The roadblocks of those days

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

Roadblock is a political play that draws from the sordid and unhappy reality of the past. The title suits it for the period in which this piece of drama is set for it was frightening to travel because of the danger associated with being stopped at the endless roadblocks. This is emphasised on the book cover showing a roadblock signpost with gunmen standing menacingly on either side of the road and two others dragging a man away from his car.

Looking at this, even before opening a book, a curious reader should ask: is the dragged man a criminal? What are gun-wielding army men doing in the place of traffic police officers? It is symbolic of the collapse of the rule of law which the author, Victor Byabamazima, graphically depicts in this five-act play.

As hopelessness reigns; as ordinary people grapple with terrible poverty that drives the pastor’s daughter into the house of prostitutes, as they die like flies, as corruption defies the odds, as uniformed “wolves” manning roadblocks steal and make the lives of others hell; will the protagonist retain his courage and spiritual leadership necessary to keep the village together in the midst of this “great depression”?

Roadblock is based on the historical incidences of the 1970s and early 1980s; particularly the bleak and desperate times prevalent then. When Nyeka is sent to Parliament to help change the deplorable status quo, the once promising and honest son of the soil quickly gets “swollen with the drug of power” and becomes worse than the man of the people in Chinua Achebe’s novel by that title.

In addition to forgetting his own folks, Nyeka is the play’s antagonist who after being corrupted absolutely by a ministerial post, finds the shameless gall to abuse the man he once looked up to, the old pastor: “You are not a citizen…you are a placenta!”

This satirical piece may be difficult to stage but you’ll like the writer’s sharp use of realism to typify an ugly period in the country’s lifeline thereby intuitively making the reader appreciate even the little moral or political sanity existing in contemporary Uganda.

Published by Baroque Publishers in 2006, Roadblock also interlaces witchery with the healing salvation that can only come from God. It is ironically captured through the juxtaposition of the pastor and the “Jajja of the Luweero Ancestral Spirits”, a self-professed protector of “Yoweri” – the liberation war leader.

In the end, the playwright seems to suggest both forces become victorious when an important announcement is heard on the national radio: “On this day, the 27th July 1985, the government has been overthrown by a military junta…wait for more news.”

The pastor reunites with his prodigal daughter; the prisoners are set free, signalling a new beginning and the end of roadblocks.

Although the play was one of the 2007 National Book Week literary award winners, it cannot be called a masterpiece of realistic drama (we leave that to works in the league of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People). But it’s up there among Uganda’s best modern plays alongside Alex Mukulu’s 30 Years of Bananas.

More than being an instructive read for those seeking to gain new insights into Uganda’s political history, it would be interesting to see how Roadblock can translate into live stage action.

--Sunday Monitor, October 26, 2008

Self-taught crafts artisan raising Uganda’s level in footwear

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

As a young boy, Labartin owned a beloved pair of Kenyan sandals, a birthday present from his mother. With time, the sandals were badly in need of repair but Labartin didn’t have the money to have them mended. As necessity is the mother of invention, so it has been said, he made his own awl and set on repairing his sandals.

He fell in love with his repair work and was suddenly seized by the urge to make his own sandals. Pencil on paper, he began sketching different types of sandals, then started collecting old car tyres and making lugabire out of them. To his delightful surprise, the locals clamoured for his work, a sign of appreciation for his creativity.

To cut the story short, that’s how Labartin became a self-taught crafts artisan. From tyre sandals, he experimented with real leather and began “making serious stuff”. He went over to Crane Shoes on Sixth Street, got membership to pay facility rent which allowed him to work there and master his art as well.

Labartin makes leather sandals, belts, and classy wallets. He also makes key holders in designs of sandals, maps, bottles and animals. You just have to tell him whatever design you fancy and should you want your name included, it will be done.

He cannot forget how far he has come, which is why his favourite creation remains what he now calls the “Labartin Sandal” along with its catchphrase: Walk in style!

“It has put me somewhere and I know it has put Uganda at another level in footwear because people really love it,” he says.

It makes his story interesting that he came from nowhere and started doing these things. He admits though that he was best at fine art in secondary school and also learned something from one of his uncles who is an artist specialising in batik.

Shortly after S.4, Labartin, whose real name is Edman Mwima, was confronted with life’s hard knocks with the death of his mother. He couldn’t continue with his studies because of financial limitations, so he began earning his living solely from his crafts business.

