“You can die for education in Uganda and still die poor.”
This one hits hard, exposes painful truths, makes people emotional, and offers real escape plans. It’s designed for all professionals, especially in Uganda.
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“20 -40 YEARS OF SERVICE… AND NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT?”
Yesterday I realized 30 Years of Hard Work Can End With Nothing when I attended a colleague’s retirement party.
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They threw him a big retirement party.
Music, speeches, food everywhere.
People clapped and called him “a man of integrity”, someone who gave his youth to a job.
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But when the noise was over, he went home to a quiet, empty room… and an envelope.
Inside was his gratuity, just enough to clear debts and may be fix the leaking roof.
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Thirty years of dedicated service.
No house in his name.
No business.
No investments.
No land title
Just a pension to pay debts and repairing a leaking roof.
A painful post about teaching, civil service, healthcare, and other respected professions that leave people broke after retirement.
Have you ever seen a retired teacher in Uganda?
Bent back, faded glasses, walking to a ministry office or NSSF office every Monday with a pension file tucked under one arm, hoping and praying that this will be the day his name finally enters payment batch?
Have you ever watched a civil servant who once wore sharp suits and supervised millions, now begging his son for 2,000sh?
Have you seen a nurse who worked night shifts for 30 years… now sitting in her rented one-room, sharing malaria drugs with her neighbors because she can’t afford to refill her own prescription?
This post is for you.
This post is for anyone still believing that passion, loyalty, and salary alone will protect you from poverty.
In Uganda, most professions will give you respect while you’re working and regrets when you retire.
It’s not the job that’s the problem.
It’s the mindset people carry while doing it.
- TEACHING
Let’s not even sugarcoat it.
Teaching is 001 when it comes to professions that give you a big heart and an empty account.
You build nations, raise presidents, ministers, shape doctors and engineers.
Yet when your legs grow weak and your voice gets tired, the same system throws you into silence.
Let’s talk facts:
Starting salary? Between 200,000 to 400,000
Transport fare and food? 5000sh – 10,000sh per day.
What’s left after family, church contributions, and survival? PEANUTS.
You wake up by 5 a.m., go teach stubborn students, mark 120 scripts, attend endless meetings, go home with headaches, and repeat it 5 days a week.
Only to retire and depend on pension money that doesn’t even come regularly.
Reality:
Teachers get respect, not results or money.
Teachers are praised in speeches but punished by salary structures.
Teachers retire tired and often broke.
ESCAPE PLAN:
Think without a box.
Monetize what you know: Start online tutorials, digital lesson notes, or eBooks for students.
Private coaching: Set up home lessons for rich kids. They’ll pay you more than government ever did.
Start educational businesses: Lesson centers, daycare, education consulting.
Don’t wait for pension, start investing in land, side businesses, or even digital products now.
- OTHER CIVIL SERVANTS, MANAGERS, BOSS IN OFFICE, STRUGGLER AT HOME
You see them every day:
They dress sharp, hold titles like “Chief Planning Officer”, “Deputy Director, Manager, Principal and many others.
But many civil servants are just surviving on loans and promises.
You spend 20 -40 years working… then 3 years chasing your pension/retirement package.
By the time you retire, your firstborn is already feeding you.
Why does it happen?
Blind loyalty to government or bosses.
Zero investment mindset.
Living above their means just to “look the part.”
ESCAPE PLAN:
Use your salary as seed, not your source/fruit.
Invest in small businesses, land, or commercial agriculture.
Learn financial literacy.
Budget, save, and plan your exit before retirement catches you unaware.
Build side income: farms, rentals, retail, or schools.
- NURSES & HEALTH WORKERS YOU SAVED OTHERS, BUT WHO SAVED YOU?
Long nights. Ward duties. Emergency calls. Saving lives every day.
But in Uganda? Nurses retire to high blood pressure, unpaid pensions, and hospitals they can’t afford to enter.
You worked for the system but the system didn’t work for you.
ESCAPE PLAN:
Start private elderly care or mobile health services.
Build an online brand: health tips, consultations, and products.
Create health coaching services for busy professionals.
Learn to turn your medical knowledge into a product or service.
- POLICE & MILITARY – “RISKED LIFE, REWARDED WITH POVERTY”
You carried gun. Protected lives. Slept in bush. Fought robbers.
But guess what?
When you remove that uniform, you’ll see that poverty has no respect for bravery.
Many ex-officers are suffering. Not because they didn’t serve—but because they didn’t build.
ESCAPE PLAN:
Start a security consulting firm.
Offer VIP protection services or training programs.
Invest in logistics, transport, or real estate while still in service.
Don’t spend all your salary drinking at mess, buy land.
- CLERGY, MOSQUE or CHURCH WORKERS – “GOD’S WORKER, YET HUNGRY”
Not every Pastor or priest or reverend and Imam is rich.
Many preach for 40 years and still die broke. Why?
No financial plan.
No personal investment.
Total dependence on unpredictable offerings and zakah.
ESCAPE PLAN:
Write devotionals, run marriage counseling, or record online teachings.
Start a Christian or Islamic YouTube or podcast platform.
Sell books or branded spiritual journals.
Use your influence to raise partnerships for income projects.
Even Apostle Paul made tents, Why are you depending only on tithe?
- ENGINEERS, JOURNALISTS, DOCTORS, LAWYERS – IT’S NOT BY TITLE
Yes, you read that right.
In Uganda, title is not equal to success.
There are engineers begging for jobs.
Doctors borrowing transport fare.
Lawyers trekking to court.
Why?
Because school taught them how to be professionals—but not how to build wealth.
ESCAPE PLAN:
Learn business. Learn branding. Learn packaging.
Use your knowledge to offer premium services online.
Start side hustles that fund your future—don’t wait for “better job offers.”
Network with business-minded people, not just fellow professionals.
- FARMERS – THE PEOPLE WHO FEED THE NATION… BUT CAN’T FEED THEMSELVES
No jokes.
Farmers work from dawn to dusk… only to sell at bad prices, face middlemen, and lose harvests to lack of storage.
They produce for Uganda yet they beg to survive.
ESCAPE PLAN:
Join or create farming co-ops.
Invest in agro-processing or distribution.
Partner with people who can help scale, export, or digitize farming.
Create farm tours, organic products, or digital farm courses.
THE REAL ENEMY IS NOT THE JOB.
IT’S YOUR MINDSET.
Suffering is not holy. Loyalty is not a retirement plan.
Start investing now.
Start building side income.
Stop eating all your salary.
Stop saying “It’s too late.”
Whether you’re 25 or 55… the best time to start was yesterday.
The next best time is NOW.
Tag a nurse or police officer.
Profession can give you praise… but only financial wisdom can give you peace.
Know this and know peace.
CALL TO THE GOVERNMENT OF UGANDA
As many programs like Emyooga, PDM, Glow funds and many others, most professionals are left behind.
Why ??
Is it intentional, strategic or a coincidence to keep professionals under absolute poverty?
Dear professionals, if you can’t be in position be in possession and if you can’t be in possession be in position.
The world pays in the best currency.
Think wisely, vote wisely and live happily.
FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY
KANGAVE MUDI
NATIONAL chairperson private Teachers platform Uganda
Tel no. 0757525254
Email mudikangave@gmail.com
