Makerere University to launch Mwai Kibaki Presidential Library

Makerere University is set to launch H.E. Mwai Kibaki Presidential Library in honour of one of her most illustrious and outstanding alumnus.

The Library is being named after the former Kenyan President because Mwai Kibaki was the first African to graduate with a 1st Class Honours Degree in the Arts in 1955 as well as the first African to graduate with distinction in the BSc Public Finance programme at the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1958.

“H.E. Kibaki’s choice to return and serve his alma mater from 1958 to 1960 as Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Economics and Political Science at Makerere university instead of taking up other lucrative offers was commendable and worthy of recognition”, the Chancellor Prof. George Mondo Kagonyera noted at a press briefing held on 9th February 2015.

The Library that is estimated to cost US$50m will house the H.E. Mwai Kibaki Endowed Chair in Economics and The East African Mwai Kibaki Centre for Leadership, Public Finance and Public Policy.

Prof. George Mondo Kagonyera said $40m of the total cost will go to the Presidential Library and US$10m to the H.E. Mwai Kibaki endowed Chair in Economics.

“The H.E. Mwai Kibaki Endowed Chair in Economics will be held by an internationally credentialed and globally competitive Professor of Economics while the East African Mwai Kibaki Center for Leadership, Public Finance and Policy will, among other things, provide a unique forum for equipping and re-tooling African Ministers of Finance and Permanent Secretaries including Secretaries to Treasury,” said Prof. Kagonyera.

“Through the H.E. Mwai Kibaki Presidential Library, Makerere will tell and re-tell the story of H.E. Mwai Kibaki, which is the story of African Excellence. This is the meaning of immortalizing H.E. Mwai Kibaki on the Main Campus of his alma mater” added The Chancellor. Addressing the media at the same briefing, the Vice Chancellor Prof. John

Prof. Ddumba-Ssentamu said the H.E. Mwai Kibaki Presidential Library would go a long way in raising the profile of Makerere University as a Center of Excellence in Economics, and create a springboard for inclusiveness of all alumni.

“We are confident that through such initiatives, Makerere University is moving towards its desired position of being No. 1 on the continent” Makerere university Vice Chancellor added.

The Deputy Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Prof. Barnarbas Nawangwe accredited the uniqueness of the library when he said that, “the H.E Mwai Kibaki Presidential Library will be the first presidential library built by a former president at his Almer –mater, at a University where he studied. It will also be the first library in Africa to have an endowed chair in economics.”

In his remarks the Acting Principal of College of Business and Management Sciences (COBAMS), Prof. Eria Hisali said that they are looking at the project as an opportunity to raise the profile of the School of Economics and the College of Business and Management Sciences as a whole.

“We hope that this project will transform us into a world class economists and compete with  other economic disciplines at any other University in the world. The exploits of this event will indeed raise the profile of Makerere University and create a spring board of inclusiveness of all alumni. We are confident that through such initiatives, Makerere University is moving towards its desired position of being number one institution on the continent,” he remarked.

In a statement from the Guild Government, the Guild President H.E Ivan Bwowe thanked H.E. Kibaki who served as a Vice President of the Students Guild during his stay at Makerere for leading by example.

“We are proud to be given an opportunity to have an information hub at Makerere. We are in full support of this project and we want to see it succeed” read the statement.

Additional credit: Makerere university Public Relations Office