Tribalism rules at Makerere, says Kagonyera
Prof. Kagonyera (2nd R) at a recent Makerere University graduation ceremony. Faiswal Kasirye
What you need to know:
Chancellor Mondo Kagonyera recommends an investigation by a team of academics at the university to establish the depth of tribalism and sectarianism at the institution and identify officials promoting it.
Kampala- The Chancellor of Makerere University, Prof Mondo Kagonyera, has revealed that he had given a team of academics at the university the go-ahead to probe the depth of tribalism and sectarianism at the institution and identify officials that promote the vice.
While commissioning the Resilient Africa Network climate change innovations grants at the Makerere School of Public Health office in Kololo, Kampala, Prof Kagonyera observed that the quality of learning and research at the institution of higher learning is declining mainly because some “myopic and selfish people” base their arguments and actions on none issues like religion and tribe in order not to work with others yet no one chose to be who they are.
“Does it matter what religion a person is, the tribe they are when they never chose to become one? In the university, you find people in Crop Science do not want to work with people in Food Science or in Environment yet all fields of knowledge are interrelated,” he said on Wednesday.
Asked about the magnitude of the vice and what the university was doing to address it before it gets out of hand, Prof Kagonyera said: “I have been asked by one of the professors to engage the people involved in such activities and we shall do it.”
The university Vice Chancellor, Prof John Ddumba, however downplayed the issue of tribalism and sectarianism when contacted by this newspaper.
“I think it was said in good spirit in that if there is a programme running in the School of Social Sciences, it should involve other academic units which may benefit from it and he was praising the School of Public Health for initiating a programme which is multi-dimensional,” he said.
However, when the Chancellor was contacted by this newspaper yesterday to clarify on his earlier remarks and to mention who was leading the inquiry, he insisted that sectarianism at the university was general public knowledge.
“I have taught in Makerere University before and it is general knowledge that tribalism exists in Makerere University. You can also go and investigate it for yourself,” he said before hanging up his phone.
Former chairperson of Makerere University Academic Staff Association, Prof Tanga Odoi, played with semantics, saying there is no sectarianism but “official tribalism”.
“He should give us details because we know Makerere University is a big institution with many tribes and as chancellor, if he has seen that the university is being run along sectarian grounds, then he should resign because what we see here is official tribalism where individuals prefer to work with certain tribes,” he said.
ABOUT RESILIENT AFRICA NETWORK
Resilient Africa Network is a $25m (about Shs65 billion) Usaid funded programme which seeks to fund innovations that address adverse climate change effects.
Dr Ticora Jones the Usaid Division Chief Higher Education said the five-year-grants are aimed at ensuring that participating universities design solutions to engage communities in problem solving using evidence based interventions for the adverse effects of climate change.
Other participating Universities are University of South Africa, University of DR Congo, University of Dar-es-salaam so that they can find solutions to community needs where many people can exercise their own agency and solve their own problems.
