Mukula's political legacy lacks Maslow's "self actualization"

May 14, 2015

Mukula has been an active politician for the last 20 years and has represented Soroti Municipality.


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By Kasibin Francis Mutaka

Airline Capt. Hon. George Michael Mukula, 58, married and father of five children, commonly known as Mike Mukula, has announced his retirement from elective politics except from campaigning for Gen. Museveni’s life presidency and being the NRM National Vice chairman for Eastern Uganda.


Mukula has been an active politician for the last 20 years and has represented Soroti Municipality, an urban constituency since 2001.

Mukula now wants 90% of his life in the private sector administrating over his business empire which include voice of Teso radio, voice of Busoga radio, an aviation school, a construction company, Uganda Airways, Teso Foods Industry, and other business entities.

While weeping before a mammoth crowd of supporters in Soroti Municipal sports ground on Saturday, the flight captain said; “I have been with you for about 20 years. I have walked the walk, and I have travelled the journey. Today, I want to thank the Lord because my political journey as MP has come to an end and come February 2016, my name will not be on any ballot paper. I have stepped aside not out of pressure, not because I fear, not because I am not well. I have stepped aside because I believe my time to serve you 20 years is enough time to serve you.”

To holistically analyze Mukula’s political legacy, one ought to digest him as a professional pilot and businessman, then as a local and national leader, as well as a legislature and a minister. In his owned fleet of Cessna aircraft in the 1980s, Mukula worked as a personal pilot to president Museveni and has since been in the country’s leadership limelight.

Mukula leaves the political dancing stage with over 43% of Ugandans still living in acute deplorable conditions and 19% of the citizenry living a much undignified life on a less than a dollar a day! At the start of U.P.E in 1996, Mukula was politically active when 1.5 million pupils enrolled for primary school and only 485,000 sat for P.L.E in 2003 meaning that one million children could not be accounted for and this has remained the routine throughout Mukula’s legislation cycle.

The state of the hospitals and generally the health system, where Mukula had a privilege to serve as state minister (2001-2006), remain chronically sickly.

As a local leader in Teso, Mukula is responsible for the splitting of the sub region into very powerless small administration units which have heavily increased on the tax payers’ burden of footing bills of lots of civil servants and the regime’s security operatives.

The historical books may record Mukula into the political limbo as a coward who nursed presidential ambitions but was bullied down into self centeredness sacrificing national service as the fountain of honour at the alter of regime intimidation.

Abraham Maslow advanced the hierarchy of human needs the last one being self actualization for which Mukula was about to achieve as commander in chief of the armed forces and number one senior citizen of the republic of Uganda.

Nevertheless, Mukula is still young and intelligent enough to realize his true dreams after all politicians keep on editing what they have said before to suit the current situation.

The writer is a Publisher  & Community Development Officer
kasibinfrancism@yahoo.com
 

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