Chango Macho was a great man even in his simplicity

Few could claim to have known Boloki Chango Macho w’Obanda (born 1927) very well because he operated at all levels of sociability. He was one man who would descend to Kachumbala on the edges of Mbale town to drink malwa with his lowly friends, and thereafter proceed to Mt Elgon Hotel for beer and high- class whisky with his notable elite cronies.

Boloki, as he was commonly known in the Samia land, belonged to one of the largest clans in Samia - Abataboona. The other big clan is Abalundu. These clans embraced early colonial education, largely explaining why Boloki Chango Macho was well-educated to the point of earning a place among the great alumni of London College of Economics where he would graduate with a degree in land economics and survey.

Nick-named “Ombutu”, Macho married from one of the famous families in Samia; he married a daughter of the late Canon Keseroni Wejuli, a prominent Anglican clergy in the region. He was a firebrand politician of his own time. He belonged to the class of politicians with high regard to integrity.

Little wonder, when he later joined the NRM government, it wasn’t long before he started expressing his disquiet over cases of corruption and ‘unhealthy’ government policies. He is among those who fought against the mass privatisation policy through writing, seminars and debates, making his last, albeit futile stand, on the sale of Uganda Commercial Bank (UCB) in late 1990s.

Lifestyle
He lived an unimpeachable life with a legendary legacy. Macho’s simplicity could be seen from the fact that he would walk eight miles from Mbale town to Nabumali High School to teach General Paper and prepare A-Level students for exams. He owned a prestigious vehicle at the time, a FIAT, and even owned a petrol station on High Street in Mbale town. He lived in the European Quarters; the estates for the elite community in Mbale.
Whenever he would travel to Busia to see his people while minister in the later years, he would jump out of his Pajero and hop on a boda boda bicycle and have frequent stopovers to greet and drink kwete (local maize brew) with the locals.

The old man was famous for his use of proverbs and preserving the indigenous Samia dialect and heritage. He was a principled Marxist who until the time of his death never wore a Western suit and tie, but preferred Nyerere suits (not Kaunda suits) – both short and long-sleeved. He would occasionally go jogging wearing ‘Maradona’ canvas shoes (sneakers), and at times would drink wine from a tumpeco mug. He often served his guests wine from North Korea which had been preserved with bits of snake.

The six-foot towering figure preferred to do his work on foot. He would get his kikapo (palm straw bag) and go shopping in the market. He liked local fish such as Bambara (open sundried tilapia) and Namulumba (dried or smoked tilapia). In the market, he drove a hard bargain demanding for his change to the last coin.

He got on very well with the urban Samia community, especially those living in Kampala. He was a selfless man who never lost the opportunity to gather his Samia folks for malwa where the drinking would be spiced-up with beer, chicken and nyama choma. He did this on most of the important national days like Independence Day, etc where we would talk politics the whole day and evening. He would sustain an argument, while stroking his long academic goatee, and never lost his cool. He respected us, much as we were much younger than him.

When he was living in the lower Kololo area, he would walk to Naguru-Katale to drink his malwa. Sometimes he would come on foot all the way from Luzira, where he once lived when he was NRM Political Commissar, to Mbuya for the local drink.

Spiritual life
Macho was a humanist as well as atheist owing to his Marxist belief. He never believed in the ‘White God’, but believed in the indigenous god – ‘Were’. While swearing in in 1990 as Constituent Assembly (CA) delegate, he refused to swear by the Bible but instead held a spear. He once moved a motion in the CA calling for the change of the national motto from “For God and My Country” to “For God and My Stomach”...meaning people should believe in God but at the same time work hard for their lives.

Worst times
Macho’s worst time was in the second UPC government. He had much earlier on fallen out with UPC in the 1960s alongside his fellow firebrands like Prof Dani Wadada Nabudere, Bidandi Ssali, Kirunda Kivejinja, Kintu Musoke, among others who were expelled from the party over differences in ideology.

He hadn’t been part of the Moshi arrangement that prepared to rule Uganda after the fall of Idi Amin. So, to this effect, he wasn’t offered any position in the new UNLF government that ruled Uganda after the fall of Amin, as was the case with his friends such as Prof Nabudere and Edward Rugumayo.

When Yoweri Museveni would later on begin his own party, UPM in 1980, Macho joined and preached the UPM gospel in eastern Uganda particularly in Bukedi and Elgon regions. He walked on foot in Samia, Bugisu, Tororo talking to people about the new party, only that the UPM didn’t have much support in the areas.

In the 1980 elections, he was barred from contesting as a parliamentary candidate for Tororo South on account of procedure. He was supposed to produce documentary evidence of his proficiency in English- showing that he was educated with the minimum qualifications for elective office. For him, he thought he was popular enough, and the work he had done as a lecturer at Makerere and his resounding record as alumni of London College of Economics was testimony enough of his proficiency in English.

Hardest time
From 1980 to 86, Chango Macho lived a low profile in Mbale on dwindling resources. Arguably this was his hardest time. When President Museveni took over power in 1986, he remembered the old man who had preached the gospel of UPM in Bukedi and Bugisu regions and appointed him minister of Lands, Water and Natural Resources – fitting well into his background of land economics and survey.

Locals will remember Macho for giving his uncle Mbwalwa a “state” funeral. He fired a volley of bullets in Butote Village, prompting locals to scamper for dear lives! But mostly he will be remembered for his humility, forthrightness and his refusal to practice politics of bribery that has become the hallmark of our current political dispensation.