“People believe in my designs because they are original and unique; that’s why I supply those craft shops at National Theatre and on Buganda Road,” he says. “I even get some customers from Rwanda and Sudan. In Sudan they call my sandals Kabaya, which means something nice.”

The young craftsman has reason to boast. At only 22 years, he’s already a landlord in Kampala! He owns two rooms which he bought from his arts business and he rents one out and occupies another.

Labartin says it has taken him patience, hard work and discipline to win the trust of customers: “As a very creative artist, I have to sit down and take a lot of time sketching and cutting the patterns which I turn into stuff people like…no one can copy my products because they are unique and customers like that.”

Labartin, who comes from Tororo, surfs the net to update himself with the latest designs and is particularly “inspired by Italians because they are very ahead in leatherworks”. In fact it is an Italian that gave him the name Labartin, which he says means something genuine.

“I want to open a school that teaches young people about leatherworks so that in future it will not be me in the production room,” he says of his big plans. “I know my dream will come true because I believe that you can come from the ghetto and make big things.”

--Sunday Monitor, October 19, 2008

Corruptible performances at Wapi

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

Last Saturday was the fourth edition of the Words and pictures (Wapi) show at Hotel Africana’s people’s space. The day’s theme was “Wapi: My Rights”, and by sheer coincidental irony, the audience fulfilled their “right” of lagging in late so much that the show began three hours late.

The viewers were also fewer and less responsive than the crowds that jammed the previous events.

A few harmless presentations kicked off the show in earnest before a grotesquely dressed clown befouled the mood with a shameless show. He wore black thin-textured pants, tight like an Elizabethan costume, which made his crotch stand out like the beak of a vulture. He introduced himself as “the devil”. His definition of funny is vulgarity. His take one was directed at girls: “Have you ever been f*#ked up by five different guys and you wind up getting pregnant and you don’t know the father of your baby?”

With sweat pouring down his face, he then made some jerky movements and dragged on and on barking like a dog and later pantomimed lewd scenarios while lip-syncing pre-recorded dirty songs. Of course some adolescents found some of his weird acts funny but from the look of many, it was good riddance when he finally left the stage.

A delightful watch came in a 13-year-old called Eric “Ddosa” Twizera. He sent the crowds wild as he bounced on stage like a ball and performed one of his songs, Kampala Muzuri. Later, many were seen clamouring to have a “Kodak moment” with the young boy.

Another surprise was the two look-alike brothers who could easily be mistaken for twins. Paul and Lawrence or PLA as they call themselves, charmed the audience with the simplicity and innocence of their freestyle. Unlike those before them, these students of St. Peter’s Nsambya SSS didn’t do it behind the beat or mime but just created words on stage, rapping in Luganda in a fluid and clear style that elicited gleeful applause.

“We did the real thing up there because music is our game,” they said. “We came here to find a name and get known.”

The members of the Break Dance Project, mostly children ranging from 12 to 16 years flaunted dance tricks that the audience marvelled at. They rolled on the dance floor, threw in swift and nimble flips, glided better than Michael Jackson, walked on their hands and writhed like cobras with such finesse it appeared they had no bones in their bodies. T

he models came on strutting in some interesting creations and it was back to music. This time it was rapper Xtreme. His was a performance of obscenities splashed with the “f” word and belted with such ferocity and speed you would swear something was wrong with him.

Had he just read what was on display at Roland Tbirutsya’s stall? The painter had on his canvas some “truth about hip-hop”, downloaded from the website of controversial American preacher, Craige “The Messenger” Lewis to the effect that secular hip-hop is the devil’s tool to hoodwink young people and keep them away from God. The information included “hip-hop’s unspoken ten commandments” that included, among others, coveting expensive things like cars, doing drugs and having lots of sex.

Many read this information attentively which the born-again painter had displayed “to mainstream God’s truth and show the young people that being a celebrity or having power minus righteousness is wickedness.”

If Xtreme had annoyed the moralists in the crowd, it was worse when the Maisha Girls in their half-naked state put up what – without mincing words – was a pornographic show. Their erotic twists and gyrations is fodder for patrons in some red light bar but not for Ugandans. They soon coupled up with their male counterparts to grind and bump against each, making a frenzied group of boys at the mouth of the stage to remove their shirts and lick their lips.

Is this the talent Wapi is nurturing?

Even guest artiste Mad Ice was disturbed. As soon as he grabbed a microphone, he lambasted the likes of Xtreme to stop “being 50 Cent” and watch their content for “it’s not good for the young people.”

