By Ian Ortega
I was born and raised a catholic. It’s thus not surprising that I am excited about the coming of Pope Francis. Even though, I now identify myself more as an Agnostic, there’s something about Catholicism that feels like home to me. Yet, the Pope’s coming to Uganda has not generated the excitement I had expected. Even more disappointing is the fact that Uganda as a country doesn’t seem ready to milk the best out of his coming. At least we did something with CHOGM, some people left as billionaires, some ended up in Luzira. But what will be the aftermath of Pope Francis’ coming? Is it that we are so focused on elections to even consider the grand opportunities that the Pope presents?
Since, in Uganda, it’s always criticism and no solutions. I will provide my Utopias for the Pope’s coming-the things that we ought to be doing as a country but we are not doing.
First and foremost, we migrated to Digital Platforms. I would expect that by this time, the Uganda Government in conjunction with the Catholic Church would have bought off a channel on DSTV or any other pay TV platform. This channel would be dedicated to highlighting the Pope’s coming, showcasing the best that Uganda has to offer in the world in form of business opportunities, tourism spots and even the culture of the Ugandan people. Given that the Ugandan Government has always suffered with bad publicity, this would be the moment to reclaim its great image or to put it in Donald Trump’s speak; “To make Uganda Great Again.”
24-7, this channel would take us all around Uganda. It would showcase the cultures of all the different Ugandan tribes. It would bring back videos of the past Popes when they came to Uganda. It would take us around Uganda’s success stories. It would even be interesting to compare the differences from when the Pope last came to this new coming.
For Jennifer Musisi, the next moment would be to create some public boards in different places in the city where people would write their names as having been present when the Pope came. These would serve as monuments for the future generations. We would even encourage our taxis to add something in form of art to represent the coming of the Pope. For more ideas, the Kenyan matatus are the perfect model.
When the Pope finally comes, it would then be a grand opportunity to market the Makerere University innovation of the hybrid car aka the Kiira EV. The world is already thinking of sustainable energy development solutions. We have an innovation that addresses a key component of the sustainable development goals. Why not use the Pope as a platform to market it to the world? Pope Francis being a proponent of solving climate change, it would be interesting to have him driven around the country in this KIIRA EV vehicle. Once again, the whole world would be watching these events on our digital channel. This would be an indirect endorsement of this technology. But hey, we are not interested.
As a country, we’ve had the worst marketing strategies. We never take the extra step. We are contented with being average. We are contented with just doing what’s needed. It’s as if some witch has waved a spell upon us that stops us from thinking outside the box.
The worst that can happen to us is if the Pope comes and leaves us the way he found us. What we need to prepare for the Pope’s coming is not to repaint buildings? What we need to do with the Pope’s coming is not to repair the roads? What we need is an out of the box strategy. It may be a little too late, but there’s something we can do to try and save the situation. Where’s the Ugandan creativity?
Where’s that special channel dedicated to the Pope’s visit? We would use it to even showcase our rolex and kikomando. Our Ugandan songs would be played day and evening on that channel, and we would end up as winners. It seems we always learn nothing. It may be another decade before another Pope chooses to come to Uganda. For God and our country.
Let’s continue this conversation on Twitter: @Ugandangod @bigeyeug
