Precious Magic™

Unto You

2011-12-26T01:07:00.000-08:00

I owe it to my 'two' loyal readers for taking leave of absence from writing here. But, now that the New Year is beckoning, I should say, thanks for being my loyal readers for the entire time that I've been writing.

But, first things first, enjoy the New Year more responsibly. See you in the New Year more energised, re-invigorated and re-invented.

Son of Woman

2011-03-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

When did you last read a popular urban thriller that kept you edged on your seat for hours on end? If you haven’t done so in months, then you better grasp Son of Woman (1971) by Charles Mangua, a prolific Kenyan writer.

The book is written on a lighter note, exploring the delicacies of crime, urban indigence, and the often deep but rarely fully unexplored subject of prostitution. Part fiction, part biography, Mangua vividly captures the travails of Dodge Kiunyu, born of a whoring mother in the slums of Eastleigh in Nairobi. His life is a living hell, his miseries compounded by his mother’s death, when Dodge is only 11 years old. What is more striking is the mere fact that Dodge doesn’t hide the fact that he is a bastard, born of a prostitute. He is so bitter about this fate and can only but accept life as it is.

He is taken in by Miriam, his mother’s colleague in the oldest profession. Miriam also has an 11 year old daughter, who despises Dodge with a passion. But for Dodge’s ‘never say die’ attitude, he would have preferred to loiter on the streets rather than stay in a house he is openly unwelcome.

Although, he later goes to a mission school, from whence proceeding to the university, he spends much of his time in jail for an assortment of crimes. What seems pretty annoying is the inability to control his anger and his penchant for picking fights, even with law enforcers. He doesn’t hide the fact that he hates the police with a passion, blaming them for all his suffering.

In this award winning book, Mangua describes each detail, almost with a flaw, despite repetitive clauses that may once in a while appear boring. He openly vents his bitterness on his unfortunate being as a Son of Woman. The emotions, humour, sadness and anger will flow with you and through you right from the onset, from the first person perspective that the book takes. At various levels, the book contains some derogatory wordings, which is only but a societal reflection that will leave a shrilling and thrilling effect on the reader in equal measure.

Single and Searching? How to Find and Marry Mr. Right by Christopher Hart

2011-03-14T21:53:00.000-07:00

Many books have been written about relationships, but few tell you how to do it right, or how to spot the Mr. or Mrs. Right and walk them down the aisle.

Single and Searching? How to Find and Marry Mr. Right is particularly written with that lady, tired of the dating game, and intending to get married in mind. It delves into the dating world with a sharp razor of truths and myths. The book simply busts the myth that finding the right person to date and later marry is a matter of luck. It is an effort much like finding a job, looking for the right property or plot to buy, or even indentifying the right investment opportunity.

Dr. Chris Hart has immense experience as a psychologist, relationship expert, TV personality and popular columnist writing on relationships in one of Africa’s leading newspapers, the respected Sunday Nation newspaper, published in Kenya. In Single and Searching, he offers invaluable tips, both on how, and where to find that date you have often wanted to meet, and how to avoid possible dates from hell. In short, and in clear and direct language, he highlights the dos and don’ts of the dating world to the time he proposes.

A lady in her late twenties or thirties who would really like to settle down in marriage will find the nine chapters of the book quite invaluable in her quest for finding a date who would later propose to her. Dr Hart writes that the contemporary dating setting has undergone a seismic shift, from a time when women simply sat back and waited for the right man to come calling, to a time when women have increasingly become more financially and economically independent and have more control on when to get married, and possibly to whom. Whereas, many of them put more emphasis on their education or careers, and can get away with having many short term dating stints as they wish, there comes a time when they want a man to be around them all the time.

Now, they go out hunting, but of course, Chris Hart will tell you the right places to find the date you want. He will also tell you about different chemistries that might likely make you last longer together. For instance, he says you might feel totally compatible to your date, but in case the chemistry doesn’t work right after your first kiss, the probability that you will be together for long is low. Even such thing as smell is very important. If you don’t like their smell, you better make up your mind first on your next move.

He also busts the myth that opposites attract. He emphasises the fact the more you feel alike to your date, the more you are likely to be with each other for long. Also, but not least, he indicates that it is of the essence to find a partner with whom you are relatively compatible in looks.

All in all, he says, “a different set of skills is needed when you are dating as a successful woman in your late twenties or early thirties, compared to when you were just starting out”. And, the myth that there are no good men out there is a lie. There are loads of them.

Single and Searching is frank, straight forward and doesn’t mice words. All in all, readers should find the book incredibly interesting and eye opening.

Joshua Masinde

The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born - Ayi Kwei Amar

2010-10-25T23:42:00.000-07:00

In this deeply symbolic book published in 1968, Ayi Kwei Amar vividly captures the seemingly endless spiral of corruption, moral decadence and spiritual death in post-colonial Ghana.

The book tells the story of a nameless man who struggles to reconcile himself with the reality of post-independence Ghana. Referred to throughout the book, as simply, “The Man”, he refuses to take a bribe, something that angers his wife.

The Man keeps a humble job, and despite the constant naggings of his wife, he lives an honest life, even if that condemns him to a life of poverty. He represents the lot of the common man in Ghana – who has no choice but to reside in the poorest slums and live from hand to mouth.

On the other hand are Ghana’s new leaders, “the black masters” who prove to be worse than the colonialists. They partake of corruption and other vices with such impunity that it has become the way of life for some. Koomson, The Man’s friend, is one such politician. His immense wealth results from his corrupt activities.

Similar stories of corruption and moral decadence abound throughout the book. In another incident, we are told of a bus conductor who is abusive to his passengers and other road users, including a pedestrian crossing the road. The abusive conductor and his derelict bus are symbolic of the newly independent Ghana, heavily ridden by corruption and indigence.

Other notable characters in the book include “the teacher”. Like “the man” he abhors the corrupt society that Ghana has become. He chooses to stay away from it all by becoming a recluse. He has given up hope that society will ever shake off corruption, hence his symbolic exit from the society.

When a military coup occurs, there is some hope that things might change, but sadly, life continues as usual. The military officers join in and start to take bribes too.

The Man helps Koomson, the politician escape from the country through a faeces-ridden toilet-bucket crevice. Ironically, The Man also follows Koomson through the ‘shit-hole’ implying that even those who have avoided corruption are affected by those who engage in it.

Although the book focuses on post independence Ghanaian society, it is symbolic of many other developing countries, where corruption remains a major problem at all levels.

For the common man, there seems to be no end to the scourges of corruption and moral decadence. Indeed, it appears the saviors or the “beautiful ones” as Amar calls them, are not yet born”

By Joshua Masinde

The Outsider

2010-10-21T02:51:00.000-07:00

Can a book be sad and entertaining at the same time? With his book, The Outsider, Albert Camus provides a masterpiece that just about achieves both. Irresistibly nostalgic, interesting and deeply moving, The Outsider by Nobel Prize winner Albert Camus is one of the best works of fiction to ever to come out of Algeria and the continent of Africa. It was originally written in French (L’Etranger), but later translated into English. In some English translations, it is titled The Stranger

As you read the book, it can be hard to sympathize with Meursault, the main character, whose behaviour is strange right from the opening lines of the book.

First, he is not sure when his mother died: “Mother died today yesterday. It must have been today. No, I don’t know.” He is apparently unmoved by his mother’s death, as he only requests two days off to mourn her death. He declines to watch her mother’s body but rather takes white coffee and smokes a cigar while observing other old women at the elderly women’s home mourn his mother’s death. This is absurd and against the acceptable norms in this society.

This and many other events paint Meursault as a strange character (he is termed as an existentialist), whose behaviour is worth as serious a punishment as there can ever be. Camus uses Meursault’s struggle to fit into his society’s conventionally acceptable norms to explore the important philosophical aspect of existentialism.

A series of events, from the mother’s death, to making love to Marie, his girlfriend hardly two days after his mother is buried, the killing of the Arab, and partly his defence at the court, claiming that he killed the Arab because of the environment, are sure enough to inspire the judge to hand him a death sentence by decapitation. Even more strange, Meursault is unmoved by the decision to decapitate him. He merely mulls over how the events at the guillotine will unfold.

Throughout the book, Meursault shows no emotions. He evokes no sympathy, but seems content to behave in a way that will fulfil his own fate, even if his actions or behaviour go against the grain of societal thinking and put him in the risk of being cast out of his society.

The Outsider is a masterpiece, and despite the passage of time, it remains as fresh as when it was published about six decades ago (1942). As sad as it gets a times, readers will enjoy reading the relatively small book.

By Joshua Masinde

Ejiet: A great scholar and teacher

2010-01-23T01:47:00.000-08:00

“Without doubt, the Literature fraternity is going to miss his scholarship, consistent creativity and genuine humanity,” – Prof. Bukenya
He was a great teacher and a great scholar,” is what Prof. Austin Bukenya remembers of the late Prof. Austin Ejiet (RIP), an eminent columnist, humourist and satirist. The columnist-cum-scholar passed away at Nsambya Hospital on Saturday. According to a family source, Ejiet had been in and out of hospital for a long time, before he finally succumbed on Saturday January 2.
Aged 58, the author, professor of creative writing and commentator, died of liver and pancreas cancer at Nsambya hospital two weeks after his admission.
He was retained as a teaching assistant at the Literature Department, Makerere University where he had graduated in 1978, with a first class degree in Literature. He later obtained a PhD from the University of Iowa in the US.
Much of his writing, including his anthology of short stories, Aida, Hurray for Somo and Other Stories, focus on different aspects of life and its absurdities. He employs satire to unveil the injustices in everyday life. “You can write about the most sacrilegious thing and get away with it,” once said Prof. Ejiet.
While he was the head of the Literature Department at Makerere University, he designed a creative writing course in 1991 which he taught with late Prof. Francis Kidhubuka, though it never survived for long. This, notwithstanding its short lifespan pointed to his passion for the growth of creative writing in Uganda, which he lamented, was lacklustre and wanting.
Prof. Bukenya opined that apart from dissecting some of the most serious and risky political issues with fine humour and satire, Prof. Ejiet was also a very intelligent industrious scholar, who inspired many of his students both in literary terms and in real life.
Bukenya also credits Ejiet for having kept the department going as its head of department during the difficult period of the early ‘90s. “It was a difficult time in terms of finances and resources, but he kept the department going,” said Bukenya, himself an old hand, a senior lecturer at the department, an author and scholar.
While spewing his admiration for African authors, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Okot p’Bitek and Ngugi wa Thiongo, for helping Africa understand itself, and rehabilitating the continent’s image, he so much lamented about the dimming spirit of creative writing in Uganda. He once told this writer that there has been concerted and painful progress in African writing, but with much of such writing aping Achebe’s, Soyinka’s and Ngugi’s classics. Whereas this could actually spell doom to local creative writing, he was categorical that Uganda has a poor history of rewarding creative writers. Musicians get better rewards and most of them continue singing and living off their music. This is just besides the fact that many people are too busy figuring out ways of surviving rather than sitting down to write say, a poem. He cited his own example when he had a 25-year teaching stint at Makerere University. He would start work at 8 pm and end at 5 pm, a schedule, which was too exhaustive to allow him to create room for creative writing. The 25 years were kind of wasted in terms of his creative output.
But, for the creative writers, they “should come up with new and appealing genres to set a unique system of creative works. Most of the earlier African writing dwelt intensively on colonialism. This has been overtaken by events.
“Creative writing is different from writing a historical piece. In creative writing, especially on current issues, one should endeavour to keep in touch with current events. A short story would do better here,” he told this writer in a past interview. Whereas it takes a leisurely pace, say, a day or a week to write a short story, it takes even years to write a novel.
He cited Nuruddin Farah, whose writing dwelt on former president of Somalia, Said Barre and his tyrannical rule. “Despite being a very bright fellow, he has nothing to say because Barre is no more.” The events during Barre’s tyrannical regime were overtaken by history.
Sr. Dr. Dominic Dipio, the current head of the Department of Literature at Makerere University, fondly echoes Prof. Bukenya’s memories of Austin Ejiet. “He was a great scholar, literary critic, satirist and humorist,” she said, beside his social, reticent and self-controlled nature. Alluding to his unique sense of humour, she says whenever he was teaching, he was always making a lot of fun, and this made his lectures so lively. She also alludes fondly to his intelligence, citing that he mentored most of the current crop of figures practicing literature at Makerere University’s Literature department.
She elucidates the fact that “he made us feel very special at the time, and taught us invaluable skills like expressing oneself in a few words” and in the use of good grammar and choice of words.
Whether there could be another Ejiet in the making, “There’s something of him in all of us in creative, satirical, humorous ways,” Sr. Dr. Dipio remarked.
“Without doubt, the Literature fraternity is going to miss his scholarship, consistent creativity and genuine humanity,” summed up Prof. Bukenya.
While head of the Literature Department, Ejiet helped establish the Mass Communication Department at the same university, which department is one of the premier journalism training centres in East Africa.
Ejiet’s life was marred by tragedy, the worst being the death of his wife when he was still teaching at Makerere University. But, according to him, reading was a way to escape such misery and make him sober.
He is best remembered for his anthology of short stories, Aida Hurray for Somo and Other stories, and his weekly satirical column, “Take It or Leave It” in the Sunday Monitor. However, he also wrote three children’s books in Ateso, his mother tongue, besides editing literary works.
His acquaintances, readers, and those he mentored will fondly remember him as a dedicated scholar, humorous and satirical personality, who delivered such attributes through his writings and in the daily life encounters. With his column “Take It or Leave It”, he was one of the longest and consistent columnists in the Sunday Monitor. He also wrote ‘Reality Check’, a weekly column for at least three years, in the Sunrise weekly newspaper. At the time of his death, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the Kampala International University. He was instrumental in founding the Faculty of Education at the Kampala International University, Western campus in Ishaka. He also previously taught at Uganda Martyrs University, Nkozi.
Ejiet was born in 1951 in Kumi. He was laid to rest on Monday January 4, in Atutur village, his ancestral home in Kumi district, eastern Uganda.

Mwenda among Top 100 Global Thinkers

2009-12-16T23:02:00.000-08:00

By Joshua Masinde

The Independent Managing Editor, Andrew Mwenda, was listed by the Foreign Policy (FP) magazine amongst the Top 100 Global Thinkers, together with greats like US President Barack Obama, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Pope Benedict XI (ranked17th), billionaire Bill Gates (ranked 12th) and a host of other leaders, Nobel laureates, journalists, economists and academicians.
At rank 98, Mwenda was recognised for his vociferous criticism of all elements of the African aid structure and like the other top hundred global thinkers, for contributing to the big ideas that shaped the world in 2009.
According to FP, Mwenda, a dogged and fiercely eloquent Ugandan journalist and editor of The Independent is a vociferous critic of all elements of the African aid structure. “Frequently harassed by the Ugandan government for his outspokenness and currently facing trial on 21 charges (including sedition), Mwenda goes even further than most aid critics: The continent, he argues, needs to fail in order to learn hard lessons as it picks up the pieces on its own. He responded with fire to Obama’s July speech in Ghana, writing, ‘Obama needs to listen to Africans much more, not lecture them using the same old teleprompter.’”
At home, Mwenda has serially castigated President Yoweri Museveni’s regime on corruption, sectarianism, human rights abuses, and for vesting the country’s leadership and resources in family rule. He has also been fighting for free speech and economic empowerment throughout Africa. His belief is anchored in the idea that western aid has been largely unhelpful to African development as it fans corrupt states and sustains wars.
US President, Barack Obama, was ranked second for re-imagining America’s role in the world. Other Africans listed amongst the top hundred include Dr. Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General. He was ranked 30th for his ceaseless work to create Africa’s Green Revolution. “Africa is the only region where overall food security and livelihoods are deteriorating,” he declared in 2007, vowing to create “an environmentally sustainable, uniquely African Green Revolution,” according to the FP.
Another African, George Ayittey, was ranked 76th for pushing policymakers to let Africa help itself. Sayyid Imam al-Sharif from Egypt was ranked 10th for striking a mortal ideological blow to al Qaeda. Ayaan Hirsi Ali from Somalia was ranked 48 for her provocative critique of Islam, the religion of her youth.
Ben Bernanke, the chairman of Federal Reserve in Washington, was ranked in first position for his role in staving off a new Great Depression. He topped the list for “turning his superb academic career into a blueprint for action, for single-handedly reinventing the role of a central bank, for preventing the collapse of the US economy. Having done all of these within the span of a few months is certainly one of the greatest intellectual feats of recent years.
Women bagged seventeen slots of the top hundred. They are: Zahra Rahnavard from Iran, ranked 3rd for being the brains behind Iran’s Green Revolution and the campaign of her husband, opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi; Aung San Suu Kyi, from Burma ranked 26th for being a living symbol of hope in a dark place; Elinor Ostrom from US, ranked 28 for showing us that the global commons isn’t such a tragic place after all; Esther Duflo from US ranked 41 for adding quantitative rigor to assessments of foreign aid; Ayaan Hirsi Ali from Somalia, ranked 48 for her provocative critique of Islam, the religion of her youth; Helene Gayle from US ranked 52 for putting HIV/AIDS in its big-picture context; Barbara Ehrenreich ranked 59 for her relentless efforts to understand the root causes of poverty and inequality; Esther Dyson from US, ranked 70th for accurately forecasting how the Internet will shape us; Anne-Marie Slaughter ranked 79th for helping transform Foggy Bottom from the inside out; Samantha Power from US ranked 80th for moving from moral authority to government authority on human rights; Hu Shuli a journalist from China ranked 84th for persisting in the idea that public accountability is possible even in one-party China; Jacqueline Novogratz from US ranked at 85th position for helping build a new generation of social entrepreneurs; Karen Armstrong from Britain ranked 87th for advocating a truce in the religion wars; Sunita Narain from India ranked 88 for giving voice to India’s environmental conscience; Martha Nussbaum ranked 93rd for making philosophy matter; Valerie Hudson from US ranked 97th for showing that gender imbalances have global consequences and Emily Oster from US ranked 99th for her creative research into what really helps the poor.
Some former and current prominent leaders also rated amongst the top 100 Global Thinkers include: Bill Clinton, the former US president, ranked 6th for redefining philanthropy in the modern era; Vaclav Havel, former president of the Czech Republic, rated 23rd for four decades of speaking truth to power; Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former Brazilian President ranked 11th for calling the war on drugs what it is: a disaster and former US Vice President Dick Cheney ranked 13th for his full-throated defence of American power.
Some Nobel laureates rated amongst the hundred include: Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladesh economist ranked 46th for proving that the poor are profitable, John Holdren and Steven Chu, ranked 34th for putting cutting-edge science back into power, Rajendra Pachauri from India ranked 5th for ending the debate over whether climate change matters, Joseph Stiglitz, from US ranked 25th for relentlessly questioning economic dogma, Paul Krugman, from US ranked 29th for proving that a Nobel Prize winner can also be a prolific pundit and unerringly correct doomsayer, Amartya Sen, a US economist ranked 58th for showing how democracy prevents famine.

FGM law offers respite to female posterity

2009-12-11T01:30:00.000-08:00

By Joshua Masinde

Way back in 1999, during the December holidays after I had just completed my primary leaving examination, I had the privilege of attending an initiation rite of the Sabaot of Mt. Elgon region in Western Kenya. My uncle, with whose family I was staying, took me there. It was late in the night. The ghostly darkness, dancing odiously in the chilling breeze gave the night the smell of blood, incivility and abhorrence.
I had undergone my own rite of passage a year before. Practically, though not a fan of circumcision rituals, this one I was taken to attend was quite out of the ordinary.
Having expected to see brave young men, enduring the chilly night, dancing, drumming and jingling their instruments so used in circumcision rites, a surprise lay in waiting. Drama, dancing, and hullaballoo enshrined the occasion with vigour. The unexpected sight of a file of young, energetic and frail ladies, dancing vigorously, first in circles, then in one straight file away from the crowd, was to me a spectacular scene of witches dancing away their evil machinations past midnight, downloaded straight from a Nollywood script.
But, the most private details of the genitalia cut, was for us not to behold. But, my mind conceived all possible graphic details of the act itself, as I kept wondering that alas, and indeed, my unfortunate sisters had at last, mutated into adulthood, through a very excruciating exercise that was to change their lives FOR-EVER. The cut itself, blood trickling....
The lurid gory details clearly defined the blast from the past, with a sense of pity and remorse for the victims.
But, a recent parliamentary report on Female Genital Mutilation in Kapchorwa and Nakapiripit districts in eastern Uganda signalled a timely intervention, which could offer respite to the girls and women who would have undergone the crude cultural rite. This report led to the passing by the Ugandan legislature, on December 10, of a new law outlawing and criminalising FGM. The law grants a maximum 10 year-punishment for the perpetrators of the crude act, and life imprisonment for those who carry out aggravated FGM. This is a new lease of life in the female posterity who could have been subjected to the cut, much like their predecessors. Aggravated FGM is a case where the victim passes on after the cut, or is infected with HIV/AIDS or becomes disabled.
Prior to enacting the law, Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, Kinkizi east MP in Uganda moved a motion in Parliament on April 29, to prohibit female genital mutilation (FGM). Dr. Baryomunsi later introduced a private bill countering FGM in Uganda parliament in September for debate and was unanimously enacted into law on December 10.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines female genital mutilation (FGM) as "the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural or other non-therapeutic reasons.
FGM is practiced the world over, and Amnesty International estimates over 130 million women worldwide have been victimised. It is estimated that 92 million of Africa’s women have been victims with over 3 million cases carried out annually on the African continent. In Uganda, the Sabiny of Kapchorwa, Bukwo, Bugiri and Nakapiripirit districts in the eastern frontier have indigenous tribes that highly practice FGM, according to the parliamentary report. The rite is performed bi-annually each year.
There are about four ways in which FGM is executed: “Sunna" circumcision is the removal of the prepuce and/or the tip of the clitoris; Clitoridectomy, or excision, which is the removal of the entire clitoris and adjacent labia; Infibulation (pharaonic circumcision), removal of the clitoris and entire labia and then joining the scraped sides of the vulva across the vagina using thorns or catgut, leaving only a small opening for passage of urine and menstrual blood.
FGM is generally performed in unsanitary conditions with unclean sharp instruments, such as pieces of glass, stones, knives, or razor blades. A single instrument is often used on many girls and/or women without cleaning, leading to the transmission of various viruses, such as HIV/AIDS.
While there are no benefits associated with FGM, the procedure is characterised with health complications like cruelty of the procedure, urine retention which is painful, short term haemorrhage, which can lead to death. It can also engender infertility, vulva abscess, clitoral cysts, labia adherences, difficulties in menstruation, fistula, disability and increased risks of HIV/AIDS infections.
In the parliamentary report, Mr Peter Kamuron, a human rights activist, opines that; “Once a girl is cut, she is cut off from enjoying her reproductive health and rights and continuing with education, and from any hope for employment and or future economic survival.”
But, an initiative like the Reproductive Educative and Community Health (REACH) began in 1996 in Kapchorwa, which has been on the forefront in helping to mitigate FGM. Using education as its primary tool in eliminating FGM, REACH formed the Sabiny Elders Association to reach the people. Ultimately, the communities made their own the decisions to stop. The Kapchorwa district saw a tremendous 36 per cent decrease in FGM between 1994 and 1996.

Poor sanitation plagues Kampala’s slums

2009-11-06T23:31:00.000-08:00

Patrick Odongo emerges from a latrine; a one storey structure erected approximately two metres from the ground. Towering in front of haphazard, ramshackle dwellings, there is no fee charged for using this latrine, reserved for the residents of Acholi quarter in one of Kampala’s sprawling slums. Parts of the latrine’s walls are damp, with a stinging smell permeating the environment.
Godfrey Nsubuga, a resident of Kavule, in Kampala, sits outside his dilapidated shack, neighbouring an unused latrine, raised a few metres from the filthy soggy ground. He says he does not use the latrine because it is full. This and the current latrine in use are so dilapidated that he fears they may succumb to the weight of human waste, or a storm.
Many such latrines sprawl haphazardly in slums around Kampala: Bwaise, Kamwokya, Kavule, Katanga, Kisenyi and Kivulu. Some of them are constructed an arm’s length from congested slum settlements, posing grave health risks.
Frequent flooding and the swampy slum areas rule out the sinking of latrines beyond one or two feet. Erecting a latrine with a stair case is the only option despite the hazards. Many residents acknowledged having experienced cholera outbreaks, associated with the filthy surroundings.
Decent toilets are available but at a cost. A user fee of between Ushs100 (US$0.05) and Ushs200 (US$0.1) is charged, which is often too high for families, most of who live on less than a dollar a day.
Moses Mugabi, a resident of Kamwokya, mans a latrine, which is also raised two metres from the ground. Despite no charge being imposed by the landlord, Mugabi charges Ushs100 (US$0.05) user fee. He ensures the latrine is kept clean, to keep diseases at bay. He acknowledges past incidents of cholera in an area prone to flooding.
There is some respite though after Amref, in collaboration with local communities constructed a few decent toilets, which residents use for free although in some slum areas such as Bwaise, on the outskirts of Kampala, residents pay Ushs200 (US$0.1) to use them.
Joan Nakibule, a resident of Kavule slum in Kampala, says the toilets have improved sanitation in the area. “When full, Ushs20000 (US$10.5) is collected from the households, to drain it,” says Nakibule, whose mother is a landlady in the settlements.
According to James Kiyimba, a social worker and communication officer with WaterAid Uganda, latrines are raised some metres above the ground because the water level is very high. He notes, however, that these present a challenge to children, the elderly, the disabled and the sick who can’t climb the stairs. They resort to easing themselves in polythene bags, a practice called ‘flying toilets’.
However, he adds, these latrines contaminate water sources. “Most water sources are contaminated through such practices,” he says, adding that these inevitably lead to cholera outbreaks.
Peter Kato, a medical doctor, says the latrines remain potential hazards for cholera outbreaks. He says the poor drainage in the swampy areas contributes to the pollution of water for domestic use as these latrines are very close to the settlements. “When it rains, the refuse in the latrines flow out and sprawl near the dwellings,” he says.
Statistics from the ministry of health in Uganda show that over 400 people die of diarrhea and cholera complications due to poor hygiene and sanitation. Although organizations such as Amref have initiated projects to help, a lot more still needs to be done.
By Joshua Masinde

Kampala residents fall for allure of quick cash

2009-09-07T00:55:00.000-07:00

Joshua Masinde

KampalaThe queue outside the Tripple Pride Self Help Project near the Qualicel Bus Terminal in Kampala does not seem to ever diminish as an endless stream of people wait to deliver their cash deposit slips to the company’s officials.

