The government of the Republic of Uganda plans to introduce a mandatory national service with university graduates to build patriotism, and foster unity among people from different backgrounds.
The State Minister of National Guidance, Mr Godfrey Kabbyanga Baluku, declared this during a consultative stakeholder meeting on Wednesday, to review the draft national guidance policy that the ministry intends to discuss before Cabinet.
In his words, “We want to come up with a system of national service [whereby] some children from Kigezi, can go and do some national service in Karamoja; so that they really appreciate what the country is having and explore the beauty in our country.
“For one to go for national service, they always first go for military training so that you are able to defend your country and also defend yourself if you are attacked. But then we want to demystify that, it is not all about military service, it is about so many things. It used to be in Uganda here, students after orientation used to go and serve in different districts as teachers, nurses, and doctors voluntarily and this was all national service.
“If approved by Cabinet, the policy will proceed to be discussed before Parliament with a view of passing it into law”.
