Prime
Panic as ‘professor’ attacks Kasaija at media centre
Finance Minister Matia Kasaijja responds to questions from journalists at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala on May 10, 2022. PHOTO/STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
- By press time, the 'professor' was still being held at the media centre as they waited for security officials to decide his fate.
- On Tuesday, a male legislator also confronted the minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Monica Musenero, as she addressed journalists at Parliament.
The security of Finance Minister Matia Kasaija was yesterday put to test when a stranger emerged from the crowd and attempted to snatch a microphone from him.
The minister, who has of late been under pressure on account of government’s failure to intervene in rising commodity prices, was briefing journalists about this year’s National Budget month celebrations at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala.
The attempted attack on the minister, however, had nothing to do with the current public anger over the rising commodity prices in the country.
Mr Vincent Nawagaba, 40, whose credentials on his National Identity card indicate that he hails from Kamabere Village, Kigarama Parish in Mitooma District in Western Uganda, stormed the podium where the minister was standing and asked: “What are you talking about? What is a budget? I’m a professor.”
The perplexed minister then requested him to sit down as journalists and officials from the Finance ministry, Uganda Revenue Authority, African Development Bank and the civil society, and the director of Uganda Media Centre Ofwono Opondo looked on in shock.
“Be civil, sit down, please,” the minister pleaded with Mr Nuwagaba, who preferred to be called professor.
As a security officer and some staff at the centre came in to rescue the minister from the stranger, he said he couldn’t sit down, claiming he was superior to the minister.
In response, the visibly shocked minister said: “Forgive him, for sure, you are superior. Don’t worry, professor.”
Mr Nawagaba was then taken away and the minister continued briefing journalists about the Budget for Financial Year 2022/2023, the state of the economy, the fate of scientists, among other pertinent issues affecting the country.
By press time, Mr Nuwagaba was still being held at the media centre as they waited for security officials to decide his fate.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one of the police officers manning security at the centre, said Mr Nuwagaba arrived at the place when the minister was addressing the journalists and he was asked to register, thinking he was also a journalist.
“I thought he was a journalist but when he was registering, he filled in the column for media houses that he was from Makerere,” she said.
A staff from the centre reminded the security officers to screen all visitors for security purposes.
Previous incidents
In 2013, a Tororo-based businessman sneaked through the tight security to reach President Museveni.
During Uganda’s 40th independence celebrations at Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala, a man dressed in tattered dirty clothes and slippers also attempted to beat tight security to give a letter to then visiting Nigeria President Olusegun Obasanjo.
