that “occupies the space between the media industry and academic institutions that train journalists.” 

“Our role as ACME is to make sure that there is journalistic excellence, so my job will be to champion the work of ACME, its ideals, and core values, and making the institution live to its full potential,” Maractho said.

She also sits on the boards of Uganda Media Women’s Association (UMWA) and Nation Media Group, Uganda.

She adds that part of her contribution at UMWA was participating in developing a gender-sensitive curriculum that provided training on reporting women’s stories, particularly those concerning domestic violence. She argues that such stories were not being given prominence by the media houses.

Previously, Maractho served as the director for the Africa Policy Centre (APC) at UCU, a think-tank set up by the university to propose policy alternatives to transform communities.

“My biggest achievement at APC was collaborating with the Impact Centre in South Africa to do research on the science granting councils in Africa,” she said. “A science granting council is a governmental body that champions science and technology. For example in Uganda, we have the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology.”

Maractho’s educational journey began in 1984 in Nebbi Town, where she attended Nebbi Primary School and later moved to Muni Girls Secondary School and Mvara Secondary School. All the three schools are located in northwestern Uganda. 

To address Kampala’s pressing waste management challenges, Uganda Christian University (UCU) is pioneering working on and rolling out innovative solutions. Specifically, UCU is working through its research spearheaded by Dr. Ssepuuya Geoffrey from the Department of Food Science and Nutrition in the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences,

The initiative focuses on converting food waste into animal feed, offering a sustainable answer to the city’s enduring garbage problem.

Despite authorized garbage collectors managing to collect 28,000 tons of waste every month, this only accounts for 40% of Kampala’s total waste. “In Kampala, we only collect 40% of the waste,” noted Dr. Ssepuuya. This leaves 60% of waste uncollected, worsening the city’s waste management crisis and contributing to environmental degradation and other public health concerns.

In response to this challenge, UCU’s innovative Food Waste-to-Cricket Feed research aims to revolutionize waste management practices in the city.

The initiative involves distributing specially designed garbage cans to participating households, enabling efficient organic waste collection where each household receives two cans: one designated for boiled food waste and the other for raw food scrap.

This method not only facilitates effective waste management but also converts waste into valuable cricket feed, providing a sustainable solution for waste disposal while promoting environmental conservation.

The conversion process offers a dual benefit: reducing the volume of waste that ends up in dumpsites and producing a high-protein feed for crickets, which are a sustainable source of protein for animal feed and human consumption.

UCU’s Garbage Can Initiative: A Step Towards a Cleaner, Kampala

Vanecio Masereka, who works for Marie Royal Hotel, has requested additional trash cans, emphasizing the program’s significance.

“The two cans we have are not enough, yet they serve a great purpose,” he explained. “Having more cans would help us manage our waste more effectively and contribute to the sustainability efforts.”

Kisaakye Suzan, a resident of Makindye division, has embraced this practice and highlights its potential benefits for her community and beyond.

“They increase our flexibility since the organic foods that add weight to our garbage are taken free of charge,” she shared. “It not only helps us manage our waste better but also supports the environment.”

Patrick Kamya, a restaurant attendant, appreciates the service as it enables him to sort his garbage efficiently and gain insights into food consumption patterns.

“It enables me to know how much food is being consumed or how much food is being littered,” he noted. “This helps us reduce waste and manage our resources better.”

Peace Suubi, an apartment resident, also values the initiative for its economic and environmental benefits.

“UCU giving us garbage cans reduces the costs charged by the garbage collecting companies and increases cleanliness in the surrounding area,” Suubi said.

Dr. Ssepuuya and his team are committed to expanding the program and refining the waste-to-feed process. They aim to create a scalable model that can be implemented across the city and eventually the entire country.

“By converting organic waste into valuable resources, we can address multiple challenges simultaneously: waste management, food security, and environmental sustainability,” Ssepuuya said.

The UCU research team is also collaborating with local authorities and community leaders to ensure the program’s success and scalability. The initiative is part of a broader effort to promote sustainable practices and raise awareness about the importance of waste management and environmental conservation.

As more residents and businesses participate in the program, the collective impact will contribute to a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable Kampala.

The waste management innovation is funded by UCU and the European Union through the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology.

Compiled By: Irene Best Nyapendi

Edited By: Harriet Adong, Communication and PR Consultant at UCU.

