Outspoken Kenyan lawyer and Pan-Africanist Prof. Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba delivered a powerful address at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), where he didn’t hold back in his critique of Africa’s education systems and colonial hangovers still choking the continent’s potential.
Standing before a packed auditorium, Lumumba spoke with a fire that held both weight and clarity.
“The intention behind our education was never to empower us,” he said. “In Uganda, they built King’s College Budo. In Kenya, it was Alliance. In Ghana, Achimota. These schools were designed to produce Africans who would support the colonial empire.”
Referencing legendary Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, Lumumba echoed:
“The white man was clever. He came and put a knife in the things that held us together, and things fell apart.”
He questioned the purpose of churning out thousands of graduates who often cannot demonstrate real-world competence.
“We are now famous for producing graduates in agriculture — some of whom, if you allow me a little latitude and hyperbole, cannot distinguish between a goat and a sheep.”
Then he turned his attention to African engineers, many of whom, he claims, demand to be called by their titles yet play no role in building national infrastructure.
“When we’re building highways from Accra through Winneba to Côte d’Ivoire, it is the Chinese I see on the ground. So what kind of engineering are we teaching?”
He didn’t spare Africa’s healthcare system either.
“We produce doctors, and some of them are good,” he admitted. “But when those in power fall sick, they want to be airlifted to Dubai or Germany. They have no faith in our medical systems.
“During COVID, all of Africa cried to the West—‘Give us Moderna, give us Pfizer!’ To Russia, we said, ‘Give us Sputnik!’ Yet we have universities with professors in medicine!”
Even the world of sports wasn’t left out of his critique.
“Football is a multi-billion dollar industry. But it is America offering our youth scholarships to study sports. What are our universities doing? Nothing,” he said, visibly frustrated.
“One of the MCs joked earlier — he didn’t remember the anthem of Asante Kotoko, but sang Liverpool’s ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’ That’s the state we are in.”
Lumumba’s central message was piercing and clear:
“We must re-examine our education system. What are we really teaching? Who are we producing? If our doctors can’t treat us, if our engineers can’t build for us, and our athletes are trained abroad — then what, really, is our system for?”
