We Thought It Was All Over....Its Over Now!

By Arthur Mwenkanya Katabalwa

A good friend of mine, Simon, a leading media and social analyst in Kampala has woken up with a massive problem. It is the real cost of the just concluded world cup. Simon wrote on his twitter feed this morning "The real cost of the #WorldCup2014 final game: Driver - off sick; Askari - MIA; Gardener - bereaved; and you, are you in office yet…?" I hope that no one is off at the office.

We have just had several weeks of denial of the real world. Many of us have been buried in the events that have been played out in Brazil. Yes, for me the highlight was that thrashing of Brazil by Germany...(Can we have the score line again? 7-1....just to rub it in). Thank Google Steet view Ive been in Brazil myself. I know all the back streets of Manaus. Its been a great time...Then it all came shuddering to a halt last night. Now people have got nothing to look forward to.

There are some people who believe that events like The World Cup, The Olympics and the like are a form of social engineering. We all get caught up in the mood and enjoy the spectacle thereby taking our eyes off the political ball. See what happened in Brazil before the tournament started. Riots and all sorts happening. When the football started, they all went back home and watched the matches. When Brazil came crushing out, the Brazilian government worried that riots were about to start again. A look on the international scene and one sees a relatively calm atmosphere save for the ravages that are happening in Syria and Iraq. We seem to have forgotten about the poor girls abducted in Nigeria by Boko Haram. Here in Uganda, we had a distraction with the tragic events in the west. Once the President said something, we all ran back to the football.

This morning however its all back to reality. Even the boda boda men were in a sullen mood. I guess there is an eerie silence in offices up and down the country with all the workers finally hunched on their computers (like me) trying to hammer out some discernible work. Its just the wrong day! To make it worse, this is the wrong day to call in sick! Every manager will know that it isn't about the "paining forehead" but it is due to a late night sleep. Many are licking their wounds.

A day like this is the bane of all managers. And like Simon, they dread the office. At least they can bunk off work but they know fully well that to do so will herald a day of unparalleled unproductivity in the office. The workers have a psychological hangover they don't want to put in a minute of hard work. One may wonder why we don't have these tournaments more frequently? I think the powers that be should consider this. Else The World cup needs to be moved to a different part of the year because June and July represent acres and acres of nothingness. There are probably the most boring months of the year...and the world cup is over. But probably not for Germany and Goetze because "Goetze gotzit for Germany."