Your Excellency President of the Republic of Uganda,
His Highness the Aga Khan,
Princess Zahra Aga Khan,
Mr Peter Primus, Deputy Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Republic of Uganda,
Representatives of Government and the diplomatic community gathered here today,
Chairman Zakir Mahmood and Members of AKU Board of Trustees and governing councils,
Vice Chancellor Sulaiman Shahabuddin and AKU faculty, staff and supporters,
Distinguished guests:

Good afternoon to you all.

I stand here today with a heart filled with joy and gratitude to God for making this long-time prayer of the people of Uganda a reality, that is, a teaching hospital campus right here in Kampala. We hoped to put one at Makerere University, but God has chosen to give us the Aga Khan University campus right here, a stone-throw away from Makerere University. This is a blessing to us and the fact that we celebrate this big milestone in the company of His Highness the Aga Khan, only adds to its significance, and we can’t thank you enough for choosing to be here today in person.

And also, Princess Zahra, who was here as we broke ground for this project. We thank you. We thank you once again for ensuring that you are here today. Please accept our sincere gratitude to you both for the work of the Aga Khan Development Network in Uganda. I’m also pleased to welcome Prince Aly to Uganda, and I hope this will be a first of many more visits to our country.

Your Excellency, I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the great legacy of our friend, the Late Highness Aga Khan, evidenced by the multiple development initiatives spearheaded by him, which our people have greatly benefitted from. As we mentioned earlier, this project is a product of a partnership. The NRM government has generously provided the University with 60 acres of land right here. The Aga Khan University provides the expertise, the experience, and together with our partners, the immense investment required for a venture for this magnitude and we’re truly grateful for this effort.

Your Excellency, as you are aware, our goal as a country at the university level has been to expand opportunities to ensure equity and strengthen the role of higher education as an engine of innovation and national development. The NRM government has tirelessly championed the expansion of public university education so as to widen access and ensure that we build expertise in our human capital through the delivery of high quality education for our people. This has seen us move from one university to 10 public universities and 48 private universities. As I speak now, Uganda is hosting the first regional ministerial conference on the East African Common Higher Education area, which started on Tuesday this week and is closing today. We believe the deliberations from these important regional gatherings will make a valuable contribution to the landscape of higher education in our region.

I am pleased to report that through various partnerships, a number of our public universities have benefited from new laboratories, libraries, art purpose facilities that continue to strengthen teaching, research and innovation in our universities. In this season, by the grace of God, we have been able to build and rebuild infrastructure in many of our educational institutions and agencies.

Just recently, we commissioned the establishment of Mary Stewart Hall at Makerere University, which is just one of the many new constructions, including the main administration building. We laid a foundation stone for the expansion of the National Council for Higher Education offices, our regulatory body for higher education in the country. The Bible teaches us that, “Unless the Lord builds a house, the labourers labour in vain”. Therefore, our prayer now, is that God, through us, continues to build and rebuild the education sector in our homeland.

Like Nehemiah, a rebuilder whose hands were strengthened together with his people to rebuild the broken walls of his homeland in just 52 days, our constant prayer is that God continues to strengthen our hands and those of our partners who choose to hold hands with us in Uganda.

We are very grateful for the partnership we witnessed today between the NRM government and the Aga Khan Development Network. Again, the Bible acknowledges the importance of partnership. Ecclesiastes 4:9 states, “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil.” There is also a saying that, “If you want to go fast, you go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.”

This partnership, therefore, is yet another milestone in promoting quality education in the area of health care, and I'm happy that our Minister of Health is right here with us also. While we are aware that the Aga Khan University is a private facility, I believe the University will continue to uphold His Highness's spirit of community welfare and service to humanity through this venture. I look forward to our continued collaboration and partnership as we wait in anticipation for the University’s scholars to deepen our understanding of the causes of health and illness, making this not only a centre of excellence, but a place of intellectual discovery, research and innovation.

Your Excellency, today as we inaugurate the University Centre and Student Residences that we have just seen in the other building, while looking forward to the completion of the Hospital, I'd like to once again express our sincere gratitude to His Highness the Aga Khan, Princess Zahra, and the entire leadership of the Aga Khan Development Network who have worked tirelessly to make this dream a reality right here in Uganda. I thank you all for being here and yes, we must thank God for the rain also.

Thank you and God bless you.