{UAH} A 1980 travel experience from Rev.Amos Kasibante!

"July 1980. In order to fly out the country, you need written permission in the form of a letter from the Minister of Internal Affairs. It is to do with security. The minister's name is Sam Tewungwa. He has his office high up in Crested Towers and you climb many steps to get there.

As you would imagine, there is a very long queue - and I mean very long - of people who want to get the letter. I stand in the queue for half the day in the hope that I will get somewhere. I don't. I come back the following day. Then people begin to stir. Raised voices.

 Apparently, the Minister has come and is climbing the stairs to his office. I catch a glimpse of him. He is accompanied by two policemen, one holding his briefcase. My papers had been collected and I hope he might sign them on the day. He stays in there for about twenty minutes and then he is out. And he is not coming back, we are told. He is busy campaigning. 

What I did not know was that people were bribing policemen who would then put their forms at the Minister's desk and when he came in he signed those and I left. 

I am very confused. I am not used to giving bribes, and I do not want to part with my little money. By some miracle I manage to get to the Minister the following day - the third day, that is. I am amazed by how kind he is. Sam Tewungwa was a gentleman. He could not believe that I had been in the queue for three days!

Sometimes, government ministers do not have a clue what we, the common people, are going through.

Ah, things have changed. I thought about my experience when I read today on FB that Maureen Mwagale was just sailing through airports just like that. For me in 1980, it was TRAVEL HAKUNA MCHEZO."

"In tribute to the United Kingdom and the Republic of Uganda, two bastions of strength in a world filled with strife, discrimination and terrorism."

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