Destined To Triumph
Authored by Mr Julius Babyetsiza
"Destined To Triumph" is a story of an African child who has seen it all. Julius Babyetsiza poses a universal question as what is the return on investment in education in Uganda/Africa given that the continent has remained crawling technologically when the rest of the world is running. He sounds an oracle to Uganda's political and university leaders to build knowledge-driven national economy; else "History catches them on the wrong side". Woe, however, "The falcon cannot hear the falconer." Find his views regarding how to address disheartening graduates' unemployment problem in Uganda - letters to Ugandan President and calls to leaders of universities.
One of the hallmarks of "Destined To Triumph" is the suggested new leadership paradigm shift that will enthrone universities/university leaders as the guardians of political and socio-economic accountability.
Striking highlights of his story include: a socially rich life and untimely death and spectacular mourning of the death of his father; his survival of a vicious attack of his leg by mysterious swelling which was cured through the miraculous intervention of his already divorced step-mother; his perseverance through primary and secondary school education with no reliable source of income; how he won a scholarship to study Economics and Statistics at the Odessa State Economic University in the Ukraine, former Soviet Union where he had flamboyant study time after failing to beat the intense competition to enter Makerere University - the only one in Uganda at the time; his shying-away from the love of Novikava, a young, beautiful classmate from Moldova who, disappointed, showers her love on another student from the Congo, bears him a son and gets occasion to taunt Babyetsiza (in the presence of her husband) with the searing comment, 'You know that child should have been yours'; his failure to get a job for several years in Uganda after his return with a Master's degree; his marriage to a beautiful Rwandan con woman whom he met at his computer training institute in Kampala and who deserts him after stealing from him dear sums of money with the connivance of witch-doctors; his dabbling in advocacy for sustainable use of the environment by virtue of his employment with a local civil society organization, which finally sacks him for his 'pursuance of political interests'.
JULIUS Babyetsiza is a Ugandan. Having lost his father who had already divorced his mother at a very young age, Babyetsiza owes his survival and ability to continue his education to his elder brother, Francis Tamwine, who sacrifices his own primary education to assume parental responsibility and fend for his two younger brothers and two sisters. From then on, Babyetsiza had to settle for a life of uncertainty, tilling the land to supplement the support from his brother, relatives and friends for his education, which leave us convinced about his belief that he can only be surviving through the omnipotent protection of the 'Hand of God'.
After his A' Level, he won a scholarship through the Government of Uganda's Ministry of Education, to study in former USSR's Ukraine at Odessa Institute of National Economy and Odessa State Economic University where he obtained a degree of Bachelor of Science in Economics with Statistics (1993) and degree of Master of Science in Economics with Statistics (1996) respectively.
