Tinaako invested in bees, goats

Deogratias Mukasa Tinaako worked as principal personnel officer Mbarara District Local Government from March 1995 to October 2010, when he retired from public service.
His monthly salary was Shs1.3m. Before joining public service, Tinaako had worked as a teacher in private institutions, administrator politician for about 17 years.
When I went to meet him at Nyamitanga College of Business Studies at Mbarara Archdiocese last week for this interview about his work and retirement life, it appeared that Tinaako is not living retirement life.

Active
He works as academic registrar in charge of admissions and exams at the college. By the time of this interview, Tinaako was coming out of a three-hour governing council meeting. We checked into his office and he decided that we have the interview from another room to avoid ‘interruptions’.
“Here we are going to get a lot of interruptions from students and other people who want my attention, let us go to another place,” Tinaako says.

As the academic registrar of Nyamitanga College of Business Studies, Tinaako is responsible for student files, academic staff files, examinations and marks, ensuring the teaching curriculum is followed, ensuring availability of teaching materials, and coordinating with Uganda Business Technical and Examination Board.
During our conversation in a room about 50 metres away from his office, some people still check on him and he could not deny them attention.

Launching into service
Tinaako started working in 1978 at Namasagali College in Busoga as a teacher of Economics, after graduating from Makerere University with a Bachelor’ of Arts in Arts and Diploma in Education in 1977. He had studied at Kishaye Primary School in Isingiro, St Paul’s Seminary Rushoroza in Kabale, St Edward’s Bukuumi in Kibaale and Ntare School for Higher Secondary Certificate.
He married Plaxedah Busingye in 1983 and they had six children. However, she succumbed to cancer in 2015.

Academia
After teaching for two years, Tinaako decided to take a shot at politics and contested for Mbarara South East Constituency (current Isingiro District) MP seat on Uganda Patriotic Movement ticket in 1980 elections.
After he was beaten to the seat he secured a teaching job at St Joseph’s Vocational School in Mbarara where he served for two years before returning to Namasagali College.
He headed the Economics department and was second deputy head teacher in charge of discipline.

In 1986, Tinaako was appointed member of Mbarara District Service Committee which was responsible for appointment of the district staff.
This assignment, though not a full time job, required one to live in Mbarara or the vicinity to be able to serve adequately. He quit teaching at Namasagali and joined Maryhill High School in Mbarara. After a short stint at Maryhill, Tinaako was appointed Principal of Nyamitanga Secretarial College which is now Nyamitanga College of Business Studies.

Politics
The urge to join politics surged again. He, in 1993, contested and was elected LC5 councillor for Kabingo Sub-county in Mbarara District. Here, the former teacher, also served on the executive as general secretary.
When decentralisation started, Tinaako was appointed principal personnel officer of Mbarara in 1995. In this capacity, he was an advisor to the chief administrative officer on matters of recruitment and deployment of staff, staff training and development, payroll management, staff transfer management, and preparing budgets for the department.

“It is difficult to think about retirement when you have just joined service, not until few years to your retirement. Because of the demands such as paying school fees, planning for retirement doesn’t come to mind,” Tinaako explains.
“At the time we got employed, most civil servants were housed in fully furnished houses. I declined the house and opted to rent. I had seen some people who had left service and had no ‘personal’ homes. It came to mind that possibly if I stayed renting it would motivate me to build my own house,” Tinaako says.

Investment
He had bought two plots of land from his salary; one in Katete ward, Nyamitanga Division at Shs1.5m and another in Nsiikye-Nyamitanga at Shs300,000.
Because of the pressure for school fees he sold the land in Nsiikye at Shs2m and acquired loan of Shs3m from a bank to buy land in Birere Sub-county and established an agricultural project in 1997.
“I needed another source of income to be able to educate my children and that is how I started rearing goats. I started with five goats and slowly they multiplied to 120,” he explains as he smiles. In 1998, he started building a residential house in Nyamitanga.

No regrets
He did not plan for life after work. But what is giving him a fulfilling retirement is the fact that he served well, respected everyone and educated his children. Five are graduates and are working while the sixth is a second year student at Makerere University Business School and her siblings pay the fees.
“I do not have any school fees burden,” Tinaako sighs.

Advice
“It is important to respect people you work with and those you work for. You need a harmonious working relationship with your superiors and subordinates,” says Tinaako, adding, “But also be mindful of those you are working for because they are outside and when you retire you will meet them.”
In 2011, he was approached and asked to take up a job at the college. Before he was called to serve, Tinaako would be at his homes in Nyamitanga and Birere taking care of the family property.
When his wife passed on in 2015, he had spent his gratuity on her treatment.

Lifestyle
In his free time, Tinaako links up with friends for outings and drinks a beer or two. He also goes for parties and weddings on weekends.
“To me retirement is not about having a lot of money; it is about social contacts you made during active service. If you made good friends, it is good investment. You meet, converse and socialise, there is no stress. I am sure it is different with other people. You find someone building a school or hotel after retirement, but managing such projects can be stressful,” he opines.
He has established a beekeeping project in Birere Sub-county and has 20 beehives where he expects to harvest 420 litres of honey.