“I was a big boy at New Vision but now, zero!” Kabushenga narrates humbling life experience

Former Vision Group boss, Robert Kabushenga says leaving his former workplace is one of the life experiences that have humbled him the most.

Kabushenga served at the media group as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) from October 2006 until January 2021, when he threw in towel.

Since quitting his former job, Kabushenga has largely been in full-time coffee farming at his Rugyeyo farm in Wakiso district.

In a recent video, he addressed some of the experiences he termed as ‘humbling’ since resigning from his full-time job.

Kabushenga recalled that during his time at Vision, he used to be accorded much respect adding that people used to sit at the reception and wait for him. However, he says things have turned the other way round.

“I used to be a big man, big boy, big size. Today, zero!” Kabushenga said.

He narrated that he never imagined that a day would come when he would also have to wait at the reception to see someone, a reality he says has now become the order of the day.

“So, I go somewhere to see a big man like Mukisa. I must also first stop at the reception..There’s one famous question that people used to ask when coming to see me, now, I am the one asking it; Is the big man there?"

He says that the funniest part is when the receptionists ask him to introduce himself before seeing their bosses.

“Then the girl tells you, ‘umm let me find out’. Then she first goes on the phone. So you wait, you stand there. Then she rings and then they tell her he’s in.”

“Then she says, he’s there but I think he is in a meeting..I tell him you’re who? And then I say, tell him I am Kabushenga. She’s asks, Kabushenga of where? I reply, a ‘street vendor” Says Kabushenga while nodding his head.

With those kind of experiences, Kabushenga explains that he has realised that one should not go around throwing their weight.

He adds that he has learnt that one must be polite to people saying that as life goes on, you realise that not everybody knows you.

“Even those who do, don’t care. And if you want to get along you say, ‘I’m sorry but tell him if he’s busy, I can come back. So, you sit at the reception quietly.” he said.

Kameeza money now a collective responsibility

Kameeza is the money that husbands usually leave for their wives, before going to their work stations.

Kabushenga revealed that while still a boss at Vision, he used to be the breadwinner at home. However, he says tables have now turned.

He reveals that he has since then, on several occasions, sought financial assistance from his wife, an experience he says is comparable to that saliva that is the hardest to swallow.

“So, the humility, your force to swallow that saliva, and that saliva is very hard. You feel it inside like a mango. Then you ask her; Madam, do you have Shs50000? And then she gives you Shs100000.”

With the assistance of his ‘good wife’, Kabushenga says he has been able to persevere and urged husbands especially the young men to always respect their wives even when they are still the breadwinners.

“You may be the breadwinner today, and you may walk around your house feeling like a gladiator. As sure as night comes after day, there will come a time when you cannot win that bread and that woman is the one winning that bread and you will look at her with an eye and she will look at you and say, you remember when I asked you for kameeza money?”