As Dr Pamela Khanakwa reflected on the life and passing of the good physician in 2016, Uganda agrees that in losing Dr Lukwiya, we lost not just a medical doctor, but a resource quantifiable in material terms.
It is in this spirit that I come to the passing of our friend, Hajji Hussein Kyanjo. May Hajji Kyanjo be the last—to die under suspicious circumstances (of poisoning)!
Beyond the many positive testimonies that have followed his passing, how does one make the country appreciate the material— yes, the material—loss of Hajji Kyanjo?
Yes, it is easy to appreciate the intellectual, and emotional loss—as a man of eloquence and impeccable integrity—but how do we begin to quantify, in clear-cut material terms, the loss of this man—and many excellent folks before him?
At the risk of appearing materialistic—in this very materialistic world—it is my humble proposition that the day we learn to quantify and visualise the excellent folks amongst us as some form of financial investment or natural resources (with business linkages, employees, streams of income), it will be the day we will start to protect the best amongst us with our lives, even in the midst of intense disagreement.
IT WILL FINALLY EAT ALL OF US
If there is anything I have ever wanted to achieve with writing this column, it is persuading readers that despite living under a dictatorship presided over by Yoweri Museveni, our problems—especially our poverty, which is the mother of all other afflictions—are bigger than Yoweri Museveni.
Yes, he presides over the government, but he is not really in charge. He might be all-threatening, and dangerous, imprisoning and buying off opponents, but Bwana Museveni is not the CEO. He is a worker like all of us—like the comprador, John Karanja in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s A Grain of Wheat.
While they work for the coloniser, they actually have some power, and use it crudely to keep a favoured position. We have a bigger battle ahead of us all —far bigger than John Karanja and his associates—and will need all of us, and mostly, the best from amongst us (including those presently in Museveni’s camp and clan).
Thus, every time, a brilliant, and well-accomplished Ugandan dies — often under suspicious circumstances — we will always come here, to not only quarrel with those suspected to have killed him/her, but to remind the country that there are only a few of them, and the more we lose them, the loss is not just moral/intellectual, but most importantly, material (in terms of jobs, taxes, goods and services, forex, security, liberational possibilities, etcetera) and this loss affects the entire country.
The loss might appear distant, but will eventually catch up with all of us, including those who masterminded the killing of our finest individuals (their children or grandchildren).
When a man of Hajji Hussein Kyanjo’s qualities is killed or simply incapacitated, there is a small victory to those who masterminded his incapacitation.
It could be in the form of a longer stay in power (more time working for the coloniser); or the gates of corruption are enabled to open wider, if Kyanjo was seen as the stumbling block. But the cost of losing Kyanjo is paid by the entire country, immediately and in the time ahead. Because of the difficulties with counting and making visible the cost to the entire country, killers are content with the small victories and easily roll on to their next target.
HOW MUCH WE LOST
The investment it takes to produce a man like Archbishop Dr Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, Dr Sheikh Anas Kaliisa, Sheikh Nuhu Muzaata Batte, late Speaker Jacob Oulanyah, Col Nobel Mayombo, Dr Sulaiman Kiggundu, Lt Gen Paul Lokech, Justice Joan Kagezi, Justice Kenneth Kakuru, among many others, is huge; it includes incredible amounts of resources, time, and patience.
(Even if they used their accomplishments, presently, to the wrong ends, the possibility of turning into good folks under a new regime of politics ought not to be downplayed. Some of these folks are simply useful elegant machines). Add any names onto the list of excellent folks we lost to political squabbles since independence – without running their full course of service. (Yes, God has asked us to establish the cause of every death).
If we saw these men and women as natural resources, we would be protecting them at all costs, the same way we protect the Owen Falls dam, Lake Victoria or the gold mines in Mubende. Consider, for example, the networks these folks create at home and abroad —networks from actual resources and revenues grow.
Consider the doors they open and close with their arguments; arguments that become policy in some cases, which in turn affect flows of income and capital into the country. Or arguments which simply become inspirational quotes for people to work hard and be better. It is really enormous and difficult to quantify with precision.
The point I am labouring here is that we have a small number of excellent human beings. And in cases of enormous talents, we have not had the resources to develop them. To this end, the few we have ought to be seen as absolutely essential for our survival.
We might disagree, but let not a few cowrie shells lead us to killing each other. When the big praying-mantis strikes—and is always striking—there will be only the weak amongst us left. May the Almighty Allah grant Hajji Kyanjo the highest place in Jannah!
Allahuma Ameen!
yusufkajura@gmail.com
The author is a political theorist based at Makerere University.
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