This old man, he played knick-knack on my mind

Young and Upcoming Ugandans are wont to complain that the System is not pulling its weight. The guys ‘up there’ are just idiots who do not deserve to be there. That all they have is the guns they could easily use against the very people they are supposed to protect and of course, when the time is right, the half-century-old depreciating skulls that will be used in election campaigns to scare some votes out of the population.

Maybe the Yuppies are just spoilt and they’d probably not say a thing if their requirements are met. They want their Premier League and please don’t block the TV. And of course, as it has been said before, they must have access to their Cappuccinos and Lates.

The whole of 2008, we had power where I stay. Rarely did I have to dread going back home to a blackout. The kerosene lamps were dry but that didn’t bother me because there would always be power.

This was definitely different from 2005-2007 where every day, the letters’ pages of the press had people calling for the heads of officials because of the shortage. That’s the time we had ministers blaming it on everything from low water levels in Lake Victoria to scanty rains to witchcraft performed by opposition parties.

Last year, it was the fuel prices. A liter of petrol hit Shs3000 and was rising in some parts of the country and the din was uncontrollable. Then the prices started going down.

That’s when the cries also stopped. The people who control things around here know exactly what to do, it seems. Appear to give the people what they want, ‘appear’ being the operative word here, and all things will be cool.

And we have accepted. Fuel prices are still high, if you think of it. Ivan Kyayonka was quoted at the beginning of the global oil price slump saying that there’d come a time when Ugandans would be able to buy petrol at Shs1700. That has not happened but hey, if we are comfortable where the prices are at, maybe we can take the burden.