A total of 187 Rwandan students studying at Kampala University (KU) are set to miss the institution’s 16th graduation ceremony scheduled for March 7 (tomorrow) due to the raging tension between governments of the two neighbouring countries.
Addressing journalists at the university main campus in Gaba, Kampala, on Tuesday, KU Vice-Chancellor Prof Badru Dungu Kateregga said most students have already communicated to his office that they will not attend the graduation ceremony.
“Most students who had gone back to Rwanda will not attend the graduation because they have already communicated to the university management. We pray for them that as the graduation approaches, the situation is calm,” Prof Kateregga said.
He, however, added that the students will graduate in absentia even if they are unable to attend the ceremony and will receive their academic certificates any time
Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister Richard Sezibera told a press conference in Kigali yesterday that the government “strongly advises” Rwandans against crossing into Uganda.
The ceremony will see 3,352 students (60.1% male) and (39.8% female) awarded certificates, diplomas and degrees in various programmes.
Of these, 1,820 are Ugandans and 1,532 are from Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, South Sudan, Burundi, Ethiopia and Liberia.
He said that the graduands have been studying at all the six campuses of the university.
The graduands are from the faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Arts and Social Sciences, Education, Industrial Art and Design, Natural Science and School of postgraduate students.
Queen of Buganda Sylvia Nagginda will be the guest of honour and Prof George Mondo Kagonyera will preside over the graduation ceremony.
Rwanda’s foreign affairs minister Richard Sezibera on Monday accused Uganda of hosting its armed adversaries, restricting movement of Rwandan goods on its territory and tormenting its citizens.
“The problems that Rwandans are facing in Uganda currently are three: Rwandans are arrested, tortured, harassed in Uganda…[and] those that are not arrested, harassed, detained are deported for reasons which we don’t understand.
“There are armed groups, individuals who head armed groups that are opposed to the government of Rwanda, that have a violent agenda towards Rwanda who operate in Uganda [such as] the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) [and]…these are groups that have carried out (criminal) acts here in Rwanda and are based in Uganda; and, the third is the challenge related to the free movement of Rwandan goods across Ugandan territory,” he added.
