KAMPALA – When the rains come and you don’ see frogs hopping around in the open, it could be that snakes are bound. Or some other reason.
But for Brian Kirumira, aka Bryan White, it’s a bit inexplicable. The socialite and moneybag went inactive months ago and getting behind the walls of his hitherto show-off lifestyle is now harder than meeting North Korean strongman Kim Jong-Un.
In his now elusive lifestyle, Bryan White has left nuns from Mapeera Bakateyamba Home of the elderly in Nalukolongo, Kampala, clutching at their rosaries and hoping for a miracle to get the Shs70 million pledge for a perimeter wall fencing.
According to a former employee of the Bryan White Foundation, the pencil-thin shady moneybag pledged to build a perimeter wall for the Mapeera Bakateyamba during a charity visit on November 8 last year but that was all to it.
“Since the visit, Bryan White has never returned to Mapeera Bakateyamba Elderly Home and the Good Samaritan Sisters who run the home have been anxious to know when the pledge comes through,” a source familiar with the development said on condition of anonymity.
“I felt too embarrassed about the whole thing, it became too difficult to face the pitiable nuns knowing Bryan White will not come through.”
During his charity visit, Bryan White and his Foundation claimed they donated items worth more than Shs100 million to the elderly and needy at the home.
Mapeera Bakateyamba Elderly Home caters for elderly persons who have nowhere to stay and most of whom lost their relatives during civil wars in Uganda, DR Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, and many other East Africa countries.
The home, looked after by Good Samaritan Sisters under the Catholic Church, also shelters abandoned children, especially disabled ones.
During last year’s charity visit, Bryan White found when the nuns had raised Shs25 million toward the construction of the perimeter wall fencing for the home and promptly offered to settle everything at 100% to complete the construction.
“Sister, let this fence not disturb your head. My money is there to help the needy and if I can drive a car worth Shs800 million, what about a fence of around Shs70 million only? So my sisters, don’t worry about the fence and generator, we shall construct it because this is our home, anyone can come here to get care,” Bryan White is quoted by his Foundation as having said during the visit.
The Foundation held prayers, cleaned up the area and participated in entertainment. As part of the work, the Foundation also provided relief items, soft drinks, basins, jerry cans, cleaning blushes and soap.
The Foundation spokesperson Willy Byarabaha said he was not in position to comment on the matter, referring this reporter to Bryan White himself. However, the socialite remains inaccessible.
Mapeera Bakateyamba’s Home was started in 1978 by Cardinal Emmanuel Nsubuga. It was initially planned to accommodate the elderly from war-torn areas and those who didn’t have any family members to look after them.
But it has taken in various forms of the needy in recent years. The home relies on donations from charities to feed, clothe and provide basic amenities for those under its care.