BUWEMBO: Murder cases solve thyselves; we’re busy breaking up, squabbling etc

Conservative Kampala is at the start of a social revolution although some might say it is more advanced, maybe middle stages.

As the country marked its 57th Independence anniversary on October 9, Kampala’s most discussed event was a young man visiting his girlfriend’s home.

The assessment is not a casual guess, but based on social media data analytics. Hitherto little-known Doctor Hamza was visiting singer Rehema Namakula’s parents.

The event not only eclipsed national independence celebrations but also overshadowed the homecoming of national athletics heroes Halima Nakaayi and Joshua Cheptegei who had just won gold medals at the World Championships in Doha.

These were only the fifth and sixth world championship wins in the country’s 57 years – an average of one gold medal per decade! But unbothered Kampala was busier celebrating Rehema’s finding new love, after parting with singer Edirisa Musuuza, better known as Eddie Kenzo.

Ours has been a hitherto conservative society where people are not expected to quit relationships that aren’t working. Society has been following Rehema’s ‘suffering’ as Eddie was ‘wasting her time’ without proposing, yet they even have a daughter a few years old!

Fiery Muslim cleric Sheikh Nuhu Muzaata who prayed at the function used colourful language to castigate Eddie to the extent of saying that if Eddie had been looking for a woman with his mother’s character, let him marry his mother.

Eddie who was monitoring the visit from the US replied that his mother has been dead twenty years and shouldn’t be insulted in his daughter’s presence. ‘Baby’ Amaal was centre-stage of the visit, a traditionally adults only function.

That did it, public opinion that had all along been in Rehema’s favour started swinging to Eddie, elicited an apology from fiery sheikh.

But the city was still grappling with the slow motion break-up of top city pastor Aloysius Bugingo from his wife of three decades Teddy who is reluctant to let go, yet the man of God has found a younger, more appealing Suzan whom he has even introduced to his flock.

The confused public was still choosing sides in the Aloysius vs Teddy breakup and the Eddie vs Rehema show starts. Both cases are filling the mainstream media and also breaking the internet in this part of the world.

Mind you the public attention on couple breaking-ups intensifies amidst relentless senseless murders of people of all descriptions.

If two days pass without news of a murder, we might worry that the killers have devised new methods which take you several days to die when they killed you already.

Murder is the order of the day. Maybe people are resigned at the inability to reduce the murders and are hiding in paying attention to matters of breaking up.

There is an even bigger breakup in one of the country’s wealthiest families that owns some fifty properties atop the prime Kololo Hill. A son went to court seeking a declaration of mental incompetence against his dad to manage his property.

The father fought back and addressed the press, sounding extremely coherent. Court halted some previous orders as it looks into the matter.

Conservative Kampala society is scandalised at what is sees as an attempt to succeed a living person.

That is Uganda today; people resigned and fed up of the ever deteriorating security, no longer bothered with government affairs, are looking into family issues. God help us.