ORTEGA IAN: Our need for security also takes away our freedoms, fun

I went to Shimoni Demonstration School (SDS) for my primary education. Anyone who passed through Shimoni, you just acquired a different set of schools. You got hustle inbuilt into you immediately. You lived, and breathed the streets every single day.

See those Parliamentary Gardens, that’s where we used to play soccer in the evening. You could walk into Parliament without anyone stopping you. You could walk into the Radio Uganda building. We had National Theatre nearby. We played in lifts, went into Uganda Bookshop, we dillydallied on Zebra crossings. There are freedoms I enjoyed as a child that I realize today’s children will never enjoy. Today, everything is off bounds. There are concrete barriers and barricades everywhere, metal scanners everywhere. Someone is searching you for something. Moving in and out of buildings is a stress factor. The city is a place to avoid, not a place to look forward to! When I was a kid, the city was where life happened. Now the city is something to escape.

Second story is with Travel! When my grandmother went to Sweden in the early nineties, things were much easier. No one asked you to share proof of your return ticket, no one asked for a hotel booking or even a bank statement. Travel was a family affair. You have entourages. You would escort someone, see them board the plane and fly off. Today, all that has been taken away.

Travel requirements have increased. From bank statements, to vaccination cards, to COVID certificates. You didn’t have to be at the airport four hours earlier. Today, it is a must lest you miss the flight. Airports used to be fun spots. Today, they are stress points. You take off your shoes, take off your belts, empty things, you go through a million detections, you are asked for a million proofs! The freedom, the fun, all that has been sucked out of the Airport experience.

I have thus learned that one must be careful as they strive for security. Security has a rare way it robs one of the freedoms and fun. I didn’t have anyone dropping me to school every morning in Primary. That means, I had the freedom to explore the city, to find myself in the city. Today, kids are picked and dropped every morning. Their experience is monotonous, boring, and super controlled.

In the nineties, few families had high rise perimeter walls, the gates were simple fabrications. Today, it is cameras everywhere, different security controls, security guards. People have built prisons, not homes. I live by the roadside, I live my house open for most of the time. I enjoy freedoms that wealthier people dream of. The opportunity cost of security is a loss of freedom and fun. And it requires proper judgement. Be careful as you seek more security in life. If you look for financial security, it also means working more hours and consequently less time to enjoy the fruits of your labour. Life is a tricky balance of affairs.

And this became evident to me when I spoke out against the lockdowns. Because we feared death, we locked up people. We had relatives dying alone, without anyone by their side. We reduced the quality of our lives just so that we could increase the quantity of our life. We didn’t hug anymore. We virtualized everything, love, friendship, work. We shall pay dearly for these things.

I enjoy more freedoms than a Uganda Minister or General. I can buy and eat a Rolex in peace. I can walk around to wherever without this deep worry that someone is looking out for my life.

Perhaps God balances this world. If you have something, you lose something. If you gain security, you lose freedom. If you gain marriage, you lose something. If you gain single hood, you lose something. For that reason, we all become equal.