The Gwe Wange singer also challenged the audience not to accept dirty stuff from the performers, and upcoming artistes to stop miming and get real if they want to make a mark.

At 8p.m., when the show ended, as I found my way home, I wondered if the ferocious sun had had something to do with the generally corruptible performances. But the poor turn up coupled with the lackadaisical response was hint enough that the honeymoon between the British Council organised event and the audience is over. The organisers might want to change rules, and pretty soon, if Wapi is going to have a positive impact and win the respect of all.

--Daily Monitor, Monday, October 19, 2008.

The Internet makes inroads in rural Uganda

The spread of the Internet to rural areas has sparked off excitement among residents giving them hope for future flourishing businesses through communication with the outside world writes Dennis D. Muhumuza

The rate at which Ugandans are tapping into the Internet especially after the introduction of District Information Portals countrywide is exciting analysts who see it more than President Museveni’s fascination with industrialisation and modernisation of agriculture as the fastest way through which natives will be pulled from the doldrums of poverty by availing them with important information and changing the way they do business.

The portals project started five years ago under the Rural Communication Development Fund from the World Bank with Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) acting as the regulatory body.

The initiative fits in the larger Rural Communication drive of expanding Internet to rural communities by having as many Internet kiosks and setting up what are called Internet points of presence at every district headquarter. To make this possible, UCC availed private proprietors of Internet cafes in rural districts with more computers, strong bandwidth, generators and the necessary software, and also contracted MTN and UTL telecom companies to fix the said Internet points of presence in the 80 districts of Uganda.

The vibrancy of Internet in districts brought by these Internet kiosks and Internet points of presence coupled with the village phones programme has roused many even in the far-flung districts of Uganda to value the use of Internet which they see as a potent factor in communication throughout the world.

Also, they have learnt that whoever controls content in this generation has power because more people want to know what’s happening and what’s new.

Yet the websites remained stagnant until May last year when they were officially handed over to be managed by the respective districts.

Before this, UCC would meet the cost of hosting, updating and maintenance. Each district now pays an annual cost of Shs1.2m for the domain name, registration, hosting and maintenance but whatever information they want on their websites is for the district officials to decide.

“Since 2005, we’ve been trying to have our district portals running, unfortunately due to managerial problems we didn’t have access to these websites but things have changed because we now have full authority of our access,” says Iganga District Information officer, Mr Daniel Saire. “This is the way to go because it gives the districts an opportunity to market themselves and communicate to the outside world. As a district, we need to mobilise and interest our people in the use of Internet. We can start with schools and if we start with the youngsters, by the time they turn 30 or 50, every body will have caught up.”

Busia, Pallisa to Rukungiri among others are vigorously posting new information on their websites. Although updates are lacking and a lot is still desired in how some of these websites look, it’s a step in the right direction; the revolution is in gear.

Besides the coverage of their social, political and economic infrastructure, including human interest stories intended to entice potential investors and tourists, the districts are also branding themselves on their home pages. Bushenyi is ‘officially’ “a model district”, Gulu is the seen as the “Hub of NGOs”, Rukungiri is the “Land of Bahororo” and Kabale is the “Switzerland of Africa.”

To live up to the perception that that they are referral centres as far as local information is concerned, digital maps showing the location of the district, tenders, jobs, district budgets and development plans are now accessible on the district websites.

The plan is to work with the private sector as well, so that a visitor to the district can find information on where to get the best accommodation, hospitals, schools, hotels and where to start a business.

The websites also communicate market prices so vendors can for example visit the sites of multiple districts to compare prices and then purchase from those they think will boost their profits. The businessmen in rural Uganda can as well take advantage of the district websites to market their products or services globally without being limited by their geographical positions. This has been made easy by search engines like Google or Yahoo, which pick up uploaded content for online researchers and other users.

In fact, it’s because Google knows the future of Internet depends on local content, experts say, that it has registered many a country’s domain. Computer geek and one of the trainers of the first batch of district officials, Yuda Muganda, says once Ugandans are given a reason as why they should be on the net, a mass criteria will happen whereby even farmers in the remotest district will be rushing to their district website for information on where to find the best market for their products or services.

Muganda uses a simple illustration to shed more light on this: “I’ve always been looking for a Blackberry phone on the Ugandan market and the cheapest I found is Shs500,000 but by using the Internet I’ve discovered that in Kenya I can get it for Shs200,000,” he says

As districts continue to handle their information, a private company, Rural Digital Media (RDM), still plays its part in regard to training; equipping the district officials with the necessary skills to update and sustain their sites, changing the layouts of the websites to make them distinct from others, as well as helping out in difficult technical aspects.

