BUSOGA UNIVERSITY: Kenyans mine 'Gold' as Basoga harvest sugar canes.
By Ssebandeke Ashiraf
I spent the whole of last weekend
in Busoga. On Saturday I was at Busoga University in Iganga a Christian founded
institution. On my way to Iganga I was looking at a number of development
initiatives. Few activities could be spotted a number of them on the roadside
were boda bodas, hanged clothes for sale mostly second hand. I saw a number of
Lorries filled more than to capacity ferrying sugarcanes. At Bulanga I saw
cassava spread on the road – pedestrian walkway to dry on the major highway
which transports most of Uganda’s imports and exports.
In the afternoon I attended the
launch of Kagoma Youth Leaders Forum at Kagoma county headquarters organized by
Kagoma Constituency Youth Leaders Association. The youth had a good theme for
the launch “Youth in leadership for developmental initiatives”. The youth
leaders invited all categories of people to offer them guidance from
politicians to academicians.
I saw youths who were zealous about
causing development in their area, if it there intention is not to ‘con’
politicians Kagoma county shall be a model area in a few years to come.
One of the leaders told me that 60%
of people in Busoga earn their income from sugarcane growing. It’s little wonder
that the education sector in Busoga is on a steady decline and the poor
performance in recently released primary leaving exam results was blamed on children
who spend a lot of study time in sugarcane plantations.
Busoga region has for long been
known for its undisputable contribution to education with a number of prominent
schools like Busoga College Mwiri, Iganga S.S the second Anglican girls’ school
after Gayaza High School. It’s not surprising that the Uganda Motto “For
God and My Country” was derived from Mwiri’s motto “Kulwa Katonda N’egwanga lyaffe”
(For God and Our Country).
It’s also from Busoga where a lot
of first women in their fields are from, the first woman vice president in
Africa Hon. Specioza Kazibwe, the first woman lawyer to open up a law chamber
and first Uganda female speaker of Parliement Hon. Rebecca Kadaga among others.
This may be the reason why Busoga
dominated the country for many decades conforming to the saying “Educate
a woman, Educate a Nation”.
As other regions are still hit by
this social media syndrome of Tusaba gavumenti etuyambe (We ask government to
intervene) appealing to government to construct universities in their regions,
15 years back in 1999 Busoga region lead by the Diocese of Busoga established
Busoga University. The University is located on the famous education hub of CMS
village 35 kilometers from the former industrial city of Jinja.
Being located in one of the most
populated areas in Busoga and Uganda one would think that it would have almost
80% of students from Busoga and neighboring regions.
If you walk around the campus you
realize that almost Kiswahili and Lusoga have the same number of speakers.
The university main campus in
Iganga has many foreigners from Kenya, South Sudan, Somalia. The university is
one of the three universities headquartered in Busoga with Fairland and Nsaka
Universities in Jinja.
The last time I was at Busoga
university in April 2013 there was swearing ceremony of the current Guild
leaders, the Guild President is a Kenyan and Kenyans have a lion share in the
Guild Cabinet.
I do not think that these Kenyans
leaders can push for reforms on behalf of Busoga, it really can not happen.
Leaders in Busoga should fight to
‘Busoganise’ the University which is falling in the hands of Kenyans and other
foreigners. A region that has dominated education for many years should not
waste the golden opportunity. One of the unique things about education in
Busoga, its where in Uganda you can find a public library in a village at
Igombe in Buwenge sub county.
On Saturday 15th
February, Saturday Vision ran a story titled ‘Nabwiso new Busoga varsity vice
chancellor”.
Dr. Frank Nabwiso is taking on from
Prof. Christopher Bakwesegha and he becomes the 2nd vice chancellor
in 15 years. The newspaper quoted him saying “Why should we have many Kenyans,
Somalis, Sudanese enrolling at the university while our own are not?”
I think his initiative of attracting
more local students to the university should be welcomed with open hands by
all.
All leaders in Busoga region,
political, religion and opinion should come together and identify the
challenges facing the education sector, rank them and find best possible
solutions to them.
One academician from Busoga told me
that he was invited as chief guest by one of small schools in Jinja when they
were celebrating their 2013 PLE performance. They narrated to him how ‘big’
people in Busoga have neglected them and the only person who helped them was
the former vice president Hon. Specioza who donated to them 780,000 shillings
in 1996 to roof their building which has now dilapidated.
He asked them whether they can not
arise bags of cement, bricks, sand, nails. They answered him that they can
mobilize the resources by themselves. So he advised them to stop being lazy and
mobilize resources to construct their own school.
Leaders in Busoga should encourage
their people to embrace their own and start mining ‘gold’ instead of
concentrating of sugar cane harvest.
