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Late one evening my mother returned from Mulago hospital where she was employed as a nurse, at Mwanamugimu outpatient clinic, her face distraught. “Last night they murdered the husband of my colleague!” I asked who that was again. This was 1980. A year earlier the Amin regime had fallen, but the joy of freedom was short-lived as the country collapsed into anarchy sparked by power struggles, starting with the fall of the Lule government. In 1979 shortly after the Binaisa government was sworn in a killing spree enveloped Kampala. Initially, it targeted medical workers, like Dr. Jack Barlow, the dentist, and Dr. Joseph Kamulegeya, of KCC, all of who fell prey to unknown assassins.

And now the killers had hit closer home. The gunmen had descended upon the home of Mr. and Mrs. Semambo in Nakulabye, there with axes had broken down the hard mahogany doors. Then they moved from room to room, searching for the General Manager of Produce Marketing Board. The kids were away at school but Kassede, the second last born, was there. He managed to step up onto a bicycle in a dark corridor, then take cover-up in the ceiling. Finally, the killers found their target and against all pleas to spare his life showered him a cascade of bullets. Then they left.

It was in 1950 when Herbert Semambo married a beautiful girl called Abisagi Proscovia Nabetweme. They had something in common as he had studied at King’s College Budo (KCB); and, at Gayaza High School (GHS). Then it was often said that GHS raised wives for Budo boys! Trained as an Agriculturalist and she as a nurse, they settled in Nakulabye, a Kampala neighborhood as public servants. Here they quietly raised all their nine children.

According to Baganda naming tradition, children do not carry surnames of their fathers. However, when Mr. Semambo had his fourth child he decided he should carry the Semambo name, unlike the rest, along with Dan.

At about 8, Dan was taken to the nearby Mengo Primary School, where he met a famed teacher called Mrs. Gladys Nsibirwa Wambuzi. Dan’s siblings remember him as quite mischievous, then, and he needed her strict but motherly touch. “Mrs. Wambuzi was a teacher’s teacher,” recalls Mrs. Olive Kyambadde, an old student of hers, “and Dan easily became one of her star students. She never believed in the cane but was demanding and brought out the best from her pupils.”

Grateful, later in life, Dan would remain close to Mrs. Wambuzi who went on to start Greenhill Academy. In 2004, a year before her sudden death, Dan, together with some of her famous students who include William Kalema Jr, Justice Kiryabwire, Dr Edward Kayondo; the Mengo Primary students organized a 50th-anniversary celebration in recognition of her impact on their lives.

If Dan was mischievous and could easily get in trouble he had something else going for him. His great grandfather, Katale, was the elder brother to the long-serving Baganda chief, the Ssekibobo Hamu Mukasa. In 1902 Hamu Mukasa had accompanied Buganda’s premier, Katikiro Appolo Kagwa, to attend the coronation of King Edward VII, becoming the first Ugandans to visit Europe.

Mr. Semambo grew up in Hamu Mukasa’s home at Mengo, along with the later composer of Uganda’s national anthem, George Kakoma. Dan would inherit the prodigious musical gifts that run through this family. Blessed with a rich tenor, as soon as he was done school he would run up the hill to sing with the Namirembe Cathedral Choir. “As a little boy on almost all weekends, Dan was here practicing and singing through all church services,” remised later one of the Cathedral choir patrons.

All the Semambo children after finishing primary school would progress on to KCB, their father’s old school. But when it came to Dan’s turn, he was advised to opt for St Mary’s College Kisubi (SMACK). “If you are all in one school it will spoil you,” Dan told this writer, curious how given his strong Anglican background he ended up in a rival Catholic institution.

Dan would never look back on his time at SMACK. He joined with Dr. Alex Coutinho- who would later go on to become a global leader in HIV/AIDS prevention. “Dan was a very sociable character,” Dr. Coutinho recalls. “We had a tight-knit buddy group called “Kikati”. Dan was a member of the school band, Skylax, and was in hot demand as a dancer and soloist. He was very good at crooning ligala lyrics, popular at the time. He was also a sportsman, played tennis, and enjoyed the drama.”

For his A’level Dan joined Makerere College School (MAKOS), and it is here that he met another famed teacher- mentor called Mr. Edward Kasolo- Kimuli, who took him on as a son. The two would remain particularly close, such that when Dan heard his former Headmaster was ailing, he hurried to him in his retirement home in Buloba. They had a great visit, which closed with prayer.

Life is a series of decision-making, consciously or unconsciously, some with positive others with a negative impact on our lives. In 1978 Dan joined Makerere University to undertake a degree course in Veterinary medicine. One day as a resident of Nkrumah hall, he made the best decision ever of his life. Although he had grown up in church circles as a choir boy; he had never received Jesus as a personal savior. Having heard “For God so loved that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” ( John 3:16), Dan accepted Jesus and became saved- omulokole!

It is said that when the man Saul who once used to persecute Christians accepted Jesus as his savior one person scoffed, “Isn’t this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus’s followers..” (Acts 9:21). Dan, the once crooner of naughty lingala lyrics now, too, made a complete about turn in life, “After getting saved he was always on fire preaching the Gospel,” recalls Damoni Kitabire, his year mate and later Senior Economist and Country Manager Africa Development Bank. “Whenever he met anyone he would start by asking walokoka- are you saved!” This zeal to win others to Christ would permeate Dan’s life in everything he did to his last days.

The other change in Dan’s life is that he would now use his musical gift totally for Christ’s kingdom. At the university were a number of gifted musicians like John Sebutinde, Julia Semambo, Ruth Kawuma, Rita Mukwaya, Charles Male, Apollo Gessa, and others. These, along with Dan, joined hands in a praise band they dubbed Joint Heirs. Dan became one of its lead soloists as it toured churches and schools.

