Congratulations! Chogm has been successfully held in Kampala and President Museveni has had his moment of greatness which he graciously took in good stride. Inspite of the successes however, there were major gaffes that were ignored in the name of 'patriotism'.

First were the floods that turned Zana into a no go area and also cleaned some sections of the newly refurbished roads in the city, throwing the tar meters a way. Sadly, the media, in many ways than one, conveniently ignored linking the flooding and Chogm.

Did you also know that for the entire duration of Chogm, the traffic lights at Wandegeya revolted like an envious co-wife after priority was given to the newly installed lights at former Kitgum House roundabout on Jinja Road? To many in Wandegeya, that part of town was in the leeward side of Chogm as was Kawempe and Ntinda areas.

Inside Politics can reliably reveal that because all national efforts were concentrated on the city central business district, Entebbe Airport and Munyonyo, the decision by Prince Charles to visit Kawempe and Kalerwe caused the organisers considerable discomfort.

Efforts were reportedly made to dissuade him but he insisted on seeing the real Kampala that Chogm officials were keen to hide. But being the royal that he is, he had his way. The officials were embarrassed that neither Kawempe nor Kalerwe reflected the about Shs233b Chogm expenditure.

In one of the briefest speeches the President has ever delivered, at Parliament in the presence of the Queen, Mr Museveni conveniently avoided mention of army representation in Parliament as he savoured the pride of how democratic Uganda is today.

This was despite the fact that the 10 army representatives were all decked out in their uniforms in the chambers. But following murmurs from mainly the opposition, the President reluctantly added the army MPs on the list of the special interest group represented.

The Uganda Broadcasting Corporation which calls itself 'Uganda's Preferred

Network' fell well below expectations. During the Queen's three minute address to MPs, pictures disappeared for about a minute. The National Broadcaster, which was expected to provide a live feed to the media centre at the Imperial Royale suffered rather too frequent epileptic seizures.

At one time, it would be the sound to disappear and at another, the pictures; and then all would go blank and the producers would have to turn to a recording of Nabweru Parents School pupils with their Chogm song and an advert featuring Sam Kutesa and James Mulwana, among others. At the Media Centre was another story many Ugandans have not been told.

At one corner, the sound of plopping water, reportedly dripping from the swing pool located on the grand structure's first floor, was dripping into the room where several journalists gathered to beam Chogm and Uganda to the world.

There was another drama at the opening of the Business Forum at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel.

The opening ceremony was delayed by about an hour because the tents had not been fixed. As delegates were arriving, organisers were just fixing tents, the public address system and seats.

At the Grand Imperial Hotel where the Royal Commonwealth Society held a public talk on the situation in Zimbabwe with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai as main speaker, there was drama as well.

Pro-Mugabe supporters were there, if not in numbers good enough, the noise they made was something to reckon with. Midway the presentation, the group led by Lusaka Anglican Archbishop, Nolbert Kunonga, seen by pro-Tsvangirai Zimbabweans as a Mugabe loyalist, led a walk out of the hall. In the corridors, they shouted to attract the press, with some youths shouting "Mugabe Ooye" and managed to get some of the attendees turning their heads and obviously the organisers evidently uncomfortable.

Then Bunyoro. Of all the kingdoms, Bunyoro made the biggest fuss of Chogm right from the time Uganda first applied to host Chogm in Abuja in 2003. And just days to the summit, Bunyoro kingdom officials announced that King Solomon Iguru would snub an invite to dine with the Queen. But what a shock when he showed up decked in a white jacket and bow-tie accompanied by wife, Queen Karunga and spent several minutes smiling widely with the Duke of Edinburgh.

Don MacKinnon, who performed his last responsibilities as Commonwealth Secretary General at the Kampala Chogm aptly picked some of the behind the scenes gaffes that the media was largely not privy too.

He said during the crucial Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, "There was good humour throughout. Without a microphone, we began by not hearing... When two microphones did eventually arrive, one soon expired, so the other had to be passed repeatedly across the table."

Then at the pre-Chogm Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting, there was to be more gaffes as Mckinnon noted: "When there was a power cut half-way, the microphones still worked, and we carried on talking in the dark..."

Need we mention that that the publicity Ugandans so much sought out of Chogm delivered what in the media is largely known as "negative" publicity with the Queen shaking hands of a person living with HIV/Aids as a major story on BBC and Sky News for almost two days as one of the biggest reports from Kampala.

Need we mention that sections of the Ugandan media, especially television, were under considerable strain not to show footage of the police brutalising members of the opposition both in Kisenyi where DP held a protest rally and at Kololo where the FDC battled the police?