Back to Namasagali College. Remembering old days.

Branching off from the Jinja Kamuli road to Namasagali brought me the fond memories of this one time great school, Namasagali College. These were childhood memories. Nothing much has changed on the road, 40 years on. There are of courses some new houses but nothing else, a reflection of the inability of a country to grow out of peasantry. I believe that this lack of change in rural Uganda is a reflection of the failure of the local government system and the increasing centralization of finances. No local government works unless if they get money from central government! But that is beside the point. The villages you pass are still the same Buwuda, Butansi, Naluwoli, etc.

You go through the swamp, thank God the road is well maintained. The swamp is full of water and farmers are planting rice. As you approach Namasagali you get to the famous Corner that is a kind of welcome to Namasagali. This stretch is about 22km from the main Kamuli Jinja road. Namasagali was a port of the East African Railways and Harbours. As the railway was constructed to get in to Kampala, it initially went through Namasagali from Tororo. This is the famous Busoga Railway. The connection between Tororo and Jinja was done in 60s. The loop to Namusagali was because of cotton that was grown not only in the Busoga area but also in parts of northern Uganda. Northern Uganda was connected by ferry to Namasagali. With the construction of Tororo Jinja route and construction of Tororo Pakwacki route the Busoga railway was discontinued. The Namasagali port stop functioning in 1965 the Busoga local government took over the port and it was turned into famous Kamuli College Namasagali later renamed Namusagali College. The school was initially located on the outskirts of Kamuli town in a place known Bukwenge.

When the Busoga local government secured the Namasagali port facilities, the school was relocated to this area. The Mill Hill Fathers located in Jinja, provided the first headmaster in the new location Fr. Nevile. A few years later he was replaced by Rev. Fr. Damien Grimes. The famous Namasagali is reflection of Fr. Grime’s unique and contradictory thinking. A devout catholic priest who introduced contemporary western values to create the famous school it was. He allowed girls to wear short dresses to the chargin of some parents. Fr. Grimes introduced modern dance, swimming, drama and periodically western food to the students. He taught etiteque and philosophy things that were outside the circular but designed to differentiate Namasagali student from others and indeed it did. 

The Namasagali port facilities included warehouses, office accommodation, top management houses overlooking the river, residential accommodation, as usual African residential quarters and a medical facility. The residences subsequently were used by the school mainly as a residences for the boys and staff houses. The ware houses where used as dining hall and some classrooms were built using materials from demolished houses. For years the school operated in these facilities. There are reports that about 10% of the Busoga local government budget in the 1960’s and early 70’s went into financing the school. My father the late AWK Balunywa, was an Administrative Secretary of the Busoga Local Government and a member of the governing council of Namasagali College. I recall Fr. Grimes telling me about a meeting where my father disagreed then with his political boss the late Mr. Kivainuma. I recall my father arriving in khaki shorts to defuse a strike, called by his son, my brother the late Isaac Kasiira over wearing shorts!

As I arrived at Namasagali, on the morning of March 30th, I was shocked by the very bad conditions of the school, I decided in my head that no amount of effort would ever restore the glory of this college. The college had to reinvent itself and take a new format. This was for 2 simple reasons

1. Father Grimes values made Namasagali what it was. You required his disciples to bring these values to continue the school. There are few such people but I doubt they have time to go to Namasagali 

2. The financial investment required was so huge that nobody would come up with the kind of money required. My fears were confirmed when during our old boys/girls meeting in the course of the day, the plans to restore the college infrastructure was estimated at a whooping US $ 25 million.

Arriving at the school, the site of the school was pathetic. The Headmaster’s office which house the student’s court and staff room had been burnt down but left to stand depicting an abandoned place. Kampala 1, the student’s dormitory had no roof! many other buildings where in a high a state of disrepair. Thanks to the headmaster there is semblance of life at the school but I declare the school dead in my personal view. 

You could not fail to notice the enthusiasm of the old boys and girls during the meeting. There was a video conference via skype with Father Grimes, the old boys and gals where ecstatic when Fr. Grimes appeared on the screen. Grimes was loved and adored by his students, I loved him too for his contributions to education and to my own character but didn’t like him for chasing out of the school on the many occasions he did! But of course I was the cause, I only have myself to blame. I have very fond memories of Namasagali and cannot fail to have fond memories of Father Grimes. Not surprising that when he started the university I personally supported him politically, organizationally and financially. Bravo Ms. Anna Namiiro who was the Registrar by then.

During the meeting thanks to Prof. Katwaalo and his group, plans to restore the school were introduced and adopted. The plans require over 90 billion shillings but the proposal could only rise Shs 5 billion in the first five years! If I headed this restoration team I would look for another innovation. Do not critise me for crtising the wonderful work done by the team that thought through the restoration of the school, but I imagine with this kind of money needed and no proposal on how to find the money it was only natural that an alternative had to be found. What came to my mind is putting up a few buildings for ‘A’ level, working hard to make sure that these students end up in a university. These buildings a Rebecca Kadaga building, Hon. Isaac Musumba building, Patrick Bitature, Hon. Moses Kizige. Poor me may not be able to do one. But I believe there are many others.

Doing a few buildings for about 200 students and focusing on about 200 students in a new culture may be motivating for parents to bring their kids to school. Grimes legacy needs to be frozen because it cannot be continued. I am appealing to those with interest and money to build a tourist camping site on the riverbanks with the permission with the school and put Grimes statue at the site. The old boys and girls would then do a pilgrim to Namasagali once a year or as they choose. As the fortunes of the university at Namasagali change, the school destiney may also change hinged on those of the university. Watch the Space

What do people in Busoga want?

