It is written that the great Greek philosopher and educator Aristotle “believed that education should cultivate rational thought.”
Aristotle’s wisdom on education when it is applied to speeches of politicians in Uganda can result in deducting irrational thoughts, perceptions and perhaps understanding of education.
Take, for example, the video clip doing rounds on social media, featuring Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Patrick Wakida delivering his ‘official speech’ on his defection to the ruling party, National Resistance Movement (NRM). In his speech, Wakida made some jaw-dropping assertions, if contextualized within his attainment of the “highest academic degree awarded by universities.”
Among them, his false and irrational assertion that he has attained the “highest education any Ugandan can have.” Education is infinite. It is the “process of acquiring knowledge, skills, and values through learning whether formal or informal.”
Wakida’s claim to have achieved the highest of an infinite process, education, is both false and irrational. Indeed, within the same speech, Wakida effectively demonstrates the fallacy of his claim of having attained the highest level of knowledge acquisition a Ugandan can have, when he declared that Kibuku district in Bukedi sub-region, from whence he hails, is the “poorest area on earth.”
Bukedi sub-region and presumably Kibuku district is not the poorest area on earth, let alone in Uganda. Consecutive Uganda National Housing Survey (UNHS) reports, by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos), including the latest, 2023/24 UNHS Report, confirm Karamoja sub-region the poorest in Uganda. Karamoja is the poorest area in Uganda in terms of the number of persons living below the poverty line; in terms of hosting the larger percentage of “poorest bottom 40% in Uganda”; and in terms of “high monetary child poverty.”
This is according to official Government findings, including the Ubos 2023/2024 UNHS report recently released. If the unlikely possibility is accepted that Wakida was unaware of ‘official’ Government statistics which define Karamoja as the poorest area in Uganda, then his claim that he has attained the “highest education any Uganda can have” is immediately falsified.
Unless, of course, he refutes official Government statistics. The likely more acceptable explanation for his false assertion, however, is that he is fully aware and knowledgeable that Karamoja is the poorest area in Uganda.
But he deliberately chose to falsely state that Kibuku district in Bukedi sub-region is the “poorest area on earth.” This is not to say that Bukedi sub-region isn’t poor, it is, but not the poorest on earth.
Some may find this a rather extreme nitpicking of Wakida’s speech, because, sadly, many in Uganda have internalized and accepted the normalization of political deceit within the political arena. Seemingly, in fact, it appears as though in Uganda it is the lies of politicians that are the more exalted than the truth.
Further emboldening politicians to pedal lies so blatant and easily fact- checked false, such as Wakida did in his defection speech. Does Wakida expect us to believe, as he claimed in his speech, that his motive for defection and joining active politics is to “neutralize poverty” in Kibuku district, by extension Bukedi sub-region and Uganda?
Contextualized within Wakida’s previous speeches, pre-defection, during which he was brutally critical of the ruling NRM administration, that particular promise or goal of his political manifesto to “neutralize poverty” sounds hollow and difficult to believe.
Must one be in active politics and within the ruling party, in order to engage in endeavours to “neutralize poverty?” What has become of our civic duty to utilize our high-level education attainments to give back and to “neutralize poverty,” irrespective of being in active politics?
nowaraga.com
The author is a civic commentator and blogger
Thank you for the article. Education is a life-long learning process. One should not assert that he/she has reached its tail-end. It is the reason why professors who are Ph.D holders also call themselves, students of their profession. I am a student of Accounting.
Regarding poverty claim, I cannot fault him alone. Most politicians claim that their sub-region is the poorest. A few concede that Karamoja is the poorest, and that their sub-region is the second. It is like, poverty label is a badge of honor. With poverty glorification, or voters’ scare weapon, how do we get folks out of poverty mindset and replace it with prosperity? I have just been listening to Pastor Joel Osteen. He counseled that, “you become what you say repeatedly”. If you say, “I am poor”, you will indeed be poor, and probably remain in that state forever.