Alexandra Kamatsiko. COURTESY PHOTO
Alexandra Kamatsiko, a 21-year-old second year Bachelor of Laws student at Makerere University is eyeing the Makerere Law society presidential seat. If elections scheduled for Wednesday, March 27 end in her favor, then she will be the society’s first female president in 22 years.
Her only other opponent is Denis Nyanzi, also a second-year Bachelor of Laws student.
The society last had a female president, Sheila Braka Musiime in 1997.
Heading the law society is not an easy feat but the eloquent and confident Kamatsiko says that it is a challenge she is willing to take on.
Clad in a black blouse, tucked into black pants she strikes a serious demeanour that is occasionally softened by her smiles when she talks about subjects she is passionate about.
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Central to her campaign, is a cause to raise funds for the law society that she says has a history of ending projects half way due to lack of financial resources.
Kamatsiko says that to have self-sufficient funding for the society. For the society to guarantee peak performance, a certain degree of financial autonomy is required.
“We need to wire our activities and projects to a cause central to social justice needs which both encourages donor funding and gives students a practical outlook into the legal course,” she says.
With deep admiration for the current president Kenneth Kiapi, she argues that the Amicus app he designed would also be a good place to secure funding.
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“I want to grow that app so that it becomes a trademark for the Makerere law society. It will serve as motivation for first-year students to pay a subscription, availing a wide range of material to students and also works of our lecturers. The general idea of the app can be sold beyond the confines of the university to get other legal institutions and law schools on board. With all traffic, it makes economic sense to create ad space for advertising and in turn remit a certain fee to replenish our treasury.
Daniel Nyanzi is also eyeing presidency. COURTESY PHOTO
Kamatsiko is also concerned about student’s welfare, especially mental health and plans to work on this during her term.
“My goal is to raise awareness through a mental health campaign and program to provide public knowledge on the subject.”