Makerere University will build a statue to honor renowned academic, historian and Islamic scholar Prof Ali Mazrui who passed away on Monday in New York at the age of 81.
A leading pan-Africanist, whose academic research focused on African politics, north-south relations and political Islam, the late Mazrui began his teaching career at Makerere University in 1963.
He later rose to the level of Dean of Social Sciences before he fled the country in 1973 following his outspokenness against the disappearance and eventual murder of the university’s vice chancellor, Frank Kalimuzo.
This was revealed after the Dua prayers in commemoration of the life of Mazrui at the Makerere Mosque on Friday, Prof Edward Kirumira, the Principal of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences said they would soon initiate the process of building the statue. Kirumira said they would sell the idea to Ceremonies and Honours committee of Makerere University, the body in charge of conferring such honours.
Describing Mazrui as a powerful and endearing personality who stood for justice, Kirumira said Makerere needed more Mazruis to maintain her stature as one of the premier universities in the world. Former Executive Director of the National Council of Higher Education, Prof Abdu Kasozi had asked Makerere to build the statue to honor Mazrui who authored 30 books. Kirumira said Makerere would sustain all the projects established in honor of Mazrui such as the Ali Mazrui Chair and Endowment Fund. A memorial lecture will soon be held in the Makerere University Main Hall to eulogize Mazrui.
Makerere has sent a four-man delegation led by Vice Chancellor Prof John Ddumba Ssentamu to represent the institution at Mazrui’s burial in Mombasa, Kenya, his birthplace. Mazrui left behind a will in which he stated his wish to be buried at his family’s graveyard in Mombasa’s Old Town, next to the graves of his parents and his grandfather. The Mazrui graveyard is classified as a heritage site by
the National Museums of Kenya.
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