President Yoweri Museveni has commended Kyambogo University for taking a key role in advancing the agenda of socio-economic transformation by providing skills development and the teaching of science.
Because of science and technological advancement, Museveni said, Europe, America and Asia have entered the age of the 4th industrial revolution by changing to intelligent machines, and wondered where Africa’s contribution to this advancement lies.
“My appeal to graduands, instead of wasting time supporting European football clubs – Arsenal, Barcelona, Manchester United etc, join the NRM’s efforts to industrialize and modernise Uganda through Science and technology. The global arena has rapidly changed and Africa cannot afford to remain spectators to the world changers”, Museveni urged the fresh graduands.
The President, through the Vice President Rtd. Maj. Jessica Alupo was addressing ministers, the chancellor, the chairperson and council members, the Vice Chancellor, staff members, parents and graduands at the 20th anniversary of Kyambogo University on Tuesday December 10, 2024. He underscored the importance of the human resource in any society’s development, noting that other forms of resources cannot harness themselves to bring about desired change.
Elaborating, Museveni pointed out that when the NRM came to power in 1986, entry to university was restricted to only a few individuals who could access Makerere, then the only university in Uganda, which he said led to underdevelopment of the human resource.
He added that the NRM realised this loophole and realized that one cannot develop a nation without developing the human resource first. “They are more important than natural resources; gold cannot mine itself, electricity cannot harness itself from the river and come walking to your house, somebody must harness it,” he said.
He reiterated the stand that Africa’s problem is not lack of natural resources but developing the human resource, and added that wealth is abundant but there is inadequate training and entrepreneurship to take advantage of the opportunities. He cited the example of Japan, saying it is a small country, only slightly bigger than Uganda but with a highly skilled population of 125 million people; it has no minerals, no oil and no land for agriculture he added, but very prosperous and richer than oil rich Saudi Arabia.
Museveni also pointed out that China is now a global power while India is also prosperous and attributed this to their human resource strength, 1.3 billion Chinese and 1.1 billion Indians. He added that this is the reason why the NRM is always talking about pan Africanism, that is achieving unity of over 300 million East Africans and 1.3 billion Africans in order to create a big market and pool of brain power.
Explaining the human resource importance further, the president said, “Like the needle in a gun that activates the bullet to go forward, you cannot raise the level of productive forces unless you raise the level of human skills through education”. He appealed to the fresh graduands to refrain from reckless lifestyles like drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, lavish spending and others.
Museveni congratulated the graduands for running a good race and coming to a triumphant end, saying they have surmounted numerous challenges and distractions and that now society is waiting for their contribution in their respective fields.
