The Vice President, H.E Jessica Alupo has urged student leaders across the country to embrace ideological education in order to solve societal problems in their respective communities. She made the remarks while delivering a lecture to over 800 student leaders from various institutions of higher learning who are undergoing a two-week patriotism training program at Nkumba University.
She warned that without proper ideological orientation, the young people and all citizens for that matter are bound to lose direction and be completely off target. “Getting lost or being unsure of what to do is a recipe for danger. A citizenry that is lost or confused is bound to face more danger or cause harm to themselves and society,” H.E Alupo said.
H.E Alupo emphasized that it is necessary for leaders to undergo ideological orientation to understand where Uganda came from, where it is and where it’s going. “Ideology is a compass that gives leaders direction so that they are not manipulated by the negative forces. It is imperative that leaders continuously get oriented on the correct ideology based on the facts and truth,” the Vice President said.
Making reference to Proverbs 4:23 and Philippians 4-8, the Vice President appealed to student leaders to be careful about how they think, because their lives are shaped by their thoughts, “My brothers and sisters fill your minds with things that are good and deserve praise, truth, noble, rightly pure, lovely and honourable,” she said.
H.E Alupo noted that she was happy that the secretariat of patriotism realizes that the best way to inculcate values and norms of patriotism and mindset transformation is through ideological courses for reorientation.
She asked the student to significantly appreciate the fact that the founders and fathers of Uganda’s revolution chose a life of sacrifice even when they were very young people led by H.E Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. “They did this, not out of adventure but rather they sacrificed because they were convinced. The conviction was a result of making efforts to study the situation of their time to understand why some of the challenges had to come about,” she said.
In his remarks, the Commandant of the Oliver Reginald Tambo School of Pan African Center of Excellence and Leadership, Kaweweta Col. Justus Rukundo urged student leaders to adopt effective patriotic methods of work and best practices in their endeavors. “You see something wrong but you want to keep quiet because you want to be known out of it, and you will never solve any problems or make any meaningful decisions as a leader,” Col. Rukundo said.
The training program which was organised by the National Secretariat for Patriotism Corps (NSPC) under the stewardship of Commissioner Hellen Seku and State House Uganda, commenced on January 3, 2025, with the aim of equipping student leaders with the necessary leadership skills and knowledge to become informed and patriotic leaders of tomorrow. President Museveni and the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Maama Janet Museveni will officially close the training on January 17, 2025.