Mid last year I retired from one active-duty service, and now remain on political secondment by President Yoweri Museveni to my present duty station of the last twelve years, at the Uganda Media Centre (UMC). Apparently, as one grows, you mostly think about how to age in peace, tranquility, modest wealth, good health, and when possible, good company of family, relatives and community. A year now in my ancestral Mulanda, and gradually adapting to Alungamosimosi, Kapelebyong in north most Teso, you realise, you are actually dispensable, Kampala people forget about you so easily. So don’t lie to yourself.
I have not had the time to know the names of the new KCCA executive director, or resident city commissioner, but my old memory tells me that the Lord Mayor, otherwise also known as inflagmento delicto, is Erias Lukwago, now full-time private legal counsel paid from the public purse for the estranged Kizza Besigye Kifefe, Luzira prison resident.
And while there is no retirement age in politics and political assignments, it is good to have and implement a good plan in time even when your appointment authority may still have trust in you. Many probably still remember how old comrade, James Magode Ikuya came visibly barely able to limp by himself to his swearing-in ceremony as State Minister for East African Affairs in May 2021. These days we catch up mostly on the phone and he is as fit as a fiddle. It has been a while, not seeing, meeting or hearing from one of the best rabble rouser, NRM cadre, mentor and comrade, Maj. Roland Kakooza-Mutale although I know he is chilling in his farm in Komamboga, Wakiso district. When Robert Kabushenga (Rob Kabush), tongue-in-cheek, said ‘guys it’s tough, we’re broke, we can’t afford life,’ many sneered.
See Noble Mayombo, Aronda Nyakairima, Paul Lokech, Jacob Oulanyah, or even Gen. Elly Tumwine, the soldier-officer, who fired the first bullet on Tarehe Sita 1981 at Kabamba UNLA military garrison, Mubende. We have even forgotten the ebullient Iron Lady Cecilia Atim Ogwal, Aggrey Siryoyi Awori, and wordsmiths John Nagenda and Tamale Mirundi. Who remembers Gen. Adris Mustafa, Idi Amin’s vice president who didn’t even know how to spell his own names.
In the days gone by, my office side tables and corners had overflows with Christmas and new year gifts of desk and wall calendars, diaries, gift boxes of assorted items, usually expensive wines, spirits, teas and coffee, chocolates, biscuits, bouquets, and other vanities, sometimes you wouldn’t even know how to use them. Then there were invitation cards to high social gatherings like marriage, birthday and celebrations of achievements. Over the last year, these things have been thinning out for me probably because when they come, I don’t respond in time because of the distance between Kampala and my new locations.
As for me, these days when State House protocol calls, usually hours to a scheduled event, and yet you have to take a Covid test, running back from Kapelebyong can be challenging. Sometimes, you may just end up sending apologies for inability to attend the event. But those guys are tough, they never give up easily, not knowing that you are preparing for the inevitable retirement that no one helps you plan for.
At past four score, in old school mathematics, the energy is going down, and what is left, should ideally be spent on tying the loose ends of life, although comrade Matia Kasaija, in his characteristic loud jocular verbosity will likely say that his economy is just beginning to rev upwards, in comfort that few can challenge his assertions with contrary verifiable figures. After thirty-eight years on an ever-rolling stage, where the cacophony surrounds you, it is probably time to switch off the telephone, radio, television, newspaper and social media noise. But, with a tough election staring, perhaps retirement shouldn’t be an option yet.
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