This is the story of Makerere College from its inception in 1922 when fourteen day boys began to study carpentry, building and mechanics. In 1949 the greatly developed college entered into a special relationship with the University of London and began to prepare students for degrees of that university. The story is brought up to 1962 when with one thousand graduate and undergraduate students and with impressive buildings spread over 400 acres the University College was preparing to merge its identity with the Royal College, Nairobi and the University College, Dar es Salaam to form the new degree-granting University of East Africa. Throughout East Africa these men and women of all races hold prominent positions in the civil services and form the backbone of the professions. The chronicle of Makerere is so closely bound up with the history of East Africa that this book will be welcomed by students of African affairs as well as by alumni of the College and by those concerned with education in Africa.
One of Oprah.com's "17 Must-Read Books for the New Year" and O Magazine's "10 Titles to Pick up Now." “Exquisite in its honesty and truth and resilience, and a necessary chronicle from one of the greatest writers of our time. ” —Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Guardian, Best Books of 2016. “Every page ripples with a contagious faith in education and in the power of literature to shape the imagination and scour the conscience.” —The Washington Post From one of the world's greatest writers, the story of how the author found his voice as a novelist at Makerere University in Uganda Birth of a Dream Weaver charts the very beginnings of a writer's creative output. In this wonderful memoir, Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o recounts the four years he spent at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda—threshold years during which he found his voice as a journalist, short story writer, playwright, and novelist just as colonial empires were crumbling and new nations were being born—under the shadow of the rivalries, intrigues, and assassinations of the Cold War. Haunted by the memories of the carnage and mass incarceration carried out by the British colonial-settler state in his native Kenya but inspired by the titanic struggle against it, Ngũgĩ, then known as James Ngugi, begins to weave stories from the fibers of memory, history, and a shockingly vibrant and turbulent present. What unfolds in this moving and thought-provoking memoir is simultaneously the birth of one of the most important living writers—lauded for his "epic imagination" (Los Angeles Times)—the death of one of the most violent episodes in global history, and the emergence of new histories and nations with uncertain futures.
Having experienced part of the 100 years' journey of Makerere University; and later on serving at the National Council for Higher Education, I realise how much this book provides relevant lessons for all higher education institutions. Every reader will appreciate that it is an illumination of the flagship role the University is playing and will continue to play for higher education institutions in Uganda and beyond. (Prof. Mary J. N. Okwakol, Executive Director, National Council for Higher Education). This monumental book traverses diverse time zones and disciplines. Prof A.B.K Kasozi and his team of editors have made Makerere University proud. Government, faculty staff, alumni, and students should find it as a useful reference book. It is so well written that any book club would be privileged to select it as book of the year! (Prof. Edward B. Rugumayo, Chancellor, Mountains of the Moon University) This book documents all you ever wanted to know about Makerere's nascent years since 1922. A sneak peek into contents of the volume reveals alluring commitments to growth and change in research and innovations: 'growing a research-led university'; from analogue to digitalization; and from the let us all be men motto to we build for the future. A leap into the next century reveals witting and unwitting breakthroughs, daunting constraints and challenges for a regional model by Uganda's flagship university. What makes Makerere tick? How does it survive and thrive? Who are the immortalized alumni forbearers of Makerere? The book is worthy reading to find all the answers to these and related queries. (Prof. Ruth Mukama, Formerly Professor of Linguistics at Makerere University; currently Head of Department, African Languages at Kabale University) At one time, Makerere was called the Harvard of Africa; and there was, therefore, a real opportunity for Makerere to become our national sacred cow. Then came the neo-liberal 'revolution'; with its mass production of graduates and the conversion of our technical colleges into universities, the establishment of numerous private universities, and the near abdication of government from the education sector. As Makerere embarks on the second century of service, we must maintain what made it great. This book tells many stories of that greatness. The content herein will definitely energise the debate amongst those who are interested in Makerere and university education in general. (Prof. Samwiri Lwanga-Lunyiigo, Retired Professor of History, Makerere University)
