The UPDF is tracking all rebel remnants
Dec 03, 2002
OPEN-AIR talk shows are now the in-thing today. Ekimeeza at Club Obligato, hosted by Radio One was the first public talk show. Later CBS and Radio Simba joined in the craze, with Mambo Bado and Ingaho Akataho respectively
By Ndinawe Byekwaso
OPEN-AIR talk shows are now the in-thing today. Ekimeeza at Club Obligato, hosted by Radio One was the first public talk show. Later CBS and Radio Simba joined in the craze, with Mambo Bado and Ingaho Akataho respectively. They however, packaged their talk shows in Luganda.
This is the scene in Kampala but the trend is spreading to other towns with local stations in Masaka and Masindi hosting talk shows..
Every Saturday and Sunday in the afternoon especially in the suburbs of Kampala, most people in drinking joints, malwa groups and even in homes, are glued to their radios listening to the talk shows. Some individuals like Mr. Tamale Mirundi and Ms Namboze have become household names, with Mirundi being referred to as a ‘political consultant’.
To many people, this is seen as the growth of democracy. Some of the cardinal principles of democracy are freedom of the press and speech. These have been achieved in one go. The electronic media broadcast what the people want and in turn the people express their opinions.
Indeed the bimeeza have made some positive contributions towards the promotion of democracy. Ideally, they have provided a platform for the people who would otherwise have never got the chance to express their views to such a wide audience.
It is a platform for those who are not newsmakers and yet have good ideas and those who do not have mobile phones to ring to the studios and yet have significant contributions to make. In addition, these bimeeza teach people how to engage in public debate in a civilised manner. The debaters are not supposed to use abusive language nor are they supposed to be off topic. Learning without paying school fees!
Some individuals have picked up the lesson well and thus, public debate is no longer a preserve of educated elites. These talk shows also help the government to gauge public opinion on an issue or a certain policy.
However, despite the good attributes of bimeeza, tribalism is being stirred up. Government is simply seen as an institution where tribes compete for top positions or favours, rather than being a channel of development that selects people on merit.
Tamale Mirundi particularlyhas a tendency of arguing about how human resources are divided along tribal lines. Irrespective of whether he is popular or not, a tribal orientation causes fragmentation rather than nationalism.
The other negative aspect of the bimeeza is that they are dominated by opposition Members of Parliament and government officials who gag the voice of the wanainchi.
The other problem is that newspapers set the agenda of the bimeeza and consequently, real issues, which affect the majority, are either glossed over or ignored altogether. As a result, the wanainchi are polarised along between the Movement or multipartism, a scenario the Movement arrangement aimed at avoiding. Enmeshed within those bounds, no wonder real issues that build the nation are ignored.
Underneath the polarised sides, there is the issue of corruption based on tribalism. Nevertheless, few benefit from this kind of corruption, while the majority remain poor.
Not all public debate is good. Sometimes it can make people acquire wrong orientation. It has ever happened. One radio station in Rwanda preached genocide in 1994. What happened? People believed the propaganda and massacred about one million ethnic Tutsi and moderate Hutus!
By depicting the Government as an institution where tribes compete for posts or favours, the accused individuals are taken as heroes by the people of their respective tribes or areas. However receptive the talk of tribalism is, it is a cancer that is eating up our country. It should be discouraged by these radio talk shows.
But it is surprising that the individuals who are being popularised as political consultants are just experts in cleverly conjuring the sectarian outlook. Mirundi at one time spent most of his time castigating the government for practising double standards when handling cases like those of Kigundu and Mulindwa Birimumaso.
To him, the Banyankore are treated with kid gloves, while the Baganda are sentenced, convicted and sent to Luzira.
On November 10, 2002, on Radio Simba, Mirundi pointed out that the president went to the bush because he was power hungry. This kind of careless talk can create a Somalia-like scenario, whereby anyone who feels power hungry resorts to going the bush.
Time and again, the president has said his going to the bush was within the ideological framework of correcting a society that was based on a colonially distorted economy.
These “political consultants†should take on a philosophical perspective in analysing the trends in the country. A philosophical outlook should be able to analyse the problems of Uganda’s disadvantaged people, irrespective of where they come from. It is unfortunate that our “political consultants†are mundane thinkers guided by instincts of self-interest. Is it not time for the bimeeza to popularise nationalistic minded people?
