By Dr. Damiano Kato
It started with a story from Zambia that was shared widely. A retired Zambian banker, 75, lives alone in Chinkuli Village, Chongwe. During his career he gave every bonus and saving to educate his children. One is now a banker, one a surgeon, one a pilot, all abroad. He saved nothing for himself. Now he sits outside his mud house every sunset holding a phone that does not ring.
When the story was brought to Uganda, people in Rukungiri, Karamoja and Rwenzori said: That is our story too.
IN RUKUNGIRI, KARAMOJA, RWENZORI:
In Rukungiri hills, a retired teacher sold his two acres of bananas to pay fees at Ntare School and Makerere. His son is now an officer in Ministry of Finance in Kampala. The father is alone in Rukungiri with a walking stick.
In Karamoja – Kotido and Moroto – a mother sold her last 20 goats to train her daughter as a nurse. The daughter works in Mbale. The mother lives in a manyatta waiting for relief food.
In Rwenzori – Kasese and Bundibugyo after floods – a father sold his cocoa garden for his son to join the army. The son is deployed in Somalia. The father lost his house to floods.
The pattern cuts across all professions:
– Military: UPDF soldiers who served in Congo and Somalia retire at 45. They used gratuity to build for children, pay bride price, buy boda bodas. At 70 they queue at Mbuya Barracks with no savings.
– Bankers: Like the Zambian banker, bankers in Centenary, Stanbic and Bank of Uganda pay fees at Gayaza, Budo and Cambridge schools, thinking children will be their pension.
– Medics: Doctors and nurses in Mulago, Mbarara and Gulu work 30 years, pay for children to be doctors abroad who never return.
– Farmers: In Mubende, Mityana, Busiro North – Masulita, Namayumba, Kakiri – farmers sell all coffee, maize and milk for school fees and remain with empty gardens. One farmer in Mubende kept 2,200 coffee trees as his old-age bank.
– Ministry employees: In Education, Agriculture, Internal Affairs, Local Government, civil servants retire at 60, use gratuity to build big village houses and pay master’s degrees abroad, and two years later money is finished.
FROM CITY RENTALS TO NSSF AND CUSTODIAN BOARD HOUSES:
Many Ugandans who worked in cities lived in rented houses in Katanga, Wandegeya, Nakulabye, Kireka. Others lived in NSSF houses in Bugolobi Flats and Housing Estates in Lubowa, and Custodian Board houses in Kololo, Nakasero, Bugolobi and Jinja after Asians left in the 70s. They paid small rent and thought those houses were theirs. They never built their own plots in Wakiso.
NAGURU EVICTION AND CITY SQUARE:
Big people were evicted from Naguru Estate. Permanent Secretaries, Generals, Directors, Bank Managers, Doctors who lived there for 30 years. Their children and grandchildren knew only Naguru. When Government brought investors to develop Naguru, they got stuck. They carried mattresses to Bweyogerere, Kireka, Ndejje Lubugumu, to villages they had abandoned.
For many in Kampala, City Square is the only recreation centre. Their children play there. When Government says an investor wants to develop it, they raise up in arms. They have no Freedom Square at home in Masulita, Namayumba, Rukungiri, Karamoja or Rwenzori.
NAIROBI, TANZANIA, DRC ARIWARA – AMIN’S AND OBOTE’S GENERALS:
Beyond Naguru, there are Ugandans seen in Nairobi, Tanzania and DRC Ariwara. Generals and officials of Amin and Obote governments and their generations. In Nairobi Eastleigh and Ngara, in Tanzania Mwanza and Dar es Salaam, in DRC Ariwara and Arua border.
Some became businessmen and women – shops in Gikomba, gold and timber trade in Ariwara. Others became beggars on streets of Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Bunia.
Few have returned home to Uganda through government amnesty protocols. Others died in exile and were buried abroad, not in their ancestral villages.
WHAT XENOPHOBIA HAS DONE:
Xenophobia in South Africa, Kenya and other countries has made it harder. Ugandans abroad face business closures, looting, being called foreigners, denial of schools and health services for their children. Many who hurried to go abroad now want to hurry to stay and settle at home.
PRESSURE ON GOVERNMENT:
The returnees, the evicted from Naguru, NSSF and Custodian Board houses, and generations from exile put pressure on Government on:
– Social services: Housing, health and education for families who returned with nothing, and for old people who now survive on handouts.
– Fight against corruption: Many lost plots and houses because officials sold them while they were in exile or living in city rentals.
– Fugitives and insurgents: Many former generals and officials are listed as fugitives. Some were involved in insurgencies across borders. Government has to manage amnesty, return protocols, resettlement and security.
WHAT PARENTS OUGHT TO DO – WITHIN BUDGET:
Parents have a first line responsibility to educate children. That is accepted in Rukungiri, Karamoja, Rwenzori, Mubende and Busiro North.
But they ought to know how to live within their budget:
– Do not sell all land, all goats, all coffee for school fees.
– Keep one plot in Wakiso – Ndejje Lubugumu, Namayumba, Masulita, Kakiri – in one’s own name.
– Keep 500 coffee trees, banana plantation and fruit trees for old age. Coffee is a pension.
– Save 20 percent in NSSF, in SACCO, in bank for health and old age.
– Create your own Naguru at home. Create your own City Square, your own Freedom Square at home with four mango trees and two chairs.
Because children will be busy. Bankers in Nakasero, soldiers in Bombo, medics in Mulago and abroad. Government houses will be given to investors. City Square will be given to investors. Abroad, xenophobia will chase you.
A person who hurries to stay and settle at home – with his own house, his own garden, his own savings within his budget – will not be the mzee in Rukungiri, Karamoja, Rwenzori, Nairobi or Ariwara waiting for a phone to ring or for handouts.
He will sit in his own Freedom Square at home.
