Musaazi Namiti
To many Ugandans, ordinary and elite, Tamale Mirundi, the former presidential press secretary who died on August 14 aged 60, was a brilliant journalist, an orator, an intellectual, a fine political analyst and — as one prominent pastor said — a genius.
He was also a rich source of inspiration to people from humble backgrounds trying to overcome steep odds to build careers and attain high social positions.
Mirundi often talked about his own humble background, saying he worked as a newspaper vendor after dropping out of school, became a reporter, a newspaper editor, went to university as a mature student and, most importantly, was appointed President Museveni’s press secretary.
But those speaking glowingly of his life and work — calling him a genius and an intellectual, a term he often used to describe himself while appearing on radio and TV shows — would struggle to back up their claims with clear evidence.
Let us begin with the claim that he was a genius. A genius is someone with extraordinary intellectual or creative abilities. They display these abilities through exceptional problem-solving skills, originality and a deep understanding of complex concepts.
There is not a jot of evidence to suggest that Mirundi was a genius, even in the loose sense of the word. He tried to write books, but anyone who has read books would never call Mirundi’s publications books.
Non-fiction books are researched. They have forewords and indices. They are edited and proofread. And they have blurbs, or positive endorsements/reviews from famous individuals meant to attract potential readers. Mirundi’s ‘books’ had none of these.
Was Mirundi an intellectual? The short answer is a ringing, undeniable no. An individual society refers to as an intellectual is typically recognised for their deep engagement with ideas, critical thinking, a keen interest in facts and evidence and a commitment to lifelong learning. Mirundi often contradicted himself, and as one man commented on social media: “Tamale Mirundi will tell you they blocked him from seeing Museveni, then he will tell you he’s the one giving Museveni intelligence…After that, he will take pride in logic.”
He would appear on TV drunk; the host of the show knew he was drunk; the viewers, thousands of them, knew he was drunk.
I knew him very well and wrote about him. While he worked for decades as a newspaper journalist, the papers he edited — Lipoota and The Voice, which was bankrolled by a former Cabinet minister — were barely readable, and he was notorious for not paying journalists.
One journalist named Felix Kyeyune dragged him to court to try to recover his money. He was actually locked up, albeit briefly, and his friend and MP Betty Nambooze, in a November 2009 interview with the Observer, alluded to his hard times.
MUST READ: Tamale Mirundi personified the word mystery
To emerge from an obscure background and become the press secretary of a president seems like a great achievement. But Mr Museveni, who said nothing publicly about Mr Mirundi’s death, sometimes doesn’t select people on merit.
In two separate interviews, one in 2011 and another in 2017, John Nagenda, who was Mr Museveni’s senior adviser on media and public relations, said Mirundi was a very bad choice for presidential press secretary.
Mirundi himself used to complain about how Mr Museveni had a low opinion of his competencies. “Museveni humiliated me,” he would say. “We were in a meeting and he asked me, ‘Do you really know how to write?’” That was your genius!
Musaazi Namiti is a journalist and former Al Jazeera digital editor in charge of the Africa desk
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