Tuesday 31st December – two days away is going to
be the most significant date of 2013 simply because it will mark the end of a
turbulent year and hopefully usher in a great 2014.
Right now I am busy weighing up my options. Should I see out
the year in a blaze of glory, an beer fueled night until the wee hours of the
morning followed by an altercation with the police which lands me in the
coolers or, a peaceful quiet night at home with Gaana and Natal?
Last year, I stayed home and was in bed by 10:00pm only to be
woken up at the stroke of midnight with people shouting out “happy new year”
followed by loud explosions as fireworks crackled all over the city.
Obviously I was not amused because people were being
inconsiderate because they woke me up from my sleep and I bet that more than
half the people who were shouting happy New Year and toasting to glasses of
champagne, had a bad year – just ask Erias Lukwago, Kizza Besigye Affande Omara
and Geoffrey Kazinda. Lukwago and Besigye spent a good part of the year being
tossed into police pick-up’s, while Affande Omara was at his wits end and tired
of standing guard outside Besigye’s Kasangati residence. Meanwhile, Kazinda
found out that money which was not his cannot buy him freedom.
2013 was a bleak year for me because ninety per cent of the
things I had set out to achieve either died sooner had the year started or I
lost interest in them. I tried to motivate myself but the more I did that, I
found I was motivating myself into fantasy land – mere dreams that were
shattered the moment I woke up from slumber.
Okay, I have just made up my mind and decided to go out on
New Year’s Eve. I am going to hang with the boys – Doc, Paulo, Julius, Kayos, Oscar,
PK, Anus and the rest at Monot till the wee hours of the morning. At midnight
while everybody is shouting out the immortal words – happy new year, I will be
cautious and reserved and probably reflect on the missed opportunities of 2013
and the zero in on the targets that I have set myself for the new year.
My target is to have my book – all my Sunday articles
compiled into a book. It should have been out last year but to be honest I was
not serious enough. I had two appointments with Fountain Publishers which, I
never turned up to and I also didn’t follow up with a gracious offer from
Daniel Ogong of Nile Breweries who really wanted to see that book come out.
And it’s not that I have to start from scratch. The material
is already there and all that is needed is for it to be re-edited for the small
mistakes.
But for the time being and with nothing to do until New Years
eve, I am sitting in the Viking Lounge at Speke resort Munyono typing this
coloum and trying to figure what to do with myself once I have finished.
Is 11:00am too early to have a beer? Most Ugandans would say
yes it is, but all the visitors from round the globe who checked into the
resort for the holidays are quaffing bottles of wine and champagne.
There is a couple from South Africa who have just ordered
their third bottle of red wine that Akhilesh Malik, the deputy general manager
of the resort is pampering them to the hilt so I too have ordered for a bottle
of wine.
Am out of space, but just a quick thanks to my editors -
Lucy, Ernest, Penny, Charles and especially my cartoonist Danny for making me
look good every Sunday and to all you out there who devote your Sunday’s to
reading my works – thanks so much. Have a great 2014.
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