Sunday, May 3, 2009
http://anax1b.pressmart.net/dailymonitor/DM/DM/2009/04/01/PagePrint/01_04_2009_031.pdf
Mr Tapiwa Kamurako was just 17 years old when he fought in the Zimbabwean guerrilla war against Ian Smith’s government. That is way back in the late 1970s. When Zimbabwe was granted independence in 1980, Tapiwa went back to school.
Since then, he has never stopped studying. Courtesy of his unending penchant for learning, the Mass Communication department at Makerere University could be on its way to produce a first international PhD student.
He currently resides in Germany where he works with the UN Volunteers.
“I have tried the delicate balance of working and studying,” he said.
He enrolled for an undergraduate degree course in Development Studies at the University of Zimbabwe in 1983, before pursuing a diploma in Mass Communication and another course specialising in communication at the same university.
In the early nineties, he pursued a Masters degree at Leicester University and picked up a second Masters degree at the University of Malmo in 2002, where he studied Communication for Development.
He turned down partial scholarships to study for his Phd in Australia and Britain to end up at Makerere.
“Makerere has a historical tradition in higher education. Most of our leaders have passed through the university,” he told Daily Monitor.
The research for his PhD thesis pivots on ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and
development, with a focus on Uganda and Zimbabwe. In Uganda, he is focusing on Nakaseke Telecentre in Luwero as the case study for his thesis. He says that the media environment
in Uganda is far better than in Zimbabwe.
“I am extremely impressed by Uganda. I think Uganda has one of the most promising media environments in Africa,” he said.
Joshua Masinde
