posting several years ago that suggested that he was a student at this
university.I construed from that posting that he was a graduate of this
university. I must confess that it took me long time to understand that
"I went to the University of Texas" does not mean "I graduated from the
University of Texas," for example. Nevertheless, I hope that Mr.
President would use his clout to improve the infrastructure at Makerere
University to equal and even surpass that of most universities in the
Occident. My preceding plea is extended to other African leaders, too.
I also stand corrected with respect to the late President Nyerere who
served for 24 years.I personally admired him. I liked his Arusha
Declaration and the fact that he placed the interest of Tanzania above
his--by resigning and admitting that he had made mistakes. I love his
positions on African issues. Much of his political philosophy on Africa
is in sync with my "intellectual" orientation and ideology. Be that as
it may, I believe in term limit. Eight or ten years is adequate(even
when such a leader is incorruptible).
My mea culpa notwithstanding, I believe very strongly that African
countries have highly qualified citizens to govern their society and
that they should be given the chance to do so. One family or members
of the extended family system of an incumbent should not assume that God
or Allah has made them leaders of a polity and that other citizens must
not and should not apply. On this matter, I would suggest that we agree
to disagree.
As to Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore he has been described as "an efficient
and relatively benevolent and incorruptible despot...who made a small
and resource-poor [country] into an Asian 'tiger'... and he was able to
accomplish his objective without civil and political rights," by Jack
Donnelly (International Human Rights, p. 163) Yew (90 years old) was
interviewed last night on Public Broadcasting Service by Charlie Rose
(in the US). He was frank and interesting. His son is(patrimonially)the
Prime Minister--an arrangement that could prove to be problematic in the
future. In any case, my interest for now is on mother Africa.
Ike Udogu
----- Original Message -----
From: Chambi Chachage <chambi78@yahoo.com>
Date: Sunday, March 27, 2011 5:41 am
Subject: From Makerere/Uganda: In Response to President Museveni on
Libya and
African Politics
To: "udoguei@appstate.edu" <udoguei@appstate.edu>
> You may post this in USA Africa Dialogue
> <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com> if
> you wish:
>
> ----- Forwarded Message ----
> From: Norah Owaraga <nowaraga@hotmail.com>
> To: Chambi <chambi78@yahoo.com>
> Sent: Sun, March 27, 2011 9:57:09 AM
> Subject: RE: In Response to President Museveni on Libya and African
> Politics
> Thanks Chambi,
>
> I have enjoyed our discussion on the situation in Libya and I am
> satisfied that
> I played the role of 'devil's advocate' quite well ... okay may be
> not that
> well, since some of the persons I thought I would provoke their
> opinions ...
> well, did not take the bait ...
>
> Yes, Museveni is not an alma mater of Makerere University since he
> never
> graduated from Makerere University; and Nyerere led Tanzania for 24
> years,
> However, the author makes valid points .... Although, I am
> increasingly weary
> of analyses which equate 'good governance' to short-term leadership
> and 'bad
> governance' to long-term leadership. I do not think that we need
> limit the
> discussions on quality of a leader on how long s/he has been a
> leader, but
> rather what s/he has done and how they have have led. After all,
> Lee Kuan Yew
> was the longest serving prime minister of Singapore and he is the
> one credited
> for Singapore's success story. He was prime minister for 31 years
> and is still
> serving to-dat as a "Minister Mentor" ....
>
> Have a lovely Sunday ....
>
> Norah Owaraga (BA, MSc.)
> Website: www.owaraganorah.net
> Olap lo Okwang (when children become white in dust), Ekaru 2011
> The month of March, the Year 2011
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2011 23:06:32 -0700
> From: chambi78@yahoo.com
> Subject: Re: In Response to President Museveni on Libya and African
> PoliticsTo: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
>
>
> Thanks for an interesting letter, just a couple of 'pedantic'
> clarifying
> questions: Did Museveni ever studied at and/or graduated from
> Makerere to make
> it his "alma mater"? Nyerere was in power from 1961/1962-1985, how
> then does he
> really fit into "not in power for 42, 32, 22 years"?
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: "udoguei@appstate.edu" <udoguei@appstate.edu>
> To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
> Sent: Sat, March 26, 2011 11:55:36 PM
> Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - In Response to President
> Museveni on Libya
> and African Politics
>
> IN RESPONSE TO HIS EXCELLENCY, PRESIDENT MUSEVENI, ON LIBYA AND
> AFRICAN POLITICS
>
>
> Your Excellency, I read with infinite pleasure your reflection on
> the political
> imbroglio in Libya. In particular, I enjoyed your balanced—even
> nuanced—analysisand chronology of events leading to Gaddafi's
> current political tribulations.
