Thumbs up to Uganda Police

I have always had a different notion about the way the police operates in Uganda not until yesterday. To many people, the police in this country is associated with all forms of violent behavior from tear gas and pepper spraying opposition leaders during the infamous 'Walk To Work' protests last year to high corruption. But yesterday my earlier notion about the conduct of our police officers was proved wrong.

It all began last week on Saturday when i decided to take my laptop to Kampala to have its hinge repaired. My final destination was Kampala Road as that is where most computer technicians are located. I made up my mind to have it repaired at E.M PLAZA. Before i entered the plaza i met a marketing guy handing out flyers to passersby. He stealthy noticed i was carrying a laptop and inquired whether i saw selling it or for repair. I replied that i needed it repaired to which he offered to take me to the shop he was marketing. He took me to O.J Investments in room 109 in the basement floor

I met Jimmy, the chief technician and we negotiated the costs involved to which he asked me to deposit at least three quarters of the total cost. I obliged and keenly told him that i wanted my laptop as soon as possible since i use it very often for my work. He assured me that it would be ready if i only give him three hours to finish the job. I left his shop by 11 am and told him i would be back by 2pm for my laptop. I went to see my friend at Equatorial shopping mall and by 2pm i was back at Jimmy's for my machine. I was told that he had given it to some guy in Kiseka market to repair the hinge and he was done, that he was on the way bringing my laptop back.

I waited up to 4 pm but Jimmy kept on telling me how my laptop was on the way. I began smelling a rat since Kiseka market is just a 10 minutes ride on a Boda-boda to Kampala road. Also Jimmy's behavior was not helping much, he had not even a speck of customer care in him. He kept me waiting at his shop for three hours without even offering a seat to me. He just went on minding his business without any care in the World that i too had other things to do. When i clocked 5pm i told him to tell me when my laptop would be ready and he told me to come back the next day which was a Sunday and most of all Eid day. I never bothered to go to his place on a public holiday until yesterday Monday which was a working day.

Guess what happened..........same story your laptop is on the way, time check 10 am. I lounged around his shop up-to midday but my laptop was no show, still same story 'Guy is coming". Talking to Jimmy was not helping much as he kept on telling me how he hates being pressurised and worst of all bragging to his mates how he is a 'Bad Man'. I lost my cool and decided to take things to another level. I thought of all the police men lounging around at City Square. I could get two or three to come and teach this Jimmy guy a lesson. I hit the road to City Square but on the way i made up my mind to try the Central Police Station (CPS) located nearby.

At CPS, i spotted two mean looking officers brandishing AK47 rifles, i thought 'yeah' these could do the job. I approached them and told them my situation to which they asked me whether i had a reference letter. I was told that i needed that letter in order to have some one arrested and i could only get it after recording my case inside the station. My first reaction was to ask how much i would be made to pay in order to report my case, amazingly these officers assured me i had to pay nothing. I had heard stories that you have to first pay in order to record your complaint with the police!. Also i hoped to find some meaning looking officers offer them some money to gO and teach my tormentor a lesson he would never forget, i did not think i would be made to follow criteria.

I had no choice but to venture into the much feared station where all my fears were dissolved. I met a lady who directed me to Room 7 from where i could get help, here i found two officer a lady and a gentleman. The lady officer advised to try and get the guy's telephone contact, there is a system at the station which gives room for negotiation between the aggrieved parties. The officer called Jimmy and talked with him for more than five minutes about my complaint. In the end the guy told me to go pick my laptop at his shop. A simple as that my case had been solved in an amicable way and i was not even asked for money for the airtime!. The lady assured me that if i go to Jimmy's and my laptop is not there, she was ready to go with me and other officers to have him arrested.

The magic worked, Jimmy hired a bike and i went with him to where he had put my machine and he refunded my money as the laptop had not been worked on. Though i did not get my laptop repaired, the incident made me realize the gentle side of police in solving conflicts. I say again thumbs up Uganda Police especially the officer in Room 7 at CPS.

Wake up call

THEY ARE STILL OUR SLAVES. We can continue to reap profits from the Blacks without the effort of physical slavery Look at the current methods of containment that they use on themselves: IGNORANCE, GREED, and SELFISHNESS.

Their IGNORANCE is the primary weapon of containment (we think we know a lot yet we are ignorant of how the white man consistently gets rich). A great man once said, 'The best way to hide something from Black people is to put it in a book.' (This is an insult because we get education but we cram to pass but not to apply the knowledge to day-to-day life). We now live in the Information Age (the dot-com era/Facebook).

They have gained the opportunity to read any book on any subject through the efforts of their fight for freedom, yet they refuse to read (we think reading is for only the educated. This is a poisonous thought that will still keep us an undeveloped country for decades to come. It doesn’t matter how far u went to school or did not go at all, the way to success is through the books and these books are written by already successful people who want those who have big dreams like theirs to achieve them). There are numerous books readily available at Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com (theses are websites with the most bestselling books in the world written by successful investors to help people get successful like them) not to mention their own Black Bookstores that provide solid blueprints to reach economic equality (which should have been their fight all along), but few read consistently, if at all.

