Fifty years of social transformation has a veteran journalist nostalgic for the good old days
It is as if he has seen everything, and more importantly, has an opinion on it. Joachim Buwembo’s account of Uganda’s last 50 years, in ‘The Ugandan Paradox’, cuts a broad swath, from underwear to fashion, men and women, music and taxes, hair styles and homosexuals, corrupt patients and witch doctors.
The book provides an insight into Ugandan society’s journey over the last 50 years. The Museveni generation will find it to be a great asset.
In its pages we meet Amin-era General Mustapha Adrisi, the strict disciplinarian who made his son live like a pauper while at St Mary’s College Kisubi. Adrisi was the “Vice Assistant –God” to the late Field Marshall Idi Amin Dada. Buwembo has jokes to spare about the humble VP to the famous leader/ dictator.
At a time when the public debate is focused on the government desire to grab workers’ savings to fund infrastructure development, Buwembo spares a moment to address the ‘Nation of Social Insecurity’, in which “99.9% cannot afford heart surgery in the cheapest but most effective places like India.”
“The amount of time that national leaders spend arguing about relatively small NSSF [National Social Security Fund] and how it is managed is a sad indicator of how little social security is understood,” Buwembo says.
“The problem with generating excitement about NSSF is that it obscures the real responsibility of the state to provide social security to everybody, leaving the majority of citizens thinking that social security comes from NSSF.”
Then he turns to graduated tax, that relic of a by-gone era when grown men hid in bushes to avoid the tax man. Buwembo argues that the tax’s removal has sent citizens to sleep, under no pressure to demand accountability from government. The loss of revenue for local governments has removed any semblance of public service for ordinary citizens.
“When Uganda got independence 50 years ago, defaulting on tax was a shameful act, only comparable to defilement. Today tax defaulters are some of the most respected members of society,” he states.
No wonder roads must be constructed with the hard-earned savings of workers.
He has the insights of an insider, yet the author of ‘Killing the Messenger’, ‘How to be Ugandan’, ‘Kampala’ and other tales, also admits to being an outsider.
“I have spent most of my working life observing and writing about the deeds of the big boys, without joining them”.
Buwembo pays tribute to Uganda’s music greats: Elly Wamala, Philly Bongoley Lutaaya, Afrigo Band and Joanita Kawalya, and others. But he’s skeptical of the contemporary music industry, whose financial fortunes are unprecedented in Ugandan history; “Because of the good financial returns, there will always be a supply of singers to entertain Ugandans, even as the Musicians disappears,” he says.
In person Buwembo possesses a quiet, self-effacing humility; perhaps a by-product of his upbringing in the serene, calm Entebbe, Uganda’s former capital. He is quick to temper any harsh criticism of others, especially government. But the pugilist in him cannot be restrained
“I don’t care if nobody recognizes me. After all most of my contemporaries are either dead or doing badly, why should I ask for more,” writes the career journalist, currently a Knight International Fellow for Development Journalism, who declared he would never to set foot in Centenary Park as long as there are concrete buildings on the former wetland.
He succeeds in demystifying the propaganda about pre-1986 Uganda through his tale of brand new cars on smooth roads then, alongside an efficient public transport system [including Uganda Airlines and Uganda Transport Company] vis-à-vis the junk that dominates pot-holed highways now. Elite vehicle brands like Peugeot, Fiat and Citroen ruled the city in a way the current ‘Toyota generation’ can only dream of.
His message for the ‘Museveni children’ as Charles Onyango Obbo referred to the post-1986 generation in one of his columns, is clear: Not everything before their time was bad.
Uganda’s social transformation is no-doubt an interesting story, but by making scant comment about political issues, Buwembo isolates a significant audience.
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