The most intriguing man

Even grown-up men with heavy beards knelt before him like he was a great god in some Nigerian shrine. But he had a raging rage, oh! Once he punched and kicked a man he had caught winking at his daughter. The man cried like a little girl, grovelling in the dust and begging for mercy. It was shocking the following day when the man still reported to work as if nothing had happened.

The men worked at the farm and the women worked in the gardens. As early as when the cock was crowing, up to when the sun went down, they worked. Sweat sprang from their faces and raced down their armpits and backs till every fabric on their bodies got drenched. And like demons, they worked on. When they finally lined up every evening to receive their pay, they did so with gratification knowing their boss was satisfied.

He was envied by men and worshiped by women. They were often overheard whispering lustily about the handsomeness and manliness of their boss. And they wished their husbands were like him. These were their secrets; secrets punctuated with sighing and soft laughter. Just what was the secret of the man who dominated their fantasies? Was it his rugged look, his revolutionary anger, towering height or the depth of his pockets?

It was difficult to tell, but he was different. He was a man who always meant business. Every soul in the village knew he could get school fees for his children from Mr Mugeiga, and food if they did not have any. But they knew his motto: "No free lunch in Paris." You had to work for what he gave you: fetch water for his cows, or till his garden - you had to do it perfectly.

This man had been to the best University in the western world where he had earned a Doctorate. Yet he had rejected a white collar job with some ministry, in preference to farming. Close to his people in the village. He owned a red Honda whose effervescent vrooms around the village warmed up the hearts of his people. He would have easily won a parliamentary seat but he was not interested. In the bar, at school, in the marketplace, Mr Mugeiga’s name dripped from the mouths of people.

They feared and revered him simultaneously. He was not loved for his books and wealth. They loved him because he loved them more.

Avoid debts like a terrible stench

Shortly after I got my first job in 2008, money lenders knocked on my office door with an offer. Tagging along was their car dealer. I just needed to walk to his show room, pick my choicest car and pay for it in monthly instalments stretching to five years.

I turned down the offer because I love the health and spiritual benefits of walking. Walking home from work is the best "me time" I get in this fast-lane life we lead. This is when I get to truly think, pray, meditate and exercise my joints.

I love the health and spiritual benefits of walking

I also find amusement watching the bored and anxious faces of some Ugandans in powerful cars stuck in the traffic jam. How can they look bored in such posh cars? Or were they bought on loan, with the pressure of paying back now taking its toll on the owners?

The Lord knows the stress of paying back is as exacting as loan sharks extracting their pound of flesh when you fail to pay back. You have heard and read stories about merciless bailiffs attacking and selling cars, buildings and chunks of land; turning previous owners into sudden paupers.

That wise king, Solomon, was spot on when he said the borrower is a servant of the lender. The spirit of debts is basically a bad spirit which puts men into bondage. Poverty, arrest, broken friendships, isolation and a ruined reputation often come with failure to pay back debts.

A friend of mine who had a hard time paying back a bank loan told me that every time you borrow money you borrow into your future. For while the debt-free are progressing, you are busy paying huge interests that would be propelling you to success.

Borrowing is clearly an indicator that you are trying to live beyond your means. Live within your means and accumulate little by little consistently. Besides, the things you have: knowledge, talent, friendships and health, when well-utilised with patience and hard work, will make you achieve without going into debts.

So, by all means, avoid debts like I shunned money lenders who were interested in me having a car more than I was.

The best thing we can do for our country

A great American leader, John F. Kennedy, once said, "Ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country." The best thing we can do for our country in the next 50 years is to detest and fight evil, earn an honest living and work for the greater good.

Patriotic Ugandans raising the national flag high by living accountable lives

Accountability to self, country, and world is the only way to dissipate the darkness of general degeneration that has since independence obstructed the progress of our country. Judging by the status quo, it appears accountability from the top Ugandan to the bottom is too much a price to ask yet we must pay it if we are to achieve Vision 2040.

My ears are still smarting from hearing the president voice his determination to uproot corruption from the soil of our nation yet he still surrounds himself with implicated officials. As you read this, somebody is dying in some hospital because of neglect or lack of drugs. A huge pothole has just caused an accident on some road, and a parent is feeling embarrassed and saddened on behalf of his Universal Primary Education child who cannot correctly recite the alphabet.

All because people are sleeping on their jobs, diverting public resources and getting away with it. Few are being accountable to those they are called to serve. The meat of the country is being torn away by ravening wolves and most of the elite have turned their backs on the weak by keeping silent.

Forget the new discoveries of oil and other minerals. The future of this country remains in an agricultural economy, but there is no way we can reap without restraining our lust for free and easy riches. It is high time we took off some soul-searching time. It is after we have mopped the dust of all forms of corruption from our hearts that we can begin to heed the cry of our consciences and lead transparent lives.

Then the government can fire all the lazy bones masquerading as loyal cadres, and hire competent technocrats who will passionately and effectively push for the noble cause of this nation. Only then can the now pale Republic begin to shine again as the "Pearl of Africa."

A billion reasons to be grateful

There is a story of a man who was sad and bitter because he had no shoes until he met a happy man without feet. I used to be like that man way back before I became an optimist. But love came and conquered
the darkness of my heart and ushered me into a marvellous light that I have been walking in ever since.

