Back to grim reality now that pope is gone

Written by Observer Media Ltd

Pope Francis bids farewell to Ugandans as he boards the plane

Aren’t you glad we for the last week took a break from the political higi haga?

It felt like a different country from Thursday as the tempo to welcome the pope rose to pitch-fever proportions and the electioneering took a back banner from our newspapers.

Well, he is gone and we are going back to business as usual, abuse each other, steal from each other, and do to each other all those heinous things you wouldn’t imagine are done by folk of a country whose motto has God in it.

Going back to the last three days, you will agree with me there is something about religion that pulls us together. That gets people to do the right thing or at least pretend to do so. The coming of the pope had more than met the eye in terms of opportunity for some geezers.

I won’t go into the details of those who made quite a buck from fake deals in as many things from infrastructure to merchandising. But what I know for sure is that some geezers are yet to arrive home, where they left on Wednesday, ostensibly for duty as part of the pope visit paraphernalia.

And we are not talking about those of the security services, but ordinary geezers who found the visit the perfect alibi to disappear into thin air from their wives and families. Reminds me of the guy who claimed to have taken the ill-fated Malaysian airline flight whose remains are yet to be found.

The guy, yes had a trip, but while it was scheduled for two days later, he lied to leave home only for the plane he claimed to have taken to disappear. He watched the news holed up in girlfriend’s apartment only to see his distraught family among those holding candles and keeping vigil.

It’s been years now; he can’t find the perfect excuse to go home. That is the karma that comes with an unholy lie.

But far from the lies, a visit to Namugongo and the surrounding areas on the weekend showed that we, Ugandans, love our party. There will always be plausible excuse to party , and by party, I mean to have the drinks flowing.

The bars made quite a killing, patronised from ordinary folk to security detail members, who in embedding with the local folk, simply delved deep and took to the drink – gladly all went just fine.

There are no police reports to this effect, but I am sure there must have been those unscrupulous ones who use the occasion to indecently touch ladies, attempt at a forced kiss in the crowd or simply go pickpocketing.

To such people, not even a touch from the pope’s palm would provide redemption. So, the pope is now out of town and it’s the grim existence that makes for most of our lives still staring at us.

It is the children back for holidays and straining our pockets to feed. It’s the mayhem of the Christmas frenzy about to hit town, demanding as much from our wallets as every other necessity.

It is the price of fuel that could go up as the dealers plan to cash in on the festivities. It’s back to usual, except that Namugongo area has a better road and the shrines in stellar shape