Uganda's Ministers Are just Farcical!

The Farcicals are at it again. I call them The Farcicals because often they are ridiculous, silly, nonsensical and incompetent. And The Farcical’s that I refer to, are Members of Parliament and some cabinet ministers. Read on.

Sunday Vision (January 31 2010) ran a story under the headline: ‘Ministers humiliated’ and the story ran along this text – “...the agricultural minister Hope Mwesigye and the state minister for tourism and trade, Serapio Rukundo were humiliated when they were not recognised at the burial of the LC4 councillor, Agnes Rwaheru in Kabale Municipality a few weeks ago.”

Am I on the wrong page here? Have I lost the plot? Can the real slim shady please stand up and tell me exactly where it says that ministers should be recognised at funerals? Minsters and MPs love being recognised. They relish in it and given the chance, if they attended a nursery school end-of-year party, they would most likely want the 3-year-old head-of-class to pick up the microphone and recognise them. If not, when they get home, they probably ask their wives to recognise them at the front door and most probably when they climb into bed as well!

When a minister or cabinet minister turns up at a funeral, they are no different from the other mourners – say the villager with jiggers, the herdsman or the local drunkard and therefore don’t need to be recognised. If an exception is to be made, I would think it would be if the minister or MP is representing the government.

What is even more embarrassing is that when contacted after the funeral, Rukundo had this to say: “..it was unfortunate that the mourners humiliated us” adding that he attended the burial as “a resident.” If he was a resident, then why did he want to be recognised? Surely as a resident everybody already knew who he was. Had all the other residents been recognised apart from him and that is why he threw his toys out of the pram?

This whole recognition hullaballoo is further pushed forward by Mc-ees who at functions continually persist in giving MPs and cabinet ministers undue attention. Take this example: While attending a wedding a few years ago, MC-ee tailored the reception to suit an MP who shall remain nameless. There was so much attention heaped on MP that one had to ask, whose function it was – MPs or the couple who had just gotten married. After being recognised on more than one occasion and right up to the point of the cake cutting, MP did not see it fit to tell Mc-ee that he (MP) was just a mere guest and that he (Mc-ee) should concentrate his attention on the bride and groom.

Rather, MP lapped up all the attention, and worse, after the speeches were done by both sides he had the audacity to ask Mc-ee for the microphone so that he too could give a speech even though he knew he was not scheduled to speak. Speeches were strictly reserved for the parents of the bride and groom. And his speech? A rambling utterance about his campaign strategy for the 2011 elections!

Rukondo, Mwesigye and any other MP or cabinet minister who revels in the recognition thing, should note that come 2011 and the election the results are out, many of them will no longer be recognised by we, the electorate and by state House. If anything, they should take the recognition chill pill as soon as possible and be easy and laid back like we unrecognised wanainchi are.