I ordinarily do not do my hair cuts in Jinja but this time I did it. I usually also do not want my presence to be known so I go for ordinary saloons as long as I feel they are safe and hygienic. I visited a small saloon in Jinja town over the weekend andthe topic in the saloon was the Jinja East by-election. The discussion among the people in there was well balanced to my surprise. A Mwiru supporter was crying saying the Besigye- Muntu divide will rob Mwiru of votes because of the current schism in the FDC. A Nabeeta supporter whose voice could not be heard well because of the various arguments was urging the people in the saloon to vote for Nabeeta because Jinja would have another Minister.But he said that Busoga politicians should know what they want because if they don’t they will continue to be marginalized. Let them come together and forget about party differences. I thought this was the smartest proposal I heard about Busoga in a long time but guess where it was coming from. These are the voices of the unheard, people you never invite to make a contribution to a discussion. There is a story about the decision to locate a lift on several buildings in the US, all the educated engineers were unable to find an ideal location it was recommended by a Janitor. He was on the ground. When he spoke to his bosses who were lamenting about the costs that had gone into locating the lift, hardly anybody wanted to listen to him because after all what do Janitors know about such issues. The statistics indicate that the greater Busoga region is the third poorest in the country, if u went to villages now you would be amazed at the levels of poverty. Busoga is performing poorly in education, the production of goods and services other than the maize is very low. During the harvesting of maize people eat boiled maize for meals, the prestigious schools like Mwiri, Butiki are nolonger what they used to be, infact the number of a Basoga in there is low. So probably it is true that Busoga does not need a group of people tearing each other apart, Busoga should vote a consensus candidate as abasis for negotiation not only within the parties but also for purposes of sharing the national cake. I have been impressed by the Bakiga, it seems they have a big religious drive among them but when it comes to Bakiga interests they forget their divisions. They have a Prime minister, a Governor of the Central Bank, they have controlled the Ministry of Finance, and their University is now funded by government. Thanks to their coming together as a group.

You may say Busoga has a secretary General and the Speaker of Parliament. That is true and thanks to them, Busoga enjoys certain benefits but we could do with a little more. I would have been happy if my young brothers Mwiru and Nabeeta could come together to decide what Jinja wants, where should Jinja go, and this should be the basis for a combined manifesto for the Busoga political group. Busoga is ready for a teaching medical school, Busoga is ready for a refurbished source of the Nile, Busoga is ready to improve maize production and storage, Busoga is ready for a major investment in cassava growing and a creation of industries related to cassava. This is a major production factor that no one has talked about. Busoga is ready to exploit its minerals to benefit Abasoga. Hon. Edward Kafufu and team has been talking about this. If you do not know where you want to go as it has always been said any road will take you there but most important you are likely to remain in the same place. Busoga is changing but the change is bringing more poor people in the Busoga region. Busoga needs more positive change to bring more wealth among the people. ISE BANTU AFUVUWE.

The marketing genius of Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopian Airlines with over 90 planes is the largest airline in Africa and the only profitable one. Both Kenya airways and South African airways continue to make losses. The 70 year old Ethiopian Airline has been growing steadily and recently, it introduced the dream liner, the 787-8 which Kenya followed with disastrous financing results and Ethiopian has already introduced the 787-9, the first African country to do so. It is said that even during the times of Col Mengistu Haile Mariam who introduced socialism in the country, the airline continued to work profitably. The success of Ethiopian airlines is attributed to a number of factors. These include:

Government ownership with necessary government support

Low level of corruption in the Ethiopian economy which has bedeviled many African countries leading to poor performance of government and government parastatals

Of course being there first is another factor. In 2016, Ethiopian Airlines celebrated 70 years, definitely the learning curve should provide it with an advantage. The airline also has an advantage of an internal market. Internally, the airline flies to over 20 destinations. But it is possible that it’s marketing strategy that has propelled the airline to its leadership position in the African market. The airline collects passengers in small numbers from different parts of Africa using small planes and it aggregates them and delivers on medium to long haul routes for instance, it would collect passengers from Cameroun, Uganda, Ghana, Burundi and take them ti Lusaka, Washington DC, Europe and Asian destinations. It also does the reverse. This is where the Dreamliner has been very effective. 

Ethiopian flies to over 100 international destinations across 5 continents and in the last year it carried about 9M passengers. From the time I knew Ethiopian Airlines in the 1970s, it used to fly to Beijing, then Peking. With more than 100 international destinations, Ethiopian airline is adding new routes, they are opening a second route to South America. They will be flying to Sao Paulo in Brazil after Buenos Aires. They have continued to go to African towns where they think there’s business. The marketing effort has been so successful that it has created challenges. While Bole Airport in Addis built several years back is big by African standards, it is not well designed, today there’s a flood of people at the airport. The planes are running late and there are signs of over booking. 

A missing element in the marketing strategy is English, from the national point of view, it is in order that they use Amharic as first language of announcement, they don’t do very well in English. To me, this is an easy thing to do, the people making announcements on plane should be able to speak good clear English. I have not been to china on their flight but I guess, the Chinese language would be added to their announcements on flights to china. Uganda is planning to restart Uganda airlines, I have been a strong advocate against the airline for the time being looking at what Ethiopian is doing giving Kenya Airways and South African Airways, a run for their money, Uganda would struggle. It is okay to borrow money, have planes and an airline that makes losses. This is happening in many parts of Africa in the interest of national pride. But if others are delivering the service cheaply, I don’t see a reason why we don’t invest this money in the Education sector. When the oil starts flowing in Uganda, investment in a Ugandan airline may be cheaper, even at that time, business may be bigger with more passengers than we have today. But the biggest killer of businesses owned by African governments has been corruption. Can a Uganda airline be spared by it? I guess my protestations are of no effect, I can only lament. The learning curve of Ethiopian airlines will not allow new airlines in Africa to compete meaningfully.