Mr. Ras, The Cartoonist
Jan 08, 2004
Dressed in a green checked shirt and a black pair of Jean trousers, he strolls into office at around 9:00am. He walks with a slight swing and keeps pulling his trousers up to his abdomen like a Congolese musician.
By Fred Nangoli
Dressed in a green checked shirt and a black pair of Jean trousers, he strolls into office at around 9:00am. He walks with a slight swing and keeps pulling his trousers up to his abdomen like a Congolese musician.
“Hi guys,†he greets every one in office, settles at his desk quietly and reads through the day's paper as he smiles to himself.
He slowly and quietly leaves his desk, stomps around the newsroom, his hands deep in his pockets as he continuously pulls his trousers up.
At around 9:20am, he settles back at his desk, picks his pen and begins to draw his cartoons for the next day's newspaper. He occasionally gazes at people passing by his desk as he works. He retires to his home in Muyenga after 11:00pm.
That is how Charles Onen, popularly known as Ras Manyanga, spends his day at The New Vision. Ras has been drawing cartoons for the leading daily for the last seven years and loves his job.
Surprisingly, his childhood dream was to become a Pope, dancer or a fine artist though his mother wanted him to be either a doctor, lawyer or an architect. At a tender age, Ras made up his mind to become an artist.
“Right from my school days, I have been good at fine art. I did not like being a lawyer or a doctor,†he says.
He, however, says he still has dreams of becoming a Pope.
Ras gets all his cartoon ideas from newspaper stories. He begins the day by reading The New Vision from cover to cover.
He then selects a story on which to base his cartoon and finally draws the cartoons by hand before they are scanned and reproduced in the newspapers.
Owing to his talent, Ras has won himself a celebrity status and can hardly walk into his favourite art galleries, sports clubs or bar without being noticed.
Indeed, his cartoons have endeared him to many. “Before I read The New Vision, I first go to the cartoon page to see what Ras has for us,†says Moses Kiberu, a student at Makerere.
Ras’ fans believe he is a wired man living in his own world –– a world full of humour, while his workmates know him more as a quite, calm and comic man who makes others laugh while he concentrates on his work.
“Ras rarely laughs but cracks jokes all day and keeps his friends in rib-breaking laughter,†says his workmate.
Interestingly, the cartoonist who hails from Kitgum district in north-eastern Uganda is not certain of his date of birth. He says he is roughly a year older than his brother and a year younger than his sister.
“If I am to think critically, I must be in my late 20s,†he guesses with a broad smile.
His friends say he is just an all-season clown who hides factual issues under the cover of humour. “He is just a clown –– a comic who has all the time to make others laugh,†says one of his friends.
If Ras was an animal, he would most likely be a tortoise, which usually hides its body under its shell.
He likes to keep a low profile. Few people know his face or name. He only signs his cartoons as Mr. Ras. He often bumps into people discussing his cartoons without knowing the architect is in their midst. He says he likes it that way. He talks little, and with a stammer, but there is humour in virtually everything he says. “At several ceremonies we have attended, Ras has refused to be identified and where he has been introduced, people do not believe he is the actual Ras. They think Ras is a wired character," says his close friend.
His friends say he has made fun of politicians, businessmen and sportsmen and he is right to keep a low profile.
A few times people have threatened to take him to court over his cartoons, though none has gone that far.
“The FUFA officials have often complained and threatened to sue Ras for associating them with pork and pigs,†says a sports writer.
“There are many people who get annoyed but I feel good. Much as I annoy them, I think Ugandans have started understanding that cartoons are just about jokes,†Ras says.
Ras has not even spared his own daddy. When his father, Opika Opoka, then permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture declined to appear before Parliament over the valley dam saga, Ras produced a cartoon of him protesting at the doors of Parliament that he would not get in since another senior officer in the ministry had also been called.
Some say Ras is obsessed with male reproductive organs. “He looks for every opportunity to draw an over-sized testis of an animal,†observes Kiberu, a regular New Vision reader.
