Rediscovering times; echoes from the 60s through Gureme’s eyes

The taste of freedom
Later when Uganda got her independence, FDR Gureme was to read much about the advancements of the road to independence through the Uganda Herald. The independence celebrations catapulted at the Pece stadium and these were followed by a sumptuous party at the Acholi Inn one of the hotels under the Uganda hotels chain. Another of such hotels was the Tropical Inn of Masaka.

“Obote later came to Gulu with the Duke and Duchess of Kent who slept in the presidential suit of the Acholi Inn whereas he slept in the other rooms of the hotel. This angered the natives so much as attested by their grumblings and teeth gnashing feeling it beholding for a man of his stature to also partake of the presidential suit”. At this time, FDR Gureme was in charge of the prime minister’s party in Gulu as most of the independence events unfolded.

Another pre-independence feature that stands out in Gureme’s memory is the book from a Kenyan he befriended around Basiita Inn, which was the “Serena hotel” of the time. The book was titled The heart of Africa by Alexander Campbell. The Kenyan who gave him this book was John Mathenge, who later became Kenya’s vice president. In his book, Campbell observed that Uganda was the only African country where an African was happy. Gureme notes that except for the Bugisu region which was politically advanced owing to its neighbouring of Kenya, the rest of the Uganda citizenry was still locked in the worship of the white masters.

Building a career in Gulu
FDR Gureme was posted to Gulu as ADC when he disagreed with his White seniors in Kampala in 1962. “I was not transferred to Gulu like any other civil servant, my change of post was a punishment,” explains Gureme. “I was made to believe by my friends in Kampala that the Acholi were bellicose, rude and very short-tempered,” further expounds the aged former civil servant. As a result of this, once in Gulu, Gureme was to assume social celibacy. His were misgivings born of ignorance, misinformation and prejudice.

After a few months in Gulu, Gureme was thoroughly disabused of his beliefs and prejudices. In a cocksure tone, he states that he never came across a single prostitute from Acholi. “The Acholi were extremely respectful of age and seniority. Such traits must have emanated from the army and police which they predominated.

“Such was the unique chivalry of the Acholi, open-minded people they were yet honest to the core”, recounts Gureme. A true Acholi does not cherish an enemy in the back, he faces up to him like a lion gets hold of its prey and settles the score without retreat.Like women elsewhere, the Acholi women too cherished little favoUrs and trinkets and building barricades around their sweethearts.”

Gureme breaks into unending laughter as he reads to me from his yet to be published book about the girl he met in Patongo who ensnared him with barricades of sweet bananas and cakes.

Having overcome his formerly biased conclusions about the Acholi, Gureme who then stayed at the government estates in Patongo became a fan of paying visits to his neighbours and having drives to the Patongo Market. The main exchange currency at the Patongo Market, East Acholi was unprocessed tobacco and thus it can be concluded that barter trade system dominated the exchange.

Finding fun in life
“Punctuality was a known quality of civil servants back in the days and so was effectiveness at the workplace,” strongly asserts Gureme. John Twinning, Gureme’s senior at work, who was the district commissioner of Gulu taught the young officials how to observe table etiquette and measure wine by the thumb. He was a son of the Lord with a dry sense of humour that made Gureme silently question his royalty considering his momentous jokes about the Duke of Edinburg whom he referred to as “the wife of the queen”.

Gureme chuckles at the memory of how some of his workmates spoke the queen’s language. With his close friend Paul Etiang who was a fresh graduate, he become a keen hunter of grossly high souring errors in oral or written expressions generally made by Asians and other colleagues at work who barely had an education.

A one Asian while distancing himself over a wrong doing was heard saying repeatedly, “I don’t think I don’t Know it, this is a wrong mistake”. Such twin negatives made the two “editors” of the queen’s language laugh endlessly.

Gureme then fondly tells me about the European game warden who took his thirst rather too seriously. He applied effective “medicine” in the form of alcohol to cure it.