GREED is another powerful weapon of containment. Blacks, since the abolition of slavery, have had large amounts of money at their disposal. Last year they spent 10 billion dollars during Christmas (we Africans work to eat a lot of food at Christmas and forget to invest that money in order to stop being broke at the beginning of the year i.e. Jan-April), out of their 450 billion dollars in total yearly income (2.22%). Any of us can use them as our target market, for any business venture we care to dream up, no matter how outlandish, they will buy into it (poor class goods from China, Gay NGO’s, pornography). Being primarily a consumer people, they function totally by greed.

They continually want more, with little thought for saving or investing (Okukuba Enjawulo, counterfeiting products instead of establishing industries, busy waiting for the government to start up factories, yet it is busy giving out free land to foreign “investors”). They would rather buy some new sneaker than invest in starting a business. Some even neglect their children to have the latest Tommy or FUBU, and they still think that having a Mercedes, and a big house gives them 'Status' or that they have achieved their Dream. They are fools! (This is true because all these assets are not going to generate profits but just consume your money on maintenance fees). The vast majority of their people are still in poverty because their greed holds them back from collectively making better communities (not giving back to the community or working as a community to be developed we are still waiting for the miracle of FEDERAL a.k.a. FEDERO).

With the help of BET (Black Entertainment Television), and the rest of their black media that often broadcasts destructive images into their own homes (we have to stop feeling sorry for ourselves, get up and work for economic development, stop waiting upon the government to fulfill your dreams because it doesn’t know them. You alone know what you want in your life). We will continue to see huge profits like those of Tommy and Nike(Tommy Hilfiger has even jeered them, saying he doesn't want their money, and look at how the fools spend more with him than ever before!). They'll continue to show off to each other while we build solid communities with the profits from our businesses that we market to them.

SELFISHNESS, ingrained in their minds through slavery, is one of the major ways we can continue to contain them. One of their own, Dubois said that there was an innate division in their culture. A 'Talented Tenth' he called it. He was correct in his deduction that there are segments of their culture that have achieved some 'form' of success. However, that segment missed the fullness of his work. They didn't read that the 'Talented Tenth' was then responsible to aid The Non-Talented Ninety Percent in achieving a better life (these are ministers who ignore their duties or whoever is responsible). Instead, that segment has created another class, a Buppie class that looks down on their people or aids them in a condescending manner (most of our politicians who want to get big positions to live the “good life” and forget who voted them).

They will never achieve what we have (we have a lot of individualism, instead of fighting a common plague i.e. poverty); their selfishness does not allow them to be able to work together on any project or endeavor of substance (a lot of embezzlement of funds with no accountability or prosecution of the guilty in courts of law and those who can buy their way into the law get away with it). When they do get together, their selfishness lets their egos get in the way of their goal. Their so-called help organizations seem to only want to promote their name without making any real change in their communities (MP’s who only appear on funerals and turn them to rallies or campaigns). They are content to sit in conferences and conventions in our hotels, and talk about what they will do, while they award plaques to the best speakers, not to the best doers (those who talk a lot and do nothing are praised and those who do anything are not recognized, noisy politicians). Is there no end to their selfishness? They steadfastly refuse to see that TOGETHER EACH ACHIEVES MORE (TEAM WORK).

They do not have SHARED VISIONS. They do not understand that they are no better than each other because of what they own, as a matter of fact, most of those Buppies are but one or two pay checks away from poverty. All of which is under the control of our pens in our offices and our rooms. Yes, we will continue to contain them as long as they refuse to read (reading means to get KNOWLEDGE and KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. KNOWLEDGE IS WEALTH. We all go to school and read to pass exams which should not be the case. Reading means read material that will give you the knowledge to get closer to your dreams. They continue to buy anything they want, and keep thinking they are 'helping' their communities by paying dues to organizations that do little other than hold lavish conventions in our hotels (conferences that waste money while nothing helpful is discussed, while they are busy drinking all the milk and black tea, eating queen cakes and sleeping throughout the conversions waiting for the next food (health) break. By the way, don't worry about any of them reading this letter, remember, 'THEY DON'T READ!!!!

DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR ECONOMIC STATUS AND GET OUT OF THE POVERTY LIE, THE AVERAGE EARNER LINE? DO YOU SERIOUSLY WANT TO MAKE AN IMPACT IN THE WORLD, IN AFRICA AND MOST IMPORTANTLY IN YOUR COUNTRY (UGANDA)? YEAH, YOU AND I CAN MAKE IT. WE DO NOT NEED THE GOVERNMENT TO GIVE US A GOOD LIFE. WE CAN CHOOSE THE RIGHT PATH. LET’S JOIN HANDS IN THIS STRUGGLE FOR POSITIVE, JUST AND LASTING SOCIAL CHANGE. THIS IS NOT WOLOKOSO, IT IS REAL. (Someone shared this on Facebook)