By
Edward Nobel Bisamunyu
GUEST WRITER
When one has lived in Europe or the United States of America
(USA), he or she becomes accustomed to the media-perpetrated
idea that we, Africans, are incapable of success.
In fact, such a notion permeates the American air that
one begins to keep quiet whenever overwhelming evidence
of incompetence is presented. What with Africa in the news
only when Robert Mugabe has proved more harmful to Zimbabweans
than Ian Smith, or when Somalia is in the news for hunger
and a debilitating civil war!
However, for me, it’s not our presidents and their
lifestyles that inspire my heart with pride but the pragmatism
and typical achievements of such quiet pioneers as John
S. Batuma.
If you grew up in the hills of Kigezi in the 1960s, whether
you were a child of Baganda civil servants living in Kabale
or of traditional Bakiga farmers eking a family’s
subsistence from their ancestral soil, the genius and extraordinary
achievements of Batuma as a dairy farmer and a businessman
would have shaped the way you saw Africa’s future.
Batuma’s success was attributed to the traditions
of exertion and prudence that define the ethics and traditions
of the Bakiga.
Batuma proved wrong those who said that Africans, unlike
the Asians, could not succeed in business except through
the corruption or self-service in politics.
In good and bad times, he kept his cool and focused his
mind to steer his business profitably into the next century.
In 1970, on the main street in Kabale, Kigezi Wholesalers
Ltd. shop stood as a monument to the strategic thinking
of Batuma.
As you drove from Kabale’s centre towards Kampala
you were aware that the small building opposite the Police
station had an imposing African spirit in driving its ideas
to actualisation.
That modest structure, large for Kabale then, indicated
the business pulse of the town while also displaying the
growing purposes and merits of the forward-thinking Batuma.
Slowly, you saw his plans for enterprise unfold across
Kabale and heard people say, in the typical hushed tones
of respect, “That is Mr. Batuma’s new business.”
He was never just Batuma but “Mr. Batuma” because
people admired, trusted and respected him.
Always dressed modestly and working quietly but resolutely,
Batuma set the example and the standard that others would
later follow. He was known throughout Kigezi as the man
who succeeded in establishing a modern dairy farm.
So, here he was, a modest and simple African man teaching
the world how to produce better and more milk.
And he received international recognition for his efforts,
including a honorary doctorate from the University of California.
Batuma was bigger for us than the Somani Brothers, who
were clearly billionaires and very nice people. He was one
of our own, accessible and visible, with his family living
among us and his children attending our schools. Whenever
I saw Batuma as my parents called on him at his company
building or as I walked or rode my bicycle past it on my
way to and from school, I was always astonished by how humble
he remained.
He was always himself, devoid of the airs associated with
rich people and often prescribed in the Western manuals
of how to become a success.
“Self-confidence,” they write, “will open
doors for you and make it happen!”
Batuma was gentle, friendly, kind and faultlessly committed
to his family. He thrived on the fruits of his labour and
the sweat of his brow, taking on projects that would have
daunted and demoralised many other brave-hearted industrialists,
Ugandan or foreign, and succeeding at making these profitable
and prominent.
His charitable work in Kabale, for churches, schools and
country, is the strongest reason for us to remain sure that
our finest works and contributions shall come not from corrupt
means but through hard work.
This is the spirit which Batuma espoused and for which
we shall fondly remember him. He was what my father, during
my childhood, often referred to as not “a Man of Power”
but “a Man of the People!”
Not very long ago, I came across a group of Europeans who
told me that they had been to Kigezi. As I celebrated their
mere visit of Kabale they added that they had seen the extraordinary
projects of a farmer who had transformed the dairy industry.
You might not think much of this but across Britain money
is being collected continuously to sponsor a cow for Africa
and Ugandans. Many, obviously, have been startled to come
to East Africa and find that there was a man who had lifted
the industry from a non-existing entity to a thriving one
many years ago.
Naturally, for anybody growing up in Kabale during my time,
Batuma was an admirable man. He might not have been the
charitable Bill Gates, but he was uniquely down-to-earth
and an exemplary businessman simply known as Mr. John S.
Batuma. He was relentless in urging Kigezi to the frontline
of economic progress.
Batuma died of heart failure at his home in Kabale last
month. He was 84.
enbisamunyu@aol.com
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