Upon graduation to put his veterinary skills to work, Dan went around Uganda teaching farmers modern livestock keeping. One particular rancher, Mr Kassim Kiwanuka of Kisozi ranchers, sought him out. But Dan turned down his lucrative offer because he had decided to work for the Government of Uganda. He hoped to secure a scholarship to go for further studies. Finally, he was sponsored to attend the University of Glasgow, UK, where he enrolled for a Phd programme.

Here he linked up with Damon Kitabire, who had also moved to the UK for postgraduate studies in Economics. “We became members of a Christian fellowship bringing together African and Caribbean students,” Mr. Kitabire recalls. “Dan was still on fire for Christ and would go around preaching and encouraging members to remain strong in the faith.”

Dan’s Phd studies did not go smoothly. Usually, for those pursuing doctoral studies, the key is being assigned the right supervisor. Unfortunately for Dan, his supervisor was not very supportive, which he found very frustrating. Eventually, he decided to report the difficult supervisor to the Head of Department.

“The Head of Department after a week decided to call over the supervisor and asked me to repeat my allegations in front of her,” he once shared with Dr. Jackson Mubiru, later his best man. “Without fail, I shared exactly what I had told my head in front of my supervisor, word for word. She was so embarrassed that she resigned as my supervisor. I was assigned a new supervisor and was able to complete in time.” Dan often told this story to show the importance of being truthful. “Imagine if I had lied to the Head of Department, what would have happened when he summoned me in front of the person I had accused!”

The title of Dan’s Phd was “Actinomyces pygonese in Embryonic Loss in Cattle”! Globally there is less than 2% of university graduates go on to attain a Phd. Dr. Dan Semambo, Phd, was now a scarce commodity that could easily settle down anywhere in the West and take up a comfortable lucrative offer. However, Dan had long settled in his mind to serve Uganda, grateful for sponsoring his studies up to that point. It was a bold decision given the haphazard state of the Ugandan economy in the early 1990s. After graduating he promptly flew back and joined the public service. “I had studied so as to share my skills with Uganda, after all,” he once told Dr. Mubiru. He would never leave Uganda even as attractive offers came his way later in life.

In 1992 I was out of the country doing postgraduate work in the US when I received a letter from a friend attending Makerere University, and a member of the Christian Union. She informed me of a young dashing man just returned from the UK whose commitment to Christ was so sweeping. Based in Entebbe this young man would jump on a motorcycle and visit the fellowship and other churches, to lead in praises. He was called Dr. Dan Semambo!

One day through these encounters, Dan spotted someone. A girl called Dorah Rukare, with looks that made heads turn and tongues roll.

Dorah was the second-born child of Prof and Mrs. Enock Rukare, based at Makerere University. Prof Rukare had accepted Jesus as a personal savior while at Mwiri College. As a student at Makerere University to cement his faith he used to visit the father of the Balokole (Born Again) movement in Uganda, Simeone Nsibambi at his home in Namirembe. “How are you?” he once recalled how Nsibambi would greet him. “Are you uplifting the Lord Jesus? ”

At GHS Dorah had progressed from being a House Leader to House Prefect of Corby House, before joining Makerere University for a B.Com degree. Raised in a loving strong Christian home she carried herself royally. Immediately a bevy of boys started pursuing her, some even faking salvation, knowing her standard. But Dan, the occasional lead singer of Joint Heirs, beat off that stiff competition. After she graduated and got a job at UCB, Wadengeya, would occasionally pick her up after work and take her out.

One day while out Dan asked for a commitment. “I want you to be my friend!” She later confessed about their engagement, musing this was not the most romantic proposal ever said. “But that was Dan!” He was always a forthright man.

Dan and Dorah were coming from two strong cultures- he from Buganda and she from Ankole. Among the Baganda, the norm is for women to kneel while serving men. This beautiful custom has often been misinterpreted as enslavement by the ill-informed. Yet it is nothing but a portrayal of filial respect within the family unit. During wedding functions normally brides perform this ritual.

Dorah was counseled that since she was marrying a firm Muganda man, she was expected to abide by this ritual. At the wedding reception in Lugogo indoor stadium on May 17th, 1997, the air was ripe with expectation how this Munyankore girl would perform this first test. Then, out of the blue, once the moment arrived, to the consternation of everyone there, Dan performed a coup de grace. He knelt before Dorah! Of course, Baganda boys had always knelt for their mothers; but even more so, Baganda men do kneel for a princess. Dorah was Dan’s princess!

“They were a very loving couple,” Dr. Siima Kavuma, Dorah’s childhood neighborhood friend who lived from time to time with them recalls, “always busy but with time for each other.” God would over the years bless the Semambo with six beautiful girls.

It is common to find Born – again Christians who shun their traditional cultures, like performing funeral rites considered as heathen practices, but Dan had the presence and self-assuredness in Christ to sieve through the good and bad. When it came to naming his daughters he gave all Baganda elephant clan names. This is quite important as inter-clan marriage is taboo here and these names help. The names they chose were Nanjobe, Nankadi, Kirokwa, Nasejje, Nabisere, and Nasozi, in their birth order. Dr. Siima Kavuma was tasked as Nanjobe’s god-mother.

Dan was there for Dorah all through their almost 25 years of marriage. “When the children started going to school,” she would later remise, “It was Dan who bathed, dressed, and dropped all at school. He was the unfailing visitor throughout all their school visiting days, religiously following up on their school work and extolling them to do the best!”

