Writer: Philip Matogo. PHOTO/FILE
"President Museveni has arrived in Rutare Village, Chahi Sub-county, Kisoro District, as part of his Parish Development Model (PDM) zonal tour in Kigezi Sub-region. He started his tour by visiting the farm of Angello Nsekanabo, said to be one of the beneficiaries of PDM. Mr. Museveni is accompanied by a delegation of high-ranking NRM officials, including Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa, Minister of ICT and National Guidance Chris Baryomunsi, and Mr. David Bahati, the state minister for Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, among others. Mr. Museveni will later travel to Rubanda District to commission a sub-power station,” Daily Monitor reported on Wednesday.
The President’s tour is applauded. His entourage is applaudable—if you’re ‘clapping back’ at anybody who says it is.
To be clear, what were all those people doing with the President?
Allowing for management by wandering around, we as a country cannot afford such entourages. Imagine the per diem such a high-level group commands.
It would not be out of the realm of possibility to say that their allowances (by tour’s end) will dubiously justify the Shs1.059 trillion provided for the PDM in the 2024/2025 Budget.
Then add the cost of this tour to the many others to be conducted in the name of the PDM and other developmental initiatives by the government. The delegations are likely to grow in size as 2026 draws close.
Many will want to bask in the reflected glory of the President’s electoral lustre, in hopes that they can steal some of his shine in order to provide a Promethean vision to their own constituents.
Sure, one tour—regardless of the size of its convoy—might not bankrupt the Treasury. But what will happen when the government starts hemorrhaging with plenty more tours?
A car in President Museveni's convoy is seen in Northern Uganda on January 28, 2025. PHOTO/PPU
The allowances to facilitate such tours shall be taken out of every day of the year until elections, by an undetermined number of hangers-on. This belies the ‘a penny saved is a penny earned’ cast of mind that usually guides and guards sensible official expenditure.
In the revolutionary 80s, the President would have railed against such snowballing costs. He would have lectured us on the merits of frugality.
Back then, he was youthful and seemed to always be dressed as a fashion criminal, as it were. The people, with barely any clothes on their backs, could relate to such simplicity.
Hence, we could forgive the corruption that exploded out of the starting blocks in 1986. It didn’t make the President look bad; it made him look superior. He cut the figure of a man above the fray.
He would criticise his own government, and we would conclude that the President was good. He just did not have any people.
Well, this illusion that the President was a one-man wrecking ball fed deep into our collective subconscious.
So, when he said he was the only Ugandan with a vision in the early 2000s, many of us agreed with him. After all, he carried himself with the humility of the masses.
He also excoriated—but never dropped—those in his government who couldn’t keep their fingers short.
This was classic misdirection.
“What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes,” goes the saying.
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Since the 80s, the President has always ensured that we look where he directs us to.
To make matters worse, in old age, the President carries himself even more like the common man than ever before.
So, his appeal has evolved to further direct our attention away from the small detail of Uganda’s resources being frittered away by outsized entourages—as we, regrettably, forget the wealth we use to stay poor.
The writer, Philip Matogo, is a professional copywriter
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