Multidisciplinary perspectives to governance of oil in African countries Large quantities of oil were discovered in the Albertine Rift Valley in Western Uganda in 2006. The sound management of these oil resources and revenues is undoubtedly one of the key public policy challenges for Uganda as it is for other African countries with large oil and/or gas endowments. With oil expected to start flowing in 2021, the current book analyses how this East African country is preparing for the challenge of effectively, efficiently, and transparently managing its oil sector and resources. Adopting a multidisciplinary, comprehensive, and comparative approach, the book identifies a broad scope of issues that need to be addressed in order for Uganda to realise the full potential of its oil wealth for national economic transformation. Predominantly grounded in local scholarship and including chapters drawing on the experiences of Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya, the book blazes a trail on governance of African oil in an era of emerging producers. Oil Wealth and Development in Uganda and Beyond will be of great interest to social scientists and economic and social policy makers in oil-producing countries. It is suitable for course adoption across such disciplines as International/Global Affairs, Political Economy, Geography, Environmental Studies, Economics, Energy Studies, Development, Politics, Peace, Security and African Studies. Contributors: Badru Bukenya (Makerere University), Moses Isabirye (Busitema University), Wilson Bahati Kazi (Uganda Revenue Authority), Corti Paul Lakuma (Economic Policy Research Centre), Joseph Mawejje (Economic Policy Research Centre), Pamela Mbabazi (Uganda National Planning Authority), Martin Muhangi (independent researcher), Roberts Muriisa (Mbarara University of Science and Technology), Chris Byaruhanga Musiime (independent researcher), Germano Mwabu (University of Nairobi), Jackson A. Mwakali (Makerere University), Tom Owang (Mbarara University of Science and Technology), Joseph Oloka-Onyango (Makerere University), Peter Quartey (University of Ghana), Peter Wandera (Transparency International Uganda), Kathleen Brophy (Transparency International Uganda), Jaqueline Nakaiza (independent researcher), Babra Beyeza (independent researcher), Jackson Byaruhanga (Bank of Uganda), Emmanuel Abbey (University of Ghana).
Scholars in the Marketplace is a case study of market-based reforms at Uganda's Makerere University. With the World Bank heralding neoliberal reform at Makerere as the model for the transformation of higher education in Africa, it has implications for the whole continent. At the global level, the Makerere case exemplifies the fate of public universities in a market-oriented and capital friendly era. The Makerere reform began in the 1990s and was based on the premise that higher education is more of a private than a public good. Instead of pitting the public against the private, and the state against the market, this book shifts the terms of the debate toward a third alternative than explores different relations between the two. The book distinguishes between privatisation and commercialisation, two processes that drove the Makerere reform. It argues that whereas privatisation (the entry of privately sponsored students) is compatible with a public university where priorities are publicly set, commercialisation (financial and administrative autonomy for each faculty to design a market-responsive curriculum) inevitably leads to a market determination of priorities in a public university. The book warns against commercialisation of public universities as the subversion of public institutions for private purposes.
As the oldest (and arguably best-known) university in Uganda and the wider eastern and central Africa region, Makerere University looms large in the history of higher education on the continent. Alma mater to presidents, public intellectuals and pundits of all disciplines, Makerere has attracted considerable scholarly and popular attention, both in respect of its prominence and achievements, and well as with regard to its failures and foibles. The proposed book focuses on a particularly understudied aspect of the place of higher education in the African context, i.e. the relationship between a public university of unique historical importance and the contestations over democratization that have taken place both within campus and outside of it. It is built around the late-1980s struggle by the Makerere University Academic Staff Association (MUASA) for improved living conditions against the backdrop of the early programs of structural adjustment and economic reform that the National Resistance Army/Movement (NRA/M) government adopted soon after taking power in 1986. Although seemingly introverted in focus, in many respects the MUASA action represented the earliest forms of political struggle against a regime of governance that promised a great deal, but disappointingly delivered considerably less. The focus on MUASA provides a critical entry-point to a wider debate about the place of organized democratic action by academics in a post-conflict context where the traditional institutions of political and civil society, i.e. political parties and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have either been severely compromised or discredited, or where they are too weak and inorganic to provide any form of significant counter-juxtaposition to the government in power. By organizing the first strike by academic staff in the sixty-seven (67) year history of the university, for a time MUASA became the focal-point for democratic organizing against a regime that was yet to fully expose its nefarious and anti-democratic colours. The book examines the broader issues concerning the relationship between organized academic action and democratization; the place of the Media in reviewing these struggles; the position of students as a critical component of academe; "big P" and "small p" politics affecting female academics, and finally, the paradoxical role of the School of Law in both aiding and inhibiting the struggle against dictatorship in a country which has enjoyed (or
