Education Journey – A Journey of Resilience

Prof Basheka started his primary education from his rural-based Karorwa Primary school before joining Nyabirerema Primary school where he completed his Primary Leaving Examinations (P-7) in 1988. He then joined Bukinda Secondary school in the same locality for his Ordinary level (S1-S4) Education (1989-1992). At Bukinda, he studied while supporting his father in transporting food produce from the hilly Karorwa to Bukinda town where the father would transport the items to Kabale or Ntungamo in search of school fees for his children.

Basheka (Jr) together with his siblings Livingstone Basheka and George Basheka- (the two acquired university education after Professor Basheka settled in Kampala) and with the support of paid workers, would as a weekly routine wake every morning (4.00am) to trek the journey from Karorwa on foot, carrying tomatoes/onions/Matooke (depending on the season) to Bukinda before proceeding to school. The mother’s role as usual appears to have been to take care of the family farms and prepare meals. In the evening from school, we had to go back to Bukinda to pick containers we had used to transport these items back to the village for the next journey. Later, Mzee Basheka managed to buy a bicycle and some items would be transported on this new machine. There was always a struggle on who had to use the bicycle.

Professor Basheka during weekends at this earliest level of his education would transport tomatoes by foot along with other village mates to Kamwezi Sub-county where there was a popular market (Rwamatunguru). This was a journey of hundred kilometres and we would climb about three hills before reaching the low-lying areas to walk with our baskets full of tomatoes or other items like onions to reach the Rwamatungulu popular market. We would sell our merchandise and in the evening, we had to walk back to Karorwa. I also participated at one time to smuggle sorghum to Rwanda having been convinced by village mates although I suffered losses after confiscation of the sorghum without any payment. Through these business engagements, I was able to buy myself some pair of shoes and it gave me a chance to buy some nice clothes of the time. I would also engage in personal farming of onions and tomatoes and from such I later managed to buy my own bicycle. It was this bicycle that would later be used to transport some food stuff to the markets in search of money.  

At Bukinda Secondary, Basheka was known for his hardworking nature and academic focus. He was generally liked by the head teacher (Amos Rwansheija) and all teachers as he used to perform exceedingly well. He would in his class compete with a gentleman called Bainomugisha who was excellent in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics. One of my teachers was Mr Web Ndyabahika who is currently the Assistant Commissioner in the Ministry of Education in charge of Primary Teacher College Education. We happened to come from the same village. He was an excellent teacher of Mathematics. The village had other teachers of history and Religious Education. All students had an obligation to ensure we pushed bicycles of these teachers (two had bicycles) up the hills whenever any would find the teacher on the way. We happened to come from a hilly place where one rides a bicycle while slopping but going back literally involves only pushing it uphill.

From Bukinda Secondary School, Prof Basheka (as he is now called) joined St Mary’s College Rushoroza in Kabale Municipality for his Advanced level education (1993-1995). Basheka’s shift from the village to Kabale town affected his business ventures of trading in tomatoes but would only use holidays to plant his own onions/tomatoes for commercial use. At Rushoroza, he opted to concentrate on studies where he pursued a combination of History, Economics, Geography and Religious Education (HEGR). His favourite subjects were economics and History for which he came to be known in the entire school for his extensive knowledge of these subjects. He was eventually elected as a Minister of Education in the School. He was liked by the head teacher-Bitarabeho.

Basheka’s life at St Mary’s was that of any other poor student as he lacked the privilege of being availed requirements except for the basic scholastic materials. School fees would be paid in instalments until it was completed. His father ensured he would not default on any payment as per agreed schedule. He would, when faced with financial hardship seek assistance from his friend Mzee Musa Kawonawo who was a bit well off by all comparative standards. Mzee Basheka would once in a while visit me at St Marys on his way from the market in Kabale where he used to supply tomatoes/onions and matooke; three of the items which provided school fees to me and my siblings. He would easily get Mzee Kawonawo’s bicycle to Rushoroza and check on how I was fairing before going back to plan his journey to the village.

