One Man's Week By John Nagenda

Besigye Free To Go To Court I wish we forgot the past and united in working for the future. But the leader of the losers is keen to put his case that he was robbed MANY, perhaps most, people you meet, post-elections, demand, "Since the elections are over and done with, the result known and generally accepted, why don't we forget the past and unite in working for the future?" I wish! The problem is that the leader of the losers, Dr Kizza Besigye, is very keen to go to court and put his case that he was robbed. He and his people have every right so to do. If the judiciary thinks they have a case, they will get their day in court. Nobody thinks justice will come cheap; especially here where the margin of the Museveni victory was so overwhelming. But so be it. Nothing has so become the other losers as the manner in which they conceded. Uganda says hurrah to them. What's more, news has it that they are back at their business posts. But then, in their cases, they do have posts to go back to! As for Besigye, he was last reported as saying in Wednesday's Vision that he can "sneak out of the country" anytime without Military Intelligence allowing him. It seems more likely that MI might let him go after they have interviewed him, than that he could just sneak out. We shall see. The reason why they wanted to interview him was that he, and some of his followers, had talked about violence if Museveni won, and this had indeed come to pass, with many killed and maimed. Was it mere coincidence? Would any proper government on earth not try to establish the true facts? Of course there was a bizarre twist to this when the notorious BBC stringer, Ms Borzello, said that "a senior military officer" had confided in her that the true reason for stopping Besigye from travelling was that he was only going to South Africa to meet Kagame of Rwanda. [Some have alleged that Rwanda bankrolled Besigye in his presidential ambitions.] If indeed there exist military officers, senior or junior, who consider it worthwhile to confide in this woman, the army should pay to have their heads examined. The same Wednesday Vision published a so-called report on the presidential campaign in Rukungiri which left me aghast, especially, but not only, at its timing. Many nameless Besigye witnesses were given space to air their grievances at length without putting this in context. The titles were absurd, based on this unproven evidence: "Voting for others was rampant"; Proven? "…a teacher voted more than 10 times"; Proven? "Mystery clouds Kakoni polls"; What mystery? The mystery is that this kind of journalistic slop was allowed! "…with …polling officers…in Kabungu a sweeper replaced a graduate"; So? What about "one man one vote"? "Cloud of evil covered Kakoni polls". "Evil"! You can read the rubbish for yourself (21 March), where you will encounter such gems as "Museveni's votes were hidden in the magazine of the gun." And this from our own paper! It is one of the reasons why some of us fight so hard for the government to retain its ownership of The Vision. Of course it has been given a great deal of latitude; it now appears too much. A balanced paper is a good thing, and I always take off my hat to Mr Pike and his people in what they have built over many years. But balance does not mean leaning over backwards. Personally, I would like Pike to serve some more, while working overtime to put a successor in place at the earliest sensible opportunity. But meantime, as editors always do, he will need to pay more attention to his employer. The alternative is simple: to start his own publication. But let The Vision be ours, unless we are too simple in the head to learn from all this what could happen to it, and us! I had saved this space to talk about The Monitor in general, and the fact that it won the Naked Lady case in particular. This will have to wait again. But we had hoped that when it became part of The Aga Khan stable, such association would improve it. Alas the opposite is true. A case of the rotten apple in a barrel! Look at The Nation and The East African currently. * * * Like continually tonguing a toothache, I return to the Uganda Commercial Bank. Current news is not as bleak as it seemed at one stage. Bank of Uganda Governor, Tumusiime Mutebile (whom may the Gods preserve!) has already advertised in newspapers to stress that "there is no question of UCBL being privatised in haste", and that it will not be sold "for a song". Also that "…BOU will make a full disclosure of the transaction to Parliament and the public." It is what we have been clamouring for. I suggest the disclosure should be before the sale; afterwards the horse might well have bolted! For UCB not to go "for a song", there should obviously be a reserve price. What is it worth today, in assets plus capital? Since, as the Governor acknowledges, the bank will not be privatised in haste, what will it be worth in, say, two years' time? Add to that, the yearly profits of, say, Sh25b per year, times five years (some would say seven), and its purchase price would be handsome indeed. But a figure of just US$10m (later doubled?) seems to have been bruited by a BOU consultant! Governor, and the owning Government, we implore you to keep awake on our behalf. Ends