Ordinarily, new cabinets should, and always, stir excitement. This is true of Uganda as any country. But what excitement is there when all ministers do is enjoy the perks that come with the job, pick their monthly pay cheques and throw around their newly acquired airs. One must try hard to find something exciting anyways and here’s a few I could think of after many days of tasking my mind:
1. Adieu Ms Agent of Irritation: That’s the moniker a journalist working for an international news agency christened former information minister Kabakumba Masiko and his colleagues couldn’t agree more. Hopefully, her replacement, woman of letters (and words) Karooro Okurut, will be better.
2. Adieu, too, man of a past era: there can be no better description of former internal affairs minister Kirunda Kivejinja. In his heyday, this man crystallised his brilliance by authoring one of the few fine books on Uganda’s history, a Crisis of Confidence. Yet the man who lied to the public over Dr Kizza Besigye’s brutal arrest was a different one from the revolutionary.
KK’s exit, however, is tempered by the fact that many more who could have left with him were kept around. Think of perennial sleepers Henry Kajura Muganwa and Gen. Moses Ali who was appointed deputy chief whip. One must wonder how he will whip others when he is enjoying his nap.
3. Adieu Mr Quiet Engineer: Quite frankly, I’m forcing this one because, well, because there can’t only be two things in a 76-person cabinet to celebrate about. John Nasasira, the man who has been works minister for nearly the last 25 years, has finally been moved.
Last year, Nasasira scoffed at a group of people who organised an exhibition of Kampala’s potholes, wondering what they’d exhibit this year after he had filled up all the potholes.
Unluckily for him, he’s no longer works minister but the potholes are still very much around.
GK Files 