Ssebute hungry for more money, fame

Corporal Abdul Ssebute never saw his mother. She died two hours after giving birth to him. When he was a teenager, one of his many stepmothers committed suicide, allegedly under the influence of sorcery. He was strong telling me this. But when he reached the bit when he did hard labour in exchange for school fees, he paused and went quiet for two minutes. “Sometimes I dug at school for fees,” is all he said in between.

After the eight-round sparring inside Fit 4 Life Gym in Lugogo, Saturday evening, Ssebute stretched his sweat-soaked black t-shirt to wipe his teary eyes, and blow his nose. He sighed, went silent again, before he gathered the confidence to continue the interview.
I feared rubbing his emotional wounds immediately, but I later asked him why he felt so sad about that doing labour for school fees.

“My dad had all the money to cater for me but he just didn’t care,” he answered after another pause, in a low tone that reeked of more sorrow.
But what matters now is how Ssebute defeated that deprivation to become a soldier and a boxer, big enough to be the main fighter.

From abyss
Ssebute was born in a family of 24 children. His father was a tailor at Mubende Barracks. His mother was the third of four wives. Unfortunately, she did not live to see her only son. She died after delivery. “I was told she had a bitter relationship with her co-wives, and she was alone in hospital.”
A midwife he only calls Theresa, took care of the motherless baby. “She is my hero, through whom God ensured my survival.”

After burial, Ssebute’s father came to claim him but Theresa gave him to his father after a year. Ssebute fell in a series of hands, most of which lacked the kid glove. “I was told my stepmother mistreated me, then another philanthropist rescued me. Aged two years, my stepmother reclaimed me. Actually, I lived with all my father’s wives but none treated me like a child.”

Even under this abuse, Ssebute was always the best in class, “When I was second best once I was scolded.”
By Primary Seven, his stepmother evicted him from home. He settled at his father’s auntie’s home. “She made pancakes which and another Jjajja made pots that I sold at the market for my fees.”

Ironically, when his father died in 2008, three years after joining the army, Ssebute was surprised that the same man who denied him his childhood rights had chosen him as heir. “He had realised that of all his children, I had some value because the ones he pampered became drunkards, others hated him for divorcing their mothers. But I didn’t show any ill feelings, though we weren’t close.”

From the front to the ring
Out of lack, Ssebute dropped out of school in Senior Three. He later joined a technical institute in Kyaterekera, Mubende, where he learnt repairing milling machines. He didn’t pay fees, thanks to one of the administrators, who was a family friend. He started repairing the mills at the UPDF Military Barracks.

He also baked cakes which he supplied in the trading centre. All the while, he could see soldiers marching to the bank almost daily, “I thought they had more money than they could keep home. I developed the urge to join the forces.”

Brig. Elly Kayanja and Maj. Gen. Kasirye Ggwanga, who were his family friends, made it easy for him. In November 2005 he went to Bihanga Military Training School. But in the first three months, he escaped twice from camp. “I just couldn’t brave the beating. I wondered: ‘I’m I supposed to suffer my entire life?’” But he endured and was passed out in 2006. He said he trained in journalism and joined the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence Leadership School in Kaweweta in Nakaseke.

Ssebute played in the School’s football team and in 2008 expressed his desire for serious sports. He was shifted to the Bombo Barracks. “But the football was too physical, I tried boxing.”

The late Coach Musa Kent’s gifted hands gave him the sweet science basics, winning the national light flyweight Novices title in 2009. He added the Intermediates title before losing the Open final to future Olympian Ronald Serugo three consecutive years.
In 2010, ahead of the Africa Military Games in Nigeria, Ssebute was awarded with rank of Lance Corporal. He returned the favour by winning gold at the East African Military Games in Tanzania the same year. Ssebute can also train soldiers in cooking and repairing kitchenware.

Then administrative wrangles marred Ugandan boxing. Ssebute looked around for role models but in vain. “Even medal winners lived like paupers,” he said.
After serving in the fierce Amisom campaign in Somalia, in 2017, Ssebute became Corporal. He also became a professional boxer. “I wanted to fight for money, especially abroad.”

Ssebute has won all his six pro bouts and the national super flyweight belt en route, but has never earned a penny. “Instead I’m the one who pays the promoters to put me on their cards.”

Next opponent
At the MTN Arena tonight, Ssebute faces Tanzanian Muhamed Swedi for the East and Central Africa Boxing Union super flyweight title. The event organised by Nara Promotions event is going to give Ssebute his first pro cheque.

He faces a boxer who has fought 50 rounds more and can easily switch stances according to situations. But the pint-sized southpaw, trained by Rome-based Peter Mulindwa, is unmoved: “I’m ready, my bosses (UPDF) have facilitated my training and accommodation, I don’t have any excuses.”

After sparring, his trainer was content. Jowali Kalenzi, his sparring partner and fifth pro victim concurred: he has pace and power. “You hit me with the same right hook that weakened me in our fight,” he told Ssebute as he held his left jaw.

Boxing gave Ssebute fame. Even his estranged siblings are now interested. The army gave him two plots of land, a house and a Mercedes Benz A160. The father of three boys wants more. It begins tonight.

TONIGHT AT THE MTN ARENA

East & Central Africa Super Flyweight Title
Ssebute vs. Swedi
SSEBUTE AT A GLANCE
Born: September 10, 1990
Birthplace: Mubende
Record: Wins 6, Losses 0
Division: Super flyweight
Pet name: Amooti
Rank: Corporal

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