Every leader needs a Willie

By John Nagenda


This was said to have been said by that famous Leader Margaret Thatcher, first and so far only woman Prime Minister of Britain (1979 – 1990). She always said she would never surrender; in her own words: 
“This Lady is not for turning!”  What she said was: “Every leader needs her Willie!” but heading space cannot go beyond 21 letters!

The joke was that she didn’t have a Willie (child-talk for penis). She assuredly had Willie Whitelaw, full title: Viscount William Whitelaw, a Scottish Lord. Through thick and thin he stood by her, but was capable of addressing her in forthright, although unfailingly chivalrous, fashion.

Practically all her other courtiers, all men (it was said she was the only one who “wore trousers in her cabinet” although in fact she always dressed in the most flattering dresses) never, ever, contradicted her. During her premiership there wasn’t another woman in her Cabinet!

Lady Thatcher is alive still, but alone in a world of semi-darkness approaching dementia. She was undoubtedly one of the greatest, or at least most remarkable, Prime Ministers Britain has had. Apart from her Willie (and that mainly because of her statement) hardly any of her other ministers are remembered.

A story, possibly apocryphal, has Premier Thatcher going into a restaurant with some of her Cabinet. The Head Waiter approaches: “What will Madam eat?” She answers, “Steak.” “And the vegetables?” he queries.
“Oh, they will all have steak!”  I am not even writing solely about Margaret Thatcher but about Leadership in general. Why must all great leaders, men or women, need their Willie?

Because they need, at all times, advisers who know their place vis a vis their Leaders, and who, even while addressing them deferentially (for “all Authority comes from God”) must still give them advice “without fear or favour”. And who must stand their ground, unless won over by argument. It goes without saying that the final decision is the Leader’s to make.
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A very tight job then, being a Willie! Or, changing the name, to being an Eriya: every Leader needs an Eriya and Kategaya played that important part to the hilt. He did so to the Number One Man, his and Uganda’s President, Yoweri K Museveni. That part was made no easier by the fact that the two men had been children together, before growing into manhood together; off and on for six decades. Each was strong and held strong opinions; to pitch one against the other was no picnic! And yet both survived. For this Kategaya had, above all, a unique characteristic: he respected Authority utterly.

Once it had been determined that Museveni would be Leader, Kategaya accepted this to the marrow. But there was one important condition: Kategaya would give advice, which would be listened to; most vitally by his Chief.
But then, too, there was an overwhelming consideration: the Chief is the Chief! It has always been so, and so it shall remain. Kategaya knew this.
And even when he had to superficially play second fiddle to those who were intrinsically below him in the Movement, he was, for example, at peace in being called First Deputy to them. It was infinitely easier to accept his position regarding the Chief, of all people!  

Alive, he was a great asset to Uganda; dead he can grow even bigger. When the momentous subject of where and how Uganda should go, arise, we should ask: “What would Kategaya say or think?” It is the same as asking what your parents, perhaps dead for years, would do in a given situation, to save yourself from a wrong destination.
Because I am baring my soul I must not shirk the issue; must willingly grasp the nettle.

Yes, as with all of us, some will look at dear Eriya’s life and find some stages missing (those who knew him well know what I mean). This can happen, without in any meaningful way interfering with great persons’ views of their country, and how they behave accordingly. What you could go as far here, as calling Kategaya’s Great Love Affair with Uganda! That for mere mortals might, and did, falter on occasions, but never for his nation. Could it not even be asked whether such passion for Country might not dim that for individuals?
Deities in history, while caring for their overall Creation, sometimes appeared capricious for its individuals. God knows I am not calling Kategaya a Deity! But in the Bible, in Genesis, it is said: “God created Man in His own image”.

History reports that Kategaya was against the Third Term, so called when the President ran again after the original Constitution’s two, which had been changed by Parliament. Kategaya told me in forceful terms (pun!) that it wasn’t so much that which he was against, but the way it was done without open discussion at the top in the recommended Movement style.
But let this also be remembered: at the end, the scars between the Bulls were healed.
Alas, as ever in this imperfect world, even as we tried to cope with Eriya’s death, his sister, the much-loved Justice Constance Byamugisha, has followed him to the grave only two weeks later, but she had seen the grass re-grow on the battlefield!