In 2001, when some New Vision editors temporarily restrained him from including ‘reproductive organs’ on cartoons, he drew a cartoon of a notorious city pickpocket who had been roughed up and in place of the man’s organs, he placed a big plaster on which he wrote the words: “You man you have survived, otherwise I wouldn’t have spared those things of yours.â€
In another incident, when he drew a buck, he put a question mark in place of the organs.
“Of course animals have organs and they don’t wear clothes. You can’t exclude parts of their body,†Ras says. He says every cartoon he draws must have a meaning.
When asked to comment on Ras’ work, The New Vision news editor, John Baptist Wasswa smiles, breaks into laughter, shakes his head, then leans back on his seat and says: “He is merciless, very witty and does not spare anybody, but can be weird at times. He has a very critical mind and an extra eye that sees things from another perspective.â€
Ras says drawing male organs in his cartoons is not his own innovation.
“I was encouraged to do so by my former boss Onapito Ekomoloit when I worked for The Crusader,†he recalls. “If I produced a cartoon without balls, he would reject it,†he adds.
Ras’ grandfathers on either sides of the family were fine artists.
“My grandfathers were so gifted in art. One was very humourous while the other was a craft man,†he reveals.
It is possible Ras inherited his artistic talents from his grandparents.
“I have found more humour in cartoons and I feel they possess the humour that people want,†he observes.
Ras’ journey to editorial cartooning begun at a much tender age of one. “I remember drawing pictures on the walls and floors of my father’s house even before I started school,†he recalls.
“I later faced the wrath of my mother for wasting books on art rather than doing serious reading.â€
“My daddy, however, knew I would be a great artist. He encouraged me to draw more pictures instead,†he adds.
Ras has, however, not trained a successor to replace him when he retires. He says he is yet to find a wife and produce a successor.
The cartoonist studied at Kibuli Secondary School and Namilyango College for his O’ and A’ levels. He enrolled in fine art at Margaret Towel School of Industrial and Fine Art at Makerere University in 1990. But to his disappointment, the Fine Art school did not have a cartooning course, so he consoled himself with painting and graphics while he trained himself in cartoon drawing. While at Makerere, he also drew cartoons for the defunct Crusader newspaper. He graduated in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art.
Besides art, Ras is a dancer. While at Namilyango College, he was twice crowned Mr. Namilyango for excelling in dancing competitions.
“He was a star in modern music and always displayed rare dancing strokes on stage,†recalls Kiberu then a junior at the college.
His former teacher Charles Opolot, now at The New Vision says Ras was a naughty student.
“But he also loved socialising with other students and was careful where school rules applied,†recalls Opolot.
Like his father Opoka, Ras has an interest in politics. Ras attempted to contest for the 2001 parliamentary campaigns in Kitgum with his greatest rival being his own father, but later stepped down for daddy.
“I wasn’t a coward then, I have in fact laid a better foundation for taking the seat in 2006,†he discloses.
The cartoonist is also a regular churchgoer though often squeezes some time in the wee hours of night to visit his favourite clubs and bars.
His friends say he is a regular figure at Rock Gardens and Bamboo Nest in Bugolobi.
The artist does swimming at his free time. He says he has ambitions of joining the national swimming team and competing at the 2004 Olympic games in Athens, Greece.
Ras is a very temperamental cartoonist and hates to work under pressure. “You can never know where his temper stops and where his humour starts,†says a Vision sub-editor.
"One time Ras had a disagreement with Sunday Vision Editor Joachim Buwembo, he stormed out of office to pitch camp at The Monitor. He had to be wooed back,†says another sub-editor.
On the local scene, Ras is a Kampala City Council (KCC) football fan. His favourite foreign club is Arsenal
A win for Arsenal, however, makes him insult his rivals by drawing cartoons depicting the gunners as supreme and other teams as non existent. But a loss for Arsenal makes him sick and speechless for days. Ras’ cartoons have not only entertained the politicians and businessmen but have also left the God-fearing people grappling with laughter.
“Ras’ impression of God always makes my day,†says a born again Christian and work-mate.
“Ras often depicts God as a frail figure with glasses as though he has met him before,†he adds.
