The Last Guard – Globalisation and Tayebwa

Uganda, like other countries, is battling the headwinds of an uncertain global economy shaken by the triple fury of the global COVID19 pandemic, a disruptive European War reminiscent of the last World War and the undeniable impact of a changing climate.

There are very many personal stories that reflect the human toll of these forces.

In 2008 when the War in Iraq surged global capitalism had reached its peak and was beginning to shake under the weight of war and the financial crisis one man was dealing with a very personal tragedy involving one of the unique ways Uganda integrated into the global labor market.

As part of the small history of this period, Uganda began exporting thousands of military and semi-military personnel to the Middle East. In the next few years, the Ugandan population in the Middle East will be nearly half a million, the largest legal migration of the kind in light of the other ignominious aspect of the currents of the last 15 years- illegal migration.

The pioneers of this era of externalization of labor in Uganda have mostly been forgotten.

This is certainly how Mr. Hannington Tayebwa feels. These days Tayebwa is mostly broken both in mind and spirit. In 2008 he was a hopeful youngster seeing the world “for real” like we say in Uganda for the first time. One of the Ugandans recruited to the new private security contractor industry – he signed up with the American company Dreshak. That November his life was to change permanently. At Camp Ramadi he suffered grave injuries during a missile attack. He was one of those on duty that day.

He spent years being treated in Mulago hospital. Today he is in isolation in a prison ward in Mbarara District. How he got here was for a conviction he received after his initial recovery was interrupted by claims that he had participated in a theft. There are many stories like this. Tayebwa is holding out hope that his compensation under the terms of his old contract with Dreshak will be settled by the insurance giant AIG ( through its regional office in Nairobi)

His personal crisis and path are thus truly a story of globalization.

His isolation in prison is because of severe tuberculosis or TB, while his earlier injuries continue to hound him. Since his time in Iraq, the Ugandan population has become younger, more restless, more global. Many give accounts both good and bad about this increasing contact with the world.