A visit to their Entebbe home, as I would on occasion, was ever so uplifting. The girls, as they grew up would fill it with laughter and joy, cheered by their doting parents.

Armed with his Phd, Dan was now employed as a geneticist by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry & Fisheries (MAAIF). Soon he rose to become a Commissioner. About 2003 Dan was seconded by MAAIF to set up the National Animal Genetic Resources Center and Data Bank (NAGRIC & DB). Dan took up the offer with characteristic energy and built up this semi–autonomous agency from scratch into a reputable world renowned animal breeding facility. Then somewhere about 2015 trouble started.

By then after returning back to Uganda I too had since joined a government agency but I felt my services were being circumscribed. One day I called up Dan for a coffee and after sharing my concerns, he strongly advised me against resigning. “We still need you there,” he offered counsel. “But by the way, I am also experiencing challenges with a new Board.” While I ignored his advice and went on to resign after finding another appreciative employer, Dan’s fate did not end well. A new Board decided to terminate the services of a man who had built one of the best-run government agencies.

Throughout his years at NAGRIC & DD Dan had never been involved in any scandal whatsoever. Ugandans know all these other organizations run by the mafia and involved in fraudulent actions. Yet even after appealing to the Minister of MAAIF, the Board remained adamant.

Feeling aggrieved, Dan decided to take his case to court. On June 22, 2017, the court awarded Dr. Semambo Ush 600m in damages for unfair job termination. In spite of all this, the Minister of MAAIF ignored a court order and went ahead to appoint a new Executive Director.

In subsequent years NAGRIC & DD became a staple of tabloid news with running battles involving allegations of land fraud under her custody. Big shots, including cabinet ministers, were reported to be grabbing some of her vast ranches. Still, Dr Dan Semambo’s old job was never restored back to him. Once he showed me a letter signed by President Museveni vindicating him. Further, his award was never remitted as mandated by courts of law.

Courts of law award punitive damages to employees unfairly dismissed to curb impunity by reckless supervisors. As this is a matter of law, the estate of Dr. Semambo is still duty-bound to pursue the matter to its logical conclusion. Dan shared once with John Sebutinde his longtime singing companion how after the award he went back to his old employers and informed all, “I have no bitterness towards anyone here. But all I ask is justice!”

There is a saying that when one door closes, God opens a brighter new one. Harshly forced out of a job he loved, Dan moved on. Some friends urged him to move out of Uganda and take up an international job since as a leading Geneticist, he was eminently qualified. But Dan had long ruled out that option. His devotion to Uganda was total; he would not consider lending his skills anywhere else. In this new and last chapter of his life, I observed a certain entrepreneurial, cheeky and brilliant side of Dan I had never imagined.

One day Dan called and urged me to join a social marketing investment group. “If you invest and become a gold class member you will win a vacation in some luxury resort!” I wavered, raising my eyebrows. On another occasion I run into him riding some new wheels. “I drove this new car all the way from South Africa through Zambia,” he explained, beaming, as I gazed with certain incredulity.

No longer constrained by office he shifted back to his earlier life of going around the country teaching farmers modern livestock farming. At Uganda Christian University (UCU) he was engaged to turn around the university farm into a profitable enterprise. He started running farm clinics for schools like GHS and SMACK. He would regularly appear on TV and in papers offering farming tips. He practiced farming and during the Covid lockdown, he brought my family trays of eggs which he sold us at a bargain price.

The family also progressed: Dorah became a diplomat. One day Dan called me up to receive Nanjobe who after serving as Head Prefect at GHS was joining UCU law school. In 2021 she graduated among the top students of her class as a lawyer. On another occasion, Dan brought me Nakandi to give her tips for college life. That evening as he left us seated in a café at Acacia mall I asked where he was rushing. “I have to do practice with Joint Heirs!” He was always on a mission.

In the middle of December 2021, the country was shocked with the news of the untimely death of a new bride, Mrs. Joanne Namutebi Wabwire, daughter of the headmistress of GHS, Mrs. Robibah Kizito. I hurried for the farewell service at Ntinda church. I found there Dan ministering with the Joint Heirs band. Owing to the crowd I did not find time to say hello. But later I sent him a Christmas Greetings message. He didn’t respond, quite uncharacteristic, something I would only notice much later. Unbeknownst to me was that Dan was slowing down with a certain intrusive illness.

I only became aware of this in late February, after I got to understand he had been admitted at Case Hospital. At first I suspected Covid but after talking to Nanjobe it was ruled out. Feeling he deserved rest I postponed visiting. However, after two weeks of no apparent release from the hospital, I became very alarmed and decided to investigate what was keeping him on the bed. On Monday, March 7th, just as I was planning to visit, the most shocking news broke that Dan had passed on to eternity.

Dan touched people from all walks of life. Once I heard Dr. Coutinho share how he sang at his wedding. Well, he serenaded mine too with his Lucien Pavarotti voice! Almost he would sing at the wedding of every friend of his. A selfless man if anyone needed a ride after an event, he would offer to chauffer back one right to the doorstep. He was an evangelist who never lost the fire for sharing the Good News of salvation. “When I would travel with Dad and he happened to stop at a market place he would greet strangers with – walokka- are you saved!” Nanjobe, now at Law Development Center shared at the funeral. “If the answer was negative, Dad would light up and share the Gospel of salvation.”

Last year, when Jajja- Mama Abisaji Semambo having outlived the tragedy of her husband’s brutal murder, passed away at 94, Dan led the burial procession. He looked so buoyant with life. But Dan who has followed his mother so soon, had a favorite verse, “Bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me praise his holy name for he has done great thing” (Psalm 104:1-2). Looking back at the example of his life, and the way he blessed so many people, one must be grateful for him.

