The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda |THE INDEPENDENT | Algeria’s New Ambassador to Uganda, Mohamed Khelifi says his country is committed to strengthening and consolidating bilateral relationships with Uganda. He lists among the priorities the increase in the number of scholarships to Uganda students.
Mohamed on Saturday night while officiating at the Algeria Uganda Alumni Association dinner in Kampala. He said while presenting his letters of credentials to President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, apart from fostering bilateral relations, they discussed the possibility of more scholarship opportunities for Ugandan students and other matters of common interest.
“President Museveni is a friend of Algeria, he is much respected in my country and the whole continent. The bilateral relations between our two countries are historical and strategic and have been characterized by cooperation, solidarity, and mutual respect under the wise leadership of the two countries,” Mohamed said.
He added that these bilateral relationships have always witnessed what he described as a remarkable development in political, economic social, and cultural fields including student exchange. Records show that more than 200 Ugandan students benefited from the program in the past two years.
The Ambassador said Algeria’s Minister for Education confirmed his availability to promote and boost the bilateral relations in the higher education field including twinning between universities for the two countries.
Professor Augustus Nuwagaba, the keynote speaker at the event advised the alumni members to always grab opportunities that come their way saying if they are not part of the contributors to the economic growth of this country, they are liable to blame because they were trained from Algeria, one of the biggest economies in Africa with a GDP of 224.1 million dollars compared to Uganda’s GDP of 45.6 million dollars.
He advised them that it is not important to brag about where they graduated from saying what is important is being a graduate of a field that can bring you money after you have branded and positioned yourself properly with a value to add on the table.
Nuwagaba further asked the Alumni to build social capital to become relevant in community development saying nobody should be excused for failure, especially by other influences.
The Chairperson of the Algeria Alumni Association, Musa Nasaaga decried unfavorable admission conditions in Uganda. He said they spend more years studying in Algeria when they return, their qualifications tend to be downgraded.
He gave an example of medicine, pharmacy, and architecture where when a student has earned a Master’s degree, their papers are reduced to a Bachelor’s. He further said students with a bachelor’s degree are asked to study more for their papers to be equated to a bachelor’s.
Nasaaga appealed to the Ugandan government and the responsible departments such as the Ministry of Education and the National Council for Higher Education to be considerate and equate their academic qualifications to the same as those who have studied at Ugandan institutions.
The Association which was started in 2010 has more than 500 members who are Ugandans who previously graduated in Algeria and many of these are established businessmen, doctors, pharmacists, engineers, and economists in the country.
Some of these during the dinner shared their vast experiences on how they have been able to reach where they are including Musician Ykee Benda, Engineer Isaac Bossa Sserunkuma Judiciary’s head of Statistics Unit, and Dr Grace Naikazi an entrepreneur dealing in Pharmacy businesses among others.
****
URN
