Golden jubilee reflections

I was born in the month of independence. No wonder mixed feelings tumble up and down in my being two days to our golden jubilee celebrations. Visualise with me what bubbled in the hearts of those who were present on October 9, 1962 when the Union Jack was lowered and the Uganda National Flag hoisted, officially ending 68 years of slavery.

Patriotic Ugandans bedecked in the National Flag on golden jubilee eve

Patriotic reverberations of "Free, free, thank God we are free at last" must have rocked the foundations of this country, and, probably no words are apt to capture the emotion and promise of Dr Apollo Milton Obote picking the mantle from the British imperialists. It was the day we began running our affairs—the most optimistic day in the history of this country.

Yet what do we have to show for it 50 years later? The capital city still has no smooth roads, and you must be "somebody" or know "somebody" to get panadol from the National Referral Hospital! We are stuck with an autocrat who bought legislators to knock term limits from the Constitution. Misappropriation goes on, ghosts earn from the hardworking tax-payer while our devoted teachers and doctors languish on miserable and delayed wages.

Sorrow becomes my companion and tears sprout from the corners of my eyes when I think of that and the homeless children that still share the gateman's curse of romancing the dark cold night. At least the gateman has a jacket and earns a wage. Then there is the pain of watching our rugged fathers and poor mothers in the countryside grappling with poverty in spite of all their toil.

It is on days like this that I want Sir Winston Churchill to resurrect so I can correct him that we are not the "Pearl of Africa" but the "pale of the world" instead. Yet my heart still leaps with hope and a sense of belonging when I see the National Flag fluttering in the wind and hear the National Anthem playing. I close my eyes like a mzungu being injected with Vitamin D from our morning sun and open them again to peer into the future.

I see the marvellous light we will bask in if we divorce the darkness of our hearts and hassle with integrity to earn our country civility and respectability. Then we will sing romantic ditties and forever remember the kiss of independence on the luscious lips of Uganda! Happy golden jubilee! For God and my country!