Business as usual as Uganda marks Independence Day

INDEPENDENCE

It was business as usual in the city centre, with several private business premises open, as the country marked 55 years of self-rule.

Vendors started entering the city centre as early as 5:00am. By 7:00am, shops around the old and new taxi park, were already open. In the city suburbs of Mengo, Rubaga, Kisenyi, business was also as brisk as usual.

Aisha Ayiko,37, a banana vendor told New Vision that she decided to work because Independence Day is a celebration for the well-to-do like MPs and the rich. She lamented that for the poor like her, the concept of independence is foreign to her.

"Independence is for people who get salary from the government but poor women like me who have to look for rent, school fees and food, have no reason why I can celebrate,"Ayiko said.

With bitterness, she lamented that she had been arrested five times and taken to Luzira  by Kampala Capital City Authority(KCCA) law enforcement officers for vending bananas.

Mathias Emurutu, 33, a truck driver who was found reading New Vision, said Ugandan should celebrate because its significance is for freedom and unity.

However, he disagreed with the several Independence Day adverts in the newspaper that mainly congratulates President Yoweri Museveni, instead of all Ugandans.

"Independence is for all Ugandans not one person,'' Emurutu observed.

He challenged Government to prioritise the fight against corruption, saying is the reason some sectors are lagging behind.

Susan Ayenyo, a third year student at Ndejje University, said celebrating independence is a wastage of  tax payers money. She said the money could instead be used to buy drugs for halth facilities and to beef up security in neighhbourhoods.

"I know it's hard  but let the government one time  sacrifice independence money  by buying drugs in hospitals rathet than facilitating people who already have," Ayenyo urged

She condemned the habit of some people posturing as though the day is a celebration for the Nation Resistance Movement (NRM). Aryenyo said it is logical to personalise the national day.