Parliament must act, not lament on the state of missions abroad
In the mid 1970s, I was serving at the Uganda Mission to the United Nations in New York when Amin ordered for the construction of Uganda House on Plot No. 336E 45th St. just across from United Nations.
The plot had been purchased around 1962/63 by Ambassador Apollo Kironde, Uganda’s first Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Kironde also purchased a townhouse on Plot 111E 70th St. just off Park Avenue as the residence for Uganda’s permanent representative.
Amin’s decision to construct Uganda House in New York, adjacent to the US Mission, did not ‘please’ the Americans, who certainly did not like to have Amin as a neighbour. As one US diplomat jokingly put it, he didn’t look forward to the prospects of Amin standing on top of Uganda House and “pissing on the US Mission’’.
When Amin was informed by Ambassador Yunis Kinene, then Permanent Representative of Uganda to the UN, that he had failed to raise a loan from any American bank (Uganda had been blacklisted following the expulsion of Asians in 1972), Amin instructed the then Governor of Bank of Uganda, Onegi Obel Sr. to send all the money we needed to put up the 14th storey-building, which he did immediately!
To cut the long story short, Uganda was one of the first African Missions to own a building in Manhattan, which incidentally was partly rented the UN. I pay tribute to Ambassador Kinene for ensuring that the project was completed in time and no money was diverted. I am sure my colleague Ambassador Acemah will corroborate this.
The Obote I and Amin eras saw the purchase of Uganda embassy buildings across the world in the “choicest locations’’, as Speaker Rebecca Kadaga put it. In London, the Uganda High Commission is located at Trafalgar Square, right at the entrance to Buckingham Palace. The High Commissioner’s residence is the upscale neighbourhood of Hampstead in North London. This latter property, was purchased in 1969 by the then High Commissioner to London, Paul Etiang.
I have for purposes of illustrations only covered two locations, ie New York and London, but Uganda purchased properties in many other capitals in the 1960s and 1970s.
Even organisations like Uganda Development Corporation, Coffee Marketing Board, Lint Marketing Board, etc, bought properties in London, Mombasa and other places abroad. It is sad that the current government has either neglected these properties or in some cases sold them off. This is the same fate which was visited on parastal bodies in Uganda which were privatised for a song, along with the extensive assets, including land and buildings.
It is incomprehensible that an enlightened regime, which was expected to improve and build on what was left by ‘less enlightened regimes’, embarked senselessly on abandoning them or ‘donating’ them to foreigners. It is worth noting that during the good old days, recruitment to the foreign service was done by Public Service Commission in an objective manner and taking into consideration the regional or ethnic diversity of the country so as to ensure that representation abroad was open to each and everyone who met the criteria required.
When it came to choosing heads of missions, care was taken to ensure that career diplomats were accorded a greater opportunity than political appointees. The situation has now changed as political appointees have almost taken over the running of embassies, many of them without any idea about the role and function of a diplomat.
A good number were rejected by their electorates and can be classified as “unemployed politicians’. Putting such people to head missions has not helped to promote Uganda’s image abroad, given the reported behaviour of quite a number of them. Such people are not in a position to improve the running of the missions either. I know, however, that not all political appointees can be painted with the same brush, since some done a commendable job.
In the past the embassies were adequately funded and received their remittances on a quarterly basis, in accordance with the approved budgets. We didn’t experience any delayed salary payment and cars, furniture and other equipment was replaced according to schedule. So instead of MPs lamenting of the deplorable state of missions abroad, Parliament should act.
Mr Naggaga is an economist, administrator and retired ambassador. [email protected].
