I wish to introduce myself that I Willy Giles Okello was a former Death Row inmate who spent 22 years while incarceration. I went through mountain times and now I am going through valley times in circulation outside here.
After finishing my Uganda Advance Certificate of Education in Upper Prison School, I got three good principles and there was no way forward. It was when we applied to MUBS that our request was positively granted.
I must thank the Principal of this institution for having sent us a Certificate course in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management to Luzira in the year 2009. Prof. Waswa Balunywa is the backbone of Education as far as the University Programme is concerned there. His hard work and dedication have become an incredible force in that programme that I appreciate so deeply.
In 2011, we requested the Principal to elevate the course from a Certificate to a Diploma level and he was at nodding terms with the students of MUBS in Luzira. I joined the course at a diploma level in the same discipline and passed also very well in Second Class Upper. On my release on January 19, 2015, I came to the School (MUBS) looking for a job and I was considered. I am working in the Principal’s Office as an Office Assistant.
I must thank all those that struggled for me to see me through and more especially the O/C of Upper Prison- Luzira; Mr. Wilson Magomu. This man is a rare product! He is intelligent, eloquent, focused, resilient and organized and a smooth operator. He is one driven by a tireless urge to see his inmates rise to a better academic ladder. I cannot forget the coordinator of the University Programme in the Centre, Mr. Anatoli Biryomumaisho. He is a faithful man of God, a good teacher, selfless and full of unconditional love. He has changed the lives of inmates with powerful messages that inspire, motivate and empower people to discover personal purpose and develop true potential. Thank you for your loyalty and steadfast labor of love. I wish also to thank all the lecturers that have ever endeavored to go and lecture in Luzira Centre. To you all, I say thank you and May God reward you all .How much I owe to you cannot be computed.
I urge those ones that are still in prison never to give up. God does not move in our timing. He is never late, but He is usually not early either. He is often the God of the midnight hour. He sometimes waits until the last second before He gives us what we need. It is as though we are a drowning man going down for the last time, and God comes through to rescue us at the last moment.
I appeal to the Administration of MUBS under the leadership of Prof. Waswa Balunywa to elevate once again that Diploma course in Luzira to a Bachelor’s level, you have ever done it and I believe you can still do it again! Finally, I thank Ms. Erina who has been very close to me to write this piece to alert both those people behind the bars and those that are still at large over there that God is to do all things for us.