Many of them have been made to believe that by depositing the money and attracting three others to join the scheme could be the gateway to accumulating as much as Shs10 million without breaking sweat. Ms Winnie Apio, a Makerere University student, is one such client.

Since she registered for the project early this year and convinced three friends to sign up too, Ms Apio says she has accumulated Shs150,000. “I checked the account and saw the money,” she said.

Like a typical pyramid scheme, the Tripple Pride project depends on initial recruiters who bring in other people to “invest” money in the scheme. The new member recruits another three people, each of whom are required to invest a similar amount of money. The only requirements for joining are a bank account, an initial deposit of Shs45,000 to deposit and recruitment of three people into the scheme.

Every new member is required to deposit Shs10,000 into the project’s account and a separate Shs5,000 for each of seven already registered members. The scheme is based on the assumption that there will be a continuous recruitment of new members and even those who accumulate the maximum amount of Shs10 million will open new accounts and continue to help the scheme thrive.

But that’s where the first cracks appear in the project plan. Ms Apio says she does not plan to wait until she reaches the deposit ceiling of Shs10,935,000. “Once I get something like Shs400,000 I will stop my membership,” she said. But a manager at the Qualicel Branch of Tripple Pride, who asked to be identified only as Andrew, claims the scheme is unlike pyramid schemes or the gift circles that led to the loss of lots of money in 2003 in Uganda.

He says that unlike other gift circles where money is exchanged ‘hand-to-hand’, Tripple Pride has come up with the idea of having people exchange money through banking, which he claims reduces fraud. Like other officials however, Andrew is tight-lipped about details of the company’s operations, including the amount of money they have accumulated so far and the number of members who have joined the scheme.

A flyer advertising the project says its vision is to alleviate poverty through helping people accumulate money. “This perfect match maker connects conscious business people who are eager to integrate values with many thousands of people that are looking for their dreams to come true.

Tripple Pride has other branches in Nakivubo, Wandegeya, Mukono, Kawempe, Shauri Yako, Nansana, Mengo, Pride Theatre, City Centre Complex, Uganda House, Kibuye, Kavule and Platinum House. It has a total of 15 branches in Kampala, Entebbe, Mukono and Jinja districts.When contacted, Central Bank deputy public relations officer, Joy Kaahwa said the bank did not have details about the operations of the Tripple Pride scheme.

Kampala area MP Elias Lukwago, however, said pyramid schemes have become very sophisticated as they come as NGOs and deprive the public of all their money. “There so many such schemes in the country today but it is so unfortunate the government has not come out to do anything,” said Mr Lukwago. “Something needs to be done now”.

Kampala City Council Publicist, Simon Muhumuza, said the scheme was not recognised by the city authorities. “These are fakes,” he said. “Such people need to be arrested instead for conning the public. This is a police case. We don’t believe there is free money that can just be issued out like that.”

Last year, residents of Jinja were left in tears after Dutch International, a money saving scheme conned them of Shs11.4 billion. With promises of interest earnings of 30 per cent per month, many deposited as much as Shs2.5 million. While members expect a “Tripple” return on their investments, they are likely to end up with zero returns.

Additional reporting by Eve Mashoo

Giving hope to the sick

2009-07-17T08:25:00.001-07:00

Jane Namala writhes in pain. She tightly clutches her temple with both her hands. She cannot even speak but mutter a few words, expressing the intensity of the pain she is feeling. She has a dental problem and has come to have her two decayed yet painful teeth extracted.
A few metres away, Aisha Nalubega has brought Tatya Nankumba, her eleven-month old baby for medical check-up. The baby has an umbilical hernia (an elongated navel), which has given both mother and baby endless nightmares.
Doctor Patrick Kaliika, a Clinical Director, who examined Nalubega’s baby, referred them to Masaka district hospital for an operation. Aisha cannot help but say she does not have money for the operation.
All this unfolds at Mulabana centre, a remote area on Ssese Islands in Kalangala district. Many of the patients suffer silently for many months as there is no trace of a hospital or clinic nearby, but a Health centre III located many kilometres away. The Health Centre often lacks the drugs to meet the patients’ health needs, according to Richard Kirule, the President of Rotary Club of Kampala, Ssese Islands.
At Mulabana centre, patients are strewn all over. Their genuine search for medical examination and attention is written on their nostalgic faces. For some, especially the women and young children, pain, suffering and destitution are hidden beneath their smiling countenances.
Their wait for the free medical examination and free drugs, even when it’s once per annum, is worth it as they are now receiving free medical care from the members of Rotary Club, Ssese Islands. The opportunity is a God-sent to the inhabitants of this almost God forsaken area.
The patients are too willing to tell the two doctors, two dentists and the team of Rotarians examining them, of their sickness, woes and names.
Richard Kirule, says the free medical outreach extended to the people of Ssese islands, is conducted three times a year. The three times are allotted to different centres of the Ssese islands, in order to reach to a sizeable population of those in dire need of the free medical care.
“Coming here quarterly is not enough but it is expensive in terms of time and money,” says Richard. He adds, “We spend a lot of money like Ushs2 million on doctors and other expenses.” The drugs alone cost them Ushs1 million shillings.
The medical outreach covers all ailments like malaria, STDs like HIV/AIDS, typhoid, flu, ringworms and conduct counselling on nutrition and immunisation.
According to doctor Kaliika, they also do HIV testing and counselling.
“For those who are positive, we refer them to Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) in Kalangala town,” he says.
Besides, they not only de-worm the community members, but also give supplements and distribute condoms to those in need.
Despite the crowd of patients at Mulabana centre, dental cases were appalling. Most of the patients like Jane Namala and Francis Ziwa, a photographer, had their teeth extracted.
Before the extraction of Namala’s two premolar teeth, she was feeling acute headache. She was unable to express herself.
But, Francis Ziwa’s aching tooth took a dentist fifteen minutes to extract.
“It was my first time to come here for dental examination,” says Ziwa, adding “It was very painful.”
He developed the toothache a year ago, though he would not go to the Health centre in Kalangala town for check up because he could not afford the charges.
Doctor Barbarah Nabageraka, who is a dentist based in Kalangala district acknowledges many of the dental problems are due to the type of food like fish and bread accelerates teeth decay.
“Bad oral and personal hygiene, type of food like fish, which is sticky, makes teeth decay quickly,” says doctor Nabagereka.
The remedies she and her co-dentist handled were refilling, removal of scales on those with gum diseases and extraction of decayed painful teeth.
However, she says there were few cases of refilling as opposed to extractions.
By Joshua Masinde

In pursuit of an old passion

2009-07-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

Retired Major Kaka Frank Bagyenda, who says ‘Kaka’ was for disguise purposes during the bush war, is a man who is “more less settled” on Kalangala Island in pursuit of tourism: his old passion. When he was a civil servant in the late 1970s, went for a workshop to Mauritius andSeychelles, where tourism was taking shape around 1978. The beauty and immense tourist potential of the Indian Ocean Archipelago inspired his passion for tourism. He vowed to set up a tourist business upon his return.
His passion kept burning until the 90s as there was no money to implement it in the previous turbulent years. He secured a plot of land around a hot spring in Bundibugyo and was in the in the final phase of implementing the project, which was caught up in a landslide around Mt Rwenzori. He realised there were serious logistical problems as the landslides affected even key routes to his nascent investment. He shelved the idea for about a year.
He later thought of Kiboga, which was not only lacking in tourist attraction but also had land tenure system problem.
In late 1991, I came to this Island,” he says, adding he was still a major in the army. Kalangala Islands had a lot of similarities with the islands of Mauritius and Seychelles, though Kalangala, with its natural forests, serene environment, nice beaches, was and still is very natural and unpolluted. (There were a lot of sugar plantations on Mauritius and Seychelles).
“There were few tourists those days because it (Kalangala) was virgin,” posited retired Major Kaka. “There was only one guest house called Andronicles Lodge, owned by a retired primary (school) teacher.
There were no mosquitoes then because it was very cold.” (Now, big mosquitoes are a common sight especially at night).
The local leadership was very supportive since they wanted tourist development on any of the eighty four Ssese islands in Kalangala district at any cost. The RDC (formerly Special District Representative) called Kaziibwe was particularly encouraging, not only by word of mouth but by helping in the allocation of 50 acres of land on Kalangala island, for the hotel and the golf course project retired Major Kaka can boast of.
“I am the pioneer of modern eco-tourism,” he asserts, as he takes a sip of charm from his glass. In August 1994, his Panaroma Camping Safaris was ready to accommodate guests. Yet, the political ambience at the time was antagonistic to gains in tourism: the fresh Rwanda genocide, the demonic insurgency in the DRC and the conflict in Northern Uganda.
This harmed tourism too much, although Uganda was relatively peaceful,” said retired Major Kaka.
However, the only modern linkage when he opened shop was Barbus ship, from Port Bell through Koome Island, Bukeke Island, Bukasa Island, Bufumira Island and Lutoboke pier. The Uganda railways suspended the operations of the ship, which had been charged with handling theshipping services. Retired Major Kaka regrets that Enos Tumusiime, “who was the Damaging Director of Uganda railways” indirectly damaged their businesses as well.
Hadn’t MV Kalangala, another link to and from the island come in 2006, people would have to continue braving all the difficult conditions of travel by going through Masaka. This was very tedious but it didn’t dim retired Major Kaka’s passion, acknowledging thus: “You must really be in love with the island.”
Now, at almost sixty, having been part of the first group to undergo official reduction from the army in 1993, he feels at ease for being an eye opener for those who followed suit in investing on the island.
“I am now more less settled as I see tourism taking shape.”
But, visitors are always on and off and communication infrastructure is still wanting. It is even lack lustre for the domestic tourists, whom he mainly targets for their reliability.
Besides, he still has to overcome obstacles like the land tenure system if he is to expand his passion for modern tourism. He attributes the intricate land tenure system for the sluggish economic development on Kalangala islands.
He came to the island with four other senior officers and all shared similar intentions of starting up tourist hotels. These were late Brig. Peter Kerim, late Col. Byemaro (former Director of Military Intelligence), late Lt Col Ssesanga and Col John Kasaija. However, retired Major Kaka says some of them lost steam because of the land tenure system.
“The potential for development has been in the strangle hold for the last seventeen years because of land tenure system,” he observed.
Sixty percent of the land mass of Kalangala district is Mailo land yet the owners of such land live on the mainland. Twenty percent of the other land is a forest reserve, which is coincidentally very beautiful and was curved out by colonialists in the 1930s for strategic reasons.
Twenty percent of the other land is public land, some taken by thepalm oil project.
There are few Basese who own land yet potential areas tourism are owned by the likes of Kulubya ‘Mwana wa Omwami’”.
But, he adds there will be change, given political will.
Joshua Masinde

The Day Evil Dies

2009-06-20T03:59:00.000-07:00

Book: The Day Evil Dies
Author: Clifford Goldstein
Publisher: Review & Herald
Reviewer: Joshua Masinde
Evil deeds, just like the good ones are inseparable from human existence. Some of such evil acts, like the holocaust, engineered by the Nazis, are already confined to History. Many more are imbedded in the human heart. Just like Goethe, the German poet, acknowledges, “Two souls, alas, are lodged within my breast, and struggle there for undivided reign.”
Goldstein writes that one does not need to be chained in a Marxist dungeon to know the struggle, controversy between good and evil, right and wrong, faith and unbelief, which rage around and in us. Indeed, the fiercest and most consequential struggles unfold, not in dramatic spectacles that could be glamorised in a Hollywood script but in the quivering folds of the human heart.
Of Malcolm Muggeridge, he says he described the “human drama” as unfolding an “obvious dichotomy” between two forces: “One is the Devil and the other God.”
He elaborates his central idea of the battle between evil and good in the human heart by quoting American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes, “We are all soldiers in a great campaign, the details of which are veiled from us”.
The struggles in life he elicits in the book present tough moral choices in which the human conscience is “twiddled, prodded or tweaked”. The options lie in two extremes, good and evil, truth and error, right and wrong. There’s no middle ground as with life and death.
For evil to die between the two options, one has to choose the good-life. He writes that someone asked Billy Graham if he were an optimist or a pessimist: “I am an optimist,” he answered, “I have read the last page of the Bible.”
The death of evil is also a biblical promise in the book of Revelation. John says, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away...”
Clifford Goldstein’s The Day Evil Dies is a prophecy to past biblical and historical allusions, the present day occurrences and a foreshadow of the future. He explores some forgotten milestones of the past to help us understand the future, in a world where we are all foot soldiers in an invisible war. How will it end?
Behind-the-scenes, he writes, glimpses of the hand of God in history show that centuries of heresy, fanaticism, persecution, apostasy, and faith will soon culminate in an astonishing international crisis....religious politics will shape the future of America and curtail our freedoms leading to a terrible climax of evil before the final, glorious triumph of love.
“Now, you can understand your true role before it’s too late.”
By Joshua Masinde

Benefiting from illegal electricity connections

2009-06-20T03:56:00.000-07:00

Jimmy is the caretaker of a residence in Mukwenda Zone, Kawempe Division. For about ten years, even before he became a caretaker, the residence he is in charge of had been glorying on the blessing of illegally connected electricity. For all that period, they paid little or no bills to UMEME, since their electricity metre couldn’t indicate the watts of power used. In any case, he said that at various points, it was UMEME which owed them some money instead.
However, their day of reckoning came of age when UMEME officials came calling after someone had tipped them of the illegal connection at the residence.
“UMEME told us someone reported us, and we suspect it is the former caretaker, whom we had asked to repay the money he had swindled from us,” said a forlorn Jimmy. The money amounted to about 2.5 million but he is said to have repaid only Ush300,000.
UMEME officials estimated the illegal connection to have been in existence for at least two years. They backdated the bills to two years and it amounted to Ushs12 million, which they warned that it either be paid forthwith or a legal option would be considered. But, after protracted negotiations, at which they falsely confessed the illegal connection was just a few months old, they settled at Ushs2.5 million fine, after which a reconnection was made.
Many culprits are yet to be caught Jimmy admitted. Within the same area, there are so many residences, homes and even posho mills, which connect power illegally and have never paid a single cent to UMEME. This has and continues to cost UMEME highly as they have to grapple with operational and maintenance costs which are quite high.
Some posho mills with not only illegal connections but also operate without licenses, are situated in banana plantains, hidden within dwellings. They often operate at night like one in Mukwenda Zone in Kawempe Division, in which they mercilessly utilise the stolen electricity.
The operators of such posho mill in Mukwenda zone could at times be seen climbing the electric poles, attached to a transformer, in order to connect power directly albeit illegally. There is case when the transformer was so overloaded that it blast and many residents in the area lost most of the TV sets, computers, loudspeakers, radios, to the power surge during the illegal connection.
Though, such illegal electricity connections are costing UMEME highly, those who are in the habit claim they can’t afford the high charges on electricity. This has nevertheless, often times driven UMEME to increase power costs to exorbitant rates. At times, they are even forced to overcharge most of their loyal customers, as Abiaz attests.
“They just look at your building and set the price for you,” said Abiaz, whose family was once a victim of such exaggerated power costs, despite meeting their past bills religiously.
“Nobody was staying at home during that month but we received a bill of about Ushs1.6million.”
However, he added that when they brought up the case with UMEME officials and when the metre was cross checked, the bill promptly dropped to about Ush70,000 only!
But, Abiaz says, the owner of former residence where he had rented a room, was also surviving on illegal power connection from UMEME. But, the owner could not allow the tenants to use electric coils while cooking or boiling water, to douse any suspicion from UMEME.

By Joshua Masinde

The 48 Laws of Power

2009-05-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

Sqoop May 23, 2009
Book: The 48 Laws of Power
Author: Robert Greene
Publisher: Penguin Books
Available at: Leading Bookshops
Price: Shs35,000
Reviewer: Joshua Masinde
Politicians or leaders who have rooted themselves in power for long are known to be shrewd, charismatic or tyrannical. Ambitious up-coming leaders or politicians have, with wit, cleverness, manipulation and unwavering determination, managed to win over the masses, outshone political incumbents and attained the heights of power.
The endeavour to attain any such power is not a bed of roses. It is riddled with risks and menaces that would scare one to death. Retaining the same power is an uphill task. It’s not easy. But, there’s a precise remedy for those whose penchant for power is an abyss. The hooks and crooks come in handy in The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene.
The book is a decisive counsel for those who want power, watch power or want to arm themselves against power. It is a book, whose research has been dug out of works that have existed for as many as 3,000 years, is a precise case of how power has been used, manipulated to win over masses, defeat opposition, and or win over or suppress the enemy.
A peek into some of the laws will present an opportunity for you to “shine”, like most of the African leaders and politicians who have almost outlived their welcome in political dynasties. If you ever wish to attain considerable heights of power, “Never outshine your master,” so goes the first law of power. Make your master feel superior by avoiding situations which will make him feel insecure.
He also cautions anyone who wishes to use power effectively and to their advantage, not to put a lot of trust in their friends. “… They will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy.” An enemy has more to prove than a friend, hence he is more loyal.
Greene dissects the laws astutely from the first to the last law, “Assume formlessness.” His research is based on the deep of the hierarchies of power in our society.
This understanding is pegged on more references to historical figures like Otto von Bismarck, King Louis XIV, Talleyrand and others as an illustration of the use of power in real life and time. Each law might seem familiar to anyone reading them.
However, there is more than meets the eye in their understanding and application. Greene argues that learning the craft and art of power, and how to use it at the opportune time is a timely defence mechanism in preventing people from manipulating you.
However weak you might be, mastering such critical laws of power and how best to use them will level you out as astute, charismatic, mischievous and a scheming leader who knows the Achilles heels of his opponents. And for any sort of success in life, the laws will help you attain it.
A graduate of classic studies, Greene gives a balanced diet of power play in different settings, drawn from his research at the art school of Fabrika in Italy in 1995, where he says in the preface, The 48 Laws of Power was born. It was at Fabrika that Greene came in contact with the writings of Niccolo Machiavelli.
He blended this with his readings of the Japanese and Chinese history. He used such literature and classic writings on power for the last 30 centuries from Ancient Asia to contemporary America. Some illustrations are also drawn from Africa, especially on former Ethiopian Emperor Haille Sellasie.

Business boom in roast chicken

2009-05-03T01:55:00.000-07:00

The obsession of chicken roasting and consumption at Wandegeya is an abysmal business trend that seems not to have been shaken by the global financial chomp. The business centre, on the periphery of Kampala city, is often times vibrant and jam-packed with customers and revellers from all corners of Kampala, ready to spend their hard earned cash on the readily available roast chicken meat. The virtually 24-hour business zone has never been any dull, as business goes on at full swing, escorted by the reprieve of loud music from the different pubs and restaurants therein.
The chicken vendors have invested in TV chicken (an enclosure in which chicken is roasted electrically, as seen through a glass window), which seem to attract even more customers by the hour. Some posters like ‘Chicken Tonight’ attest more to the vibrancy of the chicken roasting business, though the clients buy the chicken at any time of the day.
And business has been good. One of the chicken vendors confirmed that the chicken business is good because of the constant supply of customers. He claimed he sells over eight roast chickens on a good day, although he purchases at least twenty of them in a week. His main source of supply of the chicken is Makindye, a Kampala suburb. He stated that there seemed to be no sign of the source withering as the supply is always constant.
Responding to a question why it is called TV chicken, a vendor who calls himself David remarked, "Because the chicken keeps rolling inside as you see." This raises the enthusiasm of the customer as they await their order of roast chicken to be ready. Some TV chickens are opaque but they still attract a substantial number of customers. Such novelty, which comes at a cost of between Ushs 700,000 and Ushs 2 million, according to several chicken vendors, rears a rare impulse buying effect on passers-by, as it consequently attracts most of them to buy the roast chicken when the craving strikes. The TV chicken is more than just an electric oven where the chickens keep rolling as they automatically get roasted. This sufficiently suffices for a marketing scheme to catch the eye of any prospective customer and lure them into purchasing the roast chicken.
David gets his supplies from Kalerwe. He acknowledged that on a good day, he buys ten chickens, most of which he roasts and sells by 10pm. At the cost of Ushs 9000, it is not an unfair bargain.
Simon Mubiru, another chicken vendor, has been in the business of chicken roasting for close to three years. He also acknowledged the business is good. Just like his competitors, he has a TV chicken. However, the TV chicken was not working because there was no power. He was instead roasting the chicken on charcoal.
On a good day, especially during the weekends, he claimed he sells up to about fifteen chickens, each costing Ushs 9,000. During the weekdays, he sells between eight to fifteen roast chickens.
Uniquely, much of the chicken roasting business is done by young men. Most of them have TV chickens, which are more efficient and cost effective, while some have charcoal stoves for roasting their chickens. With a TV chicken, it only takes one hour to roast about ten chickens at once, according to Vincent Lukyamuzi, another chicken vendor at Wandegeya.
Many other chicken vendors, who are mostly young men and many of who own TV chickens, get their supplies from such places as Makindye, Kalerwe and Nakasero. Simon Mubiru gets his supplies from Wandegeya, near University Hall at Makerere University.
"There are times when the supplies become scarce but I still wait until there's more," he said as he blew the burning charcoal to catch more fire.
It was dark by the time this writer visited some of the TV chickens. Business was not all that rosy, perhaps until when power would be back. A young man approaches Mubiru's TV chicken and strikes a bargain. The chicken is appealing, but the bargain doesn't seem to augur well. He is willing to buy one piece a price lower than nine thousand, yet the allure of the chicken prompts him to pay for it, anyway.
Roast chicken sales are usually overwhelming whenever the University is open. A big percentage of the clients of the chicken vendors are students from Makerere University, some of who are permanently addicted to the allure of roast chicken. The presence of many clients often gives the chicken vendors sleepless nights conducting their trade.
But, with the global credit crunch still crunching many economies, and wounding others, the chicken business at Wandegeya seems to be firmly girded on its feet as customers are as many as the roast chickens in the TV chickens. The allure for roast chicken meat will keep the chicken vendors in business for long.