His rich tenor used to glide through the Cathedral singing a favorite song, “Ekisa Kyo Tekitegerekeka”. Another favorite song was “Its well with my soul.” This song was written in 1873 by Horatio Spafford after losing four of his children while at sea. Dan used to sing it with such might, gusto and force whenever he had the occasion: “When peace, like river attendeth my way, When sorrows like billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, It is well with my soul!” Till we meet Dan (RIP)!

For a long time I had wished to meet  Mr. Emmanuel Tumusiime  Mutebile, the famed Permanent  Secretary/ Secretary to Treasurer, Uganda’s Ministry of Finance Planning and  Economic Development   (MoFPED). Seeing where Uganda was headed which  I regretted and despaired I had taken a keen interest in her political economy ending up writing a critical book, “Things Fall  Apart in Uganda” (2013). The opportunity finally came following the death of  Uganda’s fifth  President,  Godfrey  Binaisa, QC, and I  found myself deeply involved in his funeral arrangement. Somewhere along a kinder and gentler face emerged eager to assist in any way. This was none other than the famous Mutebile, much respected as the architect of Uganda’s Economic Reforms.

In 1979 after Mr. Binaisa became President he recruited a number of brilliant much younger men from all over Uganda to assist him as personal assistants. One of those was Emmanuel Mutebile, an Oxo-educated economist, formerly a lecturer at the University of  Dar es Salaam. When Mutebile heard of the death of his former boss, he suspended everything and rushed to assist the grief-stricken family.

He found us trying to figure out a matter of interest where we needed a well-connected person to link us to State House. About 1956  when Mr. Binaisa returned from England armed with a law degree he had teamed up with the veteran nationalist, Ignatius Musazi who had earlier in 1952  founded the  Uganda National Congress (UNC)to picket for  African self-rule.  When Musaazi passed on in 1990 and was buried at city square in Kololo as a national hero, he too felt he deserved as much.

To realize this request we turned to Governor Mutebile who enthusiastically took up the matter. As we waited for State  House clearance, suddenly  I  saw an opportunity to start engaging the Governor on some matter dear to my heart.

“How do you see all this disorganization in our city,” I asked, looking for a way to draw his attention to how the public sector had fallen apart leading to urban decay in spite of the much-vaunted  Economic reforms. The Governor looked at me disarmingly and then said, “you mean these beautiful slums!” He explained that the concrete propping up everywhere was a progressive sign of Uganda’s economic miracle. “Martin, why should you be concerned about order when people can now afford to build this much!”

“But what about rural areas?” I pressed him, unconvinced and casting doubts on his reforms.  “This is where 70 percent of our population  resides and the poverty there is  crushing!”

“We see progress,” he held his ground. “There are now more tin-roofed houses in all the villages across the  country than ever  before!”

For almost an hour we gently spurred but it was getting dark. This was not a good time to fight out an ideological debate when still anxious about where the deceased would be laid to rest. We drew; neither having given in to the other. Eventually, after repeated calls by him on behalf of the Binaisa family to State  House,  the request was not honored. We decided to lay QC besides Canon Ananasia Binaisa at Alexander Memorial McKay Church in Natete.

After the funeral, we would bump into each other frequently especially as he was a  regular visitor to my  Rotary  Club. Meanwhile, I found no reason to revise my views about Uganda’s fragile economy normally lauded as one of the best performings in Africa. With his passing, I have come across many deserved tributes in his memory, but there are certain aspects about the reforms he spearheaded that I strongly feel necessitate further reflection.

There is no doubt that Governor Mutebile played a herculean role in reviving Uganda’s sagging economy in the early 1990s, together with his able team. In 1986 Uganda’s economy can best be described as on a drip. After fifteen years of civil war and mismanagement, Uganda which in 1970 had the fifth highest GDP per capita in Eastern and Southern Africa, with inflation never above 5 percent, was paralyzed with poverty soaring at 56% and inflation galloping away at 120 percent. For foreign exchange the country heavily depended on coffee exports accounting for 70- 80 percent of total exports. Tax revenues averaged just 5.8 percent of GDP and foreign aid financed 50 percent of public expenditure. Uganda was listed as highly indebted nation.

There tends to be a misunderstanding that the Economic reforms that followed were pioneered by the  Museveni government,  which couldn’t be any further from the truth.  In the  1980s  the  Obote  2 government was the first to embrace  IMF/ World  Bank  Structural  Adjustment  Policies  (SAP), but only with limited success largely due to the ongoing  Luwero Triangle war. After the Museveni government came to power, with  Dr. Crispus Kyonga as  Minister of Finance, the country suspended these reforms and imposed strict controls on prices and foreign exchange, which only worsened the economic malaise.

The Museveni government was in a quandary.  According to its  Ten-point program, it was opposed to foreign interests interfering in Uganda’s economic development and advocated for state control of key sectors of the economy. These leftist policies quickly failed to revive the economy exacerbating inflation which simply soared to 240  percent in 1987. After flirting with barter trade, the advice offered by technocrats based at the Ministry of  Finance, led by a  one Mutebile, won the day.  They argued that the economy should be liberalized and embrace once again the World Bank/ SAP policies.

From what we gather  Tumusiime Mutebeli was born into a  deeply religious family that has roots in the East African revival Born again movement. This explains his “Tumusiime” name -given to thank  God for life. His education journey saw him attend Butobero High  School and later Makerere  College School before joining  Makerere  University to study economics and politics.