A smile then begets the oval face of an aging Gureme as he talks about his late wife Christine Nakalema and how the two became espoused. He tells me that courteously of his great friends like John Kirya ( the late), his wife became the first ever Ugandan to fly to her honeymoon. However, had it not been for Peter Abe from the famous Eracito Okech family, then their successful match would never have occurred. “It was Abe who enabled me to win over the heart of this obdurate Namagunga college product and nurse at Gulu hospital,” notes a thankful Gureme. The couple got 10 children, however three have since passed on.

The surprising echo forming phenomena of the 60s was the simultaneously held party rallies in the north.

In Acholi, there was the late Alex Atim who was backed by the Catholics and Otema Alimandi on the other hand backed by the Anglicans. Without a clearly differentiated siding where the Muslims of Acholi. Parties were simply separated by the colours and a rope boundary demarcated each other’s boundaries.

“Political clashes were unheard of in the North; DP women would put their babies temporarily under the watch of their UPC rivals so as to join the crowds for a dance which characterised most of the rallies in Acholi”. Come evenings, opponents joined up for a meal at the Acholi Inn. Another striking feature was the keen attitude of the Acholi towards government official’s advice.

On the other hand in Eastern Uganda, the easterners Gureme reveals had suspicions about the British and doubted them mainly because they had witnessed first-hand the land grabbing in western Kenya. Yet to the Acholi and the rest of the citizenry, the whites were simply benevolent explorers who were to be worshipped.

However in Kigezi, people were so antagonistic even to their relatives when it came to differed political ideologies. “Once you were on the UPC side and your relative on the DP side then it meant the end of the blood relation.” Due to his UPC siding, Gureme faced a lot of backlash from his relatives who were mainly DP supporters. He asked to be transferred from Kigezi where he had become a District Commissioner after his stint in Gulu, or else he would resign from his position.

“More than ever before, I found a different political sphere in Kigezi, so much different from the cheery compatibility I witnessed between political parties in Acholi”, worrisomely explains the first Ugandan district commissioner of Kigezi.

He also remembers the unison in which all the parliamentarians voted to censure the prime minister regardless of their political affiliations. Following Daudi Ochieng’s motion in parliament about the wealth amassed by Idi Amin on behalf of Milton Obote from the loot in Democratic republic of Congo, the prime minister was censured by parliament. Yet Obote refused to resign, arrested all his ministers except John Kakonge who had voted in his favour.

Enjoying the sounds of jazz and lingala
Remarkably at the time, most parties were staged during day. During lunch or supper, jazz music was to be heard softly playing in the background at the Uganda hotels. Gureme notes “Personally I preferred jazz music because it allowed one the freedom to carry on a conversation during meal times without interference”.

Congolese music was also popular most especially with the army officials. Bands like the Kawonawo Rhino band ruled the musical airwaves.
These were complemented by the Nightingales and other European dance music. Ball-room dancing was the breath-taking stylish entertainment venture for many. It was the Rhumba, the Fox-trot, Tango, Waltz and Salsa for many.

“Ball-room dancing was common at Makerere and the Old-Budonians club”. He reveals that once you broke it to your feminine catch that you were taking her for ballroom dancing, she would gladly follow you like a dog. Another happening point was Kamuru which was located at present day Sir Apollo Kaggwa Primary School. It was here that James Mulwana, the tycoon worked as a bouncer.

Also not to be missed in the sixties were the splendorous theatric performances. The then governor Sir Andrew Cohen foresaw the building of the National theatre and the Lugogo Indoor stadium not forgetting his unwavering encouragements at the formation of cooperative societies. Gureme also beckons me not to forget Fred Masagazi, a man many consider to be the God-father of Kadongo-Kamu music plus the cranes bank which came up in the aftermath of independence-it was later to transform into what today is the Afrigo band.

When it came to education, the 60s have no match as far as quality of education that was given. “Actually, we the old generation undermine many of today’s graduates who write an application letters engulfed in erroneous grammar”, explains the baritone nearing voice of Gureme. Gureme talks of the churches that played a big role in education. The nursery equivalents were the sub-grade schools where one was taught how to write in sand. In these sub-grade schools, pupils had metal slates on which they wrote with a special clay pen.

