Ushenzi Vs Ugwama
Ushenzi Vs Ugwama
I have a dream…you may also call it a moral vision for Uganda’s development…of dignity of labor…of maximization of resources…of responsible interdependence…of dynamic balance of the rest of creation especially of dynamicity based on community…of personal wholesomeness that maintains personal and public integrity all amassing to respectful and principled behavior.
I have a dream…of capricious erratic behavior on its last legs as sharpness of mind crawls in… of voracious money eating vultures swapping their desire for depriving Namukasa, Namulinde and Nantongo of that maternal bed, that maama kit, that maternal security and health so longed for and that vast space for recovering peacefully with benevolent character oscillating with life, charity, hospitals with medicine, remarkable ideas favoring immediate vigor and activity…I have a dream that the glaring, gaping potholes propelling Acan’s, Acumo’s and Acen’s ears to be greeted by that first tiny shrilling but exciting sound by the roadside are gently enclosed with construction muslins …that will carry them gracefully to the labor ward.
I have a dream that the vacant stare I am greeted with when I peek into Kabahuma’s, Kajumba’s and Karungi’s eyes mirroring the emptiness within caused by years of sexual exploitation, which is a specific form of corruption mostly experienced by women, by the lost opportunity to pursue further education as the scholarship money has put up a great hotel for him to sleep in dollars, by the knowledge that a large and growing body of women activism for gender equity and women’s participation in governance is dwindling as the politics of patronage has “captured and co-opted women into state structures from where they have lost their voice,” Dr. Miria Matembe will be replaced with jaunty sparks and willpower to fight for the voiceless in the need to attain better service delivery. I have a dream that more women will join the fight against corruption rendering its tentacles feeble and its presence less imposing, liberating themselves from socio-economic and political suffocation and promoting Policy interventions that take into account the particular circumstances of women in our societies and the barriers to real decision-making power, both in its gender and broader institutional-political dimensions.
‘The longer I live, the more I see that I am never wrong about anything, and that all the pains that I have so humbly taken to verify my notions have only roasted my time’ George Bernard Shaw (1856-1958)
The few years I have on my back have witnessed such dramatic reversal of affirmative action towards women emancipation slapping them hard on the face through numbers. I have a dream that I shall bear witness to these cumulative numbers bearing their fangs and sinking them into the succulent greasy rotund bellies of those that have left only bones to the majority of Ugandans to pounce on. My dream is to predominantly witness the paradigm of selective justice being yanked from the walls of judicature and metamorphosing into accurate justice for all who have submitted utmost grief to women in Uganda. As Margaret Thatcher said, ‘It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake,’ I am certain that this concept can be remodeled in my dream.
I have a dream that the world will understand that corruption affects women in a more razor-sharp manner and the role they can play in combating it so as to have a great nation as lack of such understanding can lead to policy interventions that are too narrowly construed.
I have a dream that the vacant stare I am greeted with when I peek into Kabahuma’s, Kajumba’s and Karungi’s eyes mirroring the emptiness within caused by years of sexual exploitation, which is a specific form of corruption mostly experienced by women, by the lost opportunity to pursue further education as the scholarship money has put up a great hotel for him to sleep in dollars, by the knowledge that a large and growing body of women activism for gender equity and women’s participation in governance is dwindling as the politics of patronage has “captured and co-opted women into state structures from where they have lost their voice,” Dr. Miria Matembe will be replaced with jaunty sparks and willpower to fight for the voiceless in the need to attain better service delivery. I have a dream that more women will join the fight against corruption rendering its tentacles feeble and its presence less imposing, liberating themselves from socio-economic and political suffocation and promoting Policy interventions that take into account the particular circumstances of women in our societies and the barriers to real decision-making power, both in its gender and broader institutional-political dimensions.
‘The longer I live, the more I see that I am never wrong about anything, and that all the pains that I have so humbly taken to verify my notions have only roasted my time’ George Bernard Shaw (1856-1958)
The few years I have on my back have witnessed such dramatic reversal of affirmative action towards women emancipation slapping them hard on the face through numbers. I have a dream that I shall bear witness to these cumulative numbers bearing their fangs and sinking them into the succulent greasy rotund bellies of those that have left only bones to the majority of Ugandans to pounce on. My dream is to predominantly witness the paradigm of selective justice being yanked from the walls of judicature and metamorphosing into accurate justice for all who have submitted utmost grief to women in Uganda. As Margaret Thatcher said, ‘It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake,’ I am certain that this concept can be remodeled in my dream.
I have a dream that the world will understand that corruption affects women in a more razor-sharp manner and the role they can play in combating it so as to have a great nation as lack of such understanding can lead to policy interventions that are too narrowly construed.
I have a dream that Ushenzi - uncouth and uncivil behavior shall be down trodden by
Ugwama - respectful and principled behavior…one glorious Ugandan day!
Ugwama - respectful and principled behavior…one glorious Ugandan day!
Not sure if this dream will be lived but it matters not, at least I can gloat in its serendipity...AFTER ALL, didn’t some aspects of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream come to pass?
Article by:
Flavia Kalule Nabagabe
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