The Evolution of Contenass Part I

Some of the boys here ...

They grew from a small group of boys to a big family of men, women and children! Approximately 40 men with wives and children, the influence could span 100 lives and still counting ...

"Contenass" as code named today was originally "containers" the name most likely derived from the nature of housing of the bar that is based at Bukoto white flats, the bar is in a small 20 foot container and has fairly basic services mainly serving alcoholic beverages, getting service there may sometimes weigh ten kilo’s of stone - one may have to raise their voice to get service and sometimes walk to the sleeping bar attendant to seek their attention, the place comes with some advantages though making it easier and easier for patrons to access credit during the bad times of the month!

The bar had its pros especially the toilets that would ensure that the girls do not bother joining the boys when boys wanted to be boys, have their peace and gossip about gadgets, cars, money, fashion among others – the boys only gossiped about girls when they got drank because it was a tricky subject some of them were our sisters... and it seemed the subject of girls was also boring I think ;-)! The cons my oh my, sometimes there would be a ban on credit, sitting on the lawn sometime with very few people around I would ask Adyeri why some people are not present – she would bellow back “anti temu sasula sente zange”

Some of the memorable days of the group were Monday evenings when boys would come from all walks of life from employees of corporate organisations - “co-operatos”, self employees (disguised unemployment) to business men and investors. All thirsty for a pint of chilled Adyeri beer ... If she was in a good mood she would sneak in the bill and serve you with the chilled beer – but if the mood was bad, she would announce to the 30 strong boys that you owe her!!! The fun of it all is when the “shells” would kick off with some key orators hitting hard at a selected target for that Monday!

Many of the co-operatos would be hit at for their attitude, dress and over association with their employers and sometimes they would hit back when many wanted to associate with them for freebies especially the beer and airtime sellers as well as the special one for deliveries from abroad... The disguised unemployed were more a quieter lot hiding under disguised purportedly serious business negotiations including potential imports of large machinery (many times used Japanese cars), they quietly envied the co-operatos ha ha! While the co-operatos thought the disguised gentlemen had “arrived”... 

Most of the business men were struggling start ups and were short tempered, however it was quickly noted that it was indeed a nightmare to set up a business and make it an operational unit ... A unique group were the professionals especially the learned Doctors, Lawyers and Accountants, they commanded some degree of respect and usually represented undisputable facts – where they were considered authorities. These people would flourish on Monday and Friday discussions and if stray “birds” were among the boys some of them would look the most intelligent, smart and interesting for the strays...

House keeping – in my simple understanding a business is that entity that has systems, procedures and people in place to run it even when the entrepreneur has decided to take his family to South Coast Mombasa for a week long holiday. 

None of the boys seemed to have this kind of entity so in essence they mostly related with the first two parts of livelihood, although many had already engaged brokers and investment advisors to invest their “dimes” in some stock exchange, real estate or small shop somewhere.

This was Ongaria's do I think ...

Today the Contenass which was largely a social group whose cohesion was mostly realised by the nerve wrecking jokes and sometimes marriages, parties and other entertaining activities is more or less split to contenass-lets with many boys migrated to either USA, UK or Kenya among others and those in Uganda also having migrated to Mbuya, Bugolobi Bukoto, Kiwatule and other locations, so the boys seem to remain cohesive in the virtual world but long disintegrated in the physical world!

Some activities still bind this interesting group together like the historical “Inno-Nite” which is now joined by 8198 smart hmmmnnn... The Speaker continues to promote it religiously especially to those who have some lose cash, of course the mailing list remains the most significant place of aboard...

The nerve wrecking jokes though hard hitting have in the long run led to growth among many, boys turned men building their confidence, social skills, networking, ventures and many started investing in changing the face of the world, men now run security, child entertainment, bar & restaurant, consulting, commercial farms, legal, finance and IT among others...

Men like Mr. Katarikawe can now provide security services to any of the men who would like to secure themselves from the evil meaning characters of this planet. The security can further be backed up by IT supported tools like CCTV, Biometrics and various sensory gadgets – this is a business that has evolved into a real one to-date Mr. Katarikawe can afford a week long holiday in South Coast Mombasa!

