KIU, Western Campus – Brian Rwotomiyo was last week sworn in as KIU Western Campus’ new Guild President. We sat down with him to have a chat about his plans for his term of service.

Congratulations upon being voted Guild President. What does this vote of confidence mean to you?

I am overwhelmed with joy. This vote of confidence to me is an expression of the trust that people have in my leadership. I rose up from the position of the Guild speaker to now the Guild president, and that to me implies the few months for which I worked as the Guild speaker gathered for me more trust.

Why did you decide to run for this office?

Well, I decided to run for the position of the Guild president because I have a strong ambition to achieve in leadership.

What are your plans for the Guild Union and students’ body?

I trust that this government will bridge all the gaps which could have existed before between the student leadership and university administration. I also expect to see sucessful people come and give guidance and motivation to the young people, organise various events to bring young people together and fight mental health challanges, promotion of sexual and reproductive health and rights, inter-university relationships, access to youth opportunities for our students, promotion of the different cultures and above all, increasing in every student the love for this country and our university and that understanding that violence and civilisation are antithetical concepts.

How do you intend to implement your plans?

I do believe so much in unity to be the greatest source of strenght.  And in all our approaches we shall put peace and dialoque at the fore front. I do have a strong cabinet and presidential advisors of vast experience. I have taken my time to properly understand the university policies, and to me those are things that matter the most as we talk about the implementation.

What do you think the administration can do for your government to help you achieve your planned goals?

First of it all will be the financial support towards our activities and offering us the opportunities for open discussions with them. I would like to thank the Deputy Vice Chancellor KIU-WC for always offering such platforms to speak up.

At the end of your tenure, how would you like to be remembered?

I am very sure that my good leadership shall determine how people will remember me.

What is the role of the selected cabinet officers and presidential advisors in this government?

There are constitutional duties that have been outlined for each of the ministers and I guess it’s obvious that the presidential advisors have to advise me. 

What do you think are the pressing challenges the students face which you intend to help them with?

The issues of the students are quite many but not too difficult to be solved. The most common of it all is the financial issues like tuition, food and rent. What I have in mind is to tender a request to the Chairman Board of Trustees to permit the Guild union to recommend a limited number of students to join the university bursary scheme and enable us to establish the KIU Guild Trust Fund that shall enable us lobby for resources that we shall use to support the struggling students with food and rent.  
The other issue may be the challenges of Reproductive Health. I wish to set it right through the support of O3 PLUS, a project being supported by UNESCO. 

What is your message to the entire students’ body at KIU Western Campus?

I would like to unapologetically say that KIU is the biggest university in the country and has accelerated many dreams that most universities combined together have never done. So lets keep exploring that heights and believe that it is all possible.  We can bring changes to Africa entirely and it all start here.