By Field Ruwe EdD
“Viva Monko viva!” President Hakainde Hichilema yelled rapturously with an inflated sense of importance. “Viva!” the ecstatic crowd of male UNZA students responded in the same manner. “Viva Momma viva!” “Viva!” female voices shrilled with a surge of adrenaline.
Student placards, songs, chants and a Bally dance prompted recollections of Hichilema’s inaugural visit to the University of Zambia as president in 2023, during which he received a rousing reception from students, many of whom expressed their gratitude for his provision of free education and complimentary meals. This time he was back on campus to receive an honorary degree in Business Administration.
As the motorcade entered the university grounds, raucous and overzealous throngs of students many attired in UNZASU t-shirts blocked the presidential car, chanting “aseluke! aseluke!” (He must jump out) so they could give him a “Jesus enters Jerusalem” moment. Hichilema, fed by the fantasy of grandiosity, guided by impulse, and obsessed with the mantra “me, myself, and I,” knew he had the vulnerable UNZA students in his pocket.
Like the archetype of the Donkey Rider who uses the strategy of beating his donkey with the same blackthorn twig to urge his steed forward, Hichilema dangled a carrot on a stick, all the while seated in the saddle. His steed represented the susceptible and indoctrinated UNZA students who in measuring their scholarship by the amount of free meals and free education, have abdicated their important role of acting as “check and balance” academics to the draconian mentality of the person charged with national building.
Bally Wapa UNZA
The moment Vice Chancellor Mundia Muya adorned Hichilema with the traditional headgear known as a tam (mortarboard cap) I anticipated that he would follow the example set by distinguished leaders globally, among them John F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, and Barrack Obama. Such leaders committed their honorary degrees to fostering academic excellence within their higher education institutions by investing substantial resources into the establishment of a research faculty, whose ingenuity drove innovation and expanded the frontiers of science and technology.
It was my hope that Hichilema would use the occasion to unveil a comprehensive Student Academic Success Plan (SASP) aimed at transforming the half-baked UNZA graduates into exceptional innovators and inventors who embody creativity and exploration. The tam placed on his head served as a presentation of this vision. With its distinctive flat top and tassels, it signifies the qualities of a master craftsman.
Instead, Hichilema turned into “Bally Wapa UNZA,” who, during his speech had a difficulty in separating his self-seeking behavior from the state needs, refusing to acknowledge that the University of Zambia is embedded in academic policies that do not produce innovative and inventive human capital, and that the strength of the Zambian economy is inextricably linked to the strength of the University of Zambia education system.
Contrarily, like he has so often done, Hichilema asserted emphatically: “This University is a special one…Let me really express the contribution of this university to our country’s advancement…This University has produced our engineers, geologists, agriculturists…” He further stated that the University of Zambia was among the best universities in terms of academic excellence.
All That Glitters Is Not Gold
The most significant threat to truth is not the falsehood, but the unrealistic reinforcement of a myth. The misconception that UNZA is world-class has revealed a leader lacking both intellectual depth and practical judgment. I have since reached the conclusion that President Hakainde Hichilema does not possess the innovative capabilities I previously attributed to him. He lacks a clear vision for the University of Zambia and demonstrates no authentic dedication to his promise when he first visited the institution to “enhance academic excellence that aligns with esteemed international universities.”
If indeed the University of Zambia has produced gifted graduates of the highest caliber, where are they? Where are the electrical engineers to fix the energy crisis and put a stop to load shedding for once and all? Where are the geologists to take full control of our mineral resources? Where are the economists to fix the chronic failure of Zambian growth? Where are the agriculturists to turn Zambia into a food bowl of Africa?
Universities have historically played a pivotal role in the advancement of a country. Many modern-day inventions that have significantly impacted the world originated from research conducted on university campuses. Tertiary education is responsible for inventing equipment and techniques needed for advancement. What inventions have University of Zambia students produced as a class? A needle? A bulb? A car? A tractor? A computer? A plough? A solar panel? A turbine? A water pump? A train? None of the above.
In praising the university Hichilema ought to name both living and deceased bona fide UNZA graduates who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation, and created or facilitated outstanding innovation with tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development, and the improvement of Zambian welfare. He will find none. A good number who have exhibited flickers of ingenuity have had to leave the country to consolidate their degree because the UNZA degree is simply not enough.
The Ivory Tower Waits A Genius
The tragedy of all this is worsened when we realize that we have not contributed any unique accomplishments to the present splendor of our paradise. No more compelling evidence can be found of the truth that our psychic maelstrom has been sucked in and swallowed up by numerous astute foreign lenders and plunderers who have left us at their mercy and on the lesser side of advancement. This predicament is further aggravated by myopic leaders like Hichilema who, driven by a narcissistic temperament and sheer superciliousness are unwilling to face the painful truth.