Men like Mr. Kaheru and his partner Mr. Banage, he was not really fully a Contenass boy but a very close participant, have grown businesses from a small IT firm to an influential communications services provider http://www.smsmedia.ug/ moving away from providing only entertainment such as ringtones to chat, registration, alert, knowledge and many more services. Mr. Kaheru being a fast mover has further taken off time to invest in business convergence and intelligence consulting an area he moved into long before the Telecoms, IT firms and other fast moving industries saw it! I guess they have taken many holidays around the world already! His partner now experiments with various cars he loves to drive :-)

Another business to emerge with astute boldness was http://scoobydoos.wordpress.com/ - I am proud to have worked with this one especially in its formative stages and have watched it change the face of entertainment in Uganda rolling out in Gulu and Arua to show the children and parents in Uganda what good entertainment is made of, Dr. Rukaka partnering with Ms. Byarugaba have successfully built a business and can now holiday in Zanzibar for a week if they like, talking about professionals this Dr. Is one that was hard to dispute when you ventured into the subject of human medicine and African politics he still goes on with research in these areas and makes very interesting reading!

And the men continue to emerge more recently we have seen a potentially large exporter of vegetables come up http://www.nilefreshproduce.com/ to focus with which the entrepreneur behind this project has worked is amazing and may teach each of us one or two things – identify your niche and hit hardest into it, most of his knowledge and skills acquired through experience have put him above average in his endeavours. Mr. Kwesiga may easily be dismissed for his jokes which can be quite lethal and undesirable, however he has proved to move mini mountains for now – he will be able to holiday you know where...

Emerging men like Mr. Ongaria setting up a state of the art communication bureau in Ntinda is not to be ignored having set up over 16 Internet ready computers compatible with voice and other tools it has become the preferred business centre in Ntinda and he runs it remotely – I am soon to register the name in my mind!

There of course the consulting firms like http://asili4u.wordpress.com, Mr. Turyagenda’s (who has also started reaping the benefits of commercial farming) and Mr. Kaggwa’s Legal firms,  More men continue to emerge next time we shall look at the new start ups including the investment clubs like Richwoods, Entertainment places like The Baala and Junction among others. For now I will show you the art and crafts sold at KEMARU’s enjoy viewing

https://picasaweb.google.com/okutie/ArtCrafts?authkey=Gv1sRgCLDL15mQpq6LxAE

We shall soon experience a new form of cohesion between the men leading to formation of new value centres and interest lines...

A new Contenass in the formation...

The Uganda Martyrs Day - By the West Nile Community

Hmmmnnn it was the last day for the organizing committee, the Chairman (Kampala) was visibly tired but carefully scrutinizing each and everything to see to it that every little thing had been taken care of at the site – it was June 2, 2011 and the day long awaited for was June 3, 2011 the day when Christians celebrate the life of the Uganda Martyrs who lost their lives in the name of their faith. Sr. Driciru our Sub-committee head looked tired too!

The Shrine at Namugongo

But who are these people, I think I will refer you to the world famous site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda_Martyrs to read more about them. Being a member of the catholic faith and hailing from West Nile a community of catholic faithful who were tasked to organize the celebrations this year, I got more insight into the workings of the people of the church!

As we sat there me, Charles, Sr., Mr. Etima ... Watching people move up and down the sound of the music was calming, they had travelled all the way from the churches in West Nile practiced to play music together on this special day, they carried contemporary and traditional musical instruments and played them in combination like they naturally blended, the sound of music was heavenly as they tested their instruments and voices in all languages they could master!

They too were doing their final touches ... It was amazing to see people sing and sway in colour in a uniform manner like the wave of the grass on the wheat plantation!

There had been a lot of planning in Arua, Kampala elsewhere in Entebbe, Lugazi , Jinja, Pakwach, Nebbi, Moyo and Adjumani among other places, people, pilgrims came from many countries around Africa and beyond! All to remember the lives of the dead men and ask for their intersession with God for it was believed that they lived in favour of Gods ways... Pilgrims confessed their sins all over the compound kneeling and asking for God’s mercy and wisdom in their worldly being! 

The Church at Namugongo near Kampala

The Church remained idle for the evening ...

