I had flown back home from this republic of S A preferring to watch the unfolding of the World Cup with my buddies and also cut costs but by the time you read this, I will have returned to Jo'burg.

You see Maneno has summoned me via an e-mail saying money is not a problem with him and that he wants me at his side to record a few of his frolicks.

Maneno can sometimes be a wonder. Put him in an environment and he will study it, find a way of exploiting it to his benefit and, many a time, go away laughing to his bank.

Greetings to all of you Ugandans with names from A to Z. The greetings are for those of you who stayed at home watching the unfolding of results from the World Cup on television sets and wide screens.

For your information, Maneno and I managed to secure passage to this land of Madiba, South Africa it is, to watch live the spectacular international soccer event which will not return on the world scene before the next four years elapse.

Bwana, oh bwana! If it weren't for financial limitations and for some of you who have responded late to the Electoral Commission's updating of the voters' register, South Africa, this land of high-priced minerals and awe-inspiring skyscrapers, not to mention the lovely beaches and sun bathing, is the place to be.

Previously, I had taken 'happening' places for granted although I have been seeing quite a bit of it in pictorials courtesy of the rogue press.

But not any more. I gave it a try the other Wednesday in one of these Industrial Area-based clubs, and had the thrill of my life.

I can't clearly remember the occasion but that evening, here was a gathering of almost Kampala's 'who is who'.

How often are you surprised at certain things happening around you or even those you  read or hear about? Well, a few of us, because of what we went through in the past tremulous times of this country's history, we are insensitive to exciting or even gory events.

We were around in the early 1980s when we heard of government soldiers who, in search of guerillas, slit open bellies of pregnant women saying they suspected the women to be carrying 'mabomu' there.

Elsewhere, you would prepare your 'Sunday best' at home (that's matooke na nyama) and when it's doing the 'kuboobera' on a cooking stove, in comes three or four soldiers on armed patrol.