General
New Electoral Commission Inducted ahead of Guild Polls
A new Electoral Commission, EC, has assumed office following a Swearing in and Induction ceremony at Makerere University Senate building held on 16th February 2015. The EC is chaired by Roy Ssemboga, who scooped 43 of the 76 votes to become Chairperson in a highly contested race held at the College of Engineering Design Art and Technoloy, CEDAT, on 11th February 2015. Sarah Aseru took over the Vice Chairperson slot, Vivien Kawule is in charge of Finance, Kevin Obiya is the General Secretary and Dennis Okori will handle the Public Relations. According to Benson Chark, the Guild Speaker, the voting of the Electoral Commission office bearers was smoothly conducted with no petition thus far.
This team is tasked with organising the upcoming 81st Guild elections of Makerere University, scheduled for early March 2015.
In his acceptance speech, the fresh-in-office Chairperson pledged to deliver a clean electoral process. “This is the strongest team you will ever have. We have great team work and will serve without fear or favour to take Makerere Universityto great heights. I am confident of each and every member of the EC since I have worked with them before and can attest to their competence,” assured Ssemboga.
So far six candidates have expressed interest in vying for the top post of Guild President and each of them is already laying strategies of winning the election. Their posters can be seen various strategic places at the Main campus.
The swearing in ceremony of the EC was witnessed by a number of Staff of Makerere University including representatives from the Office of the Dean of Students, the Wardens of the various halls of residence, the Makerere University Public Relations office, Rev. Canon Geoffrey Byarugaba- Ag. Chaplain St. Francis Chapel and Rev. Father Josephat Ddungu- Chaplain of St. Augustine Chapel.
The Dean of Students, Cyriaco Kabagambe urged the Electoral Commission to observe the constitutional provisions at all times. “I urge you to stay neutral and make use of the relevant offices in Makerere University when you need guidance. The work you are going to embark on is service to humanity and when you do it well, you will be remembered for it,” he said.
The Deputy Dean of Students Stephen Kateega cautioned the EC to stand out from the crowd. “Leadership carries a number of challenges. This job demands trustworthiness, straight forward dealing, faith and truth. Be straight from the onset. If anything goes wrong, you will make headlines,” he said.
Rev. Byarugaba drew from his experience to inspire them, “As a former Returning Officer, I urge you to be responsible, develop a detailed roadmap, pay attention to all the details and most importantly document all the processes. This will help you at all times,” he emphasised.
Other Makerere University Staff in attendance cautioned the EC to be organised ahead of time, avoid last minute panicking, set and abide by guiding principles, account for public funds, prevail over the process and set clear guidelines on who the eligible voters are. To close the ceremony, the Chaplains in attendance prayed and blessed the EC.
Article by Marion Alina
By Agnes Namaganda
On July 22nd 2022, Makerere University–Child Health and Development Centre (Mak–CHDC) launched a draft manual for the National Parenting Standards. The Centre has been working together with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) with funding from UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund), to develop standards that are agreeable to all organisations in the country that are involved in parenting work. The draft manual was being presented to members of a consortium that brings together all these organisations together, called the Parenting Agenda Consortium.
“We produce many documents and they are shelved,” Irene Ayot Chono, who was speaking on behalf of UNICEF said. “We hope that this document will not be one of them,” she emphasized.
Dr. Godfrey Siu, the Principal Investigator from Mak-CHDC who presented the draft manual to participants, emphasized that if any organization is doing parenting work, there should be a minimum package that they should offer.
Draft Manual Content
The manual which will have several modules. These modules will be delivered face-to-face in 1.5 hour sessions. Some of these include; Module 6 which will focus on “understanding responsible masculinity and fatherhood” and on “understanding the concept of head of family.”The draft manual also proposed that Module 11 focuses on Parenting in the 21st Century. Some of the sessions in this module will include Children and Technology, Contemporary Influence on Children and Modernity, Culture and Morality.Module 9 will focus on Parenting for Adolescents and some of the suggested sessions within this module are Needs for Adolescents and The Art of Communicating with Adolescents. Module 5 will focus on Preventing Violent Parenting and Promoting Alternative Discipline Strategies while Module 10 will be about Parenting to Address the Mental Health for Children and Adults.
Participants’ suggestions
After the presentation, participants raised several suggestions for discussion and consideration. These included whether there should be a module on spirituality since Uganda is a strongly religious nation. There was also the concern of how children in remand homes should be parented. Another concern raised by a participant was as to whether teachers who make an undeniable contribution to parenting, should be taken through the parenting manual.
In her closing remarks, Ms. Juliana Naumo Akoryo, the Director of Cultural Affairs at the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) said that the manual is for the parenting organisations to utilize and not for MGLSD.
Ms. Chono also adjured the team behind the manual to use picture illustrations in the manual that can be relatable by the Ugandan parents.
Contact: Agnes Namaganda – agnesvioletnamaganda@gmail.com
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