DR. SPIRE SSENTONGO: How speaker Among messed herself
Why the Speaker threw her suspicious bones in the doorway will baffle any amateur psychologist. Maybe it was her way of trying to show that the eaten animal had not been stolen. But, with such a heap of bones?
Of course the most concerning of issues around the Speaker should be about her use of public resources and her office (powers). It being a public office, and a representative one, it’s use means a lot to the national image.
That said, perhaps innocently or out of excitement, the Speaker has been rather naive in public exhibition of herself. Even if her massive wealth has been acquired through dubious means, several other government officials have dubiously amassed wealth much longer and perhaps more than her (not to justify it at all).
Did she ever wonder why they don’t come out to splash it before cameras the way she does? Who even knows how Museveni’s houses look like? Not even the Rwakitura house where he has been meeting people for over 37 years! Who knows his properties, apart from the Ankore cows, which are not so out of ordinary wealth for a President of decades? Who knows any posh private car of his?
Does this mean he hasn’t accumulated? Who has seen Saleh, Kuteesa, Muhoozi, Janet, Amama, Rugunda, Otafiire’s assets in cameras? Don’t they have a lot? Have they ever publicly launched any massive property of theirs? Why haven’t they?
Any wise politician would have asked themselves these questions before displaying and launching their own, especially in a largely poor country. It was naive of the Speaker, within such a short time in office, to be giving out a posh Range Rover gift as a birthday present, launching a palatial home as a national occasion, launching a teaching hospital, etc.
First of all, it attracts suspicion on the source of money and motives. Even if you say she had money before becoming Speaker, why do the mega launches come now and not before? What can be reasonably compared of before and after? As the Banyankore say in proverb, why is it that when my grandmother (sheep) disappears is when your dog passes stool with grey hair (fur)?
Second, in a poor country like Uganda, you attract envy. When people are struggling with basics, and their ‘leader’ is launching one huge personal property over another, buying state of the art car fleets with customised number-plates, donning very expensive outfits, you don’t expect them to celebrate with you. It shouldn’t surprise you when they become angry. This is very basic social psychology, bordering on common sense.
That’s why Museveni will wear his ordinary-looking white shirts and indistinct trousers. He easily fits in, save for the motorcade occasioned by paranoia and patronage. Saleh’s clothes need no introduction, same with MK. I don’t think these are totally accidental or natural lifestyles. They are conscious political facades, efforts to deceptively appear to be common folk. Why the Speaker chose to make a show of her wealth is hard to understand of a politician in Uganda.
Baganda say ‘akatali kabbe, bwolya amagumba osuula mu mulyango’. Meaning, if you did not steal the animal, after eating, you throw the bones in the doorway. Why the Speaker threw her suspicious bones in the doorway will baffle any amateur psychologist. Maybe it was her way of trying to show that the eaten animal had not been stolen. But, with such a heap of bones?
