Like many other Zambians I recently read about Professor Clive Chirwa’s rant on his passport. While I tried to digest the information on his intentions to renounce Zambian citizenship and wondered how that would help him in his alleged corruption case that is before the Zambian courts, we were greeted with another rant. The new one though bordering on libel could not be ignored. Professor Chirwa among other things questioned the authenticity of “Professor” Muyenga Atanga’s academic credentials. For a few seconds I thought ba Clive was a case of DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt by carrying out my own investigation.
Thank you to technology we now live in an era, where one’s incredulity can easily be exposed. Some of the resources available to us are search engines such as Google and its other variant Google Scholar. The former publishes general results of a search while the latter is focused more on results of academic works and publications. Therefore, many academic institutions recommend that their students search Google Scholar for academic works rather than cite from Wikipedia, for example.
So armed with my tools I set out to search for “Muyenga Atanga” on Google. I found a number of hits with his name including one in which he was said to have advised Chibamba Kanyama to apply for a professorship based on one book that the latter had just published. Suffice to say, I found that a very interesting recommendation. The only hit that was noteworthy was a PDF of Muyenga Atanga’s Master’s thesis examined by the Copperbelt University in 1999.
Not satisfied with the result, I thought that there is no way a professor could only have a Master’s thesis as the only existing works on the net. Not to say that everything is on the net but obviously a professor’s works ought to be. I was convinced this was just a minor setback, so I then switched to Google Scholar. Here the situation was worse. NO HITS whatsoever. I then thought okay, may be let me find out if Fred M’membe has anything and wow he did. Not only were some of his small works cited by other authors Fred M’membe’s unpublished work submitted to UNZA was also listed and so did many other Zambian scholars with notable works including Clive Chirwa.
So how could it be that a man who has been known as having a doctorate and recently conferred with a professorship would have not even a single citation reference or reference to published work on the world wide web? Was Clive Chirwa just being a cry baby or is Muyenga Atanga so hated that no one wants to have his academic works on the net? Or are we dealing with another case of academic fraud? Was Muyenga Atanga’s doctorate and professorship conferred by the City University College of Science and Technology? If that is the case he can just say so. Was Muyenga Atanga’s avoidance of discussing the academic question in his response to Chirwa’s rant an admission of guilt? Is Clive Chirwa so “drunk” that he could make such serious allegations about a public figure’s academic credentials? The only person with answers to these questions is “Professor” Muyenga Atanga himself. Also of interest is that point while serving as P.S. Muyenga Atanga claimed that Clive Chirwa had failed to produce any credible business plan for ZRL and yet once he took over as CEO (a position reporting to the P.S.) he found the same business plan credible enough to keep and implement. Clive Chirwa’s rant aside, I live it to the nation to judge as to who the “fraud” is in this case.
By Charles Tusheni
N.B. The views in this letter to the editor are my own and do not in anyway represent those of the Lusaka Times publication.
Ni pa Zed!! What , with inumerable so called universities, even their sweepers are being conferred Professorships!!!
Unless you are educated at the top 10 Universities in the UK, Masters from accredited college in the name of being part of that university is what is wrong about academics
I hear people do Masters in Lusaka but are given the nonsensical paperwork from Universities here, something only recognised in third world countries is purely unsubstantial if you ask me.
Unless you were educated at a top 50 University in UK, USA and probably top2 in your own country, and stretching it to top 5 in other COuntries (European, Australia, Asia etc) your academics are worthless and jokes and no more better than a diploma from worthless Evelyn Hone College
Yet again, I am right.
Thanks
Thanks is good one. What about the man in plot one?
Mushota’s insulted our president (Catholic University).
Thanx Shots!!!!!
@Mushota I tend to disagree, its not about the university you attend, although in part it does help to go to top institution of learning with access to huge libraries etc etc.. But the trouble with that is that it excludes many Zambians who really cannot access those UK institutions you mention. On the other hand I say its all about the passion and desire to learn coupled with an understanding of your environment. One may attend Eton and Oxford like David Cameron and yet come out to be a very ineffectual Prime Minister who is out of touch and cannot understand the needs of the majority people in the UK. Other leaders like Obama attended the best of the best, yet they cannot solve the problems of the world. So its about passion and enthusiasm regardless of which university. Don’t mislead.
