{UAH} VERY INTERESTING: When Karamoja’s best toasted to 25 years of Moroto High School

When Karamoja's best toasted to 25 years of Moroto High School

Written by Richard M. Kavuma

 Last Updated: 17 August 2015

 

PM Ruhakana Rugunda meets Charles Abura Okelly, Mororo High School's oldest former student (L). Looking on is Minister Lokeris (2nd L) and RDC Sam Abura

When it was announced that the 'oldest' old boy of Moroto High School would soon greet the guests, we held our breaths. Some imagined a graying elder with a walking stick and perhaps an interpreter.

But it wasn't long before Charles Abura Okelly marched to the microphone and proved us wrong. He may have looked like any other Moroto man hurrying into a shop – in his brown, threadbare collar T-shirt, but there was no mistaking his elocution and eloquence.

"I am happy that Moroto High School has metamorphosed from infancy into the great institution it is today," he said, to deafening laughter, clapping, ululation and craned necks from the hundreds of guests and students.

"When yours truly speaking sat of the East African examinations set by the University of Cambridge, he managed to get Distinction 1 in English. Mind you the examinations were set by the University of Cambridge in England. So, having got that Dry 1, I could easily have been the best in the whole of East Africa."

At 66, Okelly, who describes himself as "just a peasant", may not know the word Swagg, but the buzzing current students of Moroto H/S will swear he has it. In a way, the title of this article could be misleading.

Students of Moroto High School

For on July 17, 2015, as it celebrated its golden jubilee, you got the impression that Moroto High School has always been the toast of Karamoja, for long Uganda's most neglected and least developed region.

Now though, the school lies in an area clearly on the move, with green gardens coming up, land being opened up, roads being built, and electricity arriving.

Established in 1965, at a time when we had junior secondary, Moroto H/S was the first senior secondary school in Karamoja. From the initial 28 students, it now has over 1,000, according to the headmaster, Rev Fr John Bosco Kutegana.

By some estimates, Moroto has trained between 70 and 80 per cent of Karamoja's elite. And the party looked like a who-is-who-in the region: administrators, teachers, bishops, priests, MPs and leaders at all levels.

This may explain why prime minister Ruhakana Rugunda flew to Moroto that Saturday to preside over the school's 50th anniversary party, leaving behind Shs 60m and a promise of a bus (See Museveni gives Moroto High School Shs 60m; bus on the way; ).

Dr Rugunda promised that the government would address school's well-recited challenges – lack of teachers' transport, classrooms, a girls' dormitory, etc. 

But Moroto district chairman Charles Aol Musooka singled out poor attitude as the last major obstacle to progress in the region. He cited the poor attitude of science teachers who refuse to report to Moroto H/S; parents who do not follow up on the performance of their children at school; poor attitude of students who waste time instead of immersing themselves in studies.

Moroto LC-V chairman Mark Aol Musooka listens to Rugunda

"Earlier insecurity was a problem; now what is the excuse [for poor performance]?" Musooka asked. "We are tired of being at the bottom when results of PLE, UCE and A-level are released."

FOND MEMORIES

Besides Charles Abura Okelly, other old boys lit up the day with memories of their time here.  Moroto RC Sam Abura, for instance, recalled the school's prowess in sports. He said he was the first product of Moroto H/S to qualify for the Olympics. Wow, he did?  Well, yes, but he never travelled; Uganda, he said, boycotted the 1976 games over apartheid in South Africa.

"Who is the fastest man now?" Abura asked, and the audience chorused out "Usain Bolt. "yes! This is their time. But in my time, I was also… [like Usain Bolt]."

For Peter Lokeris, the state minister for minerals, one of the sweetest memories was entering a storied building upon joining Moroto H/S in 1967.

"It was the first time I climbed a goloofa," Said Lokeris, smiling in enjoyment of the memory, and drawing more applause. "I would run up! And then run down, looking at it. It had everything – kitchen, toilet, dormitory… "

Back then, the country was only getting bathed in still-novel game called football. Matches between Moroto High and the army would bring fans from dozens of kilometres to see the "giants".

"There was a man called Lutalo,"Lokeris said, a sweet smile still plastered on his face. "Lutalo would say, if you miss the ball, don't miss the leg!"
Now, Karamoja – and by extension Moroto High is determined not to miss the development bus.

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

"Even a small dog can piss on a tall Building", Jim Hightower

"But this I know, UPC believed and still believes in

very high education. We can call Obote all bad names we have, but the bottom line remains that he got more scholarships for Buganda than all previous Uganda leaders combined. That includes Sir Edward Mutesa, President Lule, President Binayisa, up to and into Ssabasajja Mutebi. Who all happen to be Baganda leaders." Mulindwa

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