NBK

Thank you @DailyMonitor for publishing Tegule’s reminiscences. Noble used to joke that he personified the NRM because those letters were also his initials - Noble Rwaboni Mayombo🤣 We lived in the same Hall - Mitchell and sat in the same class for three years. He was one of the five soldiers of the NRA who had returned from the bush to resume studies. Their five were inseparable. Their pentagon had Mayombo, Mugira, Turyatunga, Karemire and Bainomugisha. The opposite pentagon had Oulanyah, Kajubi-Ssepuuya, Othembi, Olok-Asobasi and I. When I first visited Mayombo’s room I found he had an oversized 6 inch mattress on a tiny bed. Apart from the usual legal tomes, his bookshelf was full of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Kim Il Sung, and other communist thinkers. I recall that Cuban revolutionary icons Fidel Castro and Che Guevara were his true role models. He could recite entire passages from Castro’s courtroom apologia - History Shall Absolve Me. After the Guild race he refused to accept that his was a real loss. He claimed that it was due to a gap in the consciousness of the students who were confused about who can best serve their interests. He saw himself as a Daniel Ortega whose Sandinista Party overthrew the Samoza regime in Nicaragua but lost elections in 1990. I think Noble wanted to blunt the sting of the electoral loss. I told him that the students were actually aware of their interests that is why they voted for a candidate who was resisting the IMF/World Bank inspired structural adjustment policies that the NRM government had embraced lock, stock and barrel. This policy package forced developing countries like Uganda to carry out radical privatization programs and cut social spending. It was indeed a medicine whose side effects were worse than the disease it intended to cure! Our disagreements never degenerated into personal conflicts. No wonder a few months after the elections, during the Annual Africa Week, we held a Mock OAU Summit (now AU), and Noble agreed to play the role of Libyan President Gadaffi! He gave a sterling performance. Another Guild contestant, Amon Muzoora played the role of the host President Museveni with Grace Rubaale as First Lady Janet Museveni. Such fora gave the students the opportunity to delve into policy debates and gain insight into the problems afflicting society.