Fruadulent Papers as simple as that. Professor is very high a qualification. It is not possible not to find work related to this type of qualification on the net.
Just gone through his CBU thesis. Anyway, there were no computers in 2000, but data analysis leaves a lot to be desired. No statistical inference analysis except descriptive and some case i could not see any variations.
@John ‘professorship’ is not a qualification. It is a rank conferred on you by a university taking into consideration the number of publications you have churned out, of course plus your academic qualifications
Another issue just came through my mind.How international conferences papers has submitted or participated. Through my academic credentials am all over that show, including international new papers and journals.
Why not him. A mare walk, you get yourself online.
We need answers.
Okey, so this article got over 7000 views!!??
Typical of Zambians.
Only show an interest when they smell blood and someone is about to be slaughtered professionally.
I strongly suggest you take more interest in your own affairs and life. I am here even crediting you with a life?! – foolish me!!
If the likes of Mushota above is representative of our intellectual capacity – woe is us. We are in really big trouble. Our so called professors are poorly published (if at all) intellectual hallucinations. This look in the mirror is very very uncomfortable, I want to take cover behind the sofa – oh, I don’t have one!
This article has received more than 8000 views, three times more views than an article on government admitting children to grade one at the age of 7.
Shows our per-occupation with other peoples affairs and how we generate envy and jealousy.
People, get a life. Stop wondering what the next person is doing.
DID THE WRITER DO A SEARCH ON MUKUPIKWA UNIVERSITY? ATANGA’S WORKS COULD BE THERE…
Atangata Munyenga!!!
Boring boring boring. High school drop outs design and make computers in developed country. Here fulls worry about pre fixes opps.!!. A first degree is good enough. You can worry when a president is a gledi fli or sub A as they would call it.
In Germany highly ranked politicians have resigned after being accused of plagiarism and fraud. What are you on about? Is this why you are appointing ministers with cases in court and firing them after conviction??
@ZP the issue here is not about creating computers. It is about claim to be what someone is not. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and even the late Steve Jobs have never claimed to be university graduates. It is true that the prefix does not do the job. But it is wrong to claim a prefix that you are not entitled too.
What happens then? Who is at fault? Professor titles, who is lying and who is saying the truth? What is it that should happen to Professor Chirwa Clive if he is lying and what happens to Professor Atanga Muyenga if it is true what Professor Chirwa is saying about him?
Muyenga must go to jail like Masumba!
Mr Chirwa was the right person to look into the fact that ZR atleast gets on it’s foot, but nepotism took the way.
Iwe, the Professorship was confered by the said University and Stephen Masumba was present !
Yayaya where is the said university kanshi is it the one near kabangwe I hope not?
It’s shocking how Clive Chirwa was smoked out of the system and painted black due to politics. In this era when we are supposed to be encouraging and providing good incentives to scientists like Chirwa, we are busy playing polititcs at the expense of development. Everybody the world over is in a hurry investing in science and here we are as Africa and Zambia in particular busy playing politics. With this kind of thinking its no surprise that we will always be on the consuming end and yet calling ourselves independent until the day when this old and tired crop of politicians leave politics for the young, learned and visionary
Here we go again! Will we ever arrive? Always taking us in circles over the same tactics of trying to take a bite at anyone put on the “drivers site”! If it’s not HH, KK, Nervous, Sata, Dora, the late Chiluba, Clive, it’s Dr Kaseba and now Atanga, whose next? Typical Zambians good at biting and pulling down than working together for the common good. Just out of curiousity… what is the essence of this artical? Freedom of speech indeed came with every weed from the bottom of the Sea!
@Cindy, it is very simple. Atanga envied Clive’s job and undermined the guy. The ZRL CEO reported to Atanga and so it doesn’t make sense that Atanga would then takeover a junior person’s job unless for the money.