While I lacked the basic necessities of life at St Mary’s College Rushoroza, I was lucky to have developed good friendship which made me rarely take porridge without sugar. Baker Kawonawo (the son to late Musa Kawonawo) whose career has since taken him to the service of Uganda Police and who currently serves as the District Police Commander (DPC) of Entebbe was extremely helpful during these early years. He was in a lower class than mine but we became close because our parents were friends. He was a son to the late Musa Kawonawo who happened to have been close to my own father. It is through the parent’s friendship that my father was connected to St Mary’s College Rushoroza. The head teacher of the school was a personal friend to Mzee Kawonawo. I had failed to join Kigezi High school which was my dream choice. Although my father attempted to secure a senior 5 vacancy through the some teachers who were from our own village, that venture became futile. When he failed to secure this place, it is when Mzee Kawonawo gave him the alternative of going to St Mary’s Rushoroza where he knew the head teacher very well. Mzee Basheka was given Kawonawo’s bicycle and had to ride to St Mary’s Rushoroza and on introduction, that he was from Kawonawo,  he got the vacancy on the same day. That is how I secured a place to embark on my academic dream at advanced level.

At St Mary’s Rushoroza, I became a friend to many and would thus benefit from those who were ‘powerful’ and connected. I was not subjected to much bullying because of my humble character but I also was friendly. Justus Katungi (who works with the daily Monitor) was generous in providing some of the necessities as he was generally from a wealthy background. He was close to Baker Kawonawo and to the head prefect which made him have a reserved portion of food in the dining hall.  Katungi never enjoyed posho very much as he had the capacity to eat other food stuffs of his wish and this meant we used this opportunity to always take some of his share whenever he was not in the mood of eating posho. There was another gentleman called Mugabe martin who was equally very powerful in securing the required food portion. The food prefect who was a gentleman from Kisoro also liked me and treated me nicely and with respect because of my connections with the student leadership. A story has to be told of how during harvest time of maize we started a bad child habit of stealing maize and roasting it! Amos Mzee who currently works in Kabale District as a Deputy Head teacher of a school was notoriously known for leading this adventure.

From St Mary’s College, Basheka joined Makerere University (1995-1998) for a three-year Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Sciences degree later majoring in Political Science and Public Administration (3:1:1). His first year saw him study Sociology, History and Political Science. He graduated with a second-class upper division degree and was awarded this degree on 15^th January 1999. His desire to join the teaching position did not materialise at the time. Previously, the department would take on well performing students as tutorial assistants but there appears to have been either a change of policy or new dynamics at the time I completed. I subsequently also failed to secure an immediate job and opted to return to the village where I could do teaching at Kamuronko Secondary school. I had returned to Kampala where I worked at a secretarial bureau of my cousin Dr Jolly Kiregyera and later at their family grocery shop in Bugolobi.

In the second year of my BA course, I happened to meet Justine Katureebe who was pursuing a BA in Social Science (evening session). She appears to have known me due to her need for someone to discuss some subjects. We were staying in the same locality in a hostel with my cousin-Annet. We later fell into an affair and when it was discovered that she was pregnant, I had to take responsibility and never abandoned her. This was towards the end of my course and by the time of graduation, my daughter Elizabeth Kansime Basheka was already born in 1999.

My graduation party was organised by the family of Reverend Bitarebeho who came from the same village with me and during my life at the University, they often provided me with the necessary support as I visited them during Sunday. His wife Perpetua was an excellent cook and to their family chicken appeared to have been a meal for every Sunday. Their children liked me like Byengoma (who studied from Makerere and stayed in Lumumba hall) and the family’s elder daughter Patricia and the younger daughter Kirungi often welcomed me to their home without discrimination. Reverend would always avail me with transport back to the University although I would opt to walk for some longer distance to have some saving to take me. If I was unable to travel to Lungujja where they stayed, I could easily cross to either Mulago where Reverand was the Chaplain or Mengo hospital where Perpetua had a grocery shop.

During my University education, I stayed in a hostel where my other village mate one Mugisha Benon (aka Chance) had a car paint shop and he gave me a significant moral and financial support in times of need as a young student. He to date has the same shop and remained a close friend. Here was a gentleman who was never selfish (and still he remains so) and he was always there for me. He appeared to understand city life and University education challenges more than most people of his earnings could understand. To date we have remained close friends and he remains a key ‘consultant’ on most investment decisions as he literally understands any business venture.

Before joining University, having been admitted, it was another gentleman-the late Ben Mutungi, who educated me about the University system. He interpreted the admission letter for me and what it meant to be a ‘non-resident student’. My first journey to Kampala was with the late Kasikano who at the time worked at Kyambogo University. He allowed me to come along with him in a bus. This was my first time to enter a bus. It was after I had settled within the University life that I was able to connect to my cousin Jolly and her husband Professor Kiregyera who equally provided moral support. At the time I completed my Degree, I had my wife daughter and we stayed with my wife’s cousin Kirabo. Justine had her family in Ntinda and she had already introduced me to the family.  