In 1972,  as guild President at  Makerere University, he risked his life by openly opposing the  Amin government’s decision to expel Asians. Pursued by soldiers he fled and ended up at the University of  Durham in UK  for a degree in politics and economics,  and then on to  Oxford  University for a  Master’s degree. A first-class honors student he had started work on a doctorate in economics when he joined the war that led to  Idi Amin’s fall in 1979.

After the fall of President Binaisa,  he served briefly under his successor, Mr. Paulo  Muwanga, who had overthrown him. During the 1980 General elections, Mutebile sided with Uganda Patriotic Movement  (UPM) and once survived an assassination attempt on his life. A skilled networker not only did he remain behind unlike many of his old party comrades who fled either to take up arms against  Obote  2 government or take up jobs in the diaspora,  he moved to Ministry of  Finance where he gradually rose to become Chief Economist. In 1985 he was appointed Permanent Secretary by President Obote and when his old comrades took over the government a year later, was confirmed by President Museveni.

Although once a socialist radical, by then he had apparently become a proponent of free markets. There is a story to that. At Oxford University he was tutored by development economists like Professor Frances Stewart who preferred redistributive economic policies to fight inequality. But at  Dar es Salaam University it is possible that his firsthand impression of the failure of  President  Nyerere’s socialist Ujaama policies made him embrace neoliberalism, a philosophy that advocates free markets and limited control of the state in economic management.

In the 1970s virtually all  African economies were near total bankruptcy reeling from the effects of the collapse of the commodity market and oil prices that rose throughout that period.  Yet most of these governments, like Uganda, had initiated vast public sector enterprises which were hardly productive but sucking the treasury and leaving nations heavily indebted. Something had to be done. The consensus was starting to emerge to cut unstainable public expenditure.

Founded in 1944 World Bank and IMF were Bretton Woods institutions whose primary goal was to preserve US supremacy by promoting the dollar as the currency of the last resort. Shortly after Uganda secured her independence in  1962, World Bank advanced credit to help her build or renovate major schools and hospitals. The early loans were not conditional but now with many developing nations desperately out of funds for her, under the influence of supply-side economists, to write a cheque it became a condition that beneficiary countries restructure their economies and embrace fiscal discipline by limiting public expenditure.  The term “home-grown solutions”  was a plague to their ears.

Initially, not everyone within the  Museveni government was convinced and there was a stubborn  element  which  opposed opening  key  sectors of the economy to foreign  control  through  privatization. But the  once socialist Museveni  finally  yielded to  the  neo liberals  led by  Mutebile,  especially  as inflation  soared,  with Uganda  constantly  devaluing  her currency  and becoming  even more  indebted.

Almost  immediately  once Uganda adopted a programme  of fiscal discipline, macro stability to tame inflation and liberalized the foreign  exchange and commodity  markets Uganda’s faltering  economy was  finally  revived. Some time later, while visiting  a cousin who had taken  up a job with  World Bank up in Washington  DC, she confessed to  me, “I  am so  happy  everyone here is talking  of how successful Uganda reforms are!” However, all this was coming at great cost to average Ugandans.

One of the requirements of these reforms, as way to cut back public expenditure and balance the budget Uganda was tasked to half the size of public service, which was dismissed as too expensive payroll.  So, Uganda, from 320,000 staff in 1990 she rushed to cut down staff to  156,803, by 1995.  Long serving civil servants were given little choice through a process that was colorfully termed as retrenchment. In far off more developed nations with booming economies such forced terminations could easily be absorbed as there were other jobs.  But  in Uganda, for most of these  traditional  public servants, left  to contest in courts  for their  full terminal  benefits,  this was traumatic.

Between 1992-  1998, as  part of  these conditions  there was also  a recruitment  freeze.  Almost everyone  would  agree  why a developing  nation  like Uganda trains  her people  is  to create  employment, so that those armed  with  skills  can develop  the nation. In 1997  after a decade away  of studying  and  helping  the US develop  as a teacher of public schools  and  manager of  a  major enterprise; I  returned home and  went  straight  to Makerere University  where  I applied for  a job  as a Lecturer.  Though   well qualified I was turned away because government of  Uganda was under a recruitment  freeze.

I could  have  immediately  packed my  bags except  for Prof  Akiki Mujaju (RIP), my  former teacher, who  once he got to  know  I was back, immediately  contacted a colleague, Prof Joy  Kwesigwa, (current  Vice  Chancellor  of Kabale University) then  head of the  new Department  of  Gender Studies,  to find  a way  of  engaging me. The  Government  of Uganda  had paid for my  full university  education  but a foreign  organization had decreed educated Ugandans like me should  be locked of the job market!

Another condition of these  reforms was privatization of state enterprise. This was a standard  prescription that never  took into  concern  the socio economic  reasons  behind  the formation  of some of these state enterprises, albeit  their  failures, especially  in  supporting  indigenous founded enterprises. In some  nations like  Malysai, when  it  became absolutely  necessary,  the  nationals  would be  given  first options to  buy shares  in privatized companies.  Uganda, for  some  reason, took  a wholesale nondiscriminatory approach quickly disposing off  over  105  state enterprise,  which  incidentally  had  been  set  up  from national  savings.  A number of these state enterprise were sold  under dubious  circumstances due  to   internal  wheel dealing.

Perhaps we need to digress to explain why so many state enterprises had become crippled. These enterprises, most  which  were founded by Uganda Development  Corporation,  had been  successfully  run through the1960s under the leadership of  Semei  Nyanzi, becoming  a source of employment  to thousands.  Like other sectors of the economy they had suffered from the disastrous Amin Economic war. This worsened under Obote 2 when they became victims of patronage which denied them of able managers. What was needed was thorough restructuring. As William Pike note in his memoirs, “Combatants”, one of the few survivors of that massacre was the New Vision Printing  Company. As Chief Executive given free latitude he turned it around into a profitable company now listed on the Uganda Stock Exchange and employing hundreds. The other case is that of National  Water & Sewerage Corporation, which, under the able management of  Dr. William Muhairwe as later narrated in “Making  Public Enterprises Work” was also turned around and now employs hundreds of  Ugandans.

