President Museveni hosts Uhuru Kenyatta at State House Entebbe following Kenyatta’s visit to Uganda for the second Annual Guild Leaders’ Summit 2025. The former Kenyan president had served as the keynote speaker at the event, held at Makerere University, which brought together student leaders from across East Africa.
The summit was organized by the Guild Presidents Leadership Academy, a platform that trains and mentors university guild leaders from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan, Rwanda, Somalia, and the DRC. During his visit, Kenyatta expressed gratitude to Museveni and the Ugandan people for their hospitality.
“I am very grateful, Mzee, for your warm welcome,” said Kenyatta. “We hope that we have met the expectations of our youth through the engagements we had.”
Reflecting on the summit, Kenyatta praised the participants’ passion and unity. He noted that unemployment and job creation dominated the discussions, but what impressed him most was the students’ awareness of their collective strength.
“They understand they can’t wait for change—they must lead it,” he said.
He also urged young people to reject ethnic and religious divisions, calling on them to focus on their shared future. “That future won’t come to them passively; they have to go out and work for it,” Kenyatta stressed.
According to Kenyatta, students participated in two panel discussions where they posed critical questions to regional leaders. He emphasized the need for leaders to deliver results and listen to grassroots concerns.
President Museveni welcomed the summit’s impact and expressed his desire to meet the academy leadership. “We should strategize on the kind of message we’re spreading to the youth,” Museveni said.
Museveni also commended Kenyatta’s pan-Africanist spirit, recalling his positive impressions during Kenyatta’s inauguration. He echoed the summit’s focus on youth employment and provided an economic perspective.
“Jobs come when businesses succeed. But for businesses to succeed, we need markets,” Museveni said. He drew comparisons with Europe’s economic history, citing how unity helped Germany and France grow their economies.
He warned against isolating national economies and recalled the missed opportunity of the East African Federation in 1963. “Some leaders preferred to be big fish in small ponds. But without integration, we limit our potential,” he said.
Museveni called on the youth to avoid time-wasting distractions and instead lead meaningful change. “Wake up. Let’s expand markets and solve real problems,” he urged.
Mr. Masesa Demiano, Executive Director of the academy, said the summit aimed to provide a space for transformative dialogue between current and future leaders. He noted that this was the academy’s second summit and that they plan to make it an annual event.
Hosted at Makerere University, the Guild Leadership Academy offers training and mentorship to student leaders across the region. “We’re still growing,” Masesa said. “We rent space at Makerere where we guide students in leadership development.”
