By Flora

Independence is usually remembered as a moment of freedom, celebration and national hope. But what happens when the promises attached to that freedom begin to feel distant?

In Dependence Day, Flora reflects critically on Uganda’s journey since independence. Beginning with the optimism of 9 October 1962, the poem gradually moves from celebration to disappointment. Through images of corruption, unemployment, foreign dependence and struggling institutions, the poet questions whether political independence has delivered the freedom people once imagined.

At first, the intentions
Of the Luo man were pure.
On the 9th Oct 1962,
The land felt redemption.

Every creature ululating,
Waking up that day,
Staring high in the sky,
On seeing the beautiful flag
Dancing and dangling cheerfully in the sky.

And the freedom song
Sang with zeal gleefully.
As all living and non-living things
Stood erect, honouring the D-Day.
We the people chose to call it UHURU.

That was the last
INDEPENDENCE DAY
The country has ever had.

Afterwards,
We began celebrating Dependence Day,
With the pearl bleeding profusely,
And singing lamenting songs.

Corruption looming like a thief,
Innocent souls butchered every second.
Youths sprawling on the streets,
Queuing for jobs that never come,
And the young energetic souls ending up in the army,
Where they are fated to die.

Divide and rule is the cheese game.
The White ghosts using the back-door,
Coming back in the name of donors
And investors, carrying away our wealth.

Sadly, in return giving us
What we want instead of what we need,
Not only making us all beggars,
Who are begging in different ways,
But also making us believe that we are poor.

Leaders becoming misleaders,
Mentors turning into tormentors.
Education holds the children,
Churches hold the women,
And prisons hold the men—
Left with no sense of direction.

The tattered flag should be raised
At half-mast,
To mourn for the bleeding land.

— Flora