I thought to myself if I had observed the teachings of the bible? I asked myself what does this all mean, and could there be a whole new country/planet up there in a place called Heaven where these people would live a better and eternal life? What if that was the country/planet where life was forever and free of the spoils of earth? A world that Maximus (from the movie Gladiator) believed in where he would meet his people – but he had to do the movie first “Not yet” he would share with his black friend! So as we all make our movies lets think 

Then I decided that what I was doing was good, being there sharing my ideas and collecting funds and doing anything to make the day a success would be great, like my friend Dr. Alicai from Namulonge community, we believed this day is worth all the energy! Titus and his community among others gave generously to the day! The OB’s in their individual capacities turned up in large numbers in various committees and teams! 

Then like a miracle the day had come, it was full of colour, it was full of people, it was a place where politics or skin colour did not matter, it was a place where white and black, green and yellow all mixed freely to pray to one God! The only other comparable mammoth crowd would be that of the football fans at Namboole where again it did not matter – what mattered was your God or your Team!!!

Starting off with mass (prayers), it was hard to ignore the rhythm and thematic movements of the dancers who danced to the music and the processions as well as the delivery of offertory which was full of anything that nature can provide from fruits to hard cash, from animals to vegetables anything that man could appreciate was offered in the mass.

Christians, politicians and tourists all found the spectacle worth their time, traders made money, service providers too and some FMCG providers also made mileage advertising them-selves – it was indeed a big enterprise. 

A successfully organised Uganda Martyrs day happened!!! Big thanks to the West Nile Community especially in Arua and of course all those in other places.

My last comments on the campaign trail…

I am pondering here ...

It was filled with excitement and fear, anxiety and calm everyone had something to say about the current government, the opposition, the state of the nation… Once again the streets were filled with green men some of them posturing like Rambo in front of the electoral commission. Ugandans were once again reminded of their trials and tribulations over the years since independence. A nation still held hostage with the notion of independence while the rest of the world seeks to appreciate interdependence...

My support for the candidates cut across DP, FDC, NRM and UPC very funny but true, I wanted a new president in the name of President Mao but didn’t like his party – I think a new party is the way forward for my man! This time round, I do not know why, but the little interest I had for FDC had dwindled only that I still liked my village mate Wadri from Terego who for me represents fair views on development.

My most exciting MP’s were the younger and more technology savvy guys who understood the dynamics of the new style leadership and management, types of stakeholders and partners, these are what I referred to earlier as the CEO kind of leaders, men with dreams and aspirations congratulations Gabriel (NRM), Edward (NRM), Vincent (NRM), Maxwell (UPC), I hope they do not catch the plague and sleep on duty. The challenge though, we ask will they manage to make a better leadership this time! Let’s wait and see…

It seems to me like it will be back to business as usual, many unresolved inquiries, ill equipped local governments, more environmental degradation and pollution, no proper waste management, poor farming methods, dropping standards of training, dropping service standards even in private sector the list is endless, it is very important for us to ask these questions, why are we dropping into just another African nation???

The future can become brighter and better, what is the solution? The government should start to run as a profit driven organization, an organization that realizes that appropriate distribution of wealth across the country will unite the country and send people to work. Political power without economic wealth is just like an empty building! We need to build very strong and strategic PPP’s in all parts of the country.

My advice to the President and his team would be to build on patriotism as started, they should adopt the model in Ghana, where a council of elders contributes to the decision making process, the council could include people from the cultural institutions as well, after all this will assist the government on taking more stringent stances on corruption, people are raising the bar and expect more quality in all spheres and not only unplanned poor growth!

The new government should attract MP’s who want to achieve something beyond self. Pay to MP’s should be cut to manageable levels just like it happens in companies that are profit driven. Let it become service to people to be in parliament, or to be a mayor, not a source of daily bread! The use of tax payers’ money should be checked and improved so as to reduce the dependence on foreign support which in turn reduces the decisions we can hold in our hands.

The new government should embrace technology, use IT to manage the national register/ID, voters and voting, not these clumsy manual items. Use IT to detect and track defaulting buses, trucks, cars, poor road usage and among other issues, use IT to fast track education of people who have been affected by civil strife and wars especially in the north. Embrace technology!