The most controversial sale turned out to be Uganda Commercial Bank (UCB), which had been founded in 1964 to deepen financial literacy and extend credit in the largely rural population, a  market hardly of interest to foreign-owned banks.  Although at one stage  UCB  was on the verge of illiquidity (there are stories where customers could not access their money until someone later deposited an equivalent figure),  even after she was restored to profitability under the leadership of  Prof  Ezra  Seruma,  the reformers insisted she is put on the market.  After some drama, it was sold to a South African bank. It was later reported that within the first year of trading, this once national jewel having sold off the famous  UCB tower to a  savvy tycoon,  the investors recovered all their purchases and have never made a loss since.

In 2001 Mutebile moved to the Central Bank as Governor, a position he would hold for over  21 years. Again as part of the economic reforms Bank of Uganda was empowered to close banks that failed the liquid test.  Over the course starting in 1993 largely indigenously founded banks without the financial depth of foreign-owned banks would suffer most.  In 1993, Teffe Bank,  founded by  Baganda elites, was closed due to insolvency. In 1998 International Credit  Bank, founded by an indigenous entrepreneurial family, was closed due to insolvency. In 1999 Greenland  Bank,  founded by  Muslim elites was closed due to insolvency.  In 1999 Cooperative Bank, founded by national cooperative societies, was closed due to insolvency.  In 2012, the National Bank of Commerce, founded by Kigezi elites to help with the development of  Mutebile’s mother district by mobilizing savings, was closed due to insolvency.

Free marketers argued that a bank should only be retained on technical reasons revolving around her financial viability.  This means raising capital inaccessible to most nationals in a small economy like Uganda. At the end out of 26 commercial banks, four would survive where either Uganda or local investors had majority shareholding. The rest ended with foreign shareholders as the majority, meaning Ugandans as well explained elsewhere by  Prof  Seruma are left at the mercy of foreign capital. This partly explains the exorbitant 15-20% bank interest rates, compared to the 0.5- 2% interests charged in the developed countries, hindering ironically the very development of the private sector.

Indigenous founded banks and locally founded strategic industries were abandoned in favor of foreign-owned banks and foreign investors, more keen at scooping profits for the benefit of their external shareholders. Ultimately the Economic reforms took something out of Ugandans, a certain sense of self-confidence, especially as some of these foreign-owned companies came with their own people, including askari- guards, leaving nationals out in the cold! In a  liberalized market foreign shareholders could own 100% of the company. Where we  lost  UCB  now we had  Kenya Commercial  Bank  and  no wonder  there  is  a creeping  talk  you  come  across  in town  that “we Ugandans can’t manage!”

Here we must pause and point out that the 1990 Economic reforms were not a universal failure, altogether, and did some plausible good. Those of us who lived through the 1980s scarcity are forever grateful. Like one of my friends who for his wedding had to hide crates of soda underneath his bed, having secured the scarce soft drinks mysteriously. At our Kampala suburban home the taps were constantly out of water and load shedding was normal. I personally had to require a recommendation chit to secure foreign exchange when first traveling out, courtesy of a hand written note from my muko (in law), Professor Apollo Nsibambi (RIP). The liberalization of the commodity market invigorated our farmers who cut out expensive bureaucratic middlemen with better prices and production shot up.

These gains do not deny that there are areas of misgiving. In fact, going over some actions one wonders if in the mind of some the  Republic of  Uganda was about to shut down! Was it really inevitable,  as happened, to  “sell”  public houses built from national savings to seating tenants as “pool houses”! This was a clear conflict of interest as in profiting from one being in a decision-making position.  Look at Makerere University which retained that infrastructure and how the younger generation has lived to profit from the property she retained. By selling off  “pool houses” senior public servants would later scamper around for places of abode,  sometimes finding themselves locked in slums with impassable roads.

And, much as the public service numbers were halved, they would quickly jump back to over 300,000 anyway; but then without the promised pay reform to make public service more efficient. If anything the culture of  “workshop allowances ” and “ghost payroll” these reforms had promised to eliminate soared. In the absence of state enterprises, the nation would return them back under the guise of government agencies, with bloated salaries for the beneficiaries,  further weakening traditional public service.

In as much as the reforms saw Uganda’s economy grow ninefold, our GDP per capita only rose to $900,  more due to inequality.  For all the progress in thirty-plus years, Uganda is yet to attain a middle-class economy.  The poverty rate has stagnated at  21%; and our tax revenue, at  14%  of GDP remains one of the worst-performing in sub-Saharan Africa.  Uganda ranks 159 out of 189  countries in the Human Development index. Even the NRM government manifesto points out “the majority of Ugandan youth aged 18-30 years are either unemployed or employed in the informal sector. Less than 15% had formal jobs.”  Because there are no commensurate jobs created by a thriving industrial and agricultural sector,  the country has turned to export them.  Presently there are about 300,000 Ugandans working in the  Middle  East with over  120  labor exporting companies.

If imposing fiscal discipline was the heart of  Economic reforms by cutting down public expenditure; Uganda has now perfected the pork and barrel politics of patronage with  84  cabinet ministers, a 529  Parliament and 131 districts. According to the Auditor General, Uganda’s national debt to GDP has galloped to 47 percent “which creates a risk of reaching unsustainable levels”. This must evoke back bitter memories when the country was listed as Highly indebted and gave foreign lenders leeway to enforce their harsh policies. And as for the weakened public sector, in the very week of Governor Mutebile’s death, a  national daily paper reported “there is only one dialysis machine for 15 public regional hospitals”!

