By Aggrey Nshekanabo
A few months ago, the Estate Management of Makerere University raided staff compounds and razed any kind of cropping from banana trees to cassava and only spared ornamental plants. It was a sad moment for me that Makerere University with a full department of history could not use some of the resources in the history department to understand the emergence of those guerrilla gardens.
In fact, in developed cities of the world and most importantly Havana, Cuba and more recently in Kigali, Rwanda, any estate must have farm lots (allotments) to grow fast maturing vegetables and fruits. In Kigali, such allotments are called endugudu. Anyway, the emergence of food gardens at Makerere University, in what were colonial fancy compounds, was a result of need of or lack of essential food items, meagre pay or delayed payments.
Lecturers and staff realized that they could turn part of their compounds into real Ugandan gardens complete with matooke/bananas, the central region’s staple food at the time. So, the invasion and erasing of those gardens by the estate department was because one was not reading ahead of the coming times and or knowing nothing has really changed much for a University Professor to live a middle class life to depend on supermarket supplies. It is never lost on these senior staff that this is an agricultural economy.
But more importantly, these guerrilla (kitchen) gardens saved Cuba and so, it is unfortunate that someone young in the estate department, with village excitement in the city, would think of razing those gardens; forgetting that 30% of all food supplies in Kampala are from backyard gardens.
And in times of the COVID-19 partial lockdown, such gardens come in handy. Anyway, some of these young people in high offices suffer from Bandeebe, Bammanye, Bantiine, Bankunde (Let me be seen, let me be known, so that I am feared and out of fear feel loved).
Otherwise, the estate department of Makerere University would have institutionalized allotments in a much more organized way because, we are aware that in hard times like this, urban farming provides alternative livelihood sources for the young men who have been forced off the streets of Kampala.
We know urban farming offers alternative employment for those that have been laid off at their work places and also know that urban farming a great source of income and alternative source of food. With this lockdown, if the middle class are not careful, the poor will come to eat everything you have kept i your fridges or eat you.
The lockdown has also exposed the fallacy that religion is. I have friends who think the best way to commune with God is by going to a gazette building or space. I am yet to find any verse in the Bible where Jesus emphasizes going to a specific buildings or open space to commune with God.
In fact, the Bible is full of verses where Jesus, Moses isolated themselves commune with God. The COVID-19 lockdown revealed that the present church in its form is a con. You can see all churches agreed that what they will not miss are the people but the tithe. And thus, they are all online begging ‘Christians’ to send in their tithe for ‘God’s work’. Is it God’s work or it is thuggery in the name of God. CoronaVirus-19 is an indicator of an end to this religiosity that has been peddled around; of enriching pastors through the ‘performance of miracles’.
It is time to reflect on the real meaning of church and do Godly things but not turn God into a business. I like the confession of Pastor Augustine Yiga, who profoundly pronounced that Pastors will greatly be affected. Many who have been high flying and cruising in the latest vehicle guzzlers complete with military guards, if this lockdown was to last 3 months, they would be reduced to Corona 100; the cheapest car on the market.
And whereas I feel so terrible for families whose loved ones died because of poor health services and if there was no COVID-19, they would have flown them to India, South Africa, London and or Germany for treatment, it is time for them to join the rest of us to advocate for better health services as it were in the 70s and 80s where the leaders of the day sought treatment in Mulago Hospital and other regional referral ‘death traps’ where my friends in the medical field have to deal with the bare minimum to offer services.
Some deaths that have occurred in the last two weeks of some prominent persons were avoidable. You cannot build your castle on borrowed land. Let us improve our medical services.
In all, Uganda had all the chances to avoid the COVID-19 but because Uganda has “Ebyaana and Abaana”, the middle class of Club86 with a sense of entitlement have brought it in. Whereas they say that it is fine to take advantage of the storm, this was not the time for some ‘connected’ Inn to make a ‘killing’ from the quarantined citizens.
Not every traveller could afford $1,400 for two weeks’ stay. That is over Ushs.5M! The ‘abaana’ of the highly connected didn’t want to pay the same and so were sidestepped of the instituted protocols. Now, here we are with 30 known cases of COVID-19! Note then that the powerful who received preferential treatment brought the virus here. I would be hurt if some insignificant airport official loses their job thereafter for ‘negligence of duty’.
In all this though, I am comforted by the Luganda proverb of; “Okalya dda nekadda dda” loosely translated that there is a price for foolishness. We have been exposed. We have more MPs than ambulances, more Ministers than ICU beds and more Presidential advisors than hospitals. It will not be business as usual.
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