Uganda agreed to hand over to the USA her pathogen profile and medical records. She also agreed that any drugs brought in to Uganda per the agreement, *would not be subject to inspection* by the National Drug Authority.
Basically in 2026 Uganda became a lab for US experiments.
The man who invented the operation that saves babies born with blue-baby syndrome had no medical degree, no college degree, and was listed on the payroll as a JANITOR.
He guided the first operation from a stool behind the surgeon's shoulder, telling him where to cut.
Vivien Thomas. He had been saving to study medicine when the 1929 crash wiped out his savings and the bank holding them.
He took a job as a lab assistant at Vanderbilt for a janitor's wage, because that was the classification available.
Within a couple of years he was running experimental surgery — developing techniques, performing operations on his own, training surgeons.
He moved to Johns Hopkins with Alfred Blalock in 1941, where he was still paid as a janitor and had to enter through a back door.
He was the only Black man in that building not carrying a mop.
He worked out the surgical fix for tetralogy of Fallot — the condition killing infants who turned blue and died — and built the instruments for it.
The first operation on a child was in 1944. Blalock, who had never done the procedure, asked Thomas to stand behind him and talk him through it.
The surgeons on the paper became world famous. Thomas was not credited.
Hopkins hung his portrait in 1971 and gave him an honorary doctorate in 1976. Generations of surgeons he personally trained insisted on it.
He was paid as a cleaner while inventing heart surgery.
Uganda once had a man whose coffin was too long for his grave.
His name was John Paul Ofwono. He was born in Yokolo Village, Tororo.
In 1999, his family claimed he was 9 feet tall. This meant he was potentially the tallest man in the world.
Guinness wanted proof.
They asked Richard Stockley of the British High Commission, Uganda to measure him. After rigorous measurements, Ofwono was shown to be 7 ft 6.5 in.
Some conspiracy theories rejected the results saying the Western world just didn't want an African to appear in the World Book of records as the tallest human alive. The record at the time was held by an American known as Robert Wadlow at 8feet and 11 inches.
Anyway, Ofwono automatically became Uganda's tallest man and a national celebrity. Some accounts show that he was the 3rd tallest person in the world.
A 1-litre Coca Cola soda bottle was nicknamed “Ofwono” because of its unusual length. He made money as a billboard ambassador for a number of brands. This changed his life and that of his family.
Where Ofwono grew up, Lakwena rebels always made people run away from their home.
One day Ofwono spotted armed Lakwena rebels feasting on mangoes by the main road in Yokolo.
Unbothered by their guns, the giant walked to the tree and picked mangoes with ease. The stunned rebels, who had never seen him before, reportedly fled in fright, with some falling to the ground.
Most escaped, while two reportedly suffered fractures and were later handed over to Government soldiers.
The incident changed residents' attitude towards the rebels, with many becoming less fearful and beginning to hunt them down.
Ofwono's love life was dramatic. His lovers kept on running away from him after a while. This was because, he never stopped growing taller.
At long last, Ofwono found love. However, he refused to go for treatment in India out of fear of losing his lover. 3R, his employer, wanted to handle his medical bill.
Ofwono died in 2003, aged 43, after suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure and a brain tumour that caused excessive growth hormone production.
At his funeral, they discovered his coffin could not fit in the grave.
The grave had to be extended by another 45 minutes before Uganda's giant could finally be buried.
John Paul Ofwono.