The Chairman who chose the Village
The chairman of Bamutakudde Village was sworn in on a Tuesday afternoon. From a distance, you could hear the cheering. The celebrations drifted across the village as residents witnessed the official swearing-in of Solomon Serwanja, the man they had elected by the slimmest of margins. He had won by a single vote. One hundred and six votes to one hundred and five. For two months, that victory had been contested. The challenge wound its way through the system before finally being resolved. He had won fair and square. But shortly after taking the oath, he slipped away, not for a meal with supporters or a photoshoot or victory celebration. A man who had died a week earlier was being buried that afternoon, and the chairman was expected there. It felt like an appropriate introduction to both the man and the office he had chosen. Before there would be plans and projects, speeches and ambitions, there was the work itself. Funerals, family and community disputes, meetings, celebrations, ...
