Parliament in Mazrui tribute

By Moses Walubiri & Mary Karugaba

MEMBERS of parliament on Thursday paid a glowing tribute to fallen Kenyan academic, Prof. Ali Mazrui, extolling him for his scholarly work and selfless service, especially during his long years of service at Makerere University.  Mazrui passed away early last month.

The motion to pay tribute to Mazrui who passed away early last month was moved by Minister of State for Education, Dr. John Muyingo and it received bipartisan support from a House many whose older members were ounce his (Mazrui’s) students at Makerere University.

Born in 1933, Mazrui broke the glass ceiling for African lecturers at Makerere University in the 1960s when he joined the teaching staff largely dominated by Europeans during his prime.

MP Jimmy Akena, Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere and Prof. Kiddhu Makubuya, led the eulogies, extolling the departed celebrated academic for “helping Africa tell a positive story about itself to the outside world.”

“He was an excellent academic and an administrator who led many Universities both in Africa and the western world. But more importantly, he helped Africa tell its story to the outside world. Its not a mistake or a curse to be an Africa. And Mazrui made this very clear,” Makubuya said, lauding Mazrui for playing a central role in starting the Faculty of law at Makerere University.

The faculty of law started as a department of the faculty of social sciences in 1968 with Mazrui as its first dean.

Alice Alaso and Jovah Kamateka said the best tribute Ugandans can give Mazrui is for government to reconsider its current policy of prioritizing science courses at the expense of arts and humanities.

“What government is doing is going to kill critical thinking that was Mazrui’s forte. Mazrui used to analyze issues of politics and governance with incredible panache. Are we going to take issues of governance to laboratories for analysis when we need guidance?” Alaso asked.

MPs James Kabajo and Kakoba Onyango described Mazrui as a fearless academic who routinely put his life on the line by speaking out against tyranny.

An author of 39 books, Mazrui received international acclaim for his scholarly work, with Britain’s House of Lords awarding him the Millennium Tribute for outstanding scholarship in 2007.

As an enduring memorial to his academic work, parliament resolved to provide a special corner – the Mazrui corner – featuring his works.