Most if not all of the schools belonged to churches. It was only during Luyimbazi Zaake’s tenure as minister of education that the schools were taken over by government. Gureme then echoes the words of an old man who sheepishly prophesied that this takeover would mark the end of discipline in schools.

“Before the state took over the schools, there had never been a riot in schools, teachers were never to be associated with alcohol and discipline was a substantiated quality of every student”. Perhaps the great education and holistic formation may be attributed to the white teachers who were very particular when training students plus the active inspector of schools.

When mobiles were unheard of
When it came to communication, televisions like BBC dominated, not forgetting the Uganda Television. It was in 1963 that UTV was opened with production and transmission studios in Kampala. Radio Uganda was the only radio station of the time. There were community development departments that had Lorries which went around villages showing cinemas.

At this point, my eyes suddenly veer off to stare at Gureme’s TV set, so reminiscent of the 60s, enclosed in its wooden casing and of a Phillips make. He then talks about the newspapers that dominated the print media. The vernacular newspapers had Munno, Uganda Eyogeera (Uganda Speaks) and Taifa Empya a sister newspaper of the Daily Nation.

In the English forum, one was to be treated to the Uganda nation and the Argus. When I boast about the fact that today almost everyone owns a mobile phone, Gureme challenges me, arguing that the 60s were revolutionised by the telephones, telegrams and letter writing.“If there is ever a thing to which I cannot fail to give Obote credit for, then it is in the field of hospitals,” says Gureme.

According to Gureme, hospitals in the 60s were well stocked with drugs; healthcare was free for all except for those who wished to stay in the special wards which required payment. According to Gureme, no Ugandan president has ever built hospitals to the level of which Obote did.

Talking of transport amenities, students travelled for free using the Uganda Transport Company (UTC) buses. Such cars like the Fiat and the Volkswagen popularly known as Kikere were a common sight. As we further discover these memorable times, and the resounding echoes, Gureme tells me about the vibrant railway transport. Considering that I have never travelled in a passenger train, I marvel when he talks about the Passenger trains that plied the Kasese, Pakwach and Mombasa routes just to mention but a few.

“The trains had three classes; first, second and third class”. Banking was already rooted back in the 60s, except for a few bloated spring chicken students, most students were encouraged to save with the Post Office Savings Bank. Though banks majorly served Europeans and Asians, in the late 60s, many middle class Africans had opened up to saving in banks like Greenday’s bank aka National Bank of India, Standard Bank of South Africa and Barclays Bank.

Fashion and hairstyles
According to Gureme, the afro-hairstyle did the great job for most men back in the days. Most women in the preferred to keep their hair short. But above all, naturalist flourished in all matters concerning hair, on a day or two where a big do was involved then weaves did the magic for some women.

The Kanzu was not limited to a specific region. Gureme states that when he went to the north, he still found men draping Kanzus. Shorts too were normality for the urbanite man. Khaki shorts to be exact which today have been relegated to the primary pupils. For women, their long stockings are partly what today’s leggings borrow from. Not to forget that the gomesi and the Kikoyi were another unifying fashion taste except for the urban woman that had evolved to become a dress wearing type.

The gomesi was originally in bark-cloth form or sash as one went deep down in the country sides. Gureme also remembers that he kept two ties and a jacket in his office just in case he happened to forget any of the items at home. It was unheard of for a civil servant reporting to office clad in casual attire.

Even when it came to the ballroom dances, you could not be allowed into a ballroom without a tie. Like any other former Budonian, a number of times, these elites from Kings College Buddo were barred from entering the Old Budonians house to have a classic waltz due to a missing tie.

The 60s were a period so rich in history. Having two eras tapering into the same decade, it remain one of the most dynamic periods in Ugandan history. As I journeyed to the past through Gureme’s eyes, a vivid picture was created in my mind that for a moment I wished I had been part of such an enriching period.

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