By Andrew Buluba
In their so-called era of darkness, those years between 2006 and 2017, we believed Col Kizza Besigye was the sole ‘redeemer ‘ from heaven. With a mere word from his mouth, mountains would move – we believed.
But there was someone else who conducted himself in a way akin to our demigod in FDC. Salongo Erias Lukwago – the Loodi Meeya. His politics of theatrics made him a darling, especially among the hopeless class of people who needed some solace at any cost, even if it was dramatised.
This trait, Lukwago had in abundance, which I and you can bet, he didn’t get from his gentlemanly mentors in John Ssebaana Kizito, or even Paul Kawanga Ssemwogerere who were more of a gentleman than the political comics in FDC.
As the wave of desperation grew from within the opposition, gentlemen within the ranks became threatened by a dark force of blind-focused radicals who fantasised about things changing in one day. Inside Besigye’s FDC, Maj General (Rtd) Gregory (later Greg) Mugisha Muntu (Muntu-oyera) was rudely isolated and ultimately forced out of the party when he maintained a stance on mature, cultured politics of structures. That battle culminated in the birth of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT).
Norbert Mao, now Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, was another serious target for the radical crop of ragtag groups who dreamed of an orderless political space. To these, belonged Erias Lukwago, and his ‘political sister,’ Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze.
After failing to defeat rock willed Mao, they decamped, forging a marriage of convenience with Besigye and FDC. Though the former stuck around, even rising to the position of Deputy President, the latter found herself in National Unity Platform (NUP) – a party whose leader, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine, she had spent the bigger part of the previous two years demonising as being incompetent.
Now Lukwago was fully at Najjanankumbi among the top decision makers at the party that had been in existence for nearly two decades. As anyone would have guessed, trouble would court him here like it had done always. A little over one year later, his bags, along with his other allies, including godfather, Besigye were packed with stern instructions never to look back again. That has been him throughout.
As I write this now, the controversial politician finds himself at the centre of an act of grave magnitude that claimed lives, property and livelihoods: the Kiteezi landfill tragedy.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has already ruled that whoever failed to play their part should take responsibility for the losses. Ultimately, Kampala Capital Authority ( KCCA) Executive Director, Dorothy Kisaka was relieved of her duties, along with two other top Directors.
According to the President, a report by the inspectorate of government had pinned the Authority for grave criminal negligence, further instructing more investigations into the saga for further reprimand. (Read more Here).
Surprisingly, Lukwago, who believes he has mastered the art of political diversion, is once again burying his crafty head in the sand, optimistic as ever, that this saga will also pass and leave him to thrive again. Lukwago still thinks this country can never run short of people to fool. He thinks he can still commit atrocities and walk away with them by merely crying like a baby.
Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs Junior Minister Kabuye Kyofatogabye has already cried out over Lukwago’s incompetence which he says has been responsible for the rot we all see in Kampala.
But let’s not pretend he is a clueless bystander in the mess that caused the Kiteezi tragedy. His time as Lord Mayor has, after all, been nothing short of a disgrace. He’s a man who promised change but has delivered nothing but empty rhetoric and endless excuses.
Lukwago is more interested in playing the victim than in actually doing his job. His obsession with grandstanding and political theatrics has done nothing for the people of Kampala, who continue to suffer under his inept leadership.
He’s too busy parading himself as a champion of democracy at Katonga to actually care about the crumbling state of the city he’s supposed to be managing. As Minister Kyofatogabye rightly puts it, even if Lukwago were to devote only five days every month to attending to issues of where he draws a very heavy salary – Kampala – we would all see the difference. Unfortunately, he won’t.
Both Lukwago and his KCCA Council are nothing but a bunch of incompetent pretenders, more interested in their own egos than in serving the people. They are two sides of the same worthless coin, each as useless and as despicable as the other.
Kampala has become a playground for their childish antics, a stage for their grotesque display of incompetence. The city is drowning in filth, traffic is an unending nightmare, and basic services are almost nonexistent due to their endless political sabotage of government programs.
Yet these clowns are too busy hurling insults at each other and folding their sleeves in the Council to fist fight at the loss of the common people they are meant to serve, doing absolutely nothing about the bigger plight of city dwellers.
The people of Kampala deserve better than this unending parade of incompetence and buffoonery. They deserve leaders who are willing to roll up their sleeves and actually get to work, not these jokers who have turned the city into their personal circus.
The entire Council and Lukwago should do our city a favour and resign immediately, taking their absurd clown show somewhere else. Kampala is no place for their disgraceful performance; the city deserves real leaders, not these pitiful excuses for public servants.
The writer is the Assistant Resident District Commissioner Rakai District
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