From a dream of a few persons to the most reliable university newspaper in the country, The UCU Standard must live, says departing supervisor Wanyama Wangah.

“It is my dream that the paper lives on after me and feel free to contact me at any time if you get stuck” said Wangah at a gathering to honour him last week.
At a point when Wangah says adieu to the paper he dedicated his life to, the paper has grown from a dream to a readership of over 5,000 per week, plus a large number of web hits. 
Moving on is often because of greener pastures; to some it’s a combination or forces beyond their means, while to others still, it is the love to try one’s hand at another job.
For Wangah, it was a combination of all of the above and more.
At the expiry of his contract Sept. 30, Wangah went back to The New Vision, a daily newspaper that he worked for before he joined UCU in 2005 as a part time lecturer for advanced editing in the department of Mass Communication.
He goes away at a time when The Standard team relied greatly on him for the continuous and uninterrupted delivery of the paper on every other Monday. He also had a fatherly and supervisory role that he always played in the continuous development of the newspaper.
He has helped in the publication of 79 issues of The Standard.
The mantle to produce more quality papers now rests in the hands of another able bodied supervisor, Aggrey Duncan Mugisha.
At his farewell party last weekend at the residence of The Standard coordinator, Thomas Froese, Wanyama moved all when he and Froese explained the origin and birth of the newspaper.
For a paper that was founded in 2007, the UCU Standard is the only Ugandan campus newspaper that survived infancy and went on to survive long afterwards.
After 14 months in the planning and creation, it was with the support and coordination of Froese, the expertise of Wangah and the dedication of UCU IT expert Ronald Amanyire, among others, that the newspaper first rolled off the presses.
All 79 issues to date have been printed at The New Vision.
“When we started this journey, our expectations were so low; we kept telling ourselves that if we got the second issue out then we would have succeeded.” Wangah said.
He added that in Uganda, universities and other potential publishers often publish a single copy and that is it, “they fold operations but the UCU Standard has been here three years and is still going strong.”
The first issue of The Standard was published on 17th May 2007.
Froese said he appreciated Wangah’s great expertise in journalism. “I never had to explain to Wanyama what a news story was. He was fully immersed in it all, and I always appreciated that.”
Froese added that Wangah’s tenure was a “golden season” and later noted that “it’s been a time like no other, one that we’ll never forget. We will miss you, Wanyama, dearly.”
Wangah says that after publishing the second, third and fourth issues of the newspaper, they became their own yardstick upon which other newspapers will base their success or failure.
“The first issues were difficult. Computers would fail, we would leave after midnight but we were determined to go that way. I am proud to say that for the 78 issues that we have produced so far, we kept the schedule and with time people got used to receiving their newspapers on Monday morning.” Wanyama narrated.
He added that he particularly wanted to thank Amanyiire, of University ICT Services, because he managed to get things done despite the bureaucracy and would faithfully turn up sometimes at odd hours.
A strict time keeper and disciplinarian, Wangah was never out of ideas, those who worked with him say he was religious to certain principles, one of them being time keeping and the other the desire to teach whenever an explanation was sought.
Enoch Kassenyi, Sports Editor recalls one afternoon while as a student he had been joking with Wangah and the morning.
“I later walked into class that afternoon a little after two o’clock but Wangah sent me away because I was late,” he added.
Prever Mukasa, The Standard’s lifestyle editor said she had never know anybody in her life who knew so much about everything.    
“I don’t think I know someone who knows as much as you do, I try to read the papers every morning so that I learn. I am honoured and humbled to be part of the team you supervised.” said Prever.
She added that she has since learnt how to manipulate certain computer applications that she had not learnt as an undergraduate student even though they were part of the course.
The party turned out as a meeting place for friends and colleagues who had drifted apart.
John Semakula now with The New Vision newspaper said he was glad to meet with friends and colleagues whom he had not seen in a while.
Wangah will be viewed differently by those who knew him.
“He came and changed our lives, as students the course required to master page laying and he taught us in the most practical way, later as colleagues he continued teaching us.” Said Semakula.
Frank Obonyo, also a former member of The Standard Team said he was glad to have worked with both a good and bad supervisor.
“He was a good and bad supervisor, he was good when it came to proper understanding of what one was doing, he is a good coach who makes sure you learn, then he is bad because he ensured that one always worked and never tolerated laziness,” he added.
“Wangah was never aloof, he criticised mistakes but never run out of alternatives it is that beautiful side of him that I will miss the most. He was always helpful,” Said Julius Aboko, Campus Life Editor.