Red gowns, and the wee-wee chant are part and parcel of the strike culture at Makerere university; when one yells wee-wee, its either re-echoed by another, or silenced by a teargas canister.
The chant is now a popular tune whose lyrics are well known by students at the prestigious academic hill; but what does it really mean? And where did it originate?
Wee-wee is formally translated as urinate, but to Makerereans its more than just urinating as its part of the strike culture at the Harvard of Africa.
There is a school of thought that roots the origin of this popular chant to Makerere university’s 80th guild president Mr. Ivan Bowe. Its believed that the chant was birthed during his July 2014 strike against a 10% tuition increment.
The then eloquent guild president led a group of students to reject the university council’s 10% tuition increment policy. During the strike, its said some students bagan to chant the name of their leader Bowe as a sign of praise. Its from Bowe that wee-wee emerged – a chant that rhymmed well with his name Bowe.
Because of his eloquence, Ivan Bowe easily pulled crowds to join him during the strikes as Makerere’s former strike machine Obed Obedgui Derrick who was then in his s.6 vacation narrates.
“Bowe was very eloquent. He could make you join something you didn’t know about.” he said. “I saw him (Bowe) lead a group of students, I didn’t know it was a strike. There was a lot of vibe, I joined.” Obed said on his first strike as a fresher at Makerere in 2014 -one against the increment of the price of graduation gowns.
Obed told the Bee that the wee-wee chant was coined before he joined university in August later that same year (2014).
One wonders then what those in the previous strikes used to chant. And yes, strike chants didn’t start in Ivan Bowe’s reign.
Previously, students were glued to the one-way chant but this has been slowly erased overtime. Mr. Robert Madoi, a lecturer at the department of journalism and communication says they did have strike chants too during his time as a student at the hill.
“Yes, definitely, they were there (the chants). We had students in their red gowns too.” Madoi said in an exclusive chat with the Bee.
As time passes by, we are yet to attest to the significance of the wee-wee chant during the strikes of generations yet to come.
