From railway station manager to hospitality

“Iruhura has fresh air and no noise. I catch the view of part of Kibale National Park and during the day you can see the cape at Mount Rwenzori in Kasese District,” he says,  adding that he bought part of this land using his savings at Uganda Railways Corporation in anticipation of retirement. I also did private business because salary was inadequate,” Tushabe adds.

In 1972, Tushabe dropped out of Makerere University after one month to take care of his mother Ziporrah Rwamushekuzi who was then hospitalised at Kambuga Hospital after a domestic violence incident at home.

Tapping into work

A one Savura in Jinja handed Tushabe a copy of Voice of Uganda, a newspaper with a job advert from East Africa Railway Corporation.

“They wanted someone who had completed A-Level from East African countries. I applied,”  Tushabe said.

In November 1972, Tushabe went to Kenya for interviews, which he passed and enrolled at the Training School of East Africa Railway and attained certificates in Advanced Business Administration, Office Management and, Transport and Marketing. He completed as senior station master in 1975.

On return from Kenya, his first appointment  was station master in Gulu District. His role was to take care of all consignments with exports and imports. This did not come without challenges.

“Smuggling was the order of the day at the time.  I rejected bribes and many were unhappy with me,” Tushabe recalls.

He was later transferred to Pakwach in 1976. One day, a Senegalese businessman approached Tushabe with fake documents to take away some goods but his plan failed.

Because of his trustworthiness, Tushabe was promoted but kept at the same workstation because it was a beehive of activity. 

Three years later, he was posted to the control office of Kampala Railway Station. With his friends they started a railway training school in Jinja which he headed until the end of President Obote II reign.

Back to office

In 1986, he grew through the ranks from general senior traffic officer to heading training operations and marketing and controlling ships going to Kisumu. Then, he became a Uganda railways representative to Kenya, a position he held up to 1992.

“I had to deal with business of Uganda by clearing imports and exports, especially fuel. Business was good while in Kenya. Part of my job involved making payments but there was a payment of $350,000 which I had not authorised. I stopped the payment and wrote to the Interpol to come and investigate but this did not augur well with the powers that be and  my services were terminated,” he recounts. 

He returned to Uganda where he was asked to revive the railway training school but turned down the offer,  opting to retire. in 1992.

Planning for retirement

During 17 years of employment, Tushabe says everyday he worked hard, saved part of his salary and looked forward to receive his pension and wanted to buy a piece of land.

“I saved and got a bank loan to top up and buy a piece of land. Alongside my job, I used to deal in produce; buying and selling coffee, beans and maize,” Tushabe says.

With premature retirement, he settled in Kasese District where he continued business. This grew his business network to DR Congo. He used to save with Uganda Cooperative Bank and Uganda Commercial Bank and he was among the biggest shareholders in the cooperative bank. Unfortunately, the bank closed in 1999, and he lost all his properties worth about Shs1.24b and documents.

“I lost all my documents in the bank, I had nowhere to go and complain and my properties were sold off and when Bank of Uganda came to take over cooperative banks they did not give me my documents. I am still demanding my money and President Museveni has intervened in the matter to see that I am compensated. I am waiting,” Tushabe says.

Projects

In 2017, when the government started plans of elevating Fort Portal to a city status, Tushabe also started planning on how to tap into opportunities.

He says he partitioned part of his land where his home sits to establish Karobwa Summit View  which comprises commercial cottages for accommodation but based on Christian values.

The head of laity for Ruwenzori Diocese named some of his cottages after the former archbishops of Church of Uganda such as Ntagali, Nkoyoyo and Orombi.  

Tushabe who is also a member of Banyakigezi Living in Fort Portal city, has contributed to the development of Iruhura in the construction of roads, schools, health facility, churches and vocational schools.

Advice

He says those  in public offices should resist all forms of corruption and focus on serving people.

“People should learn how to live within their means and also invest in social capital. Do your best at work. God knows you,” Tushabe said.

He says the current civil servants are not respected like in the past because of rampant corruption which the government is trying to curb, while some do not work hard.