Tribute to Louis Ssemakula on your 50th Birthday.

 

I have said many times, that until I met my wife, I never really understood what the farce is about when it comes to birthdays.  They're not unusual. Everybody has them and at the same rate as everybody else - one a year. They happen whether you want them or not. 

 

My question is always the same, what's the big deal? 

 

Thanks to Victoria, I now know that marking the date this incident took place every year is a matter of life and death for some. I know that missing or forgetting one may be a source of edgy relations between two otherwise grown individuals with a sound mind, especially ladies. 

 

I have since learnt to mark them by doing things for friends and accepting lavish gatherings put on in honour of the day I escaped from my mother’s womb.  Whether you are like me who didn’t care about them until recently or like my wife who has had every single one of them marked with pomp and opulence, there is one that is worth marking and celebrating. It’s the 50th birthday.

 

I don’t know why 50 years of age feels so special. Is it because most of us know that we will not be here to mark the next 50 or just the number 50. It just feels good. 

 

This morning, I thought about celebrating my ‘brother’ Louis Ssemakula Mukiibi and I chose to write these few words;

 

Dear Louis Ssemakula Mukiibi,

 

It's not to celebrate the inevitable passage of time but something much more. Everyone has birthdays but not everyone’s is the 50th birthday for my brother from another clan. 

 

Louis, you are unique. And today I'm gladly putting aside my grumbles about birthday speeches, balloons, presents and silly hats, to honour you.

 

You've reached the 50th milestone. 50 birthdays, that's a whole lot of living. I wish they showed on you, somehow you remain in one place as most of us are expanding horizontally – a proven age container.

 

Of the 50 years you have lived, I have known you for 32, enough to establish the character of a man, to know who he is.

 

Like many very good and close friends of mine, my friendship with you was a result of a decision made by our guardians and parents, 32 years ago that the best A Level school for us all would be Makerere College School.

 

I have always wondered what drew the octet together. I wouldn’t say, it was our love for books. The whole lot of us were known to approach things a little casually albeit that our academic results always reflected otherwise. Some within the group were known to be cheeky, and others - Robert Kiwagama, Fred Sentomero (RIP) and Edward Mukalazi- seemed like they were being groomed to be priests.

 

Recently, I concluded that it was our love for a good laugh that bound us together.  We all loved making fun of people and situations, and no one epitomized this common characteristic amongst us more than you my brother.

 

I recently listened to an MTN commercial where a guy goes on endlessly speaking about uncoordinated things and it immediately reminded me of you. I remembered how you used to announce your arrival in a group with a straight face and start a story – and it would take us three to four minutes to realise that the whole thing is a joke – nga tebikwatagana.  Clearly, you were living before this time. 30 years later the concept is being used for a commercial.

 

You kept our discussion groups alive with laughter and fun and with you amidst us, it is never boring. Happy birthday my brother. May you live many more years to see your great grand kids.

 

Aside from his never ending humour, which somehow endeared me to him and the bond that likely kept us together during our A Levels, Louis became my brother - and a real one.

 

Not many know this story and I doubt if LSM himself remembers it. When we completed our S6, we all retreated to our locales where we had come from to join the melting point at Macos. I came from informal parts of a suburban Kireka and I returned there with no idea what lay ahead for me for the next 6 months. We all had hinted at an idea of looking for a job but in truth, I am one of those who had no idea of what I was going to do or how to even find one. 

 

About two weeks into the holiday, I was seated by a shop veranda at about 8 pm and I saw a frame like that of Louis approaching me. Although I had visited my friends’ homes, I had not encouraged any to visit mine for fear of what they would think about where I came from. 

 

However, I think in one of the conversations, I had hinted to Louis where he would find me if he needed me. I lived opposite Shell Kireka next to the kibanda where movies where being screened by video. I did not expect anyone to ever try to find me.

 

Even though I had been informed that a week earlier a girl had come looking for me and I did not immediately acquiesce with the fact that it would be Louis coming towards me and I quickly dismissed the idea of any of my former school mates ever showing up in these parts of the world at that time of the day (or night). I continued with what I was doing.

 

A few minutes later Louis called out my name. I was shocked, happy but also curious as to what may have brought a man who stays in Kabowa, all the way to Kireka and at 8 pm? I soon pleasantly found that he had a job proposition for me. There was an opening at his brother’s business and the first person he thought of bringing in was me. I felt elated and I immediately reported for work the following day. 

 

I enjoyed my work at KAG Enterprises and earned enough to make my long holidays enjoyable and exciting. In addition to being offered a job, Louis introduced me to the rest of the family. Andrew Katende (RIP) who owned the business where we worked, treated both of us like his young brothers. Our professional life overlapped into our leisure time and we had loads of fun until we were rudely interrupted by an announcement that required S6 leavers to report for a certain useless program in the bush.

 

When I returned from Kyankwanzi, I inquired if I could return to my job and I was happily welcomed again. I had now been to almost every family function with Louis and since the summer of 1991, I am a permanent feature and easily identify myself as a member of the Mukiibi Nsambwe Family. 

 

In the last 30 years, Louis and I have planned, plotted and done things together. Good, bad or ugly we have faced situations together and standing by each other. One famous line, that has never been forgotten by Victoria to this day, is when she answered my phone and someone on the other end said, noonya bano abaami ababiri abambala essaati ez’obusikweya, naye nsinga kwagala ono omutono. To this date my brother has never told me who was looking for him and why both of us had successfully managed to interact with that person without revealing our names.

 

Louis, has been my brother that I missed in my childhood. He is there whenever I need him. Standing in for me when I am not available to execute my parental duties, offering practical advice on just about everything, from how to face personal tragedy to how to walk out of sticky situations.

 

Mr. Mukiibi Nsambwe, Louis’ father became my father and Louis accepted to share him with me without reservations. When the times were really hard for me in 1994 and 1995, his other brother (our brother) Fred Naalima stood in for me like he was standing by his blood young brother. This all would not have been possible without Louis introducing me to his entire family.

 

A little reserved and less talkative than I, most people do not know how helpful and kind he can be. Sometimes, when we are back home in the family or in our other numerous group engagements, he comes up with an idea, but I speak it out. It is attributed to me, and he is never complaining. I apologise for stealing your thunder Louis, but I know you do not mind.

 

As I said, I hate the farce around birthdays, but this is worth celebrating and I thought it would be great to publicly acknowledge all the lovable qualities about you and what it means to me personally to be my friend, brother, and confidant.

 

HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY CHIEF. LET’S DO WHAT WE DO BEST. HAVE FUN AND LAUGH!

Robert Henry Kiggundu

Nakafumu

© August 2021