Uganda Christian University (UCU) School of Dentistry, together with the Directorate of Research Partnership and Innovation, UCU Partners, Koome Sub- County Local Government, and the Uganda Wildlife Conservation and Education Centre (UWEC), organized a week-long dental and health awareness camp at Koome Seed Secondary School on Koome Island, Mukono district in Uganda from June 5th-8^th, 2024.

This important event addresses the urgent need for dental care in Uganda, where there is only one dentist for every 150,000 people, and many people suffer from oral diseases.

This dental camp, the first ever on the Island, attracted a large number of people from the thirteen Islands of Koome.

Kiyinji Laurence, a local leader, thanked Uganda Christian University for its great work in helping the people of Koome.

“This project shows UCU’s commitment to serving the underprivileged and improving public health in our community,” said Kiyinji.

UCU Dental School offers students a chance to get hands-on experience

The camp offers UCU Dental School students a chance to get hands-on experience as they learn from alumni of Northwestern University’s Dental School in the USA, as well as experienced dentists from Uganda and their own lecturers.

Arnold Katamba a fourth year Dentistry student appreciated the social and practical skills that he attained during the medical camp.

“I learnt to do things I have not been doing practically. We have gained diverse and rich skills during these engagements, I have also learnt living in a community with people and more so the unprivileged” Arnold Jessy Katumba shared.

The outreach is part of UCU’s mission to train students to reach their full potential, live productive lives, and serve others with Christian faith.

Dr. Arabat Kasangaki the Head of Department at the School of Dentistry emphasized the importance of such events. “Oral health is often ignored in many communities, but it is very important for overall health. This camp has not only provided needed treatment but also taught people about dental hygiene and dental disease prevention,” Kasangaki said

Many people, including local government officials, healthcare workers, and volunteers, came together to make this camp a success.  All efforts aimed at improving the health and well-being of residents on the Island.

The camp was inspired by the late Logan Doseck, a Northwestern University Dental School alumnus who sadly passed away before finishing his dental studies.

 Written By: Andrew Bugembe,

Edited By: Harriet Adong, Communication and PR Consultant at UCU.

By Kefa Senoga
Charles Muganga, a final-year student in the Bachelor of Computer Science program at Uganda Christian University (UCU), finds himself deep in agriculture some days. Misunderstanding about what soil nutrients can yield the best crops and how data can clarify that brought him and other peers there.  

When the fertility of the garden soil is poor, farmers get low quality produce. Many working the fields devise means of increasing the productivity of the soil, such as using fertilizers to add more nutrients. To apply the necessary fertilizer, a farmer must know what nutrients are deficient and what their soils need. The smallholder farmers add fertilizers based on experience, what is available on the market or what other farmers recommend. Because of the lack of knowledge of the genetic makeup of the soil, blanket application of fertilizers can lead to wrong nutrients applied to the soil, under fertilization or overfertilization. 

Muganga and other Bachelor of Computer Science students came up with ideas that could empower farmers to increase productivity and profitability by understanding the soil data. The idea was presented at an agricultural technology event — the The Agri-Tech hackathon — hosted in Kampala in May at the Uganda Institute of Information and Communications Technology (UICT).

A hackathon is an event where, mainly computer programmers, come together to solve a problem or identify new opportunities through software programming. The May event brought together hundreds of young innovators from various universities to design digital tools that could help address critical challenges within Uganda’s agricultural sector.

“We came up with a simple testing kit with a data-driven advisory model that can test for the nutrients in the soil and advise the farmers on what kind of crops to plant,” explained Muganga, who teamed up with computer science students from other universities to develop the concept.

The agricultural technology hackathon was held in collaboration with government stakeholders including the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology and National Guidance, the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, and the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC). 

Muganga elaborated that their solution also caters to monoculture farmers who grow a single crop year after year on the same land. He described how their soil-testing kit, which is AI-integrated, can provide farmers with clear guidance, in lay language, on the most effective methods to use to continue sustaining high productivity.

“The AI is intended to avoid using technical terms such as “magnesium” and instead simplify the information for farmers. It will explain the type of manure and the quantity required in practical terms, such as recommending 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of cow dung or chicken droppings,” Muganga explained.

According to government statistics, in 2022, agriculture accounted for about 24.1% of Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product and contributed 33% of the export earnings. About 70% of Uganda’s working population is employed in the agriculture sector. 

