By Immaculate Bazira
The annual Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Symposium that took place on Saturday 14th October 2023 succeeded in creating space for the youth and African leaders to exchange ideas.
The symposium was organized by The Julius Nyerere Leadership Centre (JNLC) as a tribute to Nyerere's role in freeing Africa.
JNLC was conceived when President Yoweri Museveni emphasized the need for a platform “ekyoto” to draw from African leaders’ experiences in various fields and contexts during The Nelson Mandela Commemorative lecture in August 2017.
Some of the high level participants at this year's annual Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Symposium
The University leadership wasted no time in bringing the president’s directive into fruition and the dice was cast on the area occupied by the then, University Bookshop Makerere in December 2018. It was decided that a centre would be built here as the structure dated back to Nyerere’s student days at Makerere University. Sources note that the bookshop was shifted to Nkrumah Road in Kampala.
Multi-billion shillings later, the JNLC was launched by the President in 2018 and was set to start operations.
Six years on, the JNLC accommodates innovative policy research and analysis, youth training and an annual symposium.
This year's symposium drew political thought leaders, researchers, business people, academics, and students from across East Africa all converging to honor Mwalimu Julius' legacy and vision of a strong and united Africa.
It was under the theme “Building a Borderless East Africa: Championing Unity, Youth Employment Culture and Climate Resilience”.
For JNLC, the youth are the lifeforce of East Africa because of their multitude and the projection that it is they that will propel and gain from the exchange in the structure and focus on economic and societal relationships in East Africa.
“By fostering dialogue, sharing knowledge, and cultivating works, we aim to contribute to a future where geographical borders are no longer barriers, but bridges to shared success and prosperity,” said Dr. Suzie Nansozi Muwanga, the JNLC’s Executive Director at Makerere University's Yusuf during the symposium held on 14th October 2023.
The event was graced by young people who gave vibrant presentations and discussions that left Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, the president’s Special envoy for special duties, impressed. President Yoweri Museveni, represented by Dr. Rugunda, echoed that the region has an unequaled advantage in the form of a big market to cure Africa’s marginalization.
“We have an unprecedented advantage of a market of 1.3 billion people which has the potential of not only making us richer but also earning us respect in the world as a power to reckon with,” he stated.
The President further pointed to the need to strengthen political and economic integration among African countries for its weakness and marginalization to be permanently cured.
However, in order to do that, the President continued, “Africa must cure herself of the victim mentality and take the initiative of shaping her own destiny.”
“As we celebrate this day, it is important to remind ourselves of the unfinished work that Mwalimu pioneered, and carry it forward to its logical conclusion. This will be the most befitting tribute to his great legacy,” he urged.
The University had previously hosted Former Vice President of the Gambia, Her Excellency Fatoumata Tambajang on 6th-8th June this year, at the JNLC Presidential Lecture Series, who appealed to African heads of state to grant visa-free travel to all Africans saying that shared prosperity is the foundational principle of Pan-Africanism.
The JNLC therefore looks at empowering the youth through such discussions with the belief that great leaders will arise to take Africa forward.
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