Is the ‘Mahogany’ finally felled?

As Prof. Gilbert Bukenya embarked on that dreaded journey to the Luzira Maximum Security Prison yesterday, the weight of the tree he famously once used to equate his political stature, mahogany, appeared to have fallen.

But his incarceration, following revocation of his bail after his corruption case was committed to the High Court, quickly moved to polarise debate over the treatment of high profile politicians who find themselves on the wrong side of the law, and whether the curtains had finally closed on the political career of a man who had a meteoric rise to the top of the political tree.

Political pundits and lawyers have offered differing opinion on the predicament that Prof. Bukenya, who was only until May Uganda’s vice president-and longest serving, finds himself in today.

“He wasn’t smart enough to have seen this coming, especially after priding himself as mahogany. But I feel sympathetic because Luzira isn’t a good place for anyone to live especially a politician like him because once you’re in there, your risk increases,” said Aswa MP Reagan Okumu, a onetime ‘resident’ at the prison. “You can even be poisoned. Anything can happen in there.”

The opposition Uganda Peoples Congress said it was “happy” that the ex-VP “has finally stated receiving his due dose of justice.”
The party’s spokesperson, Mr Moses Nuwagaba, who expressed concern, however, said “that the same government that is gearing for Bukenya’s prosecution is at the same time harbouring thieves all through its vertical ranks.”

Of all the high profile politicians accused of fiddling with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) billions, Prof. Bukenya remains the only one charged in court, a reality that has left Prof. Fredrick Ssempebwa stating: “To me it looks very selective.”

“But that doesn’t mean that if you have a case to answer you don’t answer it because others who have been implicated have not been charged,” he added. Mr Tamale Mirundi, the president’s press secretary who had a very public spat with Prof. Bukenya, accusing him of using President Museveni as a shield at the height of a parliamentary inquiry, argued that the ex-VP was being made a martyr.

“The public believes that for the IGG to separate Bukenya is making him a martyr,” he said, noting that the Cabinet ministers, both past and present, named in the Chogm scandal “are inseparable.” “Why do you go to a cleaning crusade if you are not a sinner?” he said of their investigation by the 8th Parliament and eventual exoneration.

“Unconstitutional’
City lawyer Laudislaus Rwakafuzi argued it was “unconstitutional” to revoke bail granted to an individual who has not failed to meet any of its conditions simply because the case has been committed to a higher court. He added, however: “This law has always been there. When they apply to ordinary people, nobody raises a finger but when it applies to the likes of Bukenya, then we see how unjust it is. It has always been unjust.”

As Prof. Bukenya spends the first of what may be many nights and days in jail-at least until his lawyers file a fresh bail application at the High Court, it will not be lost on him that politics by its very nature is a game of gains and losses. But the big question that remains is just how much this incarceration is going to cost him. “He is officially isolated,” said Mr Okumu. “If I were him, I would cause a political earthquake.”

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Who is Bukenya?

May 23 must be a day of bitter sweet memories for Prof. Gilbert Bukenya. This is the day that marked his meteoric rise to the top of the political tree, following his appointment as Vice President in 2003. But quite ironically, on this very day eight years later, he was dropped from the position by President Museveni.

Born on May 8, 1949 in the village of Lwantama in Kakiri Sub-county in Wakiso District, Prof. Bukenya shedded the pitfalls of growing up from a poor background to distinguish himself as a scholar and physician, having joined Makerere University’s medical school in 1971, and obtaining a master’s of science degree from the UK and a Doctor of Philosophy from Australia.
His entry into politics came in 1996, following his election to Parliament as Busiro North MP, taking on roles such as chair of the ruling NRM’s parliamentary caucus. It is here that Prof. Bukenya’s mobilisation skills were first attested to, with many crediting him for defusing tensions between President Museveni and other ruling party historical members. Mr Museveni would soon reward him with appointment to Cabinet as State Minister for Trade, elevating him to Minister of Presidency, before the penultimate posting of Vice President in 2003.

Many remember him for his knack of adopting President Museveni’s mannerisms and gesticulations, but it is his 2005 interview with this newspaper claiming that government was being controlled by a powerful mafia plotting his downfall, that would leave a lasting impression.

Prof. Bukenya disowned the comments, in what has now characterised his political play, many times saying one thing and meaning the other, especially when he felt cornered, trapped or threatened. Recently, the former Vice President claimed he was quitting active politics, only to backtrack days later and say he was not. Prof. Bukenya has variously fallen back on his Buganda roots, retreated into the arms of the Catholic Church and manipulated the media every time he has fallen into a political trap with his foes in government.

Those two powerful constituencies have tended to prevail upon the highest authority in the land in withdrawing to make certain moves against him, including several attempts to sack him. But the curtains came falling in May after Mr Museveni dropped him amid speculation that Bukenya had always harboured intentions to succeed him.

By: Emmanuel Gyezaho