According to Uganda’s statistics agency, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), between 2016 and 2020, there was an 8 percent increase in households participating in subsistence agriculture, with many more people switching to the sector during the pandemic as a result of job losses. The country also has an aging farmer profile — 55 percent of the heads of the households that practice farming are over 40 years, while 20 percent over the age of 60 years.

The solution that Muganga, as team leader, and his colleagues pitched earned them a reward of sh2.2 million (about $577).

This hackathon that focused on utilizing technology to address agricultural challenges saw the students from different schools develop digital solutions to tackle challenges in four key agricultural areas — soil health, inputs (seeds and fertilizers), value chain issues (logistics and post-harvest handling) and water management.

The digital solutions incubated at the hackathon are expected to solve key agriculture sector challenges, for instance low uptake of improved agriculture inputs, limited access to suitable financial products and low access to reliable weather information, among others.

Uganda’s Minister of State for ICT, Joyce Ssebugwawo, who attended the hackathon, said innovations, such as those pitched at the event, have the potential to offer long-term solutions for problems in agriculture.

“We must acknowledge the persistent challenges that have hindered our progress like limited access to markets for agricultural products and gaps in technology infrastructure which continue to pose obstacles to our development efforts,” Ssebugwawo said.

The next step for Muganga and other incubators is to actualize their ideas for the benefit of Ugandan farmers.

By Irene Best Nyapendi
The allure of the aroma, taste and alertness boost of coffee has beckoned students of Uganda Christian University (UCU) for quite some time. Recently, they have bowed to the pressure, pleasure and habit through a university coffee club. 

Led by Daniel Karibwije, a lecturer at the UCU School of Business and a patron of the Coffee Club, the organization is being launched more broadly in June. The launch of the club follows UCU’s signing of a memorandum of understanding with Uganda’s coffee agency, the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA). UCDA is mandated to regulate, promote and oversee the coffee industry in Uganda. 

As a lover of coffee, Karibwije says he was disappointed by the absence of good coffee on the UCU main campus, which sparked the idea for him to start a coffee club. In late April, members of the club received barista training, an espresso machine, a grinder, and other resources from UCDA to help them get started.

The club intends to create a platform for students to engage in coffee brewing, host student barista competitions and promote a coffee-drinking culture among the youths in the country. In Uganda, many of the people who grow coffee seek to export it, and they rarely consume it themselves. 

The UCU Coffee Club is located at the UCU incubation club, where anyone can go to learn how to brew coffee or enjoy the beverage. As the club prepared for its June launch, they planned to promote coffee drinking to faculties and those attending graduation ceremonies, among other outreaches. 

The club is not just for coffee drinkers; it’s open to anyone who wants to taste or learn about brewing coffee.

During his teenage years, Karibwije said he regularly interacted with a neighbor working for a coffee exporting company and many foreigners. This sparked his curiosity about their love for coffee. He wondered why they were fond of the beverage. As he acquired more knowledge and consumed the drink, he learned the benefits and health risks of coffee. The beverage has been known to improve brain function and protect against diabetes while causing headaches.

For over 25 years now, on a normal day, Karibwije drinks two to three cups of coffee.

“I love my coffee dark, without sugar or milk and I usually brew it myself,” he explained. “I also drink coffee brewed by other baristas.”

As a member of the UCU Coffee Club, Lydia Natasha Muheire, a third-year student pursuing Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance, has discovered a new passion – brewing coffee. 

Muheire’s previous exposure to coffee was limited to helping her grandparents collect coffee beans in the plantation. 

“I don’t like milk, but mixing it with coffee transforms it into my favorite drink,” Muheire said. “That’s how I fell in love with cappuccino and latte – they offer a delightful aroma and flavor combination.” 

Muheire added: “I was excited to join the coffee club, having always admired baristas and thought about becoming one.” 

Richard Miiro Mutebi, a member of the UCU Coffee Club, was born to small-scale coffee farmers. To him, coffee is something he turned to whenever he wanted or needed to be up later than usual.

“I haven’t always been a coffee enthusiast,” Mutebi said. “However, I often turned to coffee when I needed to stay up late at night because it’s known to boost alertness.” 

Uganda is among the highest coffee exporters globally, and second in Africa. Despite being one of the largest coffee producers in Africa, Uganda’s coffee industry remains largely untapped by its citizens, with only 5% of its coffee being consumed locally. Globally, the highest exporters of coffee are Brazil, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands.