KIU, Main Campus - On Wednesday, December 1st, 2021, over 200 students gathered at the KIU Main Campus, Kansanga, for the Helping Hands for Relief and Development (HHRD) Annual University Students' Conference.  The event themed Accelerating Leadership in Times of crisis, was held at the Iddi Basajjabalaba Memorial Library KIU.

HHRD is an international charitable organization that focuses on relief and development with a commitment to serving humanity by integrating resources for people in need. The conference was conceived to equip student leaders in various universities in Uganda.

The opening remarks were given by the KIU Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mouhamad Mpezamihigo who strongly emphasized the need for Extra resilience in times of crisis to youths and student leaders. 

The first presentation was by Shiek Hamid Byamugenzi a board member at HHRD, who spoke on Leadership in Times of Crisis. He also congratulated KIU for being the first university to conduct virtual graduation in Uganda. He urged students to adjust their mindset, acquire special skills, and refuse to be led without vision and mission in order to succeed in times of crisis.

‘’We need to redefine who we are, our environment, where we are going, acquire special skills, like ICT skills, security skills among others. Mindset adjustment will help us cross over crises,’’ Byamugenzi advised.

‘’We must not accept to be led without a vision and a mission. See things differently and understand circumstances with objectivity,’’ he added.

Dr. Joan Owade, the Head of Department Journalism and Media Studies at KIU gave the second presentation titled, Enhancing Trust on COVID-19 Vaccines. She urged students to avoid misinformation, misconception, and propaganda by investing their time in research and reading information from legit websites and outlets.

‘’Statistics show a high vaccine uptake in developed countries and a low uptake in developing countries especially here in Africa, Uganda and my beloved Kenya inclusive yet propaganda still reigns about the illegitimacy of the vaccines. When you check, the perpetrators have various agendas and majority usually duel on wrong information and misconception,’’ Dr. Joan stated

‘’So let us learn to get the right information, let us use the right channels and sites to get the right information,’’ She advised.

According to Haruna Kibirige, an administrator at HHRD, the Annual university students conference has so far been organized three times in Uganda with an aim of equipping students’ leaders with knowledge on how to handle and manage different situations.

‘’The annual student's conference has been happening in Uganda for the last four years with the 2020 edition being canceled due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and its consequences,’’ Kibirige told KIU News.

“We target student leaders from various universities in Uganda apart from this year where it is only KIU attending due to inconveniences caused by COVID-19. Our main aim is to equip these young leaders with knowledge of handling different situations,’’ he added.

Other members who attended the conference include Mr. Sserebe Ibrahim Executive Secretary to the Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Tajudeen Sanni, a Senior Lecturer at KIU, and student’s leaders.

At the end of the conference students who attended the conference, were awarded certificates.