The Murungi family became helpful in all respects. Engineer Murungi at the time worked in Uganda Railways Corporation as a Managing Director. He tried to secure me a job in Ugacoff in Bweyogere but this move was never successful. In 1998, upon completion of the Bachelor’s degree, I had applied for a job of Administrative Assistant at Makerere University so this became successful in 1999 when I received my appointment as administrative assistant in the Academic Registrar’s Department at Makerere University. My contemporaries of the time included Prof Umar Kakumba-the current Deputy VC (Academics of Makerere) whose decision to join academics was influenced by my own later decision to leave administration and join academics. The other contemporaries were Peace Tumuheki, Resty Naiga among others. All of us were Administrative Assistants but in different divisions of the Academic Registrar’s Department. Most of these have also since attained doctoral qualifications.

Upon getting my first employment, an interest developed to enrol for a Master’s Degree but I could not secure a sponsorship. I tried during the period to apply to several Universities abroad. While I was always admitted, I failed to get a scholarship. A decision had to be made to enrol for a Master’s Degree at Makerere where I would pay for myself using the little salary. A t my graduation for the Bachelor’s Degree in 1999, my father gave me a gift of a ballpoint pen and as per our custom a piece of land. When I sought to get the meaning he had in a pen, he did inform me that he had educated me to that level and that I now needed to use the power of a pen to add more qualifications. This has been a driving call to my numerous academic qualifications.

I enrolled for a Masters’ in Social Sector Planning and Management in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; Department of Social Work and Social Administration at Makerere University. Some of my class mates included Christine Muhwezi, Alice Twongeirwe Bakiza, and Twinomujuni Kafunjo among others. Towards the end of this Master’s Degree course, I had already applied for a PGD in Project Planning and Management at Uganda Management. I happened to enrol for this course alongside Joseph Mutebile who worked in URA near Makerere and he stayed in Nalya-Ntinda where I also stayed at the time. This enabled me to cut on transport costs and allowed easy movement to Uganda Management Institute where this course was offered.

During the PGD Course, we were tutored among others by Sylvester Kugonza. He to date serves at the same Institute and has since acquired a PhD. I happened to have reviewed his doctoral dissertation several times before he completed as at the time I was already advanced in my doctoral work. Dr Kugonza taught us among other modules the module of Project Procurement Management. It is here that I again developed greater interest in the procurement field. I had already developed a passion for this new field because I used to see adverts looking for procurement officers but there seemed to be no course in procurement. I later attended a short course in Procurement and Supply Chain Management where Mr Obua was the key source person. I subsequently developed a postgraduate Diploma in Procurement and Supply chain Management (which to date is offered by Uganda Management Institute) and submitted it to Sylvester Kugonza to present it to the institute structures. I was at the time not employed at UMI and I had no locus standi to make such a presentation. Mr Kugoza later did not develop much interest in this course until the idea was sold to Mr Obua who bought it and had it approved. I convinced him that if the course was started, then I would come on to offer my services to teach on the course.  This is how I later joined UMI as a consultant/lecturer.

After attainment of the Master’s Degree and now a Postgraduate Diploma, I felt I had intellectually matured and period was ripe to join academia. A decision was thus made by myself to shift from the Administrative Assistant position to that of Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Community Education and Extra Mural studies. I had made my ground work of the availability of this position and the head of department was ready to receive me. I administratively went to the academic registrar-Stephen Ngobi who had come to know me as a hard working person to convey this decision. He assured me of his total support if that was my wish. Eventually he wrote a letter releasing me from this position and the Department where I was supposed to go wrote a second letter accepting me. The two letters alongside my application were submitted to the University appointments Board and a formal decision was made and I transferred to the Department of Community Education and Extra-Murral studies. This is where I started my academic career. Steven Kaliba was the head of department and initially Mr Goerge Openjuru (as we was then) who is now the current Vice Chancellor of Gulu University was the Director.

Within the department, they offered only an undergraduate Diploma in Project planning and management. It is within this period that I met Willy Ngaka (as he was then) and we worked closely  to introduce a number of short courses which ‘brought life’ to the department. My passion came to be in procurement and logistics management courses, public administration and project management. This innovation made the department create centres throughout different parts of the country. The department started generating money they had never seen. The entire university now became aware of the department of CEEMS.

The head of department (Steven Kaliba) trusted me for my excellent teaching skills which attracted many students on different courses. It was only until a group of some part time employees in the desire for money worked tireless to antagonise me with the head of department. I later developed a disagreement with the head of department on how he was managing the quality on these courses. While he preferred to use people who were not good at delivery and only joined the courses for financial gain, I supported deployment of tested staff who had experience and knew adult delivery methods.  When the head of department never saw my point of argument, he developed a cold attitude and it is here now that decided to advance my career instead of engaging in these battles. 