Ugandans need to get more proud their heritage and employ the best architecture to build wonder designs for hospitals, schools, local government establishments, parks, preserved sites among others. Again work in a PPP to promote preserved sites and develop models to attract more business to all regions of the country!

Let’s stop lamenting and get down with our bare hands and work, improve the politics too – I think the ones who lost should go and start planning for 2016, in the mean time there are so many ways they can contribute to development.

I wish them well “Aluta Continua”

Poverty, Ignorance & Idolisation of leaders killing Africa

I cry for Africa, I watch the poor running around, being ferried in lorries and buses and they have not a single clue what their vote means to the development of the third world country! They shout to the top of their voices and carry colors of yellow, blue, green, red & black, all just for the show for they do not know the power of their vote...

How can we be so ignorant, how can we be so naive, how can we look to these leaders for miracles when we our selves allow our fate to be sealed by our own actions!

I remember my parents who were content with serving the people, they were proud of what they learned and how they applied that to serve the nation and in return content for what they earned as a salary! Now it is tit for tat and money flows banks have no idea where it comes from, no one knows - all that we see is it is flowing...

Business people were happy to sweat it out and finally make profit providing the best possible they could while competing or making strides at innovations in equal terms. Men were happy to have a steady growth over 10 years, now men grow in days and believe that they are hero's! They will soon drop when they realize that man has to learn to retain money.

You men and women who have reduced yourselves to be content with "free" will one day realize the value of working for money, you men and women who have taken advantage of the poor will face the fire one day for free is valueless - you have missed the point and have not experienced the truth about life - you will always be wanna bees...

Meanwhile can this process end so that we get back to work, we have dreams! We doing it the right way and we shall show you how exciting it is to earn real money we have dreams. We shall show you how Uganda can be one tribe! We shall show you the sun...

My Dreams, My Romance

The innocence of the young linger in my mind, the promises of Venice and Turin remain vibrant in my mind I remember the past with nostalgia...

I dream and it becomes reality, I fade away into the new world and here is the story ... as we sit on the rocks at a construction site, high up in Mbuya hill and watch the lake fade away in the distance... as the darkness engulfs the land :-) We make a contract, an agreement to be bonded together for life with the sharing of raw blood just from under the skin...

Its getting late now ... as we stand to leave the site, we set our music from one Walkman, after running the tape back to the start with a Bic pen, saving our power so that we can listen to our music longer... We hold hands and take one ear piece each and listen to the voice of Celine, Winnie and more, it is now dark and we have to get home before our parents start to worry of where we could be for the danger of the night might take us to another world!

Suddenly a bark and there appears this big monstrous dog, she - my love - clutches my hand with all her energy and there is nowhere to run, I take a quick decision to defend her with my life! Fortunately I have a big boot soft but strong - a Jodachi high top, I wait and with stealth, furtiveness and dexterity combined with the energy left, I kick the dog to silence... She is shaking, beads of tears and sweat roll down her face and she knows we are living...

We arrive at her gate and we have to part ways but she decides to give me a short walk towards my estate and then halfway to my estate, I realize that another king of the night might appear and I make up my mind to take her back – we hug for minutes no end, in silence and finally we have to part for our homes are so far apart from each other ... I run in the night and fear nothing for with her I am living!

There is no chain (http://okuti.blogspot.com/2009/12/okay-one-day-it-will-be-love.html), there is no force, there are no expectations and no one is passing judgment on you its just beautiful, as I prepare to sleep I read the last letter she wrote to me just that morning, look at her picture and kneel to say a prayer like my mother taught me, I pray for her too...

May be the one day has come, or is it all a dream! If I am dreaming let me try pinch myself and listen to the sound of my wince and the reactions of the people around me, I see people every day and they are all just but the same, so why is she different, I want to walk her by the beach at a far away island where only birds and water compete to make noise, where the exhaust fumes and potholes seem like a tale of the aliens...

Only this time there will be judgment, expectations and all let me get back to work so that I can make her more comfortable, the children and the lives that depend on me for I owe it to them...

Harnessing the power of collective funds! Motivator...

Listening intently to a largely experienced team of two yesterday evening I started to imagine that the road to the big time may be easy to follow after all, if only the trust between peers increased and the commitment between them also grew!

