National Vice Chairman NRM for Eastern Uganda Mike Mukula thought he was starting a fire against Pilgrim Africa, an NGO for which his current political rival Calvin Echodu was a top administrator.
Instead, he seemed to be burning himself — as one who lives in a glass house but chooses to throw stones — as the court of public opinion sitting on microblogging site X, formerly Twitter, openly told him he had no moral authority to talk about corruption, let alone allegations that Pilgrim Africa has dismissed as baseless.
When he went on X to spread corruption allegations against Pilgrim Africa, he expected people to believe him. But Ugandans were quick to respond, and they didn’t hold back. What he got was not support, but serious backlash that might have left him coiling in his chair with shame.
His social media and communication assistants seemed to have had a very bad day in office as the campaign for the NRM Vice Chairperson for Eastern Uganda gets heated.
Almost immediately after Mukula posted the tweet, Ugandans began calling him out, blasting him for trying to tarnish the name of an organization that has helped so many people.
One user tweeted: “It’s shameful that you are sharing and posting this.”
Another said: “You have no audacity to talk about Pilgrim Africa. You’re the most corrupt and even once jailed.”
Ouch.”
The internet seemed to come for him hard. Some people couldn’t believe that Mike Mukula, someone who has a history of corruption scandals, had the nerve to accuse a respected NGO of wrongdoing. It was like the pot calling the kettle black.
Ugandans pointed out Mukula’s past, reminding him and everyone else that he was once jailed over corruption.
Over a decade ago, Chief Magistrate Irene Akankwasa convicted and sentenced Capt Mike Mukula, then Soroti Municipality MP and former junior minister in charge of health, to four years in prison for embezzling Shs210m million from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI).
But Mukula appealed his conviction and sentence in the Anti-Corruption Court.
Others people questioned the timing of the allegations. Why is Mukula suddenly attacking Pilgrim Africa now?
One comment said: “Why is it coming out now?”
Another replied: “This is simply a power fight.”
It seemed to become clear to many that the allegations may not necessarily be about justice or truth, but rather about politics — dirty politics — and that Mukula could be simply trying to damage Pilgrim Africa’s image (maybe because he feels threatened by the good work the organization is doing).
Instead of turning people against Pilgrim Africa, some concluded, Mukula became the laughing stock of Twitter., especially as some people started posting memes and sharing links, reminding him of his past scandals.
Some even pointed that Pilgrim Africa has saved more lives than Mukula has told the truth. Others said he should be doing something useful with his time, like exercising instead of attacking people doing real work. The online crowd seemed to make it clear that they trust Pilgrim Africa more than they trust Mukula.
Pilgrim Africa says it will continue to support communities across Uganda in ways such as fighting malaria, supporting schools, and helping farmers so as to change lives.
You can read Pilgrim Africa’s response on the allegations by the Mike Mukula camp Here.
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