In 2004, I applied for a PhD in Educational Management and Administration. I at the same time applied for staff development support owing to my contribution to the revenue streams of the University through this department. The head of department unfortunately denied me chance by not recommending me for a scholarship. I enrolled on my own and started the course. It was later the time when I decided to go to Uganda Management Institute for my third formal employment as a consultant to enable me secure enough money to educate me at PhD. UMI therefore became my third formal employment organisation.  My. My first was in the Academic Registrars Department and second was the Department of CEEMS. My contemporaries on the PhD included Dr Picho Epiphany Odubuker (Now a University Secretary of Muni University), Dr Getrude Zziwa (Works at Kyambogo University and as a Head teacher of some government school in Kampala, and Dr Sarah Nkonge (a politician) among others. We were tutored by Professor Martin Amin, Professor Owolabli, Dr Nkaata James and Professor Musaazi. The latter two were later to become my doctoral supervisors. I did research on Liberalisation policy reforms and management of higher Education in Uganda.

While at the ARs department and while I pursued my Masters in Social Sector Planning and Management, I did research on Total Quality Management. I later came to know Associate Professor Neema Abwoki (as he is now called); whom I tirelessly helped to collect research information as he did his doctoral work on the same subject. At the time I was pursuing my PhD in Education management, he happened to be a PhD Coordinator and he had a conflict with one of my supervisors. This conflict was transferred to me and innocently suffered immensely during this journey. My proposal delayed to be defended as it disappeared several times. Delay in proposal approval affected seriously my completion rate of the PhD. It was not until the intervention of Professor Katunguka-the current VC of Kyambogo University who then was the Director of Graduate School that I was able to defend my work. My doctoral thesis examination was characterised by:

• Unexplained process delay
• Failure to respect the guidelines
• Delayed submission of examiner reports
• Unconventional demands from the examiners
• Unfairness and lack of objectivity in assessment

I contested and appealed to every office on behalf of a number of colleagues who had suffered similar fate until the matter was addressed. My public defence was held on December 10th 2009 but it took me almost another full year to get through the administrative processes. The defence was before an 11-member panel chaired by the Dean of the school. Professor Katunguka and Professor Buyinza were extremely understanding and they did what was expected of them. On November 12, 2010, the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy was given to me eventually; ending the debacle that had characterised the examination process. Unfortunately, this award came when I had already embarked on the second PhD in Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Dara es salaam. This letter of award followed the communication by Prof Joseph C.Ounyu (who had been assigned to me to oversee the corrections) dated 8^th November 2010 to Professor M.Buyinza confirming having ascertained that corrections had been made.

At the University of Dar es Slaam, I was tutored by Professor Rwekaza Mukandala (who then was the Vice Chancellor) and Professor G. Mutahaba who was the PhD Coordinator. It is professor Mutahaba who informed me of the PhD in Public Administration by Coursework which they had started. This was in 2009 at Dubai Airport on transit to an IASIA conference. He told me they had advertised and when I reached my destination, I checked online and found this advert. On my return to Uganda from the conference in Indonesia, I travelled to Tanzania and applied and was admitted. My experience in Tanzania was challenging because I did not know Swahili but I was in class with Marijan Ramadan who had studied at Uganda Management Institute and enabled me to move around with ease. I stayed at a crowded hostel for some time as accommodation was a problem until I got a small room at the main campus where I stayed for the time I was in Tanzania. I had friends like Charles Rwekaza, Denis Kamugisha and Kihamba John. All of these are now doctoral graduates and work in different Universities in Tanzania.

The examination of my PhD dissertation did not take as much time as it was the case of the first PhD at Makerere University. On September 19, 2014, the external examiner returned my doctoral thesis report and overall, he concluded that the thesis was of an excellent quality and he passed the dissertation as it was without any corrections. He endorsed that the candidate should be awarded the degree, Doctor of Public Administration – (PhD. in Public Administration) and congratulated the supervisors of this study for the provision of excellent guidance throughout this study. In his own writing, the following statement summed up the external examiner’s assessment ‘…This is an excellent piece of research and it is a pleasure to read. It is a scientific and a well-researched document’. This concluded my long journey of  seeking academic fairness and justice. I had been unfairly treated at Makerere University and I had to make a decision to prove my abilities. Moreover, this came to be in the field of my youth-Political Science and Public administration.