This article is about alleged qualifications of Prof Atanga.With these aspersions placed on his qualifications,I strongly urge Professor Atanga to quickly clear the air otherwise we might be treated to another Masumba case here.
I want to google first and then make a partial informed comment, there is sense in what this author has written based on the available search engines.. I just hope that we all research before silly-commenting..Anyone who was in the same class with Professor to help us clear the air..atleast my name can show under a number of search results…facebook and linked etc..
Clive Chirwa had problems with the board of directors for ZR. He has issues that border on corruption that are still pending in the court of law. Why does he say his removal from office was instigated by Atanga and his wife? Why can’t he clear his own record instead of embarking on a smear campaign to discredit other people? Doesn’t that only show that the man is hurt and immature? He recently threatened to renounce his Zambian citizenship if his passport was not released to him. To me this man is sounding like one who is drowning in the middle of the Zambezi river. Let him get a life and move on!
Spot on Maitungu. The immaturity is so mammoth you cant help but butt into it.
The author is 100% right, I too searched all over to see if this newly appointed “professor” really has a doctorate. Let us respect qualifications please, you can’t just wake up one day and start calling yourself “Dr” or “Prof”. If you go round compounds in Lusaka, you will see small tents with inscriptions like “Dr Chipayeni from Malawi”, “Dr Kumoyo Banda International Doctor”, “Dr Kimbamilonga International Doctor from DRC”. I am very convinced that the institutions which conferred doctorates to the “Doctors” who operate in tents is the same institutions where Atanga got his doctorate. Prof Chirwa is very right and he must have done his homework.
But you do not need a PhD to become a Proffessor! All you need is a Masters and years of exprience in ideally lecturing and publications.
If Atanga has a Masters, that is suffient to make him a professossor.
@Maano
Yes, you are right, but Atanga has always been addressed as Doctor until this year when his title changed to Prof. If you have a Masters degree, you can’t be addressed as Doc. Only a person with a PhD can be addressed as Doc (I am assuming he doesn’t have an honorary doctorate).
You can not be admitted to Professorship without PhD. And you need publications?
Go to Google in whatever you do your name should be there. Let me Google this man also
The term professor refers to a position on the faculty of a college or university and only sticks to a person by tradition after their faculty activities are over. It is like the position of president of the country. Mr. Rupiah Banda is no longer the president but by tradition we call him president Banda still. This is similar to professor! Strictly speaking though, one can only be a professor if they have risen through the ranks of the teaching and research faculty from assistant professor, to associate professor and then to full professor (USA system). To be conferred with the position of professor one needs to publish and show expertise in one’s area. So, what is Attanga’s area and what shows his expertise in it? People should stop cheapening these things.
That a point. Any publications posted on any sound engine, will automatically cover others like Google and Google scholar.
Go to any professor in world and search from their names, immediately, at least works will be listed.
Eg Profs in the School of Agric at UNZA, so what happened with this professor who posted unwell written thesis?
No comment on the authenticity of professorship of atanga. But in general, Zambians love lofty titles even when in most cases they are meaningless. This can be attributed to the fact that organisations respect and remunerate highly those people with such titles even when their output or contribution is practically ZERO or NEGATIVE since they get a salary without working for it.
It appears mostly its Africans who receive honorary degrees.
In UK exemplary service is recognised by being knighted like ‘sir Alex Ferguson’ and not titles which belong to the academia.
You are right Spartan! The problem first starts with those who got them genuinely. Such people as those at academic institutions in Zambia insist that they should be addressed as so and so … and society follows suit blindly.
People are so obsessed with titles … Father this, Bishop that, Mrs chakuti chakuti and that happens in all spheres of life without consumerate productivity and as you know the church is not spared in this madness!
The only person who was allowed to confer “professorship” on himself was PK Chishala , he deserved it and he’s gone. No more lofty self-titles, Mr Attanga please.
Iwe ala!
