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Letters
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Written by OUR READERS
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Thursday, 19 November 2009 12:33 |
Why have Africans ignored Dead Aid?
When Zambian-born Dambisa Moyo’s Dead Aid was published earlier this year, I expected this highly pertinent book to make front-page headlines and generate intense and fierce debates in the media and on campuses across Africa.
To my disappointment, African editors basically gave Dead Aid a blind eye. Any mention, if at all, of the book anywhere in Africa was just a few lines buried in the inside pages. Ask just about any African what they think of Dambisa Moyo and don’t be surprised if their reply is: Dambisa who? Interestingly, Dead Aid was a New York Times bestseller. It has also featured prominently in The Washington Post and other major US newspapers, plus on the BBC, C-Span, you name it. On April 3, Time magazine named Dambisa Moyo one of the world’s 100 most influential people based on the strength of her stop-aid-to-Africa book.
I don’t personally know Dambisa Moyo, but since her work has grabbed the attention of the Western media, I must question the African editorial judgment which went into ‘killing’ this highly relevant-to-Africa book.
Ironically, UK journalist Michela Wrong’s ‘It Is Our Turn to Eat’ on the corruption in Mwai Kibaki’s Kenya, published a month after Dead Aid, was accorded royal treatment by editorial departments across Africa.
Had Dead Aid also been written by a white author, it would probably have made the same front-page headlines in Africa!
Bosire Mosi,
United States.
Slow pace a drawback for Makerere University
‘Slow pace’ is a serious ‘cancer’ that is steadily killing Makerere University.
It appears that some of its academic and administrative staff are graduates of our local or other African universities where slow pace is endemic and cherished. As a result, they lack adequate exposure to the fast-paced academic life.
I believe all academic institutions are supposed to act fast in all aspects. This is because time lost is also knowledge lost. Most outstanding universities around the globe are always eager to graduate their students. Therefore, academic and administrative staff think and act fast in order to ensure that all students complete their studies and graduate within the allotted timeframe. However, it is unfortunate that this doesn’t seem to be the case with Makerere University. According to the several sad stories I have heard and read about, some supervisors are very slow in providing feedback to students.
When students are nurtured in slow academic institutions like Makerere University, will they act fast enough when they become lecturers or leaders in our society? Will they be able to compete favourably on the international job market where the pace is much faster?
I would recommend Makerere University to employ more international academic and administrative staff with adequate exposure to fast-paced academic life. Perhaps they will be able to break this vicious cycle.
Dan Musinguzi,
Hong Kong.
Tell your kids to stay away from politics
My father (May his soul RIP) left me with two things that have moulded me into what I am today: education and pieces of advice. One of the sternest pieces of advice he gave me was never to join politics. Having joined the Police at the age of 20 in 1960, my dad must have seen it all by the time he retired in 1995 and passed on three years later.
His advice could not have come in vain. The country has seen prominent politicians yield their lives apparently to “road accidents”, suspected poisoning, slow-killing lethal injections or staged battlefront deaths, etc.
Until sanity returns to our politics, I would like to reiterate my father’s advice to those in politics: do to your children what my father did to me; discourage them from falling into the same snare you fell in. Instead, use the political leverage to empower your children intellectually and let them find their own level in a world so full of opportunities that the sky is the limit.
Names withheld.
I do hope R. Kelly plays masterpieces
I wish to thank Zain for planning to bring R. Kelly, a truly talented musical genius to Uganda. And how I wish the singer just doesn’t come to pick his pay-cheque, but takes time to sing his vast array of hits. I especially hope he carries his piano along so that he can do some of his most famous masterpieces like When a woman is fed up, Be Careful and Gotham City - the remix. I also hope our local musicians will learn something from a true master and in future do away with the auto tunes that now characterise Ugandan music.
James Taylor Mwesigwa,
Kampala.
Museveni best, but must consider future
It is true that Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is the only president who has ruled Uganda for more than 20 years. He is the only one who knows much about the world, so he turns out to be the right person capable of ruling Uganda for the whole of his life. He understands where he came from which is a perfect guarantee that he is sure of his destiny. The only critical error he made, and still continues to make, is trying to please the Western world more than his own country Uganda. I therefore hereby ask him to do us a favour and remember the fact that the future of Uganda’s children is in his hands.
Peter Ssimbwa ,
Kampala International University
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