By Dr. Rumanzi Benita Bushari
Former MP Aspirant, Rukiga County | Director, Africa Population Institute
I was born on 7th November 1980. By age five, I became a child of war. In January 1986, as the National Resistance Movement liberated Uganda, my father, Mzee Fredrick Bushari, carried my siblings and me on shoulders and shoulders of neighbors fleeing Muhanga Town Council, then Kabale, to my grandmother’s village for safety. That was the Uganda before NRM.Months later, we returned home to celebrate. For the first time, we danced without fear. In 1987, I walked to Nyeikunama Primary School in a Uganda that was finally at peace. That peace became my foundation. From Bukinda Secondary School to Kigezi College Butobere, then to Makerere University in 2000 on government sponsorship, I graduated in Social Sciences, Economics & Rural Economy. Later came an MSc in Population & Reproductive Health, and now I pursue a Doctorate in Education Administration all under an NRM government that made education a right, not a privilege.
Kyankwanzi Cadre 35 sealed my conviction. There, I understood the NRM’s ideology: patriotism, Pan-Africanism, socio-economic transformation, and democracy. I fell in love not with a party, but with a vision. As an NRM youth winger at Makerere, I founded the Makerere University Bakiga Students Association, uniting students from Kigezi, Bunyoro, and Tooro. Our cultural gala stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Nkoba za Mbogo and Basoga Nsete. More critically, we supported State House to peacefully resolve the Kibale Rulemera LC5 tensions in Bunyoro proof that organized youth are pillars of stability.
Before 1986, Uganda endured 8 presidents in 23 years a cycle of coups, Amin’s terror, and Obote II’s
turmoil. Under H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, we have had 40 years of uninterrupted peace. That is the
NRM’s greatest gift: stability. Look at Uganda today. At the heart of East Africa, blessed with freshwater lakes, mountain ranges, and equatorial climate, we are now the region’s food basket and political anchor. The UPDF keeps peace beyond our borders from Somalia to South Sudan. UPE, USE, and the Students’ Loan Scheme have democratized education. Women’s emancipation, infrastructure, ICT, and health have transformed millions of lives like mine.
As we celebrate 40 years and H.E. the President’s 7th term, I salute his visionary stewardship. The next frontier is clear: consolidate these gains by defeating corruption and accelerating our leap to middle-income status. This requires cadres of integrity in policy and decision-making spaces. As Director of Africa Population Institute, founder of Kiga College Bushari, and Mama Africa International School, I have lived the NRM promise that even a village child from Rukiga can rise to educate generations. The enabling environment created by NRM has allowed institutions like ours to complement government in skilling Uganda.
We are not just celebrating history. We are custodians of its future.
For God and My Country.
Dr. Rumanzi Benita Bushari
Patriot | Educator | Nation Builder
Tel: +256 772 836998, Email: rumanzibenny@yahoo.com
