'I never sipped alcohol at Makerere' - Kenneth Matiba shares stories of his campus life

Veteran politician Hon Kenneth Matiba joined Makerere in the mid1950s when it was the only institution of higher learning in East Africa.

“I participated in sports, management and organisation of the students’ guild. I was later elected to the executive committee where I became, Minister for Finance,” he said. 

“I remember one incident that angered the administration so much that some students were expelled. They had defied the rule that they should be in their hostels by midnight,” he explained.

Although Makerere University College was well-fenced, students still sneaked out.

“There was freedom and we would go out of college as often as we pleased. There was no one to help you budget for the little money you had,” said the politician.

“Some senior staff members even encouraged students to be extravagant, but I made up my mind to be a disciplined student. Although I smoked, I decided to remain a teetotaler,” he said. Matiba also attended dances in the main hall but never outside the university campus. Besides the obvious personal ambition to obtain a university degree, he could not afford to fail as that would embarrass his girlfriend, Edith.

After five years, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, geography and English.

As narrated by the veteran politician, civil servant and businessman Matiba in his autobiography, ‘Aiming High.’