Kavuma, the CNN Multichoice African Journalist Award winner

Aug 12, 2007

WITH an aura of confidence, he walked up to the podium, clad in a jacket and a Kanzu (tunic) that brought out the best in him. His eyes pried around occasionally as if reminiscising his first step to this achievement.

By Arthur Baguma

WITH an aura of confidence, he walked up to the podium, clad in a jacket and a Kanzu (tunic) that brought out the best in him. His eyes pried around occasionally as if reminiscising his first step to this achievement.

Like they say, however long a journey is, it starts with one step. While few saw him take the first step with cynicism, the climax of his journey was highlighted with a standing ovation. Uganda’s Richard Kavuma emerged the overall winner of this year’s CNN Multichoice African Journalist Award.

It was a climax of a journey he set on as a child when he started journalism using a blackboard and chalk as his tools.
At one time, he fled school, clad in his school uniform, to ask for an opportunity to write for a local daily newspaper.

He was a student of St Mary’s College Kisubi. The little boy was teased, but never was his spirit shaken into giving up on his love for journalism.

Ten days later, his first article was published with the help of Richard Tebere, an old boy of the school, then working for The Monitor. And since then, he has never looked back.
“It was a sports article,” Kavuma recalls how he started off.

Kavuma, who works for The Weekly Observer, entered the continent’s most prestigious competition for journalists with articles on Uganda’s performance on the Millennium Development Goals.

He outstripped more than 1,600 other journalists to lift the coveted CNN MultiChoice African Journalist of the year 2007 prize. Kavuma’s eight series article that assessed Uganda’s progress towards the UN’s Millennium Development Goals earned him the top prize.

He described the award as recognition for journalism that strives to put people at the forefront.

“With this award, I give my renewed dedication to act as a voice for the voiceless,” Kavuma says.
While all the praises are being directed at him, Kavuma says his mother deserves more praise because she is the force behind his success.

“She raised me and my sister single handedly,” Kavuma said.
He heartily talks of his mother as a woman of resolve, who had the conviction to give her children the best.

She struggled to ensure that they got the best education despite the limited means.
“My children, I cannot give you the best diet or clothes, but I can give you good education at any cost,” Kavuma recalls his mother telling him.

Indeed, Kavuma and his sister went to the best schools. Kavuma recalls the times his mother pleaded with school authorities to “let us stay at school as she looked for fees.”

The 33-year-old prefers to let his deeds speak for him — at first sight, he comes across as a quiet and down-to-earth person. Little wonder as a child, he was a simple, but hardworking boy.

Throughout his primary school, he was always among the best pupils. He carries himself with a lot of patience.

Philip Besimire, an old boy of Kisubi, remembers Richard as a person who was always very serious with books. Besimire says when Kavuma set out to do something; he did it with one heart, without wavering.

“And he tried out many things; I remember introducing him to Radio One as a traffic correspondent, a role he played very well. I do not know if he still does the same,” Besimire said.

Moris Barigye, a former housemate of Kavuma’s, has fond memories of their school days. He was a jerk of all trades. He tried out football, a sport he proudly played with bare feet.

Barigye was one of the few students who admired Kavuma for being down-to-earth. “He loved porridge like his life depended on it,” Barigye says, before bursting out into laughter.

But when it came to class, Kavuma was very serious with books, says Barigye.
In school, Kavuma also passed as one of the smartest students. Barigye says Kavuma would iron his trousers so hard that they developed sharp lines.

At Kisubi, Kavuma also served as a deputy minister of religious education in Senior Two.

His colleagues reveal that the kind of work he does requires a lot of patience — an attribute that few journalists have.
“Imagine someone travelling upcountry for weeks to collect information and write the stories. It is not easy,” Ibrahim Ssemuju Nganda, a workmate, says of Kavuma.

Ssemujju says if Kavuma thinks he should speak to 10 people to get the story, he will do it.

But while there is a patient side of him, sometimes he is impatient. A former Liverpool- turned Manchester fan can also shed off his gentle posture. He usually shouts and cracks jokes during Premiership matches.

People close to him describe him as a perfectionist. If his story is published with a comma missing somewhere, he will have a bad day. All these attributes are a result of the role his mother played in his upbringing.

Kavuma believes that journalism is more of a calling and warns those interested in it not to be too expectant.
“For me, journalism was never a job. It was never something where I went to pick a pay cheque.

Sometimes I used more money to take my article to The Monitor, well knowing that I would be paid less than what I used to produce the article. Journalism is a calling — the most important is if one loves it.

But where did he draw the inspiration to become a journalist? For Kavuma, it came naturally. In his Senior One, he acquired a pocket radio specifically to listen to BBC news. Everyday, other pupils would contact him for developments on the local and international scene.

Kavuma is a graduate of Makerere University and has been a journalist since 1996. He was born to Edward Bunnya and Emelda Nabulya in Masaka district. He sat his Primary Leaving Examinations at Bishop Ddungu Primary School in Masaka, before joining St. Mary’s College Kisubi for his Ordinary and Advanced level studies.

In 1997, he enrolled at Makerere University for a bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences where he majored in Political Science.

Kavuma has trained in several short journalism courses in different parts of the world.

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