BY IRENE LAMUNU
Dr Jimmy Spire Ssentongo was the brain behind the campaign dubbed, Kampala Pothole Exhibition, which took Twitter by storm on April 17th, 2023. This topic trended on Twitter with over ten thousand (10,000) tweets. Dr Spire started the protest in a bid to bring to light the realization of the bad state of roads in Kampala. After the Potholes’ Campaign, Dr Spire asked the public to expose the ill plaguing the country’s health sector by collecting photos, videos and experiences, which they would post on social media. Dr Spire is a lecturer at Makerere University and Uganda Marty’s University, Nkozi.
He was born in August 1979 in Kampala. His father was a civil servant working in Kampala. Spire was registered at a nursery school in Wandegeya to begin his education journey. Just before he started Primary education, the family moved to Masaka, following a job transfer. In Masaka, Spire joined Kimanya Blessed Sacrament Primary School in Primary One and completed Primary Seven in the same school in 1992.
In 1993, he was admitted to Bukalasa Minor Seminary for secondary education, until Senior Four first term when he was expelled. This was shortly after the death of his mother. Joining the Seminary was his mother’s dream as she wanted one of her sons to become a priest. In second term, he registered with Kimanya Secondary School to complete his Senior Four. After Senior Four, his uncle, a missionary priest of the congregation of the Apostles of Jesus, working in Tanzania asked if Spire was still interested in becoming a priest. Spire responded in the affirmative because he still had his late mother’s dream at heart and he wanted to prove Bukalasa Minor Seminary wrong for expelling him. He joined Uru Minor Seminary in Tanzania, belonging to the Apostles of Jesus. This was home for him for two years until 1999.
In 2000, Spire was admitted to Apostles of Jesus Theologicum in Nairobi for a degree in Philosophy. His journey to priesthood had begun, though he cut it short. In his second year, he started reflecting if he wanted to become a priest or otherwise. Unlike Bukalasa Minor Seminary,he decided to quit because he realized that he was not ready to be a priest. He returned to Kampala after his degree in Philosophy and wondered what he would do with his first-class degree. His uncle had opened a restaurant and asked him to run it. For six months, Spire was there but later opted to return to university for a second degree. In 2004, he registered at Makerere University to do a Masters degree in Ethics and Management, which took him two years.
In 2006, Uganda Martyrs University Nkozi, advertised for a lecturer and a Teaching Assistant. Spire applied and got the job. He also sent an email to the editor of The Observer requesting to draw cartoons for the Newspaper. The editor reviewed his credentials and Dr Spire got the slot in 2006.
While working at Nkozi in 2007, he applied for a second Masters degree through the Commonwealth scholarship and at the same time, applied for a scholarship for a PhD, which was granted by South Bank University. Fortunately for him, the PhD was by research so he did two degrees at the same time. In 2011, Spire completed the Masters degree and got a part-time job with Makerere University. In 2015, he completed his PhD and in 2018, Makerere University took him on as a full-time lecturer in the Department of Philosophy.
Spire’s love for art is the only reason he still draws his cartoons. He is a talented artist who only got into an Arts class for two terms in his senior four after which he taught himself. His love for Cartoons began as a child: whenever his mother did something and he feared to point it out, Spire would draw a cartoon and place it where she would find it. She would therefore, be torn between laughing and keeping a serious face. “I really had the passion and love humour so when I started drawing cartoons for the Observer, it came naturally and I see it as a way for me to contribute to society. I have not gained financially from Cartoons,” said Spire.
Being an activist is not an easy task though, Spire knows what is in the offing. “Well about fear, naturally, anyone would fear if there is anything that tortures one’s life because instinctively, we all want to preserve ourselves. It’s not so much about whether I fear or not but when I balance the possibilities with what I would do with the activism and the threats that surround it.” “I feel I have to contribute to my society and the conviction comes from two considerations, as a human, I think it would be inhuman and it’s not morally acceptable that I see wrong things happening that affect people and keep quiet,” added Spire. “I don ’t know what the future Spire will think about many years to come but I am sure the Spire of 2020 will not be different from this Spire, I don’t have plans of joining politics,” concluded Spire. Today, Dr Spire is using his cartoons as a voice for the voiceless.