Joshua Masinde

No end to learning

2009-03-21T01:40:00.000-07:00

Tapiwa Kamuruko was barely 17 years old when he fought in the Zimbabwean guerrilla war against the British colonial establishment in Zimbabwe. That was way back in the late 70s. When Zimbabwe was granted independence and Robert Mugabe’s ZANU/PF won the election in 1980, Tapiwa, together with other guerrilla fighters was disbanded from the force.
His only option was to go back to school. Since then, he has never stopped studying. Even when he has held various posts of both national and international stature, he has not stopped attending school.
“I have tried the delicate balance of working and studying,” he said, adding that his boss was particularly very considerate as he often granted him study leaves.
Courtesy of his unending penchant for learning, the Mass Communication department at Makerere University could be on its way to produce a first international PhD student through him. A Zimbabwean citizen, he currently resides in Germany where he works with the UN Volunteers that is administered by UNPD as the Deputy Chief, Africa region.
He enrolled for an undergraduate degree course in Development Studies at the University of Zimbabwe in 1983, before pursuing a diploma in Mass Communication and another course specialising in communication at the same university. Later, a working stint as the head of a unit in the Ministry of Information, Posts and Telecommunications inspired an opportunity for studying in Uganda.
His former Minister at the Ministry of Information, Posts and Telecommunications, Dr. Nathan Shamuyarira, gave a mention of Makerere University as a favourite destination of study, despite being an alumnus of Dar-es-Salaam University. The mention of Makerere University first, over Dar University as a hot spot for higher education spurred Tapiwa’s interest in studying at Makerere University.
“Makerere has a historical tradition in higher education,” Tapiwa acknowledged. “Most of our leaders have passed through the university.” Better still, he had the options of undertaking his PhD studies in Australia and the United Kingdom, where he was offered partial scholarships but opted for Makerere University. He pays approximately US $2000 as tuition each academic year.
Despite his decision to pursue his PhD at Makerere University, Mass Communication department, he still considers Zimbabwean universities as some of the best in Africa in terms of teaching and research. Most of them have links to industries. Its graduates are in high demand throughout the world.
He also worked with the National news agencies in Zimbabwe, especially in the research confines. One of the researches he did on the feasibility of community media led to the setting up of various community newspapers. This project, funded by Friedrich Naumann Foundation, was as an appreciation of media in community development.
In the early 90s, he pursued a Masters degree at Leicester University in the United Kingdom on full scholarship. After his second Masters’ degree at the university of Malmo in Sweden in 2001-2002, where he studied Communication for Development, the UNDP, an organisation he works for, sent him to Indonesia for a professional programme he confesses was one of the most difficult during his study epoch. A number of professors from the universities of Harvard, Columbia and London School of Economics tutored them in the course of their study in Indonesia. However, many of the students dropped out of the professional course.
Having been in Uganda for about two years, he thinks of country as one of the promising media environments, compared to many countries including Zimbabwe.
“Am extremely impressed about Uganda,” he said, considering the enormous number of FM and TV stations in the country. “I think Uganda has one of the most promising media environments in Africa,” he added, basing on his comparative media studies in different countries like Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria and Uganda itself.
As the former head of UNDP’s governance project in human rights in Uganda, he says he didn’t face any major challenges. With active participation from local leaders, group volunteers and the community members, he was able to implement civic education programmes on human rights in areas like Karamoja and Bundibugyo.
The research for his PhD thesis pivots on ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and Development, with a focus on Uganda and Zimbabwe. He looks at ICT as the soul of social and economic development in any society. The trend and pattern of its usage and consumption, especially by various sections of the community could be a limelight to the unexplored opportunities that could positively transform community members. In Uganda, he is focusing on Nakaseke Telecentre in Luwero as the case study for his thesis.
Comparatively, but ironically, Zimbabwe with the second highest literacy rate at 90.7% after Tunisia, has an unemployment rate of 80%. However, by the time Tapiwa left Zimbabwe in the early eighties, his country was a beacon of hope and a food basket of Africa. But, the academic, professional and work pursuits summarise him into a well travelled man, locally and internationally.

Joshua Masinde

The untapped viability of solar energy in Uganda

2009-02-20T23:19:00.000-08:00

In recent months, Uganda has been experiencing sharp increases in fuel and power costs. Demand for energy needs has been on the rise and this has made electricity costs to skyrocket. Matters almost went to the dogs with an acute shortage of fuel, not only with last year’s post-poll crisis in the neighbouring Kenya but also at the beginning of this year.
Despite the prices of crude oil dropping to a record low of US$ 36 per barrel, production and transportation costs have kept the prices high.
However, in the face of such challenges, there’s a gigantic potential of untapped solar energy in Uganda, which most of the Western European countries like Germany and Denmark, have exploited to meet the energy needs of their economies and populations. This solar energy, once tapped and put into effective use in Uganda could be a classic blessing, not just in cutting down consumption costs and maintaining a healthy environment, but also in creating wealth through commercial ventures and more jobs.
Solar energy is in its neophyte stage in Uganda. Where it has been proliferated, substantial progress in terms of welfare of the community members who have access to it has been noted as it is making a big difference and gradually transforming lives.
Speaking in a conference at the department of Food Science and Technology in Makerere University on Thursday, Dr. Maegaard Preben, the Director of Folkecenter for renewable energy in Denmark noted that the effective use of solar energy reduces power consumption by 65 percent. He explored the need for developing countries like Uganda to tap the sun as a renewable source of solar energy, which would last for as long as 5 billion years. His assertion cannot be more correct as the experience here in Uganda is a testimony to the benefit of investing in solar energy.
Such renewable energy has tremendously reduced expenses in households where other forms of energy like electricity, and petroleum and wood fuel are expensive, as Santore Alekua, the LC III of Ajia Sub-county in Arua district attested.
“One electricity pole is about Ushs1.5 million and purchasing poles to cover 8km is too much.” He added that the community members, especially in the rural locations of Arua district can’t think of extension lines, leave alone purchasing even one pole. Even people staying in towns are contemplating adopting the use of solar energy as an alternative source of cheaper energy.
The adoption of solar energy especially in rural areas that can’t access electricity is beneficial in more ways than one. In such areas as Arua, Tororo, Luwero, Mukono and Kampala, it is being used in cell phone charging, charging batteries and cells for radio and torches, lighting up homes and even powering radio and television sets. This is far much cheaper than meeting the increasing costs of electricity and fuel.
Besides, the commercial viability of solar energy is of the essence to such groups as Ajia Trading Centre Community Project, in Arua, which has about 15 members who have solar panels they use for their commercial engagements. The solar panels, donated by (JEEP) Joint Energy and Environment Projects, power the fridge for the community’s health centre. Some members of the community project in Ajia Sub-county now charge phones for the local people at a cost of Ush500.
And unlike in the past when solar energy was alien to this area, “People go to bars and shops that have solar, late into the night,” said Alekua.
The solar energy projects were originally initiated in Arua, Luwero, Kampala and Tororo. The project, initially the brainchild of JEEP, focussed on the environmental sustainability and conservation. However, Bob Kazungu, the Projects Officer of I.T power, Eastern Africa, says they had to add solar energy to their docket when they discovered its unique potential. He acknowledges that energy is increasingly being demanded in all aspects of life. “Demand for renewable energy services is very high, and for solar, it is overwhelming.”
Currently, only about 31% of the Ugandan population has access to electricity, Kazungu observed, adding that the 2001-2010 strategic plan aims at increasing access to electricity to over 400, 000 homes.
Although, certain milestones have been realised in tapping the potential of solar energy, the solar project in Uganda still faces challenges of poor quality appliances and limited accessibility due to the high costs of solar related products.
Moreover, according Kazungu, about 80 percent of solar companies in Uganda are Kampala based. This has made solar products not only unaffordable but also inaccessible. But, government intervention by provision of subsidies to the solar sub-sector in Uganda is yet to be a positive light at the end of the tunnel in accessing cheaper alternative energy.
“Taxes have been removed on some of the appliances as part of the subsidies,” said Mr Paul Mubiru, the Director for Energy and Mineral Development. He admits that though solar is relatively expensive in terms of operational and maintenance mechanisms, at least a hundred and one schools have access to it.
Mr Mubiru also observed that the rural areas are highly sidelined and there needs to be such an alternative energy source, which could shield many a poor household in such areas from expensive electricity. This is likely to be realised by the promise of financing from the World Bank by June this year. With such a possibility, Uganda could be on the road to expanding its solar energy base for a cleaner, healthier environment.
Joshua Masinde

When the day students study on evening programme

2009-02-20T23:12:00.000-08:00

THE semester began on a lacklustre note, with students dragging their feet to attend lectures. And, with some temporary changes put into place at the Mass Communication department, like merging of lectures, students on day programme are less upbeat on attending evening lectures.
Until further notice, day students will remain merged with their colleagues in the evening class in such course units as Television Production, Public Affairs Reporting, and Specialised Writing for third years and Introduction to Broadcasting for second years.
Part time instructors won't be paid for teaching the day class, save the evening programme, one of the reasons for the changes.
Dr George W. Lugalambi, head of Mass Communication department told third year students the adjustments have been made necessary due to changes in the staffing policy, which has to do with shortage of instructors and insufficient funding.
In an earlier communication to the Mass Communication staff and students, Dr Lugalambi noted, "This decision has been forced on us by the staffing gaps that the department is experiencing. But, we believe it is better to find a way to continue running these classes under schedules that some may find inconveniencing than to cancel them altogether."
And indeed, inconveniencing have the changes begun to prove especially to most third year day students, who have to religiously attend some lectures that end at 9pm. Where possible, some have decided to avoid taking and registering such course units that have been merged and run late into the night. Others are promising to attend as few evening lectures as possible, since they feel uncomfortable readily adjusting to the improvised schedules, albeit reportedly temporary.
One such student is Diana Nabiruma, who freelances with The Weekly Observer. It would be an uphill task coming from work, tired, straight to the lecture room, unlike the conventional schedule where she could attend her day lectures and go to work where possible.
Others claim the rationale for choosing to study in the day class as from first year is because they didn't want to be in the evening class. Now, this should be their one reason to independently cut a few lectures and get away with it.
For Nelson Wesonga, "I prefer to sleep at 9pm." He therefore doesn't want to foresee a clash between his time of sleep and the time at which the last lecture ends. He is also contemplating choosing a convenient schedule that doesn't force him to study beyond 6pm or 7pm.
But Justus Lyatuu is comfortable with the changes and even says he wouldn't mind if some lectures ended at midnight. He freelances with the Daily Monitor and remarks, "The changes don't interfere with my programme. I think it is blessing to me."
Despite these 'inevitable' changes, some lectures which were merged haven't started yet. Students have been attending the lecture halls but no instructor has shown up. When one student contacted the instructor, whose identity will remain anonymous, he said he is not aware he is supposed to teach. Further still, he emphasised that the university hasn't honoured him last semester's dues for the classes he taught.
Dr. Hannington Sengendo, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts says the lecturers' or instructors' awareness on the teaching schedules is supposed to be communicated by their respective heads of department. He argues the time tables for the various departments were released in the first week, and it is the responsibility of respective faculty heads or coordinators to inform the instructors about the time tables.
However, he blames a shortfall of lecturers in the establishment for the merging of some lectures as already witnessed. He says some members are on study leave. This has adversely affected the departments like Mass Communication, Geography, Tourism and Urban Planning, which don't have established teaching structures. More than 90% of the teaching fraternity is hired on contractual basis. This exposes a visible need for more lectures, though, "We are not the appointing authority but we use contacts like heads of department to identify potential students for hire."
For the university to hire more teaching staff, Dr. Sengendo says, "It depends on how the university is facilitated."
However, he was concerned that many students are cutting lectures, despite the lecturers reporting on time. "I moved around classes today and there were no students in class. There was only one student in a Literature class I went to."
Joshua Masinde

Safaricom losing subscribers outside Kenya

2009-02-15T09:16:00.000-08:00

Although, it's the most profitable and reportedly, with the cheapest rates in East Africa, Safaricom's subscribers in Uganda are complaining about the newly introduced exorbitant calling and short message (sms) rates in Uganda. Previously, the subscribers, most of whom are Kenyans, were being charged Kshs 8 (Ushs192) per minute on Ongea Tariff, and relatively the same charges on other tariffs like the belated Jibambie. This has been increased by over 200 pc. The rates now stand at between Kshs 25 (Ushs 600) to Kshs 28 (Ushs 672) per minute and Ksh 10 (Ushs 240) for a text message.
"Safaricom is charging us expensively," remarked Scola Kamau, a Kenyan student in Uganda, adding that she has reverted to MTN which is relatively cheaper now.
This is hurting Safaricom's subscriber base in Uganda as it is losing out most of them to ZAIN and MTN (Mobile Telecommunications Network), the biggest mobile network in Uganda. MTN is comparatively cheaper, especially on its MTN Zone tariff, which is rated on percentages. Calls are as cheap as almost no or negligible charges when the percentage is high at 90pc or more.
When contacted to explain the phenomenon, a Safaricom customer care personnel claimed the tariffs for Safaricom subscribers who go out of Kenyan borders will not be the same as was the case. The roaming service, a new name for tariffs charged for its customers who go out of Kenyan borders, is the burden that many a Kenyan Safaricom subscribers in Uganda are trying to avoid like a plague.
The exorbitant taxation system in Kenya could be one of the reasons for the hike in tariffs that will mostly hurt subscribers outside of Kenya. Currently, the (VAT) Value Added Tax is as high as 26per cent, and it could be more, hurting investors, even though they rake in millions or billions of shillings in profits each year.
However, what explains the new charges is a technical hitch the Telecommunications Company experienced in late January this year. For about two days, it was glee for Safaricom subscribers in Uganda whenever they would top up their accounts with MTN credit cards. A top up of Ushs 500 (approximately Kshs 20) would recharge the subscriber's account to Kshs 2000 (more than Ushs 48,000).
Taking advantage of the technical hitch, some people would top up to as much as Kshs 200,000 (approximately Ushs 48,000) and transfer as much as they wanted," said Innocent Masaki, who works as a customer care agent with ZAIN in Uganda.
He personally topped up more than Kshs 150,000 (approximately Ushs3.6million) though he wouldn't transfer more than Kshs 10,000 (about Ushs 240,000) per day. However, the lucrative exploit was short lived as all sim cards was blocked but activated with a credit-less account.
"Safaricom must have made losses and they want to recoup the money they lost during the technical error," says one subscriber. "We are all paying for the sins of a few people."
"I have money but I fear to top up," said Wyclieff Mugun. He is as well considering purchasing an MTN line. "Safaricom is for receiving only," he added.
And, indeed, Safaricom might also pay for the exodus of a few of its subscriber base to its local competitor or to its Ugandan counterparts MTN.
Joshua Masinde

2008-09-29T23:17:00.000-07:00

Book: Butterflies of the Nile
Author: Jane Musoke-Nteyafas
Publisher: Cook Communications
Reviewed by Joshua Masinde
SHE writes poetry, short stories and plays. She is distinctly feminine, describing the African woman's beauty with a passion. Such is her description, "In the beginning, God populated the earth with black women and he made them a rich embellishing combination of all colours and shades. They were beautiful rainbow complexions of coffee, cocoa, ebony, chocolate…” she writes on and on, "and the Devil came along and created skin lighteners…"
Butterflies of the Nile by Jane Musoke-Nteyafas, is drawn from a poem by the same title. The poem is an artistic praise of African beauty. To all African women, I dedicate the poem.
Despite the beauty the African women are endowed with, it is strange but uncommon how the natives of Africa, especially the men who live in exotic lands, have alienated many things African and embellish themselves in exotic tastes. Muhwezi, in Prom Night, passes for one of such alienated blokes. He is a Ugandan born, Canadian bred chap who does not appreciate his Ugandan born Canadian girlfriend Aisha. Despite her breathtaking beauty, which is a wish for many men, Muhwezi does not appreciate such African beauty.
Aisha is authentically beautiful. She however, puts on make-up and uses lots of beauty enhancing elements to appease Muhwezi. The chap does not still appreciate. In his drunken stupor, he abuses her instead.
She writes of deep love and affection in Nakimera's Love. Nakimera and Rwomushana, both from Uganda but live abroad, meet in an online chatting site. Though, they live continent apart, they fall deep in love such that Nakimera does not object to his suggestion of going to England to stay with him. Nakimera's Love is a tender love story of the African love, which brings together Nakimera and Rwomushana. Through Nakimera, Rwomushana appreciates how beautiful women from his home country are.
Modernity has brought with it myriad make-ups, which most women use to appear 'beautiful'. The Face presents such a scenario. Katrice an African woman, though beautiful in her natural way, uses a lot of make up to fake artificial beauty, which unfortunately, she cannot attain. She had the body and features, which though she disliked, presented her as more beautiful than one would ever think. After adorning the make-ups, she appears quite ugly and is abandoned by her boyfriend.
However, her second boyfriend dissuades her, just like her mother did sometime back, to stop using make-ups as they exaggerate her looks and make her appear ugly. Once, when she decides to rid herself of all make-ups, her authentic African beauty stuns her boyfriend. He vows to keep by her side forever.
Jane Musoke-Nteyefas is potently feministic, championing the rights and place of women in the modern society. In her simplicity, she writes strongly and passionately of the beauty of African women, love and relationships. The themes run through the plays, poems and short stories, with a touch of biblical allusion, thrown in some stories. She writes to heal he distorted stereotypes and misconceptions attached to African beauty. It is powerfully written, passionately moving, truly sensitive and ecstatically moving.

Smoking by force

2008-09-07T01:59:00.000-07:00

EVERYBODY is a smoker. We smoke everyday. It depends on what we smoke, either instinctively, coercively or knowingly. Everywhere you go, you can't fail to confront that waft of smoke, whether thick or thin, however much you try to avoid it. Despite your tastes and preferences, you inhale it, anyway.
Some people smoke many brands in a single occasion or on different occasions, depending on their everyday lifestyle and the situations they happen to be in. As a result, our bodies may be intricately smoke-polluted, just like the environment. It is not just an issue of global warming, a subject of pertinent debate in the world today, but it narrows down to 'human warming'. The many modern diseases might be a testimony to the circumstance of smoking by force. Here is a look at the situations in which we smoke with or without our will.
BARS, RESTAURANTS, BIBANDAS: These are free zones, where there are no limited restrictions on people's enjoyment. Smokers have the most earnest determination to smoke as much as they want. Here, many different brands are smoked with impunity. Someone could even be smoking marijuana and you mistaken it for the normal cigarette. No wonder, the smell is too horrible to bear. . The non-smokers have no choice but to join by asides, in inhaling the stray smoke that keeps wafting their side in an endless stream. The smoke leaves them with serious pangs of headache and polluted stomachs.
SMOKING FRIEND: If you walk with a friend who smokes whenever you are in his company, you are a chimney. He or she is so close and comfortable with you that you seem indifferent even when he or she smokes a whole packet in your company. Occasionally, just to let you feel how pleasantly addictive and bitterly enjoyable the nicotine is, he gushes a mouthful or two of smoke your way. You feel the punchy smell eating its way into your lungs. You smoke, anyway. You don't complain, much as he/she is your friend.
PUBLIC PLACES AND STREETS: The smoking fellow just in front of you. You try to overtake him, so as to get out of the irritating, cancerous smoke, but no way. The pedestrian paths are so narrow and highly populated, from the newspaper and magazine vendors, hawkers, street beggars and open doors that even an inch of you cannot overtake the smoker.
Occasionally, the boda bodas eat more than enough of the pedestrian path and you, in the name of overtaking the smoker right in front. You can't cross the road either. It's packed with vehicles. You persist until the smoker is finally done with his cigar. You pray he doesn't pull out another cigar, a temptation that he suppresses, anyway.
SMOKE GUSHING AUTOMOBILES: From boda bodas, taxis, heavy load trucks to private vehicles. Whether you are in the taxi or on the pedestrian path, the smoke manages to steam your way. Some vehicles emit too much smoke you swear they should be written off forthwith. The smoke leaves you with serious complications like a stinging headache, a polluted stomach and the prospect of cancer.
SMOKE FROM BURNING DIRT OR GARBAGE: You pass near burning garbage. The smoke is so much that it engulfs you as you pass by. Incidentally, the burning garbage is either outside your residence, your office or a few inches from the only route you usually use. As the smoke engulfs you, you smoke by force.
FUEL: Using wood or charcoal as fuel making everybody in the home smoke by force. From the mother, who is cooking, the children warming themselves beside the fire, to the father waiting for food, in the next room or in a corner nearby. There are many smoking families in areas where they use food or charcoal as fuel.
COUPLES WHOSE PARTNERS SMOKE: Wife or husband. One smokes in the presence of the other. The other one does not complain, has complained to no avail or is just trying to persevere, being nice by not interfering or distracting the comfort of the smoking partner.
TEARGAS: You smoke as you shed tears simultaneously. You cough and inhale much of it a as you scamper for safety. It's too much when the crowds are highly charged and the anti-riot police is determined to submerge them in a cloud of the stinging smoke.
BUILDING BURNS, PROPERTY BURNS: We do not mind the smoke. We mind our safety of the young ones and our neighbours. We inhale gushes of smoke while carrying out rescue operations.
A FACTORY IN YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD: It emits smoke day and night. The whole neighbourhood smokes chemicals and other weird concoctions. This often results in stunted growth in children who grow up in such areas.
So, watch out which places you hang, which routes you use if you wish to avoid smoking the numerous brands on a daily basis.

Joshua Masinde

Venturing out, nocturnally

2008-08-08T01:39:00.000-07:00

It ain't all that funny, deciding after half-a-day in the room, doing nought but contemplating, to stroll out and stretch my muscles, rather, strain my muscles (with a friend). Down the lane. Past Wandegeya. Past CMI (Chief Military Intelligence) headquarters. CMI can be equated to the infamous Nyayo House during the Nyayo era in Kenya.
The streets are dimly lit, in neon street lights scattered here and there.
On a bodaboda (the almost nuisanceous motor cycles Kampala is notable with), straight to Uchumi supermarket, located right within the Palatial and Princely setting of Garden City. Nelly, a friend and media colleaque, confided to me the place where Garden City stands was once a swamp, gazzetted as a no-go-zone for any developer. But, the utmost authority in the powers-that-be, having vested interest in the wetland, put up the princely hotel cum shopping mall, an addition to their innumerous investments.
The wetland is strategically located, bordering the city centre, just across the main asphalt road, where a high school once stood. It was demolished and word had it that it was to be sold to a Saudi Prince at a cost of ush.300M. (The government has a policy, since it assumed power more than two decades ago) of attracting investors). The Saudi Prince would build a five star hotel to host the CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of State and Government Meeting) delegates. However, the hotel was never constructed. Media reports (with the exception of the government media) revealed scandulous consignments that surrounded the land.
Just a thought.
Back to Garden City. Into Uchumi supermarket. Nelly had hoped to buy wine only. He needed it badly, a reason for our nocturnal venture to the supermarket where he confided to me he often got the good wine at better rates. But, all brands are too expensive for an ordinary bloke to afford. Food prices having skyrocketed globally, should be no excuse for the dear price of wine. Is wine food? Why is it too expensive, but with limited quantity? Oil prices are at their peak. What of wine? It ain't supposed to be as exorbitantly priced as we noticed at the supermarket.
Any how, he goes ahead to purchase several other stuff, after sorting out a relatively cheaper brand of wine. I get juice and blue band, which he pays for (a very generous chap I ever met).
It's quarter to ten. We walk to a restaurant for drinks. After we are done with fanta and coke, the former, which I prefer, we walk out. At the entrance, as we stroll out, we spot a journalist who works for a leading media house. 'Ebazanye,' Nelly reminds me. I saw him in the past, and I've seen him often at his desk at The New Vision. "He has brought his chick here for fun," Nelly and I conclude as we ooze out of the cozy palatial supermarket and the entire Garden City.
The venue is fantabulous.
Just a memory.