What is particularly disheartening is that for many students who were chanting, singing, and dancing for Bally, their undergraduate years are the only years they will spend at the University of Zambia. Out of their four years of study, one year is spent on secondary school A Levels, meaning their degree is short of a year and so is their academic perspective. Consequently, Zambia’s citadel of knowledge is unlikely to achieve a meaningful and equitable distribution of innovative ideas and technologies that meet societal needs.
As I set my pen aside, I reflect on the Monkos and Mommas who graduated this year, many of whom are still searching for jobs or are compelled to accept positions that do not align with their degree.
Candidly put, the University of Zambia is an ivory tower that awaits a visionary leader like Lee Kwan Yew, the genius that transformed the tiny colonial outpost of Singapore into a First World country.
The rights to this article belong to ZDI (Zambia Development Institute), a proposed US-
based Zambian think tank. On May 19, 2022, a comprehensive proposal was delivered to
President Hichilema through Principal Private Secretary Bradford Machila. Author, Dr.
Field Ruwe holds a Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership. He is affiliated with
Northeastern University, Boston, MA. US.
No time to read these long articles
LT give more time to events on the ground
It’s true what they say. If you want to hide anything from a Zambian, hide it in a book.
“Instant” Doctor? He has a four year degree in Economics.
Typical, Some Zambians want instant things hence we attract conmen who promise heaven on earth and later to discover that they are just jokers or crooks. They don’t want to read to understand things all they want is to graze like animals that is it and sing to their “small god” whose good for nothing.
You demonize Dr. Ruwe at your own peril. There is no avoiding the realities of rapid advancement in the world of science and technology. Its effects manifests in docile minds like those in Africa who refuse advice from those who can see a dark cloud over the horizon. Academy and scholarship is all about science and discovery. Your poor country has none. You are all in denial and we are laughing at you attacking a person who is right.
Indeed I agree with Ruwe. Why doesn’t our university offer research and development services to our budding industries?
Why is it not relevant to Zambia s progress? Are the staff and students too haughty for our society?
In fact they do. Unfortunately, the industries don’t want to fund research. How can the University conduct research without funding? That’s where Field missed it. It is not the lack of research but funding.
LT ????????????? i am not on this platform
I’M STUCK WITH BOTH MY BUTTOCKS WHO CAN REMOVE ME FROM THIS SIT? – ASKS HICHILEMA by ZambianObserver. I am not on this platform, i left from here long time ago..LOL !!!
Dr Ruwe writes well but in ignorance. He would not be writing this if he had acquired enough grades to make the UNZA cut that his wife made but end up with a diploma in journalism. If he thinks UNZA is low class, how come he never made it there but has only acquired degrees as a mature entry student in America where even bonobo chimps are educated. Singapore is always put forward as a miracle- it is not Lee Kwan Yew who made it that way. It is strategically placed geographically and by size as a city state to be rich, like Monaco, UAE and the Vatican. UNZA has produced hundreds of Zambians who have gone into the world and are serving humanity too well for a small country like Zambia!
@Musaninyonze. You can’t face the truth. Name three UNZA graduates who have made an impact in invention and innovation or science
and technology. Also name one invention we as Zambians can pride in.
Name one invention we as Zambians can take pride in:
CORRUPTION: We are so good at this families keep phoning relatives and friends to find openings for jobs in their companies for our sons and daughters.
Our Police Force is so corrupt the officers dont even hide their demands for a bribe. Our politicians are usually very thin when in opposition before quickly doubling their waistlines three months into their term.
Our hospitals dont have medicines because staff always sell these to private pharmacies. Even the food meant for patients is sold. How did our army get involved in Mukwa smuggling?
Every Zambian knows that government ni kudyelapo. It has the money for citizens to steal. We need to quickly introduce the corruption degree to PhD at UNZA before we lose skills to neighbouring countries or am I too late with this suggestion? I can even name three UNZA graduates who have made an impact in Corruption: Edgar Lungu, Hakainde Hichilema, Sylvia etc etc etc
Ati he writes in ignorance. It is he writes from ignorance. Musaninyonze is semi-literate. You can tell from the way he goes after Ruwe’s personal life. Leave his wife out this. It exposes you as a cheap and low minded person. It shows from your narrow argument that you have not read the development of Singapore under Kwan Yee. You are either are a sec school leaver or UNZA grad with an A level deformity.
The problem with the article is that it decries the UNZA qualification as though one needs a degree to invent. The airplane, steam engine, internal combustion engine, desk top computer, etc etc were all invented by people without degrees. What is needed is opportunity. Zambian graduates are never given that opportunity. There are Zambians who have registered patents of their inventions, but there is no funding to carry forward. You can go to PACRA to see for yourself.
