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09.10.2011 Feature Article

Bukenya was an Iceberg waiting for Titanic but he doesn’t deserve Jail

Bukenya was an Iceberg waiting for Titanic but he doesnt deserve Jail
09.10.2011 LISTEN

I don't think former vice president of Uganda,Professor Gilbert Bukenya, had prepared himself psychologically for prison or loss of his parliamentary seat. He looked an emotional guy the day he was taken to prison, and that is good for women in his life but bad for his image as an African politician. A politician in Africa is supposed to appear tough (made of steel of some sort) in public as we have been seeing with Dr. Kiza Besigye despite losing his brother in the most hurtful way possible. But crying in public was also not as bad for Bukenya as it gave out the human side of him. It can sometimes help if it is played out in a normal way. For instance, Kabaka Ronald Mutebi shed tears in public over the burning of the Kasubi tombs and it is not something anybody in our generation can easily forget.

Nevertheless, both the 'Gilbert Bukenya' and 'late Sulaiman Kiggundu' experiments are very good for all of us. There is a great deal of lessons to learn from them for those who want to learn. They both provide a gradual learning experience to Ugandans who are a threat to people in power. Bukenya has never stolen tax payers' money to do anything private, at least as far as I know. He became a rich man by selling mostly his rice nationally and internationally, I believe, but CHOGM has been used to bring him down. Nobody can pinpoint fingers at him that he stole a specific amount of money to do this and that. At least, his hands are officially clean as far as tax payers' money is concerned.

Similarly, Dr. Kiggundu was first made Governor Bank of Uganda by president Museveni before he was sacked. He then started up his Greenland Bank which became so successful in such a short period of time that some people in power approached him to buy shares in it. The bank later collapsed, Kiggundu ended up in prison, and the rest as they say 'is history now'.

The Bukenya case before courts of law is a bit complicated but I think president Museveni should have intervened at the earliest to save the former VP's face from all this( if we wished to do so). The scripts of this case were posted on the Ugandans At heart(UAH) forum as shown on the link below:

http://semuwemba.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/indictment-of-gilbert-bukenya-1.pdf

Bukenya's major blunder was trying to appease his former boss by celebrating the closure of CBSfm and thus under minding his Kabaka in the process. It is the sole reason why some Baganda are still bitter with him. He should have kept quiet over it. I was also understandably so pissed off with him then but he still does not deserve what he is going through. Nonetheless, I'm no longer upset with him because I now understand why he did or said what he did then.

But he also made a mistake of opening up his mouth on certain controversial issues as some people have pointed out. He should have done a ''Ssebagala'',i.e. to keep quiet after being dumped from the cabinet. He should never have declared his intentions to stand for presidency in 2016. Actually, he should have avoided the media as soon as he was unfairly defeated in the NRM primaries for the post of Secretary General. It was a miscalculation on his part to start a media campaign for himself then. But hey, now that he is in prison, this is not time to keep quite anymore. Let the 'war of the words' begin such that we let public opinion decide his fate.

But let's see how things pan out for him in the near future but he should never have been sent to Luzira over this case. I don't think it was fair compared to the corrupt cases that have been paraded in courts of law before. I really feel for him. For all his weaknesses, Bukenya does not deserve to be sent to be prison. More so, I don't think he made any penny out of CHOGM deals compared to some people that have been reported by the media over the same issue.

What is so special about Mbabazi?
There is a myth that the main 'mafia' fighting Bukenya is the current prime minister, Mbabazi, and some elites believe that he is the man behind Bukenya's imprisonment. Nonetheless, I have stopped making predictions about Mr. Amama Mbabazi because I still don't know why Museveni and NRM have allowed him to retain the post of NRM secretary General up to now. There are only two explanations I can think of: either this post is irrelevant to the determination of the successor to president Museveni or keeping him as NRM Secretary General is meant to help his(Mbabazi) eventual downfall.

May be, Museveni has realized that Mbabazi seriously harbors ambitions to become the president of Uganda, so he has kept him as NRM secretary General to make sure that he is hated more by party members. Because in all honesty, why would the president keep such a very unpopular man as the party's secretary General and discard a popular man in Gilbert Bukenya? Bukenya calls himself a 'community man' in his interview with Andrew Mwenda's the Independent , and I think I know where he picked this from: he is a student and teacher of Public Health, and the terms 'community' and 'empowerment' are so much used in a lot of case studies.

Another possible explanation may be found in the hypothesis that Mbabazi is blackmailing the president. He has got some information in a 'secret box' somewhere that may bring down Museveni if he is handled inappropriately. A spider on the wall reliably told me that Mbabazi's office has always been busier than any of the other cabinet ministers. This spider told me it was surprised to find the so called 'big people' in government all lining up to find an appointment with Mr. Mbabazi when he was just security minister. Actually, his office arguably runs a lot of activities more than any other person in government, and he is a very organized, ambitious and serious man. He is one of the few guys in government who can allegedly 'shout' at president Museveni when he is not happy with something. I think he might have picked this kind of independence from UAH forums because we have got many like him.

You will never find a 'Tamare Mirundi' attacking Mbabazi in public because they know will be shown the exit door the next day the moment they do so. Tamare cannot attack Mbabazi in the same way he has been belittling Bukenya, Nagenda, Kabaka and others in the press. The day you see the 'Tamares' start doing this, then you will know that things are not fine between the ”man with the hat” and Mbabazi. Mr.Tamare Mirundi never opens up his mouth unless if he has been told to do so, I believe. That's how it works. He works under instructions from his bosses.

To be honest, I don't know what is so special about Mbabazi up to now and why president Museveni continues to hold him in high regard than anybody else. I find him so arrogant in his public utterances. I don't think he is an easy person to be liked by anybody. He could make a good unelected public official because of his reported organisational skills but then again, he was surprisingly elected as MP for Kanungu. So how do we explain this fact if we put vote rigging and intimidation of voters aside? There is something about Mbabazi I cannot put my fingers on. May be, he will be the last man left standing after the fall of Museveni and NRM.

Ebya Mbabazi ne Bukenya bizibu nyo!
--
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
United Kingdom

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