Book launch in honour of Yvonne Namaganda

2008-08-05T23:11:00.000-07:00

THE Minister of State for Higher Education and Sports Hon. Charles Bakkabulindi on Tuesday launched a book in honour of the late Budo junior pupil, Yvonne Namaganda at Kitante High School in Kamwokya.
Speaking at the function, the Minister, who was represented by Mr. Omagor-Loican Martin, Commissioner Special Needs Education, Guidance and Counseling said the book, ‘Understanding Student Leadership’ describes leadership as the process of influencing others towards achievement of a common goal.
“As student leaders, you must note that the influence referred to here is not towards negative aspects like school strikes, burning of schools, dodging classes and others,” the Minister said.
“I commend the authors and Mrs. Rose Izizinga for paying tribute and dedicating their book to Yvonne Namaganda, a selfless young leader who laid down her life in service of others and I urge young leaders to emulate her,” the Minister added.
The Minister further commended the authors of the book, Allen K. Baguma and Alex R. Mujuni in calling upon school administrators to endeavour to empower young people most especially the student leaders by promoting virtues of good governance.
“This is quite welcome especially at such a time when the country and Africa in general is being faced with enormous challenges like poverty, disease, ignorance, war, hunger and HIV/AIDS.”
Speaking at the same function, the head teacher of Kitante High School, Ms Rose Izizinga, in paying tribute to Yvonne Namaganda, noted that student leaders face the dilemma of leadership while studying and doing what is right.
“I thank the authors for seeing it fit to pay tribute to Yvonne Namaganda, the young leader that died so that others could live and who discharged her duty to the end,” Ms. Rose Izizinga said.
Nakityo Betty, the Town Clerk of Mubende Town Council and grandmother to the late Yvonne Namaganda stated that the late granddaughter was a class prefect and a good sports personality.
“As a class prefect, she used to make sure the class was kept clean and in good order,” she said. “However, leadership has its own costs.”
Hon. Florence Bavunya Ngalubo, Minister for Youth and Employment in Mengo government comforted the family of the late Yvonne Namaganda at the book launch.
During the book launch, a copy of ‘Understanding Student Leadership’ was auctioned at ushs. 300,000. The proceeds, together with a souvenir, were handed over to the family of the late Yvonne Namaganda.
Joshua Masinde

No more years at Makerere

2008-08-05T07:05:00.001-07:00

THE university senate formulated a regulation in a meeting held in July 14th to guide students on withdrawal from studies and to forewarn those who overstay their stipulated years at the institution.
In a letter circulated by the Academic registrar, Mr. Amos Olal-Odur, a student can apply to his/her respective Board of Studies for permission to withdraw from studies at any time of the semester. The reasons for withdrawal from studies should be given in the letter of application.
“Permission to withdraw shall be granted by the Faculty/School/Institute Board only on compassionate grounds or in cases of illness or financial constraints, serious social or domestic difficulties or exceptional professional commitment which can be demonstrated to have adversely affected the candidate.”
Resumption of studies will also require the student to follow the same procedure of application. However, he or she “shall indicate that the circumstances that made him/her withdraw can no longer affect his/her studies.”
The student will only be allowed Permission for withdrawal a maximum of two withdrawals on an Academic Programme and each withdrawal shall not exceed a period of one academic year.
The regulations also affect the students who overstay their academic studies at the university. Students will no longer be allowed to overstay their welcome unnecessarily as this creates a backlog and congestion at the university which already has more than thirty thousand students to manage.
“A student who has overstayed on an Academic Programme by more than two years beyond the period of candidature stipulated in the Programme shall be discontinued from his/her studies at the University,” states the letter.
Joshua Masinde

Ocwyino on his life and writing

2008-07-21T08:04:00.000-07:00

Julius Ocwyino is a man who passes for any ordinary fellow, until you get to know he is the author of Fate of the Banished. He is a forty seven year old, seemingly quiet man, who had a happy childhood and loved occasional fights with his childhood friends.
His father, Kelemente Ochen, worked in the Prisons Service in different parts of the country. In 1961, while Kelemente was still stationed in Masaka district, Julius Ocwyino was born.
Living in different parts of the country exposed Ocwyino to various cultures quite early enough. Such exposure gave him an opportunity to appreciate them. This is the reason why he learnt to speak Acholi first, and not Lang'o his mother tongue.
"Fate of the Banished itself is not about Lang'o but different parts of the country," Ocwyino points out.
Such rich diversity in terms of thematic concerns and messages portrayed in Fate of the Banished is what contributed to its consideration as an A-level set book this year, 2008. For this opportunity, he has a reason to smile.
Fate of the Banished being crowned as a set book, so far marks one of his biggest achievements, though more new challenging situations keep coming up.
But as a writer, the monetary value gained from books is relative. Basically, the ten percent royalty that the author receives from sales of a book isn't all that handsome. However, cases like invitations to important events or occasions like Writer-in-residence, Book fairs and to attend conferences of international organizations like UNESCO, UNICEF present a good opportunity in terms of monetary gain.
Ocwyino was a Writer-in-residence in Cumbria in Northern England in 2003.
"The sponsors were British Council and Cumbria Arts Council." The invitation lasted for only two weeks.
Nevertheless, sales from his copy Fate of the Banished have increased, something which will no doubt fatten his royalties.
Kelemente, his father, who wasn't a writer, wasn't highly educated because education was not highly encouraged, then. He passed away in 1994 while aged about 70 years.
"He was still very fit," Ocwyino says fondly of him. His mother, who is a housewife, is about 70 years old.
Ocwinyo is a family man, who has one wife and four children, three of who are boys. He lives in Kisasi, where he plies to and fro work everyday.
"Writing is easy," so said one writer. It is easy as getting a blank piece of paper and gazing at it until droplets of blood form on your forehead. Being as it may, nothing really prompted Ocwyino to start writing.
"I just found myself writing," he remarks, after a brief reflection. "My first book was a play called Tangled Strings." He wrote it in 1986, though it is still unpublished. Before that, he wrote poems. Some of them were published in the Uganda Poetry Anthology in 2000.
He wrote Fate of the Banished in 1993. It took him about two months, November and December to complete writing it. He still prefers to write in long hand, especially when writing creative works. However, a part from writing poems and novels, he does not fancy writing the short story.
"I wrote only one but it wasn't published," Ocwyino remarks, adding that he has forgotten the title of the short story.
Why can't he publish them now that he is not only a celebrated writer but also a book editor with Fountain Publishers? He says he likes to see them the way they are. To him, it cannot make a difference whether or not they are published.
At his Fountain Publishers' office, located at Makerere University, his work mostly involves editing textbooks and creative works for both children and adults and from primary school to university. He also executes a lot of administrative work like soliciting books from authors.
"That is why there are occasions when there are not a lot of creative works to edit."
For a man whose values rotate on hard work and honesty, his role models are as diverse. He considers Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Albert Camus, William Faulkner and Jean Paul Sartre as his literary role models. Nelson Mandela is his other role model, considering his integrity and perseverance during the apartheid era in South Africa.
Ocwyino, who likes being quiet, travels to his rural home in Teboke once or twice a year, because of distance and his busy schedule. He enjoys photography although, "I don't have a camera yet," and "walking… a lot of walking. That is why I am so trim," he observes.
Occasionally, he takes of some time, especially in the Sunday afternoons to walk from Kisasi to Kiwatule, along the Northern by-pass and back.
Of all the events in his life, he considers the death of his elder brother in 1977 as a result of a heart condition that was not diagnosed early enough, as the most unfortunate event in his life. His brother was still a student in Old Kampala Secondary School.
Apart from Fate of the Banished (1997), Ocwyino has also published The Unfulfilled Dream (2002), and Footprints of the Outsider. Born in 1961 in Teboke village in Apac District, Ocwyino studied at Aboke Junior Seminary and Lango College. He later joined Institute of Teacher Education, Kyambogo, where he earned a Diploma in Education. Later, he went to Makerere University, where he received a Bachelor of Education. He taught at various educational institutions before becoming an editor for Fountain Publishers, Kampala.

Joshua Masinde

Referencing in CVs matters a lot

2008-07-21T08:00:00.001-07:00

A good curriculum vitae (CV) should tell the prospective employer what you’ve done rather what you aspire to do. However, the way you present what you’ve done or your achievements, whether academic or career related, matters a lot.
Dr. Merry Cippe advises that it is better to offer a reference, say of schools or the academic institutions you have gone to rather than listing them. This is very useful more especially if you have applied for job overseas. The prospective employer might not know the history or reputation of the institutions you went to. Given that they don’t have time to find out more about the institutions you went to, it would be beneficial to you if you did so in you CV. Give a brief description of that institution, for example, Makerere University, the oldest and biggest university in East Africa. “Put a reference point around things,” she emphasizes.
Dr. Merry also points out the importance of putting down the best references for yourself on the CV. She says it would do you harm if you put a referee who dislikes you, even when it is your immediate boss. “But, desist from putting pastors as your references.”
In case your reference cannot be easily available on phone, or it might take too long to contact him or her, you should request a recommendation from him or her as a reference point and then attach to your CV. This makes work easier for your prospective employer. This is better than a CV without references, which CV often ends up in the dust bin.
In case you give a reference to some of the best things you like, say a particular book or movie, it should not say something negative about you. For instance, if you say your favourite animal is a hyena, this might suggest that you are greedy.
Joshua Masinde

Qualified but no job

2008-07-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

THE reason why most people are qualified but don’t get jobs is because they don’t know how to answer interview questions and to write appealing curriculum vitae (CVs). This is the reason why many Ugandan and other doctors from Africa, are unemployed in the United Kingdom, India and other Western countries.
Dr. Ceppie Merry, the head of Clinical Pharmacology Department at Mulago Medical School attributes this partly to the inappropriate CVs most of them often present in search of jobs. She says most of them have one CV for every job they apply for, even when much of what is on the CV does not reflect what the job requires of them. “You would not have one CV you hand out for every job,” she says. “Employers get many CVs and don’t have time to read through them.”
However, the reason why employers look at CVs is not to hire someone. “When we look at a CV, we look for reasons not to hire you.”
She emphasizes that the format of the CV can break or make you. A CV with different font types, font sizes and the like will earn it a place in the dust bin just like an untidy CV. This happens often with doctors in Nigeria.
If someone boasts of their computer skills, it will be reflected in the formatting of the CV. If you put down your hobbies, they should be in relation to your skill and be ready to defend them.
CVs without referees will not help a job seeker either. Referees are very important. “They need to be persons you have worked with, especially recently,” Dr. Ceppie Advises. “Your referee should be someone who likes you.” She says it is risky to hand out a person’s name and contact details as your reference without informing them.
Joshua Masinde.

Ugandan doctors in UK unemployed

2008-07-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

New Vision (Kampala)
Sunday, 6 July, 2008
Joshua Masinde
Many Ugandan and Nigerian doctors in the United Kingdom and India are unemployed despite being qualified and the numerous job opportunities there.
Dr. Ceppie Merry, the head of Clinical Pharmacology Department at Mulago Medical School, said this was because they do not know how to answer interview questions and write curriculum vitae (CVs).
“You get a job by knowing how to present yourself and how to answer interview questions, besides your qualifications,” she said.
Most doctors, she added, are not updated about the job market overseas.
Ceppie, who also teaches at Trinity College in Dublin, was addressing medical students on career management at Mulago Medical School on Friday.
She said the advances in technology have also led to the fear that many doctors would be unemployed in 10 years.
“Tele-medicine will be available in every village. This might render many doctors jobless,” Ceppie pointed out. She advised the medics to stay up-to-date and look for opportunities in the health and medical world.

Population rise bad for security, says don

2008-07-04T03:57:00.000-07:00

New Vision (Kampala)

Friday, July 4, 2008

By Joshua Masinde

THE rapid increase in population is a threat to security, the chairman of the National Bio-security Committee has said.

Prof. John Opuda-Asibo noted that people were not aware that biological threats like global warming and environmental degradation were a threat to security.

“People think that only physical insecurities like wars and the gun are a threat to their lives.”

He said the biological threats were caused by increase in population.

Opuda-Asibo, who was on Monday speaking at a seminar in Kampala, also blamed the increase in diseases on the rising population. Bio-security comprises the policies and measures taken to protect people from biological harm.

It encompasses the prevention and mitigation from pests and diseases.

Prof. John David Kabaasa, the dean of the faculty of veterinary medicine of Makerere University, said a rapid rise in population would cause food insecurity and natural calamities.

“In 2000, the urban population was 47% of the world population.

“Now it is 60%. We are faced with many threats like high temperatures, melting of Rwenzori and Kilimanjaro mountain caps, more mosquitoes and tse tse flies.

“While we are also driving towards industrialisation and globalisation, floods are coming in.”

Kabaasa suggested that nutrition and environmental protection be included on the school syllabus.

Dr. Lawrence Mugisha, the operations director of Ngamba Island, a premier gorilla tourism destination camp, noted that in a crowded world where people travelled a lot, the emergence of complex diseases was common.

“Human activities are the most potent factors driving the emergence of diseases.”

Uganda: Artistes' Body Demands Change in Copyright Law

2008-06-10T01:34:00.001-07:00

New Vision (Kampala)
8 June 2008Posted to the web 9 June 2008
Joshua Masinde: Kampala
The Copyright and Neighbouring Act 2006 should be amended to make it more effective and all-inclusive, according to the Uganda Performing Arts Association.
The general secretary, James Wasula, pointed out that the law, which covers musicians, writers, poets, was weak because cases of piracy, infringement, unauthorised reproduction of copyrighted works was still rampant in the country.
He was speaking on Friday during the annual meeting of the Uganda Library and Information Association in Kampala.
"Permission must be gained for the reproduction of copyrighted material," Wasula stated, adding that although, the role of a library was to pass out information, the manner in which the information was accessed by different users raised key issues sensitive to the copyright policy.
"Reproduction of the copyrighted material is not limited to photocopying or reprinting. You have to pay to reproduce it," said Wasula. He also observed that lending out a book was not illegal but it interfered with its sales.
The artists recommended the Creative Commons as part of the amendments to the copyright law.
"The Creative Commons supports the desire to learn, get recognition and help others," observed Joyce Bukirwa, a lecturer at the East African School of Library and Information Science at Makerere University.
"That is why we have the free encyclopaedia online."
The Creative Commons will allow access to works, like music, books, journals and drama productions.
"Publishers will lose interest in material which will be available for free. Also, a musician may not be ready to join you to produce work which is going to be obtained freely," Bukirwa pointed out.

What a damn!

2008-05-28T08:24:00.001-07:00

I've been up and down for some days (over a week) . My head has almost blown off. My oscilliation between the Main Gate (The Ivory Tower) and Barclays Bank@Wandegeya has been one of my bad nightmares. I can't explain why The Barclays Guys@the Wandegeya station can't style up. Traditionally, after depositing a cheque, a customer is customarilly supposed to wait for a period four days before it matures. But, hell hath no fury for an incensed young lad. A wait of as more than a week ain't worth their name.

Their 'new' computer which hang@the slightest opportunity. Their slow, reluctant, remorseless, disgusting, annoying servive to customers. 'Their' relaxed, unconcerned outlook toward their 'platinum' customers. What a damn.

These are some of the expressions I overhead, (besides being myself, unordinarilly and unwittingly incenced with their relaxedness and lagginess@work) :

'This fellow is shit man!' a well dressed man's remark after being told to go to the next counter for services that could be done by the fellow@the counter.

'My account (despite having enough cash for a few months salary) has been closed three times," a lady in her thirties expressing her annoyance. Her face, adorned with fury could tell it all.

'This is stress,' another one decried. She brisked out of the banking hall.

Their unpredictable on/off severs. Who is their service providers? Are they really World Class bankers when all&sundry are grumbling@their services? Is it pride?

Transactions are often slow (sometimes done) without the passion to work.

A particular lady refused to serve me. Reason?

"You had said I earlier intentionally refused to serve you when the server was off." Pure nonsense. Does she even know the concept of vital public whom she needs to woo instead of proudingly claiming she wouldn't serve for lack of sense in her head?

"You should know how to treat your customers?" I told her. Without us, you would be on Unemployment Street.

MY DREAM FOR RUSSIA

2008-05-23T01:37:00.000-07:00

Old dreams die hard. But, I’ve never believed that dreamers are high achievers. They could be, but other factors do play a role to make them true.

The story of ‘An African (Nigerian) in Russia’ inspired me way back in high school to dream of making a pilgrimage to Russia, the land of winter. My Geography then in Senior three inspired me the more to wish to feel how real winter felt like. Russia is just close to Greenland, the land of the midnight sun. Greenland is close to the Arctic, but my mind then, stubbornly conceived Arctic is one of the edges of the world.

My European History in A-level reinforced the same old dream that I would make it to Russia. The Summer Palace in St. Petersburg with its magnificent mausoleums, spiced with unique historical artefacts, prominent of which is Lenin’s in St. Petersburg Palace Square.

But then, when I kept reading the story of ‘An African in Russia’, I told my classmates about it and my dream to Russia. At that, I even specified the locations I would yearn to set my feet upon. Minsk, Moscow and St. Petersburg (formerly, Leningrad) came top on my priority list. Again, my passion for Literature kept my dream alive.

I loved reading different literature about Russia: The Moscow Campaign, The Bolshevik Revolution, Russia in the two world wars and of course, The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol. There’s also the Summer Literary Seminars, often held in St. Petersburg. A local journalist wrote inspiring literary stories about the event any time he attended the seminar each year.

Now, won’t my dream come true if I pick journalism as my career choice? I often wondered. That was the time when one’s passion to pursue a certain course but prestige guided one to choose a career. Most of my classmates, just like me, were conscious of pursuing ‘heavy’ prestigious courses, without considering a drop of passion in their expectations. But, my passionate dream to visit Russia inspired me to study journalism, some years later.

In high school then, impatient wishes and dreams of touring the world came in handy. Another classmate would tell me how he would wish to go to Japan. Another would say, “As soon as I finish my senior four, I would head straight to former Prussia (Germany). My brother lives there. He even has a German wife.”

Nevertheless, with the story of ‘An African in Russia’ as my immediate inspiration, I appeared to have a dream for my other vehement inspiration. I even inspired another friend, whom everybody in class thought was totally confused, to fall in love with the word ‘Minsk’-a town in Russia. He even headlined his autograph ‘Minsk’ before giving it to us to sign our best wishes for him since our time in high school was coming to an end.

All friends in class jokingly called me ‘Russia’. I felt no slight offence after all, this would be ‘my next destination after school (DV),’ I told them in the fullness of my heart. I spruced up my confidence and inspiration of going to Russia by applying for some courses (not Journalism but medicine) that were advertised in the press. I highly disliked medicine related courses. But, with my dream to go to Russia, here was I applying for the courses I loathed. That would surely put me on the road to Russia, I thought longingly.

Time came when we had had to part from one another. It was inevitable. We had finished our final examinations. Most of us were only waiting for our dreams to come true, however hard to attain they appeared to be.

A few friends had got feedback concerning the courses they had applied for in their respective countries of interest. Whatever was sent back to them were mere prospectuses, glossed with magnificent College structures. But, the tuition aside, let alone other expenses say for visa, travel, accommodation was enough to shatter my dream. Mine was broken. From a humble background, I could not even dare tell my parents how much money the course I had applied for in Russia would cost them.

For some time, out of school, I still see most of my school cronies treading on both village paths and town roads in an endeavour to make ends meet. Their dreams too, seem to have died a long time ago.
“My dream for Russia….” RIP.

Joshua Masinde

A funeral week

2008-05-05T06:37:00.000-07:00

The past week was a funeral one. The long awaited exam results for last semester were released. The delay was worth a tonne of complaints. A letter (or two) found its way to the editor. A meeting with the Head of Department was convened. Reason? "We want results." Expectations of good grades were high.
Now, the results were released. Many students were pregnant with the hope for the best. Unfortunately, the notice board became suddenly repulsive. The results were disgusting...stinking...reeking. "These are not our grades," many a student complained.
Faces smelling of grief prevailed. The dismal results on the notice board drew unto itself repulsion. From a mere glance, they were unappealing. Approximately forty retakes in first year is a sad affair. Over sixty retakes in second year elicited shock.
A few laughed.
"So and so has not been spared the dark fate," Justuu remarked. But, he had not been spared either.
Far from the disgusting results, the grievers distanced themselves. Far from the maddening crowd, they back-strode. Far from the dark corridors, "We Build For The Future."

Joshua Masinde

Village football, in good old days

2008-05-03T04:19:00.000-07:00

Sweet, nostalgic memories die hard. Old as they may be, they are often a precious souvenir for ages. The memories of the village setting, with its relaxed, serene and refreshing atmosphere signify a world of their own.

One of the most popular past times for the young men in the village was playing football. While the girls went to the river to draw water, the boys invited their counterparts from a neighbouring village for a soccer match in a swiftly marked crooked terrain.

The most exciting of matches would come into play in the face of two rival camps. Each camp would boast of its skilled commanders, who in the name of chance or good fortune, stood out as the best ball dribblers and top scorers. They lacked a contemporary as far as taking control of their teams from the start of the game up to the end until they either won or lost a match. Losing in a match was intolerable. If this happened, the commander would change the line-up as soon as possible.

The commanders had the prerogative of carrying the balls neatly knit from nylon papers. The balls were often referred to as lifundo in western province. The commanders also had the privilege of choosing the first eleven players for their sides. Their decisions were rarely disputed.

They were better players, save goal-keeping. They feared being scored since that would portray their Achilles heel. Nevertheless, as the game would progress, they would swap positions until the game would come to an end. In the process, they would point out the weaknesses of the holders of different positions but show how they could play better in such positions.

When they caused a penalty either accidentally or at will, they would dispute it strongly in order to have it cancelled.

“Haramu hailipi,” the opponents would shout.

Many a time, when the penalty would be declared valid, the field commander would take the risk of substituting his goal keeper for the moment. Fortunately in case they could save the penalty, they would boast of their incomparable proficiency in not only goal keeping but also defending, middle-playing, striking, lines-manning, refereeing, marking the field and coaching.

Lumonya was one such commander. Though, tiny as he appeared, he had the stamina that would shake even the hugest of defenders both in his own team and in the rival team. For his Ronaldinho skills on the field, his fame surpassed the whole village. He would literally dribble the ball from morning to noon, without erring. He would play any game at any time, anywhere without tiring, until the cows would come home. It required a commander of similar pedigree from a far away village to give him a run for more skill.

Lumonya had a football squad of his own. The members of the squad ranged from the very mature and tough muscled youths to the skinny ones still in their elementary classes. He coached them separately, ushered them in the field to play and monitored their progress. Every game would present a good opportunity for Lumonya to choose fine players to face their perennial hardcore rivals from the next village. Whoever displayed a good albeit rough game would often be absorbed in the line-up.

The top scorers enjoyed some privileges too. They were automatically assured to play in successive games, until they could get injured or fall sick. Moreover, they would be involved in making some key decisions, like which rival teams to play against.

Whenever Lumonya would feign sickness, there would be no game on that occasion. Most members of his squad would simply call on him to wish him a get well tribute. A game would only take place if they managed to convince him to accompany them to the field. They would do all they could to convince Lumonya watch them play. His mere presence morale boosted them a great deal.

For his all round soccer proficiency, Lumonya was a darling of the girls as well. Most of them admired him clandestinely. They wished he would give them a look of admiration whenever they flirted in his presence.

Till now, Lumonya, who had hoped to play for AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia FC or Tusker FC, has not since attained his dream. He is now old enough with a family to take care of. But, the memories of his heydays as a soccer hero still linger in his mind with nostalgia.

Joshua Masinde.

Growing up as a child

2008-05-03T04:02:00.000-07:00

Life can be a thorn of roses, especially when growing up in the house of a stringent and disciplinarian father. It is worse when he is a conservative and a perfectionist. I can’t remember any time when I felt totally secure without harbouring the fear for punishment even on the minor errors committed.
The disciplinarian was always on our neck. Growing up as a child, I was reserved. Strains of the same reserved nature still trail me today in my twenties. As a reserved child, father never really understood whether I was happy of or not, whether I had something I needed or not. So, even though I needed anything, I could not pass my request directly to him. I merely swallowed my wishes and let the agony burn in me in silence. The same attributes also characterised my younger brothers.
But, mother would always endeavour to listen to us. She was a vital intercession between us the kids and dad. However, there are times when out of our inborn fear for dad, we would even dread to see face to face. We would always hide away whenever he was around.
Though reserved and shy we were, father always expected the best out of us. For instance, being himself a teacher, he expected us to be top performers in class. It is for this reason that he always lectured us on how bright he was at school.
“I was always top of my class,” he would say
He expected us to participate in numerous co-curricula activities like dance, drama, the choir and sports. He personally played football in high school and college and was highly respected. But for having made it to a teacher training college, he could possibly have joined one of the established football clubs in the country.
However, that was too much expectation out of us. For failing to instil confidence in us from an early age, we could not do anything that could easily make him a proud father from the outset. The fact that confidence lacked in us, it was too hard for us to be outgoing or to venture into extra-curricula activities for that matter.
Nevertheless, his conservative nature gave him hope. He still had the idea that our outgoingness and confidence would ‘naturally’ come out at the right time, since he never ‘lacked’ such attributes.
As fate would have it, we never used to perform excellently in class. We were ever criticised on such poor academic showing. Whenever we endeavoured to do our best, he would not offer us a tap on the back. He would rather say on a serious note, “You could have done better than that.” Poor we.
The major problem with an over disciplinarian cum conservative father is that he will always look at your views as insignificant to him. He never easily accommodated our views since he always portrayed himself as the sole claimer of knowledge. The best he can do is to turn you into an automaton. He has a time frame for every stage of life you’ll pass through. His duty is to ensure the remote keeps working as you grow into the various stages of life he would wish you to undergo.
But, as we grew older, we tended to resist such autocracy though, mildly. When we began to have our way in many situations, he would regard that as defiance of authority. It would be worth it if we asked for permission to every little or petty issue we would wish to partake of.
Initially, he regarded the choice of our future career as his preserve. We were ‘remote controlled automatons’ so how could we define our future career without his involvement? Advice could serve better, but not coercion. He regarded the latter with prior importance since we would easily comply to every one of his dictate courtesy of the fear he instilled in us.
As a teacher and as a conservative, he believed we could make good teachers just like him. He therefore tried hard to push us in his way of belief and perception of things.
“As a teacher, you will always be marketable,” he always informed us.
What would happen if we told him we wouldn’t wish to take on the noble profession? In most cases, someone usually aspires to do something in the way of ones role model. But, was he our role model? He never instilled the confidence and spirit of noble teachers in us.
In growing up as a child, I came to realise, many years later that one of the best gifts a parent can instil in their offspring is confidence. But, right from a tender age, this was lacking in us. We perceived almost everything in stringent colours. If you become bold enough and tell your senior about a mistake they have made or are about to commit, you are scoffed. Often times, you are punished. How can confidence grow in such a tender heart and mind?
But at least, he managed to see to it that my elder brother ended up in a teacher training college. He would have wished his eldest son to go to the very teacher’s college he went to in the early eighties. Such a control of course came to pass when my elder brother was far into the voting age. Would he swallow the dictates and controls any more?
One of the worst shocks seized dad when his eldest son swooped churches without his consent. Dad was mad at him. But my brother would not withdraw his decision.
“He should know that I am a grown up,” that’s what my brother would tell me. After many years of exercising no independent decision on his own, it was high time he defied authority and acted on his own.
Father has come to realise that things have changed and he needs to act more liberally.
I might not be alone in this fate of growing up as a child. I remember one of my friends telling me that he never has anything important to tell his father. The two can’t easily hold a talk with each other. In fact, he professes, “I only talk to my father when we are quarrelling.” To him, it is not absurd. He grew up knowing that as a man, he was supposed to be tough.
Steve on the other hand was born a left handed guy. However, his late father, being a disciplinarian and conservative as he was, made sure that Steve used his ‘right’ hand instead.
“It was hard,” Steve confesses. The father even instructed the teachers at school to make sure Steve used his ‘right’ hand to write. At home, whenever Steve would pick food with his left hand, his father would bang that hand. Eventually, though painfully, Steve adjusted. He now writes with his ‘right’ hand though the left one is stronger. He can throw a stone far when he uses his left hand, but he is not good at writing with it.
23 year Isaac Abilu however has a different experience. The affection between him and his father is evident. He is ever communicating with him on almost a daily basis. In their communication, such kind words like ‘dear son’, ‘dear dad’ are not elusive. He attributes this to gender in the family structure. He has five sisters. He is the only boy and that is why his father banks so much affection on him.
I don’t exactly understand whether my childhood was hidden somewhere in the face of affection. In growing up under the roof of a conservative and disciplinarian guardian, I understand he wanted to curve us into better citizens of the world.
This would only happen in the face of stringent laws and observation of such laws to the letter. Perhaps, the reserved status which grew inside became demystified when I ventured into writing at the age of fifteen. It was at that age that I strongly felt I wanted to say something, which couldn’t come out exactly as I wanted.
Partial relief exuded into my selfhood when I took pen and paper and began to communicate my alien thoughts in a tangible form. Here, it seems, is where my life rotates.
Dad might have been right when he said we could make better teachers. Chinua Achebe once said that a writer is a teacher who needs to re-educate his people. Perhaps, he was wrong since it is not a matter of chalk and blackboard.
In growing up as a child, it hasn’t been an easy experience though. I wonder how things would be if I was close to my father from the outset.

