Prime
Aga Khan: Legacy of hope, impact
His Highness the Aga Khan with then Uganda's Vice President Prof Gilbert Bukenya in Kampala in 2007.
What you need to know:
- His Highness the Aga Khan IV will be remembered for his visionary leadership, philanthropy, and investments in education, healthcare, economic development, and independent media, which empowered millions and fostered global progress.
As we mourn the passing of His Highness the Aga Khan IV, who died on Tuesday night, February 4, in Lisbon, Portugal aged 88, we look back at a remarkable man who touched many lives.
His Highness the Aga Khan was a remarkable man. As a spiritual leader, he was an anchor and the steward of the hopes and aspirations of the Ismaili community, a 15-million-strong network of believers spread across the world.
For over six decades he shepherded his people through ups and down, always providing them with a shining north star to follow, from whichever parts of the world they found themselves.
Through his Aga Khan Development Network, His Highness the Aga Khan brought education and healthcare to some of the least advantaged people across the world, many of them in the world’s poorest countries.
The network of Aga Khan schools and hospitals have nurtured and healed millions and contributed to a healthier and more knowledgeable world.
The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, on the other hand, pursued and provided opportunities in many of the same countries, giving dignity and prosperity to millions.
Investments in the financial industry expanded inclusion, those in tourism created jobs across the world, while industrial ventures such as Bujagali Hydropower Dam powered economic growth and development.
Underlining all these investments was a deep-seated belief in humanity and in the need for the people of Africa to believe in themselves and tell their own stories.
His decision to invest in the media, starting with Taifa Leo and then what became the Daily Nation in the twilight of the British Empire in East Africa was fuelled by the need to give voice to native agency.
This would remain a lifelong imperative. In establishing The EastAfrican in the early 1990s, His Highness saw the need to advocate for the re-establishment of the East African Community and the dismantling of the borders that, in the post 1976 period, had limited the flow of labour, capital and opportunity across the region.
Similarly, this was the shared view when Nation Media Group acquired the Daily Monitor in Uganda at the turn of the millennium, a stable that has now been expanded into the largest independent media house in the country by audience.
His Highness saw the need for an independent media that could nudge the country towards progressive reform while being careful not to tip it back to its past of violent instability. None of this was handed down in edicts or dictated to those who ran the operations. Strategically and tactically, His Highness the Aga Khan believed that Ugandans ought to make decisions and take the lead in finding solutions to Uganda’s problems and find ways of seizing the country’s vast opportunities.
The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development has lost a principal shareholder, but the world has lost a visionary leader, a global icon of hope and inspiration, and a man who dedicated his life to creating platforms for people across the world to pursue opportunity and give voice to their hopes and aspirations.
We at Nation Media Group-Uganda join the rest of the world in mourning a true statesman and a genuine friend of Uganda. May his soul rest in eternal peace.
The writer is chairman Board of Directors of Nation Media Group Uganda.
