Listeners of RX Radio woke up to a humorous conversation between James Onen aka Fatboy and his Co-host Daniel Omara who were discussing how no matter how hard life has been for them, they have always known they have back-up job opportunities of becoming security guards by the mere virtue of being Northerners.
The two made the comments after statistics compiled by Salary Explorer, a career studies and salary comparison website, ranked Uganda 10th on the list of African countries that have the highest average monthly salary pay that is 2,620,000 million shillings, approximately $738 per month.
Daniel said that the sum, which is most probably attached to the formal sector, means that most white-collar workers earn way more than 2.6 million while others earn nothing. ”I mean 2, 620,000/- when the average security guard earns about 150,000/- guarding a bank with a gun worth more than his entire salary! How do we not have more robberies in Uganda? Not to encourage it but I am just curious?” he joked.
Fatboy suggested that perhaps it's the good morals of the people from the north which Omara agreed with saying it could be the reason why northerners are usually the ones hired for askari jobs owing to their good-hearted nature.
“That's why I never got worried when I lost my job in 2020. I knew that whatever came to pass, I’d at least have the option of working as a security guard. Someone will hire me by virtue of my tribe and because I am called Onen, for sure I would get a job,” Fatboy said.
Omara then went on to narrate a story of an honest cleaner who once worked with his in-law in a high profile hotel. “There was a guy who forgot 10,000 dollars in his bag at the hotel. One employee who happened to be from the north goes up to clean the room, finds the money and decides to give it back. So they called the guest who had already left and was on his way to Entebbe Airport. When the guest came back to get his bag, he looked at the employee and guess what he told him? ‘You're going to die poor,’ and walked away.”
Fatboy, startled by the story and the guest’s reaction, said he wished he could meet the worker and treat him to a bottle of beer but Omara proceeded to comment that perhaps he wasn’t alive because after being told that he would die poor, it might not have taken long.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive and Sarah every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.