LET THIS MAN BE JAILED. PRECEDENCE HAS ALREADY BEEN SET BY THE COURTS OF LAW. MASUMBA WAS IMPRISONED OVER THE SAME. ATANGA, YOU ANSWER. STOP PRETENDING ALL IS WELL. WE SHALL CONTINUE HAMMERING UNTIL YOU FEEL THE PRESSURE AND ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR FAKE QUALIFICATIONS. VERY SHAMEFUL. PEOPLE ARE SWEATING FOR THEIR TITLES YET YOU FIND IT EASY TO FORGE. NA FOOLISH MAN.
I hope mr. Atanga replies yes I’m waiting to see what he has to say. Mr. Atanga tell us the university you went to? Your teachers and classmates? Prove this guy wrong.
Yes I know this man very well because we attended the same school in Kalabo, Nalionwa primary school to be specific. Yes he was one the most brilliant students of his time. Though a long time ago and I was in lower primary and him in Upper primary, the whole school knew him as one of the most brilliant students at the time.
Atanga simply has to do the following:
1. Name the university which conferred him with the professorship;
2. The title of his professorial inaugural lecturer and when delivered;
3. Produce the PhD or Doctoral certificate
4. Which university conferred the PhD on him and when (even simple pictures of the event will do, Mr. Atanga!)
THEN THE WHOLE MATTER WILL BE SETTLED ONCE AND FOR ALL TIME…
@ Kanjipiti
And who are you?
5. How many publications have you written? (If any, make you publications public)
7. When was the professorship acquired?
8. when did you get you PHD, from which institution and what proffesser?
If Atanga can’t answer these question please resign from your position. ZRA is a government owned institution the people need to know where you got your papers.
@The Chosen One, thank you for the observation. I actually forget that he used to be addressed as Dr Atanda, before!
Mr. Atanga was my lecturer at UNZA. He was telling us that he did his masters at Harvard. I am surprised after checking on the net to discover that actually, his masters is from CBU. No records are available on the net about his doctorate degree despite calling himself Dr. He should clear hi name.
As a result of that Atanga error, you also need to clear your name (joke)!
Investigative journalism is dead in Zambia…people like that “professor” shouldn’t be running such companies leave that to business minded individuals. There is a reason why economists don’t run companies.
Be educated but remain simple! This has also moved into the church circles where some priests, pastors and even bishops want to be addressed by their academic qualifications. Ubututu bwekabweka. Their are some very educated people with a number of academic qualifications and yet very simple.
Humility is the term you are looking for there!!
Chriwa is right as he sweated for his papers so he can tell a cheat from a mile away the selfsame way an army men can recognise each other just from posture in a pub.
*….way army men can…
am studying for my MBA finance with the University in India. I have been given 24 courses in 2years but maximum 4years. But I have seen MBAs in Lusaka with 12 courses to be done in 12 months. Kaya!!!
@ boer party
What is you point? Look at your maths, man! What is the difference between 24 in 2 years and 12 months in 1 year? Muli chikopo abena, just like Clive Chirwa.
@Boer party it really depends from country to country. In Europe specifically UK, an engineering Master’s programme is 1 year ( 9 months or so to be more specific) while in India it’s 2 years and in China it’s nearly 3 years . I suppose the same applies to other disciplines. Which university are you at BTW in India?
Don’t be a tribalist, you sound like you are from chipata. Clive Chirwa is just a lecturer in the UK at a University that has been a technical college until 2004. If you want Muyenga Atanga’s credentials go to his university here in Zambia. How many professors in Zambia have their publications on the internet? Uli chipuba sana, and I can tell that you are not even as well educated as you want to prove to the readers…only readers with low education of your level will believe you. Atanga may have his own personal weaknesses, BUT don’t use cheap politics to fight his academic integrity. Some of us know about Clive Chirwa so much that for you to support him, you have to be a conman like him. ONLY CRITICISE ATANGA IF YOU ARE A PROFESSOR!
