UGANDA - Kampala (2001)

Kampala: 13.09.2001

We reached Entebbe last night at 11.00 pm, on schedule. Entebbe was earlier the capital of Uganda, as the Brits preferred the beaches beside Lake Victoria and the golf courses in the area. Entebbe literally means 'seat of power'. The current capital is Kampala, around 40 km from Entebbe. Our customers, the Manji family (father and son) had come to meet us and they took us to Kampala and dropped us at the Sheraton. Their kindness also included offering us coffee and keeping us awake till 2.00 am!

Kampala is not a very big city, with a population of around a million. The upkeep is quite bad though and none of the street-lights work. Roads outside the city are okay but inside they are full of potholes and very very congested. Crime rate has also climbed quite a lot, the gangs having learnt a few tricks from their Kenyan counterparts. But apparently, value of life in Uganda is lower and they will kill even for petty theft. Most businessmen keep armed guards and dogs on their premises........

Our Manji members are also a pretty influential lot. Listen to this story. Their warehouse and main offices are in the Industrial Area, where organised break-ins are very common. Now Manji heard through the grapevine that there will be a break-in at his premises very soon. He went to a 'high-up' army friend and asked him for a loan of two 'boys'. Then he dressed the soldiers in mufti and posted them along with normal guards at his warehouse. They were soon approached by the gang and told to co-operate in exchange of money, which the soldiers masquerading as watchmen accepted. They also learnt the date of the break-in. Our man Manji told the soldiers that he will pay $30/- for each corpse! Thirteen guys came to rob the warehouse that night and their van was allowed to enter the courtyard. After witnessing 10 mins of looting, the soldiers changed into uniform, uncovered a machine gun in the upper story and blew apart 10 of them. One guy was still alive and begged for mercy but the soldiers executed him for the thirty dollars. One escaped unhurt and hanged himself. One escaped with a stomach-injury, but could not obtain treatment as the two soldiers had blocked all hospital admissions. He died of gangrene. The soldiers claimed the prize-money for that as well. The full police department landed up early in the morning with the bodies still around. The soldiers asked Manji whether the police were giving him trouble! Then they asked the police top-brass to carry the bodies and lay them in a straight line in front of the van for a posed photograph. They also told the police chief that this picture should jolly well be published on the front page, and it was! It's a cruel land and as Manji says: "If you aren't a bit like the mafia, you're dead!"

Aids is rampant here -- 60% of the locals have it. There are villages in Uganda completely wiped out by Aids. There are families where the head is only eight years old! Manji himself has an adopted black daughter of one of his workers who, together with his wife, died of Aids when the daughter was just one year old. She is now 15, and luckily, Aids-free........

We had lunch at an Indian restaurant where the cooking was really very good. After lunch, we were given a car and driver to see two sights that are worth seeing around here -- the Bujagoli Falls, and the source of the Nile. The falls are not high but a favourite place for 'white-water rafting'. The source of the Nile is a river starting from Lake Victoria. It is nothing spectacular, but having seen Nile at the end of its journey at Cairo and Alexandria, and in between at Khartoum, it sort of rounded off the experience by seeing it at the source as well. We watched the sun set over Lake Victoria, sitting at a restaurant aptly called Sunset Point.

LINK TO KAMPALA ALBUM

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