SCECSAL honours past and present LIS professionals

Prof. Isaac N.M. Kigongo-Bukenya (R) receiving the award from the
Mayor of Entebbe, His Worship Vincent De Paul Kayanja

The SCECSAL General Council has recognised five individuals -  one from Kenya, two each from Uganda and Zambia respectively – for their dedication and contribution to the development of SCECSAL since its establishment in 1974 and awarded them the SCECSAL Excellence Award.

The SCECSAL Excellence Award, inform of a plaque, was introduced in January this year and the SCECSAL member Associations were invited to nominate individuals to be considered for the Award, and associations from eSwatini, Kenya, Namibia, Uganda and Zambia submitted their nominations.

The awardees, endorsed by the SCECSAL General Council, are:

• Jafred Shalimba Musisi (posthumous) from Kenya - for his key role in founding SCECSAL. Mr. Musisi was also for many years, the institutional memory of SCECSAL. In 1998 he wrote an article detailing the history of SCECSAL in the special issue of Maktaba Journal of Kenya Library Association. This ensured that the early history of SCECSAL was not lost. Until his passing on in 2011, he was a regular participant at SCECSAL conference.

• Prof. Maurice Chifwembe Lundu  (posthumous) from Zambia - for his dedicated professional support and service to SCECSAL. Prof. Lundu was one of the few library and information service professionals outside East Africa who contributed to the formation of SCECSAL and its expansion into Central and Southern African regions and ultimately the establishment of SCECSAL. He played a key role in organizing and hosting the second SCECSAL conference, and the first outside East Africa, in Lusaka, Zambia in 1976.

• Tucker Kigongo Lwanga from Uganda - for his foresight and instrumental work in founding the Standing Conference of Eastern, and Central African Librarians (SCECAL), the forerunner to SCECSAL. In 1970, Mr Lwanga served as host Chairperson of the biennial conference of the East African Library Association (E.A.L.A). At the next E.A.L.A biennial conference, in 1972, taking into account the prevailing situation in East Africa, he proposed the dissolution of the E.A.L.A and formation of SCECAL. His proposal was accepted and SCECAL was formed and its first biennial conference was held in 1974, also recognised the first year of SCECSAL.  

• Prof. Isaac N.M. Kigongo-Bukenya from Uganda - for his continued support to SCECSAL since its formation in 1974. Prof. Kigongo-Bukenya has participated in 15 SCECSAL conferences and played key roles at the conferences including as a paper presenter, conference paper reviewer, and Master of Ceremony (MC) at SCECSAL conference events.

• Justin Chisenga, PhD from Zambia - for his more than 15 years dedicated professional support and service to SCECSAL. Since 2000 Dr. Chisenga has been SCECSAL’s “institutional memory” and he has provided support and guidance to Local Organizing Committees of SCECSAL conferences, facilitated the development of the SCECSAL brand and logo, ensured that SCECSAL has an online presence (www.scecsal.org), presented papers at SCECSAL conferences, served on several SCECSAL conference papers review committees, and has facilitated consultations on the SCECSAL constitution and various SCECSAL guideline documents.

Ms. Mwanza Aggie Kaite-Mumbi (R) from the Library and
Information Association of Zambia receiving the award
on behalf of the late Prof. Lundu's family

The next Excellence Awards will be given in 2020 in Windhoek, Namibia.

The SCECSAL Secretariat has asked the  member Associations in Botswana, eSwatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe to initiate the process of identifying  individuals from within and outside their countries to be considered for the 2020 Excellence Award in anticipation of the call for nominations to be issued in early 2019.