Hence my observation and conclusion that the Economic reforms Governor Mutebile led have a mixed legacy. Just before we  parted, when  I  debated him over his economic policy,  I also shared a wish that it would be good to honor his old boss,  President  Binaisa,  with a memorial lecture, as the bank did for  Governor  Joseph  Mubiru.  His eyes lighted and he asked me to follow him up on that. I regret and apologize I never did.  However,  my simple request to  Bank of  Uganda is that the bank honors this great man with  Memorial lectures,  which would be a great avenue to critically discuss the reforms he inspired and their impact on Uganda’s future for the benefit of posterity. May he RIP.

 

Mr Christopher  Sembuya, the co-founder  of  Sembule Steel  Mills, once one of the  leading  industrial conglomerates in  Uganda, that threatened to become the Samsung  of  Africa except  for lack  of imagination on our economic  planners, as  I will  explain,  led a life that  was heroic but also  tragic.  It  was  heroic that coming  from  humble beginnings  he at midlife helped found a family business that  manufactured  sophisticated electronic household  goods which  became a  source of pride  to Ugandans. Tragic  that  when the business run through financial difficulty due to  bad debts it  was ignored  by  the government which  it  had once supported  to  come to power  in spite of  passionate  appeals.

When Sembuya passed away this week at 87, he would not be feted as pioneering industrial  giant in the  manner  of some.  In fact, at  some point, after losing  his business and  most  of  his property, he  had bitterly  cried out to a deaf  government  to honor him too  as a  national hero,  with just  a heroes medal. In  death  Sembuya  except  for  the Buganda Kingdom  government, represented  by once  his  former employee,  ex Kattikiro  Mulwanya  Ssemwogerere, some  others  did  not show  up to laud him as  a  great  pioneer  of  African  business, as should be.  And yet there is so much that  he gifted the nation of  Uganda and  did to  the  pride of Africans.

Sembuya was born into a well renowned entrepreneurial family from Bukunju, in Kyagwe province of Buganda.  His father, Yafesi  Magula, was a successful cocoa farmer. After attending  St Leo’s  secondary  school, Kyegobe in  Toro, he started a government  career  that  saw  him rise  through  the ranks to the  position  of  Assistant District  Commissioner in the Ministry  of  Local  government  for Moyo  and  later Karamoja Districts. At  some  point   he moved to the Ministry of Finance, where he served as Senior Finance  Officer  and then Principal  Finance officer.

In 1972 this career civil servant took the unusual decision  to leave a stable government  job and plunge into  the uncertain waters of  an  entrepreneur   career. “I owe everything to my father the late Yafesi Mugula,”  he  shared  in one interview with  New Vision, the government  owned paper. “He told me as long  as  I worked in  government  I would  never  get  richer, not even reach him. That haunted me. I was Undersecretary then at Ministry of Finance and they were preparing me  to become Permanent  Secretary. I resigned from the government job.”

Sembuya  had a younger  brother, Henry  Buwule,  who was  already  in business. Buwule  had set  up  a  shop  in  Ndebba,  in 1964,  close  to  Katwe, where most of African owned business were based at  a  time  when  businesses were dominated by  Asians. The shop dealt in hardware products. After  joining  his  brother  they  decided to  go  into nail   production. Borrowing  from  their  two  names  they  started Sembule industries which as it expanded in  1974  became Sembule  Steel  Mills.

The company grew relatively fast. “In a few years,” reads a message from the company website, “ it had grown into one of the largest wire-nail manufacturing companies in Uganda. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the company continued to grow and increase its product lines from wire nails to welding electrodes…” The company would go on to produce Roofing sheets, Welded Wire Mesh, Round Iron Bars, Galvanized Barbed Wire, Steel Pipes and multiple hardware products. Along the way also employed thousands. When I left  university in  1987  a number  of  my  colleagues, like  Godwin Kihuguru (RIP) joined Sembule Mills  and  I  must say I felt  a  bit envious.

Diversification is a business strategy advised on the simple premise that it is better to have your eggs spread out than have them all lay all  in one  basket. Companies  that are thriving  normally  use their healthy cash flows to diversify  into  new fast  growing  markets, so as to  lessen the  risks of  depending  on a limited and perhaps diminishing  market. Given her business growth it was only natural for Sembule  Mills to enter into  new growth lines  of  business. “In 1985, a small deposit-taking private company was started,” recalled the Observer  newspaper. “In 1991, it was granted a banking license as Sembule Investment Bank, and a fully-fledged commercial bank in 1996. A year later, after securing new investors for the bank, it was renamed Allied Bank International, which later became today’s Bank of Africa Uganda. At the end of the 1990s, Sembuya started Pan World Insurance Company.” This later became Lions  Assurance, one of the  leading   insurance  company  in Uganda today.

Sembule Mills did not stop with diversifying in the financial markets but using her manufacturing knowledge now veered  into the world of  electronics.  By the mid-1980s, the group had diversified into electronics, including the production of street-lighting systems and the first Ugandan-made transistor radio, the Sembule radio, which came in brands like “Makula”. The company drawing  on local engineers and workmanship went  into assembling TV sets, bulbs, desk  telephones,  traffic  lights and even computers.  Sembule revolutionized the Ugandan airwave by introducing FM technology. In 1992, she established the first private TV channel, Cable International Television. Who is that who was not aware of  all these  developments then  and couldn’t  be proud!

