Makerere First Generation Academic Dies

He was far from self effacing but he wasn’t pushy. He had no need to sell himself. His brains and his presence in a trim rugby form spoke for him. Ginyera Pinycwa, the long time academic and intellectual giant of Makerere University, who died of cancer on March 15^th this year, aged 74 is best remembered for his book The Social and Political Thought of an African People, the Alur and the Jonam People.

Professor Pinycwa was born of the Jonam people of Northern Uganda. He studied at Nyapea College, Makerere University, and the University of Chicago, where in 1972 he obtained the PhD in Political Science and International Relations. Pinycwa was a courageous man who while not courting danger did not run from danger. During the turbulent period of Idi Amin’s rule when many intellectuals had to flee Uganda, Pinycwa staid put, even resisting overtures from the General, when to do so could at times mean death.