Joshua Masinde.

The (un)lost dream of love

2008-04-29T09:46:00.000-07:00

I had a crush. It was sort of real. An authentic one, it was. I was the shy type (I have never been too close to any lady, apart from my mother. Moreover all my siblings save the second last, are boys).
Did I know it was all coming? It was impulsive instead. Initially, I only had dreams. This time round, it was real. I spotted her. She was real, found somewhere in the dreams I ever had. It was kind of sweet weirdness.
I couldn’t hold back and let the dream to have this babe kill me. Where do I begin? I was in dilemma. The mechanics and genes of the body got to work impulsively. We bumped into each other. It seemed natural.
I was overwhelmed. For lack of something concrete to say, the mechanics of the body would do the work.
Beauty lies in the beholder’s eye. She’s one of the most beautiful lady I ever set my eyes on. An angel. My perfect dream. She inspired numerous passionate, lovely and innocent feelings in me. She was my dream. But, how could I capture it? And keep it in my heart. I have had an attractive stint in the lonely backyards. Till when?
If I find the one to inspire my heart, I will give in to her. It came to pass. I had seen her, after crossing the Nile.
My dream. It will come to pass. I besiege you, Lord, thou art in heaven. She will be (sweet) mine forever.
She’s a lovable type. A smiling angel. Eyes sparkling after a stare into my eyes. For heavens sake, she’s looking into my heart. I need loving…everlasting loving. I need one to hold, to cherish, to love and to honour for the rest of my life.
One day, two days, a week, two weeks, still together. But, nothing much to get the wheels rolling. Tension abound. Reason? Most masculine eyes on her. I am a humble chap. I am a broke bloke. She’ s loaded. Perception sounds louder than doubt. I have not told her anything, though.
But, matters of the heart…lonely, lonely heart push me in a tight corner. I cannot take it any longer. I drop the bombshell…. “Dear Angel…..een. I liked you even before we knew each other. I am too lonely…. ‘be mine so we can’ share a future of love and happiness together…” Wow. The message is gone. It defied the cold night to reach her in the lovely warmth of her bed. Relief. But, tension. The response! I don’t know. It might turn on a new page. Will I suddenly fall from the sweet soft leaves of our infant relationship friendship to the cold ashes in the dustbin? Damn it. I must struggle on.
Risk taking is a better option. The bombshell had struck the heart I desired, like a sweet sword of flame. But, the effect was quite undesired. What the hell is this?
Next day, she sauntered toward me.
“I need some time with you.” Tension…
“Outside,” she hinted. Far from the crowd. A lecture is in the offing, I felt it coming. My heart beats sympathise with me. They turn into drum beats instead. I am off balance, but still admiring her ‘Angel’ frame. I wish I could have it for a mutual meal every day-a symbiotic one. It will come to pass. I perceive it.
The brief stint confuses me. I am thrown into a deep of ‘loneliness.’
My heart is stubborn on her. Will I easily let go? No. My much desired affiliation dream with her hangs in balance. I have not talked much to her neither has she to me. This pricks my conscience. It is funny how the secrete attraction inflicts emotional pain. But, the silence betokens something positive.
The only grand communication going on is between the eyes. I survive on optical nutrition. I can’t have enough of her though. Damn me. Her charm and beauty have bewitched me. I am going to run crazy. I am now careful not to run into another crush. Reason. I am damn sure there’s gonna be a comeback between us. Similarly, I don’t want to harbour more wounds to the ones I seem to ‘nurse.’
Instead, I will treat any lady with suspicion. I won’t easily date any of them. My Angel should come back. She will come back. I am waiting still in the coldness of loneliness and hope.
Come back. I still need. More than ever.

Yours truly......

Joshua Masinde

The Prospect of East African Political Federation encrypted in the myth of reality

2008-04-12T02:57:00.000-07:00

The fate of the East African Political Federation hangs in the confusion of “fears of the unknown rather than anything concrete.” Hon. Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu said on Friday 11th at a conference in Makerere University.
Despite the gains which have so far been accrued like the establishment of the Customs Union, confusion still looms on whether there should be a fast tracking of a Political Federation. Talks and consultations have been on-going in three East African countries on the way forward. Should there be a gradualist process which foresees the consultation and establishment of the Common Market, Monetary Union, Economic Federation and later Political Federation.
With the Customs Union protocol already in its early stages of implementation, the discussions on the Common market protocol are going on. The timeline for the consultations is two years. This process, as opposed to the Customs Union, which involved Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania will also bring on board Rwanda and Burundi which were newly admitted to the EAC.
The people of East Africa would wish to get to know how they’ll benefit from this integration process. Whereas it’s “still hard to get work permits in some member countries, borders should be opened,” Hon. Mugisha articulated.
While Hon Mugisha put forward the suggestion that all the integration processes should be done within the umbrella of a Political Federation, other people disprove this. Consultations carried out in Tanzania indicate that 25% of those consulted favour the fast tracking of a Political Federation. In Uganda and Kenya, 56% and 65% support the fast tracking process respectively.
Mr. Bweseli Akabway, who chaired the committee for the fast tracking process in Uganda, revealed the findings from Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania show an eagerness with which more than 70% of the populations consulted, wish to see the dawn of the East African Political federation.
Specific observations as political, economic and social recommendations were notably diverse in the three member countries.
“In Tanzania, people need to be sensitised about domestic land tenure system,” Akabway stated. Similarly, there is the need to build their (Tanzania’s) capacity to improve competitiveness in trade and industrial sector.
Recommendations from Uganda indicated the need for member countries to open up their labour market and representation in leadership. The issue of Buganda federation also needs to be addressed to remove the bottlenecks it is likely to project.
Recommendations from the people consulted in Kenya show the need for not only the drafting of a federal constitution, which should be adopted through referendum encompassing the people of East Africa, but also the procedure of universal suffrage and rotational voting for the federation president and the legislators.
On Economic recommendations, Mr. Akabway enumerated that “the people of East Africa would like to see more tangible benefits from the integration process.”
Social recommendations foresee the rigorous promotion of Kiswahili among member states, especially Uganda and harmonisation of the education curriculum from schools to university.
However, there is still debate on how this process should be conducted.
Mr. Brian Bwesigye from the School of Law expressed the need for a grass-roots based approach in the on-going consultations for the integration process. The leaders tend to betray. This explains why the prospects for the East African Federation were in 1977. It was due to the differences between the deceased presidents, Idi Amin of Uganda, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya.
“This elitism disease is killing us,” Mr Bwesigye decried. He dismissed particular confusion on the way forward for the integration process as a confusion of the selfish minded leaders. “Which to start first? Are we doing Political or Economic integration?”
There should be a clear cut process that involves religious, cultural and other grass-roots leaders as well. The process should be devolved from the elitist cocoon. But, in the face of some rigid leaders some of who have traversed the political divide from the 1960s, political will might pose a greater challenge than the little mayhems already foreseen.

Joshua Masinde.

Naipaul, not done with the pen yet

2008-03-21T03:31:00.000-07:00

When one hears of Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, popularly referred to as V. S. Naipaul, the thoughts of a man masked in controversy, criticism and racial chauvinism come to mind. He is as much controversial, sadly humorous, sharply satirical and conservative in his writings and discourses now as he was about five decades ago.

Having written a lot (and as per many critics, distastefully) about Africa and the third world, he still could not resist the temptation to make another pilgrimage to Africa (Uganda) and particularly visit the famed River Nile in Jinja. This, he did a day before honouring a visit to Makerere University, where he undertook a writing fellowship in 1966. Then, he rejected many honours, which kept boomeranging in different forms. Was it perhaps due to the gratification he beheld in the earlier scholarship he was awarded to study at Oxford university?

Nevertheless, in 1965, when the Farfield Foundation asked him to take up a fellowship, he obliged and went to Makerere University in Uganda. His reason for taking up the fellowship was too little out of the ordinary, not for the value he should have attached to it: he was having trouble writing a book. The fellowship gave him an opportunity to take a break from the depression he was having, have a look at Uganda and to write his book.

Later, he toured East Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Ivory Coast. He credits himself to have written a lot about these areas and the third world; writings he terms as the history of the vanquished.

During his early pilgrimage to Africa, he thought of writing a last book about the continent. But, as a writer, he felt the need to keep on writing.

"A writer does not have to write one book," he remarks.

But there’s always the mortal fear to which he attached his wish to write; "Where the next book (material) is coming from."

However, what he considers as bad and should be discouraged is lending oneself to the copy-cat syndrome. "If I could do that one too," a wish that most writers fantasise about inhibits creativity. The urge to wish to write as one’s favourite author is normal but should be avoided.

His sort of writing has drawn unprecedented criticism from different quarters of the globe. He doesn’t mind criticism, especially from such critics who dismiss him as unsympathetic and racist in his writing and utterances, the famed one of which he admitted not envisioning a monkey (sic) reading his books.

Like the proverbial ostrich that buried its head in the sand, he is indifferent to censure for one reason: he doesn’t write about the affairs of the heart but about the world. He finds it hard to deal with social writing, especially in line with manners, emotions, love. To him, "they don’t exist". Nonetheless, he insinuates that one doesn’t write about experiences alone, but also about situations and intuitions. He now considers writing a lot more.

His style of writing is considered unique and singular. The driving force for such unique style was neither a strategy nor a plan. It was instinctive and inherent. When he left university in 1954, he was desperate to get started. Humour was almost his character. He’d been worried but made jokes very easily. He could make jokes without worrying.

Later, as he continued writing, the humour required a lot of space. The offspring was Miguel Street, 1959. With its remarkable and unique characters, it presents the story of great ambitions that remain unfulfilled. It is penned in the first person narration.

In An Area of Darkness, a book that has similarly drawn considerable critique, he presents a stark condemnation of India, his land of lineage. He analyses it with considerable distaste and later with 'grudging affection'.

Despite the varied criticism, he fully accepts his books specifically because of the difficulties he faced in writing them, especially An Area of Darkness. The British have specifically lauded him for contributing to British literature, despite the cosmopolitan identity of his writings. This, he finds fulfilling and inspiring.

He is great he who has won the Nobel prize for Literature, but not V. S. Naipaul. He does not see himself as a hero. "If I do, I’d be extraordinarily foolish." In essence, the most important thing he would like to be remembered about is the wish to be known as a compassionate writer who wrote about the History of the oppressed.

Joshua Masinde

The sledge hammer

2008-03-15T02:37:00.000-07:00

End of the road?

Ever felt the vile emotional fix when your 'masterpiece' manuscript has been rejected? The pain that comes of it is often inexplicable. Muddled in emotional fury, incomprehensible to even the most serene feelings, you feel like the world has drowned on you and society has rejected you.

Rejection of a manuscript does not mean the work is condemned as worthless or a sham had it been let to go off the press. No. The emotional attachment is just too strong to make you think so.

Ever wished to confide your most pressing feelings to someone and (s)he refused to listen! That is how you feel when you receive that notification, 'We regret we are unable to consider publishing your manuscript... and some other bitter words thrown in here and there. More often, the manuscript is rejected without formal rejection slips or suggestion on how you could improve your work.

What a damn backward step!

Different publishers espouse specific genres which they would be more willing to assess and luckily for the up-coming author, consider it for publication, subject to the given corrections, which you will have to live up to.

Once the manuscript has been rejected, the author, just like the proverbial hunchback animal struggling to ascend a sharp hill, feels they have been consigned to the bondage of rejection. The bitter-sweet words that follow the rejection lines, 'good luck,' 'wish you the best in your publishing endeavours,' 'try other publishers' seem like an addition of a lethal insult to a wound. It's one of the never-ending miseries that cripple the poor chap, trying to struggle out of obscurity by having their masterpiece(s) published. Woe unto them, even celebrated witers like Chinua Achebe and V. S Naipaul and some of their ilk, had to wait a little longer, before their books could be published.

Joshua Masinde

Never as usual

2008-03-09T22:29:00.000-07:00

'It won't be business as usual...' In the face of political turmoil and civil instability, business is never as usual. Life's normalcy, often comes to a stanstill. Fear grips everyone from every point. Disorder is always the foot soldiers, training its hostility and defiance on poor chaps, caught on the run. The intensity of terror escalates like in no other period when peace reigned supreme.
Business is never as usual. Life is never the same. A whole new world of turmoil sets in like a blazing fire rolling into a bale of cotton.
Patriotic citizens face the ill fortune of being refugees in their own land. It is a sad history, which the vanquished never live to relive, in a better way.

And like William Butler Yeats put in his nostalgic poem

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the
world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of
innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are
full of passionate intensity.

There could least be other ways to describe this.

And in this, there could be a celebration of the history of the vanquished.

Joshua Masinde

Recollections of a turbulent mind (part II)

2008-03-06T05:15:00.000-08:00

It came a time when a friend thought it wise to resign from social reality. He concluded he'd be better off without the company of the numerous sadists who surrounded him. Any time they met to discuss issues, everyone of them expressed their prejudices aggressively, expecting to be given an ear. But, none was listening. Reason? They'd let their differences guide their way of reasoning.
Now that everyone was opposed to his stereotypes, which everyone else was churning out, he felt disillusioned. A sledgehammer of silence fell upon the poor chap. Silence was a weapon to keep his cool and his temper.
But, an individual belongs to society. That individual, who consigns themselves to an existential state, would be better off inexistent. But that we are human beings, so are we prejudiced. Settling the scores on a rational basis, unguided by uncontrolled emotions and sharp stereotypes, is cheaper than enacting a tragic scene.
The wise bury the hatchet. They dread to bear the straw that broke the camel's back.

Recollections of a turbulent mind (part I)

2008-03-01T03:02:00.000-08:00

I looked toward the East and, hell! There was no sunrise. The beautiful country was up in flames. Things had fallen apart. The centre was flames. Everybody felt the horrible pinch of the dirty game....

In a globalised world, human tragedy does not exist in isolation. No country, state or nation can claim to be in sole control of violence, bloodletting or genocide. As a member of the global community, intervention measures, many a time, serve as a convenient remedy to tragic events or situations that could otherwise turn tragic....

Human tragedy!? in a civilised world? It's something I never thought could happen just like that! It happens only in a nightmare.
...but there comes a time when the volcano of human emotions and fury erupts. Here's when reality is worse than fiction.
...such was the time... a time when the excesses of power inflamed the passions of the men on the streets, whose craving for change was long overdue.

Given long-standing frustration and disillusionment, there's always a way to vent it. The patient type would bury their heads in the sand and hope for better things...deo volente. The impatient change lovers will always find a way out at the most convenient time.
Such was the picture...

......indiscriminate bloodletting reigned supreme...
......there was weeping and great lamentation.....
......the earth became the theatre of the wretched....

Nevertheless, human tragedy is not perennial. There comes a time when the citizens would come to their senses, lay down their tools of destruction and violence and pull the curtains of peace to their consciences. They'd preach reconciliation and the need to co-exist once again as kindreds.....
........."And they will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against Nation, neither will they learn war anymore."

Joshua Masinde.

Who wouldn't wish to laugh?

2007-12-05T22:31:00.000-08:00

IT’S one of the most vital aspects of human beings, yet easily evasive. It’s part of human behaviour. More often, it occurs impulsively. Rarely will one think of its implications or why they do it. It is considered to be the best medicine. Laughter.

It’s said, unless it is sad laughter, or one which is graced by resignation or bitterness, it keeps you happy, young and healthy. If everyone discovered such a medicine that comes at no cost, laughter would be the order of every day.

What is laughter? What makes people laugh?

According to The New Oxford English Dictionary, 'Laugh' means: Make sounds or movements of the face and body that are the instinctive expressions of a lively amusement and sometimes of contempt and derision. 'Laughter' is 'the action or sound of laughing'.

Laughter can be equated to the opium of happiness and social creations. Three theories exist to explain the aspect of laughter.

The relief theory suggests that laughter occurs to relieve tension. The crack of a joke will yield to laughter. It’s hard to resist laughing at a nice joke, humorous occurrence or a funny issue.

Any attempt to suppress laughter that’s instigated by something one considers humorous mounts pressure and tension within the person. Laughter is an invaluable avenue to releasing such pressure.

The superiority theory points out that people laugh because they are in a higher position as opposed to the victim of the laughter: the one being laughed at. This might be a sign of mockery or ridicule. Most people who are propelled by the superiority theory to laugh are sadists. Often, their laughter is derived from black humour. This is a situation that, rather than evoking sympathy, evokes laughter.

The incongruity theory advances the view that people laugh at the opposite of what is expected or at some absurd situation. Definitely, one might expect an errant child to cry after being subjected to punishment. On the contrary, if such a child laughs after punishment, this might cause on to laugh.

Nevertheless, laughter is not tied down to the three theories. There are occasions when a person bursts out laughing hysterically for no reason. Another person might burst out laughing when in actual sense, they are supposed to cry.

Why do people laugh anyway?

Macharia Muriuki, a journalism student says that laughter is like a path towards impending communication between people.

"People laugh to set the tempo of communication," he says after succumbing to a few seconds of laughter. "When you laugh, you create rapport with someone. The person feels free to talk to you about anything."

From this point of view, laughter can be likened to the kola nut which is chewed in many West African cultures, individually or in a social setting (wikipedia.org). It was used as a gesture of peace, friendship and hospitality. It promotes social bonding between two or more people.

21 year old Scola points out that people laugh because it is natural. Since laughter is natural, it occurs spontaneously.

"People laugh because laughter is part of human nature," she remarks. "Sometimes, people laugh because others, especially those in the same social group laugh. So, laughter is contagious."

Deborah Nalongo, a librarian puts curtly, "It’s because of fun that people laugh." Something funny is able to elicit laughter.

However, laughter on the basis of something funny is relative. There are as many laughters as there are funny bits that evoke such laughters. What one considers funny might seem ordinary to another person.

Generally, most laughter does not follow jokes or what some people might regard funny. Most laughter occur impulsively. It’s not planned. It just happens without much consideration of how one should laugh, how long the laughter should last or what people would perceive of one who laughs in a weird way.

Prof. Austin Bukenya is known to encourage his students to laugh any time he teaches. Whenever he cracks jokes, some of which would be devoid of the ‘laughter material’ he’ll often tell them to laugh. After all, he has told them a funny story or joke and he expects them to laugh.

To many, this might sound inconsequential. On the contrary, it’s a powerful tool used to command attention in a persuasive mode. Students tend to be more attentive to instructors who create such a rapport like cracking jokes to get them to laugh.

Laughter is a self-defined medication. It’s an inexpensive remedy to stress, distress, contracted muscles, boredom and sickness.

William Fry (1971), Associate Professor at Stanford University acknowledges, "Laughter increases heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen consumption and works muscles in the face and stomach. Shortly after, these levels drop, providing a relaxation response… Laughter is an antidote to stress."

Notably, laughter relieves one of anger, fear, sadness and nervousness. Moreover, who wouldn’t wish to increase their intelligence and ability to process and retain information courtesy of laughter? Laughter is an element inherent in human beings. People who laugh a lot are said to be a happy lot.
Joshua Masinde.

Cold Drinks warning

2007-12-01T06:02:00.001-08:00

For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion.
Once this "sludge" reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster thanthe solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.

A serious note about heart attacks - You should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line. You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could survive.

KLN team & Agencies

The horror of insurgence

2007-11-24T23:51:00.000-08:00

The rebels struck again. It was sudden and unexpected. The temporary dwellings within the vicinity were shattered. The grass thatched huts were set ablaze. The residents lost most of their treasured belongings.

It was around midnight when the rebels came. Wailings of women and children prevailed the scene. Incessant shots of guns rend the air sharply. It was all a dramatic fray of terror and fear.

Yakubu took his three little boys and his expectant wife and rushed them through the darkness. His major concern was their safety. Though, his only daughter had been abducted by stray rebels, there was no use crying over spilt milk. He only contemplated how they would find their way to a safe hiding without confronting the rebels.

He hurried his wife and kids down the terrain to the jungle. He prayed earnestly to the God he knew to camouflage them from the vigilance, terror and defiance of the rebels.

Few months ago, when they struck again, they slit open the womb of the chief’s expectant wife. They forced the chief to consume the foetus. When he disrespected their orders, they struck a bullet into his head. It was terrible.

Many other displaced families joined them on the way. The horror was felt in their uneasy breathing and sobbing. Children's cries prevailed the atmosphere. Their peace had totally been disgruntled.

The night was haunted by the terror that ruined their lives.

Government troops had done very little to arrest the unrest. They too, feared the insurgents for they were not only inadequately equipped militarily, but they were also poorly paid. The rebels thus reigned supreme. They abducted many children and took them to fight for their cause. They killed those who attempted to escape. They took the little girls and and beflowered them.

The horrified families wound their way into the jungle. That’s where they would stay-with wild animals and birds till the day the rebels would be wiped from their lives.

The following day, the government troops emerged from their hiding place. Three military helicopters hovered over the jungle. A fourth helicopter roared before the rest. It belonged to a Humanitarian Organisation. At last, some hope was restored to the hearts of the dejected families.

As usual, they would be taken to stay in camps where there were no schools, no food, no houses and other vital necessities of life. It was a sad relief, though. They had no option. Their safety lay in the hands of the troops and the Humanitarian Organisation.

At the camp, they were met by more horrified faces of the victims of the rebel insurgence. ‘What were they thinking of?’ Peace would never be restored in their land. For more than two decades now, they have seen no other kind of fate apart from this which ate their lives.

Nevertheless, the camps offered some relief. Some families found their loved ones. Yakubu was a victim of such luck. A broad smile spread on his face when he caught sight of his only daughter. He knew she had been abducted. Fate had abducted her to safety. He embraced her gorgeously and waited to hear her story. His family had at last regained their peace after finding their loved one.

Joshua Masinde

Commonwealth Short Story Prize goes to Zambian

2007-11-21T07:25:00.000-08:00

The winner of the 2007 commonwealth short story competition has been announced. Ellen Banda-Aaku from Zambia was pronounced both the overall and regional winner (Africa) for her story, Sozi's Box. She takes home 2000 pounds.

Her winning entry was selected from more than two thousand submissions.

Twenty five other writers from across the Commonwealth have also won prizes in the 2007 competition.

The prize was established 11 years ago with the aim of increasing appreciation between different Commonwealth cultures. The competition is sponsored by the Commonwealth Foundation and administered by the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA).

EllenBanda-Aaku was, on Monday 19 Nov in Kampala and on Wednesday 21 Nov at Makerere University Main Hall, announced as the overall winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Competition by the CBA.

Sozi's Box, her winning entry, examines the themes of loss and disability as seen through the eyes of a child at her brother's funeral.

Ellen was born in the UK. She grew up and went to University in Zambia. She has BA in Public Administration and an MA in Finance and Social policy. Currently, she is doing an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Her children's book entitled, "Wandi's Little Voice", published by Macmillan UK, won the 2004 Macmillan Writers prize for Africa in the New Writer Award category. She was one of the panel judges for the 2006 Macmillan Writer's Prize for Africa competition.

Four regional winners are:
Catherine Palmer (New Zealand), Australia and the Pacific Region for "Bushwoman", Emily Pedder (UK), Europe for "Days Are Long", Hema S. Raman (India), Asia for "Where Do I Belong?", Sarah Totton (Canada), Canada and the Caribbean for "The Man With the Sea Horse head".

The winners of Highly Commended stories are:
Molara Wood (Nigeria) for "Trial By Water", Wame Molefhe (Botswana) for "Six Pack", Linda C. Saunders (South Africa) for "Never Put Your Hand in a Dog's Mouth", Eunice Tan (Australia) for "In Transit", Robert Carter (Australia) for "Heaven", Bruce Riddell (Australia) for "Do Not Disturb", David Campbell (Australia) for "Zuka's Gift", Paddy O'Reilly (Australia) for "The Passion Fruit", Ash Rehn (Australia) for "The Hook-Up", Ditta Sylvester (Jamaica) for "The Last Ride", Katherine Atkinson (St. Lucia) for "The Village Voice", Darryl Berger (Canada) for "Scissors", Stewart Boston (Canada) for "Melnyk Comes Home", Carin Makuz (Canada) for "Kick", Donna Tremblay (Canada) for "Leaving", Manasi Subramaniam (India) for "Arranged Marriage", Aniruddha Sen (India) for "A Win-Win Game", Ashwini Gowariker (India) for "A Good Night's Work", Rayika Choudri (Pakistan) for "Underneath the Sky", Faye Davies (UK) for "The Flying Carpet", Juliet O'Callaghan (UK) for "In Arms."

