To be a certain section of the Ugandan populace is to adopt a certain comfort with grime. The dust on your shoes is not uncommon, the sweat stains and mud are close fellows. If you have been in this section for a couple of decades, you come to adopt a comfort, if begrudgingly, for these environments. If you are lucky, you will find gems that glimmer through the dirt. Thus to me, is the street food scene in Ntinda/ Kisaasi.
The night transforms the streets into a stretch of restaurants; one that grabs you by the feet and forces you to reach into your pocket, but only if you are brave enough.
And that is how I became a happy victim of Musilamu’s chicken. Musilamu refused to pose for a photo but he was more than happy for me to take a photo of the wares.
My first taste of it was accidental but maybe not so much because Road side chicken is a delicacy of mine. The smoke and none-additives, make me feel that I am eating it the way it was meant to be eaten, you know?
Each piece goes for 3000shs with some choice ones at 3,5. But amazingly there are also cuts for even those who have only 1k. Musilamu ensures that everyone who stops at his stall should be able to eat chicken. Something that used to be expensive and the purview of a few is now fair game.
I don’t feel proud or Independent but I see Uganda at 55 this way; Some have been forced to stay in certain corners, but they have carved out awesome niches…and in doing that, they have invited and elevated those around them. These people, like Musilamu are whom I celebrate at 55. The pure uncut, unfettered, and like the picture, unedited Ugandans.
Look out for him just after Gaz petrol station and buy a piece.