In a move set to trigger shockwaves across Ugandan households, the government has declared that all Senior Six vacists must undergo a grueling six-month mandatory patriotism and ideological training program at the notorious National Leadership Institute (NALI) in Kyankwanzi.
The bombshell announcement was dropped today by Hellen Seku, the ruthless Commissioner of the National Secretariat for Patriotism Corps (NSPC), during a massive pass-out ceremony of over 1,700 students at Immaculate Heart Girls’ Secondary School Nyakibale in Rukungiri District.
According to Seku, the days of vacists idling at home, partying, or scrolling through TikTok are officially over. The state is stepping in to claim their next six months.
“I can assure you… we agreed with Jaaja (President Museveni) that all Senior Six vacists are going to Kyankwanzi. You’re going to go for about six months,” Seku warned chillingly.
And it’s not just the students who are targeted. In a sweeping purge of ideological “softness,” Seku revealed that headteachers, teachers, and coordinators who have been dodging patriotism training will be forcefully dragged into refresher courses.
“We want everybody to undergo the training,” she declared.
The state’s aggressive revival of this controversial program aims to inject a “dose of ideology” into a young generation it views as undisciplined.
To give a taste of what awaits the upcoming batch of vacists, Gadgar Kibayo Arinitwe, the headteacher of Makobore High School, recounted his own 1993 Kyankwanzi experience. He explicitly recalled being drilled on the “10 Commandments of a gun,” which included a strict rule against mixing alcohol with rifles.
The just-concluded training in Rukungiri subjected students from Immaculate Heart, Karoli Lwanga Institute of Health Sciences, Kinyasano Girls’, and Makobore High School to punishing early morning parades, UPDF military-style drills, and intensive indoctrination sessions led by high-ranking military brass, including Brig. Gen. Justus Rukundo.
The NSPC is aggressively expanding its tentacles far beyond traditional schools. Backed by the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba—who is actively deploying UPDF instructors on demand—the state is hunting for young minds across all sectors.
Seku proudly noted that the program has already swept up boda boda riders, who were shipped off to Kaweweta for training, as well as Ugandans returning from South Africa.
“This is the time when this country needs an ideological direction for everybody,” Seku insisted, weaponizing Article 17, Clause 2 of the Constitution to state that patriotism training is a mandatory civic obligation. She went as far as demanding that medical students and nurses stop focusing solely on treating diseases and instead become “doctors of ideology.”
While local officials like Rukungiri Deputy RDC Wilberforce Ongom Ahimbisibwe praised the drills for teaching youth to fight corruption and stay out of wetlands, the massive logistical scale of hosting thousands of teenagers for half a year under military supervision is bound to spark furious debate among parents nationwide.
The countdown has begun. For Uganda’s S6 vacists, the next stop isn’t university—it’s the unforgiving terrain of Kyankwanzi.
