This article is inspired by my disruptive encounter with Hon. Mwesigwa Rukutana and the love story that emerged from the same. Before I delve in the gist of this story, I would like to quote the words of my favorite author Luigi Giussani.
“…the concomitant loss of meaning carries with it grave cultural consequences. The individual loses control of himself and all the factors that constitute him. He becomes like a driver who loses control of his car, and the movement of the car takes over the driver or better yet, sets itself on a course without direction, wide open to the collision”
Hon. Rukutana was born on the 15th day of November, 1959 in Rushenyi, Ntungamo District from less than a humble peasant background as he often describes the event of his birth. It follows that he held different leadership positions the notable ones being a delegate of the constituent assembly in 1994, a Member of the Ugandan Parliament representing the Rushenyi Constituency from 2001-2021, and many ministerial positions. I am unlucky not to have met him when he held these leadership positions.
Whereas I had heard and seen him on many occasions, I only had the benefit of physically meeting him last year and we talked at great length. In that meeting at his law firm office vide MR Chambers I interacted with the Rukutana of the late 1950s and the Rukutana now through his oral autobiography. From his early years at Kigezi High School, Mbarara High School, Makerere University, Law Development Centre and then public Service and leadership from 1986-2021, it is a story of growth, resistance, and communion. Triggered by a love story arising from his Ubuntu experience, he sought to belong in education, business, and service.
Listening to him in that office, his love story with service was authentic, the way he welcomed me in that office, the way he served me a bottle of water, the newness of this experience was organic and my heart trembled at the idea of the real, the original tenderness and positive affirmation of Ubuntu philosophy. The tenderness of his gesture to the son of a peasant like me was elemental to the value of my existence. I suppose this integral appreciation of humanity is what inspired many people in his generation to risk their lives for the fate of natural justice.
That one-hour experience of intellectual discourse shook the ideological solitude in my family history of more than 593 years because, in that event, Ubuntu relation and rationality were realized in action. Let me be explicit, the story of Honorable from his childhood and the person he has become today manifests a story of resistance, communion, and universal ethics. The parental and communal recognition of his value presents the Ubuntu ethic and it is the same that inspired him to look at reality beyond the self. To serve beyond the limits of materialism and ideology. Thus, despite the lingering failures in their generation, this African philosophical grounding met the scale of the challenges then as present by historical progress. They have a mark in history. The event of Hon. Rukutana presents the challenge of the peasant in the castle because the reality of his growth is a reflex of social mobility, the universality of Ubuntu philosophy, and the ability of the same to destroy the ideological class trap and allow everyone to prosper.
This reality is missing in the present generation and the reason for this ideological disparity ought to be investigated by the conscious youth. The youth today is a slave of the subsistence ethic and we don’t think history will record a better performance from us than our predecessors. Sadly in my meeting with Hon. Rukutana, I saw a grim picture of the current generation on his face. I saw a picture of briefcase graduates whose dream is only to buy iPhones and range rovers with no stamina to face the challenges of the day such as the rising corruption and bag governance. In conclusion, through my interaction with Honorable, I was inspired by this disruptive encounter and drew lessons from the same.
WISHING YOU A HAPPY BIRTHDAY HON. MWESIGWA RUKUTANA!!
By Kamurinde John LLB (Hons) Dip L.P (LDC)
@RwentoboKing
Tel-0706027043 (WhatsApp)
Discussion about this post