Tuesday, December 2, marked the 42nd anniversary of the demise of the late Maj Gen David Oyite-Ojok in a helicopter crash. The anniversary would have passed as quietly as all previous ones have done, but for the emergence on social media of a video depicting the home of the late General in a sorry state. As the responses to the clips showed, many are inclined to call out the family for not taking care of the family home, but this is not like any other home. It is the home of an army chief of staff who died while in office and in the line of duty.
He was one to whom many Ugandans should be eternally indebted for his role in the war that led to the ouster of the Idi Amin regime. Ojok was one of the commanders of the Kikosi Maalum, one of the many fighting groups that fought alongside the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) in what we know as the 1979 liberation war, which ended with the ouster of Amin on April 11, 1979. The state of his home does not speak well about us as a country and as human beings.
It begs questions about what we are. Why do we, who live today, do these sorts of things to the legacies of great people who have gone before us? We need to have a rethink. Posterity and humanity demand that we spare a small fraction of our benevolence budgets to support the families of these gallant sons and daughters of Uganda. At a time when the country is still trying to heal from the effects of many civil wars that have been fought, operating as if we are intent on erasing the legacies of the great men and women is to leave open the door to a cycle of bitterness and violence.
Former Kigulu North Member of Parliament Edward Kafufu Balidawa has been calling for the development of local tourism circuits. He has been advocating opening the doors through which the potential of a vibrant domestic cultural and civic tourism can be unleashed. The homes and resting places of demised statesmen are strewn all over the country. The list would include Milton Obote, Paul Muwanga, Benedicto Kiwanuka, Paul Ssemogerere, Andrew Lutakome Kayiira, Gen Tito Okello, Eric Otema Alimadi and a whole range of others. It is time to turn these great people’s homes into museums. That would not only help us maintain their legacies, but also be rewarding in terms of boosting inflows from the tourism industry.