Women should boldly march into the hunting woods

2007-11-16T09:11:00.000-08:00

What do women really want? Do they want everything that the men have? Perhaps, it is true they admire and wish to have much of what the hoarse-voiced species have, save the elongated glands in between their counterparts’ legs. But, some would boldly wish to share in this prerogative.
The affirmative action is a typical example of women’s protracted urge to want to have what we men have. Let’s talk from a realistic point of view. The affirmative action was a little known animal until the time the women realised they could as well eat chicken like the male folks. It took them to Beijing just in pursuit of some of the copies of prerogative that men have.
There came the kimansulo. This was perhaps propelled by immoralistic instincts. It was a ‘negative’ step towards women deliverance movement. I don’t know nor care whether or not kimansulo still does exist.
Then there was one of the most daring moves towards feminine liberation. The outset of the vagina monologue comes to mind. What do we call this? Should the young ones grow up while knowing that vagina monologue is or was the sweet and honey with which to woo emancipation out of the woods? Then, where does our fate lie? As your reminder, the V collapsed empires. It buried and continues to bury careers at the wake of each day. Though, it could be the one of the most powerful tools that could be used to pave way for the success of the affirmative action, it seems to have been grounded already. I no longer hear rumours about the V monologue.
From a conservative’s point of view, most of such prospects are unrealistic. The affirmative action cannot be fully realised by staging such weird revolutions amongst our womenfolk every other day, be it in the August House, through activism etc. The revolution must come from the angle of love. The love revolution is a better option. And perhaps, as the women know, it is easily attainable through the man’s stomach (not the only avenue). Feed him well and he’ll give you the little space you’ve always yearned for. Love him like a child and he will lose his mind.
It might be hard for the conservative to give away such little freedom they have in the guise of affirmative action. But, it can be done in a strategic and gradual process by imparting the reason for liberty in their psyche.
From a liberalist point of view, for which I am, it is easy. Let’s make bows, arrows, spears, and machete for the women and sent them to the forest to hunt. Let them continue fighting for their rights. That is the initial step towards attaining the concepts of affirmative action. Isn’t that right? Let them have their pick from within the woods of freedom. That is where the struggle begins.
From the same point of view, I am yet to see a woman, real African lady, come to me boldly and emit the sweet and lovely venom: “I have a crush on you. I want to be your woman.” Or it could be more lethal or healthier when the assertion becomes bolder: “I want to marry you.” Perhaps, wait shall I. I hope I won’t be in bad mood. I pray the assertion won’t be in bad faith.
Since most men wish to be treated like kids, then who should do it? It is the pro-affirmative action activists. Let them treat their bearded partners like kids and they shall indeed gain access to the prerogatives they have envisaged for times historical. They will walk like their counterparts and there will be no problem with that.
On a ‘serious’ note now, for those on whose heads many cows have been paid, they should be courageous enough to return them. What a bold move to our women’s liberation movement that will be? We shall throw all care to the wind and play the same fiddle with them. The men folk will continue allowing them in drinking joints. They will let them sip the mental poison together as the children and the homes take care of themselves.
However, this will not really work. They can’t really have their cake and eat it at the same time. From time immemorial, our societies have borne patriarchal colours. But, it seems at the end of the day, women would wish to see to it that the society becomes matriarchal.
They have followed their men to the gym and are seriously earning strong muscles. When they come back home, they train blows on their men as if those are the best punching bags they could ever have.
Do we men really think we are strong? We lost the battle. Those who rule us are our women, not we men. Past media reports revealed that China’s Chongqing’s city plans to build a town dedicated to women at its Shuangqiao District. While in "Women's Town," men will have to obey their wives or girlfriends' orders, satisfy their every demand. If not, they should anticipate punishment without mercy.
The slogan "women are never wrong; men can never refuse their needs" will be put at the gate, to greet men as they enter. Any man who tries to argue and oppose this rule will be punished by kneeling on a hard board or washing plates for local restaurants.
According to the plan, justices and a court will be set up in the town to "lash" male tourists who do something to make women unhappy. For instance, if men can't quickly satisfy their partner's desire for a particular food or cosmetic, they may be sentenced to be lashed by the justice. The lash, however, is specially-made and described as "soft" enough not to hurt them. We men are already at their mercy.
That is not enough. Our women need to realise that they are already dominant. The first is that the masculine species desire them a lot. They bear insatiable thirst for these feminine species. So, if they run away, the bearded creatures become a miserable lot.
The women are the ‘dominant sex.’ They can endure long without men. There are cases of single mothers who have no problem with remaining the way they are. On the contrary, a bloke whose better half passes away will marry forthwith.
In another situation, if a bloke and a woman are subjected to similar hostile conditions like starvation, no water, no shelter and tough climatic conditions, the bloke will succumb to the harsh conditions first as opposed to the woman. Thanks to nature, the woman will still be alive and kicking to bury the bloke. Who’s stronger now?
The strength of a woman…. Shaggy sang the same... is the strength that most men overlook. Such strength is eminent in the likes of Wolfwitz saga, Clinton-Lewinsky saga, the Biblical Samson and Delilah etc.
Soon, the women folk have strapped themselves in the jalopy to seek for the political cake. They are ever asking for special seats in the August House. Let them go to the people and seek their mandate. Since they are ‘stronger’ than us, no silver platter goodies are available at the moment. Not anymore.

Joshua Masinde

Is this relationship for adventure or for convenience?

2007-11-12T08:09:00.000-08:00

A normal human being (man or woman) has their own perfect partner somewhere. It is the same reason why we were created. The saying, every dog has its own day, cannot be more correct.
But, since most of us are not prophets, we always more often envision short term prospects or indulgences that we feel will give a bit of colour to our life. This is common in the manner of how most relationships are conducted.
You might find a young lad or lady seriously soliciting for a relationship that (s)he knows won’t stand the test of time. They simply aim to express their commitment to a short term target while bearing in mind long term targets with someone they’ve perhaps never met or seen. They indulge in relationships of (in)convenience. At the back of their mind, they know it is not really necessary since their dream partner hangs somewhere in the paradise of their imagination.
It is for this reason that most of such culprits will solicit for ‘serious’ advice before they resort to commit in such short term relationships.
The most abused advice they are told is: ‘If you want to eat a pig (sorry to our Muslim brothers and sisters), pick the fattest one. Reason, if you are the ever-hungry type and there seems to be no other alternative meal for the rest of your life, you will crunch this one and one only.
What does this mean? In some cases, especially where the lad or lady can’t just stand the test of his or her desires, they are often told to hook the lovely type. They should hang out with one who suits their dream partner. Whenever the craving strikes, they quell it with such dream partner while knowing there will not be any regrets in case the lady conceives out of wedlock. Does this really make sense?
This is for that young man out there. You might be doing all sorts of crazy things behind the scenes, for which sleeping around is one of them. But, will you really account for and boldly assume responsibility for your actions when your dealings come to the broad daylight? Will you courageously take that madam that you have impregnated before your parents and claim that the growing seed in the womb is your making? Will you accept the responsibility without second thoughts or without pressure or force? On the contrary, will you be the Shaggy type: ‘it wasn’t me.’
Since you feel that the victim of your desires does not suit your taste after she becomes pregnant, you think it is none of your business. Then, if you can’t mind this business, it is illogical to indulge in such relationships of convenience.
If you know you aren’t ready to take responsibility of your secret mis-dealings, then don’t simply commit to short term relationships. Don’t simply be a betrayer to your partner, unborn baby, or some other actions you must have engineered.
If you can’t really persevere the flame, then marry. Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians asserts that if you burn with passion, it is fitting for you to marry. But, this reason should be accompanied by rational thinking. You could as well remain single for which most of you dread. If you can’t just like most of you are, you could have a healthy relationship that will build you for the future.
If you already made a mistake in the process of your short term relationship for convenience’s sake, don’t worry. Soldier on. Be proud that your pig is fat. Though you have already slipped, you will still have the haunt track you wherever you go or whatever you think. Keep it. Don’t go out looking for that other Mr. or Miss Right. It won’t just work out. Keep the one you started out with. You are the one who either used or misused that person. Don’t bury your head in deep waters.
Another bolder question comes into focus about indulging in an adventurous relationship for convenience’s sake. It encompasses short term gain, long term loss. It is as bold as it is. Such a phenomenon has mutated into the cross-generational sex. It is absurd. It is rather senseless if the young lad or lady allows herself or himself to be the material for which the recycling of old materials is conducted. It is so senseless for a lady or lad worth their beauty, tender age, charm and brain to go for someone as old as their uncle/aunt, father/mother or grandfather/grandmother for reasons that comply with their materialistic instincts. Old wine should not be put in new bottles. Neither should new wine be put in old wine skins. The Son of Man was very clear on this.
The older generations should be the caretakers of the younger generations. They should not look down at the young generations as consumable commodities. For sure, the young generations should be let to explore and discover each other. Such is the experience that the sugar daddies or sugar mummies have already undergone. It makes not sense when such creatures defy their common senses in order to vent their desires and lust for the young ones.
It is absurd to indulge in such short term relationships just for the sake of it: be it financial, convenience or for experience’s sake. It makes no sense. It is tantamount to consuming ones own offspring. Shame on such perpetrators. I highly condemn their transgressions.

Joshua Masinde

Is internet dating a myth to believe in?

2007-11-03T01:04:00.001-07:00

The fast-paced, busy and highly demanding lifestyles have altered much of the conventional order of dating. The conventional art and magic of dating is facing the axe of technology and the changing times.
Can you contend with the demystifying lose of beauty of words that characterised conventional dating and courtship? A young man would take time to compose the sweet love lullabies he never before knew. Armed with courage, confidence, and pride, he would waylay a lady on her way to the river. From there, he would use the magic of words to woo her to love him. Such was a fine art of creativity and imagination that thrived on mutual appeal and consent.
But, today is not yesterday. When the neo-technology reared its startling head into our lives, things have turned upside down. Well in Africa, we could be the adversely affected since we are always on the receiving end.
A mere click of the mouse will unleash numerous windows before you. It is your democracy to take your pick.
The allure of internet dating is not an elusive intoxication. It is compulsive and tempting at the same time. Often, you will find people of all ages trying out numerous dating sites. Some do this out of fun, others out of curiosity. Others are in it because they’d like to meet that Mr. or Ms. Right. As usual, there are those who use it as a money minting venture.
Credit goes to the creative and tireless minds that keep on designing numerous sites for the anonymous consumers. They come in handy: lovepot.com, friendfinder.com, letsdate.co.ca, penbuddies.com, passion.com, dating.com. The list is endless. Even different media outlets have joined the trade to give their consumers a taste of such type of dating. Flipping through the pages of newspapers, magazines just like clicking on the mouse for your ideal match, the catch-line will lay bare before you such anecdotes:
I am a 27 year old loving, caring, passionate Caucasian lady. I neither smoke nor drink. I’d like to get in touch with a man who possesses similar attributes with whom to share fun and the world ahead.
On such a by line, whether or not accompanied by a photo, the click of the mice will reign supreme. Guys will try their best to get in touch with such a prospective lover. However, most of them are out to enjoy a brief session of passion.
Tony, a student at MUK, will not let such a by-line to pass un-clicked. He seems to be obsessed with dating on the net. He’ll do anything to ensure he secures space in front of a computer in the cyber café to communicate with his net lovers. He believes in dating as many women as possible. If chance comes his way, he will get to meet some of them and have fun. That is what he has sacrificed much of his time to do.
Onex(pictured right), a student and a part time Literature teacher, is pessimistic about internet dating.
“You don’t know whom you date. You could date a devil worshiper and you will regret,” that is what has kept him off internet dating.
How effective and fulfilling is internet dating? More often, the myth of pessimism is always demystified when once upon a time total strangers get to see each other after dating on the net. Success stories will role of the tongues of the new love encounters who started it all on the net.
Such a success story from the likes of Alan on matchfinder.com.au could appeal to a lonely lad to try out their luck:
Thank you very much for your service. I have met a very lovely lady and she has agreed to be my girl-friend. So we have had some fantastic dates.
But, in most cases, those who date on the internet are usually geared towards romance with whichever match they’d like to date. It is hard to sustain such types of relationships especially after the first encounter. The two new ‘lovers’ are nervous to experience more of each after several more encounters. And, the relationship could be headed to the dogs when the goal of romance has been achieved.
Internet dating has a brand of its own risks. In the first place, you don’t know whom you are dating. It could be the most wanted criminal who would like to be your associate. It could be internet fraudsters who’d like to gain access to your bank account and empty it.
There are those ‘dates’ who would rather claim your life and keep theirs safely. The case of Raymond Merrill (www.wildxangel.com) is testimony to this. He is said to have the attractive attributes by a woman’s standards.
“He was financially well off, self-sufficient, good looking and ripe for the picking. So what went so horribly wrong? Raymond Merrill is dead. Drugged, Robbed and murdered for his money by his online lover and her real life boyfriend.”
However much internet dating seems to be a modern allure and to some, a better past time, it has its own risks involved. That is why, a warning or a precautionary note will always be availed for your consumption before you take a step to the tragedy. You will often be warned to meet in public with the stranger date of yours. You will be asked to inform your family members or close friend with whom you will hang out with and the venue. You should be suspicious of your date unless you don’t have to. Perhaps, don’t stay out late into the night. It might just be unhealthy for you.

Joshua Masinde

Revised Version: Uganda will burst with 130 million people by 2050

2007-09-11T22:48:00.000-07:00

September 11, 2007
TODAY'S PICK

Our population is anticipated to be 130 million by 2050. The ongoing debate on the current population growth rate of 3.2% has elicited mixed reactions. The President and some religious leaders have been heard encouraging parents to produce more children. A positive argument here is that this will translate into a wider market for goods and services. The President believes this.

However, this raises some questions. How will a population of 130 million people be taken care of? The current dependant population, which is 50.4% of the total population, is in itself enough burden. The population explosion as seen in the current growth rate forewarns an over-dependence burden on the incomes of the households and the government.

Households with bigger numbers of children to cater for will no doubt be relegated to more impoverishment. Their capacity to save and invest will be depleted due to the huge strain on their incomes. Heavy government expenditure on social needs like education, health care and social infrastructure will be overstretched, putting the national resources at a risk of rapid depletion.

With the 3.2% population growth, the Millennium Development Goals will be far from realisation. With 130 million people in 2050, how will the government provide and sustain Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education?

The current trend in economic development and growth shows that reduced population growth complements sustainable development. The developed countries with the most minimal or relatively negative population growth and sounding economies have their dependent population at about 25%. This reflects minimal dependency syndrome. So where is the logic of encouraging people to produce more children?

The government must reinforce education of the masses about family planning and economic empowerment of women. People driven laws and policies need to be made to set the highest number of children a family should have.

The President and religious leaders especially the Catholic Church, which opposes birth control, should stop encouraging parents to produce more children.

Joshua Masinde

ODM’s liberation agenda for the youth?

2007-09-08T07:11:00.000-07:00

ODM national treasurer Hon. Omingo Magara is a young turk to beat in South Mugirango constituency. He said this at Mitchel Hall in Makerere University on a Saturday evening on 8th. He was presenting a public lecture on ‘ Kenya at cross-roads’ to Kenyan students and ODM supporters at Makerere University, Kampala-Uganda.
He stated his unwavering commitment to the party and its major concern to integrate the youth in the country’s leadership.
His assertion can be founded way back in 2005 after the infamous plebiscite in which the pro-banana camp lost to the orange camp. He was approached by the powers that be to join its ranks. It was an offer worth grabbing. However, he declined, stating that he was in ODM to stay.
The MP attributed the bedrocks bedevilling the Kenyan youth on, “Lack of accountability, democracy and good governance.”
With the old guard still tightly clenched in leadership positions, the youth have remained as the wretched of the earth. He pointed out that he found it difficult to contest and eventually win the South Mugirango parliamentary seat in 2002. Because of the challenge-phobic, degrading and retrogressive status quo of old turks, for which his mentor represented, he almost lost his life. He was considered as a youth and therefore was expected to take a back seat from politics for a little longer.
The status quo, established and maintained by the old guard is allergic to facing challenge from the younger generation that has ventured into the political field.
“Most leadership (of the old guard) refused to accept desired change,” he said. “Their history is tainted. Minus power, they can’t manage it.”
“They must be plugged” from their stations by the youth who are the strong, committed and patient lot. “Till when are the youths going to wait? We’ve had elderly leaders but no tangible change.”
On the much publicised talk of 6% economic growth, he dismisses this as a hoax. Real economic development should be felt by the poor, which the 6% failed to address. The rich have instead grown richer. The poor, thanks to the ugly ghosts of Anglo-leasing, Goldenberg and other forms of corruption, have degenerated into deeper graves of poverty. No wonder, he decried that, “Corruption is a highly rewarding business (sic!). It has higher returns with zero risks involved. That explains why Kenya is 40 times behind the Asian tigers like South Korea in development. Incidentally, at independence, Kenya was South Korea’s contemporary on an economic development platform. It is such corruption that has lain a debt of Ksh. 780 billion, which the current generation and posterity will continue servicing.
While selling ODM’s agenda to the youth (read today’s leaders’), he urged them to go out and challenge the status quo whatever the circumstances. He proffers his own example as someone who defied all threats to fight for the South Mugirango seat in 2002. Despite being looked down upon by the opponents as a youth, he still emerged victorious.
The spirit of change in Kenya is ripe. It is time for the young people to get their fair share of leadership positions. There is no going back. No wonder, he noted that if a calf is being born, even when you tie it with a rope, it will still come out.
“Our future is today. We must grab it,” he added.
However, he warns, that such change from old guard to the youth won’t come that easily. He feels ashamed with the current whims of ‘Vijana na Kibaki’ (the youth for Kibaki). When it is eating time, it is ‘Wazee na Kibaki’ (the elderly with Kibaki). The tune turns sour ‘Vijana na Kibaki’ when it is time to lobby for support to enable them to make it back to power.
Hon. Magara urged the Kenyan electorate to use their leaders’ performance CVs as a voting measure.
“They should vote for ODM team, and not for individuals.” He reiterated that ODM is a team with a captain. This team is committed to let go and leave when their time comes. It is a team that wants to set a positive historical precedent to be emulated by future leaders. Such a team can’t stand with a black history to taint and haunt them unlike the predecessors.
He added that ODM as a team is steadfast to devolve power from state house. There will be no more going to the house on the hill to “beg for a district.”
ODM is also determined to see to it that women get into positions of leadership and business. Women are responsible and hardworking and should not be sidelined from the leadership arena. The party will empower the youth by formulating practical policies that will positively impact on them.
On another note, he discarded the perception that ODM lacks backing from Central Kenya.
“ODM is going to get votes from Central Kenya , especially from the youth.”
On a lighter level, he commended Kenyans for their patience.
“Kenyans are very patient people. God has heard us.”
The meeting, which ended at 11: 40 pm, was organised by ODM Makerere University Chapter.

Joshua Masinde

The essence of inspiration

2007-09-07T23:22:00.000-07:00

It is quite telling to notice the impact a preacher or priest exudes upon his congregation. The impact is always noticeable when the preacher brings himself into the position of calling upon the Holy Ghost to prevail upon the congregation. You might have the misconception the he and the Holy Spirit are long term comrades.

When his preaching is powered by spiritual enthusiasm, the impact it digs into the hearts of the congregation is always immense.

After the sermon, many hearts seem conspicuously transformed. Most of them are now ‘clean’ and the members of the congregation are ‘new creatures.’

More often, you hear talks of “I will never go over-boozing again” or “I will begin paying my tithe on a very strict notice.” One can even say, “I should aim at being a preacher like this pastor.” Many of these resolutions, however, usually go unfulfilled. They simply lose meaning after a few hours or after a day.

Come next Sunday, the preacher with his spiritual charisma instils spiritual inspiration into his congregation. As usual, they feel they are never the same again. They become the humblest of creatures, softest at hearts and most generous in offering.

To inspire somebody positively is a noble thing. The one who instils the inspiration becomes a potent figure. That is how leaders are made in many cases. They create their path towards the crown by exuding their charismatic impact through deed or speech.

If you are such a charismatic person, many people will look to you as a convenient propeller of their destiny. To lose such charisma does not call for any effort because it never lasts for long. If one loses it, it means someone more charismatic has risen in his or her place. His inspiration bears more impact to the people and is perceived as the right candidate to steer the people into the land of milk and honey.

How many times have you inspired somebody? You could inspire somebody who has an all-round negative attitude towards life to redefine such reflection and think positively. You could inspire a kid to work hard at school and achieve their childhood dream.

Lack of inspiration buries a dream that would otherwise come true! And, inspiration is just motivation or mental stimulation.

For a good reason, you could consider sitting back to reflect on how many people have felt your impact and stimulated a change in their life. How many of them have you inspired to undertake the noble task or innovation? How many of them have you inspired to come out of their idleness and realise that even 24 hours a day is insufficient for them? How many have you inspired to get the urge to take on writing, singing, dancing or even reading as their hobby?

Numerous talents only need the spark of an inspiration to activate them. With this, they’ll surely crawl out of the invisible to the tangible world. Such inspiration could otherwise create a fundamental landmark in someone’s life. The landmark could in turn propel the society into better heights than was hitherto. You could inspire someone and see what a noble thing you did!

Joshua Masinde

The little stumbling blocks for failing to commit: Who causes it all?

2007-09-06T22:21:00.000-07:00

Have you ever fallen in love? For what reason did you decide to do so? What was your optimal point of excitement? What was your greatest fear? I’ve in the past heard it said that, “I’d rather fall from a tree and break my back than fall in love and break the heart.” This might be the motive why most of the young people fear to commit themselves in a lasting relationship.
Although, love is known or said to be the strongest element that can break any desire to smithereens, most young people are always reluctant to make a permanent love commitment for fear of making mistakes. Such mistakes more often evolve into heartbreaks they don’t wish to harbour frequently. And just to show you how disastrous heartbreaks can be, show me someone who is heart broken and I will show you someone who is emotionally dead.
Many young men complain of this new generation of over-nagging femme fatales. In the face of cut throat competition for beauty and bid to create an impression, our dear lovely sisters always seem to forget that some of us are their broke brothers and can’t afford to make up to their abysmal demands. To mention but a few: make-up, bling bling, latest phone, airtime, chips, chicken and more chicken etc. Since a brother can’t deliver all these, the sugar daddy bug bites the sister. No choice? No commitment.
Perhaps, to balance the eco-relationship, the brother also decides to advertise for a sugar mummy who’s ready to provide for his financial needs in return for passion. Some might opt for the twilight zones. The end justifies the means: attachment of value to short term relationships. The young people indulge in such relationships with the aim to quell their passions. Their intentions are geared towards a sudden flight to genital experience. That’s all that seem to matter to them.
I have some friends who value short term relationships. They call them ‘friendlies’. One such guy is ever requesting for ‘friendly’ matches, be it at home or away as long as the cockerel returns home to sleep. He has had so many ‘friendlies’ and has inspired a few others to follow suit. They can’t just commit to one and only relationship that might bear value to them.
The players’ syndrome seems to have taken a notch in the minds of many guys. Most of such guys are out to hit and delete. It’s no longer hit and run. It does not matter whom they hit. Be it a stranger or an acquaintance. Be it a slut or a virgin. Their prospect of a one night stand will not make them commit. They will hit and delete today. Tomorrow they meet as total strangers.
This never bothers them at all until they realise they’ll never make do with a single partner. Most of them will still be bachelors and spinsters in their late thirties or forties. Since they’ve bonded their souls with multiple sexual partners, they’ll never seem satisfied with one partner.
The prospect of education and more education will earn them a place in the ‘non-commitment club’. Many young people have opted to bury their heads in education. They seem to have lost sight of their social-cultural obligations, especially one that pertains to family life. This is personal choice. I have no objection to it after all, democracy is still a sweet sounding word.
Freelance commitments have not spared most others yet. But, is this especially common with our sisters? She will have a boyfriend(s) whom she keeps. On the other hand (in secrecy), she entertains a working class guy with whom she has a freelance indulgence. She can’t risk losing her boyfriend, for her future’s sake. She can’t risk losing her working guy for her financial demand’s sake. This double playing is as dangerous as a double edged sword. Breaking two hearts at the same time equals tantalising two sound minds. And a mind that thinks not right is dangerous to its owner.
Is it worth it? In the face of HIV/AIDS and still playing dangerous cards with our lives. Potential freelance partners are many, many say. But what is beneath many of them might scare your blood to freeze if you cared to know. If you care to live, don't fear to commit. The earlier generations have done so and have come a long way. Commitment, love, trust, faithfulness and knowledge are better remedies to the crises of our generations.

Joshua Masinde

Laziness, I Scorn Thee

2007-09-05T02:28:00.000-07:00

Taking important things for granted is a sign of laziness. Assumption on serious issues is a show of laziness. Procrastination too, passes for laziness.