Simply go Google and Google Scholar and throw in names of the professors at UNZA and CBU, for example and see the results you get. You cannot be a professor if you have not published extensively. Prof. Seshamani has a Master’s degree only but has extensive experience and works. I know only of two professors with possible honorary professorships. One is a VC at a private university in Lusaka and the other is Atanga.
@mwembeshi
you do not need to be a professor to criticize “professor” Atanga. Every zambian has freedom of expression. ZRA is owned by the zambian goverment. Whoever heads ZRA is subject to public scrutiny.
Please “professor” Atanga clear your name, or let your wife do it for you.
I’m an academic myself in the UK and if I wanted to see what a con Clive Chirwa or Muyenga Atanga is Goodle is my last resort. There are more robust sites that have everybody’s publications. GOOGLE and GOOGLE SCHOLAR are for amatuers who want to pretend that they know what they are talking about. I actually think that this article was written by CLIVE CHIRWA himself.
Iwe even REPEC and IDEAS do not have Atanga’s works. PERIOD!!!! You sound like Atanga himself.
@2020
I don’t argue with low lives. Find somebody else to argue with.
You thought you were clever and now you have equally been called out bwana. Google Scholar is widely used by academicians as a search engine. But even REPEC and IDEAS indeed do not have any citations of Muyenga’s work.
@m******. You’re entitled to your own opinion, and you have every right to assume that this article was written by Prof Chirwa just as we also have every right to assume that you’re Mr Atanga. Just to emphasise, Google scholar is a credible search engine for publications.
even a simple publication on youtube can be followed. With all this saying, Google would pushed in something there.
actually am suprise how my name has been published by Google, Web of science, scopurs etc
@m****** I think u are very dull,even me as a young researcher my publications can be found on google scholar.all the professors in the school of natural sciences at UNZA have something on google scholar,unless u tell us that your publications are on handouts and not the internet.Mr atanga should clear his name.
Another Masumba , some better take this seriously … how embarrasing indeed.
“Professor ”
If the man has it really let him shame Chirwa publicly
colleagues and fellow countrymen and women,
Professor Chirwa came with brilliant ideas, some of which he presented for scrutiny to engineer in a presentation he made at the Govt Complex. The ideas could have been so perplexing to some Zambians that they called it rubbish. You remember what Nappoleon did to Snowbore’s windmill drawing in Eric Blair’s Animal farm?
Thanks to ba Charles Tusheni, and as he suggested, bwana Atanga should come out in the open and prove his Professorship. Prof. Atanga, are you a fraud? Please help us be clear.
Eric Blair??? Is that another name for George Orwell???? Or are you illustrating this whole saga in a clever way?
Got surprised but I later thought Eric Blair directed the movie (cartoon) ANIMAL FARM
Can someone tell me is the MBA from Indian School Of Business and Management recorgnised?
Why would anyone not recognize an MBA from the school you are talking about? India is one of the best performing economies in the world right now and has been for long time. Recently, the country sent their first space shuttle in space, becoming probably the fourth country ever to have done so.
leave me he is a professor so what work hard or use the means you can and be one as well why did you follow him before but now that his managing the company of u wish could have being managed by your grand father. Get one from malawi and stick it on your gate.
Prof. Chirwa has a proven record who doubts him is an ***** the has done a lot of work in Europe and USA.
@ sata
Uli chinangwa, that is all I can say. Do you think you are cleverer than all the state security who have done international background checks on Clive and Atanga? You losers should find your country to live in alone so that you die alone with your ignorance. After you fail to get even a grade-7 certificate now you think you know what it takes to be a professor. It is illiterates and ignoramuses like you who are a cost to the country. Zambia would be a better country without the lot like you.
Clive Chirwa is trying to divert attention from himself to someone else. However, please note that his dismissal from being CEO of ZR was based on his behavior and not his qualifications. Atanga’s appointment as CEO of ZR has nothing to do with whether he is a professor or not. You don’t need to be a professor in order to be considered qualified to run a company like ZR. In the history of Zambia Railways, Clive Chirwa may have been the first PhD to occupy the position of CEO of that company and did a big mess of it. PhDs and professorships are academic lingo not specifically given preference in business.
