By Oweyegha-Afunaduula
Introduction
A dangerous and short-sighted intellectual apartheid is being engineered in Uganda today. The NRM regime, with President Tibuhaburwa Museveni as its most vocal proponent, has openly declared an unprincipled and deceptive war on the Arts and Social Sciences. This is not merely a policy preference for the natural sciences; it is a deliberate strategy of mind-shaping with profound consequences for our nation’s future as we march towards the 22nd Century.
The government’s stance is clear and damaging: they actively discourage students from pursuing Arts and Social Sciences, falsely claiming that only natural sciences can secure their future. This is propagated despite the reality of our digital age, where a software developer, a data analyst, a content strategist, or a systems manager can emerge from any field of study, provided they have critical thinking, creativity, and adaptability—skills honed supremely well in the Arts and Social Sciences.
The discrimination is institutionalized and financial. A PhD holder in a natural science discipline is valued—and paid—more by the state than a PhD in Political Science, Literature, or Social Work. This is not an accident of the market but a calculated devaluation. The regime’s “commitment to science” is visible in targeted funding, presidential directives, and the construction of specialized institutions, all while faculties of humanities and social sciences are starved of resources and morale.
The Strategy: Divide, Rule, and Repress
This strategy has insidiously polarized our universities, pitting knowledge worker against knowledge worker. It is a classic divide-and-rule tactic, creating an apartheid hierarchy of disciplines. The oppression is felt daily. When academics in the Arts and Social Sciences raise their voices against this discrimination, they are often suppressed by their own administrators, who increasingly act as extensions of the ruling class rather than defenders of academic freedom.
A cursory analysis of Makerere University’s leadership structure is revealing. One must ask: Who is the Chancellor? Who Vice-Chancellor? Who is the Chairman of the University Council? Who is the Chairman of the Appointments Board? And who are the members of the University Council and the Appointments Board?
From Diagnosis to Prescription: Building Uganda’s 22nd Century Knowledge Ecosystem
Having established the strategic folly and oppressive nature of the current policy, we must now turn to the blueprint for the future. Rejecting the apartheid of knowledge is the first step; the second, more crucial one, is actively constructing an educational and societal framework where the Arts, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences are dynamically integrated. This is not a utopian ideal but a practical necessity for survival and thriving in the coming century.
1. Curriculum Revolution: From Silos to Synergy
The change must begin in our classrooms, from primary school to postgraduate study. We need a curriculum that:
· Promotes Problem-Based Learning (PBL) from Day One: Instead of teaching Biology, History, and English Literature in isolated periods, students should tackle projects like “The Health of Lake Victoria.” This would require scientific study of pollution, historical analysis of fishing policies and community displacement, economic assessment of livelihoods, and creative communication through writing or film to advocate for solutions. This mirrors the extradisciplinary reality of life itself.
· Mandates Cross-Registration in Universities: A medical student should take a course in Medical Anthropology. An engineering student should engage with Philosophy of Technology and Ethics. A literature student should understand the basics of environmental science. This breaks down the institutional barriers that currently enforce intellectual segregation.
2. Redefining “Productivity” and National Value
The regime’s bias stems from a narrowly economistic view of productivity. We must champion a broader definition of national value that includes:
· Social Cohesion and Peacebuilding: The work of historians, sociologists, and conflict-resolution experts in healing community fractures is as vital to national stability as any infrastructure project.
· Cultural Capital and Soft Power: Uganda’s global influence in the 22nd century will depend not just on its exports but on its cultural exports—its literature, music, philosophical thought, and ethical leadership. The Arts are the engine of this soft power.
· Governance and Institutional Integrity: Political scientists, public administrators, and legal philosophers are the architects and auditors of effective, just institutions. Devaluing them is an invitation to corruption and tyranny.
3. The 22nd Century’s “Wicked Problems” Demand Integrated Minds
Let us be specific about the challenges on the horizon that will scorn disciplinary narrowness:
· Climate Crisis Adaptation: While climate scientists model rainfall patterns, it is the social scientist who designs the fair social policy for climate migrants, and the artist who crafts the narratives that motivate collective behavioral change.
· The Fourth Industrial Revolution (AI, Biotechnology): Computer scientists will build AI systems. But without ethicists, linguists, and sociologists at the design table, we risk encoding our worst biases into algorithms that could devastate societies. The governance of biotechnology cannot be left to biologists alone.
· Urbanization and Future Cities: The engineer designs the smart city’s infrastructure, but the quality of life within it is determined by urban planners (geography), social workers, and the community artists who create public spaces that foster human connection.
4. Reclaiming Our Pre-Colonial Intellectual Heritage
As I alluded to earlier, this integration is not a foreign import. It is a return to our roots. In pre-colonial Ugandan societies, the “expert” was often an integrated thinker: a farmer who understood astronomy for planting, meteorology for weather prediction, botany for medicine, sociology for community leadership, and oral literature for preserving history and ethics. The colonial project dismantled this holistic knowledge system, replacing it with fragmented disciplines that served a bureaucratic and extractive administration. The current regime’s policy is, tragically, an extension of this colonial logic.
Conclusion: The Legacy We Choose
My father’s life—and my own trajectory—stand as testament to the power and resilience of the integrated mind. He was not a collection of fragmented roles but a whole person applying a symphony of skills and understandings to the challenges of his community. This is the model for the 22st-century Ugandan citizen.
Therefore, the call to action is clear. We must:
· Advocate for policy and funding parity at all levels of government and university management.
· Empower university senates and academic staff associations to resist political manipulation and champion curricular integration.
· Celebrate and fund research clusters that are inherently transdisciplinary.
· As parents and teachers, encourage young people to cultivate wide-ranging curiosity and to see knowledge as a web, not a series of isolated boxes.
The journey to the 22nd century has already begun. Will Uganda arrive as a fractured society led by technically proficient but socially and ethically myopic specialists, easily manipulated by power? Or will we arrive as an innovative, cohesive, and wise society, led by integrated thinkers who can navigate complexity with both technical skill and profound human understanding?
The answer lies in the choices we make today about the value we place on the Arts and Social Sciences. Let us choose integration over apartheid, wisdom over mere information, and reclaim the holistic intellectual spirit that has always been our true heritage.
*Oweyegha-Afunaduula is a natural scientist, academic, public intellectual, and former Secretary General of the Makerere University Academic Staff Association and former Chairman of the Nile Basin Discourse.
Prof Oweyegha-Afunaduula is a Conservation Biologist and member Center for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis
