Archbishop Janani Luwum Day

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Yesterday was another public holiday here. It was Archbishop Janani Luwum Day. On Feburary 16^th 1977 Luwum was killed at the orders of Idi Amin shortly after delivering a speech to protest Amin for his arbitrary killings and unexplained disappearances of civilians and soldiers. Though the official account is that he was in a car crash



Acts like these are still happening under the current ‘President’. A Ugandan author and journalist, Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, was arrested in December 2021. He was charged with offensive communication for making indecent remarks about President Yoweri Museveni and his son on Twitter. He was taken to an unknown location where he was tortured for several weeks. The courts eventually released him when you could visibly see his wounds. They gave him permission to flee to another the country to get treatment for his injuries, but would not give him his passport.



The office was closed and classes were canceled today for the public holiday. We started the day with getting Irene’s car fixed for I’m sure the millionth time. I am not sure I can really describe how bad the roads are here. Because the small/low to the ground cars are cheaper that is mostly what people drive. These cars are constantly bottoming out on the huge pot holes that cover the roads. The government and police are the ones that drive the SUVS. The police usually drive around in pick-up truck vehicles with armed officers riding in the back.



Part of the reason it is so expensive to have a car here is because Uganda does not produce any cars of their own. So all cars have been imported into the country. When you import a car there are very high taxes related to it.



The taxes are:

1. 25% import tax
2. 18% VAT Tax
3. 6% withholding tax
4. 20% environmental levy, infrastructure levy, and car registration fees


So as you can see the taxes are almost as much as the car costs in the first place. Then you need to be prepared to repair the car constantly.



After our car repair the ladies and I went to the beach. Hope’s sister Clare joined as well as the other Irene. The water levels on Lake Victoria are up, so their beaches are smaller just like ours have been in years past. There are restaurants all along the beach and of course, there are pool tables beach side.


We finished the evening with my favorite fish from Little Jamaica. Sky Man is their chef and he is from the same tribe as Irene. I am going to try to convince him to sell me his spice mix that he puts on his fish!

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Uganda Roads
The roads do look bad and it would take a toll on cars. Thanks for sharing.