Having one of the fattest monthly pay cheques in Kampala doesn’t mean that anyone will mess up with Stanbic Bank MD Patrick Mweheire and just get away easily. This is what the waitresses and waiters of Bugolobi Village Mall-based Javas House rudely discovered Thursday afternoon. Amiable Mweheire had a mid morning meeting there with a friend.
The two moved in and sat patiently as they discussed what appeared to be very crucial matters off a laptop which the friend, casually donned in a white shirt, carried. The friend, who looked to be a middle aged man, was the one doing much of the talking as an evidently very much interested Mweheire attentively listened while occasionally nodding in approval. As what looked a very important business discussion progressed, the two men (with Mweheire dressed in navy blue suit) ordered for drinks but to their dismay, the waiter took forever to deliver the order. The young man whose name tag read Johnson went about his business and after 30 minutes of not returning to them, the two gentlemen complained. They called and admonished him and insisted he delivers their order. He smiled, apologized and went to make good his mistakes.
Even then they felt he took forever to report back. They tried calling on him from a distance, while whispering to him, but still he couldn’t hear them. This seemed to annoy especially Mweheire who angrily raised his hand and signaled a waitress, who was passing by serving other customers, to come over. She innocently walked over to where the two corporate gentlemen were seated discussing matters. “What is all this nonsense about? Where do you get such people? Sincerely speaking, how long does it take you to make a soda,” an evidently very thirsty Mweheire furiously said as he pointed at the waiter who had messed up his order by unduly prolonging delivery.
The poor waitress initially didn’t even know what the matter was all about but she nevertheless went out and delivered the order herself while apologizing on behalf of her negligent colleague. If management doesn’t style up, Javas House Bugolobi could gradually collapse because of such things. Just imagine a customer of Mweheire’s profile; the people he talks to and those he can influence to develop negative biases against the business. A few months ago, the same coffee house endured a social media storm when Robert Kabushenga and Daudi Mpanga, two of its other very prominent customers, sat there for private discussions only for the video of their private discussion to find its way on social media where it went viral.
This was at a time the two top Kampala corporates were involved in a cold war with property mogul Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia over the Bank of Uganda case. Apart from the trio of Mpanga, Mweheire and Kabushenga, there are many other corporates who like having coffee in this place including NSSF MD Richard Byarugaba and NITA CEO James Saka among others.