The article does not say that you need to be a professor to run ZRL. It simply states findings of a check on Atanga’s purported doctoral and professiorial credentials. This is a matter of simply comprehension like ‘Verbal Reasoning’ on the GRE.
@2020 Good friend, your findings are all speculative based on some unprofessional Google searches. The general premise is that one is innocent until proven guilty. People who were bent on proving that Barak Obama’s birth certificate was fake were very sure about it, but they were dead wrong. The burden of proof is on you, not on the accused, to provide the preponderance of evidence to the effect that Atanga’s qualifications are fake. This is not about GRE.
@Mei just read the article again. @2020 is just saying you have missed the point of the article. And it is true you have. Google Scholar is not unprofessional. It is recommended by reputable professors in world acclaimed universities. Don’t bury your head in the sand. Check for yourself like I have done and confirmed what the article says.
@Space: It’s not Google scholar per se that is “unprofessional”. The reference is to the research work that was conducted by the author of the article and those by the rest of you who have followed the author’s advice, that your research studies as well as the author’s are inconclusive and speculative and therefore “unprofessional.” The onus is still on you to prove your point that Atanga’s qualification, whatever that may be, is fake etc.
Bwana you seem to just be a very argumentative person. Sorry to say but there is no sense in what you are saying. The onus is not on the public but on Atanga to prove his doctoral and professorial credentials. What is so difficult to say which institution granted him the same?
there is a possibility that hiz qualifications are fake.i smell another masumba case.
Martin,
Atanga has never been a lecturer at UNZA. He was a lecturer at MANCOSA. I challenge you to mention the school and department at UNZA where he taught.
@ Max Mbizo,
I also expressed my doubts over Martin’s claims. UNZA may have it’s own weaknesses, but one thing I know is that they’re expremely particular when recruiting lecturers.
Ego problems over pieces of paper!
Professing to be wise, they are often proved educated fools!
Where is Saasa who started everything?
This is not how we lawyers undress each other in public!
That is why we address each other as Learned Colleagues!
Whenever we differ, we do so honourably! We never dash to the media!
The truth is some Zambian Professors have bigger Egos to protect!
Spot on!!
Professor Attanga, congrats for making it as professor. your first degree in mining engineering, combining it with masters in business administration, and phd is candid indeed. keep it up brother
How is performing in his position?
Sometimes we tend to put too much emphasis on academic achievement and we don’t hold people on how they use all that education to be productive individuals.
In this case it’s not about his performance. The question is, how do you take up the job of your junior?
THE CHAP USED TO STEAL DIESEL WHEN HE WAS A MINE OFFICIAL IN MUFULIRA.
SO IT IS NOT SURPRISING HE CAN STEAL THE FAKE ACADEMIC QULIFICATIONS.
SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE.
Just gone a list of UNZA Professors, all their publications are cited in most of search engines, including our own CBU professors.
So is this one???????????
I have followed the blogs on professorship and academic pursuits with interest. I cannot imagine the time and energy bloggers have lost discussing Atangas matter and how much emphasis has been placed on publications made when to my knowledge most publications are never used by decision makers to better our social and economic lives..
My take is that these publications and PhD research works are just used for citing in further dissertations which are also cited for further research which is cited by more and more research academia to earn PhDs and professorships.
You are so dangerously stu.pid, ignorant and frankly an idio.t whose views should never be entertained!!
Do you think ARVs, Antibiotics, Buses, Aeroplanes, etc came without research?? You are so uncivili.sed AND really realy thick in your head!!
Even if your work is not on web,surely you must have attended some conference or international symposium where your presence can be acknowledged.Even a linkedin profile can easy the tension.Common even my simple paper I presented at EIZ conference has been uploaded by google.All because google search engine links another website to it.My lecturer died sometime back in 2006 but I can still download his Phd dissertation supervised by a professor at cape town university.For someone to called a professorship surely someone must have done a tenor at a university.In the US, CEOs of renowned firms are head hunted from the best universities like Yale,Michigan e.t.c