Audit leadership is in a long line of public trust

Sylvester Kaddu traces the public trust of the Auditor General John Muwanga to some of his ancestors JOHN Muwanga who at the beginning of this year took over as the Auditor General, comes from a long line of committed and concerned citizens. They were equally activist, articulate and accounting to the public. Mother's side He is a great grandson of Sir Apollo Kaggwa, who, amongst the local over-lovers of titles- a trait they share with others elsewhere- is the only non-royal Muganda (if the Busoga claim to him is discounted, to have received knighthood). Sir Apollo, as Chief Regent, with the help of Bishop Tucker and others, successfully ensured that a good half of Buganda was not swallowed up by the 'protective' invaders in 1900. That that chunk was carved up amongst the Baganda activists of the day, is slightly beside the point. But eventually, through purchase and sale, many others, including non-Baganda, became beneficiaries of Kaggwa's spoil. If that is not considered commitment and concern for local citizens, one need only recall what was, and is taking place elsewhere in eastern and southern Africa, even within what have become other parts of Uganda. Many a grandparent has narrated how Katikkiro Kaggwa actively urged all and sundry to survey and obtain title to their land, up to eight square miles-illustrating his accountable concern for people under his charge. It was the inactive who declined that offer, citing inability to manage all those vast lands, who dispossessed their descendants. Male ancestors In patrilineal Buganda, claim to mother's side does not impress. So it is to John's male ancestors that we now turn. He is descended from Kisolo, the founder of the Ngonge clan and the first Katikkiro of all Buganda. So in that humble-looking man lie the genes of that great ancestor, who at the formation of what later became a great Buganda kingdom, stood high above all others in commitment, concern and activism, able to articulate to the citizens what needed to be done, and when to be done, to give account to the sovereign. His grandfather As a young man of 14 that is when I remember visiting the home of John's grandfather, Omwami Isaaya Yaliakumanyi, at Mitemula, on the slopes of Kako hill, near Masaka. The old man had retired and was addressed by everybody as ex-gombolola chief. The Gombolola chiefs of those days, not much more than 100 in all Buganda at the time, were very mighty men. They were only surpassed by the 20 Saza chiefs to whom they were accountable, and eventually the Buganda Cabinet of the Great Three, made up of the Katikkiro (Prime Minister), the Omulamuzi (judge) and Omuwanika (Treasurer). It was almost a must that those who attained those three pinnacles would have started as a gombolola chief. As such, he was in charge of taxation, law and order in his area. He articulated the requirements of his charges to those in authority, marking him out as a committed, concerned mobiliser of the citizenry. He accounted doubly, above and below. My mother, who was very communicative, told me that after their wedding at Kako in 1925, my dad, because grandad passed away soon after, in fulfilment of traditional custom, presented her to his clan elder, Omwami Isaaya Yaliakumanyi, as a substitute, who showered gifts upon her. On that occasion when I met him, Yaliakumanyi disarmed me when, wearing his neat white kanzu, he separated me from my age-mates in the outer sitting room designed for commoners and children, and took me to the inner sitting room, and what an impressive neat place it was! Immediately he engaged me in spirited conversation, speaking to me as to an equal. John Muwanga's dad Yaliakumanyi's younger son, many many years older than me, a modern-looking Makerere educated, therefore called Mr Robert Muwanga by all who knew him, had even taught accounts at Makerere by the mid-forties of the last century when I became aware of him. He was at that time working in the Treasury at Mengo; sporting a very modern-looking house at Nalukolongo, the only one of its kind in the area for a very long time; owning and driving a car, a rarity in those days confined virtually to Europeans and most Saza Chiefs, upwards; with, and very proud of, an ultra-modern wife and family. Many years later his wife passed away suddenly. Robert Muwanga never married again, although he survived her by ten years and died on April 29, 1989. Largely because of me, son of clergy, who could not afford cost-sharing at Makerere, which had been introduced for the first time in 1952, the year of my admission. My mother, on the Mengo side, and the Bishop's