Makerere University celebrates the late Julius Nyerere's 100th birthday

Nyerere, born one hundred years ago in 1922, just like Makerere University, graduated from Makerere in 1947 with a diploma in education.

While speaking at the conference, Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire, who represented President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, described the former Tanzanian leader Nyerere as a great alumnus and dedicated pan-Africanist.

He said “Mwalimu” Nyerere’s ideals were inspired and shaped several revolutions that led to the independence of African nations, especially in East and South Africa.

“Together with Kwame Nkrumah, they formed the beacons of Pan-Africanism that many young and budding leaders looked up to and inspired to emulate,” he said.

Adding that Nyerere championed Pan-Africanism, Otafiire described such championship as creating a sense of unity and fraternity.

“Mwalimu Nyerere recognised this and set out to achieve this through his Ujamaa pro-socialist movement,” said Otafiire.

Ujamaa, which simply means familyhood, was a socialist system of village cooperatives based on equality of opportunity and self-help, established in the 1960s by Nyerere.

Otafiire also said this socialist system paralleled the ideals of Pan-Africanism, which helped him as a young leader then to renew his commitment to Pan-Africanism.

“It is on this basis that we founded the Julius Nyerere leadership centre at Makerere University as a presidential initiative to establish a platform where the young people could learn from elders,” he revealed.

The Makerere University council chairperson, Lorna Magara, said that Makerere University, from its formation in 1922, has been a conveyour belt of progressive individuals such as Nyerere.

“Our gathering here today is testimony that Mwalimu Nyerere fulfilled his part as a student. He eagerly availed himself of the splendid opportunities of service and advancement that Makerere offered him as well as other students of his time”, she said.

Makerere University is currently celebrating one hundred years of its existence.