Like other humourous personalities, one cannot indeed tell where Ras’ humour stops and where his seriousness begins. What separates his humour and his solemnity is indeed a very thin line.
Ends
Dressed in a green checked shirt and a black pair of Jean trousers, he strolls into office at around 9:00am. He walks with a slight swing and keeps pulling his trousers up to his abdomen like a Congolese musician.
“Hi guys,†he greets every one in office, settles at his desk quietly and reads through the day's paper as he smiles to himself.
He slowly and quietly leaves his desk, stomps around the newsroom, his hands deep in his pockets as he continuously pulls his trousers up.
At around 9:20am, he settles back at his desk, picks his pen and begins to draw his cartoons for the next day's newspaper. He occasionally gazes at people passing by his desk as he works. He retires to his home in Muyenga after 11:00pm.
That is how Charles Onen, popularly known as Ras Manyanga, spends his day at The New Vision. Ras has been drawing cartoons for the leading daily for the last seven years and loves his job.
Surprisingly, his childhood dream was to become a Pope, dancer or a fine artist though his mother wanted him to be either a doctor, lawyer or an architect. At a tender age, Ras made up his mind to become an artist.
“Right from my school days, I have been good at fine art. I did not like being a lawyer or a doctor,†he says.
He, however, says he still has dreams of becoming a Pope.
Ras gets all his cartoon ideas from newspaper stories. He begins the day by reading The New Vision from cover to cover.
He then selects a story on which to base his cartoon and finally draws the cartoons by hand before they are scanned and reproduced in the newspapers.
Owing to his talent, Ras has won himself a celebrity status and can hardly walk into his favourite art galleries, sports clubs or bar without being noticed.
Indeed, his cartoons have endeared him to many. “Before I read The New Vision, I first go to the cartoon page to see what Ras has for us,†says Moses Kiberu, a student at Makerere.
Ras’ fans believe he is a wired man living in his own world –– a world full of humour, while his workmates know him more as a quite, calm and comic man who makes others laugh while he concentrates on his work.
“Ras rarely laughs but cracks jokes all day and keeps his friends in rib-breaking laughter,†says his workmate.
Interestingly, the cartoonist who hails from Kitgum district in north-eastern Uganda is not certain of his date of birth. He says he is roughly a year older than his brother and a year younger than his sister.
“If I am to think critically, I must be in my late 20s,†he guesses with a broad smile.
His friends say he is just an all-season clown who hides factual issues under the cover of humour. “He is just a clown –– a comic who has all the time to make others laugh,†says one of his friends.
If Ras was an animal, he would most likely be a tortoise, which usually hides its body under its shell.
He likes to keep a low profile. Few people know his face or name. He only signs his cartoons as Mr. Ras. He often bumps into people discussing his cartoons without knowing the architect is in their midst. He says he likes it that way. He talks little, and with a stammer, but there is humour in virtually everything he says. “At several ceremonies we have attended, Ras has refused to be identified and where he has been introduced, people do not believe he is the actual Ras. They think Ras is a wired character," says his close friend.
His friends say he has made fun of politicians, businessmen and sportsmen and he is right to keep a low profile.
A few times people have threatened to take him to court over his cartoons, though none has gone that far.
“The FUFA officials have often complained and threatened to sue Ras for associating them with pork and pigs,†says a sports writer.
“There are many people who get annoyed but I feel good. Much as I annoy them, I think Ugandans have started understanding that cartoons are just about jokes,†Ras says.
Ras has not even spared his own daddy. When his father, Opika Opoka, then permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture declined to appear before Parliament over the valley dam saga, Ras produced a cartoon of him protesting at the doors of Parliament that he would not get in since another senior officer in the ministry had also been called.
Some say Ras is obsessed with male reproductive organs. “He looks for every opportunity to draw an over-sized testis of an animal,†observes Kiberu, a regular New Vision reader.
In 2001, when some New Vision editors temporarily restrained him from including ‘reproductive organs’ on cartoons, he drew a cartoon of a notorious city pickpocket who had been roughed up and in place of the man’s organs, he placed a big plaster on which he wrote the words: “You man you have survived, otherwise I wouldn’t have spared those things of yours.â€
In another incident, when he drew a buck, he put a question mark in place of the organs.
