Opinion: Patriotism is the true ideology of NRM

Emmanuel Lumala Dombo

Until recently, many thought that the position of prime minister belonged to the Banyakigezi, given the two former prime ministers of Uganda.

Being a political appointment, there could have been sufficient reason at a particular time that warranted that to happen and that even enabled some people to begin imagining that after all, that office should have belonged to that region!

But the recent appointment of Rt Hon Robinah Nabbanja as premier has since changed that belief from many Ugandans! I am very proud to note that among the previous occupants of that office, that none of them descended that low but all of them knew and preached unity and the call of duty!

They were all men of honour who in their meritorious right earned the trust of the appointing authority.

During the funeral of the former governor of Bank of Uganda, the late Prof Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, the chairperson of LCV being a local leader he was, wanted the locals to hear him loud and clear that he cares about them and he therefore felt it his traditional duty to ask for more positions for the Banyakigezi, including that of Governor BOU.

Remotely, he may have quickly forgotten the accolades that had been showered to the meritorious hero for the patriotic job Prof Mutebile had done in service of nation and quickly descended into imagining that he did so because he was a Mukiga Kashushu!

He couldn't even remember that perhaps that wasn't any of the considerations the appointing authority had to keep him in that office for that long!

I have have known the Bakiga for being brutally frank, a value that was repeatedly alluded to as one of the reasons that enabled Emmanuel Mutebile to balance the boat for that long!

But if that frankness is construed to include begin saying anything like claiming an office as an ethnic right, then it may in the long run weaken the hitherto known fact that after all, Bakiga are very hardworking people who deserve the offices they occupy.

If the president can identify another Mukiga who is very good in economics and financial matters, perhaps even better than what Prof Mutebile was and qualifies for that job, let him be appointed on meritorious grounds other than the ethnic right imputed by the local leader.

It is the patriotic duty of every Ugandan to preach love for country and appointment for jobs on merit! This is how Prof Emmanuel Mutebile ascended to that iconic office and built his Legacy!

The author is the director of information, NRM Secretariat.