Campus beat: Mukono’s Wandegeya

UCU

When you talk to someone in Mukono and they mention that they are in Wandegeya, it might get you confused. Wait a minute, Mukono has it’s own version of Wandegeya, named after that never sleeping place near Makerere University.
What is a university if it does not try to find its likeness to the grandfather university in the country? The place has been called Wandegeya for so long that even after asking around, nobody seems to know the original name of the trading centre.
Traditionally, in the 1980s this was a humble trading centre with a few shops. One would barely find any vendors or fast food places in the area. With the university’s population growing, a number of vendors have been attracted by the high demand from the students, hence baptizing it Wandegeya because of its likeness to the actual Wandegeya.

Food vendors
Just like the original Wandegeya, this place is flooded with a batch of meat and sausage roasters, Rolex makers, chips, maize, fish and so many other cheap fast foods that students can afford. They can go for as low Shs1,000 for a pack of chips and a pair of sausages. Students flood the place in the evenings. The latest attraction is the whole grilled chicken (TV chicken), which was also clearly adopted from the original place.

Fancy restaurants
Well, let’s not get our hopes too high yet. You will not find a Chicken Tonight or Chillis in the area. But what they have is exceptionally okay as well. They have one called Lunch Box, then one small unique called Packson and others that do not have quite significant names if any. For now these can do until KFC finds its way to Mukono.

Shops
There are more shops that include stationaries, movie stalls, and one significant super market all targeting the market of students. Frank a former student of Makerere, one of the movie stall owners says the place is almost exactly the same as the original Wandegeya. And business is growing by the day.