African universities and the African renaissance

On 27 February, 2017 former South African President Thabo Mbeki during his maiden address as Chancellor of the University of South Africa UNISA said the African universities have a special responsibility to strive to occupy the front trenches in terms of producing the ideas and knowledge, cadres, and activists who will drive Africa’s effort to realize the “African Renaissance,”

Former President Mbeki said the African Renaissance means “eradicating the legacy of centuries, and perhaps a millennium, of a demeaning European perception of Africa and Africans, as well as the stubborn material and subjective consequences of slavery, imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism.” He added that “as Africans we must define ourselves according to the image of ourselves, exercising our inalienable right to self-determination.”

Although the idea of the African Renaissance is not new to the African continent, it is the most prominent initiative by African leaders such as former President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Algeria Abdelaziz Bouteflika, former President of Senegal Abdoulaye Wade including the former President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak to come out of Africa in recent times. Besides being a proposal to harness Africa’s potential, the concept of the African Renaissance is also an effort to remove the sources of conflict in the continent, restore its self-esteem and turn it into a zone of economic prosperity, peace and stability.

Thus the approval in July 2001 by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) of the New Partnership for Africa's Development NEPAD and a commitment soon afterwards by the world’s richest countries (G8) to launch a detailed development plan for Africa can justly be regarded as a major boost for Former South African President Thabo Mbeki’s vision and other African leaders of an “African Renaissance”. In essence, the concept of the African Renaissance is a challenge for Africans to engage in debate of redefining and understanding themselves: who we are, where we are coming from, and where we are going, our way of life, education, state of mind in this increasingly globalised world and understanding of the world consistent and compatible with a clear African identity.

However, in the face of the African Renaissance is the reality of the African dilemma. For instance, more than fifty years after the process of decolonization, the majority of Africans still remain chained in chuckles of poverty, ignorance and disease. The majority of the African population remains ill educated and living in squalor. Barrell (2000) observes that the continent’s economic and political marginalization in the world economy also appear to be “more extreme than at any stage since the 1960s”.  In fact, Former President Mbeki himself acknowledged this African dilemma at the United Nations Millennium Summit in New York in September 2000, when he noted that Africa’s current poor image is justified due to bad things happening on the continent such as coups d’état etc.

For the African Renaissance to be successful however, there should be essential elements in place. According to Former President Mbeki, these elements include the “economic recovery of the African continent as a whole, the establishment of political democracy on the continent, the need to break neo-colonial relations between Africa and the world’s economic powers, the mobilization of the people of Africa to take their destiny in their own hands and thus preventing the continent being seen as a place for the attainment of the geo-political and strategic interests of the world’s most powerful countries, and the need for fast development and people-driven and people-centered economic growth and economic development aimed at meeting the basic needs of the people” (Mbeki, 1999: 212).

The role of African Universities in attaining the African Renaissance

Thus in his inaugural address as Chancellor of UNISA, former President Mbeki emphasized on the need for the investment in higher education and universities as centers of knowledge and ideas to transform society. But in order to do this, African universities need to represent the African experience, ideas and find its resources from within the African culture. African universities need to liberate African people as well as the international community from inhuman dehumanizing ideas and practices. African universities should aim to provide Africans with ideas, methods and habits of mind which they need to investigate their societies. The African university needs to be relevant and responsive to the needs of the African people from which it draws its identity. The African university needs to respect and acknowledge the culture of the people it is serving.

Thus given its function as universities, African universities must imbue their learners and communities with an African conscious of innovation, knowledge, science, ideas and technology that maximize the positive expression of fundamental humanity and ability to contribute to the growth and development of African community of which the university is a member. To achieve this challenge, the African university must redefine the concept of African-ness, recollect its roots of knowledge production and ideas and localize its curricula to African needs and aspirations. Therefore, in order to attain the African Renaissance, African universities have a critical role to produce graduates who are both critical and creative, encourage students to be thinkers and doers rather than mere accumulators of facts and receivers of knowledge. This is undoubtedly the special role African Universities should play in order to achieve the African Renaissance that former President Mbeki talked about during his inaugural address as Chancellor of UNISA. 

The need for a defined policy in promoting local languages in Zambia

Zambia commemorated the International Mother Language Day (IMLD) on February 21, 2017 under the theme “Towards Sustainable Futures through Multilingual Education”.  According to UNESCO, this year’s focus was on fostering sustainable development by ensuring learners have access to education in their mother tongue and in other languages.