The project coordinator of District Information Portals under RDM, Mr Brian Rwehabura says database is being created to be tied with the SMS component. This means if one wanted know how many kilometres there are to travel to Soroti from Kampala, the person merely uses his phone to send a code to 188 which will automatically go to the databases on website and pick the desired information.

Mr Rwehabura added: “Most of the content on the websites has actually been translated into the local languages. You find most of the websites in western Uganda are in Runyankole-Rukiga, if you go to northern Uganda you have the Luo, the Lugbara, in east and we have Lusoga and Ateso for the north east.”

He says the information portals project has helped some districts generate money by selling advertising space to companies and NGOs who well know the websites attract multitude readers in the diaspora.

As the Internet is the world’s biggest library and therefore an essential ingredient of the information superhighway, it makes sense that its usage is being encouraged throughout the country but of more significance is that even those in the remotest parts of the country are empowered to transform their lives and define the greater socio-economic destiny of this country.

--Daily Monitor, Wenesday, October 15, 2008

Crazy storms

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

Theatre enthusiasts that were at the National Theatre on Wednesday evening celebrated the 46th Independence anniversary early. On the menu was a free, script-in-hand performance of Crazy Storms, a play by experienced Ugandan actor, director and playwright Philip Luswata.

This script-in-hand phenomenon is new, at least to the local theatre lovers, but the moment the five-member cast led by seasoned actor, Kwezi Kaganda Ruhinda (of Theatre Factory), appeared on stage, and began reading their scripts out loud, the audience were riveted.

It is amazing that in the absence of makeup, costuming and other dramatic effects, the actors could rely on their vocal abilities to convincingly express their strong feelings, fears and vulnerability.

The one-act play is set in a refugee camp, or to bring it closer home, an internally displaced people’s camp, peopled with characters who, driven by the survival instinct, often find themselves in tricky and amusing situations which they try to come out unscathed.

Babadi (Kwezi Kaganda) is a sex-starved, broke and frustrated teacher and a classic voyeur that brags about authority he possesses not and uses self-made pompous titles such as Resident Refuge Camp Officer in Charge and Refugee Internal Affairs and Rules Compliance Supervisor to intimidate others and solicit for sex from ladies, which he never gets by the way. You have to laugh at Babadi’s lasciviousness as he never ceases complaining about the lack of some (sex). With his flaws, Babadi is the fulcrum of the play and vividly brings out the humanity in many a man.

Then there is Munduki (Abu Kawenja) with his fat and protruding belly which betrays his fondness of food. He’s not interested in innuendo; you would think he’s a capon! Spare him the blabber; give him food. When anyone tries to say something, he punches the table: “Shut up!” because all he wants is to eat.

It helped that the script draws from real life experience where, because of poor leadership, people become victims of circumstances as they are torn away from the normal life and end up in refugee camps because of insurrection.

Even in the camps where you expect they would live in harmony as people sharing a common plight, you meet schemers like Maneno (Geresome Mayanja), an unrepentant crook, trickster and schemer who uses carefully planned ruses to enrich himself at the expense of others.

And if you are a young woman that happens to be Sharon (Susan Bamutenda), with all the sexual appeal, you become the object of interest; every lusty male wants a piece of you; you would be harassed into madness but you are a strong character, so you ignore them and try to keep sanity in the camp. She tells a distraught Munduki who has lost his restaurant to a fire: “The most important thing is that you still have life. You can rebuild all that.”

This is the biggest statement in the play; it’s the heart of the play with a concealed message: that suffering or loss is not the end. It implies that however crazy the storms, a man must hold on, stick his chest out and never surrender.

The author mirrors the grim reality of life; the folly and wickedness of humanity, but carefully builds a gripping, optimistic climax as people begin to leave the camp and return home.

The script is a product of the play-devising workshop by Performing Arts Cooperation between Sweden and Eastern Africa and was read live to an audience to “test its intonation and comic relief elements” according to its director, Mr. Richard Kagolobya, a lecturer of drama at Makerere University.

It will be performed at the fifth Eastern Africa Theatre Institute festival in Ethiopia next month before it is brought back home to a real stage performance in different schools and theatre halls around the country.

