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Is Nabbanja now the dean of NRM’s new historicals?

Author: Mr Nobert Mao. PHOTO/FILE 

What you need to know:

  • She decided to become assertive. Indeed, she has secured her position as first among equals. 

Even the demise of celebrated Bank of Uganda boss Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile has not deterred Ugandans from endlessly talking about Prime Minister (PM) Robinah Nabbanja’s one woman show on NBS TV’s Barometer last week. Sections of the media have cast the PM as a bumbling comic figure but methinks there is a method to the madness.

As usual the debate was not about any substance but rather about the gaffes an faux pas. Top was Nabbanja’s statement comparing Uganda’s great weather to Kenya which she said has to endure winter. But that was not all. The PM also told us that 2021 marked the end of President Museveni’s long reign. “Museveni has retired. 2021 is the first term of Tibuhaburwa,” the PM said without batting an eyelid. The message was clear: the person who took the oath in 2021 is Tibuhaburwa and he has just began his first term!

When I saw the promotional flyers of the programme I decided to clear the decks and watch the entire show. NBS cleared the stage of the usual panellists of the popular show to make way for the PM to address the nation on the eve of the 36th anniversary of the NRM. And she did not disappoint. Like Forest Gump, she put her case without any pretence. The host Zambaale Blasio Mukasa pushed back hard against some of her outrageous statements but she fought bravely, mixing facts with fallacies.

Asked why NRM does not want to present another candidate for the top office, she said: “Due to Museveni’s experience, we cannot waste time looking for someone without experience.” She then threw the gauntlet: “We don’t choose candidates for other parties, why do they want to choose a candidate for us?” 

How do you answer that without explaining that the candidate we are talking about said he would not cling to power! How do you even explain that in the NRM internal processes rival candidates for the presidential nominations have faced insurmountable obstacles by those who promote Museveni’s sole candidature? Even the righteous indignation of some of the “historicals” has not persuaded the NRM to abandon its obsession with its leader’s sole candidature.

Given the many jokes that the PM’s words and deeds have generated, I took the opportunity to watch the entire show. I tried to ignore the plumage and seek the flesh in her presentation. She was her usual pugnacious self-albeit with more decorum because her only sparring partner was the talk show host. The story would have been different if the provocative panellists were there to taunt and contradict her.

NBS TV gave her a free kick from the goal area and even removed the goalkeeper. Still she missed some shots. I was taken aback when she said Chinese leader Mao Zedong ruled China for 50 years! How could a man whose party assumed power in 1949 and who died in 1976 have ruled for 50 years?

She did not miss the opportunity to praise herself too. She said the government is doing well because it has “strong people like Nabbanja.” I think the exterior buffoonery is contrived. In reality the PM is no fool. I believe that in this era of outrageous forces pushing back against the government she has come to be a counterforce with her own brand of outrageousness. The forces she and her party are contending with are utterly shameless and so she has decided to adopt the same posture. Remember the day she asked Kira municipality MP Ssemujju Nganda whether there’s anything he wants from her “personally”? The innuendo was devastating!

She came in with a lot of drama and hit the ground running. Knowing the inbuilt bias against women and the likely pressures from the so-called intellectuals in government, she decided to become assertive. Indeed, she has secured her position as “primus inter pares” (first among equals) for that is what a Prime Minister ought to be. In her unscripted way, she is now the poster child of the so-called new historicals who will not let anything stand in the way of their party’s despotic ambitions.