Mali’s skywalker Prime Minister: The Nairobi connection

In the 1990s, experts at the World Bank in Washington mooted the idea of expanding access to university education in Africa.

They came up with an innovative idea of using satellite technology to deliver specialised courses to students in African universities through collaboration with some of the world’s renowned centres of academic excellence.

The idea was sold to African academics and a demonstration conducted at an African Association of Universities (AAU) conference in Dakar, Senegal, in 1997.

Shortly thereafter, a pilot programme of the concept, the African Virtual University, was rolled out.

Some 23 universities quickly signed up. In Kenya, AVU learning centres were set up at Kenyatta and Egerton universities and attracted tens of students.

Initially, it offered diploma and certificate courses in information technology, sciences and business administration, which targeted school leavers.

The success of the pilot convinced technocrats at the World Bank that the programme was feasible and ought to be scaled up to include more countries and cover more courses.

Having come of age, it was also resolved that it should be managed from African soil instead of Washington.

Nairobi became the natural choice because Kenya had excelled at the pilot stage.

The AVU centre at Kenyatta University pioneered by Dr Magdeline Juma, now deceased, had become a textbook example of innovation in distance and online education.

In 2002, the bank transferred AVU’s headquarters from Washington to Nairobi and simultaneously went out to shop for an eminent African personality and scholar to lead the organisation to new frontiers.

None other than Dr Cheikh Modibo Diarra was headhunted from America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and tasked with the enviable mandate to expand, upgrade, and domesticate AVU.

Expanding and upgrading meant initiating degree programmes through partnerships with universities from other parts of the world. Previously, the AVU offered diploma courses from universities abroad.

Domesticating meant giving AVU an African touch by integrating local knowledge, skills, resources, and values so that its courses found relevance and application to the continent.

Coming to Nairobi was, so to speak, a climb-down for a man who literally was a high-flier, having been involved in several space explorations as an interplanetary space navigator at NASA.

Before quitting, Dr Diarra had been involved in five space exploration missions, giving him deep insights into what happens beyond planet earth.

But he had no qualms leaving the prestigious position at NASA to pursue a relatively lower ranking job.

In an interview with the Nation then, Dr Diarra was forthright. He was taking up the new challenge so that he could contribute to the development of higher education in Africa.

He said then: “Many people have questioned why I left my prestigious job at NASA to come to Africa to head a new organisation. But my stock answer is: Those of us with some skills and privileges must make sacrifices and jointly work together to support development in the continent.”

Rightly so, the Nation’s article was headlined: ‘Return of the native;’ an adaptation of Richard Wright’s best-selling 1940 novel, Native Son, itself an epochal treatise on the suffering of blacks in America and their desire to change the course of their destiny.

A decade after he came to Kenya to take up the AVU assignment, Dr Diarra was last week appointed the Prime Minister in his home country, Mali, with the mandate to form an interim government, clear the mess in a state that has gone through turbulence, and prepare ground for a credible election.

Last month, Mali was plunged into chaos after the military overthrew the government of Amadou Toumani Tourè.

The coup made headlines in Kenya because the then Foreign Affairs minister, Mr Moses Wetangula, got caught up in it.

Mr Wetangula had visited the country as part of a team of African nations’ efforts to broker a truce between the deposed President Tourè with the marauding Toureg rebels from the North, who had captured large swathes of the country, including the historic town, Timbuktu.

But the peace deal bid flopped. Instead President Tourè was ousted by the military, which felt he had done little to support them to fight the Touregs.

The coup plotters moved to impose a curfew and close the airports, trapping all visitors, including Mr Wetangula, who were in the country.

The minister had to stay on for four days before he was rescued through international diplomatic efforts.

The military junta that took over power did not last. Pressure from the international community and direct intervention of the Economic Community of West Africa States (Ecowas) came to bear and the junta leaders, under Captain Amadou Sanogo, were forced to step down for an interim civilian government.

Mr Dioncounda Traore, a former speaker of the National Assembly, was appointed the interim president and in turn, Dr Diarra was made the Prime Minister.

Dr Diarra’s appointment was not surprising. He is one of the candidates who were contesting a presidential election that was earmarked for 29 April. But this was not to be because of the March coup.

Given this background, academic credentials, and international stature, will Dr Diarra help Mali on the path of economic recovery and good governance?

A fellow countryman, Mr Sidiki Traore, who worked with him at the AVU in Nairobi, answers in the affirmative. He says that Dr Diarra has what it takes to pull Mali out of the rut.

Mr Traore describes Dr Diarra as judicious, focused, observant, and perceptive.

“Dr Diarra is inquisitive and keen on details,” says Mr Traore. “He interrogates facts and does not take anything at the face value. But he is generally pleasant, humble, and easy going.”

He typifies Dr Diarra as pushy and result-oriented, which are traits required to reform a socio-economic and political system in the intensive care unit.

Statistics eloquently describe the conditions in Mali. Its economy has been growing at an average of 4.5 per cent annually against a population growth of 3 per cent, poverty level stands at 57 per cent, and life expectancy at 50.5 years.

“Dealing with this situation requires strategic thinking and this is where you need a scientist like Dr Diarra,” says Mr Traore.

Yet, although Mali is poor, it has deposits of gold, uranium, and oil that can be extracted and give a major boost to the economy.