Yes savings and financial discipline may be good but is it enough? Or this is a nice situation for the bankers – just asking?

Quietly listening from my table, I heard words like long term planning – which I rarely did, I heard words like mutual funds, collective schemes and many others and thought about them deeply, it occurred to me that together with my fellow bar mates, we could actually collect our own funds into a big sack and jointly invest with government (PPP) in key infrastructure like toll roads, power generation and distribution ventures among others...

The power of collaboration to provide a means to an end, making it easier for us to think about bigger things, share bigger actionable dreams cannot be underestimated! If we started now who knows what ventures we would be joining in five years, who knows how powerful we could become... Tables can change in this part of the world – so let’s run... I started last year my friends, I only feel more excited today...

I learned that we have to learn continuously, be vigilant, study trends, understand the changing dynamics in the region and be extremely fast but most of all focus more on innovation of ideas and getting down to action when they are still burning hot!

Otherwise we face the risk of losing in an economy that continues to grow; first it was protected Uganda, then E.A of 3, now E.A of 5 and soon to be E.A of 8... But you know what these are opportunities, let me dream and see how I can get there.

Let’s not behave like tired managers shooting down ideas e.g - an enterprising young man says “Boss I have a good idea” then the boss says “Please write a contemporary concept note and professional proposals giving various scenarios/possibilities of boosting the business - then call a meeting next quarter so that we can discuss your idea... hmmmmnnn and don’t forget the budgets for the various” - creating the famous situation of “paralysis by Analysis” a common management problem.

Happy New Year all, I hope this adds to your motivations to change the world. Now I have four books to read before the end of March Yaix....

My comments on the campaign trail..... Part 2

This time as I write my part two comment on the campaign trail, I feel happy and excited that my readers are increasing and they actually find these articles interesting.... Let's go! This time I want to focus on corruption in the face of leadership, the voter and civic education as well as the role of the citizen.

Sometime back I wrote about..............

The blame game http://okuti.blogspot.com/2009/09/blame-game.html, corruption is a big subject, many of us are corrupt, many of us are sinners, many of us are haters, back-biters and name it; however we spend time in bars, health clubs and restaurants hating and blaming others. We come from villages where if one shows signs of progress he or she is hated and life is threatened!

Wake up Africans! Anyone who dares takes up leadership is bound to be faced with the problem of dealing with different knowledge levels, motives, skills as well as diversionists. There is a rush for wealth, a rush for power and a rush for acknowledgement that kind of rush that is only found in third world countries characterised by bickering, disgruntled, mediocre and none dreamer actors. Among them too, those with a false imagination of superiority, self righteousness living in the shadow of perceived power.

The NRMO is lucky in some cases but may also be considered unlucky in some cases, having experienced a lot of developments in their time. Some of these developments were globally driven which the NRMO moved to quickly take advantage of, examples include the shift from government owned businesses to private owned companies or for instance the innovations and rapid growth of the banking, telecom and FMCG sectors. On a personal note, I believe the farming sector was hurt though by these changes, the slowdown of cooperatives and marketing mechanisms that were government led seemed to have worked well for the small holder farmers...

We can say the NRMO provided a conducive environment for these businesses to thrive and grow but we must also acknowledge that the mobile for instance had arrived.... the Internet had arrived and for whoever was in power they had no choice but to embrace the “avalanche” or the “tsunami” because these were global treads. The force with which these new trends were flowing was so strong that you either had to shape up or you shape out! Changes were occurring real time. Funs of the 24 series.... “These events occur in real time”

In the same vein it became easier for corruption to thrive, because the private sector grew there is now the commercial, the NGO’s, the churches, the traditional institutions etc... There had to be a paradigm shift in the leadership style, the question now is – is it actually happening? Do our leaders actually know what is hitting them? And again should we encourage an extremist approach to dealing with the subject like some African nations have done? Alternatively do we have the will and capacity to empower institutions to get more vigilant in handling their affairs and civil communities to become more knowledgeable and demanding? Isn’t it true that there is no leader without a community, if there is not community then who do you lead? It is therefore paramount to serve the community well!

So now that we have peace don’t we want more? There should be checks and balances... and citizens should know their rights.

