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Category: Diaspora News

Written by Kim

Makerere University has granted an honorary Doctorate Degree of Law (LL.B) to Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki.

He becomes the sixth African head of state to get the honor. The decision to honor Kibaki, 80, with the highest academic accolade was announced in a closed meeting at Senate building last week on Wednesday.

The meeting, attended by both the Senate and University Council members and chaired by Vice Chancellor Prof Venansius Baryamureeba resolved to award Kibaki following his accomplishments in the political and social circles.

"The grounds advanced for recommending him (Kibaki) for the award of Honorary Doctor of Laws were based on his distinguished contribution to Public Service - nationally, regionally and internationally- especially in the areas of academic excellence, public service, social and economic reforms," read part of the minutes from the meeting.

Kibaki was nominated in February by the chairman of the university's Convocation Association and committee member of the University Council, Bruce Balaba Kabasa. However, in an earlier meeting by the university's Honorary Awards Committee, Baryamureeba noted that plans to reward the Kenyan president were long pending.

"When I took office on 1st November 2009, I found the proposal to award an Honorary of the Doctor of Laws to H.E, Hon. Mwai Kibaki," Baryamureeba was quoted saying.

Kabasa submitted Kibaki's curriculum vitae for verification in accordance to the provisions of the University's Statute and Guidelines for Honorary Awards and Article 47 of the 2001 Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act.

"Every such proposal shall be accompanied by a detailed CV, a statement setting forth the award recommended and the detailed grounds on which the recommendation is based. No recommendation will be received without these details," reads parts of the statute.

Kibaki's nomination was subsequently endorsed by the Academic Boards of colleges of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) and Business and Managenment Sciences (COBAMS). The Awards Committee, Senate and the University Council also later agreed to give him the doctorate.

Usually, honorary degrees are awarded at graduation ceremonies which means Kibaki may get the honor during the mid January 2012 graduations. However, an inside source from the university said that his case may be different.

"We are talking about the Kenyan President. He (Kibaki) may get his very soon," the source said.

"He is coming to the university around December 3 and is likely to leave with his degree."

Idi Amin (Uganda), Julius Nyerere (Tanzania), Mashood Abiola (Nigeria), Benjamin Mkapa (Tanzania) and most recently Yoweri Museveni (Uganda) have all been previously awarded honorary degrees by Makerere University.

Kibaki, like Museveni, Nyerere and Mkapa is an alumnus of Makerere University. He graduated from the institution in 1955 with a First Class Bachelors of Arts degree in Economics, History and Political Science and taught at the institution in 1958.

Honorary Degree

An honorary degree, also known as degree honoris causa- Latin for 'the sake of honor' is an academic degree for which a university (or any other degree-awarding institution) awards without following the conventional procedures for attainment such as admission, residence, study and passing the exams.

The degree is strictly a Doctorate but on rare occasions, it may be a Masters. Quite often, the degree is awarded to someone with prior connection with the institution in question. However, in some cases, there may be no prior attachments.

Usually the degree is conferred as a way of honoring the beneficiary's distinguished contributions to a specific field, or to society in general. The university often derives benefits by association with the person in question.

It is not unusual for a person to receive many honorary degrees. For example, according to the late Julius Nyerere's official website, he received 23 honorary academic awards, 13 of which were doctorates.

Controversy

Honorary degrees, especially those given to politicians or people with no prior relevant academic qualifications, have been known to steer a lot of controversy from students, academicians and the general public.

With political figures and rich personalities, it is usually seen as a move to vulture for favours and financial support. A lot of criticism may also arise if a recipient with no prior academic qualification insists on being called 'Doctor' as the honorific may mislead the general public about their qualifications.

Some of the prominent honorary degrees that sparked controversy were those awarded to: George W. Bush, Margaret Thatcher, Robert Mugabe, Idi Amin, Barack Obama and Dr Henry Morgentaler - the controversial Canadian pro-abortion activist. As a result, some of the world's prominent universities do not award honorary degrees.

Kibaki's fact file

Born November 15 1931 in Nyeri district Graduated at Makerere University in 1955 with a 1st Class Degree in Economics, History and Political Science Graduated at London School of Economics in 1955 with a distinction in Public Finance Assistant Lecturer of Economics at Makerere University (1958-1960) Executive officer, KANU party (1960) MP and minister in Kenyan Parliament (1963-81) VP (1982-1988) President (2002-todate)

He is known to be a keen golfer