By Segawa Elvis William
One of the first things Uganda Christian University did when it was established in 1997 by the province of the Church of Uganda was to give its students their own government.

The campus has a way of keeping the stories of its former leaders alive. Ask around long enough, and you will hear them: the former Guild official who is now in government, another who found his footing in business, another making a difference in civil society, and others who simply went on to build good and meaningful lives.

When you hear enough of these stories, it is easy to start imagining that there is something about the Guild office itself, some hidden advantage that comes with winning an election, as though holding it places you on a faster road to prominence.

There is no shortcut. What happens after the election is more ordinary, and more interesting, than that. The office puts a student in rooms they would not ordinarily enter, asks them to carry responsibilities they have never carried before, and forces them to learn things that are difficult to learn in a classroom. To understand why serving is worth it, you first have to understand what the Guild is, what the role demands, and what begins to change once you are inside it.

An Unusual Kind of Student Government
Uganda Christian University handles student affairs in a unique way that differs from most other universities in the country. We do not just have a student union that engages with the administration from the outside. We have a government with a president, a cabinet, a parliament, and a tribunal, and students hold every position in that management.

That arrangement did not start with a campaign promise or a particularly ambitious student body. It is derived from the university’s founding document, the UCU Charter. Section 46 established the Student Guild, a students’ association governed by a constitution drafted in cooperation with the student body and approved by the University Council. The Guild therefore governs under a university-created and recognised authority.

The Guild Constitution makes this relationship further obvious. It accepts the Charter’s authority and makes its provisions obligatory on subsequent officers and structures. The Directorate of Students Affairs (DOSA) remains in charge of day-to-day student matters, while the Charter establishes the institution as the Guild’s supervising authority. It is a system that prioritises intimacy above confrontation. Students are not only asking those who administer the university to listen to them; the Guild provides them with a platform from which to speak while choices are made.

That helps explain why such a small group carries such a large public voice. The Guild usually has between 65 and 70 officials at a time, yet those officials speak on behalf of more than 10,000 students. The numbers alone tell you something about the role. A few people are being trusted with the concerns, expectations and frustrations of a very large student body.

That relationship has also shaped how UCU handles moments that might otherwise become confrontational. When Vice Chancellor Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi addressed the newly sworn-in 27th Guild Government in November 2024, he spoke about the university’s avoidance of the student strikes that have affected other Ugandan campuses. He explained that the university works with the Guild, rather than around it, to solve problems together. From his very words: “Leadership is a calling from God for a reason and a season.” A Guild office is purposefully designed to be impermanent (temporary). You hold it for a time before someone else takes your place in the chair. What matters, therefore, is what you learn and leave behind while it is yours.

Five Values Behind the Structure
All of this exists inside a specific culture. UCU identifies five values that aim to define university life: Christ-centeredness, servanthood, diligence, honesty, and stewardship. These values become less abstract under Guild government. Servanthood, for example, must resist the urge to enjoy the attention that comes with the job. Diligence must coexist with lectures, tasks, and examinations. When no one is watching, integrity is put to the test, and stewardship is important when the resources in your hands belong to those who have placed their trust in you.

How the Government Is Built
Structurally, the Guild has close to seventy recognised officials at any given time, each with a defined portfolio. Some are elected directly. When the Electoral Commission opens nominations, candidates campaign, and those who win are declared at Nkoyoyo Hall as members of the Guild government.

Most of the other offices are filled through appointment. The Guild president has broad constitutional authority to appoint ministers, deputy ministers, members of the judiciary and the electoral commission. Alongside them are the elected members of parliament, a smaller group of representatives, some of whom may also be brought into cabinet during the term.

What the Office Actually Demands
But the structure is only useful if we also talk about what it feels like to carry it. The easiest way to do that is through people who have actually sat in those offices.

Consider Timothy Kadaga, who oversaw the Guild Run, an annual initiative that raises tuition support for students facing financial hardship. The 2020 edition covered 6 Km around Mukono and attracted Rebecca Kadaga, then Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda, as the guest of honour. More than $6,000 was raised for students in need.

