Former President Benjamin Mkapa was yesterday awarded an honorary doctorate degree by Makerere University, in recognition of his leadership and his role in Tanzania's democratisation.

Mr Mkapa, who studied at East Africa's first university, between 1957 and1962, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, was the guest of honour during the institution's alumni association.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Mkapa, who retired as President in 2005, after serving two five-year terms, challenged his fellow Makerere graduates to do some soul searching and reflect on their impact on the East African elite who studied at the university later.

He said: "Let's step back and consider our ways, wherever we may be, and whatever we are doing. Have we been good role models, and have we mentored new generations of educated Africans in the right direction? What have they learnt from us--not from our words, but from our actions--and what will they learn from successive generations of alumni?

Have we built the foundations of good governance and strong institutions that can outlive us, or are we passing on the buck to the next generation?" His remarks will be received with interest back home in Tanzania, where his leadership, especially the last five-year tenure, has increasingly been cited as the genesis of some of the mega corruption scandals that continue to dog his successor, President Jakaya Kikwete's administration.

Mr Mkapa's critics have accused him and his family of engaging in suspect business dealings during his tenure at State House, allegations he has vehemently denied. Only last week, he used the occasion of the Mkapa Foundation annual general meeting to defend his leadership record. The retired President said he was proud of his contribution to the country's leadership.

The former President, who arrived in Kampala on Thursday, to participate in the festivities to honour him at East Africa's leading university, failed to turn up at two key functions, a well-publicised press conference and a live television interview. His hosts, without any explanation, abruptly canceled the two engagements, which were part of his itinerary in Kampala.

Journalists from various media houses were caught off-guard by the development, with NTV-Uganda apologising several times to viewers who had been informed since Wednesday of the planned live interview with the former president.

The television station promptly drafted in some local MPs to discuss the Ugandan Land Bill that was approved by the Parliament earlier in the day.

President Yoweri Museveni, however, reportedly hosted Mr Mkapa to dinner at the State House. Yesterday, Mr Mkapa gave a public lecture at his alma mater before he was conferred with the honorary degree.

Efforts to get comments from his aides in Dar es Salaam and Kampala failed. His hosts were also not available to shed light on the matter.

Since his retirement, Mr Mkapa has been known to grant very few media interviews and has not held any major meetings with journalists since stepping down from the presidency in 2005.

Founding President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and many other prominent post-independence Tanzania politicians also studied at Makerere.

In his lecture, Mr Mkapa said his generation had a responsibility to build democracy and good governance in the continent because the colonial masters ignored that. "We cannot and must not have the luxury of being unaccountable spectators as the continent grapples with these profound challenges," he added.

The former President also urged his fellow alumni to reflect on what kind of future they had built for their countries in accordance with the Makerere motto, "Pro Future Aedificamus,"in Latin or "We are building for the future". "What kind of future have we built? How have we lived to our education motto's injuction?" Mkapa said.

He said the tertiary education enrolment in sub-Saharan Africa was "still very low compared to all other areas of the globe and so there is need to increase the level".

In 2007, only six per cent of youth in sub-Saharan Africa was enrolled in tertiary education institutions, against a global average of 26 per cent. In North America and Western Europe, the rate was 71 per cent; and in Central and Eastern Europe, 62 per cent.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, it was 34 per cent; in Central Asia, 31 per cent; in East Asia and the Pacific, 26 per cent; in the Arab states, 23 per cent; in South and West Asia, 11 per cent.

However, Mr Mkapa noted, the six per cent enrolment in sub-Saharan Africa was an improvement over the colonial times, where it was less than one per cent. "This was nothing short of scandalous, and our former colonial masters need to hang their heads in shame," the retired Tanzanian leader said.