3rd Installment from Ogyakrom - actually, Kampala, Uganda

Arrived in Addis Ababa, and was somewhat impressed with the layout – better than what I’ve seen of Accra and Lagos from the air. Looks like there’s some kind of urban planning that may have started, but fell apart somewhere along the line. Modern looking landscape from the airport – the little that I see. Okay, so I had to transit in Addis, and I was appalled by the common habit of passengers walking off with airline blankets even though the flight crew mentioned specifically that we should leave them behind. (why did I expect more from the Afro-brethren?). You see, we’ll disrespect our own airlines so much, and yet, put our behinds on a European flight, and we’ll behave slightly better. Hmm. These loud-mouthed traders were so belligerent and couldn’t be bothered at the ruckus they were causing in taking the blankets away just because they’d connect to another Ethiopian Airlines flight, and so would return them later. Why we disrespect our own people and institutions, only God knows.

I met a very interesting lady on the flight, also on her way to Kampala – president of the Ghana Rugby Association. Rugby is seen as a rough men’s game, but the GRA is trying to introduce it in our sports curricula. Interesting. If you’d like to hear more, look out for a new Health and Fitness Magazine coming out soon - longevityghana.com – I might be writing an interesting piece on them, so be on the lookout. Alright, so I got to Kampala, and the first most visible foreign presence I saw was the United Nations. They have bases near the airport, from which they run their operations in the nearby conflict states of Rwanda, Congo etc…

The first thing I noticed were the hills. Kampala is a city set on seven hills. The little hotel where I stayed my first night was set up on some hill in Bunnamwaya, and I noticed that most of the roads heading uphill are vertical (uphill) and then branch horizontally for a bit, and then go straight uphill. Made me realize how easily stick-shift drivers would slide backwards if they didn’t get their ‘half-clutch’ right. Most of the cars are automatic, and they drive on the left side (what one American called the ‘wrong’ side). Indeed. Ethnocentricity says the ‘wrong’ side of the street, and Openness says the ‘other’ side of the street. As for their roads, … hmm. Walahi! E no be small oh – perhaps the best way of describing them are … Ghana over a decade ago. Roads are narrow, lots of red laterite roads, and as for the driving, hehehe. Ghana taxi driver style paa oh. Hwee. Overtaking on narrow roads is common just like we have in Ghana, ‘cos people try to avoid potholes. What they call “taxi” is what we call trotro – theirs are all white with a spotted blue stripe along the side.

Another common mode of transport is the motorcycle, aka “boda boda.” This is the funniest and most dangerous oh. The weave in and out of traffic with little regard to their safety, and they can carry any and everything under the sun, I tell you! On the way to the airport, I saw one carrying some sort of either chicken coop or wooden cabinet. The seats on these bikes are long, and so imagine anything set on it and strapped in place, and you’ll find it in Kampala – plantain, mattresses, cartons etc. You could find a nicely dressed lady sitting comfortably on the back of one with her stilettos etc. My cousin says they are so adept at riding these bikes that they could drink a cuppa tea on there without spilling a drop.

While at the hotel, I chatted for a long time with the hotel manager – a young lady who had much to boss me about. One thing that abounds is schools. Tons of secondary schools in the system, and the boarding school experience seemed similar to what we have in Ghana, only that theirs is tighter – more restrictions etc. (Catholic boarding schools). One similarity is the clout one has or gets, depending on what school they went to. I need to look their literacy rates up – wonder what it is, compared to that of Ghana. At one of the conference sessions, a presenter said Uganda had too many institutes of higher education because the system was finding it difficult to absorb them. Most of the graduates I spoke to were frustrated with the requirement of many years of experience when they were applying for jobs. Now let me digress a bit. The problem is not limited to Uganda, but is seen in Ghana as well. A lot of these companies and agencies are seeking people with at least 10, 15 years etc of experience, and all this does is to reproduce the status quo. Our societies need to be ready to welcome and use young, fresh minds etc. I believe in continuity and stability in any organization, but just replacing the old stock with old stock inhibits innovation, creativity, the ability to take certain risks etc in order to remain competitive. Let me give a concrete example …

Many of the older banks in Ghana – Barclays, Stanchart etc. were doing the traditional things – setting account minimums, requiring certain things before issuing loans – equity etc etc… Well, along come these banks (some of the young fresh ones, esp. the Nigerian banks) with young, energetic, risk-taking people who decide to find new ways of getting more customers. By the way, they face the same challenges as the other traditional banks – uncertainty of how one would track customers and ensure the payment of loans etc etc, since we don’t have a reliable address system. What these new banks do is to go to people’s homes, market their different loan programs etc, and encourage people to apply for them. They take the risk, with the only advantage of knowing where to actually find people ‘cos they come to find you. It may be risky, but then it seems to be opening up the opportunities for people, and the banks are doing well – making money. We see tons of banks, insurance and security firms, shopping centers etc., and all these attest to our growing middle class. I won’t even start talking about the cars of the road etc. I’mma leave it alone. It’s a good thing – our growing middle class, but that means we have to speed things up in reducing the disparity in socioeconomic status – create safety nets for those at the bottom of the economic ladder.

Anyway … back to Uganda. The place is fertile! Wow! Lots of food – saw so much plantain, bananas, nkontonmire (spinach), pawpaw, corn, cassava etc, and you see these growing all over the place. They export a lot of coffee and tea, and sadly, like in many other African countries, these large-scale income-generative agro-businesses are run by foreigners – in this particular case, Indians. Just like their doing in Ghana, the South Africans are also making money in that system with the shopping centers etc. They actually manage the production/distribution of electricity for the country. Ei! This is where I believe in a restricted market instead of a free market. This is where a forward looking government that knows that many of its brightest minds are living and working to build other nations, and will try to make it easy for them to come back and manage things. Specifically, preference must be given to equally competent native-owned and managed companies to take up some of these procurement and contract arrangements. Find the civil engineers who’ve traveled, and bring them back – give them incentives to come and help in nationbuilding – not mandating that they move totally back home, esp. if they’ve been living out for a long time, but making it easy for them to get involved, and stress high standards and the need to do things well, manage properly etc, ‘cos most likely, wherever they are, they are doing the right things, the right ways, and not mismanaging. This goes back to the African flaw of disrespecting our own and mismanaging our own, while we respect and take good care of others’ business.

Before I move too far away from the issue of food … the staple and most common food in the central region of Uganda is Matooke – pounded green bananas (not pounded to the consistency of fufu, but just mashed), and it’s eaten with sauce. I was disappointed that of all the places I went, there was little variety – Matooke was such a constant fixture that I never got to learn of other foods. Heard of grasshoppers – apparently a delicacy in some parts of the country. I did loooove the way they cook chicken and goat, getting them to be so tender. Mhhmmm! Deliiiicious!

Okay, gotta split for now. Will add some more on Uganda later. So much happening here in Ghana! ... The AU Summit, and Brother Muammar Khaddafi's 100-car entourage. hehehehe. Na wao!