Cabinet has reversed an earlier proposal to establish the successor to the collapsed private Busoga University as Kiira University, instead approving Iganga University as a new public university for the Busoga sub-region.
The decision, that appears to reopen a politically sensitive debate over regional identity, institutional ownership and the legacy of the defunct university was announced Tuesday by ICT and National Guidance Minister Justine Kasule Lumumba.
It comes weeks after Parliament strongly opposed the proposed name Kiira University during a plenary session on August 27, with Speaker Jacob Markson Oboth-Oboth urging the Government to retain the historical Busoga University identity.
Lumumba stated that Cabinet has now formally settled on Iganga University, while directing the Ministry of Education and Sports to work with the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to prepare the legal instrument required to establish the institution.
Under the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act, 2001 as amended, a public university is established by the Minister responsible for education through a statutory instrument, following a recommendation by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and a resolution of Parliament.
Cabinet’s decision therefore represents a major policy step, but Iganga University is not yet a fully constituted public university merely because Cabinet has approved it. The Minister for Education must still seek Parliament’s approval before the statutory establishment process can be completed.
That distinction is significant because it places the naming question squarely back within a constitutional and parliamentary process in which regional political sentiment, regulatory advice and the Government’s financial commitments will have to converge.
Minister of State for Education and Sports, Peter Ogwang earlier explained that the naming dispute has its roots in the Government’s decision to take over the assets and obligations of the former private Busoga University after its collapse.
Parliament was told in August that the Government had substantially completed the transfer of the institution’s land, infrastructure and other assets and had assumed Shs5.8 billion in liabilities, of which Shs4.6 billion had reportedly been paid. The Government’s earlier position was that the successor institution should be called Kiira University.
The name was backed by advice attributed to NCHE, which argued that retaining the Busoga University name could generate confusion and expose the new public institution to unresolved claims associated with the former private entity.
But MPs challenged that reasoning. For several legislators, Busoga University was an expression of regional identity, and replacing it with a new name risked severing the public institution from the historical and political expectations that had accompanied the Government’s intervention. Third Deputy Prime Minister Rukiya Isanga Nakadama strongly opposed the renaming of the university.“Let Busoga University retain its name so that they don’t lose their identity as a region.”
Kazo District Woman Representative Molly Nawe Kamukama called for the Education Ministry to convene Busoga leaders for what she described as a “candid discussion” over the university’s name.
Mukono County South MP Robert Maseruka went further, questioning why Government could not take over the institution without changing its identity. “If the President is deliberate about establishing a university in every region of Uganda; if Bunyoro has gotten theirs then let Busoga also have theirs.”
Speaker Oboth-Oboth openly questioned the extent of NCHE’s authority over the naming of a public university. The Speaker argued that the proposed name risked detaching the institution from the community it was intended to serve.
“This Parliament strongly advises that Busoga University retains the name,” Oboth-Oboth declared. Cabinet’s decision to settle on Iganga University instead of Kiira therefore represents a significant shift, but it falls short of the Parliament-backed demand to preserve the Busoga name.
Why Iganga?
The Government’s earlier explanation for rejecting Iganga University was that the institution was intended to serve a multi-district area encompassing Iganga, Kamuli and Bugiri, rather than a single district.
Section 25 of the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act provides that the location of a public university is specified in the statutory instrument establishing it, while a branch or campus elsewhere in Uganda may be established with prior NCHE approval.
According to Lumumba, Namasagali will become a constituent college, with marine and fisheries departments, while other inherited campuses will form part of the new university.
Namasagali’s location and the wider Busoga region’s relationship with Lake Victoria, fisheries, agriculture, transport and emerging industrial activity create an opportunity for the university to specialise in areas directly connected to the regional economy.
The University’s mandate could therefore extend beyond conventional classroom expansion into fisheries science, aquaculture, marine and freshwater ecosystems, agricultural value chains, climate resilience, logistics and blue-economy research. Cabinet has committed approximately Shs90 billion, to establish and operationalise the university-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