Let's all take a swipe at Government employees, don't they have some of the lowest salaries, why then do they (not every one of them) stick to their jobs with the mightiest energies? Let's take another swipe at the Pastors, how comes they have personal jets, luxury SUV's and large houses doing the work of God. I have wondered why these people of God never visit the hospitals and treat the sick, the terminally ill and the casualties - they rather you carry your patient to their church, then they make drama with your patient and proclaim that he or she is healed! Let's take a swipe at people in positions of law enforcement, the police for instance why stop a car that has a number plate, the driver seems to be okay with a valid permit, where are their records of defaulting cars? Instead they are busy wasting tax payers time and their own! Graduates who do not think about automating their surveillance Police get your act together, this is the ICT era many things are possible...

Unfortunately in many cases the tax payer has no rights to ask for a compensation of time wasted!

The subject of corruption goes on and on, so should we blame the current government, just asking and don't get me wrong, I am not trying to rescue any one, we the society bribe away from getting places in schools - even private, getting work done faster, getting treatment in a public hospital to getting the local council to do something for us! Should we blame a political party for all these occurrences, could this be a stage or a phase in development? Why not blame ourselves for the acceptance of all this, for the participation in all this, for the ignoring of all this and for the blame of others without looking inside ourselves and find out what our values are before we look outside the window? It is the duty of every individual to have some semblance of values....

How are these leaders planning to address the G2B relations, the G2C relations or do they know these dynamics, where as B2B will continue to grow naturally it is key to note that good laws, enforcement and civil society checks will be paramount in ensuring that service gets delivered.

The next leader will have to be able to be able understand the dynamics of all sectors in the country, be able to send email themselves work with smart phones and work like a CEO who must report to the Board of Directors! The new leader must be able to take criticism and advice from a team of advisors who must also in their own rights be elders, experienced and with a high degree of knowledge and integrity. Advisors could be former presidents, people with large business empires, very senior retired civil servants, traditional leaders and the like. People with power and this time I mean real power, powerful enough to unseat a sluggish and slow leader.

See the challenge is the campaigners are more aware of the problems of third world, they are more aware of how these problems could be solved while the majority of the voters may not have an idea of what needs to be changed. So the campaigner gets his/her seat and exploits the loopholes of the system... Sooner or later they increase their pay, upgrade to four wheel drives and spend lavishly in the city. Many times spending money whose value does not ring a bell to them because they have no idea how tough it can be to earn that money...

Travelling during the holiday season, I got time to blend with many friends, relatives, in-laws and politicians they were all defending their manifestos! I wondered whether they are actually educating the people about the plans they were making and how important the plans were to change the lives of those they wanted to represent - how their plans would be bench marked, monitored and evaluated.

In Arua I asked a "mirungi" seller what he thought about Feb elections and he said to me ""honestly I don't care because I do not know and do not see how it affects me", my auntie from the village asked me if there will be more money given out, salt or sugar... So I thought to myself if you give her a handout she will give you the vote! I thought this was a village thing, later passing by a maize (I like maize...) seller in Naguru - I decided to stop and ask what she thought about elections, she said "are you here to buy or waste my time". I told her I would buy and persuaded her to say something, she burst out and said to me "you think I do not want to drive, do not want to live in a nice house, do not want all the nice things - we gave up long time ago may be our children will have a better day". I wondered how many voters are enlightened enough.

The variation between the knowledge levels of our voters are so large and so sad that we are stuck in a quagmire of ignorance... extrication from this situation may take a few light years... We continue to have an increasing gap between the knowledgeable and the ignorant. May be the next President should revive Community Information Centres and with ICT promote adult literacy and continued education! The politicians themselves sometimes do not even see that the people they are talking to need more than campaigns to be able to make informed decisions. Many times decisions are made on populist grounds....

We should introduce serious civic education, but also teach about nation building, patriotism and common good. If we were patriotic may be our families would know more about politics and decision making, they would not make decisions according to how much of the handouts they get. We should teach voters that they deserve service irrespective of where they come from or colour of their skin or which leader they like but by virtue of the fact that they are Ugandan.

So this time I took a tangent, well I decided I will not talk about the candidates any more but about the people the candidates purport to lead, in the meantime let’s learn about our rights and use them effectively.