--Daily Monitor, Saturday, October 11, 2008

UFN brings Ugandan filmakers together

Ms Joanita Bewulira - Wandera is an actress, script writer, director and Head of Communication of the Uganda Film Network (UFN). The Last King of Scotland casting director told DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA about how UFN is determined to help Uganda’s film industry.

What led to the establishment of UFN?
The UFN was launched this year in response to the absence of a well established body that could control film content in Uganda. Although there are some good productions, our society has been fed on substantial amount of substandard material that’s detrimental to our society. Secondly, we were getting a lot of international film companies coming here and exploiting Ugandans through poor pay and poor working conditions. I’m not saying that all the film companies mistreated Ugandans but in the absence of a film body our people could not be advised. A lot of movies being shot about Uganda have been taken elsewhere; for example earlier this year there was a film by a Dutch company called White Light about Joseph Kony; it was shot here in Uganda for 10 days and for two months in South Africa. Ugandans were flown down to South Africa; Ugandan cars were taken to South Africa yet all this income could have come to Uganda and jobs created. So UFN is here to bring together Ugandan film people as part of one network, to streamline a plan of action in dealings with foreign film companies and ensure that works of excellence are produced in Uganda.

You talked of the control of film content. How are you going to do that and what is acceptable content?
First of all, I would like to explain that we are not imposing ourselves on anyone; so we can only do this with our members if they agree to let us see their work. Unfortunately there isn’t really script culture in Uganda; people have ideas, shoot and improvise the dialogue. But where we are approached we’ll advise our members about lighting, sound and the content; we can’t really control things like pornography but we would strongly advise our members not to go in that direction. We’ve a strong team of directors, actors, editors and producers, so we are in a very strong position to be able to help and advise. I’m hoping we will get quality work; films that educate, inform and at the same time will entertain and build the moral fabric of society.

Ugandan obsession with Nigerian films is well known. How is UFN going to help our filmmakers supersede that?
By nurturing the enormous talent we have and using it in a comprehensive, well-driven, well-timed, well-aimed and well-produced manner and by also marketing our productions and the country’s spectacular sights like the source of the Nile, forests and winding rivers, mountain ranges and islands which could act as great scenic locations for foreign filmmakers.

Isn’t UFN promising much in the absence of a film institution and with little formal training in film making for the few Ugandans in the business?
Not really. The annual Maisha Film Lab brings in the directors and mentors from all over the world and we are encouraging our members to attend these workshops because there’s more to learn. Secondly, UFN is working jointly on a major film project that will be able to show our members and say –you want to make a selling movie –this is how to make it. We are also going out of our way to find out possible workshops; we attend as many as we can ourselves so that we can pass on information to our members.

What has been hampering the growth of Uganda’s film industry?
The red tape; many film makers have been frustrated because they are given such a hard time in getting permissions for locations and for using certain props and in shooting in certain areas and that’s something that needs to be streamlined. Also the industry does not pay, for example, filming is done only on the weekends to cut on the costs and time, otherwise in the ideal world we would be shooting for a stretch of a month or maybe more. Most films are rushed jobs because many local film makers are still struggling financially and yet they are not getting much support like the music or theatre industry. We want to reawaken the culture of watching films because we’ve got pay TV and people are glued to that but we want to revive the culture of going to cinema halls to watch films because without an audience there to watch them; no matter how many we make it’s still not going to help. In fact, we have started film shows at the National Theatre and we’ve gone a step further in establishing a Friday film night at Bat Valley theatre where only Ugandan films are shown.

--Daily Monitor, Friday, October 10, 2008

I can't deny my ancestry

I'm Nubian and one of the grandchildren of the late Idi Amin Dada. My name is Ugly, Abbass Amin told Dennis D. Muhumuza

Anyone who has heard, read and watched films about Idi Amin Dada knows that beyond his capriciousness, he was a man who captivated more than he repelled. When “Big Daddy” got down to dishing out tips to Ugandan pugilists, playing his beloved accordion or wooing pretty women, he was simply irresistible.

Would the lustrous elements of the Kakwa boy who was deficient in formal education but ruled Uganda for nine years, be reflected in one of his grandsons, a rapper? It appeared not on first sight. The wiry and glum-faced Abbass Hassan Muhammad Ibrahim Amin was wearing wrinkled black leather boots that could do with some mending at the cobbler’s. But when he introduced himself, it was with a burst of energy tinged with characteristic assertiveness that was known to strike fear in the hearts of those who knew his grandfather well.

