M7 hands out award to Matembe.

The chandeliers inside State House Entebbe glowed warmly as President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni rose to address a hall filled with some of Uganda’s most distinguished elders, student leaders and government officials. The occasion was the third National Mentorship Awards, held under the theme “The Roots of Old Trees An- chor the Forest.” The symbolism was not lost on the audience. On this evening, the president set aside politics and policy wrangles to recognize men and women who, in different ways, have shaped Uganda’s social, cultural and intellectual landscape. The honorees included industrialist Gordon Wavamunno, constitutional lawyer Prof. Fredrick Ssempebwa, Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala, retired Principal Judge Justice James Ogoola, women’s rights champion Dr Miria Matembe, Ndere Troupe founder Dr Stephen Rwangyezi, and physician-turned-entrepreneur Dr Ian Clarke. Others honored were veteran opposi- tion figure William Mukaira, agriculturalist Robert Walimbwa, businessman Hajji Aga Sekalala Snr, and community elder Erukuna Segane. Together, the names represented not just long lives, but long contributions to Uganda’s story. For a leader who has ruled Uganda since 1986, Museveni’s remarks carried both nostalgia and urgency. He congratulated the honorees, saying their recognition reflected a lifetime of service to country, whether through business, law, religion, or the arts. “So, all these are contributing from different angles to their country,” he said. “This is exactly what we are fighting for. In the years after independence, there was so much intolerance here and a threat to life that forced people to run away. Not only we who are fighters, but even all these people, the industrialists, the intellectuals, had to run away. But now everybody is here. All the different opinions are here. And they are all contributing in their different ways. This is very good. I am very happy with this.” But Museveni was not content to simply look back. He framed the evening as part of a larger reminder of the four principles he says anchor the National Resistance Movement: patriotism, pan-Africanism, socio-economic transformation, and democracy. For the president, the awardees embodied these ideals, but he insisted that sustaining them required intergenerational conversation. “The young people, nobody should say that everything old must go away. You would be making a very big mistake,” he warned. “But also, the old people should not insist that everything stays the same. Some of the things have to change. Some of the things have to change in order to be rational, to be reasonable.” That theme of intergenerational dialogue echoed throughout the evening. Odrek Rwabwogo, senior presidential advisor and chair of the mentorship committee, described mentorship as less a classroom lesson and more an inheritance of example. “I went to schools with no textbooks, like many of us of my generation, at a very difficult time in our country, but I sat at the foot of good teachers in those difficult conditions, and I made it,” Rwabwogo said. “So, good teachers help you pass exams, great teachers teach you how to think, and elder people—for me—they serve, they retire in silence, yet they carry with them a lot of knowledge, a lot of experience that needs to be tapped into by the young in order to build better.” His message was both personal and political. “Mentorship, like leadership, is often caught rather than taught,” he added. “You watch people, you see the actions they take, and you do those things even unconsciously in your old age.” Rwabwogo’s words underscored the urgency of creating space where young Ugandans could absorb not just the triumphs but also the mistakes of their elders. Minister for the Presidency Babirye Milly Babalanda struck a similar tone, praising the president for convening the gathering and reminding participants of the values the NRM claims to stand for. “This meeting presents us with a unique opportunity to draw inspiration from your wisdom, guidance, and revolutionary ideas,” she said. “It reminds us that the privilege of leadership comes with it a challenging duty to serve diligently, to deliver results, and to uphold the trust placed in us by the people of Uganda.” Her remarks placed the awards within a broader political frame—linking the celebration of elders to the government’s narrative of continuity and discipline in leadership.