Farewell Muzibu Azaala Mpanga
THE burning down of the Amasiro ge Kasubi aga Basekabaka ba Buganda (the Kasubi Tombs of the Late Kings of Buganda) made everything else for your Columnist pale in contrast. I was not the only one.
By John Nagenda
THE burning down of the Amasiro ge Kasubi aga Basekabaka ba Buganda (the Kasubi Tombs of the Late Kings of Buganda) made everything else for your Columnist pale in contrast. I was not the only one.
What made it so horrendous was that the fire consumed in its wake all the royal regalia, to say nothing of customary fetishes, in the main hut, known as Muzibu Azaala Mpanga (The Tough Produces Cocks). And what a hut: 130 years old, with a grass-roofed span of 37 yards! Here rested the four latest Baganda monarchs: Muteesa I, Mwanga, Chwa II, Muteesa II. The only mercy was that it was quickly announced by the Buganda Katikkiro (Prime Minister) that their buried remains were left sound – the fire not having got to them.
The tears shed by particularly the Baganda were numerous. Those of the current Kabaka, Mutebi II, were especially moving; few times indeed are kings seen in that condition. “Wooweâ€, is the single, cryptic, message I found on my phone when I woke up the next morning, from a Muganda friend of vey long standing. Woowe cannot be translated: it is a sound torn from the chest and throat as a cry of pure distress. I sent an SMS to my friend, saying that we should hope there would be no blaming of anyone until investigations had been thoroughly carried out. Vain hope! From him came no further word, which was ominous!
Already certain quarters had started pointing the finger, against all logic, at the central government, despite the fact that it was the one which had sanctioned the return of the monarchies in Uganda, and the way to fund them. But why let fact stand in the way of an inflammatory story, which also sold copies? They were aided by The Monitor, which some of us thought had reformed. Its Thursday front page carried the headline: “Three shot dead as President forces way into burnt tombs.â€
Juxtaposition of “shot dead†“forces
way†“burnt tombs†to my mind clearly ignited a fuse. What are the relevant authorities doing about this? Yesterday it was named most popular story: what does this tell you? But as for the fire’s doing, oh pity, pity, pity. Woowe, Woowe!
***************
From there, with suitable apology for leaving this high plateau for the sewers of town, needs must that I bring to you, again, the problems at National Council of Sports (NCS): meaning, in the main, its General Secretary, Mr Jasper Aligawesa. Of him I have already written and will do so again, if, God help Uganda, he keeps his job.
He represents, in the majority of opinion, what is most wrong with our country today as shown in the field of Sports, where his baleful influence is buttressed by his NCS office. And, rather as with the peculiar notion that to keep meat safe, entrust it to a hyena, so with Mr Aligawesa as somehow running our sports! He crunches everything not nailed down: to bring it under his thumb.
Ask the National Associations of boxing (where Uganda in happier days won professional world titles), athletics, soccer (remember the near loss forever of Nakivubo stadium?), hockey, cricket (the Lugogo Cricket Oval mints huge money through musical sideshows held there, only a tiny trickle reaches cricket. Currently he has tennis in his sights. “We shall fight him on the beaches!†The power he seems to wield over his seniors is most strange.
On February 1, 2010, as Chairman of Uganda Lawn Tennis Association I wrote to state minister of Sports Bakkabulindi, seeking arbitration between the ULTA and the rampaging Aligawesa. While the minister was still considering the issue, that bull-in-the-china-shop unilaterally brought in the bailiffs and threw the ULTA out of the Tennis Complex. From the minister came not a sound. There are theories on this!
Two months ago Aligawesa wrote to me: “…[NCS] Council members appreciated your continued support and tremendous contribution towards the development of Lawn Tennis in the country over the years.†This week he took the Media to the Tennis complex and said the ULTA had failed utterly. Then he turned lavatorial, accusing us of not even keeping the toilets clean, and breaking them. They were clean and working when we were thrown out.
By the time he and his goons had fouled them in three days they had turned nasty enough to call in the Media and throw the stuff at us. That is the Aligawesa way, but soon it will end on his face. For the record: the ULTA, since retaking in November 2007 the Lugogo tennis facility (for whom as records show it was built in the late ‘50s) has spent about sh500m and US$35,000 in redeveloping the place, running tournaments, and attempting to supervise Uganda tennis. The NCS has not contributed a single shilling. Instead we have been bundled out like petty criminals for not paying sh1m a month to NCS, which we haven’t got. And why pay at all, considering what we have sunk in tennis?
