DON’T CRY OR CAMPAIGN FOR MINISTERIAL POSTS ANYMORE!

Friends:
You don’t need to be a cabinet/state minister to serve the people.Let’s be honest here:of all the people in the new cabinet, few of them have got the pedigree of a dream minister. None of them is capable of questioning president Museveni’s decisions as the group we had in 1986-2006. I understand some Baganda and Ugandan Muslims feel so much left out but ,honestly, why would anybody wish to be part of such a ‘yes’ cabinet! The strategy is a simple one: ignore President Museveni. He will respond in ways that will further damage his Party and the prospects of a Muhoozi Kainerugaba presidency.Presidents like to feel important; they revel in being players.Strategies win wars; tactics are tools but complaining or campaigning for ministerial posts has rarely paid off under the current regime. Personally, I am just a bit angry that Uganda’s whole national policy has been perverted (and this is a word that can be used often when judging Museveni’s presidency) to serve the interests of only one man.

A lot has been written about the ladies that have been dropped particularly Ms.Maria Kiwanuka(whom i prefer to call ‘Mariam Bint Kiwanuka ”). But I think she should keep her head held high despite being dropped in the current reshuffle. And this is for my sisters reading this: If you’re a woman who owns some property(small or big); you have got some sort of a qualification/job; know how to run a household, balance a checkbook, cook for atleast three people, write a resume, raise a child, network with new people, and essentially be an adult, then you should consider yourself successful in life!

As for the ‘ministerial’ rumour about me, I think its unfair to use “rumour and innuendo” to demonize someone especially if he or she has said nothing about it. Lots of people have had their integrity destroyed after being appoonted as ministers because of Mr.Museveni’s recklessness and lack of honesty. His using and dumping of people is encyclopedic.

Often, when we talk about the history of cabinets in Ugandan, we focus on the great men and their big ideas. In the 1990s when i was still a student at Kibuli S.S , I used to picture myself as an adult in a cabinet room full of elders such as Bidandi Ssali, Eriya Kategeya, Paul Ssemogerere, Dr.Besigye, e.t.c. These guys were a group of intellectuals and I sometimes wondered how Museveni managed them all, but anybody could be proud of them, and any young person appointed in a responsible positon could learn something from them. Actually my wife thinks Besigye’s picture should be hanged somewhere in parliament in future to remind legislators that you can succeed in politics without corruption, and that its good to be a principled politician.

But I have never pictured myself in a cabinet room full of people like Anite( the kneeling down and a promoter of ‘Mbabazicide’), Frank Tumwebaze(now promoter of ‘Besigyecide’), and the rest whose names I cannot remember.When I think about what they’re going to be discussing in cabinet with M7 chairing the meetings, I cringe. Tumwebaze has already posted his congratulatory message for keeping him in his ministerial post with an unnecessary attack on Besigye, and he is somehow convinced in his intelligence that he has done an honorable act for us all!

Bebo ba minister baffe enaku zino banange!