Government Sponsorship for All: Push for Free University Education Gains Momentum

The push for government sponsorship for all students in public universities is gaining momentum, which will be maintained as the country gets into the campaign season, The Pearl Times has learnt.

Some MPs are even proposing that instead of spending a little over Shs1trillion on the Parish Development Model (PDM) program, the money should be used to find free university education for all students in Uganda.

Even when the PDM program was allocated more funds in the next financial year, the opposition has criticized its effectiveness.

For example, available data seen by The Pearl Times, indicates that as of December 2024, a little less than eight per cent of the total households had received parish development funds.

The same data from the 2024 census indicates that only 23 per cent of the intended beneficiaries had received the money.

Up to 3.5 million of the 10.6 million households in Uganda remained outside the money economy and were stuck in the subsistence way of life.

One of the MPs pushing for this idea is Butambala County MP Muhammed Muwanga Kivumbi.

A son of a truck driver, Muwanga Kivumbi would not have attended Makerere University if he had not been given a government scholarship.

Yet, “today even those who can afford are being told to pay, and peasants are being told to do the same,” notes Muwanga Kivumbi.

He believes that redirecting the PDM funds to free university education would help Uganda become a better country in a decade from today.

Muwanga Kivumbi is opposed to the idea of “handing out money to people who use it for malwa.”

The Pearl Times has been told by a source that is part of the drafting the main opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) 2026-2031 manifesto that they intend to propose free university education for all using the money being spent on development programs like the PDM.

“Muwanga Kivumbi is just letting the cat out of the bag,” a source told us.

Previously, President Yoweri Museveni has implemented campaign proposals by the opposition such as the removal of graduated tax as proposed by Dr Kizza Besigye, and the increment of salaries of UPDF and police officers. (See Details Here, There and Over There).

Museveni’s government has been criticized especially after the president confirmed a Shs100m bribe for each MP while giving Shs100m to each parish under PDM, as reported Here and There.

Back to university sponsorship, government sponsors about 4,000 students to public universities every year. See the names of thousands of students admitted on government sponsorship under the national merit for each university, and diploma schemes Here and There.

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