Budo bashing — the new season

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WHAT'S UP!

It hadn’t happened for a while, and maybe we got too comfy about it. A few years ago, almost as regular as the long rains, Ugandans would go out of their way to either complain, ridicule, or plain diss King’s College Budo. The real reason why this happened has never been conclusively determined, but hopefully, some PhD student is working on it and will put all of us out of our misery.

The Budo ‘bashing’ resurfaced this week, as news broke that a fund-raising dinner for a new chapel at the school had raised sh800m. You would imagine there would be congratulations and high-fives all around for a job well done, but instead, social media is up in arms — what, how and why did Budo do that?

What, they raised sh800m for a new chapel? Why not a state-of-the-art digital library with AI study assistants like schools in the UK, one chap asked? Another insisted that Budo should be trying to solve climate change, cyber threats, and unemployment, not building chapels.

Talk about back-handed compliments; one could only compare Budo to schools in the UK with their massively superior budgets and infrastructure, and I like the confidence of the other that Budo should be able to solve global issues that have stymied governments everywhere.

My friend, Anthony Nattiff (a Namilyango OB), even took time off from bashing politicians to comment that the new chapel design did not match Budonian's fine taste’, on which incidentally he was taken to task by several Kisubi old boys. This national insecurity is real.

I still remember when, in 2018, to celebrate and commemorate the Kabaka’s 25th coronation anniversary, somebody composed a song that had hundreds of schools from across Buganda participating. Then they made a video of it, and the whole country went bananas. Why? Because Budo featured, for whole of 30 seconds.

Social media went into a frenzy as people from all walks of life, some who probably couldn’t point out on a map where Budo was, criticised the school for taking park in the Jubileewo video.

It was difficult to understand why people took exception to the fact that King’s College, Budo participated. This was a specially composed song to celebrate the coronation anniversary of the reigning Kabaka of Buganda. For the uninitiated, the original purpose of the school was to educate the ‘sons of chiefs and kings’. And two of the most recent Kabakas had attended Budo. I imagine what the hullabaloo would have been if Budo had declined to be a part of the video.

Much of the criticism was based on the premise that Budo and Budonians were ‘above’ that kind of thing, that the song and the video were ‘local’. One chap even wrote about a ‘pseudo-imperial persona’, and insisted that 30-second cameo was ‘unBudonian’.

It is difficult to understand why Uganda’s collective insecurity resurfaces every time Budo is mentioned. During the burial of my late father a few months ago, my eldest sister told the collected mourners how our father made sure that most of us went to Budo. That became the theme of the people who spoke after her, all insisting that there is also life if one did not go to Budo.

In 2016, Old Budonians from the classes of 1987 and 1990 decided to build a new gate at the school. They raised the money themselves and, in 60 days, transformed the entrance to their alma mater. Again, Ugandans did not fi nd it worthwhile, and heavily criticised the school for ‘wasting’ resources. It is funny, but once the dust had settled, all other schools and institutions embarked on an orgy of building grandiose gates. Some diverted funds from much needed projects so they could ‘be like Budo’. Yeah, you fi gure it out.

Then in 2020, Tracy Rubondo, a former Deputy Head Prefect, complained on social media how girls did not have a very good time at the school. It was not exactly a #MeToo moment, but many Old Budonians, male and female, owned up to the omissions and commissions that meant girls had a less than memorable experience at the hill. Public apologies were made and commitments to make life better for the girl child at Budo.

But, to that insecure Ugandan public, all that didn’t matter. There were cries of ‘… nothing good has ever come out of Budo, everything about the school is a farce, Budonian ‘pride’ is misplaced’, and some swore they would never take their kids to Budo (but wait for admissions to open and the line of cars trying to get into Budo will stretch all the way to Kyengera).

Some friends of mine are obsessed with the spelling of ‘Budo’, insisting it is wrong, and should be a double ‘d’. We have explained a million times why it is spelled that way, but I guess it is difficult to give up an obsession.

So, the hullabaloo about the new chapel will die down, and Budonians will find the money to build it. I’m just hoping they don’t demolish the old one. Just like the first chapel, built in 1912 but later turned into a library, is still standing.

I never did go to that chapel much, but, along with the Main Hall, it is one of the most iconic buildings on the hill, and I earnestly hope it stays.

And no prizes for guessing what other schools will do after this.

Follow Kalungi on X (Twitter), @KalungiKabuye