KENYA: Hekima College to Host Conference of Vice Chancellors from AMECEA Region
Hekima College in Nairobi is scheduled to host Vice Chancellors of Catholic Universities from AMECEA Region from 20th to 21st November for a collaborative meeting geared towards fostering networking and sharing of experiences among the Catholic Universities in the Region.
According Rev. Fr. Anthony Makunde, Secretary General of AMECEA this meeting is one of the resolutions of the 19th AMECEA Plenary Assembly held in July last year in Addis Ababa Ethiopia which insisted that Catholic institutions of higher learning (universities) within AMECEA Region should find a forum of networking and cooperation.
“The Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) has taken this seriously and its Vice Chancellor Rev. Prof Stephen Mbugua already spearheaded the initiative when in February this year he invited the Vice Chancellors from Catholic Universities in the Region to CUEA for their first meeting where they agreed to continue with the trend,” Fr. Makunde informed the Secretaries General from AMECEA Region during their ordinary meeting in Nairobi on Thursday, October 3.
He indicated that the meetings will be hosted in rotation among the institutions and will involve the Secretaries General of the Member conferences as much as possible because there is need for the hosting of the conference to be part and parcel of the journey of bringing AMECEA institutions together.
“We are planning to widen this idea into other commissions and departments in our conferences so that no one is left behind,” Fr. Makunde said, adding that from AMECEA Secretariat, the heads of departments already have a tradition of having a forum with their counterparts from the conferences. He noted, however, that there are other departments and commissions in conferences that do not come directly under the three departments present at AMECEA, namely Social Communications, Pastoral and Department of Promotion of human Integral development.
“We therefore need to brainstorm on how we can bring them on board. I am referring to groups like the lay movements, Health commission, Education Commissions. The whole concept of AMECEAness should not remain on the level of the Bishops and the Secretaries General. It is high time now the concept of AMECEAness trickled down to all.”
Fr. Makunde added that it is high time, the issue of inclusivity is taken into serious considerations such that, “whenever AMECEA heads of departments call for activities with their counterparts from conferences, we should think of the other entities within our conferences so that they too may have that understanding of togetherness and sharing the issues together that pertains to pastoral, spiritual and so on and so forth.”
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By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News
