A week ago, the Uganda Management Institute concluded its series of graduation ceremonies for 2016. Among those receiving accolades was DR GERALD
KAGAMBIRWE KARYEIJA, who was promoted to the rank of associate professor. Moses Talemwa looks back at who this new don is.
Back in mid-1996, he was a fresh graduate from Makerere’s faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and looking for a job, when his father, Ezera Kagambirwe, insisted that he moves into teaching. However, Gerald Karyeija was intent on mapping his own route in life.
“Both my parents were teachers; my father had taught in several schools leading up to Makerere’s centre for extra mural studies, while my mother Nora was a pioneer kindergarten teacher in Kabale,” Karyeija recalls.
And so, to spite them, Karyeija first took up a stint as a radio artiste at Radio Uganda, where he worked for six months. Disillusioned by the job, he left to join The New Vision as a freelance reporter.
“Here I wrote a few stories and features for two years … but it was more of the same,” he adds.
In 1998, he decided to join the NSSF as a compliance officer. Here he seemed to do well, rising through the ranks to become an area manager for Tooro. But the call by his father to further his studies or consider a calling in teaching was persistent.
“I agreed with him that I would pursue a master’s degree from abroad, and so I sent 17 applications over seven years, but nothing came of it,” he says.
But ultimately his resistance grew thin. And three coincidences happened to finally make his way.
“First of all, I was tired of routine work. Secondly, my father had been prodding me on. And finally, my 18th application succeeded,” he said.
In 2001, Karyeija was admitted to the University of Bergen in Norway for an MPhil in Public Administration. Classes would start in 2003, running up to 2005.
“I focused on my studies and passed with what they call a first class,” he adds.
He returned to Uganda and stayed for an eventful six months.
“In that time, I got married to Faustine Nakazibwe and then wrote a PhD concept note, which was accepted and I was granted a subsequent scholarship.”
As he recalls it, Karyeija and Nakazibwe had applied for the Commonwealth scholarship for Master’s degree in 2001. However, as fate would have it, Nakazibwe won the scholarship.
“The organisers communicated the results to all of us in one email and she was surprised that I was the only one who congratulated her on winning it,” she says. “She was moved by this and we stayed in contact.”
She went off to the University of Birmingham for a master’s degree in Human Resource Management in 2001, while Karyeija stayed to battle for another scholarship.
“Hers was a one-year programme; so, by the time she returned I was already in Norway.”
By 2005 when Karyeija returned, Nakazibwe was working for ActionAid in Kampala.
“After we married, I went back to Bergen for the PhD, and she joined me in Norway after six months and ended up settling for a second master’s degree. I was in Bergen for three years, completing my studies in November 2009.”
Asked about the focus of his PhD studies, Karyeija explains: “I was looking for an explanation as to why the civil service was not functioning well, despite an increment in financial support and so on”. Sitting up in his chair he continues, “I realised that unless there is a cultural adjustment in practice, there is unlikely to be any change in the level of service. There is a need to adjust the mindset of civil servants.”
EARLY EDUCATION
Karyeija started his education at Kigezi High School lower for his primary school, before proceeding to Kigezi College Butobere in 1987 for his S1. He was there until he sat for his S4 exams in 1990, upon which he proceeded to Kigezi High School for his A-levels in 1991 to 1992. Shyaka Mbanda, also a former student at Kigezi High School, recalls Karyeija as a good-natured student.
“Apart from the fact that we knew him as Aunt Norah’s son, Karyeija was a good -natured person and was also known to be saved,” he said.
On this, Karyeija smiles then explains that he is a born-again Christian of the Anglican Church since July 7, 1987.
“I believe that things are the way God has destined them to be. Human beings are inherently evil and are only saved by the grace of God.”
LEADERSHIP
In each of the places he has studied, Karyeija has been privileged to be a prefect and a student representative, including at Makerere where he was a member of the guild representative council.
Since his return from Bergen, Dr Karyeija has worked at the Uganda Management Institute (UMI), starting in 2010. According his colleagues, Dr Karyeija is a person who easily gets immersed in his work.
“He gets so focused in his work that if he happens to be your supervisor, he will make incredible demands on you to ensure excellence,” says UMI public relations officer Peter Kibazo.
Today he is an associate professor of Public Administration and Management, as well as acting dean of the School of Management Sciences (which has three departments).
“It gets very busy here. UMI is a very dynamic institution – most of our students are working graduates. Most administrative work happens during regular weekdays, while academic work happens in the evenings and weekends.”
WEARING HUGE SHOES
Dr Karyeija is also fully aware that there are very few experts in his chosen field. Apart from former prime minister, Prof Apolo Nsibambi, Prof Foster Byarugaba (both retired) as well as Makerere lecturers Yasin Olum and Sabiiti Makara, few have followed his path.
“My promotion [to Public Administration at UMI] means that I’m taking a step into widening the available knowledge in public administration. As a researcher, it is my duty to explain to society how we can improve our governance issues.”
Apart from this, he is a reviewer of several peer research journals and an external examiner at several institutions. He has also supervised 256 master’s degree graduates to completion and is currently looking into the work of six PhD students.
Dr Karyeija has been vocal on several local governance issues, through a KFM radio talk show he regularly appears on. In this show he tends to share many of his findings. For instance he has extensively studied the problems bedeviling the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA).
“There is no way the setup at KCCA can work … you can’t have the KCCA executive director and the lord mayor competing for space. In my opinion, the arrangement is at best transitory,” he says.
“That fusion of local government [new public management] and politics is unworkable.”
When all is said and done, I ask him what he would tell his now deceased parents who insisted his future was in teaching.
“I would tell my father that it was worth it. The work environment here is very conducive for growth.”
mtalemwa@observer.ug