Thursday, November 08, 2007
Notes on Kampala
Are you ready for CHOGM? The Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting is coming to Kampala this November. And the city is going CRAZY! I have NEVER been in a city as clean as Kampala is right now – no rubbish anywhere. Streets are being redone, hotels are still being built, the ‘thugs’ are being carted up and shipped to a ‘rehabilitation camp’ outside of the city limits... And everywhere there are billboards asking: Are you ready for CHOGM? or Let’s Embrace CHOGM. Let’s Embrace the World. or Uganda has been ready for centuries (I’m not sure what this one means, actually).
Just Say No To Sugar Daddies: Cross-Generational Sex Stops with YOU! Speaking of billboards, this series of billboards around town are extremely well made, very professional, and have big labelled pictures: Sugar Daddy, Sugar Baby, Community Members. Or maybe Concerned Community Members. I don’t remember. In the newspapers I also came across references to ‘cross-generational sex’. I don’t think I’d heard that phrase before, but it has become part of the common parlance of Kampala, I guess.
Museveini is referred to as ‘M7’ in shortened newspaper headlines. Kind of clever. The Inspector Governor General (or Inspector General Governor – not sure about the order) fired the Attorney General while I was in Kampala. When I asked a Ugandan how long he has been the President, she paused for quite a while, asked another Ugandan, who didn’t know for sure, and then said, ‘Well, I guess 21 years. Well. I guess we don’t really think about that any more. But yes, 21 years. A long time!’ The front page headline one day was ‘Museveini says he doesn’t need 5 million’ – referring to the Mo Abrahim prize to former African Heads of State, rewarding them for good governance and whatnot. ‘Look at me,’ says Museveini, ‘I don’t need 5 million. I am very rich.’
Just Say No To Sugar Daddies: Cross-Generational Sex Stops with YOU! Speaking of billboards, this series of billboards around town are extremely well made, very professional, and have big labelled pictures: Sugar Daddy, Sugar Baby, Community Members. Or maybe Concerned Community Members. I don’t remember. In the newspapers I also came across references to ‘cross-generational sex’. I don’t think I’d heard that phrase before, but it has become part of the common parlance of Kampala, I guess.
Museveini is referred to as ‘M7’ in shortened newspaper headlines. Kind of clever. The Inspector Governor General (or Inspector General Governor – not sure about the order) fired the Attorney General while I was in Kampala. When I asked a Ugandan how long he has been the President, she paused for quite a while, asked another Ugandan, who didn’t know for sure, and then said, ‘Well, I guess 21 years. Well. I guess we don’t really think about that any more. But yes, 21 years. A long time!’ The front page headline one day was ‘Museveini says he doesn’t need 5 million’ – referring to the Mo Abrahim prize to former African Heads of State, rewarding them for good governance and whatnot. ‘Look at me,’ says Museveini, ‘I don’t need 5 million. I am very rich.’
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]