By Robert Bake Tumuhaise
In 1908, Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, one of the most respected
British intellectuals, adventurer, warlord, traveler, artist,
politician, sportsman, orator, literature Nobel Prize winner, statesman
and prime-minister declared Uganda ‘The Pearl of Africa’. But one
hundred years later, 7 million Ugandans are still languishing in abject
poverty. One hundred years later, 26 mothers still die during labour
everyday. One hundred years later, 80,000 kids continue to die of
preventable and treatable diseases every year. One hundred years later,
Uganda is still being ranked among the top alcohol-consuming countries
in the world. One hundred years later, ‘The Pearl of Africa’ is still
inhabited by one of the poorest populations in the world.
As expected, some leaders have continued to hang our problems on the
necks of the colonialists who left Africa 50 years ago. But what do the
colonialists really have to do with the foolishness of a Ugandan man who
boozes away his entire salary? What do the colonialists have to do with
the wickedness of a Ugandan woman who sells her own child for a ritual
murder? What do the colonialists have to do with Female Genital
Mutilation that is still degrading the dignity of the woman somewhere in
some hidden corners of this country? Is it the Whiteman who taught us
to consume more than we save and invest? Is it the Whiteman who taught
us to wake up late and work for 6 hours a day while claiming to compete
with the Chinese who work three times longer? It’s sad that some of our
very own leaders have taught us to always find someone else to blame for
our problems instead of bearing responsibility ourselves and taking
charge of our destiny.
Isn’t it ironical that the same leaders who have taught us to blame the
colonialists for our problems have also taught us to wait upon the same
colonial masters for solutions in form of foreign aid? But like you will
read in ‘TEARS OF MY MOTHER’, relying on foreign aid is like wishing to
remain chained in golden handcuffs because you admire the gold. I still
believe with Churchill and many of you here present that Uganda is
still the Pearl of Africa. And that we have all the resources we need to
develop holistically. Like I say in this book, if Jesus, the Son of
God, while in Egypt, drank our Ugandan water from the Nile, how can we
fail to achieve prosperity? This evening we have come here to
demonstrate that Africans can have solutions to African problems. We
have come here to demonstrate that we have unlimited potential. We have
come here to demonstrate that we have the ability to shine in the global
arena of success. We have come here to demonstrate that we are no
longer waiting for anyone else but us.
Tonight we choose to turn this auditorium into a balcony of hope. We
choose to turn this auditorium into a plateau of inspiration. We choose
to turn this auditorium into a mountaintop on which to stand and declare
freedom to our brothers and sisters who are still wallowing in the
valleys of misery, frustration and hopelessness. Let us shout it on the
rooftops – freedom has come; the drums are beating for Africa to rise
and dance to the melody of hope.
We have come together to celebrate the African woman through the
character of Nyamishana. Like you will discover in ‘TEARS OF MY MOTHER’,
women are the bricks with which the pillars that hold society together
are built. I remember how, as a child, my mother would gather us for
bedtime stories every evening. So the home became my first school and
the fireplace my first classroom. Till this day, some of the lessons I
learnt from my mother’s stories are still enshrined on my fingertips
like my own name. In this novel, the character of Hannah is a reflection
of my own mother’s influence. I remember them days when women of this
country had resisted corruption. Those days when you would hear some men
lamenting “Aaah, in that office there is a woman who can’t be bribed”
or “We should drive carefully because on this road there is a female
traffic officer.” In Kigezi where I come from, it is mainly women who
labor so hard to bring food on the table while their husbands louse in
bars, day and night. Who can deny the power of the African woman? One
woman recently came to this city and in one year she has achieved what
men in the same position had failed to achieve for ages. There are many
Nyamishanas in this country who stand as evidence that women too can
significantly contribute to the shaping of history.
Well, ‘TEARS OF MY MOTHER’ is not all about women. It’s about all of us
Africans. It’s about Ugandans who have come to the realization that
freedom is taken, not given. This evening we, we have come in unity. In
this auditorium there’s no political party, there is no race, there is
no religion, there is no color, there is no tribe – all I see are
Ugandans who desire to speak the same language of love and hope. We have
suffered together and we shall continue to stick together. We have
suffered together ever since the ugly hand of HIV/AIDS struck this
country. We have suffered together the menaces of tyrannical regimes. We
have suffered together the punches of poverty and lack. Now is the time
to fight together. Nyamishana assures us that together we can defeat
poverty. Together we can turn child-trafficking into history. Together
we can put maternal deaths into the past tense. Together, there is
nothing we cannot achieve as individuals, and as a nation.
The Igbo people of Nigeria say that when you see a frog moving in
daylight, know that something is after its life. Likewise, when you see
authors gathering, know that something significant is about to happen.
When ancient Egyptian authors came together and invented the art of
writing, the result was the first civilization in the history of
mankind. When European philosophers came together and wrote about
injustice, their works triggered off the 1789 French Revolution, which
has so far remained a landmark in history. Tonight, it’s not only
authors that are gathered here; I can also see entrepreneurs,
policy-makers, artists, women leaders, politicians, activists,
diplomats, civil servants, teachers, lecturers, students and so on. This
is evidence that something great is already happening.
Let it go down the lanes of history that on the evening Wednesday 6th
March, 2013, a group of inspired Ugandans gathered at the National
Theatre and started a revolution. It was not a revolution of guns,
swords or spears; it was a revolution of ideas. Ideas that change lives.
Today is a magical point in history. It’s a defining moment. The time
has come when Uganda shall no longer be known for negatives. Uganda
shall no longer be known for President Idi Amin’s tyrannical rune;
Uganda shall no longer be known for HIV/AIDS’; Uganda shall no longer be
known for Joseph Kony’s LRA war; Uganda shall no longer be known for
corruption; When Uganda shall no longer be known for alcoholism. From
now, we are redefining our identity. We want to be known for creativity
and innovation. Those who have been asking: Where is talent in Uganda?
Where is Ugandan inspirational literature? Today is your answer. I want
you to go back to your home sure that a revolution has started and that
it is unstoppable. Go back to your business with new stamina to excel.
Go back to Makerere, go back to Kamwokya, go back to Nansana, – go back
to wherever you stay and work with this assurance that things can change
and have actually started changing.
I want to see Ugandans who are committed to this revolution. Men and
women who leave this auditorium with a resolve: “I am going to create
jobs rather than continue looking for them elsewhere”… “From now onwards
I shall not litter the environment with waste”… “Tomorrow, I will start
the registration process of my company”… “Tonight I am starting on my
book” or that “This month, I must begin earning from my talent.” I will
be glad to meet you a year from now and hear your testimony.
The journey has started. I cannot promise that it will be easy, but with
courage and inspiration, such as that of Nyamishana, we shall get
there. I want to urge you never to give up. Like Dr. Martin Luther King
Junior once said: “If you cannot fly run. If you cannot run walk. If you
cannot walk crawl. By all means keep moving.” Long live the Authors’
Forum! Long live Nyamishana! Long live Uganda!
This speech was given by Bake at the Launch of his Book ‘TEARS OF MY
MOTHER; The Success Story of Nyamishana, the First Female President of
Uganda’, on Wednesday 6th March, at the National Theatre. A copy of this
book goes for 20,000 UGX. Copies are available at WORLD OF INSPIRATION -
Luwum Street, MM Plaza T33. You can also inbox me or call 04146691595 /
0774107287 and your copy will be delivered right where u are at no
additional cost.
