New Cabinet: We receive what we give
Isharaza Avelino
The media has been awash with fears, anxieties, hopes and frustrations in regard to the new Cabinet. Is this the winning team we can trust?
We should ask ourselves, what premised his mind to give us who he gave us. Who is your area Member of Parliament, and if he or she were chosen as Minister, what would be the reaction of the public to their appointment?
Ninety per cent of the President’s choices came from the pool of what we as a people sent him as our perfect choices. We should, therefore, settle down with what we sent him rather than what he has given us. My particular attention is on the choice of the Prime Minister. As a gender advocate, I was excited about the appointment of the first ever female Prime Minister. Considering that our Executive, Judiciary and Legislature are led by men, I honestly feel we needed both a female vice president and not only a female prime minister, but a hugely female-dominated Prime Ministry.
As I was still celebrating, I learned of something called “ The elite constitution of Uganda”; It specifies by its articles and codes who qualifies to be in particularly the Prime Ministry seat, who they must be, which schools they must have attended and to what level, what English accent they must have, of what parentage they ought to be, their experience in dockets of a similar calibre, most importantly their demeanor and appearance. It’s on these grounds that these elitists and their constitution found the Right Honorable Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja unworthy to occupy the seat the fountain of honour found her merit worthy. No wonder, the appointing authority had to get back to them and remind them that this time round, he was toeing Jesus’ path by choosing “Fishers of men”.
For starters, the Prime Minister is a product of a district parliamentary election; we always have two to four constituencies in a district, therefore, if it’s hard to win a constituency MP seat, it must be thrice harder to win a district one. She has done it not once, not twice but thrice.
Let’s not belittle the entire Kakumiro District that chose her as their voice.
In terms of the general Ugandan constituency, I feel we have a greater sense of belonging in her occupation of that office than in the sophistication that our elitist people wish to have. Reading through her CV: former school head girl, an LC 5 councilor, an RDC, Member Parliament, Commissioner of Parliament and lately State Minister, it’s a typical motivation to a Ugandan girl child held back by the knuckles of poverty, low self-esteem with barely any space for self-expression in male dominated spaces. When she is told ‘you can make it’, there is someone to look up to this time.
Eighty per cent of Ugandan schools are similar to those that Ms Nabbanja attended. I am talking about our ordinary primary schools which are more than 17 kilometers away and where our male chauvinistic society gives priority to the boy child because that’s what the resource envelope can allocate at the house hold level. The girl child is only looked at in terms of how much bride wealth she can fetch to supplement the meagre resource envelope to help the boy child carry on the pursuit for their aspirations. When the girl child muddles through this experience to get to where she has reached, I think as society, we ought to give her a pat on her shoulder rather than belittle, demonise and make her feel it’s way above her aspirations.
In one of the political talk shows, one honourable Member of Parliament insinuated that her key strength was her naivety. This is ridiculous.
We could have our elitist constitution, but what have been the fruits from those that met our standards?
Ms Nabbanja needs our support, our backing just as any other first timer. Let’s give hope to our lower class citizens and not make leadership a reserve for the noble and those of wealthy upbringing.
Ms Nabbanja will shine and pessimists and nay sayers shall have a tale to tell of “the stone rejected by the builders that might be the corner stone of building by 2026”.
Isharaza Avelino
