Peace and stability: When will I ever bump into Museveni on Kampala Road?
Author: Gawaya Tegulle. PHOTO/NMG
What you need to know:
- When there is peace, the chief of the village doesn’t move around with a shield.
Folks, I readily concede from the onset that my eyesight is no longer what it used to be – things are so bad, I even use specs. Nothing cool or romantic about wearing specs; I hate them…but do I have a choice? I also concede I ain’t no jogger: that discipline still eludes me.
The other day I checked out a small video of baba wa taifa (father of the nation) President Museveni jogging about and doing press-ups in his office. Again, I concede: His Excellency is very fit! But part of me just wondered why the cameras didn’t find him working out in the open – on some lawn, or golf course. And while I was still at it, it again struck me that even though I have walked the streets of Kampala for three decades now, never once did I bump into the President walking about!
Other countries always have pictures of their leaders in public spaces, usually off-duty indulgences like buying ice cream, going a-shopping or doing a coffee…no guns on show. Why is it that I have not for all these years, bumped into baba wa taifa at random? Where does he spend his free time? Why can’t the most popular man in this country mix with the people who have consistently elected him every five years since 1996? Why is he so anti-people? Why can’t he jog along the Northern Bypass or the Entebbe Expressway?
I know he doesn’t play golf, but why can’t he at least do his morning jogs on the Kampala or Entebbe golf courses? But then again, my eyesight is bad; it is possible I didn’t see him whenever we bypassed each other along Kampala Road. And since I don’t jog – how do I expect to meet him a-jogging? Quite silly, amn’t I?
And then the entire Military Police comes out, armed for war, whenever Opposition leader Kizza Besigye walks to Owino Market in downtown Kampala to have lunch with ordinary people. There is a better way to handle that. Instead of causing mayhem with tear gas and bullets, the President can counter such populist moves by walking down the hill himself and taking millet porridge in the Old Taxi Park or Usafi Market. That would easily make Dr Besigye irrelevant.
I do agree with the President that he alone is responsible for the amazing peace and stability that Uganda has enjoyed since he came in. So why don’t I see him partaking of it? Why is it that whenever he is somewhere, half the capital city must be shut down until his function is over?
Why is it that for him to go anywhere, he can only do so in a convoy a mile long, and with soldiers sufficient to wage war for a year without reinforcement? After all, when there is peace, the chief of the village doesn’t move around with a shield!
Still, as a man of bad eyesight, I concede, it is possible I am not seeing aright, pitiful soul that I be! Is there an optician in this town that could give me a check-up…and better specs too? I mean, it is possible that some of you may actually be bumping into His Excellency from time to time, walking along Kampala Road, or Baskerville Avenue Kololo, or Prince Charles Drive, or something like that.
But if I am seeing correctly (very unlikely!!) then this column hereby invites and strongly encourages the President to feel safe in his own country and show that he is the one of the beneficiaries of the peace and stability he ushered in.
Baba wa taifa, you are the main man here; Uganda is your compound. Let nobody limit you! Walk around freely. Take an early morning jog around the city, then take a bath, have breakfast and go to office: does wonders to your health! Ditch the convoy and drive yourself and Mama Janet to Café Javas – I am sure Bwana Omar Mandela can organise a suitable porridge whenever you turn up.
Dr Besigye doesn’t own Owino Market: go there and grab a bite – I usually do millet, with fish in groundnut sauce - with the common folks. Kajiunge nami, tafadhali! Baba wa taifa, don’t behave like you are in jail; a prisoner in your own country.
Gawaya Tegulle is an advocate of the High Court of Uganda
