Don’t count me among the thousands of people who eat from their college degrees. I blundered. I went to school. I was discouraged by teachers there. In school I thought only class monitors or head prefects would in future write like I how I do. I was a young boy anyway and I immaturely used to think.
This country is very rich. When I go to Namisindwa I enjoy free food. The soil is fertile there. Food is grown. We discovered oil and people now may not go away because oil is here. These are not the only riches that we have here. This country is full of dreamers.
We also know how to talk. The majority of people who are going to change leadership in this country are poor people. People who are full of illiteracy and ignorance. These people vote and if you can wisely mingle with them, they are going to send you to power.
Because in Uganda we waste almost all the time we were given to stay awake, and work, by God, very few people race out of the poor miserable crowds and go and get what a lot of us will never get, even if we show up at the places of work for 30 years, on a daily basis.
So many men and women, and the youth, in this country who really think are hardworking are really not. Is looking for funds promised by the government, for the youth, for two years, walking from one office to another hard work? This is wasting time. And some of you end up not getting this money. But do you know the number of saleable articles I write in a year? They are very many. These words are sold. You too consume them.
When I miss a week without feeding you with just words, you call me and ask me why. This knowledge was gathered using the hardest path that very few youths can accept to use here. I forewent good life and instead bought books. I starved myself and travelled to know more about this country
I utilised all the time I had, to climb up. I never wasted time. Some Ugandans whose families are completely broken are always on the streets of Kampala demonstrating. No one can put you to where you want to be. The one you are pulling there is going to be the next despot. Besigye almost cried last time because robbers almost took his money, made in Nsambya.
Besigye used to walk to work and, you foolish men and women, followed him. You lost time. Some of the youth these men used to mislead are still in Kiruddu hospital. They may never recover. They will die.
But do you how much money Besigye used to make from the tears you cried where he used to walk to work as Kayihura men teargased him? Wake up. Besigye is today a rich man. Think of the people who died fighting to bring Besigye to power. Now, it looks, he will never contest for presidency again. But why did he start things he knew he couldn’t finish? Besigye did not get to where you were sending him. Who lost then? He is still alive.
His businesses are still running. These businesses are protected by security organs that are supervised by the government that he said he wanted to topple. Rich people in Uganda are heartless. But why are these people not caring? Why do they look aside when they see a child in Karamoja starving?
So many of us near these men were once homeless. Some of these men were there where we grew up from. They didn’t help us find us where we could put our heads and rest. Do you know why? People in this country who grow rich also start life in poverty. So they believe that you are poor because you lack brains to use so that you can also escape this thing poverty. They think you are just stupid.
Very few rich people in Uganda here don’t care when you are crying. What you see was also seen by them. You wear rags. They once wore rags. You go to bed hungry. They also passed through this. You went to school. For them are rich but they didn’t go beyond even primary three.
You are under Museveni, for thirty years. Who leads them by the way? It is president Museveni. If you continue sitting there, no one is going to come there to get you up. Get up!
These people also have things they call problems. They don’t mind. All ministers in this country travel. MPs travel. These people go to glittering cities, day in, day out. They see the things taking placing there. The people you elect know that impossible things are done by the Arabs and the white man.
Why have they failed to build a city? Why can’t they put something here that we too can be proud of? They just don’t want. They are heartless. Look at the roads we ride on. Look at the rate at which the tax payer’s money is swindled. Thousands of educated youths in this country are jobless. We cannot be proud of this country now. Politicians, who are the richest people here, are heartless.
Sekka Bagenda is a writer, An Inspirational Public Speaker and a sports scientist
Have your say via: 0756717967 or email: sekabagenda@yahoo.com
