Professor Kigongo was born in Mityana district in 1955, and completed primary education at Mityana Junior School. He then moved to Kampala where he lived with his father and 12 other siblings and attended Old Kampala Secondary School, Kampala Tutorial School and eventually Makerere University.

Although he is a professor in philosophy, he has not published any book except nine articles in scientific journals on philosophy.

It was big surprise top many people when the 55-year-old professor was announced CP presidential candidate for 2011. He too was probably more surprised than excited.

When asked how he would cope with being a presidential aspirant without a wife in a traditional society where the public have reservations about leadership contenders who are not married, Kigongo said: “I did not plan to be a presidential candidate; otherwise I would have been married.”

In Uganda, being unmarried can be a daunting challenge for a presidential candidate no matter the intellectual and legal arguments one may advance to justify the bachelorship. When Olara Otunnu, the Uganda Peoples Congress presidential flag bearer, stood for the party presidency this year, he had to spend time explaining himself why he had never married at 59 years of age. His bachelorhood might even become a much bigger issue during the forthcoming election period as politics can get nasty in the heat of the campaigns.

However, Prof. Kigongo was once married customarily about 20 years ago. But the marriage didn’t last long. His wife gave birth to a daughter whom he raised along with two other adopted girls. He says the oldest of the three girls is in her early 30s and will be standing for Kayunga District Woman parliamentary seat. 

Apart from his professorship, Kigongo has no known political CV of national significance. His counterpart contenders in the opposition have a superior political profile they can boast of. Kizza Besigye has been a presidential candidate twice and heads the strongest opposition party in the country; Olara Otunnu has been a UN under-secretary and a minister in the past among other accomplishments, and Hussein Kyanjo is Makindye West MP. Kingongo’s richest political experience in politics has been at a much lower level. He has been involved in the political process since the NRM came to power in 1986. He told The Independent that he had been involved in the Local Council system. He was a local councillor for Makerere University in the Kampala City Council.  

Indeed it’s hard to read presidential ambitions in Kigongo’s face and tone. Indeed during the interview with The Independent, he said CP’s ambition is not going to State House but contributing to nation building. This is more of statement from a civil servant than a contender to the head of state portfolio.  He added that it would be a challenge for him if he was judged the best IPC presidential candidate. This politely suggests he is more afraid of being elected the IPC candidate than being not. 

Kigongo hails the Local Council system as people-based and equates it the federal system of governance.

He says that while federalism in Uganda has been associated more with the Buganda monarch, it is larger than kingship. He is a staunch federalist and monarchist and believes the two systems work best together.

Kigongo’s academic career spans 25 years ago.

He is currently a member of Makerere University Senate, the institution’s top decision making body.

He has also been member of the University Council,  Makerere’s other top decision making body. He has been the head of the Department of Philosophy. If presidents were elected on the basis of academic qualifications, probably Kigongo would outstrip all his rivals. But politics and leadership use different rules. That’s the demarcation. 

Comments (16)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment Preview