Uganda’s small political talk and low ranking

Bigger issues to ponder. Instead of spending endless hours discussing the drama surrounding bigwigs like Amama Mbabazi, Gilbert Bukenya, Hilary Onek and, of course, Yoweri Museveni, let’s rank our city, Kampala, visa vis the rest in East Africa.

Former Vice President Gilbert Bukenya continues to feature in the Ugandan press and attract headlines. Now he is arrested over abuse of office and corruption; now he is found not guilty and the Inspector General of Government simply and casually states that he has lost interest in the Bukenya case.

Bukenya then relishes the moment and tries to spin it off as some kind of personal and political triumph over the “mafia,” an undefined group of senior political leaders he claimed in 2005 really control Uganda.

But being the man that he is, Bukenya makes sure to somehow give President Yoweri Museveni the credit for having made this “victory” and release from jail and the court process possible.

In everything that Bukenya says and does, and has ever said and done since becoming Vice President in 2003, he had always proclaimed that all glory and honour goes to Museveni. Without Museveni, this medical doctor believes he would not be where he is. He seems to believe that he would not even be a man if it were not for the Great Leader Yoweri Museveni.

For how long shall we continue to discuss Gilbert Bukenya? How long will this spineless man continue to be a news fixture for no real reason except that he is perceived to be persecuted?
The real question, to me, is what Museveni saw in Bukenya to make him Vice President.

A Catholic Muganda?
Bukenya became who he is in the public eye because he came to the attention of Museveni. He became Vice President because he was a Roman Catholic and a Muganda.

That has been the unstated formula for becoming the nominal Vice President of Uganda since 1994 when Specioza Kazibwe succeeded Samson Kisekka: one had to be a Muganda if possible, but one had to be a Catholic for a fact.

A Muganda and Catholic, Edward Ssekandi, has been found and is now the Vice President.

The intrigue around Bukenya’s arrest and the abrupt withdrawal of charges against him by the Inspector General of Government, while making exciting political gossip and analysis, it has absolutely no bearing on Uganda’s current and future course.

Now that Bukenya has received his political pardon, what next? He can’t be appointed Vice President again, unless Museveni creates the position of First Vice President. So why does the media and the wider public obsess over Bukenya?

Kampala against other towns
Last week, I took a road trip to eastern Uganda and into the western Kenyan town of Kisumu. What was most interesting was to realise that this Kampala city that absorbs much of Uganda’s attention is not far above the level of Kisumu.

In terms of economic strength and activity, infrastructure, social life and “sophistication,” I would rank the East African towns and cities in roughly the following order: 1. Nairobi, Kenya 2. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 3. Mombasa, Kenya 4. Kampala, Uganda 5. Eldoret, Kenya 6. Zanzibar, Tanzania 7. Kisumu, Kenya 8. Kigali, Rwanda 9. Arusha, Tanzania 10. Nakuru, Kenya 11. Mwanza, Tanzania 12. Dodoma, Tanzania 13. Bujumbura, Burundi 14. Kericho, Kenya 15. Moshi, Tanzania, 16. Entebbe, Uganda 17. Bukoba, Tanzania 18. Jinja, Uganda 19. Butare, Rwanda 20. Morogoro, Tanzania.

What is most important here is the ranking of Kampala. The Nakumatt supermarket in Kisumu alone is twice as big as the main Nakumatt supermarket in Kampala. I noticed that there were newer and better cars in Kisumu than in Kampala. Nakumatt in Kisumu also has not only more goods for sale but more and better variety than Kampala.

The taxi and bus park in Kisumu is about the same standard as the parking lot at the Garden City and Game-Shoprite complexes in Kampala.

The point I’m making is that when one steps back and takes a broader look at the East African region, it is humbling that after 25 years of aid and foreign investment pouring into the Ugandan economy, a country led by men and women with advanced academic qualifications has a capital city that is at about the level of second-tier Kenyan towns like Eldoret and Kisumu.