I do not know if this article qualifies as constructive criticism. The author is a perpetual critic of UNZA. Always disparaging and casting down this great institution. UNZA has punched above its weight in terms of national development. If he claims to be well educated then he would know that university degrees are a mere step-off pad for further economic activity and development. What I found hard to understand was why UNZA gave the President a degree when he has run down the country and we are more divided under this regime than ever before.
Actually come to think of it. He is helping Generation Z at UNZA to horn their academic standards. Read the article again. He’s fighting for them.
Agree 100% with Musaninyoze – Ruwe writes from ignorance with a very myopic view of UNZA . I Don’t think UNZA graduates half qualified doctors or engineers etc- am a proud UNZA graduate that’ had been thriving in the diaspora with UNZA education, and every day am thankful for the foundational head start I received at UNZA. Please stop writing negative about UNZA just because you couldn’t meet their then competitive entry requirements. Focus on your community college degree and improve upon it.
Mr. Diaspora, be the intellectual you claim to be. Counter his article with facts and not attacks. You are thriving in the Diaspora while many UNZA graduates are barely surviving. Point where Ruwe is wrong, and the country will thank you for that. You are thankful of the foundational head start you received at UNZA. Why can’t Dr. Ruwe be thankful of the head start he received at what you are calling a community college? What he has finally achieved is no different from yours if you too have a PhD. If you don’t, he’s a notch ahead of you. Then you are the one who should improve your degree.
Field Ruwe can do better that this. Can he tell us when he qualified (if he did) to come into UNZA and what he studied. This might be a question of sour grapes.
After reading the book White Malice, I would like to know who funds the Zambia Development Institute beyond the obvious funders.
I am sure Ruwe had high expectations of receiving funding from HH and UPND for his ZDI. But as he himself states, it has just remained as a proposal on paper and he is now upset by the Bally he overrated before 2021. Hence spewing out this.
For those doubting the contributions of UNZA graduates in science and technology, kindly google and follow the achievements of Zambia’s first and female Professor at Oxford University, Melissa Kapulu. Or, you can also google and follow the achievements of Prof. Kelly Chibale of the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
There are many of such time in the Diaspora. From UNZA they first had to consolidate their UNZA degree before they got where they are today. You can add Clive Chirwa to the list. That’s not what Ruwe is writing about. He is seeking those who went to UNZA and have changed Zambia or improved its standing in the world. It is Oxford that has turned Melissa Kapulu into a professor. UNZA can’t because it lacks a formidable research program.
Unza degrees are not even recognized abroad. Same goes with unza honorary doctorates.
Where would you be offered a contract because you have an honorary degree? Perhaps Chishimba Kambwili PHd hono can tell us?
BaRuwe, my father’s ex-classmate at Kantanshi, please research before writing. Thats what the UNZA degree taught me.
“What is particularly disheartening is …..their undergraduate years are the only years they will spend at the University of Zambia. Out of their four years of study, one year is spent on secondary school A Levels, meaning their degree is short of a year….”
IT IS NOT! First Degrees in the UK and Europe are generally three years duration. UNZA degrees like those in the US are four years duration. So what shortage are you talking about? In nearby South Africa the UNZA degree is considered an honours degree.
This is because in that country a fourth year of study is for an Honours degree. And why should that be disheartening?
KK’s Zambia opted for a four year degree to allow for a more comprehensive curriculum that covers a broad range of subjects in the first two years. At UNZA we went on to specialise in chosen fields from the third year. In law and engineering you even do a fifth year. This was meant to lay a solid foundation before one goes into a specialised course.
Field Ruwe has never lived in Mufulira. Read his Wikipedia Page. He was born in Kitwe and grew up in Chingola and Lusaka. Read the history of tertiary education in Zambia like a a good rational monko if at all. Ruwe knows what he is talking about.
Imwe ba Ruwe’s former classmate then you are as old as my father but logic yanu Im not following. Are you saying because he has never lived in Mufulira then he knows what he is talking about? Your post doesnt address anything in my post. Ok I may stand to be corrected because my dad went to secondary schools in Kitwe Chingola and Mufulira because his dad worked for the Public Works so I may mix up his narration. However how does all this make him know what he is talking about?
………
Oh please, some people lack reasoning intellectual capacity………..
Did you want the president to say UNZA is rubbish ????………
The president is here to encourage and coerce development, not discourage people……….
Let our students belive inthem selves………
Though it seems a Zambian thing to want to wear ties and suits with a wardrobe full of degrees , yet the jobs are not done properly………..this is all down to the certifying authorities.
