Aggie Patricia Turwomwe
I Sat With a 22-Year-Old Who Made Me Believe Uganda will be okay
After years of reading policy papers, sitting through conferences, and watching the same problems recycled into the same conversations, I got tired. Not the kind of tiredness that lets you rest. The kind that sits on your chest.
When I watched Janice Nkajja recite a poem on corruption in front of the President of Uganda in 2021, a Gen Z policy advocate, law student, and civic tech builder, I was energized.
The Confidence That Didn’t Ask for Permission
A few minutes into the conversation, she said something most people would dilute before saying out loud;
“If I become president, I’ll do one or two terms—then go for UN Secretary General.”
No hesitation. No performance. No apology. Just clarity.
And somehow, it didn’t feel unrealistic. Because by the time she said it, you could already see the thinking behind it, the exposure, the preparation, the intention.
This is ambition with direction.
The Number That Should Disturb Us More
Then she shared a statistic that quietly explains a lot;
60% of the African Union’s budget is externally funded.
Let that sit. An institution meant to represent African interests… depends on external funding to operate. That’s not just a financial gap.
You’ll agree it’s a power gap. Because influence follows money. And if we don’t fund our own systems, we don’t fully control them. It’s how the system and structures work.
The Story That Data Can’t Capture
We talk about healthcare in numbers.
Funding gaps. Bed ratios. Policy frameworks. But Janice shared something that statistics never quite capture. A man walked into a public hospital with a shattered jaw. Doctors were there. Nurses were there. But they couldn’t proceed.
There was no surgical thread. They had to go outside to find it.
She also spoke about women who had just given birth—waiting, vulnerable—for the same reason.
No thread. And suddenly, the conversation shifts. Because when basic supplies are missing, the issue is no longer technical. It’s systemic.
Gen Z Isn’t Lazy—They’re Watching Closely
There’s a narrative that keeps coming up,
“Gen Z is lazy.” but Janice reframed it in a way that felt more honest
“We watched our parents work hard—and the system didn’t reward them fairly. We don’t want to repeat that.”
At first glance you might think it entitlement, but she made an observation. Go to downtown Kampala at midday she says, “Watch the vendors. The boda riders. The people carrying goods under the sun.”
This is not a lazy country. It’s a country where effort and reward don’t always align. And when young people push back—on pay, on conditions, on expectations—they’re not rejecting work
They’re rejecting imbalance.
The Problem Has Never Been Talent
Uganda does not lack talent. It does not lack ambition. It does not lack ideas.
What it struggles with is systems. Who controls them. Who understands them. And who is willing to fix them. When asked what she would change first, Janice didn’t say roads. Or schools. Or tourism.
She said; 👉 Financial accountability.
Make it harder to steal. Close the loopholes. Automate where possible. Because when money flows where it’s supposed to;
- Healthcare improves
- Infrastructure gets built
- Teachers are paid
- Innovation is supported
Everything else follows.
The Quiet Shift That Matters Most
Janice is building Civic Coded—a platform that helps ordinary Ugandans understand policies in simple, clear language.
Not experts. Not policymakers. Everyone. And that matters. Because a middle-class economy is not built by people waiting to be informed. It’s built by people who understand—and engage.
Toward the end, she said something light, but meaningful;
“Don’t compare yourself to other people. You don’t know who has a sugar daddy in the back.”
We laughed. But it landed for so many people are quietly measuring themselves against lives they don’t fully understand.
And forgetting “You don’t know what’s behind the scenes, Move at your own pace. Build with your own integrity.”
Janice doesn’t have all the answers, no she doesn’t. But because she’s asking the right questions. And more importantly, she’s building tools around them.
Uganda’s future will not be built by one person, but it will be built by people like her.
People who think beyond borders. Who understand systems. Who refuse to shrink their ambition to fit comfort.
Now that you are done reading this —share it with someone who needs to hear this;
👉 Your frustration is valid.
👉 Your awareness is not a weakness.
👉 And our time is coming.
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