With today's political circus, be careful the name you give your child

Hind sight and reflection gives one the greatest chance of reducing mistakes.

Of course I am mature enough to know that this is not everyone’s cup of tea and certainly many think that it is but a luxury of they that went to a specific school.

Having spent some time as part of the broadcast from Mbale where there was a constitutional petition and now with the benefit of hindsight I think I have something to say.

Whatever the decision of the honourable judges of the Constitutional Court there is going to be names made and names destroyed by the Mbale constitutional case.

This is not a small matter and here is why.

You will not hear of anyone called Judas Iscariot and there is a reason why. I want to suggest that some individual all those years ago just made it so easy for that combination of names to be abhorrent to they that choose names for band new human beings.

Names can die and names can be resurrected. In the early days of Yoweri Museveni the naming of Yoweri and Museveni was very common practice as more than a few flirted with the new occupant of the State House.

I am not sure how many children born post 1979 have been named Amin in Uganda.

Suffice to say that as a public servant it helps if one checked how many children have been named after a name they carry during their days in public office.

This is important as a rudimentary means of discovering how your service has been perceived by the populace…Now a few ago I found and met a young man in a public office who claimed to be a huge fan of my work. I asked for his name as is always the case when I meet these kinds of people.

He said he was something Muhwezi.

So I asked if there was any relationship between himself and the former super minister.

His response informed the decision to this. The young man engaged me for some good time vehemently and passionately explaining to me that that connection was not only absent, but that he wishes he could excuse himself from that choice of name from they that chose to name him so…It has to be stated that the  name Muhwezi is a very good name with fantastic allusions and nuances of vision and sight.

The question is: why was this young man so keen to distance himself from a name with such a rich and powerful semantic rage?

Remember my question to him was innocent after all.

I just wanted to know if any relations were in existence between himself and you know who. We all do this when we hear a name that is similar to one we know.

After all, the brain picks and retains information by connecting it to some it already has. Is it not the case? I mean I was at a public function I emceed at Makerere University and the president asked if I was the son of his daughter Jane Kasumba…I cannot not say he had any sinister motive in the question really.

So could this mean then that to some and in this case this young man the name Muhwezi has been tainted and destroyed by the action of some?

Does having this name leave one with apologies for the rest of their young life? In a related development the name Mabirizi I am told recently received a welcome spell of redemption in Mbale given the performance of that young law student, Male Mabirizi that refused to take the post graduate diploma. Another Mabirizi (Elton) had become a butt of jokes when he contested for the presidency in 2016.

I think he used his volitional instincts very well on that one. He removed the box in many ways leaving us think better and sharper about court representation. I like such people by the way let me be on record on that.

Back to where I was on names dying and resurrecting. Do you know how many Obama this and Obama that there are all over the world ever since Barack became the first black man inside the oval office?

Well he really resurrected that name. I am sure you are not going to see so many Trump this and Trump that names for very obvious reasons and Donald has made this week made that a very easy choice.

There was a time you just could not name your child Nasur or Mukajanga…

All that said and done the honorable justices of the Supreme Court are in the line of fire.

They could either make it easy for new babies to be called Alfonse Owiny-Dollo, Remmy Kasule, Kenneth Kakuru, Elizabeth Musoke and a few more.

I am sure you don’t want me to go looking for a child called Steven...something.

This is why we must be very careful with what we do because in the very end we can save or kill names we carry…

I am really bothered by the fact that I am never close to too many Samsons every place I have been.

I do not know why this name in never a common occurrence not at least as common as a Peter or a John…Perhaps the Biblical character associated to Delilah did not cover it in very good light after all.

I can tell you for sure that after their verdict whenever that comes round names will be killed and names will be saved.

Mine is always to watch, reflect, synthaze and write. That after all is the work of critical thought.

Before long I hope I will not come back here to say I told you the reader so…