Gawaya Tegulle
11 October 2008
opinion
Since I began television talk show hosting seven years ago, I can identify three shows as my most difficult- all of them in my good old days on Issues at Hand, WBS Television, now hosted by my good friend Peter Kibazo.
The least problematic of the shows was with former Minister for Ethics and Integrity, Miria Matembe; difficult to control and with an inherent disregard for anything called authority, it was all I could do to keep her in check.
The so-so one was with somebody better left nameless.
High up in the President's company, this man who can't spell the word humility has a thing for the bottle. That evening he came to the show completely boozed up and reeking of beer and spirits from every pore.
I got tipsy just being next to him for an hour. Halfway through the show I called for an unscheduled break because my guest wanted to use the bathroom. And after waiting for a good 10 minutes or so, I feared something had gone wrong and went to check on him. He had finished easing himself okay, but in his stupor, missed his way and headed for some other place in Gordon Wavamunno's labyrinth of a building known as Spear House, thank you very much!
The most difficult of all the shows was in 2003- or thereabouts. We were discussing the developments in the war against Joseph Kony's LRA, and my guest was then Minister of Defence Amama Mbabazi. Calm and calculated, Amama is not a man you rush into anything, and certainly not into talking. He took his time, selecting every word carefully and as a usually fast-paced talkshow host I found great difficulty- and frustration- getting him to hurry.
But in that one hour I got to know Amama as a man who takes great care in everything he says or does, something confirmed in subsequent interviews with him over the years. So while most of his colleagues have been freely involved in scandal, Amama has over the years come to be known as Mr Clean - to the chagrin of his colleagues who don't appreciate white birds in a black flock. Not known to dip fingers into the cookie jar, steal a wife here or there, pick campus girls for a fling or cream off a juicy commission like some other vice politicians are known for, Amama has been exceptional.
And like Daniel in the Bible, his enemies were desperate to get an excuse to bring him down, which happily came in the form of the Temangalo saga. If it had been some other politician involved - somebody we are used to seeing in this or that scandal- nobody would have so much as raised a finger or wagged a tongue about the matter. But because it is Amama, suddenly it is a big deal.
That is where Amama has been rather naïve at playing careful and clean all the time in a country where the dubious are respected and applauded, and the righteous frowned upon as arrogant and guilty of parading a holier-than-thou attitude.
The fun of it all is that the people pinning down Amama are the ones who frankly, should not even be pontificating on matters of integrity.
Social psyche in nation building is an important structural incentive against corruption especially at a time like this.
When a man keeps himself clean, his reputation should stand him in good stead before the jury if he gets meshed up in controversy. In Uganda the social psyche is such that he gets punished for playing clean all along, meaning that it is better to be corrupt and survive.
When Temangalo is over, Amama should think again about staying clean - it's not safe in a Uganda where crime does pay.
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