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Uganda: Booing Nsibambi Was Good Thing
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The Weekly Observer (Kampala)
OPINION
2 July 2008
Posted to the web 3 July 2008
Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda
I would like to congratulate Ugandans who heckled and booed my friend, the Prime Minister Prof. Apolo Robin Nsibambi, 67, during the funeral of Dr. Suleiman Kiggundu at Kibuli Mosque on June 24.
Not because I hate Nsibambi. In fact, Prof. Nsibambi is my friend, and I have said before and can repeat now, that if he stood for the presidency, I would vote for him. That is because he is neither a thief nor a populist; very rare virtues.
Why then do I celebrate the booing of a person I so highly regard? My celebration has nothing to do with Nsibambi the person. It has everything to do with the increasing level of civic awareness in this country to which I have made a small contribution.
Since my first appearance on a radio station, Central Broadcasting Service (CBS) in 2000, I have been urging fellow Ugandans to stop creating an impression that leaders are doing us a favour.
These individuals consume a lot of our taxes and we should at all times demand from them better services. Those who are not serving us well should be fired and/or shunned.
I have specifically asked people of Buganda to shun Baganda leaders who in their bid to appease the regime have made it a habit to abuse the Kabaka and undermine our long time cherished values.
I recently asked Baganda Nkoba Zambogo (Baganda university associations), to draw a list of traitors, people who have betrayed our common cause, similar to the list of "wanted terrorists" you find at the entrance of US embassies across the world.
I proposed that such lists be pinned at the entrance of Bulange, the administrative seat of Buganda, and at all our institutions down to the villages.
I have also proposed that each one of us take advantage of TV, to show our children people who have wronged us; for example those who stole the money meant to buy drugs for AIDS patients. Or those who stole billions under the guise of organising CHOGM!
Since those stealing public resources are very powerful and currently in charge of the coercive instruments of the state, we should do what is within our means - shun and isolate them.
We should stop inviting them to our social gatherings but if they come by themselves, we should not honour them with seats at the high table or an opportunity to speak.
Let our children grow up knowing that someone who has stolen money meant for a public service is shunned.
Such individuals must only be comfortable when driving around inside their posh vehicles and while sleeping in ill-gotten five-star houses.
In short, we should stop glorifying people responsible for the pot holes on our roads, absence of drugs in our hospitals, rising prices, and all our misery.
That is the context within which I celebrate Nsibambi's booing. Even if he has not stolen, he works with some of those who have turned the national treasury into personal wallets and has not condemned them. It is no longer enough to say that 'for me I am clean'.
Our leaders should not be naïve as to expect their pregnant sheep to produce a camel. What do you expect of a country where policemen attempt to strip a female legislator in a market?
What do you expect from a country where Police unleashes thugs like the 'Kiboko Squad' to batter innocent citizens on the street?
What do you expect from a country where a policeman points a pistol at the lips of a senior citizen like John Ssebaana Kizito?
What do you expect from a country where a senior army officer slaps an opposition leader at the latter's party headquarters?
It would be madness not to expect booing and heckling at funerals or other social gatherings. Besides, funerals are perhaps the only ceremony the opposition is allowed to organise uninterrupted.
Booing Nsibambi should also serve as a lesson, particularly to Buganda politicians; that they should not seek to rise by betraying or selling their own communities.
Serving the regime doesn't have to make people forget their roots. Time might come when you are no longer allowed to attend funerals, even those of your relatives!
I have told Ugandans that our leaders tend to make costly decisions because they fear the regime. They fear to be sacked or to lose their Parliament seats.
If fear is the basis of making decisions in this country, we are better off acquiring it.
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The author is Political Editor of The Weekly Observer
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