The Story of Ugandan Beggars and the Precious Stone
OPINION
By Prof Dominic Byarugaba
The fore fathers of the great nation Uganda had a lot of wisdom but
were very selfish in hiding it in proverbs, idioms, tales that are
most times scaring nevertheless,they remain icons of wisdom. Readers
allow me to support these great grandparents by hiding my story in a
philosophical tale as well.
It is important to know that danger came one time when traditionalists
killed a missionary in Eastern Uganda and even it is on record that in
Ankole (Ibanda) a one Rutaraka killed a white(Galt)! Reason our fore fathers had cultural routes tagged as bad omen and others tagged safe and clear.
The killing of this missionary did not stop the accolade naming of
our motherland the Pearl of Africa; forgive me on what came first
whether the naming or the killing but still Uganda is the pearl of
Africa.Let us use it interchangeably to suit the tale the same way all
the scaring tales can never be proved but have shaped society over
years.
Indeed Uganda is the Pearl of Africa and we should cherish, guard it
jealously and save it from all ills so that it lives the taste of
time. This long paragraph should not bore you let’s just get to the
gist or cardinal point of this article-
Are all Ugandans aware of the beauty, riches, wealth, precious,
unrivaled cultural settings and many other attributes that go with any
part of Uganda? We mostly talk of natural beauty and natural endowment
but let me tell you a brief story something not characteristic of my
writing skills of late! Recently I have learnt how to write essays
because I missed essay writing all through my formal training as there are
no stories in chemistry and biology but just equations and short
factual answers to natural issues!
Do we know that we sit on Gold or Diamond or a precious stone
not known to physical chemistry professors and start going all over
begging for peanuts? One day a steady physical chemistry professor who
can identify the precious seat and stone we sit on daily and use it to
launch our begging sprees will earn a fortune and we will be left with
nothing but to perish when time to crumble has not come but has just
been strategically accelerated by our lack of knowledge which most
writers and classical thinkers or philosophers call basic issues
common to all organisms with the acumen to distinguish two close fingers
as two separate fingers not one finger implying that the visual acuity
of most Ugandans should remain upright, steady fast, accurate and spot
on not to lose the precious stone we have sat on to beg for less
instead of utilizing the seat we launch our begging exercises to
develop and transform society. It is just a jig-saw plan.
One afternoon I was travelling to Nairobi and I met a celebrated
Professor known to many as Tarsis Kabwegyere and he narrated
an identical story of sitting on a precious rock as a daily seat and
begging for small returns. He went on to tell us that when someone
identified the precious seat he offered a better daily offer to the
beggar and the beggar immediately abandoned the seat and eventually
the person run away with the treasure.
So fellow Ugandans, let us look around our seats, identify them
carefully like physical chemistry professors, check out our
environments where we reside, scrutinize our work places, examine our
land where we plant our cash and food crops, investigate more on our
earning avenues for our living and relate all these to this
philosophical story of a beggar who sat on reaches and never realized
how precious his seat was but when offered a better donation he
abandoned the would be lifelong treasure! This is the shop focus
called greater Uganda where the influx of global interests is pointing
day and night and unfortunately as Ugandans we seem not to know the
treasure we hold in the pearl of African as was named by Winston Churchill.
Alas let us think, reason, debate, moot ideas for prosperity not
destruction like the beggar who lost it all in a twinkle of an eye.
Imagine if you were the one and the donation melted in your hands only
to return to the strategic point seat you find it is taken. There is
one very proverb in Runyankore, however, obscene it sounds when
narrated in local language its intrinsic meaning when well interpreted
and followed then mankind can sustain the woos around him and develop
irrespective of churning out circumstances and environments that do
not warrant discussion here in this article. The proverb goes “Ngu
kyokugaburira agaya nobwe ogaburira acuguura” literally meaning that
instead of feeding someone who is not grateful you would rather feed
someone who has diarrhea all the time. Therefore life and particularly
society transformation right from stone age to present social media
era was never and will never be championed by many but a few who
have the charisma, acumen and reasoning eventually thinking on behalf
of the sleeping giants. Who are these? Recite them globally,
regionally and come home with good examples as we move to this new era
of crafty social media platforms, mad human beings as a result of
limited rest, implying it will take us time to research and get the
culprits of wrong doing as we all hide in skins of cherished prey by
the predators and yet some of the prey are very aggressive in the
cherished skins and a short touch you pack to your ancestors e.g. in
science the best biological weapon is an envelope containing anthrax
pathogens- imagine microscopic organisms killing even a big elephant
in just hours.
God bless the pearl of African citizens to reason, debate, think and
not beg while seated on a precious stone that when transformed and
when value is added then begging will end. I rest my philosophical
thinking that Uganda was, is and will remain a precious shopping
centre for knowledge, resources, climate and even some of the
resources therein are not yet known implying Noah’s Ark could have
been placed around Uganda as almost all investigations and researches
zero on the great lakes and the Ituri forest zones in the theory of
creation visa viz revolutionary evidence. Can all Ugandans identify all
these precious resources and guard them jealously in perpetuity for
all generations- mind you the greatest resource is termed human.
Prof Dominic Byarugaba is a Director of
African Institute for Capacity Development
Email: [email protected]
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