“I am nobody’s victim, I am a survivor, I won’t let anyone write my story. I represent resilience.”
This was Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi’s [Bobi Wine] opening statement at his first press conference with his lawyer Robert Amsterdam on 15th August, 2018. From this statement, I could write about 3 blogs but I am going to try fixing them all in here.
We were raised by a generation in constant fear: fear of speech, fear of expression, fear of the unknown. I remember a story my dad told me about how they used to line up for everything from milk to fuel; they was so much uncertainty about tomorrow; they didn’t know whether the then president would still be president when they woke up the next day. He told me there was a famous watering hole that he and his brother used to frequent along Nile Avenue; the owner used to sell crates of beer to his clients why? He wasn’t sure that there would be a next round for his clients. So the patrons would stroll in with their empties and each person would sit with their crate under the chairs; incase of any chaos they would rush out carrying their crates looking for safety. This was very dangerous drinking. At the end of these nights, they would have to call each other to report they have arrived home safely. I know it sounds like some movie stuff but this was their reality for a very long time. There are so many stories from the 70s’and 80s’ that all our parents have told us, panda gari, rationing of food items, disappearing of fathers(imagine you hug your dad in the morning, “see you later” and the guy never comes back!) I bet if our generation sat down we would fill many encyclopedia sized books with these stories but guess what, as sad as these stories are…… IT’S NOT OUR STORY!
Yes, some of you who were born in the 60s’ and 70s’ can relate but vaguely. Our story is story of hope realized, abundance revealed. As the famous words of our dear President echo every time he gives a speech, “In 1986… there were no cornflakes but now we have a variety of cereals on the supermarket shelves” (jokes) but as he famously mentions that as of 1986, peace and abundance have been the norm. Our story is of hope revealed, development of a nation that was caught in turmoil for over ten years, we don’t know what that means sadly. I think I have only seen this on television. The nearest I came to it was Kenya’s post violence in 2007/8, where Ugandans were lining up for fuel, supermarket shelves were empty and yet we (Ugandans) were suffering because our neighbors were in war. My Kenyan friends though were in the midst of it, they felt the impact of it full circle. That’s why nowadays, you can’t find Kenyans aimlessly rioting, they sow never to let it ever come to that again even in 2017 when it was beginning to escalate Kenyans took to the social media platforms to remind themselves of the atrocities of 2007/8 but this time the economic powers over ruled all their feeling and political rants; once people stated seeing their currency lose value because of the indecisive political stand still, Kenyans picked themselves up and went back to work. No one stands between a Kenyan and their money (jokes) but seriously Kenyans know there’s nothing greater or more precious than human life.
This is the story of the Kenyans in our generation X, Y, Z. It’s very hard to care for a story that you don’t own. So what is OUR STORY? Are you in it?
We are facing forces of change in Africa as a continent, that don’t need anyone’s permission. They are not complying with the rules, for them it’s try to speak out (twitter, Facebook) for change, fail, get jailed, try again. They are doing it, whether you like it or not. The challenge that has brought us here is we have leaders who haven’t been able to think beyond their life terms.They haven’t prepared for 70% of their populations who are now youths (same age that most of them took over power), parents themselves asking themselves “will my child drive on the same roads I drove on to go pick up my [now] wife?” Interesting story here, my dad told me that him and a friend called Andrew used to be the coolest guys in Livingstone Hall because they had scooters which they used to cruise along the [now] Lugogo by pass which had just been graded this was in the 70s’. They used this road to go see their girlfriends who later became their wives at Kyambogo Teaching College. He told me this story as we drove on this same Lugogo by pass which hasn’t changed except being tarmac .It’s the same road, hasn’t changed in size since the 70s’. I am a 34 year old driving on the same road my dad rove on in the 70s’ with a population that has since tripled and our dear President is still advising women to give birth to more kids because Uganda is three times the size of India?? Logic?? Yet the health care systems is at its worst, the systems have been micro-managed into failure. Anyway I digress.
“The challenge that has brought us here is we have leaders who haven’t been able to think beyond their life terms.”
You and I need a different relationship with time that surpasses the flesh and moves into the spirit and creates for the future. We need to build systems that our grandchildren will appreciate, so they don’t ask the question that generation X, Y, Z are asking, “Who will build a system that will far out live yours and my own existence?” Don’t let them lie to you, all governments started as rebellions that turned into revolutions. Just like all companies, big conglomerates and corporations all began as startups. The founder drove the business, focused on being relevant in the customers’ life and then as it stabilized he hired CFOs, COOs, and HR to manage the business. Unfortunately the hired help don’t know much about the beginnings of the company, so when the disruption comes (it always does) the leader (founder) who now has to be answerable to a board of directors, donors and share holders has a critical decision to make; 1) do we re-brand ask the team how to make the company more efficient? [Which they will do, rebrand, change colors of logos etc] but they will dish out more of the old things. 2) Do we ask ourselves the difficult question; how do we build and innovate this for the future? I used business as examples because that’s all governments are (big corporate organizations or dis-organizations) the question that our generation should be asking is “what is required of me to build a Uganda that is significant in the new world? This is going to take a lot of un-learning what we know and learn what we don’t understand, this is how we move from being dependant on politicians to being the transformation we want in our pearl of Africa. Do we need politicians? Is governance by mere mortals who are prone to error God ordained? What is God’s original plan for governance?