Then there is Timothy Ddumba, the 25th Guild President at UCU’s main campus. Among the many projects his administration worked on, Ddumba founded the First Undergraduate Experience in Leadership programme, which later became the FUEL Movement, an initiative seeking to transform the leadership paradigm globally. Yet the demands of the role did not come at the expense of his academic work. Ddumba went on to graduate as UCU’s best male student, with a GPA of 4.64 out of 5.0.

That, perhaps, is one of the less obvious things Guild leadership demands. You do not stop being a student when you take office. You simply find yourself trying to remain one while carrying something else that needs your attention too.

So What Are These Benefits, Exactly?
This is where the question becomes more practical. Beyond the speeches, the campaigns and the excitement of an election, what actually comes with serving in Guild government?

The answer is not one big prize. It is a collection of smaller advantages that begin to make sense when you put them together. Some are tangible. Others are difficult to notice until the term is over.

One of the biggest is access. The Guild president sits on the University Council, giving a student a seat in one of the university’s highest decision-making spaces. It is an opportunity to see how decisions are discussed, questioned and eventually made, while also having a chance to speak for the students affected by them. That kind of exposure is difficult to get from the classroom alone. You leave university having been part of some of the conversations that shape student life, rather than only experiencing the decisions after they have already been made.

There is also the monthly allowance paid to Guild officers as recognition of the extra load they carry alongside their academic work. The exact amount depends on the priorities of each Guild government, since the Guild’s finances are discussed and approved through its parliament within the resources provided by the university. It is useful, but it is hardly the whole story.

Then there is the Guild trip. Governments traditionally travel together somewhere in East Africa before their term ends, although what happens each year depends on what the budget can support. Like many traditions in student leadership, it becomes part official activity and part shared memory.

For the president, a few things are specific to the role. Male presidents are housed in Nsibambi Hall, while female presidents are housed in Sabiti. When the president is male, the Sabiti room typically goes to the vice president, following an unwritten practice that has long been used to balance things between the two top posts.

At the end of the term comes the certificate. Guild officials receive a certificate of appreciation from the university, signed by senior officials. It is easy to dismiss a piece of paper when you are still attending meetings and campaigns, but years later it becomes one of the few physical reminders that, for one season, you were entrusted with something on behalf of your fellow students.

The visibility of the year itself matters too. Many guild governments design branded attire for their administration, which gets worn at functions and becomes part of how that particular government is remembered. It is a small thing, but campus life is made up of many such small things, and years later they are often what make one term feel distinct from another.

Why It’s Worth Standing For
None of these things is, by itself, a reason to run. The allowance can be spent. The trip ends. The room belongs to the next office holder. Even the certificate eventually finds its way into a file. What lasts is the experience that produced them.

Go back to the beginning. Somebody had to be first. Elly Kansiime, UCU’s first Guild President, entered an office that did not yet have a long record behind it, an office no previous Guild president had occupied at UCU because there was no previous Guild president. 27 governments later, the seat has reached Abraham Elomaboni. Between those two names are thousands of students who have passed through the university, and among them are former leaders now working in civil service, government, private business, civil society and elsewhere, as well as many whose lives never became famous but became good nonetheless.

That, to me, is the better case for standing for Guild office. Not that the office will make you important, and not that an election somehow unlocks a secret route to success. It is that the seat gives you an early chance to carry something that belongs to other people. You learn to prepare, to speak, to listen, to make decisions, to account for them and to keep going when the excitement of the election has passed. You make mistakes while the world is still small enough to forgive them, and you discover strengths you might never have had reason to test elsewhere. Then the office ends, as it must, and you carry the lessons with you into whatever room comes next.

The chair does not make the person. But sometimes, sitting in it teaches the person what they are capable of becoming. 28 governments in, UCU is still waiting for the next person to find out.

The writer, Segawa Elvis William, is an alumnus of UCU who served as UCU’s 27th MP for the School of Business and State Minister for Finance and Planning.

Also read: How the UCU Guild Runs and What Leaders Get