For your eyes

You, who missed

This day,

The IDUAI

2nd of October, 2020.

 

Hey,

 

How are you doing today, really? I missed you yesterday. You missed on this great event, yooo!!! I want to tell you about it. This is going to take a while….so better grab a seat and something to eat, probably.

Kakati, Open Space Centre Uganda invited me to join them as they marked this “new” day on the global calendar…it is called the International Day of Universal Access to Information. This was not just going to take one day, no. We had a whole week to ourselves. Nice, right?

The first time was last Sato when we had the online chat on Twitter. I did have such a vibe…so many things I learned about, I learned more about peace and what it means to be young and peaceful, all taking place in 2 hours! Just what I needed and the community I needed to be with. I will tell you more about that later, when we meet next, yeah?

Now on Wednesday, this week, we had a big conference at Fairway that was having many more people than I had pictured. You know those mornings where the sun shines gracefully and deep down, you know it that this is going to be such a great day? Yeah, this was one of those days! I recalled to read through my email that was sent to me, right before I left for Fairway. I had to be sure about what I was going to do there….

I expected to witness and document a debate amongst respective universities represented by their debate clubs and associations. That is to say, Kyambogo University, YMCA and IUIU (Females Campus). We also had contributions coming in from somebody at Jomo Kenyatta University; I believe that was somebody by the name Miriam Rioba, I believe.

We had “Access to Information in times of crisis” as the theme for this convention. I think I got that right, yikes! In there, we had a second theme popping up somewhere in that mix, ‘policies and practices that could be put in place to advance public access to information’. Wait, a little bird has just told me that the theme for the debate was, “Role Of Access To Information in ensuring Transparency and Accountability”.

I must tell you, these people were all so ka clever on me, making me think left and right about all these jargons…(hihi) manya “ATI” simanyi “convention” biki biki “procurement” woti woti…..eeehhh, there was just so much to keep up on. Can I refer you to them, as a scholar oba eyo tuveeyo?

When the debating was all said, we had to have somebody emerge best over the rest, right? You know how these things be nawe….it was Kyambogo that won the ting.

Jomo Kenyatta’s team came in second and IUIU came in last.

Personally, somethings I had slapped me different like, “when was the last time I heard a minister in Uganda talk about access to information in their ministry?” This question alone, left me thinking a lot about how bad our situation is, as citizens of this country.

Secondly, it is my right to actually know these things, as a citizen of my country? It doesn’t matter if what is being talked about is way out of your league…you have a right to know what is being talked about. It is your money, after all, that they get to enjoy, si kye kyo?

Has that wagwez ever crossed your mind, yiveni? Oba eno nayo tuveeyo, lasita?

If I am invited to be a part of this day next time, there is no way I am missing out on it…for many reasons. There is so much that needs to be known and the food won’t eat itself, right? It will be so much better with you here, you know.

Besides, I wouldn’t want to tire you out with these speeches; not that they were boring. NO! The pictures will speak a whole lot better for themselves, won’t they?

Tweggwekko edda!

Cheers.