I have experience that many lecturers wish their students to pass. Some of them will try to make things easy to pave way for possible success of most of their students. They will come to the lecture room and bore you (sic) with their lectures. But, they know where the recipe of the tests and exams will originate from. Often times, they will give you an assignment. It is up to you to do it or leave it. They don't explicitly tell whether it is gradable or not. Some will but you will not care much.

"Do your part," they will tell you severally. "Do your research." And, for your information, some will allege that it is a crime for lecturers to give notes. Their work is to give you tips. Whether or not you like it, they will drag you into reading what they want you to read. If you don’t, that is part of the chronic laziness that yields half baked graduates. They will give you a test and tell you to watch out.

"I will recycle some of the questions in the end of semester exam," one will say on one or two occasions. It is up to you to take it or leave it. Leave it to the credit of your laziness. Take for granted the various research topics (s)he has asked you to undertake. This is just a honey pot of success. But, you will not put these bona fide tips in mind They will give you a coursework. If you fail en masse, one or two consider a make up for you.

"Fail it at your own risk... Blame yourself if you get a retake," one of them confided in us in one of his lectures.

"If you get a retake and it happens that you are in my class next academic year, you will have a hard time. I want all of you to pass."

You take his talk for granted. You procrastinate the research work and assignment (s)he gave you. You assume you will pass since (s)he has already tipped you on the possible areas of examination. This is a time to relax. You wait to concentrate and read during the last two weeks prior to the exam. Come that time, you have forgotten everything you thought was useful for your success story. Fellow course mates have come up with their version of possible questions and exam areas.

When the day of reckoning finally comes, you open the examination paper. The first question is an exact replica of the coursework he gave you. And, it is worth 40 marks. You try hard to remember his tips but? But, a frown takes charge of your forehead. Ripples of blood(sic) ensue on your brow. You set onto writing nothing vital on the blank page. Whom do you blame?

"Laziness, I condemn thee."

Joshua Masinde

Campus Law Of Common Sense

2007-08-22T09:03:00.000-07:00

There is a natural law here in campus. The law executes itself without the need for a custodian. This law is embedded in the mind and works in alliance with the law of conscience. This is the law of common sense. Some of the most conspicuous signs one could encounter while moving around campus was, 'Use Your Common Sense. Do Not Litre.' This law is applicable in other numerous situations. There are times when it needs reminding that one should use ones common sense. But on various other occasions, this law will come into play intrinsically.

One of the commonest scenes you will come across in high school is outright display of ruthlessness, whenever the situation calls for it. One area which is always haunted by incivility (common nonsense) is the Dining Hall. Leave alone the play ground on sports days when rival teams are playing. An excuse can always be availed at the display of hooliganism whenever the hosts attack the rival team after losing in a match.

In the DH, this cannot be easily excused. This is the area where the concept of survival for the fittest suits when a student in the senior class endeavours to get a lion's share of the meal at the earliest opportunity. He always has room to come for a second share before a form one misses food, right when he is getting the second or third share.

The cafeteria system is merely a hissing snake that does not poison. It dos not favourably apply in the wake of the senior students, who under the scapegoat of a lot of work, and exams around the corner, will jump queue. Nonetheless, this applies suitably in campus. It is absurd and rather weird to notice a mature student, with enough beards to earn maximum respect, jump over tables to get to the serving table before the rest. This is despite his coming to the mess thirty minutes before the rest. The law of first come first serve does apply here.

In circumstances of feuds, the high scholars will most likely arbitrate issues with the exchange of blows. However, this would not end there. Revenge would always be reserved for another day.

It looks funny for campus students to engage in a brawl in the wake of an argument. However much one is annoyed, you can't easily expect a fight to ensue. There will always be talks of, "You are a grown up... We are intellectuals... You should behave like one... We should behave like diplomats." They create intellectual scenes of brains at fight. Whoever wins becomes a celeb for a few seconds. The law of common sense strongly condemns fighting. Even the ones who do not wholly trust this law will be reluctant to engage in a fight. It is not a question of muscular might determines right.

If anyone engaged in a fight, they would be assured of losing their place at the university. It is just unsafe to fight within campus gates. Perhaps, this can be tolerated in the pubs! But be warned. The law will always be on your neck.

Joshua Masinde

Cultivating reading culture is key to reviving passion and interest for Literature

2007-06-29T00:09:00.000-07:00

There is this question, which has severally been asked, in agony. Why is literature lessening in popularity as a subject for students? In my A-level, I happened to come from a class of more than 90 Arts students. Out of this, only about 15 of us had Literature in our combination. While subjects like History, Geography, Economics and Divinity boasted of colossal numbers, mostly over 80 students, Literature class, as has always been self-made History in the school, reeked from scarcity of students. Despite this, we only had one consistent teacher to handle us on most of the books, including poetry. A few others were hired, but the administration blamed the situation on the dearth of Literature teachers.

From my experience at the time, Literature students used to be held in high esteem as they were thought to have one of the heaviest reading schedules. The argument of many other students on why they could not take Literature is because of the numerous books, some of which, like Jane Eyre and The Grapes of Wrath were too voluminous. The Beautiful Ones Are Not yet Born was termed, even by Literature students themselves as complex and myriad of imagery and symbolism. Poetry on the other hand is regarded as complex. They fail to understand that reading does not merely require passion. It requires a positive attitude towards whatever genre one wants to read. The fact that many students have a negative attitude towards Literature, which though they admire, they fear to take on as part of their subject combination.

Reading culture is lacking in this case. This should begin right from the time child begins to read. While I was still in primary, reading used to be a routine, there was time, purely dedicated to reading. The school would buy the necessary story (some of the most popular ones used to be the Moses Series, by Barbara Kimenye, an East African Author) books and make it a point that each pupil has something to read, besides the usual textbooks. I hardly notice the same culture in progress nowadays.

This is what has continued to make Literature a less popular subject by the wake of everyday. Reading culture has not been cultivated from the elementary stage of schooling. The pupils and students are not encouraged to read. They over dwell on textbook reading, and in most cases, they rely on mere 'spoon feeding' geared solely to excelling. That is why the universities and other institutions of higher learning keep receiving a bunch of half-baked high school students who can hardly do research on their own. For their 'good' grades, they get matriculated to the institutions of higher learning, but can hardly construct a sentence. Most of them are heavily handicapped by mother tongue pronunciation of English.

For the lack of reading, the children grow up knowing it is not a big deal to read story books or literature genres. It is a big deal! No wonder, in the 1960's Taban Lo Liyong' decried that East Africa is a literary desert. This ‘desert’ does not grow from nowhere. It begins with the lose of interest in reading. This trend needs to change once and for all. The education system should first and foremost encourage the reading culture amongst the students. Students should be encouraged to take up Literature en masse. More teachers need be trained to specialise in teaching Literature. More genres especially by local authors should be emphasised in order to revive the spirit and passion in the subject.

Joshua Masinde

Economic case of defilement is mere juvenile prostitution

2007-06-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

'Defilement commercialised’ is a thorn in the flesh of good morals. The story, carried out in the Daily Monitor, 27th June, shows how our society is becoming a man eat offspring society. It’s an abuse of fundamental human rights, in this case, the rights of the girl child being used as a commodity of promiscuity for money. Why should guardians or whatever parties involved, use their young girls as investment in juvenile prostitution? Is it a failure on the part of the laws, law enforcers, the guardians of such innocent victims or lack of laws to curb this trend once and for all?

Definitely, this is a failure, first on the part of the guardians who would rather get cash out of the defiler other than take the matter beyond their irrational heads. Such guardians have lost both morals and concern for their children. They have adorned the garb of greed and ignorance. However greedy or hungry a dog is, it cannot feast on its offspring. But, in the face of a civilised society, defilers are getting away with it. The defiled remain in the hands of fate, nursing their trauma and demoralised innocence. In most cases, they live which such trauma into their adulthood and this affects their relationship with the opposite gender.

For defilement to take on such a commercialised course, the guardians and the defilers, just like entrepreneurs, take risks and seem to engage in healthy business. They bury their heads in the sand to the penalty that defilement carries, ‘sentence to death’ verses the lucrative part of defilement: some cash to shove the defiler into freedom. The defiler gets away with it regardless the number of minors he defiles.

It might be the case of morals becoming so cheap that they can be sleazed with a little money.

Some of the legislatures’ argument on enabling easier conditions for bail to decongest overcrowded courts and prison systems is irrational. It is merely used as a scapegoat to condone ‘commercialisation of defilement.’ Such escapist approaches in dealing with the issue account for the acceleration in defilement and rape cases reported. Any sound minded person cannot even give this consideration a thought other than dismissing it for sadism. If not, just like the law on adultery which was scrapped, the law on defilement might also be headed for the same fate.

Stiffer penalties should be enforced and executed by the courts of law. However big the number of defilers is, they all need to face true justice that reflects their offences. In any case, there is big enough land for construction of prisons to accommodate the defilers. But, if rational heads together with the laws are buried in the sand, defilement and rape cases will continue to thrive. It will even be economically than criminally sounding and viable.

Joshua Masinde

Challenges of Current Population Upswing

2007-06-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

'Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth…” seems to have been taken very seriously as Ugandan population is estimated to be at 30.9 million. The United Nations Population Fund report in the New Vision on the 27th June, got me thinking how fertile the Ugandan population is. The said 7.1 births per woman is an explosive figure in a contemporary society. Though, this is a good sign of a healthy population, some issues need be addressed.

How will an estimated population of 130 million people by the year 2030 be taken care of? The dependent population, which accounts for the 50.4% of the total population is in itself a dependency burden. The population explosion as seen in the current growth rate of 3.6%, the world’s second largest after Burundi's 3.7%, will yield over-dependence burden on the economic muscle of the households and the government. The land, natural resources, infrastructure, social institutions like schools and hospitals will surely reek from the overweight of over-dependence and exploitation by the colossal population.

Households with bigger numbers of children cater for will no doubt be relegated to more impoverished status. Their capacity to save and invest will be constrained due to over-strain on their incomes. Heavy government expenditure on the needs of its colossal population, for instance, education, health care, infrastructure and security is limited. This puts the national resources at the risk of quick depletion, with the numerous needs of the population still unmet. The government capacity to save and invest in the economy is also hampered.

With the 3.6% population growth, the Millennium Development Goals will be far from reach. The immense needs of the big population become a pipe dream on which our development aspirations face their death.

With the population of 130 million people at 2030, how is the government going to provide and sustain the Universal Primary Education and the Universal Secondary Education?

The current and obvious trend in economic development and growth shows that reduced population growth complements sustainable development. The developed countries boast of the most minimal or relatively negative population growth and sounding economies. The dependent population is about 25% of the total population. The economically active and productive population constitutes the largest portion of the population. This reflects minimal dependency syndrome.

In order to address the challenges of population upswing, the government needs to reinforce mechanisms like education of the masses on the importance of population regulation, education and economic empowerment of women. People driven laws and policies need be formulated to set the maximum number of children a family should have. Raising the minimum matrimony age for girls from sixteen should be considered. Family planning methods should be encouraged. Religious leaders should have a stake in this in the case of Catholicism which does not condone birth control methods. The high costs incurred in family planning should be addressed. Above all, cultural practices like polygamy should be discouraged.

With all these in place, come 2030, the Ugandan population might still be 31 million rather than the projected 130 million!

Joshua Masinde

Burying our heads in the sand

2007-06-23T08:34:00.000-07:00

While watching "Miss HIV", a documentary on HIV prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa, I felt sympathetic. It's not for the reason that the scourge is at its best to inflict its wrath on our generations. My sympathy arose from the colossal exit of my fellow campusers from the auditorium where the documentary was being shown.

In this era of HIV AIDS, it is sad many students fear to know the truth about the scourge. This rules out their capacity to be better equipped to take on the challenge in the fight the AIDS scourge.

I stayed put. In mind, there lay my sympathy as the fellows, either pricked by the reality on the ground or afraid to face the grim reality passed on to them, marched out like a flock of sheep. It is universal truth that knowledge is power. The documentary, which highlighted HIV AIDS as a crisis to our existence, should have been regarded as the best of opportunities to show-case our yearning for more knowledge on how to fight this scourge. No wonder, it is common knowledge that a large number of campus students are victims of the scourge. They live in fear...afraid of the reality before themselves. No wonder, many more are falling prey to the scourge and the numbers are soaring each day.

This arises from ignorance and lack of knowledge. In the library of Books, God says that 'My people' perish for lack of knowledge.

During my orientation days as a fresher, the head of our department disclosed that most of us had come to campus with fresh blood. But, by the end of our course, more than 40% of us will certainly be HIV+. Many students in campus dread the disclosure of such knowledge about HIV AIDS to them. In addition, a majority of them end up falling victims courtesy of their ignorance.

It is a pity that some of us will never live for long to enjoy the fruits of our sweat. If we shall be lucky enough to be settled down in matrimony, kids coming along, it is certain that those kids might never embrace the chance to live under our guard. It is not a dream to find the young ones being taken care of by the old generation. The parents, who sired such innocent kids will for the lack of knowledge, perhaps have perished. The kids would be lucky to live under their grandparents' care.

My sympathy lies herein my heart still. However, there is a long way to go. The reality is on the ground. It helps a lot for knowledge seekers to stay put and absorb the knowledge passed onto them. It is sad for them to flock out en masse with the idea that they are escaping bitter reality. The days when we buried our heads in the sand are long gone. Such are times when we showed reality that we can stand the test of fear and let the enemy come in whatever form. Let the enemy come. We shall be well prepared. Assuredly, the so-called HIV AIDS enemy will fling to seven directions.

Joshua Masinde

Trends in the electronic age

2007-06-23T08:32:00.000-07:00

The rate at which our world has gone into the electronic age (e-age), is eyebrow raising. The slow times are gradually demystifying out of the way. Life is now fast paced. No wonder, the 24 hours we are blessed for a day seem never enough for our never-ending multiple tasks.

The e-age has unveiled the trend of curiosity and detailed scrutiny into issues and events. Most of the e-age experts use it to rediscover both the past and to predict the future. In the good old days, most fellows explored their past glories, gloomy occasions and events through story-telling.

The future was predicted upon the observation of certain events, weather patterns and certain environmental trends. For instance, the sight of clouds in the high atmosphere or the mass migration of birds from one end of the world to the other denoted that rain would come. This was an invaluable art of indigenous weather forecast, which has sunk into the past. The e-age has phased it out of the way. Now, what can a mass of fog in the high atmosphere suggest in this e-age but massive pollution that exist in our environment?

The e-age presents people with the art of self-discovery. Despite the fact that it has opened the accounts of people’s life to the public in a wide sphere, it has turned the world into a tiny village of myriad complexities.

Coming to think of it, this trend is irreversible. No matter how much tears we shed or how many wars we engage in, to alleviate the effects of the e-age, the water has already flowed under the bridge. It is positive to note that some people can monitor their homes from thousands of miles away. Courtesy of internet search engines like Google Earth and Yahoo, they are updated by each second on what is going on in their homes, compounds et al.

Some spies or detectives can monitor ones’ home and private life without ones’ knowledge. They intrude on the inalienable right to privacy since they are crafting a living out of it, or are up to something sinister.

Nowadays, whenever examination results are released, one thing that someone who knows how to take advantage of the e-age can do is to download the results for their beholding. There are the particular ones whose impulse would propel them to want to know how their friend or foe performed. In the case their foe, if the results are damn awful, they will feel happy and spread the tidings. This is unethical since such should be a private issue.

This is something that some ill-intentioned fellows might use to dig in the back of those guys they have beef with. In the long run, you don’t even know who is losing out. This makes me wonder, but had our good old past been with us, we could have advanced in a very unique perspective. The histo-cultural twists and turns of fate instilled a sense of fear, morals and conviction in the minds of the people of the time. The heritage was a boost to their peaceful co-existence. But that we have let that heritage pass by, the centre can now not hold and things have fallen apart.

Joshua Masinde

Is Uganda's creative writing an endangered species?

2007-06-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

For creative writing to undergo exponential growth in Uganda, motivation is key to this. Austin Ejiet, the author of Aida, Hurray for Somo and other stories and a seasoned columnist with the Daily Monitor points out in a rather dispassionate manner. His sombre mood reflects the disheartening state of creative writing in Uganda. He seems rather displeased with this situation.
“Creative writing is an endangered species in Uganda.” He attributes this grave situation to lack of incentives like prizes allotted to creative works to spur many people to venture into creative writing.

He credits Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s literary growth to the international sphere because of the motivation that spurred him into serious creative writing.

“Ngugi wrote Weep Not Child while he was in North Court Hall.” (Currently, Nsibirwa Hall, at Makerere University). The purpose for writing the novel was “to win the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature,” Ejiet points out. “He won it and that is why he didn’t stop writing.” He notes that Uganda has a poor History of rewarding creative writers. Musicians get better rewards and that is why most of them continue singing and live off music.

The government should come up with incentives to recognise creative works. Corporate like the MTN, Celtel and Mango should also consider setting aside rewards to recognise some of the best creative works in Uganda.

The aspect of survival has also been unfavourable to the growth of creative writing in Uganda. Most people are too busy figuring out ways of surviving rather than sitting down to write say, a poem. He sights his own example when he had a 25-year teaching stint at Makerere University.

He would start work at 8 pm and 5 pm. To him, that was too exhaustive to create any room for creative writing. The 25 years were kind of wasted in terms of his creative output.

The publishing industries also play a role in foreseeing the dying spirit of creative writing. Ninety percent of the proceeds from any creative works go to the publisher, while the author takes away a meagre ten percent.

The lack of a writers’ council or a national writers’ association has similarly foreseen a major slump in creative writing in Uganda. Were there such associations, they would practically encourage the growth of creative writing talent and support such talent to crawl out of the woods into the light of the world. They would act as the mouthpiece of the creative writers in major aspects of their ventures.

Ejiet also sights out the visual arts as a major competitor to creative writing. In the contemporary society, many people are comfortable watching pornography than sitting down to read a 500-page book.

Nevertheless, “creative writing is not a dead force in Uganda.” While he was the head of the Literature Department at Makerere University, he designed a creative writing course in 1991, though it never survived to date. Creative writing, though, has given him name recognition. The name recognition helped him gain some money sent from Japan to honour his creative writing zeal.

“The rewards do not come in ones lifetime,” he says.

He says there has been a concerted and painful progress in African writing. However, much of such writing has been the copycat of the Achebe, p’Bitek, Soyinka and Ngugi classics.

“Creative writers should come up with new and appealing genres to set a unique system of creative works. Most of the earlier African writing dwelt intensively on colonialism. This has been overtaken by events.

“Creative writing is different from writing a historical piece. In creative writing, especially on current issues, one should endeavour to keep in touch with current events. A short story would do better here.” It takes a leisurely pace, a day or a week to write a short story unlike a novel, which takes a long time, even five years!

He gives an example of Nuruddin Farah. His writing focussed on Said Barre and his tyranny while he was Somali president.

“Despite being a very bright fellow, he has nothing to say because Barre is no more.” The events during Barre’s tyrannical regime were overtaken by History.

“If you want to write a novel, look at issues in the fullness of events.”

There is so much to write about, Ejiet hints. “Life is the raw material for all literature.” That explains why most of his writings especially the short stories focus on the varied situations and absurdities in life. He employs satire to unveil the injustices in everyday life. “You can write about the most sacrilegious thing and get away with it.

Not all is lost, though. He still nurses his disappointment on the desperate situation of the Ugandan creative works, which do not retain a hold as set books in the syllabus.

“Why do they keep recycling Western classics?” There are good published writers in Uganda. Some of them have ten titles to their name but none of their books is a set book. He looks forward to the day when Ugandan creative works will be given uniform importance as the Western creative works.

Joshua Masinde

Young Enterpreneurs

2007-06-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

I am amused at the level of expertise some of my fellow campusers can exhibit when it comes to innovation and creativity. There is this fellow who has mastered the art of entrepreneurship. I personally have a long-term dream to be a successful entrepreneur but I do not know exactly what I can lay my hands on and be successful as such.

I could not even initially think which kind of business this guy had in mind. I thought he would start up a small kiosk or a video shop for that matter. I thought of this since a course mate has opted to be a part time barber. I don't feel his business will survive the wave of a clique of friends who usually come for free shaves. Has shaved my hair twice free of charge.

That aside, Mr. Desire, the young entrepreneur am talking about has set up, not a small kiosk, but a website (http://www.urdesire.com/). Courtesy of some miserable tycoons in town, he has set up the website in order to facilitate easy access to campus babes. There has been an exponential demand and desire for campus babes by some affluent sugar daddies in town. The only setback to them is they have found it difficult to access their prospective clients.

The photos and addresses of the campus babes willing to have a share of the affluence of the tycoons will be posted on the website.

The sugar daddies have pooled a lot of money for the maintenance of the website. They will also facilitate its launch as soon as everything is put in order.

This entrepreneurship venture has inspired me a great deal. I think I should tread an entrepreneurship path in order to earn recognition and a fat wallet. I am now contemplating seriously of creating another personal web-blog (not a website because I don't know when I will afford it) where sugar mummies can hook up campus boys!

Joshua Masinde,

Appeared in Campo Vibe (BUZZ MAGAZINE, SN 27/5/07)

Prejudices and Divides

2007-06-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

The traditional ulcer that lies beneath our diverse differences is labelled out in prejudice. Though, it is characteristic of every society at any given time, it seems to have deepened its existence within us. This was a creation of nature but we complicated its essence and attached a negative perspective to such differences.

We were once born into this world naked and innocent, but our society gave us clothes and taught us wicked ways. The innocence we were born with was stronger than any social, political and economic demarcation.

As we grew up, the process of socialisation opened our eyes wide to the reality of prejudices and divides we live with. A turn about ourselves brought into sight a society deeply cut into segments. We could not resist to assimilate such lesser values since a precedent had already been set before us.

In this Pearl of Africa, just like in most other African countries, deeply rooted cases of ethnicity and separitism are still existant. They span from the political heights to the cultural circles. Cultural and ethnic groups treat each other with suspicion. One group believes they are more significant than their brothers and sisters elsewhere. And so, they think their identity will be more pronounced if they are apportioned a federation to propel their destiny. That is pure fodder for more divides and prejudices.

Lecturer Dixon Kamukama, while presenting a lecture on 'The Ethnic Factor in our Governance and Development in Uganda and the Way Forward' noted: 'There is an unofficial negative attitude towards certain sections of our community in Uganda .' Everywhere you turn, you are met by an eye of suspicion and mistrust. This emanates from the attitude ‘we’ perceive towards certain ethno-cultural orientations. He further noted that '...if these are not tamed (they) could lead one to having a negative attitude or become intolerant to others or have prejudice.

The tradional North-South divide breaks the ranks of such prejudice that has become a norm within us. Those from the South of our pearl of Africa think they are blessed with fertile land, peace, education et al and are different from their ‘less’ fortunate brohters and sisters in the North. This brings about a whole basement of animosity, unrest and political severence.

It was about time we redifined our differences and made use of such privilege for the sake of our wellbeing. Our brotherliness is deeply rooted where we consider to exist diveristy and differences. We are one people. There is more to our differences than the mere prejudices and divides we attach to them. In fact, the world would be a dull place if such differences never existed at all.

The basic thing is to use our rational mind to harmonise our existence with one another. Just imagine having the Pearl of Africa devoid of sharp prejudices and divisions, where would we be today?

Joshua Masinde,
seejmasinde@yahoo.com

A commet on Salim Lone's commentary, 'Beheadings in Kenya much more than security threats' (DN27thMay07)

2007-05-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

Hello Mr. Salim Lone! That is a remarkable story! I think the government, especially the security minister is kind of 'delaying' to deal with them since they happen to exist in a homogenous socio-political and cultural setting. This is an issue they need to address with acute intolerence.

I think the blame game between the security minister (executive) and the judiciary is a sort of scapegoat that offers a better and more fertile nursery bed for the growth of 'Mungiki' into a tyrannical empire within a lawful government. If they are allowed to advance their terror, archaic persecutions of innocent Kenyans, they will gain the mentality complex that they can even execute their terror on the leaders. After the innocent man on the street, who next?

With time (if they are allowed to 'grow') they will tend be more organised with complex networks and will be bleeding hungry to lead a nation. But, how can this come to pass, they will feel so superior as to attempt to stage a rebellion against the powers that be.

Mr. Salim, I think you should tell them how rebel groups, some of which have led to collapsed governments by taking power themselves, can be formented! This situation should be contained without fear or favour.

Good day

JM.

Torn Between Hostilities

2007-05-25T00:01:00.001-07:00

I witnessed the case of the fall out between a boda boda man with his wife, who had stayed out of the home for three days without permission. She had not even bothered to go back home and breast-feed their one-year-old toddler. This prompted the man to put his walk of life aside so he could take care of the toddler and his seven-year-old son.

When his wife went back home, he told her to return where she had been to.

“I’ve come to breast-feed my baby,” the woman said. She was not even bothered by her husband’s seriousness.

“After three days?” Untold dismay could be read on the man’s face. “After three days; then you remember to come and breast-feed your baby? Return to wherever place you’ve come from.”

