Prime
Bare knuckles: Makubuya, Barya: Profs with clever ways on unfamiliar turf
Prof. Makubuya finds himself in a tight spot.
Two eminent gentlemen of our city, both with recognised claims to the title of professorship, have this week made the most damning news. It is not often that you come across a professor spending lots of time dealing with a running nose caused by non-academic issues. With their vices catching up with them though, both men have been reduced to begging ‘anyone’ to save their half-naked torsos from being stripped of their shredded loincloths.
Prof. Kiddu Makubuya, the former Attorney General, and Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba, the Mukerere University Vice Chancellor, are finding themselves on the edge of a political kiln after taking to the floor to dance to political tunes.
Confidential letter?
Prof. Makubuya wrote a confidential missive to President Museveni begging for mercy over the Hassan Basajjabalaba case. Well, that was a saintly and noble act to say the least from a man of his social and political standing after realising that he had committed mistakes that cost the whole country billions of shillings. The Professor, being the former AG, has found himself at the centre of a controversial payout to businessman Basajjabalaba.
His letter to the President would have simply passed for a sinful man’s plea for mercy if it was not for a reference bordering on blackmail. He claims he could be ‘forced’ to divulge “some truths” if he finds himself placed between a rock and a hard place. By listing some government transactions which the Prof. thinks if he is forced to testify at any forum some not-so-good truths for the state would have to be spilled, he effectively says there is something more sinister that President Museveni needs to pay attention to in his own backyard rather than haunt him over a ‘mere’ Shs149 billion stolen from state coffers.
Now, it even becomes more interesting because any interested parties will go hunting for the details in these transactions that Prof. Makubuya fears could put the government on a catastrophic fall.
Maybe with hindsight Prof. Makubuya now feels he should not have written that letter in the first place since he did not anticipate that the same state he serves would leak it to the media to expose him as the man who made the mistakes that led to the loss of taxpayers’ money to yet another state conman.
Professor or beggar?
Whereas the letter now pins Prof. Makubuya by the fact that a man of his status is begging for “kindness and mercy” it portrays the President as an innocent player whose directives were mismanaged by the Makubuyas. Prof. Makubuya must now try to find a way to wrest himself out of the public mistrust he has created against himself because of his shortsightedness in asking for pardon in writing – it is a historical record.
And Prof. Baryamureeba found himself in the same situation as Makubuya. His letter to Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi found itself in the public domain. And what was he asking for? “Protection” from blood suckers. Jesus Christ! Why would Prof. Baryamureeba run to Mbabazi for protection unless of course if his pursuers, he believes, have a bundle of ‘some truths’ that could damage his carefully crafted socio-economic and more importantly academic status? A damning report is already on the table punching holes into Prof. Baryamureeba’s academic qualifications. It is a damning claim from yet another Prof., Eli Katunguka-Rwakishaja, the director of research and graduate training at Makerere University, who now says Prof. Baryamureeba may have been erroneously promoted to the academic position of professor.
Not stranger to controversy
Well, Prof. Baryamureeba is not new to controversy and like the earlier ones this could just be hot wind blowing from an ass (pun intended). But if this were hot wind, it could be the hottest that the youthful gentleman is enduring.
Lessons for any professor who might be tempted to write letters in the future, especially addressed to a politician: Lesson one, talk to the politician face-to-face; that saves you from trying to look too clever in a world you are not familiar with. Lesson two, if you insist on writing, don’t try to blackmail the addressee otherwise you run a risk of being exposed as a fake and a fickle by-spectacled old man. Lesson three; keep to your turf where you are more familiar with even if you desire to join politics, use facts and figures and not descriptions and threats.
Mr Masiga is the Managing Editor - Weekend
