By BAMUTURAKI MUSINGUZI

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Makerere University would not have celebrated its literary legends Prof Arthur Gakwandi and Prof Austin Bukenya without performing some of their literary works on stage.

The half-day event that also involved speeches under the theme “Celebrating literary legends: Bukenya and Gakwandi@80”, was held at the Yusuf Lule Central Teaching Facility-Auditorium at the university’s main campus in Kampala.

Makerere University students staged two presentations from Gakwandi’s novel “Kosiya Kifefe” and Bukenya’s play “A Hole in the Sky” and his poem “Naturally”.

“Kosiya Kifefe” is a chequered account of growing up in post- independence Africa as profiled in the life and times of Kosiya Kifefe.

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Through Kosiya, the author traverses the years of the African youth with its dreams, uncertainties and escapades, while at the same time projecting the images of a changing society that is rapidly disintegrating.

In “A Hole in the Sky,” Tajeer and his overseas investor friends, in their search for oil, have reduced Lake Riziki to a mass of black slime and ruined the livelihoods of the many who depended on it.

With a veteran’s awesome mastery of language and dramatic technique, Bukenya gives a rare poetic fusion of his passionate commitment to his dual subject matter: the environment and the courage of a ‘fierce, fearless, fiery fighter for all that is green and fresh and full of life.’