Sometimes fire comes not to annihilate but to refine us like gold

I don't know what your situation is but I believe no matter what there are a billion reasons to be grateful and tackle each day with optimism that distinguishes the winners. When the sun comes out, I see birds flapping in the atmosphere and hear revving engines on our busy city streets while taxi touts call out fervently at every stage. I feel the kiss of the morning breeze on my scalp, and say to myself: what a privilege it is to be alive and have another chance at playing my role in making this life better.

The Westgate tragedy in Kenya has left many dead, and others deeply bruised. The principle of reaping and sowing must apply here. The terrorists who sow violence must reap violence as well. They must pay the full price for disrespecting human life by killing us like flies for sport.

This article is dedicated to you all who had a narrow escape, and for the hurting families of those who lost loved ones. Be strong, and most of all let go of the bitterness that accumulated from the unfair loss of your people. Some things are difficult to forgive later alone forget, but living with anger is the heaviest burden anyone can carry. As broadcaster Shaka Ssali likes to say, be better not bitter. 

That is done through finding meaning in every tragedy; knowing something good somehow always comes out of sadness. Instead of dwelling on the pain of loss, choose to dwell on the precious memories; rehash the good times you shared with the departed, what you learned from them, and be grateful that at least they were a part of your life and will always be remembered. 

What matters in life is not what we face but how we face it. To face it right is to face it with hope. When the inherent human power is invoked, problems and challenges are handled without fear. The schemes of the evil ones will sometimes throw us down, but being down is not being out. Through Lord God almighty we always overcome.

Reflecting on life as the years go by

Saturday, October 5, was my birthday. I want to share five thoughts that have been shaped by my life experiences this far:

The toughest battle in life is not the physical type. I have fought illnesses and evil schemes but the most life-threatening battle was finding my identity as I struggled to know who I am and why I was created. Now I know, but some people particularly from broken families do not. It is the mandate of parents, guardians, neighbours, friends, colleagues, elders, clerics and leaders to help the lost find themselves. In rising above self to reach out with warmth and understanding to the unloved, we find meaning in life.

The birthday boy (middle) with his friends. Invest in lasting friendships

The family unit is as important to society as are friendships. Blood is thicker than water but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. This kind of friend is epitomised by Antonio, a Shakespearean character who is ready to lay his life down for his friend Bassanio. Sometimes an Antonio-like friend is the only family one needs to survive in this world. Invest in staying close to your family and creating lasting friendships because the two share equal magnanimity.

The most pursued commodity in this world is happiness. But it is often sought in the wrong places. In my days of naivety, I was told that happiness is found in the night club, the liquor bottle and in the arms of a woman. But all I found, on top of leaving my pockets empty, were hangovers, broken hearts and a guilty conscience. Now I know true joy and peace of mind come from grasping and living by the principle of doing unto others as you would like them to do to you.

Covetousness is dangerous. Some people panic when they wake up to realise they do not have the good things of this life. In an attempt to catch up with those who have lakeside/hilltop mansions and drive posh cars, they do all sorts of mad things including murder and dabbling in witchcraft. They forget that there is no life in temporary things, and that appreciating life in its simplicity and being content in one’s circumstances is the secret to contentment.

Last but not least, ignorance is a malignant cancer. An educated woman dresses indecently and says she is being "sexy!"
A man dies of malaria and they say he was bewitched. Unless we put conscientious efforts in enlightening ourselves, we shall sadly remain a “third-world” country, sharing the fate of those who perish for lack of knowledge.

The love letter could save the day

It is back to school for third term and one thing teachers should take seriously this time is the teaching of how to write love letters. It would help them too. In fact, if James Tweheyo, the secretary general of the Uganda National Teachers Union (Unatu) had written a clever letter to president Museveni professing the teachers' love and absolute support for the big man in 2016, the 20 percent salary increment for teachers would have long been effected and the strike prevented.

I first learned of the power of words to feed and take you places back in the day when a rich kid I went to school with paid me to help write a love letter to his girlfriend. I soon started spending a bulk of my free time leafing through the library dictionary and listening to song lyrics because the more words I learnt to use impressively, the more mandazi money I made from not just those who wanted to mesmerise their high school sweethearts, but even those who wanted to show their parents back home that their time at school was turning them into wordsmiths!

This was before social media hit the scene and popularised the condensation of grammer which has in turn murdered the way the English language is used. It was way before schools had labs filled to capacity with computers connected to the internet. Even mobile phones (then the size of bricks) were the preserve of the very rich. Thus communication was mostly through hand-written letters.

That is how it came to be that the coolest kids in any school were not the nimble dancers or the comics. These were popular but not as widely as the literature students who carried heavy volumes of classical novels. They knew their words and it showed during school debates and seminars.

In the single-sex school I attended where our preoccupation was writing love letters to the girls’ school in the neighbourhood, we were consultants! Of course the letters we wrote were mostly silly but the effort we put in enriched our vocabulary and gave us loads of fun as well. That fun can revive your hurting relationship too if you stop what you are doing now and pick pen and paper. That letter could put a smile on your spouse’s face and bring the spark back into your marriage.

Today's urban youths who are losing the authentic use of language through social media and SMS will become born-again through letter writing and their teachers will get their pay rise too! In short, everyone benefits.