Former Mayor of Southern Division in Jinja City His Worship Ashraf Nasser has challenged Basoga to abandon the culture of spite, jealousy and the pull-him-down that has suffocated local enterprise for decades.
He asked them to embrace and support initiatives started by indigenous sons and daughters who choose to invest their billions back at home.
“This business of fighting and frustrating our own sons and daughters who have worked for years and chosen to invest back at home should stop because the practice is counter-productive”, the usually less-talkative politician roared.
Nasser Ashraf, son of the late legendary Jinja City investor Hajji Ashraf Mohammed who left behind dozens of prime commercial buildings, arcades and prime land across Jinja City, made the appeal on Saturday 3rd October 2026.
He was speaking as chief guest during Duwa, the special dedication prayers organized for this year’s Senior Four and Senior Six candidates of the Islamic faith at the multi-billion Viva College Wairaka.
The school sits in Wairaka on the foothills of Mwiri, a few kilometers from Kakira Sugar complex in Jinja District. It is one of the most imposing campuses in Busoga today. His Worship Nasser Ashraf used the platform to commend the directors and founder owners of Viva College. They are the celebrated banker and accountant Hajji Juma Kisame and his wife Hajjat Farida Kisame who serves as the Executive Director and Resident Director.
He praised them for making a conscious and patriotic decision to invest their hard-earned billions back home in Busoga.
The former mayor who refused to defend his mayoral chair in the 2026 general polls noted that many successful Basoga who made it in banking, business and diaspora prefer to export their capital to Kampala, Wakiso, Nairobi and Dubai.
There they are celebrated elsewhere more than at home. Meanwhile Jinja town is left with empty plots and collapsing buildings.
He then narrated the little-known genesis of Viva College. Many today admire the school for its high-end architecture, manicured compounds, tarmacked walkways and storied classroom blocks that rival top Kampala schools. But few know how it started.
According to Nasser Ashraf, about thirteen years ago Hajji Juma Kisame had just retired from banking after a distinguished career that earned him respect across Uganda’s financial sector.
He approached Nasser’s late father Hajji Ashraf Mohammed and tasked him to hunt for at least one hundred acres of land in Busoga to establish a modern commercial agricultural farm.
The request sent the elder Ashraf combing through villages in Jinja District and neighboring districts. He negotiated with landlords and clans for months. Eventually he floated what he considered a more transformative and generational idea.
“My father told him, Juma, Busoga does not need another sugarcane plantation because we already have Kakira and many others. What Busoga urgently needs is a premium secondary school that will stop our children from trekking to Kampala and Wakiso every term in search of quality education. Build a school where even parents from Kampala will bring their children to Busoga,” Nasser recounted.
He told the congregation that Hajji Juma Kisame willingly embraced the idea without hesitation. That single moment of listening to local wisdom gave birth to what is today Viva College Wairaka.
That decision, Nasser argued, illustrates why supporting a local investor is never about one building or one businessman. It is about an entire chain of local economic survival that touches almost every household around the investment and creates ripple effects felt for decades.
A school like Viva College today hosts well over one thousand students. They come from all corners of Uganda and even neighbouring countries.
The school directly employs more than one hundred Basoga as teachers, accountants, matrons, cooks, drivers, cleaners, security guards and farm attendants. They earn a predictable monthly salary, feed their families, pay rent in Wairaka and Buwenge, and educate their own children from income that remains within Busoga.
Its imposing structures were raised not by imported labour from Kampala. They were built by local builders, welders, electricians, plumbers and painters who earned billions during the construction phase. Many have since used that money to build their own houses and educate their children.
Beyond direct employment, the daily operations of the school sustain a vibrant and often invisible local supply chain. The food that feeds candidates every day is not imported from Nakasero Market in Kampala. The matooke, beans, tomatoes, onions, rice, milk, eggs, chicken, beef and firewood are bought daily from mothers and farmers in Wairaka, Buwenge Town Council, Butagaya Sub- County and Kagoma.
This means school fees paid by parents do not fly out of Busoga. They circulate within Busoga. They move from the school to the farmer, to the transporter, to the shopkeeper. This retention of capital is the foundation of regional transformation.
Nasser extended the same argument to other sectors that Busoga urgently needs. If a Musoga establishes an agro-processing factory for maize flour, fruit juice, rice milling or animal feeds in Iganga, Kamuli or Bugweri, that factory does not merely process produce. It creates a guaranteed market for over five thousand outgrowers who will no longer be exploited by middlemen.
It absorbs hundreds of village youth who would otherwise be lured into boda boda theft and drug abuse. It pays trading licenses, ground rent and property tax to the district. That money goes into fixing community roads and building health centers. It also buys packaging materials and spare parts from local shops.
The same logic applies to supermarkets and hotels. A supermarket opened by a Musoga in Jinja Central Market employs Basoga cashiers and sales girls. It deliberately stocks sugar from Kakira, Kaliro and Kamuli factories and milk from Busoga dairy farmers.
A hotel owned by a Musoga keeps tourists in Jinja and gives boda-bodas and craft sellers customers. One local investment has a multiplier effect of ten in the local economy.