“I’m Nubian and one of the grandchildren of the late Idi Amin Dada,” he thundered. “My name is Ugly.” Looking him over: The not-so-shapely big nose, lips and rough outlook brought him closer, physically, to his own description.

“Don’t raise your eyebrows,” he said, “Ugly stands for “U gotta love yourself!”

The self-loving 25-year-old is the only son of Hassan Amin and Aisha Ibrahim Rajabip. His father, who shares a mother with Taban Amin was an air force soldier in the 70s and died in 1986. His mother, a business woman, stays in Kibuli. Ugly won’t say more but readily talks about the good his grandfather did.

“People shouldn’t just say that Amin was terrible. They are supposed to see what he did. He liberated the country from mental slavery whereby we did think that it was only the Asians to run our economy. But now move around Kampala; it’s we the Ugandan people running our own economy,” he said.

Ugly is alluding to the 1972 “economic war” in which Amin expelled about 80,000 Asians and handed over their businesses and properties to the locals. It disturbs Ugly a lot that his blood relation with Idi Amin is affecting his music career: “I would have gotten a promoter by now but for my association with my late grandfather. A gentleman came to me and said, 'I would have helped you because I like your music but the problem is because of this.' But you know you can never run away from yourself. I mean I’m Amin’s blood and there’s no way I can run away from that. I’m composing a song that will make people accept me and forget about the bad side [of Amin]; why have beef with a dead person; when someone is gone, whether he was a murderer or a thug, we just have to look at the positive side and move on.”

Moving on is what Ugly is doing through hip-hop, a lifestyle began at inter-school music contests during his early formative years in Nairobi. He returned home in 1997 after Standard eight at Mashimoni Primary School and attended Kololo High School, and later on Kololo SSS to study Physics, Chemistry and Biology (PCB).

“I would be a doctor by now but I was very crazy, which resulted in poor academic performance prompting me to do a diploma in counselling rather than studying medicine at university,” he says.

It’s not that Ugly has any regrets, after all he counsels using hip-hop. In Break Through, for example, he warns against drugs: “As a teenager, drug abuse nearly wrecked my life; we used to sniff shoe gum just to be high…I was taken to a rehabilitation centre in Nairobi and when I came out, I said I was not going to do drugs any more because drugs destroy.”

Ugly’s music, done in many languages is reminiscent of Bongo Flava from Tanzania (and Kenya). “I rap in Nubi because I’m Nubian; I rap in Swahili so that I can be embraced in East Africa; and in French because when I go to Kigali, I can easily be welcomed.”

His is what is called conscious rap; focusing on the suffering of street children, ethnic rivalries, poverty, a poor education system, unemployment, crime, insecurity, child labour and how these weigh heavily on society. He also preaches hard work, reassurance, togetherness and love.

In Una Nubi, he implores Nubians to come from their hideouts and accept their identity. And in Cing-Cing, he uses the symbolism of a beautiful bird that has left him, to tell a true story of how his girlfriend left him because of the attention he was giving hip-hop.

As the man behind Arise Hip-hop Uganda with its membership of over 70 youths, Ugly is determined to help hip-hop culture find acceptance in Uganda, and also guide young people to keep away from drugs, alcohol and sex.

“We are moving to schools and to NGOs like Naguru Teenage Centre advocating, as Barack Obama says, "change we can believe in" and the only change for the young people that Arise Hip-Hop Uganda is coming up with is captured under one theme: Rise up and move on,” he says.

Ugly performs and emcees at the Hip-hop Night at Sabrina’s Pub on Tuesday nights. When he hit the stage last Tuesday, clad in a black T-shirt with a scary monster plastered on it, Ugly roused the audience with a magnetic performance of his militaristic hit, 999.

He has also found time to write a movie script titled Ugandan Hustler. “What’s the right way to hustle?” he asks, “Should we steal? No. Should we work? Yes. But how should we work? cientifically, the definition of work is force times distance. So that person who gets a metal bar and hits someone and goes away with the money, is working. But it’s wrong work which we can never embrace as Arise Hip-hop Uganda.”

In 2030 or after, Ugly will be playing politics because, “I’ll be a little older and wiser and Hon. Amama Mbabazi and President Yoweri Museveni would have retired!”

For now, he’ll do with his circumstances, not minding his weathered boots as he directs Arise Hip-hop Uganda, cuts more CDs and labours towards the reunification of the Idi Amin fraternity. Then his reward will be a royal Nubian Crown, should there be such a thing!

--Daily Monitor, Monday October 6, 2008