In 1996, the Zambian government drafted the education policy in a document entitled Educating Our Future. The policy includes a dual strategy for addressing literacy among children and adults. The education language policy in this document suggests that in formal education, initial literacy and numeracy would be developed through a language that is familiar to children. The use of Zambian languages as languages of instruction for basic literacy is thus viewed as a necessary strategy to promote both literacy and learning in students’ first languages and English.

Further, in 2014 the Ministry of Education launched The “Let’s Read, Zambia” mobilization campaign which was designed to assist the Ministry in introducing a new national public school curriculum. At the core of this campaign was the use of familiar-tongue instruction in early learning. 

It is thus clear that government recognizes the role that mastery of the first or mother language plays in acquiring the basic skills of reading, writing and numeracy in the education system.

However, UNSECO notes that in many countries, ministries of education and culture show little political will in working together to establish cultural and linguistic policies that (i) define goals relating to the development of a literate environment in national languages; (ii) give due attention to books published in the local languages and (iii) promote readership in the local language.

Kenyan novelist and writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o has also strongly argued that local languages and indigenous languages transmit cultures, values and traditional knowledge from one generation to another. As such, Ngũgĩ contends that language forms the basis and process of evolving culture. This made Ngũgĩ to advocate for the use of local language in writing by African writers. The period before and after Zambia’s independence in 1964, suggest that there was a good number of Zambians writing in the local languages. Different writers were writing stories, folklores and other works of indigenous literature that reflected the social, political and economical aspect of society of their time. For instance Stephen A. Mpashi was one such writer who wrote short stories for mostly his fellow Africans even before Zambia’s independence in 1964. Mpashi’s works include books such as; Cekesoni aingila ubusoja (1949), Uwakwensho bushiku (1955) Uwauma Nafyala (1968) Tusoobolole icibemba (1978) Abapatili bafika ku babemba (1968) Icibemba na mano yaciko (1963) Ubusuma bubili (1950) are some of Mpashi’s dozen works.

Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe was another notable writer in the local language whose concern for the present and future generations has been reflected in a number of his writings which include Utunyonga ndimi (1962), Icuupo nobuyantanshi (1994) Afrika kuti twabelela uluse lelo tekuti tulabe (1970) Ubuntungwa mu Jambojambo (1967) Shalapo canicandala (1967) among his others works. Paul Bwembya Mushindo was another local writer whose many works include books such Imilumbe nenshimi (1957) among his other titles.

Yuyi Mupatu also wrote Belekela kamuso (1955) among some of his known collection. Other titles such as Shikalume kalyonse (1953) by Edward Sefuke are among the many other titles written by different Zambian authors.

Today, however, very few of these titles can be found in our local bookshops and public libraries as most of these titles are out of print. There are few Zambians writing and publishing books for the local readership in the local language to promote the use of local languages. However, the development of both an environment where people are well-read in the local languages must include a flourishing local publishing industry. The major problems with regard to publishing in local languages in many countries such as Zambia however, include the low level of revenues (from local publishing and printing), the scarcity of qualified personnel in the publishing industry, the lack of clear and defined strategies to promote local authorship and books in local languages, the absence of a clear language policy, the low level of both literacy and purchasing power in the reading public and the poor reading culture (among the literate public) are among the major challenges. Therefore, the remedy to this situation is to create the right conditions for the emergence of a robust publishing sector that can provide effective support for bilingual education and literacy training in the country.

However, for the country to have an effective use of local language for learners in education there is need for clearly defined policies and strategies at national level that can create the right conditions for the emergence of a vibrant national book and publishing industry that encourages the involvement of all players in the book and publishing industries. The strategic basis for this approach should ensure the active and effective participation of various players in the publishing sector such as authors, editors, publishers, printers, bookstore keepers and librarians including close collaboration with civil society organizations and other partners.

Government institutions such as the Zambia Library Service and other NGOs involved in promoting literacy in Zambia should be encouraged to provide complementary reading materials such as children’s story books and fictional books by local authors in the local languages in public libraries, schools and reading corners for learners. The ministry of education should further ensure that the institutional measures are put in place to ensure the official recognition of the role and position of national languages as tools in fostering sustainable development are adopted for learners to have access to education in their mother tongue language.

A letter to my country; a youthful reflection

A letter to my country; a youthful reflection

"Unity and Innovation for a Smart Zambia" is the 2017 Youth Day Theme.

Today Zambia still relies on the 1996 Science and Technology Policy yet we aspire to be a knowledge based society.

Today Zambia's aspiration is to be "a middle income and prosperous nation by the year 2030"..again this also shows our lack of ambition as a country and as a people.

