Ubuntu Mwezi

By Stephen Nuwagira   Joseph Ntware, a resident of Kirwa village in Nyarubuye sub-county, Kisoro district, looks desolately as his five children play around the compound dressed in tatters. Although the children are of school-going age, none of them is in school. He says all the schools in the neighbourhood charge fees that he cannot afford. Ntware, a former miner at the Kirwa wolfram mine, says since activity at the mine was hit by ownership wrangles in 2002, he has not got a permanent job to enable him provide for his family. Like most of his former colleagues, he is now a peasant farmer, but can barely get enough food for his family.   The Kirwa mine, located about 8km from Kisoro town, is said to be the largest with wolfram deposits in the country. It covers about seven square kilometres, with a yet-to-be verified volume and is economically viable, according to the Kisoro natural resources officer, Vincent Mudanga.  Wolfram is a very precious metal today, used in

My eyes are sore. My head ‘spins’ all the time. I am weak and weary and always walk like drunken men after a night drinking spree. You see, I toil day and night and all I get is a miserly monthly salary. Many a night I go without supper for I have to ‘save’ for tomorrow. My kids go to the worst schools in the land as I can never afford the high fees charged by better schools. I have no one to turn to as my government, the leaders we chose to defend our interests, care not what I go through. I think that’s why they don’t want to pass the minimum wage law. Whenever I raise my voice, they hit me on the head, saying I should wait for the coming financial year that never comes. Country men and women, what must me do? I don’t have enough money to join the class of the privileged; those lucky enough to set their own salaries – the MPs. As I saunter home this evening, I know not what my family will eat despite it being Christmas. I say, hear me you my prayers! Let me live as a respect