“Of course animals have organs and they don’t wear clothes. You can’t exclude parts of their body,†Ras says. He says every cartoon he draws must have a meaning.
When asked to comment on Ras’ work, The New Vision news editor, John Baptist Wasswa smiles, breaks into laughter, shakes his head, then leans back on his seat and says: “He is merciless, very witty and does not spare anybody, but can be weird at times. He has a very critical mind and an extra eye that sees things from another perspective.â€
Ras says drawing male organs in his cartoons is not his own innovation.
“I was encouraged to do so by my former boss Onapito Ekomoloit when I worked for The Crusader,†he recalls. “If I produced a cartoon without balls, he would reject it,†he adds.
Ras’ grandfathers on either sides of the family were fine artists.
“My grandfathers were so gifted in art. One was very humourous while the other was a craft man,†he reveals.
It is possible Ras inherited his artistic talents from his grandparents.
“I have found more humour in cartoons and I feel they possess the humour that people want,†he observes.
Ras’ journey to editorial cartooning begun at a much tender age of one. “I remember drawing pictures on the walls and floors of my father’s house even before I started school,†he recalls.
“I later faced the wrath of my mother for wasting books on art rather than doing serious reading.â€
“My daddy, however, knew I would be a great artist. He encouraged me to draw more pictures instead,†he adds.
Ras has, however, not trained a successor to replace him when he retires. He says he is yet to find a wife and produce a successor.
The cartoonist studied at Kibuli Secondary School and Namilyango College for his O’ and A’ levels. He enrolled in fine art at Margaret Towel School of Industrial and Fine Art at Makerere University in 1990. But to his disappointment, the Fine Art school did not have a cartooning course, so he consoled himself with painting and graphics while he trained himself in cartoon drawing. While at Makerere, he also drew cartoons for the defunct Crusader newspaper. He graduated in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art.
Besides art, Ras is a dancer. While at Namilyango College, he was twice crowned Mr. Namilyango for excelling in dancing competitions.
“He was a star in modern music and always displayed rare dancing strokes on stage,†recalls Kiberu then a junior at the college.
His former teacher Charles Opolot, now at The New Vision says Ras was a naughty student.
“But he also loved socialising with other students and was careful where school rules applied,†recalls Opolot.
Like his father Opoka, Ras has an interest in politics. Ras attempted to contest for the 2001 parliamentary campaigns in Kitgum with his greatest rival being his own father, but later stepped down for daddy.
“I wasn’t a coward then, I have in fact laid a better foundation for taking the seat in 2006,†he discloses.
The cartoonist is also a regular churchgoer though often squeezes some time in the wee hours of night to visit his favourite clubs and bars.
His friends say he is a regular figure at Rock Gardens and Bamboo Nest in Bugolobi.
The artist does swimming at his free time. He says he has ambitions of joining the national swimming team and competing at the 2004 Olympic games in Athens, Greece.
Ras is a very temperamental cartoonist and hates to work under pressure. “You can never know where his temper stops and where his humour starts,†says a Vision sub-editor.
"One time Ras had a disagreement with Sunday Vision Editor Joachim Buwembo, he stormed out of office to pitch camp at The Monitor. He had to be wooed back,†says another sub-editor.
On the local scene, Ras is a Kampala City Council (KCC) football fan. His favourite foreign club is Arsenal
A win for Arsenal, however, makes him insult his rivals by drawing cartoons depicting the gunners as supreme and other teams as non existent. But a loss for Arsenal makes him sick and speechless for days. Ras’ cartoons have not only entertained the politicians and businessmen but have also left the God-fearing people grappling with laughter.
“Ras’ impression of God always makes my day,†says a born again Christian and work-mate.
“Ras often depicts God as a frail figure with glasses as though he has met him before,†he adds.
Like other humourous personalities, one cannot indeed tell where Ras’ humour stops and where his seriousness begins. What separates his humour and his solemnity is indeed a very thin line.
Ends