By Roger Kamya

Godfrey Katende entered the Royal Birthday Rally with his Ford Escort MKII, and promptly named it "Jua Kali".
And we thought that Issa Numba was the master of mechanical surprises. Bets flew around as to whether the car
would finish the Super Special at Lubiri, but those betting against the car were to lose a lot of money at the
end of the rally.

Against all odds, and posting the slowest times of the two days save for the three sections where he beat the
crews of Sekalala and the Blicks in three sections, Katende with his son Semakula as navigator, plodded on
until the very end, and finished a respectable seventh out of eight finishers.

He had clutch, gearbox problems, many problems, but persevered. His driving onto the ramp at the Bulange,
with the prize giving ceremony already underway, must be the most dramatic I have ever seen in all my years
in rallying, both local and on the recordings of WRC and other international events.

The cars came to the Bulange in convoy from the Service Park, and probably lost Katende in the rainstorm
that hit Mityana. It is possible that the crew had not thought to fix the headlights on the car or probably
even lacked windscreen wipers. Anyway, with the Bulange quiet while speeches were being made and with the
Guest of Honour and other dignitaries assembled made his grand entry.

There was a security tape cordoning off the ramp area which he went through, pulling along stands sand fire
extinguishers, and marshals and other officials gathered around the ramp, a few of whom nearly got early tickets
to their maker. The wonder of the whole spectacle was that he hit the ramp at an unusually fast speed, and managed
to stop on the ramp, and not and not in the garden below!

Congratulations Katende, for giving the local product hope in face of fiery machines that are factory prepared.