Unfortunately  as the  company  expanded tragedy  occurred  when  Henry  Buwule  passed on in the mid 1980s This loss would  affect  the company  as it  had been  up until then a successful and productive partnership. The woes of   Sembule cannot be traced to mismanagement as their  history of  rapid expansion  shows expertise but  started when they took on expensive financing  for some of their diversified projects. After  securing  a loan from  several financial  institutions  the  company  failed to service it adequately and the  lenders  sought to auction her property. Faced  with  the  threat of  losing  his business  empire, now at an advanced age in his late  seventies, Sembuya, who  passionately  believed  in the capacity  of Africans to  run successful industries  as he  had already  proved  himself , went  out of the way  to directly  appeal  to  government  of  Uganda to bail him  out. “I appeal to the government of Uganda to help  us with this  situation,” he cried out  in an interview  that can be found on Yutube. “The company we  have  built  is one   of the  largest managed  by Africans in East   Africa.”

In the history  of industrialization  in Japan and  South  East  Asia we know that their iconic industries like  Samsung  and  Toyota which  are  now  major global household  brands grew not solely  on the  abilities of  their  founders but  also due  to the  cooperative  efforts  of their  nationalist  government. It  is well documented  that  family  founded firms  like Samsumg, Hyundai, LG, collectively  known as chaebols,  were backed by  their  government.  For  example, Samsung  was  founded in 1938  by  Lee Byung Chill as  a grocery store but heavily  relied on government  protectionist policies. Samsung would  move into  finance and  other  major  industries, the  most  recent  being cell phone  and  pharmaceuticals, which  I have visited. Today, we know in China, too, companies like  the  family  founded Huawei, and  all these “CCCC” construction firms, have prospered  because of  government  tacit  support.

Unfortunately, this truth  was not  shared  by Uganda’s leadership, and  Sembule Mills, an indigenous founded  company  that gave us radio  and color TV sets  bearing  our African names was left to die an ignominious  death. The man who once helped  fund  the  war that  brought the  present  government to power now  resorted to  write  over  200  letters to  President  Meseveni appealing  for salvage. While  the  President who once used  to cite Sembule as a case  study of his economic recovery  miracle  can be  excused, the  same  cannot  be said of   planners   at  the  Ministry  of Finance  where  once  Sembuya worked.  Had Sembule  been  rescued there is all the  possibility  that she besides producing computers she would now have entered  the  lucrative cell  phone manufacturing sector and car manufacturing, which  Uganda  is  lately attempting at  Kira motors.

Bailing out stressed but  promising  companies is  not  unique. In 1980 one  of the top three  car  manufacturers  in the US, Chrysler  Motors, was rescued from  bankruptcy  when  the  government  bailed it out with  nearly $1.5  billion dollars  in  loan  guarantees.  In 2008  the  US government  again  injected  over  $700 billion  in key  financial  institutions like  JP Morgan, Goldman  Sachs, Citgroup stressed by  the  financial  meltdown. Had  the  US government  merely stood  on the side  their  collapse would  have resulted into a catastrophic  and systematic collapse of  the US financial  industry, leading to millions of jobs lost.

In fact, there are many other  business in  Uganda that  have benefited  from government  bailout, as  well. The  revival  of  the Madvhani  Group in the  1980s was not solely  based on the  abilities  of the returning family members but  because of a financial  capitalization from  World  Bank  and  other  financial institutions, backed  by Government  of  Uganda. “The government has helped many people including Sudhir (Ruparelia) and Hassan (Basajjabalaba), I don’t know why they have not helped Sembule,” once moaned one of Sembuya’s son in a  press interview. For while it  is true  that the collapse of  Sembule  Mills  was not to result  into a “too  big too fail”  economic   collapse of  the Ugandan economy,  when one  considers  that  hundreds of  Ugandans  today board  planes every day  to go out  to scavenge for jobs  in the  Middle  East, then how could  we  let  such  a proven  industrial conglomerate collapse! Someone needs   to answer!

In his business  career Sembuya helped to mentor many leading business  personalities like  Mr  Emmanuel  Katongole  of  Quality  Chemicals, who once  worked  under  him. One  of his  mentees,  Engineer  Fred Mubiru, in  a  Facebook post,  soon after  his demise, recalled  how  after Sembule  Mills had executed  successfully  a  street  lighting  contract  which he had overseen as KCC infrastructure  engineer, he  urged him  to  quit  government  and  enter the private  sector, which  he  eventually  did   after a lot  of  pushing  from him. “That decision was one of the game changers of  my  life…I gained freedom and  control  of  my life.”

Sembuya  was a passionate  believer  in African  run business and he  wrote  a small book, “The  other  side  of  Amin  Dada!” In it he noted Amin emancipated and supported African businessmen  like  him start industries.  It “pained” him ( his words)  that part of his  business empire  was sold  to  Asians, which  is  the  very  Economic  war  African industrialists  had embraced. “What the Asians and Europeans can do, Ugandan investors can do,” he  wrote. “Ugandans should therefore be given first  priority  and probably  full  support  thereafter. Government  should  protect  the local  firms  from the  big ones  that come  in with plenty of foreign  money  and end swallowing  home grown initiative.  This way the country will see many of its nationals succeeding.”

Early last year Christopher Sembuya was pictured being recognized by Bank  of Africa, which he helped  found.  He looked fail.  On Tuesday, January 11, while sitting on the sofa at his Windsor Crescent home in Kololo, his wife Ritah shared, he collapsed. He was rushed to nearby Kampala Hospital in Kololo, but unfortunately, he died at around midday. May he RIP!