Namilyango College at 110 years
Mar 21, 2012
A quiet June 1988 afternoon of football, tennis and general ruckus typical of a Saturday at Namilyango College was rudely interrupted by news which spread like wild fire in dry season.
By Gawaya Tegulle
A quiet June 1988 afternoon of football, tennis and general ruckus typical of a Saturday at Namilyango College was rudely interrupted by news which spread like wild fire in dry season: a kid was dead. This was an event without precedent; a thunderbolt out of a clear sky.
In ‘Nakivubo’ and ‘Bugembe’ stadia – as the two main football pitches were christened, games were abandoned. In the tennis courts, balls were left midair and rackets tossed to the ground.
Everybody picked their shirts and hit the road at full speed. Everybody was rushing to the dispensary – where the entire school quickly gathered.
The headmaster Mr. (now Dr.) Peregrine Kibuuka was a big man in every sense of the word; a powerful figure who was feared as much as he was respected. But this tragedy had quickly set a new record – the headmaster’s eyes were red from weeping – something none of us kids thought could ever happen, or that we’d ever see.
The body of Tata Wabweyo – a really sweet little boy – was wheeled out of the dispensary. And the headmaster, wiping his eyes, spoke to the school. It was no longer the tough uncompromising Kibuuka.
This one was broken and carried the face of a man who had been betrayed. “I told you never to touch my little ones,” he said. “Now you see…”. We all lowered our eyes. He put the little boy – a victim of bullying - on the school pick-up truck and disappeared in a cloud of dust, presumably to the police or the morgue. Nobody ate much for the next day or two.
Teasing or bullying had long been one of the most dubious traditions of the school. To be fair, the school had strict rules against it and any offender earned an immediate expulsion. A few were indeed expelled. But the bullying had still continued, in part because many of the kids, especially in S.1, were either afraid to report it or had accepted it as a tradition and big-boy privilege that they too would exercise when they reached the upper classes.
The bullying took on many forms, eating your grub, casually slapping you, pouring tea in your face, making you sing or dance, or wash someone’s clothes. The second-worst and second most feared was the ‘kamaring’ – which meant the ‘ruga ruga mercenaries’ would simply find out where you slept, then come and wallop you to smithereens in the dead of night.
But the ultimate humiliation was the ‘showering’ with ‘kasaa’ – folks simply went to the overflow pit latrines, filled a bucket with the stuff and gave you a generous helping of it.
By 1984, houses like Kiwanuka, Hanlon, Mckee and Doyle were bastions of bullies. In those days chaps in the senior classes were huge affairs that, if they wore suits, could easily be mistaken for teachers...or cooks, if they chose overalls.
Many of them were accomplished boxers – something you easily learnt at the school, thanks to the rich sports facilities – or martial arts specialists. Even though smoking and boozing were as illegal, they did so casually, out of sight of the teachers. You didn’t want to cross their paths.
In 1992, the bullying of Victor Rwomwiju, a little fellow who promptly died, was an anti-climax for the college. Kibuuka took radical action and introduced a new system: every class with its own residence, so no one could take advantage of others just because he was in a higher class.
The move completely distorted tradition; it killed the custom of mentoring, by which juniors were attached to seniors to help them adjust to life in a new school. It deprived young ones of the chance to interact with and learn from the older boys. It killed the pride that kids had about their houses of residence. But it certainly did save lives.
The school took a ‘never again’ policy; which has been successful. The last two decades have been incident-free. The slightest indiscipline is met with severe deterrent punishment.
But a lot more has changed. The students today are much smaller than in the days of yore. There are no mountain-size boys anymore; compared to the old days, it seems a school of mostly little fellows, running around the rugby and cricket pitches (not much football or boxing nowadays), and each class in a world of their own.
The increased discipline is arguably one of the reasons the school is back to top form, consistently posting impressive results in the national examinations.
As Uganda’s oldest secondary school celebrates its 110th anniversary this Saturday 24th March 2012, many Old Boys have made it clear they will agitate for the return to the mixed houses. But on this the school administration is very hesitant. And no one can blame them…twice bitten, thrice shy.
Some of the prominent Old Boys
Politics
• George Cosmas Adyebo, Prime Minister 1991–1994
• Cuthbert Obwangor, Minister of Regional Affairs 1962–1967
• Matthias Ngobi, Minister of Agriculture and Co-operatives 1962–1966
• Gerald Sendaula, Minister of Finance 1998–2005 and MP for Bukoto 1980–2005
• Kezimbira Miyingo, Minister for the Environment 1996–2006
• Agard Didi, Minister for Microfinance 1996–2006 and MP Moyo West 1996–2006
• Prof. Semakula Kiwanuka, Minister 2001–2006, Ambassador to UAE and MP 1996–2011
• Fred Mukisa, Minister for Fisheries 2006–2011 and MP for Bukooli Central 2006–2011
• Andrew Lutaakome Kayiira, Minister of Internal Affairs 1979–1980
• Prof. Isaac Newton Ojok, Minister for Education 1980–1985
• Norbert Mao, Democratic Party 2011 Presidential candidate
The Church
• Rt. Rev. Dr. Micheal Kyomya, Bishop of Busoga Diocese
• Pastor Martin Sempa, Makerere Community Chapel and AIDS activist
Law
• Justice Bart Magunda Katureebe, Justice of the Supreme Court of Uganda
• Justice John Bosco Katutsi, Judge of the High Court of Uganda
• Bernard Katureebe, lawyer of the High Court of Uganda and Solicitor of England and Wales
• Livingstone Sewanyana, lawyer and human rights activist
• John Sempebwa, lawyer
Civil Service
• Maj. Gen. Francis Nyangweso, Chairman UOC and Olympian 1958–1964
• Angelo Onegi-Obel, Governor Bank of Uganda 1973–1978 and Presidential Advisor
• Geoffrey Onegi-Obel, Chairman NSSF Board of Directors
• Leo Kibirango, Governor Bank of Uganda
• Martin Orech, Head of Civil Service
• Chris Kasami, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance
Academics
• Prof. John Sebuwufu, Vice Chancellor Makerere University 1993–2001
• Prof. Nelson Sewankambo, Dean Makerere College of Health Sciences and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians
• Prof. David Serwadda, Dean Makerere University School of Public Health
• Dr. Peregrine Kibuuka, Vice Chancellor Muteesa I Royal University and former Headmaster