wife, Mrs Mary Stuart, on the other, had effectively pulled strings yielding an undertaking by the Kabaka's government to pay the cost-sharing requirements for all Buganda students admitted by Makerere. That assistance included a book allowance of sh200 per year, which, high as it was then, was in the post-second World War years, very inadequate. I found myself hard up and ventured to ask for more from Robert Muwanga, who was Assistant Omuwanika. He curtly refused adding, "It is tax payers' money." That was the language and ways of the dad of the newly appointed Auditor General. Not being an auditor myself, but intensely feeling a mission, albeit personal at the time, I could not be so easily put off. I went next door to his bosses office, the Omuwanika of Buganda, himself, who did not know me. I lost no time in putting my plea to him, which by then I had well rehearsed. I would have struck a chord in his chest, for in earlier times he had been a great tenor singer, I learnt later. His first question was, "Who are your parents?" When I volunteered the names his face, which had been quizzical, lit up. He selected my mother's name, emphasising it, "Are you really the son of (mentioning my mother's Christian name). I consented. He repeated the question, with increased zest. I reaffirmed my answer. He declared, "You should be given more!" He immediately gave orders, through my kinsman, for payment to be made to me. I recall leaving the Treasury with the money and in high spirits. Some years later I creditably completed the degree course and I have been perpetually obligated to advance the rightful interests of all in my region and beyond. Ten years after the Treasury episode, I had returned from Britain, and was fairly grown up to be offered a beer at his Kololo residence, (Robert Muwanga was one of the very first Africans to own a property in that prestigious area) when John was still very much mother's child in the homestead, he discoursed on his children whom he was maintaining at schools in England. When I raised eyebrows at the cost, he said, "People don't know. It does not require all that much money to send children to school in England." Knowing what I knew, I replied, "You still have to have some money!" He resignedly smiled. He had just returned from Namirembe Cathedral where he was honourary treasurer for a very long time, singing in the choir and often reading lessons, musts for him every Sunday, barring mishaps. This he did throughout his adulthood. After services he would also transport, in his car, food, from wherever it was prepared, for choristers, so that next Sunday's rehearsals may proceed on full stomachs. His immediate bonus was that he heard all the mighty, and lowly, sermons delivered from the Cathedral pulpit. His best recall was Budo's Ian Robinson whom he said summarised the entire Bible in 15 minutes. One Makerere Professor said of Robert Muwanga that he would vouch his leg to be cut off as surety for the late Bishop Dunstan Nsubuga. That possibly explains why that Bishop, who was very modest with his English, always delegated his admirer to do his English speech-making. On one such occasion well did he brighten a visiting Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of America by addressing him as "Your Grace"! Muwanga's commitment, concern and activism in matters public was illustrated when television was being introduced into the country in the last century we were with him and Omwami Paulo Kavuma, former Katikkiro and Mayor of Kampala, at lunch at the home of another. There may have been a few other solid Namirembe Cathedral stalwarts. By then I was quickly becoming a tight-lipped civil servant, considered the tool of trade of that cadre, through whom Kavuma had excelled and risen, and in which I deemed Muwanga belonged, albeit à la Mengo. Suddenly, he exploded, "it is grossly inconsiderate for government to sign television contracts when funds for other essential services are not available. Turning to me he continued, "I can tell you, dubious people have bribed their way, they want to impose television on the country which is not ready for it," he continued. The seasoned Kavuma, having surveyed all our silence, cut him short, saying, "Watch your words, they may land you in prison!" Nevertheless, the service was precipitated on the country, without a budget provision in parliament. Because of the atrocious newsreaders employed on the media, and in response to an appeal in parliament for better readers, I found myself, somewhat of a celebrity, telecasting news on UTV in English, which greatly boosted the young service, to say no more about myself. Ends