Zambia was once a middle income country at independence in 1964 and a few years after. So what went wrong?

We need to answer this question and again ask ourselves what is it we are doing different to become what we once were, "a middle income country."

What should be done?

We need to train the youths in essential skills for us to build a competitive, mordern, knowledge based economy and cyberspace that 'll drive an efficient state or an e government and information society. Our univesities and institutions of learning should be centers of excellence to generate knowledge to transform society.

To do this, we need to invest in technology and research for our country to survive this globalised digital economy and increasingly complex geopolitics which our country is no exception.

Any country's best asset are its human resource. Thus it is only by investing in a knowledge economy that our country can create jobs for our youthful population and eradicate poverty.

We need to be pragmatic as a country and stop these mere pronouncements.

Social media, Web 2.0 and the Media in Zambia.

The Zambia Daily Mail in its edition for Tuesday February 14, 2017 reported that Information and Broadcasting Services Kampamba Mulenga expressed concern that the media has continued to focus on trivial, divisive and unproductive issues in their daily reportorial work. Speaking during the commemoration of World Radio Day in Livingstone on Monday February 13, 2017, the minister further said “the dissemination of factual, objective and well-researched information and news to the public is a huge national responsibility which the media cannot afford to mishandle through careless, petty and personal considerations.”

This is not the first time such concerns have been raised on the need for the ethical and professional conduct of the media in our country. Over the years, there have been repeated calls by stakeholders such as the government, the church, NGOs and the media itself in Zambia to avoid inflammatory, biased, unprofessional and unethical reporting as these have the potential to disrupt the peace that the country has enjoyed for many years now.

Following the country’s transition from one party state to multi party democracy in 1991, there were many expectations that the political trajectory marked the beginning of an era in which the media would be an autonomous and responsible contributor to the social, political, and economic life in Zambia. The reintroduction of multi party democracy in the country thus, saw a proliferation of many private media institutions other than the mainstream government media such as The Times of Zambia, The Zambia Daily Mail, and the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC).

However, years after the transition, the subject on the conduct of both the public and private media has continued to draw a contested debate among many citizens and stakeholders. Hence the question; has the media lived up to its post multi party expectations in Zambia?

Although a number of factors can be attributed to the polarization of media industry currently being witnessed in Zambia today, issues of media law reforms, media self regulation and media ownership and the training of media practitioners are among the main factors that have shaped the media industry in the country. Following the liberalization of the media industry in the post 1991 period, it has become much easier for anyone to set up a media organization in the country to gather and disseminate information to the public. Equally so, there are many people that are being employed to work in many media organizations who lack professional training to practice in the industry. As a result, such ill qualified media personnel do not adhere to media ethics but instead owe their loyalty to individuals who control and own such media organizations. Therefore, in such an environment, it is difficult for the media to operate professionally and account to the public to whom it owes a huge national responsibility to disseminate timely, objective, accurate, well-researched and balanced information. There is therefore, an urgent need to develop appropriate training in order to build capacity, intellectual and analytical skills required for the media personnel to respond to the calls for a more responsive and accountable media in our country.

However, other factors such as technological dynamism and the changing patterns of news and media consumption by the public have also shaped the media landscape in the country. This has had thus a huge bearing on the media’s conduct and reporting. In addition, there is no doubt that the advancement in the era of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the revolution of the internet have also led to an unprecedented information explosion where the traditional media no longer holds monopoly to news or information. This means that the public no longer entirely depends on the media for “breaking news”.

For instance, the emergence of web 2.0 applications which include social media networks such as Facebook, Myspace, Instagram, LinkedIn, You Tube, Twitter, blogs and wikis have entirely changed the news and media landscape and the practice of journalism worldwide. However, although this information revolution represents both great opportunities for the media, it too poses a huge threat for unethical, untruthful and unprofessional media practice. This is both the opportunity and challenge that web 2.0 technologies such as social media networks have brought to the media industry. This means therefore, that the control, access and ownership of the media has been left to anyone with a PC, iPhone or Smartphone, who can disseminate, publish blog, tweet or post anything on facebook at anytime, anywhere without any restrictions.

Going forward, there is need for the government to come up with a comprehensive media and communication policy for the country that will bring into perspective these changing social and technological dynamism that are taking place globally. Further, both the media and the government should closely work towards actualizing media law reforms previously embarked on. However, the biggest challenge is for the media itself to remain relevant, responsive and accountable to the public by providing objective, accurate, well-researched and balanced information in this fast changing media landscape and competitive global information era.