Letter of the week

Jul 23, 2010

I found Kampala businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba’s actions of roughing up a journalist quite upsetting.

Shame on Basajja!
I found Kampala businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba’s actions of roughing up a journalist quite upsetting.

It is the least I ever imagined from a person of his stature in our society.

He happens to be a proprietor of a higher institution of learning in the country.

As if that is not important enough, he is the chairman of a spiritual body, the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council. On the July 17, at a meeting that intended to unite the two warring Muslim factions, Basajjabalaba found it in his capacity to trounce Ivan Kalanzi, a Radio One journalist, assaulting him.

At a time when the Muslim community need the media to inform the public of the institution’s progress in ending the mayhem between Muslims, Basajjabalaba could have hidden his anger, if there was any justification to be angry or simply denied the reporter a comment than going on record for being so nasty in broad daylight.

His actions are a shame to not only his person but also to the institutions of repute that heads in the country.

Talk of civility eluding some individuals in this 21st Century! His actions call for Police intervention in order to deter similar actions on journalists since it has now been proved that even some members known to be of sound mind in this land can behave otherwise. Shame on Basajjabalaba! I say shame a second time!

Allan Ssempebwa Kyobe
Makerere University
allanssempebwa@yahoo.com

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});