The people who certify works need more training.
Intellectual capacity doesnt depend on being able to see things from another point of view. Right now Spaka is prone to see things from the buttered side of his bread. This because he wants to protect his perks So he mostly looks out for points that support this status quo. He will put in a ernomous effort to ignore any point of view that attacks his comforts.
More elaboration? An intelligent person can invent a mass killing rifle that a fool uses to kill lots of wise people.
Mr. Diaspora, be the intellectual you claim to be. Counter his article with facts and not attacks. You are thriving in the Diaspora while many UNZA graduates are barely surviving. Point where Ruwe is wrong, and the country will thank you for that. You are thankful of the foundational head start you received at UNZA. Why can’t Dr. Ruwe be thankful of the head start he received at what you are calling a community college? What he has finally achieved is no different from yours if you too have a PhD. If you don’t, he’s a notch ahead of you. Then you are the one who should improve your degree.
Until 1972 all Zambians graduated from abroad. The Joseph Chileshes, Francis Kaundas, Anderson Mazokas etc, were all foreign graduates. Can you tell us what they invented in Zambia with their ‘SUPERIOR’ degrees? It is not the education that is the problem Dr Ruwe, It is the limited opportunities.
I agree. This focus on academic success is due to narrow mindedness. Government should have a broader view of society to address progress comprehensively. It’s not only universities that need help.
Ba Ruwe baoneka he is from the academic retards of which there are plenty even at Unza. They like to selfsatisfyingly split hairs about qualifications and then boast about theirs being better. Thus calling HH an instant doctor to derogatorily separate his degree from theirs. As I did my law degree those in natural sciences were busy jeering at us but I was later to find them jobless while I ran my successful law firm. The Pull Him Down won’t help you but the PhD will.
Grow up you two bit degree pursuers with no initiative!
Thanks for your rebuttal Mr. Mwepu Chilenga
Let me extrapolate my comment to make it cogent:
Its not really what happens to you or what education you receive or where you receive it that decides what eventually matters in your life- ITS WHAT you do with what happens to you or education you receive that eventually determines your success ladder . The root word for education is educo-which is a Latin word meaning to educe, to bring out, to draw out, and to develop from within. What UNZA or any other university gives is just a basic certification showing the world that you spent the designated hours under a discipline and endured it- implying you are teachable!
This is is essential because universities responded to a demand by employers for this certification, and their job was to meet that demand so people can be employed. The real deal starts when you start to apply the basics you learnt from UNZA to solve daily needs-So Ruwe condemning a University that’s doing its mandate -is a misapplication of blame. How students apply their lessons from UNZA is not UNZA’s core business.
I further submit that – UNZA gives us the basic education that we need to build on to create the success we choose. THAT SAID-Environment where one is located can be a huge hindrance – to big success –
Let me spell out a specific example- in P110 physics at UNZA and many other universities-we learnt that In a car battery (sometimes called a lead-acid battery) the cathode is lead dioxide (PbO2), the anode is a sponge of lead (Pb), and the solution is sulfuric acid (H2SO4). When the battery is being used, the 2 connections react to form lead sulfate (PbSO4) by reacting with the sulfuric acid.
Continued in the next post
NOW if me in Zambia sets out to start a car battery manufacturing business i will not go as far as some who uses the same physics concept to start a car battery business in California for alot of various reasons, two being proximity to more technology and huge demand. Now i went to UNZA and this other guy went to UCLA and we were both taught the same physics concepts… would you condemn UNZA??? would you be justified to describe my education as inferior?
To expand on- armed with the same basic physics concept from UNZA- if we swap places with the UCLA graduate, he might face the same challenges i went through in Zambia, and I would use the same advantages he had in California.
Grammar Mr. Diaspora, grammar. You simply can’t write. You have cut and paste some, and you have applied high school English in some. Re-read to see what I mean. The whole write is a mambo jumbo. The way you belittled Dr. Ruwe, I thought your writing would be better than his. As a professor of English and Media Studies, I would give you a D and report you for plagiarism. If I knew in person I would have your degree revoked.
Certified wordsmith in which language?
In English the word is mumbo jumbo. The grammar in your post on the whole doesn’t sound ‘professor like’
What with… ‘The whole write… ? he has cut and paste some’??? Etc etc
What you are referring to are what we call “typos” in editing. They are a lesser crime than the poor grammar in Yatuta’s writing and the serious crime of plagiarism. You seem not to know the phrase “cut and paste” which I use correctly here. Deep down my heart I think you are the same Yatuta. I am able to read between the lines. I read Yatuta’s so-called rebuttal with interest. I read Dr. Ruwe’s article. The difference is night and day.
“The whole write up”