Bashukwa still preaches to inmate  

George Bashukwa served for 31 years rising to the rank of principal officer in the Uganda Prisons Service. Twenty-six years later, he still enjoys visiting prisoners and telling them how they can change their lives and turn to the Lord. 

With his children grown up and grandchildren also becoming older, the 85-year-old lives with his wife Perepetwa rearing animals, tending gardens and plantations on Rushinya Hill, Ruhanga Parish in Itojo Sub-county in Ntungamo District.

“The work of a prisons officer is hectic that even after all these years of retirement you feel there is a lot you missed doing. The prisoners have life, challenges but the greatest thing is they also can repent. That is why I wake up every day thinking about what I can tell them to change their lives,” Bashukwa says. 

While he wakes up every day to tend his farms, plantations and the like,Bashukwa ensures to at least talk to several inmates on how they can turn their lives to God so that they can be resettled in communities or face a long life in prison with faith. 

Life at work never allowed him that much time with his family. Even after marriage in 1969, he never stayed with his wife where he was deployed or at home until retirement. His wife stayed at the rural home while Bashukwa got job transfers from prison to prison. 

“What is interesting is that even my marriage was arranged without me being much involved, it was much work of the go-between, I had no time to marry. But when I married I was blessed with a prayerful wife. She kept my family upright and we had many children together. Because of the time we missed each other, we are like young lovers,” he says. 
School and career

Born in 1938, Bashukwa went to Ruhanga Sub Grade Primary School in 1952, Itojo Primary School and later to Kyamate Primary School where President Museveni was a year ahead of him. He joined Kako Junior Secondary School but dropped out and he escaped from home because his parents wanted him to marry. 
“At the time, we had many cows and my parents thought we were rich and did not need an education. Education was for the poor. They brought me a woman to marry in 1962 and I escaped from home fearing to marry. It is then that I got a chance to join prisons in 1963 as a recruit warder,” he says.

His first posting was to Patiko Prison in Gulu District in 1964 and four years later was he promoted to prisons corporal and transferred to Kigo prisons. He later served at Isimba, Bihanga, Bugungu, Kakika, and Mbarara main prisons. 

In 1988, he was promoted to principal officer (equivalent to Assistant Inspector of Police and  / 2nd Lieutenant in the army) and retired on September 9, 1994. 

After service
At Bugungu, Bashukwa joined the Christian Lite Foundation, an inmates and warders Christian foundation where he started preaching to inmates. This became his retirement task.

“On retirement in 1994, Joseph Etima then RPC asked me to preach in prisons in Western Uganda under the Rev William Ssentumbwe. I started in Mbarara, Kabale and Tooro. I am the coordinator for southwestern region prisons preachers. God has done wonders in this ministry and I hope I will be doing this until God calls me,” he says with a sigh. 

With his wife, they also traverse different churches preaching in western Uganda and northern Tanzania. His retirement is his reunion with family.

“I joined prisons in 1963 and married in 1969. All these years I never stayed with my wife at work but she kept at home and became a ‘lamp’ at our home, she nurtured children and took care of all the developments. All I had I would give it to her and because of that we had basic needs. My wife has a strong heart,” he notes. 

Planning 
For Bashukwa, good retirement depends on how one plans it, how they save, invest or use the money they earn. 

“My first salary was Shs150 which I used to do much for myself. When I married, I would give all of it to my wife who would plan better. When you plan better, educate your children from the meagre earnings, you cannot mind much about over investing, work is about the family, you need to retire to a family and a community that will receive you well. Property becomes secondary,” he explains. 

He gets his monthly pension, which he supplements  with earnings from his 10-acre banana plantation, milk from cattle and other agricultural earnings. His total monthly income is about  Shs 2.5m. His children also contribute to their welfare which, he however, says is mainly when he wants better medication or travel abroad.

Routine 
On a normal day, Bashukwa wakes up at 5am to look after his cattle, supervising the farm work from milking to supplying the milk. Then he oversees the casual labourers in banana, coffee and other gardens.

The couple takes breakfast at 8am before he prepares for the big day ahead, especially if he has to visit one of the prisons in his jurisdiction.  His children have since bought him a Toyota Harrier to aid his movement. 

On July 20, 2019, Bashukwa and his wife celebrated 50 years in marriage. He notes that one of the best experiences of retirement has been staying with his wife and within the community he grew up in. 

Perepetwa Bashukwa, the wife says, “God gave me a husband I deserved; I had never known much about him before he retired. I wish God gives us more years together and compensates for the years we missed. 

His mission to prisons allows him to think back about work and change lives of the most vulnerable. He returns home always calm and relaxed.” 
The two have six children.