Africa-Press – Uganda. The first cohort of 20 Ugandan engineers supported under the presidential initiative on science development has returned from Malaysia.
The team that departed two years back is among many science students supported under the presidential initiative on science development.
The team arrived at Entebbe International Airport around the afternoon on Wednesday and was received by Dr. Hillary, Emmanuel Musoke, the senior presidential adviser in charge of agribusiness and Special Duties.
“I have been studying Masters of Engineering in mechatronics and automatic control in Malaysia. We are about 20 students who went on the journey to go study in Malaysia. And these are equipped engineers that are back in the country to improve on so many technological advancements. There’s been a great opportunity handed over to us by the government of Uganda, headed by President Museveni that gave us this opportunity from a pool of 1000s of Ugandans who entered into an interview and were selected among the few,” said the team leader, Mr Joshua Kasirye.
“What we can assure you our fellow Ugandans is that we are here to build the nation. When they selected us, the task was heavy on us, and we are coming back home knowing that this is heavy on us, but we are not scared. We are here to move the country because we know what we’ve learned, what we’ve experienced in other nations and other countries, we are coming to implement systems for our universities, for different agencies, so most of us will be working as a team in a specific location and then we’ll be able to create different technology innovations that we can scale into different agencies and authorities in the government, and across the Ugandans.
The team said they graduated with Masters of Engineering in mechanical engineering and automatic control , Masters of Engineering in cyber security, Master of Engineering in industrial engineering, Master of Engineering in information technology, Master of Engineering in power systems, Masters in mechanical engineering, Master of Engineering in mechatronic, mechatronics and automatic control among others.
The team comprised of two female engineers including Lynette Nazziwa and Chanda Galabuzi, and 18 males
In an interview with media at the airport, Chanda Galabuzi, who pursued Masters of Science in systems engineering, said she is ready to put what she learnt into practice.
” We have got various skills that we believe will be very beneficial to the country in the specific areas of technology and development,” she said.
“My message to the younger girls out there is do not be scared of the sciences, do not be scared to venture into sciences, technology, and all these other areas, because we have a big role that we have to play as women and girls in integrates science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM),And it’s an interesting field that I would encourage anybody to do it,” she added.
Lynette Nazziwa who pursued masters of engineering in mechatronics and automatic control said, “we have learned quite a number of techniques, technologies, skills, and, of course, benchmarked in comparison of the countries we’ve gone to, and we’ve seen the changes in the different countries. And we’ve picked up the heart that zeal and deep in our hearts, we know that we are we have deep it in our hearts that we will be able to carry out a few of the things we’ve seen, and even those we are still learning.”
“We are open to learning as engineers, and we shall continue to carry on the heart to build the nation and practice the different skills we’ve learned. Above all, we’d like to thank the government of Uganda, President Museveni for this great opportunity given unto us. We do not take it for granted, and we believe that in all this, we shall be able to impact also other Ugandans to carry on the vision to build the nation and to see the country grow in technology and science, such that one day, Uganda is also mentioned as one of those countries that has a grown and impactful technology ahead of time,” she emphasized.
Dr. Hillary Emmanuel Musoke said the young engineers are going to be a great asset to the country.
“The State House is undertaking an initiative of setting up a national technological demonstration centre in Gundu, Entebbe. So, the president is trying to set up that centre for these young, talented scientists to see that they provide homemade solutions based on science. We have been admiring those big countries like China, but they also did this to make sure that their nations develop. You can not develop any country without science. So when you hear the president advocating for scientists, this is what it means.”
He urged Ugandans to embrace government programs.
Dr. Kisanja advised politicians, especially those in the Wakiso district, to stop fighting the president’s programs.
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