The stink of self-serving privilege

Privilege comes with responsibility- ‘to whom much is given, much is required’. What then should we do with our privilege?  The answers lay in the collective antipathy towards the news about the appointment of two children of Uganda’s eternal Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sam Kutesa, as honorary consuls. Now, calm your disgust, Kutesa did not appoint his children neither did his employer. It might have been ‘saala zamwe’.  

Now imagine the dinner table at the Kutesas’. There are the honorary consuls, there is the incoming MP Shartsi Kutesa ascending to the MP seat formerly held by her father. Also at the table is Kutesa’s son-in-law, Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the First Son and Commander of the elite Special Forces Command. At the head of the table is the doyen of our foreign affairs himself. As mouthwatering dishes pass amongst them, their faces blur- you see privilege serving itself.  

Privilege shaking hands with itself, congratulating itself on collecting more privileges. If this scenario is unsettling, it might be that you are the petty jealous type or the sight of privilege upon privilege stinks. It is the original ‘kuwunya’. Why? The dark side of privilege is inequality.  We secretly hope Kutesa will adopt us so we too could ascend to dizzying heights of stinking privilege. 

On April 1, the former Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga who has been in Parliament since 1989, tweeted that she had “directed” the Public Service minister to moot a comprehensive law on emoluments of Uganda’s former leaders including Speakers. She argued, “We should not depend on ex-gratia payments as is currently the case. People who served this country deserve better”. Turns out being one of the longest serving, highest paid public servants and former number three in the country’s political hierarchy is not quite ‘better’ enough.  Kadaga has dropped a few choice revelations in her campaign for the Speakership- even wondering if those who wanted her to leave  Parliament for the Vice Presidency see as she does.

 In a  March 29 Daily Monitor article,  Kadaga scoffed, “Being a Vice President, you deputise another person. Here, I head an arm of government. That is the difference.” Meanwhile, our Constitution insists in spite of our violent political history and role of the military in that history, that the vice president is a powerful position in our political hierarchy. Having been at the helm of the corridors of power nationally and within the ruling party for decades now, Kadaga’s longevity in such a position of power blinded her. Her privilege now existed to extend her privilege.  Where Bush War historicals remind us lesser mortals whom they fought for, that they fought for this peace we now use to question them, Kadaga reminded us that it was she at the helm of Parliament when Parliament sunk us by removing the presidential age limit.

In June 2020, Mordercai Msiska, a veteran Malawian lawyer turned down a most cushy job from then newly elected Malawian president, Lazarus Chakwera. Msiska turned down the position of minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs deeming it inappropriate given that he had been Chakwera’s lead counsel in the historic election case, which overturned the incumbent’s victory, paving the way for Chakwera’s presidential victory. Thus, he argued that the position would appear to be a reward from the president for his work on the election case. Msiska remarked, “I am convinced that there are many younger lawyers who have skills to serve the country better than I could in that position at my age. My presence in Cabinet would have been a continuous distraction to the President’s agenda for the country”. 

Msiska demonstrated his self-awareness of his privilege and therefore his sensitivity to ensuring that others below him also get a piece of the pie. Privilege, if applied appropriately, keeps the holder smelling sweetly. 
A long dead English poet, Matthew Arnold quipped, “Our inequality materializes our upper class, vulgarizes our middle class, brutalizes our lower class.”
  Olivia nalubwama,            [email protected]