Time for Makerere to light its candles on top of the table

Two items concerning invention or innovation made exciting news last week, the first being the electric car, code named Kiira EV, tested with vast fanfare and media coverage, by the College of Engineering, Design Art and Technology.

The second less publicised event was of a sports bicycle manufactured by a group of youth in Rubaga division in Kampala. (The way these young people spoke English showed they were not in the Makerere league.) The frame of the bicycle is made out of bamboo. The young people, after faring poorly in international competitions because the metallic bikes they rode were ‘too heavy,’ decided on bamboo to reduce the load.

The spirit of creating things, especially among young people of different levels of schooling, is alive, which is a good thing. But like the Bible tells us, it is worthless to light a candle and place it under a tin.
Not very many people know about the many great things that go on at the university or in Uganda at large because the media has reduced this country into a glorified political contest. Politics, especially the corrupt type (and scandal), makes the news.

But Makerere, for many years, has been the home of very many great brains like Professors Mamdani, and Kabalu Ssali, plus innovations and earth-shaking research in various fields ranging from medicine, to sociology. Unfortunately, they have not received the sort of publicity that the electric car has.

Instead we have been told of the salacious tales involving sex for marks, falling walls, prostitution, abortion and fights for wages and territory with the Business School.

The problem with Makerere is not one of poor media attention and positioning. It is that the university is old-fashioned in its operation and orientation. They simply teach and research and mind their own business.

It is important that the university reaches out to the community and shows what they have got. This can be done in two ways. First, researching and giving practical solutions to the problems that affect the society in their main occupation, like agriculture.

In a country that has one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world, and a river running through the middle, a great university should be selling feasible ideas to the government and the private sector about irrigation and delivery of fresh water to boost crop production independent of rain cycles and a healthy population.

Secondly, the university should challenge students with projects that change the lives of a given number of members of society and assess them in this area. For instance, a law student should be tasked with educating a given number of laymen in basic aspects of the law regarding, land, succession and inheritance, labour etc. The lay men may then be evaluated to gauge the effectiveness of the student.