|
|
Uganda: You Could Be Anything At the Mosque When Gadaffi Visited
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Monitor (Kampala)
OPINION
23 March 2008
Posted to the web 24 March 2008
Rodney Muhumuza
Kampala
Aboard a van that was heading to Katonga, Mpigi, where a war monument was set to be unveiled on Thursday morning, one reporter, recalling events at the opening of the Gadaffi National Mosque the day before, had a joke to tell.
"Did President Museveni ask President [Mwai] Kibaki to stand up to be seen at the mosque because he wanted people to see how an election thief looks like?" asked the reporter. "If that is not the case, what was it about?"
The question was enough to send a few reporters giggling, but he had also given us food for thought. It is true that it was only Kenya's Mwai Kibaki, fresh from negotiating a power-sharing deal with the opposition Orange Democratic Movement's Raila Odinga, who was asked by Mr Museveni to stand up so he can be seen by celebrants at the opening of the mosque.
And it is also true that when Mr Kibaki's name was mentioned, thousands of Muslims inside the mosque, opened by Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi, showed unusual interest in seeing his face.
It is not that they do not know him, or that he is the most exciting president around, but most likely many wanted to confirm that it was Mr Kibaki they were seeing. Mr Museveni appeared to want to satisfy that common need when he told Mr Kibaki: "You can stand up and they see you."
The reporter's joke was hinged on the fact that no other president was introduced in a similar manner. But it is possible that Mr Museveni wanted to introduce the leader of Uganda's most important neighbour in a special way, seeing that entering the mosque had been a chaotic affair in which only the toughest--and most unmistakable--had made it past the entrance after Col. Gadaffi's caravan arrived.
With Libyan and Ugandan security officials fighting to take control of the mosque's precincts, many high-profile guests risked being ignored or even embarrassed by the security men.
And it happened, often leading to heated exchanges or pleas for restraint. There was Energy Minister Daudi Migereko, who may have had to introduce himself many times before finally being permitted to enter, and then there was Uganda's top diplomat to Rwanda, Mr Richard Kabonero, who also spent a good while before finding his way inside the mosque.
As some guests might have found out, it was important to be a well-known public figure to get the respect you wanted, but even that provided no guarantees if you were not one of the big boys--Mr Museveni and Col. Gadaffi. Ministers and diplomats, some of them visibly cowed by the menacing security, were just happy to sneak into the mosque, or to jostle for whatever space was at the entrance.
True, as the guests stampeded the entrance to the mosque, anybody could have posed as anything to do whatever. For instance there was that PGB officer who was listening to music on his earphones but pretended to be wearing a security device; a television reporter who dressed up as a sheikh so he could find leverage with the security guards; and a Muslim leader who fancied himself as an inspector of the mosque! Old Kampala hill, teeming with thousands who wanted to catch a glimpse of the Libyan leader on Wednesday, was the place to be for a pretender (or con artist).
Reporters saw ministers being humbled, and some lucky (or unlucky) folks received a copy of "an open letter to mankind", a document that warned of the Armageddon to come if "we don't check our moral behaviour".
The opening of the mosque, Col. Gadaffi's gift to the Muslims of Uganda, was supposed to be the penultimate public event that the Libyan leader would attend. But it was to be his last. On Thursday morning, Col. Gadaffi's convoy made a premature departure, heading for Entebbe Airport around the time he should have been driving to Katonga to unveil that monument dedicated to the revolutionary struggles that swept through Africa in the second half of the past century.
Some ministers, especially those who had not attended the Old Kampala event, were already in Katonga in Mpigi District anticipating the arrival of "Brother Leader Gadaffi".
|
Education Minister Namirembe Bitamazire, Ethics and Integrity Minister Nsaba Buturo and the UPDF's Gen. Elly Tumwine were among those enjoying the martial music from an army brass band and the performance of traditional entertainers when news came through that their high-profile guest would not make it.
Mr Mutebi Kityo, a former legislator from Mawokota South, was left to tell the congregation that their guest was not coming after all, and soon the gathering began to disperse quietly. Some of them might not have immediately grasped that Col. Gadaffi was already flying home, and they possibly will never know what the Libyan leader would have said at the Katonga event.
Question is whether the brother leader's abrupt departure had anything to do with his claim that the Bible is a forgery - an irreverent remark that has irritated the Christian faithful beyond measure.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
