On Friday, Robert Maseruka a third-year student doing a bachelor of Journalism and Communication was declared the 89th Guild President of Makerere University.
Maseruka reached this milestone after winning the hotly-contested race with 2558 votes, beating his closest rival and fellow classmate Hilary Oremo Odwee who managed 2531 while Forum for Democratic Change- FDC’s Akankunda Sabiiti came third with 2334.
Other candidates; National Resistance Movement- NRM’s Baraka Nkoyooyo came distant fourth with 841, Evans Murungi with 189, Andrew Lubinga with 186, Emmanuel Wanyama with 180, Mark Ssebunya 53, and Julius Bigirwa Maxwell came last with 11.
“Gallant intellectuals, I am here to affirm that under the powers of the students, Maseruka Robert is the next Guild President, they fought against us but we are back”, he said
“Am feeling good that I have won the race, it has paid me, I hustled,” a vibrant but soft-spoken Maseruka told this publication on the sides briefly after being declared the winner.
But who is Maseruka
Hailing from Bweyogerere, Maseruka was born on February 28, 2000 to Simon Ssetuba and Joseline Nanfuka and he is the third born in a family of five children.
Maseruka recalls attending several schools including; St. Catherine in Bweyogerere, Kireka Hill infant, Bugema Adventists secondary among other schools where he held different political positions in the different schools he attended. These included chapel prefect, and head prefect in secondary.
He joined Makerere University in 2020 as a privately sponsored student where he was attached to Northcote. Maseruka quickly started engaging in the Political environment. First, he was unanimously elected the class representative in the Presence of their lecturer Robert Madoi.
He later contested for and won the Guild Representative Councilor- GRC of the School of Languages, Literature, and Communication- SLLC in 2022. He however recalls spending much time supporting his friend Alionzi Lawrence who later became the 88th Guild President, beating Hussein Ibra.
It is from Alionzi’s campaign that Maseruka also gained momentum to run for Guild Presidency for the next edition of the Guild elections which he successfully executed, replacing his colleague Lawrence alias Dangote.
After winning the election, Maseruka said that he will campaign for the reinstatement of political parties in the University politics which were banned in 2022 after campaign chaos between FDC and NUP that resulted in the death of a UCU student Betungura Bewatte.
“Gallant Makerereans, what more can we give to this generation than being concerned about matters in this generation? Ours was and will always remain a pro-rata student based. Thank you, Makerere” he posted on his twitter handle
Meanwhile, several NUP leaders took to social media to congratulate their party candidate for the hard-fought win. “Congratulations Comrade Maseruka Robert on your election as Makerere Guild President. We hope Nawangwe will let you serve your fellow students diligently; he seems to have a ridiculous dislike for students & student leaders who don’t associate with the regime!” NUP Spokesperson Joel Ssenyonyi posted