The woman, determined not to yield to her husband’s threats went into the house to pick up the wailing baby. The irate husband pursued her to the house to teach her a lesson. All of a sudden, there came out the woman’s shrill cry. Some struggles ensued. After some time, the woman sped out of the house while holding the baby tightly in her bosom. The two were weeping loudly.

Their ten-year-old son, who had just come from school, arrived in time to witness the on-going curfew between his father and mother.

“Bring the child and return where you came from,” the man hollered insistently as he drew towards her in haste. He caught her and punched her in the face. Succeeding punches landed on the little toddler whom the woman had resolved to use as her shield.

“How can you stay out for three days without my knowledge unless you don’t want to care for the children? Unless you are a slut!” the man continued exuding his venom. He landed a grip on the toddler and snatched her from the mother. But for the mother’s speedy kneeling, the toddler could have landed head-on to the ground. The man held the toddler by the arm while with his other hand, continued administering his justice on the woman.

A few on lookers urged the woman to run for her life. She did. She took hold of their ten-year-old son and sought for refuge from her fuming husband. Thick blood oozed from her badly fractured nose. Her ten-year-old boy had joined her in the wailing.

“Let me never see you in this house again,” the boda boda fellow kept on thundering as he held the toddler in his arms. “As for this child, forget. I will breast feed her.”

I glared at the man and his critically wounded wife and pitied them. In fact, I pitied the two kids so much for the terror that had been inflicted in their tender innocent hearts and minds. The mere fall out between their parents the two kids from each other. And, since the boda boda man kept on proclaiming that he would bring in another woman in his wife’s place, the more serious trauma lay in their children. More so, I was greatly concerned about the fate of the toddler.

The two kids are the ones who shoulder immense suffering, both physically and psychologically. Young as they are, they are not mentally prepared to host such shame, bitterness, violence and trauma that results from their parents’ fall out. This engenders untold suffering to them. They end up thinking everybody in the world hates them; hence they reserve and resign into themselves.

Apart from being subject to the violence and horrific scenes of the tussle between their parents, such children countenance stigma and abuse from other children within their social spectrum. In schools, they become the favourite talk of other children: “Your father beat your mother and dumped her… You do not have a father or a mother… and the like.” They fall prey to such abuse that should otherwise have been eschewed.

This relegates them to self-rejection, stress and trauma. Sometimes, when the going becomes unbearable, they mete out violence on the offenders in a bid to silence them. The situation, more often that not, aggravates. In the long run, the child’s academic performance faces a bottleneck.

Why should this happen? Why do parents of such calibre resort to act on impulse? Fighting is never always the problem-arbiter. In any case the parents should attach immediate resolve to dialogue rather than irrational action through fist throwing and exchange of abuses. There’s more to dialogue than meets the eye. Sensitive domestic issues, which need not spill to the public ear end up being solved amicably where dialogue is initiated.

Most of the problems that we witness nowadays like family break-ups would be rare phenomena. My advice to such parents is, think before you leap. If you must leap, do it rationally in case you want to save the future life of your children. Otherwise, what’s the use of destroying the future life of your kids? Please, let’s save the kids for a healthy future.

Joshua Masinde

Lesson In The Hard Way-Encounter with a fresher in my fresher days

2007-05-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

"I've come from very far; from deep inside real troubles." It's as if he is no longer himself. It was some kind of an informal appointment I had struck with him after he had previously asked me to be calling on him so he could tell me his bygone tribulations. Knowing damn well I didn't entertain tales that would offset me into instant dizziness, I just went. He was glad to see me.

"I used to push ass-carts, cut grass from deep inside thickets, wake up at dawn to milk several cows and later on, during the day, do what the prodigal son did that pumped sense into his noodle." He was obliged to ensure the swine had a well-balanced diet, each day.

"Why?"

It was the Devil of indolence and crude obstinacy and not himself that had inspired his vile situation. The Devil confided in him to abandon school once and for all time and to inform his father thus.

Could the old man adhere to such a serious contention said in jest? Considering the privilege he attached to education, more so in the higher circles of learning and the fact that his son was the only one in the entire clan, who had the potential of making it to the higher atmosphere of learning; this was pure nonsense. The mzee could not hear of it. The son too could not hear of it. Even after being subjected to the sting of the stroke on his natural seats, he remained indifferent to what his father liked: education. Since he couldn't make do with more of the strokes, his father resolved to get a helping hand from some askaris. The son eloped from home for a month, in which time; he ended up in the jungle of miseries and hard life.

How he could allude his experience to that of the prodigal son and fail to derive a lesson of significance from it, I failed to make out.

In his new life-system, he swallowed bhang smoke to make his life real. The more he had a puff at it, the more he cherished his new accomplices' common nonsense indoctrination on educational slavery.

When life proved too real, he had some options to consider: suicide, more bhang, more hard labour, but one sounded right to his tortured conscience. He would recite the decision before he went homeward bound.
"Father, having defied your noble conservatist rules and views on higher learning, I hereby present myself before thee for remission. Please, show me the path on which you want me to tread." His accomplices were sad to have so lost a devoted member of their ganja club.

He bitterly learned to value what his father valued. So, he is now happy that he is pursuing a degree course in Community Psychology rather than biding his time in a remote village on a neo-modernist black settler's farm undertaking odd jobs for a 'hand-to-mouth' remuneration. Even so, everything seems quite a fantasy to him. It's an odyssey of fairies he had learned to contend with.

He now hands me a cup; rather, a mug of tea. Courtesy, isn't it?

Joshua Masinde

Writing from the heart

2007-05-18T09:20:00.001-07:00

She is a soft-spoken lady with a warm and radiant smile. She finds fulfilment in the way she is as a writer, and is happily married. Her greeting is authentically African: "How are your parents, how are the chicken, the goats, the beans?"

Born 42 years ago, she began to write in early nineties. What motivated her in depth was the International Writing Scholarship she received from Iowa University in the US. She speaks fondly of her second book, 'Secrets No More', published in 1999. The book details the story of Marina, a girl of about twelve years in the then genocide-strewn Rwanda. The girl experiences the nightmare of the strife in which her parents are slain. She becomes a victim of rape by a drunkard.

The inspiration to pen down this moving narrative grew after her encounter with a Journalist and his writings on the genocide. More than five hundred people had been slain in the church. The story touched her passionately. Though, more than a hundred books on the same subject of the 1994 Rwanda genocide had been authored, she couldn't resist the urge to write a story of her own on the same tragedy.

Why did she use a young girl for her protagonist? She argues it was spontaneous. The girl character came naturally and readily to her mind. In fact, she professes to identify readily with females. Herself being a woman cannot be ruled out. Being thus, she wanted to project the brutality and violence women face in the hands of men, just as it was commonplace during the Rwanda genocide in 1994.

What inspired her to write? The many stories that were the essence of life were her inspiration. Having been raised in rural Uganda by her grandmother, she was told many stories, especially in the evening. This was a fundamental knot, which instilled the writing spirit in her during her formative years.

At about the age of twelve, she had an irresistible urge to read. Unfortunately, there were no books in school. However, there is a time her elder sister came home with a copy of Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart.' She laid her hands on the book and began to read. The more she read the book, the more she felt an urge to write a story of her own. She says of one Nigerian scholar that a story that must be told respects no silence. It will strangle you in the night if you don't tell it.

How were her stories received? Her other novel 'The First daughter', published in 1996, was to her, a slow but interesting story. It was well received, especially by schools in the West Nile region in Uganda. "Schools, mostly in the West Nile bought a thousand copies," she says. This was a gateway to the numerous letters she began to receive from schoolgirls. They had many questions and problems, which they wanted her to address. One particular teenage girl wrote, "Auntie, I am pregnant." The girl was fifteen years old. The impact her writing had on the girls was very positive to her. She was not just a writer, but also a counsellor, auntie and a teacher to them.

After the publication of 'Whispers From Vera’ in 2002, she received a phone call from a gentleman, who wanted to meet Vera. Reason? "He wanted to take her to bed", because of the sexually arousing mood the story on Vera had been designed.

The author is not disappointed, though. The fact that her message got home is her joy. The juice of her inspiration is to write a good story. "I want to tell a good story," is her greatest pre-occupation. She wants to appeal to readers to catch the fever of her story. Her main concern is, "Why men had undue privileges over women?"

Nonetheless, many queries have been put across on "Secrets No More" Why does she picture sex vividly? For instance, there are two explicit rape scenes in the novel. The first occurs when Marina’s mother, Mukundane is being raped. She is later murdered. The second incident happens when Marina, her daughter is also raped. Although, she is married to George, she always feels she is being raped when they make love. Later, after she falls in love with Dee, George’s companion, who seduces her with a lascivious panorama, she realises that good sex happens outside marriage. The author portrays rape as a violent act. It stirs outrage and censure. In no other way could she present it as she presents it. It was brutal and it merited being told the way it happened.

How has she overcome some of the hurdles to make it such far? Personal empowerment has been of great vitality. She aims at telling the story from her heart. Though, limited time is challenge to one who has a husband, children, in-laws et al to attend to, she keeps a journal within reach at whatever point she feels an urge to write. For one who writes all the time, it is inevitable to jot down every bit of the necessary imagination that strikes her psyche.

Mrs. Goretti Kyomuhendo is the coordinator of FEMRITE (Uganda Women Writers' Association). This is a gender-defined publishing counterfeit establishing eleven years ago. Working with FEMRITE has made her what she wanted to be: a champion of the cause of women. She is a feminist and looks to the day when men would regard women as their mothers, sisters and daughters. "The world would change," she points out.

After establishing FEMRITE, eleven years now, fourteen titles, all by Uganda women writers have so far been published. It is a milestone considering that men had dominated the writing sphere. She feels that women are natural storytellers. "We should tell our stories."

Though, FEMRITE has made it such far, it still has no branches in the rural areas because of insufficient capacity. Goretti believes that come light of day, they will spread the tentacles in order to reach as many women as possible. There is very rich talent within their hearts and minds, but with a few miners to tap such talent.

Appeared in Daily Monitor, 8th April 2007
Joshua Masinde.

Such laziness in building the nation!

2007-05-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

Joseph, the foster father of Jesus was a carpenter. Jesus was his ‘part-time assistant.’ It was a business strategy for which Joseph struck an honest living for his household.

Ok. I am talking about carpentry and some of these biting bugs-carpenters. Joseph must surely suffer from humiliation courtesy of some of today’s ‘efficient and lazy-less’ carpenters!

A friend of mine had just placed an order for a table and a chair from this little known carpenter. It was on a Sunday afternoon. The bargain progressed well and was fair. He paid eighty percent of the money required for both the chair and the table.

“Come tomorrow at three,” the carpenter said. A big smile ate his mouth as the appetite for swallowing the money bit him like a bug.

“You will get your things tomorrow,” the carpenter said again and again.

I recalled the little story of a carpenter in our village. He admitted that one can never beat a carpenter at his own game. In any case, you should never take his promises and assurances very seriously. You must surely have the positive disease of patience in order to get your furniture in two or three weeks’ time when you had been asked to come in two or three days to do it.

“Expect postponed decisions from the carpenter in order to get your furniture,” is what I told Steve.

The following day, Steve armed himself with anger and headed to the carpenter’s enterprise. It was some minutes before three. The carpenter was nowhere to be seen. For the next four days, the situation was the same. The fellow emerged four days later.

“You will get your things tomorrow,” were the very words that came out of his smile-deficient mouth. Steve was fuming. He was very impatient with the fellow

I don't think Joseph was such a short changer. I have never read anywhere where his inefficiency or laziness is pointed out. But, such bug of inefficiency and indolence bit our carpenters long ago and are lazily dragging themselves in building the nation.

It is not unusual to find most of them in their merchandise waiting to play cards with you. Ironically, most of them can do a very wonderful job for you.

There's even some other client who sat in the hot sun, awaiting some final touches to be made on his bed. He had waited for three weeks but his patience was not bearing any fruits. He had been assured it would be finished in three days' time.

"The only time these guys were efficient and did first rate work is when they made Jesus' cross. It never even took them time to nail Him on the cross," the impatient fellow claimed. "It was some painful experience, but they did it quick."

Why does it take some of them two or more days to make a stool or chair that should be done in two days or less?

While building for the nation, such laziness and inefficiency should be condemned. The rate of personal development side tracks the rate of one's (in)efficiency at work or in business. This bug of inefficiency should be shoved somewhere in a corner where it can't get the guts to bite us once in a while.

Joshua Masinde

When I was 'mothered' from every angle

2007-05-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

A peek into my childhood days unveils a nostalgic fondness that strikes my heart with lasting affection. I love every memory of it.

At the time, all my siblings were boys. I was very close to the first with whom I manoeuvred into every notorious adventure that popped up in our minds. We had a clique of peers whom we spent all the happy and sad days in the fantasy of adventure. We were the real celebs of the village since we were known for all manner of notoriety. I was terribly shy when it came to an encounter with my sisters of the world, not of blood. Though, I was always under admiration by a horde of lasses, I could not manage a kind look in reception to their genuine admiration. I was ever shy, though a smile always hang on my face.

At one time, a girl who was a year older than me, came and told me that she needed me to be her childhood spouse. She had a very strong urge to take care of me. I remember we used to erect safe havens in the bushes where we could hide away and take care of each other mutually. Some hidden thicket that looked like a cave was the best den for our adventure. We would busy ourselves making a good haven out of it and decorate within like a real hut. Then, some girl would sneak in a mat and some niceties from her home to grace the occasion of our solicitude more affectionately. Then, we would spend some time on the mat, expressing mutual affection to each other.

On another occasion, another girl I knew as Lilly waylaid me on the way from the river and tapped me on the back. Since my elder peers and brother had left me far behind, she used the opportunity to express her care and concern for poor me. She crouched down and beckoned me to climb on her back. She even offered to carry my five litre jerry can of water on her head as we would head back home. I would seem relieved at the not so weird offer, but my eyes would wet with tears at her invaluable care.

Right back home, she would ask for permission from my mum to allow us to go play hide and seek. That would go up to late in the night. Sometimes, mum would bump into us trying to advance further our affection by going physical.

The same affection would take another dimension while at school. I was in primary three then. My head was so thick that I could not absorb anything academic. Naturally, some two lasses in my class offered to do most of my assignments so that I would escape the wrath of the teachers. There is a time they protested in class when our English madam wanted to cane me for being absent the previous day without permission. They pleaded with her to spare the rod against me. I later learnt that she was their aunt.

A few years later, I badly hurt my foot on the floor of our class. A certain lass who had always considered me as her favourite boy used the opportunity to show-case her affection towards me in the face of the whole class. She shed some tears to express her sympathy for the pain I felt. She then took out her white hanky, carefully wiped out the blood and wrapped the wound to stop it from further bleeding. She then wiped the floor to rid it from the blood marks and sat me down for consolation. She shared the pain with me and I was so touched by such priceless show of solicitude.

"I would nurse the wound until it heals," she told me. Sometimes, as we headed back home after school hours, she would ask if it sounded right for me to climb on her back since she wanted me to reach home safely.

My elder brother was always keen on exploiting the chances which seemed to be my prerogative. He vowed to be a real conquest if the chance came his way. After some consultations with some of his peers, I saw him go into a bush to dig up hibiscus roots, which he dried and burnt to ashes. He then blended the ashes with smearing oil and made a concoction out of it.

"This will work magic," he assured me. He divided them into two portions and hid one in the grass-thatched roof of our hut.

We had a popular notion that wherever a boy applied this concoction on his palms and greeted a girl, the magic would compel her follow him to wherever he went. The phenomenon would only stop after he had a share of the sacred fruit.

The fact that I was very humble, quiet, reserved and naïve was the magic he failed to adopt. He was a hero of fantasy and couldn’t think of clinging on my ideals. I saw him greet a girl in the neighbourhood, after which they vanished into maize plantations. I tracked them a few minutes later and bumped into them expressing their naive romance to each other. I vowed to report him to dad but he begged me not to. He even promised to bribe me with a slice of bread whenever we would have bread at breakfast. He became very humble, though his permissive adventure was not so much in my mind.

A void of loneliness lies in my head over the death of those affectionate childhood days. Those are the days when girls understood the true essence of affection and who was best suited such affection: the humblest of all human creatures. Many years up the memory lane, I still long for those nostalgic days we shared in our rural home.

Now that I have not opened my heart yet for love siege, I am deeply contemplating the idea. But before that, I am awaiting a recurrence of the magic of love and affection that was owed to me by my lovely childhood ‘mothers.’

Joshua Masinde

Why we lag behind

2007-05-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

Opinion REFLECTIONS May 8, 2007

Appeared on The Daily Monitor.

For any nation to attain its development goals, its people must be empowered. Leaders must mobilise the masses to utilise available resources to empower themselves.

What do we see at the moment? We are still dragging ourselves in the early stages of development. Many years after independence, we are still enslaved by indigence, ignorance and diseases. We are a beautiful people. Our land is a haven of unexplored riches. What makes us lag behind?

We are still engrossed in parochial self-serving politics. If people are not empowered to produce something for themselves, such a people are prey to a bleak future.

They fall victim to the antics of the more developed societies and will do anything to earn a living. One prominent African scholar decried, "One of Africa’s biggest exports will be human resources in fifty years time." There will be massive ‘slave trade of the educated’ to the developed nation.

No resource is more powerful than good governance and the empowerment of the masses. But, four decades after independence, we still take the lead in bad government. Most of our leaders are old tyrants, who have no vision for the empowerment of the masses. It is a sad story.

We are under the threat of a new form of colonialism: recolonisation. Can we avert this new threat?

The donors give where there is a lot is taking. Their little giving is simply aimed to necessitate a smooth sailing-back to Africa journey, to exploit our resources. The prospects of oil in Uganda, is an incentive to them. Shall we have the capacity to refine the crude oil? No, and this is why it will be sold back to us expensively after we have exported it.

We should wake up. Our leaders should lead by example. We need a clear cut vision into a clear future of prosperity.

Joshua Masinde

2007-05-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

Remarkable Odyssey

2007-05-14T02:43:00.000-07:00

Salutation to you, my friend. It has been a long century since we last lost sight of each other. In fact, it is by pure coincidence that our fathers destined us to meet, so for today. Otherwise, I would still be engrossed in my miserable journey; a remarkable odyssey I will never live to remember for I have been reduced to a culprit of my loose morals. Ok, you always kept yours tight but I know you will not abstain after you eventually walk down the aisle with your sweet angel, perhaps angeless-whichever you prefer.

I began to keep a low profile after I realised that out of the legions, who had been put in the red light, I was (un)lucky to come out as an especial instrument of victimisation. Now, I am delighting in this favour every moment I breathe. It is a privilege to feel so.

Do I sound strange? I felt it some day gone when I had not regained my good piece of peace to sound the way I am doing. No one would allow me to speak to them for they already had a smell of my misdemeanour and what became of me. They loathed me like the Devil. Not even one among them yearned to encounter me on the way and greet me with the warmth of our biblical brotherhood. In a way, I felt privileged to exist in a humane society in which I have countenanced long-term ostracisement and rejection. My companion became torturous lonesomeness. In it, I sensed some autonomy, which ate my conscience like a hungry beast that had not seen the face of food for forty days. Lucky me! It is only you I could speak to.

Let me now embrace this precious timeliness to sound like a soldier of conquest turned an apostle of sad memoirs. How could folks unravel the secret seeds of such destruction and fail to open their ears wide open when I spoke to them about it? If so they heard, how could they feel convicted when all they heard with one ear exited through the other? I wonder!

Perhaps, I could relay this piece of sad memory in black and white. A serious epistle it could be. Those who would not bear to hear me out could read it. I perceive the epistle might at one time of confusion, have its way into the Library of Books: The Epistle of Miserable Joe to his friend. Nevertheless, before that, I could still preach the good message and encourage people to walk their talk in whatever circumstances. In so doing, I would; unlike in my heydays of self-indulgence, practice what I'd be preaching. It is so wonderful, not so? I will convince many more to stop putting themselves in the shoes of the good New Testament Thomas whenever I preach to them.

Thanks to my decent-some demeanour, nothing will bar me from sensitising my historical; rather, my biological brothers and sisters to keep me closer to the memory of their hearts and so, distance themselves from the acts of perversion. In all this, my experience will be nurtured to make me not only a seasoned philosopher of good will, but also an apostle of moral refinement. Period!

Only one impossible dream do I have to nurse. I look forward to the infinite day when I will be holier than the Library of Books or perhaps; holier than thou so I could easily be the heir to the moral kingdom of our fathers. Even so, I encourage you to stand up for your morality and you will escape the free-doom of our days. In whichever way you view my reasons, you will be grateful I reminded you so.

Since my days are short, do me one favour: Read this epistle to the mourners and revellers at my funeral.

P.S. Do invite me to your funeral when your time comes.

Joshua Masinde

Hike In Hostel Charges A Thorn In The Flesh

2007-03-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

Those of us who stay in hostels must surely feel a pinch by the hike in hostel charges. In the first place, there was no prior notification that the charges would appreciate. All and sundry were taken by surprise by the new 'illegitimate' policy of the hostel lords and ladies to increase the charges. They took advantage of the short break, courtesy of the lecturer's industrial action, to hike the charges as soon as we resumed studies. To most of them, everything was starting afresh. It's like the first semester had long ended and we had come back for a fresh start.

Moreover, no specific and convincing motive was given for the increase in hostel charges. Some custodians claimed that electricity bills had skyrocketed, hence the need to cost share the lofty bills with the tenants. Others claimed that the five weeks we had come to exhaust needed to be accounted for. Still, others simply increased the charges because others had done so. There are those who gave no reason at all. They laboured to advice the tenants to seek for places elsewhere if they felt uncomfortable with the new charges. What tomfoolery!!

Despite the dramatic mushrooming of of new hostels, it's sometimes too tasking to locate one where one can find the convenience they require. Some friends have decided to go for the rentals and advised me to follow suit. The idea is worth acknowledgeable.

All along, the hostel owner had been pestering me to book a room in advance. Every time I passed around his presence, he would holla at me that I might regret if I don't take his advice. Still, I could not buy his impotent advice or intimidation, whatever you can call it.

My patience and regard for a better alternative gave him the impression that I wouldn't keep around. He wouldn't get more tenants to help feed his over-sized paunch. I couldn't simply tolerate his constant nagging that I register with him since that is the only place where he is the boss, security personnel and the head of his family within the same hostel. Not a bad argument, but some little time is what I need to figure out the next step. But for his acute impatience, anger and promise to lock me out if I came late, I could have kept my resolve. His own palaver; not mine. To add insult to his already irate mood, I dropped the bombshell. I would also move out. This humbled him a little while. He no longer kept his angry face.

I'm sure matters won't be any better for new comers. They'll have to dig deeper into their pockets in order to quell mzee's temper. I know how he'll do it. He will tell them there is no place like his. Even if they pay more, his 'dormitory' is worth the cost.

Joshua Masinde-Makerere University.

The Allure Of Inexistent Jobs

2007-03-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

I have been mailed a very attractive job package by the Hotel Canada. This is not the first time I have received their offer. They come in very different forms and their offers are usually very handsome. With the attractive pay package on their listing, I have been spurred into contemplation. Should I resign my payless job as student and take up the attractive offer?

I am sure; many of those who traverse the land every day in search of jobs that are hard to come by will bless their fate and kiss this sweet devil. Others might hold their breath for a moment and ask; "Is it a genuine offer?" They will contemplate on the possibility of some sinister strings attached to the impromptu offer. Irrational, impulsive and adamant folks will automatically fall prey to the curse in disguise. They will simply compile their papers, pack their bags and leave for the abattoir.

In effect, someone who has the potential to use his rational conscience or use a little of his genuine friends' reasoning might well thank heavens for not allowing him to be taken up by this slavery of the modern age.

More often, this is just one of the numerous pipelines through which human trafficking is executed. The fact that no actual experience is required but some elementary education is an impetus to falling prey easily to their cunning scheme. Another incentive comes in handy with the offer of a visa, travel, accommodation at the expense of the Hotel or the 'prospective' employer.

Their offer elevated my thought to a new dimension. I asked them to give me the job description of some of the jobs on offer but a reply has been long overdue. Instead, I received another job mailing: "Wanna be a football star??" So, I was required to apply for a job as a soccer player in a certain 1st Division Football Club in case I am seventeen and above.

I read a certain article about some two Egyptians who fell prey to an offer of this kind. After all arrangements had been exhausted, departure time came of age. They left for the expected destination of greener pastures. But before they would have the jobs, they were required to undergo medical diagnosis as a prerequisite to landing the alluring jobs. Then, their fate dawned on them. The Dr. told them they were under siege of a very serious complication and they needed a minor operation to level the path for them. Their desperation and resilience to get the jobs, coupled with the Dr.'s conviction sufficed to appease them to accept the operation, which would be done at no cost.

They were extracted of their kidneys and some other vital body parts and left to nurse their agony. The illegal traffickers could be nowhere to be seen. With the advancement in medical technology, the transplant of such body organs is not impossible and the patients always pay heavily for it. The short changers, posing as employers or employers' agents are the real traders in human body parts. There are many other cases where the victims can be used in sexual slavery and/or trafficking of drugs. They can also be used as the beasts of burden, where they do demeaning work with little or no pay.

It doesn't call for concerted intellectual contemplation to figure out that the lie is at our disposal. Better be wise and stay safe.

Joshua Masinde.