> Your putative plea as to how we should visualize this development
> in our
> continent is incisive.
>
> I read your brief essay on Gaddafi and Libya in a beautiful city,
> Boone, perched
> on the beautiful blue ridge mountains of North Carolina, USA. I
> have alluded to
> this fact only to inform Your Excellency as to the wonderful impact
> of our
> contemporary Information Communications Technology (ICT), and
> especially the
> power of what is commonly referred to as the social media. Today,
> we are well
> informed of what is going on in virtually all parts of the world.
> And, in spite
> of Africa's slow pace in embracing this dynamic medium of
> communication Africans
> in the Diaspora remain well informed of the happenings in the
> motherland.Indeed, this was how I got to read your piece.
>
> It is in the spirit of your candid view on the above political
> issue, that I
> briefly express my proceeding opinions on African affairs. Before I
> commencewith my thoughts, I would like to compliment you and your
> government for
> encouraging brother Mahmood Mamdani to return to your alma mater
> and to take on
> the onerous task of reviving the great reputation of Makerere
> University which
> at one time was second to none in Southern Africa. In my mind, African
> universities need a great renaissance that should surpass—and must
> exceed—theimposing character of our universities in the immediate
> aftermath of
> post-independence sub-Saharan Africa. It is paradoxical that many,
> if not most,
> of the contemporary leaders throughout the sub-continent were
> beneficiaries of
> these great universities—yet they have pretended not to see the
> infrastructuresof these magnificent institutions rot before their
> own eyes.
>
> Sir, another area of my appeal to you and a priori your fellow
> African leaders
> is in the development of first class archive/s to house your
> papers, memoirs,
> correspondences, etc. Such archives should be made readily
> available to
> researchers and may be situated at one of the universities or
> privately. In the
> US, and I believe in Nigeria today, such archives are referred to
> as the
> Presidential library. Generally, scholars, especially in history
> and political
> science, see such a facility as a goldmine. More importantly, the
> study of such
> carefully stored material could help researchers understand the
> philosophies of
> our leaders—their strengths and weaknesses. Such information could
> help future
> leaders in a country or other countries improve their leadership
> quality. They
> may do so by avoiding the pitfall of previous leaders (such as
> those you
> outlined for Col. Gaddafi).
>
> Mr. President, a further area of political concern to many in the
> continent and
> Diaspora is the proclivity for an African leader to stay in power
> for such a
> long time. I expressed by disquiet on this matter in the book, African
> Renaissance. I worry that too many African leaders are urged to
> stay on in
> office by sycophants of the "Macbethian" hue who do not have the
> interest of the
> country and the continent at heart but theirs. Many, as I argued,
> see themselves
> as an embodiment of the country/state. So, Gaddafi believes that he
> is Libya and
> Libya is Gaddafi, Biya in Cameroon and Cameroon is Biya, and so on.
> Theseleaders tend to delude themselves that if they abdicated from
> power, their
> society would immediately collapse. Therefore, they should be kept
> in power to
> avoid such a calamity. Moreover, what is equally disturbing is that
> theseleaders groom their children (generally their son to succeed
> them). Your
> Excellency, this kind of political philosophy is selfish and
> anachronistic; it
> encourages "political incest" and such in-breeding can be
> disastrous in the
> governance of society because it could promote political
> instability. Today, the
> revelation and revolutions that we are witnessing in North Africa
> and the Middle
> East (for example, Libya, Syria, Egypt, etc) have their roots in
> this outmoded
> genre of politics.
>
> To this end, I would like to plead with Your Excellency and other
> Africanleaders to learn from the lessons of our brothers and
> sisters in North Africa
> and the Middle East. To paraphrase Lord Aton, "absolute power
> corrupts—andabsolute power tends to corrupt absolutely." We have
> had great leaders in
> Africa—President Nyerere of Tanzania and President Mandela of South
> Africa. They
> were not in power for 42, 32, 22 years. These leaders placed the
> interest/s of
> their countries above their narrow and altruistic interest/s. After
> all, leaders
> are chosen to be temporary custodians of the state—a sort of
> benevolentservant—and not a permanent master or president-for-life.
> Let me be clear on
> this matter, Africa has produced some of the best and brightest
> professionals in
> the world today—the like of which we never saw in the past. They
> can manage our
> affairs with finesse.
>
> Mr. President, the pledge made by many observers of African
> development is that
> the 21st century can not and will not mimic the 20th. Please enjoin
> yourcolleagues in the African Union to join us—and particularly the
> youth—in the
> contemporary struggle to catapult our continent in all spheres of
> humandevelopment to the zenith by opening up the political space
> and embracing the
> good governance project.
>
> I am, your humble Servant,
>
> Ike Udogu
>
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