Write back to the Features Editor: Say what you think of Ebimeeza.
Send articles to:
bkaija@newvision.co.ug
OPEN-AIR talk shows are now the in-thing today. Ekimeeza at Club Obligato, hosted by Radio One was the first public talk show. Later CBS and Radio Simba joined in the craze, with Mambo Bado and Ingaho Akataho respectively. They however, packaged their talk shows in Luganda.
This is the scene in Kampala but the trend is spreading to other towns with local stations in Masaka and Masindi hosting talk shows..
Every Saturday and Sunday in the afternoon especially in the suburbs of Kampala, most people in drinking joints, malwa groups and even in homes, are glued to their radios listening to the talk shows. Some individuals like Mr. Tamale Mirundi and Ms Namboze have become household names, with Mirundi being referred to as a ‘political consultant’.
To many people, this is seen as the growth of democracy. Some of the cardinal principles of democracy are freedom of the press and speech. These have been achieved in one go. The electronic media broadcast what the people want and in turn the people express their opinions.
Indeed the bimeeza have made some positive contributions towards the promotion of democracy. Ideally, they have provided a platform for the people who would otherwise have never got the chance to express their views to such a wide audience.
It is a platform for those who are not newsmakers and yet have good ideas and those who do not have mobile phones to ring to the studios and yet have significant contributions to make. In addition, these bimeeza teach people how to engage in public debate in a civilised manner. The debaters are not supposed to use abusive language nor are they supposed to be off topic. Learning without paying school fees!
Some individuals have picked up the lesson well and thus, public debate is no longer a preserve of educated elites. These talk shows also help the government to gauge public opinion on an issue or a certain policy.
However, despite the good attributes of bimeeza, tribalism is being stirred up. Government is simply seen as an institution where tribes compete for top positions or favours, rather than being a channel of development that selects people on merit.
Tamale Mirundi particularlyhas a tendency of arguing about how human resources are divided along tribal lines. Irrespective of whether he is popular or not, a tribal orientation causes fragmentation rather than nationalism.
The other negative aspect of the bimeeza is that they are dominated by opposition Members of Parliament and government officials who gag the voice of the wanainchi.
The other problem is that newspapers set the agenda of the bimeeza and consequently, real issues, which affect the majority, are either glossed over or ignored altogether. As a result, the wanainchi are polarised along between the Movement or multipartism, a scenario the Movement arrangement aimed at avoiding. Enmeshed within those bounds, no wonder real issues that build the nation are ignored.
Underneath the polarised sides, there is the issue of corruption based on tribalism. Nevertheless, few benefit from this kind of corruption, while the majority remain poor.
Not all public debate is good. Sometimes it can make people acquire wrong orientation. It has ever happened. One radio station in Rwanda preached genocide in 1994. What happened? People believed the propaganda and massacred about one million ethnic Tutsi and moderate Hutus!
By depicting the Government as an institution where tribes compete for posts or favours, the accused individuals are taken as heroes by the people of their respective tribes or areas. However receptive the talk of tribalism is, it is a cancer that is eating up our country. It should be discouraged by these radio talk shows.
But it is surprising that the individuals who are being popularised as political consultants are just experts in cleverly conjuring the sectarian outlook. Mirundi at one time spent most of his time castigating the government for practising double standards when handling cases like those of Kigundu and Mulindwa Birimumaso.
To him, the Banyankore are treated with kid gloves, while the Baganda are sentenced, convicted and sent to Luzira.
On November 10, 2002, on Radio Simba, Mirundi pointed out that the president went to the bush because he was power hungry. This kind of careless talk can create a Somalia-like scenario, whereby anyone who feels power hungry resorts to going the bush.
Time and again, the president has said his going to the bush was within the ideological framework of correcting a society that was based on a colonially distorted economy.
These “political consultants†should take on a philosophical perspective in analysing the trends in the country. A philosophical outlook should be able to analyse the problems of Uganda’s disadvantaged people, irrespective of where they come from. It is unfortunate that our “political consultants†are mundane thinkers guided by instincts of self-interest. Is it not time for the bimeeza to popularise nationalistic minded people?
Write back to the Features Editor: Say what you think of Ebimeeza.
Send articles to:
bkaija@newvision.co.ug