The Democratic Party Spokesperson, also doubling as the President of the Uganda Young Democrats (UYD), Ismail Kirya, has said that the party is taking Makerere University to court for infringement of students’ rights in the past concluded guild elections.

While speaking to the members of the press on March 19, 2024, at City House in Kampala, Kirya said that the past Makerere Guild elections were not fair because they didn’t give the contestants the freedom to campaign, mobilise voters, and belong to political parties of their choice.

“We are going to challenge the university statutes in two weeks, which ban freedoms of expression, assembly, association, and political groups,” Kirya said.

Makerere held guild elections on March 7, 2024, with 16 candidates, and Nup’s Nsamba Lubega won the elections. However, the UYD and DP leadership were dissatisfied with the mode of elections introduced since 2022, where students are voting online, and according to Kirya, the politics have turned out to be silent and dull.

“We, as UYD, are going to challenge the statute, which bans freedoms of association, belonging, and assembly. We are in touch with our lawyers, and in two weeks we shall take action. We want the court to take action and tell us where Makerere got the powers to ban freedoms of association in the university,” Kiirya noted.

In the past, Makerere University has nurtured and produced many leaders in Uganda because of the exposure the university gives them to active university politics. With the ban on campaigns and party politics in the institution, many are sceptical that the once great institution is heading towards producing dull leaders, not aggressive and tested by the experience university campaigns bring to the personalities of guild candidates as it has been in previous years.