Fellow Rotarians and Friends, As I prepare to take up the gavel as President of the Rotary Club of Kampala Metropolitan, I do so with deep gratitude, quiet humility, and genuine excitement for the year ahead. Leadership in Rotary is never a solitary journey. It is a relay, and I am honored to receive the baton from President Ivan Kakooza. Honoring those who came before. To every past president of this Club Joe Nuwamanya, Reagan Namanya, Joane June, Ronald Mulindwa, Denis Mudhola, Emmanuel Muwonge, Mahdi Mutebi, Erina Nafula, Marion Nakato, and Ivan Kakooza, thank you. Each of you has added a brick to a foundation that continues to grow stronger with every Rotary year.
The fellowship we enjoy, the projects that bear our Club’s name in communities across Kampala, and the reputation we carry within Rotary International are all gifts you have handed down to this generation of members. I stand on your shoulders, and I carry your lessons and sacrifices into this new term with profound respect. Putting Members First. A club is only as strong as the experience its members have within it.
This year, one of my central priorities is improving how we engage and support our members making every meeting, every project, and every interaction with this Club feel meaningful and worth a member’s time. That means listening more intentionally to what members want from their Rotary experience, creating more opportunities for fellowship beyond the weekly meeting, and ensuring new members feel embraced from their very first visit, not just tolerated until they “figure it out.” Engaged members are retained members, and retained members are the engine of everything else we hope to achieve. Engagement and growth go hand in hand.
This year, we are setting our sights on welcoming 10 new members into the Rotary Club of Kampala Metropolitan. This is not simply about numbers on a roster, it is about ten new perspectives, ten new networks, ten new sets of hands ready to serve. I am also proud that, alongside this push, we are supporting the chartering of a new Rotaract Club of Kampala Metropolitan a deliberate investment in the next generation of Rotarians who will one day carry this same torch. Giving Back to Give Forward None of our service is possible without a strong Rotary Foundation behind it.
This year, I am asking every member to renew or deepen their personal commitment to giving whether through Annual Fund contributions, Paul Harris recognition, or participation in Foundation-funded projects. Every dollar given to the Foundation eventually returns to 8 communities like ours in the form of grants, clean water systems, health interventions, and educational support. Sustaining the Foundation is not charity for charity’s sake; it is an investment in our own collective capacity to do good, multiplied many times over. Leaving This World, a Better Place Ultimately, everything we do the fellowship, the fundraising, the meetings, the membership drives exist in service of one simple but profound mission: to leave our communities, and our world, a little better than we found them.
Whether it is through health camps, education support, clean water initiatives, or economic empowerment projects, the Rotary Club of Kampala Metropolitan will continue to show up where it matters most. Service above self is not a slogan for us; it is a daily practice. A Shared Journey Ahead I do not take on this role believing I have all the answers. I take it on believing that together past presidents, current members, and the new members we are about to welcome, we can build a year of creating lasting impact. Thank you for trusting me with this responsibility.
