Uganda’s Deputy Chief Justice has warned that Africa risks wasting its intellectual potential because many people with brilliant ideas, innovations and solutions lack the communication skills needed to make their contributions visible and influential.
Justice Moses Kawumi Kazibwe delivered the warning on Friday at Makerere University, where he was the guest of honour at an event celebrating public speaking and the launch of The Voice Command, a book authored by communication trainer Apuuli Babigumira.
“All the good ideas, all the good brains, good solutions, are lost for want of communication,” Kazibwe said, describing ineffective communication as a barrier preventing valuable knowledge from reaching the people and institutions that could benefit from it.
The Deputy Chief Justice challenged participants to rethink the assumption that possessing expertise automatically translates into influence, arguing that even the most knowledgeable professionals risk remaining unnoticed if they cannot explain their ideas convincingly.
He said Africa had people capable of addressing major challenges, but their contributions often remained confined to their workplaces and immediate communities because they lacked the confidence or ability to communicate effectively.
Juatice Kazibwe urged professionals and young people to treat communication as a skill that can be continuously developed rather than an inborn talent available only to a gifted few.
“I have never been in a class to learn communication myself, and I’m not a good communicator myself. But one thing I believe is that we are all good, and we are all learning communication. We can all get better,” he said.
His remarks came as Babigumira introduced The Voice Command, a practical guide designed to help Africans discover their voices, develop compelling messages and deliver them effectively to different audiences.
Babigumira said he had encountered highly knowledgeable Africans whose expertise was recognized internationally but who preferred to remain behind their computers rather than speak publicly about their work.
He argued that this had denied the continent an opportunity to showcase its innovations, experiences and ideas, while allowing others to dominate conversations about issues that Africans understand and experience firsthand.
“We have many brilliant minds. We have many great ideas. We have many Africans with inspiring stories and innovative technologies and ideas,” Babigumira said, explaining why he had developed a resource to help people communicate with greater confidence and clarity.
The book takes readers through three key stages of public speaking, including discovering themselves as speakers, developing and crafting their messages, and delivering those messages effectively.
Babigumira said the objective was not simply to teach people how to speak, but to help them communicate in ways that influence audiences, inspire change and make their knowledge count.
Justice Kazibwe also cautioned against confusing effective communication with the imitation of foreign accents. He praised the speakers at the event for sharing authentic personal experiences and communicating naturally rather than trying to sound American or imitate other foreign speakers.
He said the ability to connect with an audience through a clear message and genuine personal experiences was more important than attempting to adopt a particular accent.
The Deputy Chief Justice further reminded participants that setbacks should not be treated as the end of their ambitions, drawing attention to the lesson that “a bend in the road is not the end of the road.”
He commended Babigumira for his earlier contribution to public sensitization programmes within the Judiciary, recalling his participation in initiatives that used radio to explain the work of the courts and the law to ordinary Ugandans.
Kazibwe said the initiative demonstrated how communication could bridge the gap between institutions and the public, adding that Babigumira had now extended that mission by creating opportunities for other people to share their knowledge and experiences.
The event also introduced Mambo Africa Talks, a platform intended to provide regular opportunities for Ugandans to share ideas, professional experiences and innovations that can inspire others and contribute to the continent’s development.
Babigumira said the initiative would complement the book by giving people who develop their communication skills a platform on which to present their ideas and engage wider audiences.
The two initiatives seek to address a challenge highlighted throughout the event, that Africa’s ability to generate ideas must be matched by the ability to communicate them effectively.
Improving that ability, for the Deputy Chief Justice, is essential if the continent’s knowledge, talent and solutions are to receive the recognition and influence they deserve.