A foreign investment, though good enough with immense socio-economic benefits, Nasser Ashraf says often repatriates profit while home grown investors are there to stay forever.
He said other regions like Buganda and Ankole understood this simple truth decades ago. A Munyankole will drive past cheaper milk to deliver his milk to a cooler owned by a fellow Munyankole. A Muganda will rent a shop owned by a fellow Muganda even when a cheaper alternative exists. They know supporting their own is not tribalism but economic patriotism that builds collective wealth and intergenerational assets.
Nasser warned that Busoga must learn this lesson quickly if it is to reverse its poverty ranking and reclaim Jinja’s lost glory as Uganda’s industrial capital.
What makes the Viva College story even more compelling is its inclusive character. Although founded by a Muslim family and rooted in Islamic values, Viva College is an inclusive institution that accommodates and celebrates diversity.
It’s staff and teachers come from all corners of the country. They include Baganda, Basoga, Banyankole, Bagisu, Iteso, Acholi and others. Students are also drawn from all tribes and faiths. Christians and Muslims study, play and eat together. They have learnt to co-exist in harmony and peace. The school has become a small Uganda on Mwiri hill, where competence matters more than background.
The Duwa was led by the Jinja City Muslim County Khadi Sheikh Badru Uthman Tirimuntu. He prayed for wisdom, calmness, good health and success for the candidates ahead of the Uganda National Examinations Board examinations.
A powerful sermon was delivered by Sheikh Sharif Kyebagadha. He is the Secretary of Uganda Muslim Supreme Council for Jinja City and also the Caretaker of the Islamic Theology Teachers Association.
The association is a new professional body and the first of its kind in Busoga. It was initiated by him to unite, train and give a collective voice to teachers of Islamic Religious Education.
The ceremony attracted about 100 parents, teachers, sheikhs and candidates. The audience was visibly dominated by mothers. Nasser said this reflects a worrying national pattern.
Many Ugandan men find it difficult to spare even two hours for spiritual dedication prayers for their own children. Yet they comfortably spend an entire day in hotel halls, bars and joints debating English Premier League football.
The Chairman Board of Directors Hajji Juma Kisame attended the Duwa from beginning to end. Parents described it as a rare show of humility from a man of his stature. He thanked them for trusting Viva College with their children and warned candidates against examination malpractice.
He stressed that the school has zero tolerance for indiscipline. Even learners caught cheating during mid-term or end of term assessments are dismissed outright without negotiation. Any attempted malpractice in UNEB would attract heavier penalties from both the school and state agencies including police and UNEB security. Such an act could destroy a candidate’s entire academic future.
Hajji Juma Kisame built his reputation as a celebrated banker and accountant before retiring to concentrate on private investments and philanthropy. He said he has full confidence in the staff who have done everything humanly possible to prepare candidates. He therefore sees no justification for cheating.
Counseling candidates not to panic, the soft-spoken Hajji Kisame said Allah knows the destiny and future of everyone. “Academic life is not the end of life itself, not all will emerge with exceptional scores, not all will become ministers, permanent secretaries and corporate chiefs”, he said adding: Even the candidate who emerges with the lowest score can turn out to be the most successful person in life, so long as they put God first, remain disciplined, maintain integrity and work hard with consistency.
He reminded candidates and parents that the grading system has since changed. There is no longer the old classification of first grade, second grade and third grade that used to cause depression among learners. Under the new competency-based assessment for Senior Four and the revised A-Level grading, focus is now on the level of achievement in each subject. Every learner is valued for their competence rather than condemned by a division label.
Among candidates who spoke to The Exposure Uganda were Ms. Naikoba Francesca and Ms. Musana Hesper, both in Senior Four. They said they were prepared enough to confront any question in all subjects. The Duwa prayers had strengthened them even more because with God nothing is impossible. They have covered the entire syllabus with the help of committed teachers.
The Executive Director Hajjat Farida Kisame thanked the City Khadi and Sheikh Kyebagadha for leading the prayers. She also thanked parents for entrusting their children to a local investment that is proudly Busoga.
The function ended with prolonged prayers, embraces, tears of joy and ululations. Parents prayed for exceptional performance from the Mwiri foothill that thirteen years ago was meant to be a farm.
Beyond the prayers, the day also turned into a celebration of talent, faith and knowledge. A set of students participated in Quran recitation and an Islamic quiz that tested their mastery of Quran, Fiqh and general Islamic history and theology. The recitations were moving and left many parents amazed. The quiz was highly competitive and revealed the depth of Islamic grounding Viva College has instilled in its learners.
At the end of the contest the best performer was identified as Rajibah Wiwwo a Senior Six candidate who stunned the audience with her fluent recitation and answers. She walked away with a cash prize of 100,000 Uganda shillings amid ululations and cheers from fellow candidates, staff and parents.
The second and third best performers each pocketed 50,000 shillings. The awards, though modest, were symbolic and meant to encourage learners to love and master their Deen alongside secular subjects.
Today Viva College stands as one of Busoga’s fastest growing symbols of what happens when indigenous capital decides to come back home and when a community decides to support its own.
