CORRIDORS OF POWER

Apr 10, 2006

Okumu ‘misses’ job<br>Aswa County MP Reagan Okumu last week missed a translation job in court. At the commencement of the treason trial against Col. Kizza Besigye, the first prosecution witness preferred to speak Luo but there was no interpreter although Okumu, a Luo speaker was present in cour

Okumu ‘misses’ job
Aswa County MP Reagan Okumu last week missed a translation job in court. At the commencement of the treason trial against Col. Kizza Besigye, the first prosecution witness preferred to speak Luo but there was no interpreter although Okumu, a Luo speaker was present in court. When the Deputy DPP Simon Byabakama looked around, he sighted Okumu and informed Justice Vincent Kagaba who asked, “where is he?” Okumu stood up with a broad smile on his face, then an equally smiling Kagaba said, “but Honourable. Okumu is a busy man he may not be able to be with us all the time,” as Okumu resumed his seat, amidst laughter from court.

Sseninde sweats
MP Rosemary Sseninde (Wakiso) must have realised that it is easier for a camel to enter the eye of needle than for her to get her academic transcripts from Makerere University. On Monday she was seen pacing up and down the corridors of Senate building. Sseninde graduated last year and like other graduates has an uphill task to get her transcript. At Senate building, she climbed up to 5th floor and went to Room 505. From there, the indifferent ladies in the room who did not know who was she or even care told her to return to 3rd floor, Room 313. After that she was back on the ground floor to get fresh air. The MP, after firsthand experience should now use her office as MP to ensure that some of these bureaucratic tendencies in the Ivory Tower that hinder the speedy processing of transcripts are done away with.

Justice Kagaba rules
Justice Vincent Kagaba does not compromise when it comes conformity with the conduct of witnesses and evidence in his court. While presiding over the treason case against FDC chief Col. Kizza Besigye and 22 others, a witness told court that at a meeting with LRA rebel commander Onen Kamdulu, he (Kamdulu) told them that he would tell Kony that Besigye wanted to establish contact with him. Kagaba stopped the witness and said, "that is hearsay evidence, I am not writing that down. Those kind of stories are good under the umbrellas in bars, I can’t entertain them here.

Buturo remembers
Information state minister Nsaba Buturo thinks that Col Kizza Besigye is a lucky man for having challenged the government when the times have changed. Addressing the weekly press conference at Nakasero last week, he said the times had changed very much for the better and that was why things were taken for granted. “I wish some of you were as old as some of us then. I was a leader then and for some of us who were straight, it was tough. You wouldn’t challenge the government and last an hour. You would be killed. Opposition was there in name” he said.

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