Technology Took Me to Another Level:
From Presenting a Paper to Meeting the President of Uganda
by
Carole I. Smith
On Wednesday, June 20, 2007, I had an audience with His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda. This was a significant experience for me and key members of the Consortium for International Management Policy and Development (CIMPAD) who joined me while in attendance at the Sixth International Conference of Public Management, Policy and Development in Kampala, Uganda, East Africa, June 15 - 22, 2007.
The opportunity to present at the CIMPAD conference came about as a result of my membership on the International Affairs Committee of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA), for which I serve as president of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter. My interactions with individuals from various sectors of the Ugandan society, both at the conference and travel within the country, was very informative and highlighted the need for greater interaction and collaboration between Africans Americans and Africans.
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At the meeting with President Museveni, it was very exciting to find that he is a very forward thinking man, anxious to bring his country into the Digital Age, and very much interested in working with African American businessmen to help stimulate human capital and economic development in Uganda. He specifically asked for assistance in identifying individuals and opportunities for partnership to move his development agenda forward. Both he and the Mayor of Kampala, Al Haji Nasser |
Ntege Sebaggala, are interested in exploring a Sister City arrangement between the City of Philadelphia and Kampala, Uganda.
While in Uganda, I served as an ambassador from the City of Philadelphia in my capacity as the Executive Director of the Mayor's Commission on Technology (MCOT), and brought greetings, along with gifts, from Mayor John F. Street for President Museveni; the Mayor of Kampala; Mayor of Pakwach, Town Council, Nebbi District; Chairman, Local Council, Gulu District; and other key officials. I also met with the U.S. Ambassador to Uganda, Steven Browning.
My meeting with President Museveni was coordinated by a former member of the Ugandan Parliament, Betty Udongo, who hosted me and served as my guide on a trip to Northern Uganda following the conference. And, guess what folks, I met her over the Internet. She was referred to me through Ronnie Lowenstein, a colleague I discussed this conference with earlier this year. Ronnie emailed one of her colleagues, Dr. Yvonne B. Freeman, who linked me to Betty Udongo, who is now a Ugandan doctoral student at Western Michigan University, and her cousin, George Piwang, a doctoral student at Duke University.
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