This utterly odd Mr Aligawesa must be stopped in his tracks before completing the job of ruining Ugandan sport. Meantime, Auditor General, Uganda demands a detailed audit of NCS.
THE burning down of the Amasiro ge Kasubi aga Basekabaka ba Buganda (the Kasubi Tombs of the Late Kings of Buganda) made everything else for your Columnist pale in contrast. I was not the only one.
What made it so horrendous was that the fire consumed in its wake all the royal regalia, to say nothing of customary fetishes, in the main hut, known as Muzibu Azaala Mpanga (The Tough Produces Cocks). And what a hut: 130 years old, with a grass-roofed span of 37 yards! Here rested the four latest Baganda monarchs: Muteesa I, Mwanga, Chwa II, Muteesa II. The only mercy was that it was quickly announced by the Buganda Katikkiro (Prime Minister) that their buried remains were left sound – the fire not having got to them.
The tears shed by particularly the Baganda were numerous. Those of the current Kabaka, Mutebi II, were especially moving; few times indeed are kings seen in that condition. “Wooweâ€, is the single, cryptic, message I found on my phone when I woke up the next morning, from a Muganda friend of vey long standing. Woowe cannot be translated: it is a sound torn from the chest and throat as a cry of pure distress. I sent an SMS to my friend, saying that we should hope there would be no blaming of anyone until investigations had been thoroughly carried out. Vain hope! From him came no further word, which was ominous!
Already certain quarters had started pointing the finger, against all logic, at the central government, despite the fact that it was the one which had sanctioned the return of the monarchies in Uganda, and the way to fund them. But why let fact stand in the way of an inflammatory story, which also sold copies? They were aided by The Monitor, which some of us thought had reformed. Its Thursday front page carried the headline: “Three shot dead as President forces way into burnt tombs.â€
Juxtaposition of “shot dead†“forces
way†“burnt tombs†to my mind clearly ignited a fuse. What are the relevant authorities doing about this? Yesterday it was named most popular story: what does this tell you? But as for the fire’s doing, oh pity, pity, pity. Woowe, Woowe!
***************
From there, with suitable apology for leaving this high plateau for the sewers of town, needs must that I bring to you, again, the problems at National Council of Sports (NCS): meaning, in the main, its General Secretary, Mr Jasper Aligawesa. Of him I have already written and will do so again, if, God help Uganda, he keeps his job.
He represents, in the majority of opinion, what is most wrong with our country today as shown in the field of Sports, where his baleful influence is buttressed by his NCS office. And, rather as with the peculiar notion that to keep meat safe, entrust it to a hyena, so with Mr Aligawesa as somehow running our sports! He crunches everything not nailed down: to bring it under his thumb.
Ask the National Associations of boxing (where Uganda in happier days won professional world titles), athletics, soccer (remember the near loss forever of Nakivubo stadium?), hockey, cricket (the Lugogo Cricket Oval mints huge money through musical sideshows held there, only a tiny trickle reaches cricket. Currently he has tennis in his sights. “We shall fight him on the beaches!†The power he seems to wield over his seniors is most strange.
On February 1, 2010, as Chairman of Uganda Lawn Tennis Association I wrote to state minister of Sports Bakkabulindi, seeking arbitration between the ULTA and the rampaging Aligawesa. While the minister was still considering the issue, that bull-in-the-china-shop unilaterally brought in the bailiffs and threw the ULTA out of the Tennis Complex. From the minister came not a sound. There are theories on this!
Two months ago Aligawesa wrote to me: “…[NCS] Council members appreciated your continued support and tremendous contribution towards the development of Lawn Tennis in the country over the years.†This week he took the Media to the Tennis complex and said the ULTA had failed utterly. Then he turned lavatorial, accusing us of not even keeping the toilets clean, and breaking them. They were clean and working when we were thrown out.
By the time he and his goons had fouled them in three days they had turned nasty enough to call in the Media and throw the stuff at us. That is the Aligawesa way, but soon it will end on his face. For the record: the ULTA, since retaking in November 2007 the Lugogo tennis facility (for whom as records show it was built in the late ‘50s) has spent about sh500m and US$35,000 in redeveloping the place, running tournaments, and attempting to supervise Uganda tennis. The NCS has not contributed a single shilling. Instead we have been bundled out like petty criminals for not paying sh1m a month to NCS, which we haven’t got. And why pay at all, considering what we have sunk in tennis?
This utterly odd Mr Aligawesa must be stopped in his tracks before completing the job of ruining Ugandan sport. Meantime, Auditor General, Uganda demands a detailed audit of NCS.