How Tayebwa rose from selling pancakes to Deputy Speaker

Kampala, (UG):- Uganda’s Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa has opened up on his humble formative years by telling Members of Parliament that he used to sell pancakes for income.

Mr Tayebwa said he ventured into the local bakery business of pancakes, popularly known as Kabalagala across the country, from Primary Four in one of the schools in western Uganda.

During the Thursday plenary session, Tayebwa surprised the August House when he introduced a special guest in the VIP chambers – his kabalagala business mentor, Mr James Bebazo.

Tayebwa told the session that Mr Bebazo appointed him as a salesman to his pancakes which were wrapped in banana leaves.

“I used to sell pancakes during break time and during the close of school in the evening and would make accountability the next day,” he said.

Tayebwa drew laughter from Parliament when he narrated that he was not getting ‘hard cash’ but pancakes in return and could share with his friends.

“My commission was in the form of pancakes, every 10 pancakes I sold, I would get one, which I would eat right away with my close friends,” he said.

Tayebwa joins a list of influential leaders in the region like Kenya’s president William Sitoto Ruto who once sold Chicken during his childhood in Kenya’s Rift Valley of Kalenjin.