Cabinet has abandoned plans to establish Kiira University as the successor to the defunct private Busoga University, instead approving the creation of Iganga University to serve the Busoga sub-region.
The decision was announced on Tuesday by ICT and National Guidance Minister Justine Kasule Lumumba, bringing a new twist to a dispute that has raised questions about regional identity, institutional ownership and the future of the assets left behind by the collapsed private university.
Cabinet has also directed the Ministry of Education and Sports to work with the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to prepare the legal instrument required to formally establish the new public university.
“After discussing the matter, Cabinet agreed on Iganga University as the public university,” Lumumba said.
The decision follows a heated debate in Parliament on August 27, when legislators rejected the Government’s earlier proposal to name the institution Kiira University.
Speaker of Parliament Jacob Markson Oboth-Oboth urged the Government to preserve the Busoga University identity, arguing that the name was closely associated with the region and the institution’s historical role.
Under the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act, 2001, as amended, Cabinet approval alone does not create a fully constituted public university.
The law requires the Minister responsible for education to establish a public university through a statutory instrument after consideration of a recommendation from the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and approval by Parliament.
Iganga University must therefore still go through the statutory and parliamentary processes before it can formally begin operating as a public university.
The latest decision effectively moves the naming dispute into a new phase, with Government now having to reconcile Cabinet’s position with Parliament’s earlier call to retain the Busoga University name.
The dispute dates back to the Government’s intervention following the collapse of the private Busoga University.
Minister of State for Education and Sports Peter Ogwang previously told Parliament that Government had taken steps to assume control of the former university’s assets and obligations.
The Government was reported to have taken over land, buildings and other institutional assets while also assuming liabilities amounting to about Shs5.8 billion. Of this amount, approximately Shs4.6 billion had reportedly been paid.
Government initially proposed Kiira University as the name for the successor institution.
The proposal was reportedly informed by advice from NCHE, which cautioned that retaining the Busoga University name could create confusion and potentially expose the new public institution to claims linked to the former private university.
However, the proposal triggered resistance from Busoga leaders and several Members of Parliament.
Opponents argued that the name Busoga University was not merely an institutional label but also carried significant regional identity and historical value.
Third Deputy Prime Minister Rukiya Isanga Nakadama was among those who opposed the proposed change.
“Let Busoga University retain its name so that they don’t lose their identity as a region,” Nakadama said.
Kazo District Woman Representative Molly Nawe Kamukama called on the Ministry of Education to bring together Busoga leaders to discuss the matter, saying there was a need for a candid conversation before a final decision was made.
Mukono County South MP Robert Maseruka also questioned the rationale for changing the institution’s identity after Government had decided to take over its assets and liabilities.
“If the President is deliberate about establishing a university in every region of Uganda; if Bunyoro has gotten theirs then let Busoga also have theirs,” Maseruka said.
Speaker Oboth-Oboth similarly questioned whether NCHE should have the final say on the name of a public university, warning that changing the name could weaken the connection between the institution and the community it was established to serve.
“This Parliament strongly advises that Busoga University retains the name,” the Speaker said.
Cabinet’s decision to adopt Iganga University therefore represents a compromise of sorts. It rejects the earlier Kiira University proposal but does not adopt Parliament’s preferred name of Busoga University.
The Government’s earlier explanation was that the proposed university was intended to serve a wider area covering several districts, including Iganga, Kamuli and Bugiri, rather than being confined to Iganga District.
Section 25 of the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act provides for the location of a public university to be specified in the statutory instrument establishing it. The law also allows a university to establish a branch or campus elsewhere in Uganda with prior approval from NCHE.
According to Minister Lumumba, Namasagali will be incorporated into the new university as a constituent college, with a particular focus on marine and fisheries-related programmes.
Other campuses inherited from the former Busoga University are also expected to become part of the new institution.
The inclusion of Namasagali could give the university a distinctive academic and economic role in the region, particularly because of Busoga’s proximity to Lake Victoria and its dependence on agriculture, fisheries, transport and related industries.
“Namasagali will be part of the university, with marine and fisheries programmes,” Lumumba said.
The institution could therefore develop specialised programmes in areas such as fisheries science, aquaculture, agricultural value chains, freshwater ecosystems, climate resilience, transport and logistics and the emerging blue economy.
Such a focus could enable the university to align higher education and research with the economic needs of the Busoga region instead of simply replicating programmes already offered by other public universities.
Government has committed about Shs90 billion towards establishing and operationalising Iganga University.
The next major step will be the preparation of the legal instrument, followed by the required parliamentary process. Until those procedures are completed, the Cabinet decision remains a policy approval rather than the final legal establishment of the university.
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