By William Tayeebwa
Feb 6, 2004
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Following press reports that two disgruntled state guests, Prof. George William Kakoma and retired Major Kanuti Akorimo had turned down an invitation to a state dinner because they were not honoured as national heroes, Minister for the Presidency Hajji Kirunda Kivejinja came out strongly and said they did not deserve the honour (See “Kakoma, Kanuti not heroes, says Kivejinja”, The Monitor, October 12, 2003). The debate raged on in the media for sometime on who should be honoured as a national hero. On the occasion to mark the “heroism” of our officers, men and women in uniform, The Monitor brings you findings from a mini-survey conducted to seek views from the public on the issue of ‘national heroes’. Read on: National honours and awards The media debate that ensued after the Kakoma-Kanuti incident raised several issues on who are truly Uganda’s heroes, what does it entail for one to be knighted a hero, what are the criteria for one to be honoured, who should set the qualifications for one to be given orders of merit and ultimately, who should award national awards? In a mini-survey conducted by The Monitor Publications from January 29 – February 01, 2004, a cross-section of Ugandans provide some answers. Criteria to choose heroes Out of the 460 respondents who were asked whether they know the criteria or method used to choose people to be honored, 291 (63%) said they did not know, while 169 (37%) said they knew. For the 63% who said they did not know, this is how people to be honoured in Uganda are (or ought to be) chosen: - Section 3(1) of the National Honours and Awards Act, 2001 empowers the President to “confer a title of honour on any person and may suspend or revoke the title.” - Section 4 of the same law stipulates that the President shall appoint an eight-person Presidential Awards Committee from “among persons of high moral character and proven integrity.” - The role of the committee is to advise the President in respect of persons upon whom titles of honour may be conferred. - Committee members hold office for a five-year period with eligibility for re-appointment. The committee is mandated to sit at least once every six months - The administration and custodianship of Uganda’s National Honours is the responsibility of the chancery, whose key job is to prepare and publish honours’ lists, purchase the necessary insignia, have custody of the insignia, prepare certificates and rolls of honour and to act as archive for the national honours. - The chancery is headed by an officer called a chancellor who is appointed by the President on the advice of the Public Service Commission. The chancellor’s terms and conditions of service shall be equal to that of a Permanent Secretary. - The law also establishes two other key officers, namely, the Herald and the Master of Ceremonies. The former is a voluntary officer whose job is to help the chancellor, while the latter has to be a member of the armed forces whose job is to conduct ceremonies of investiture or honours and awards. Operationalisation of the law The Minister in charge of the Presidency, Hajji Kirunda Kivejinja told The Monitor in an interview that the law has not yet been operationalised. He said he is working on it and it will be operational by 2005. Hajji Kivejinja said that a committee of NRM historicals, headed by Mr Eriya Kategaya and Lt. Gen. Elly Tumwine, has been setting the criteria for awarding the honours and awards so far. Criteria for the award of honours According to the National Honours and Awards Act 2001, the responsibility to award honours belongs to the President and/or his Presidential Awards Committee. Hajji Kivejinja defended the law saying that Article 98 (1) of the 1995 Constitution states that the President is the “fountain of honour” and therefore nobody else has the mandate more than the President to award orders of merit. However, the majority of Ugandans do not agree. Asked to state whom they thought ought to award orders of merit, 225 respondents out of 460 (52%) said they preferred Parliament to do the job. Another 99 (24%) said a civilian special committee, chosen by the President with the approval of Parliament should do the job. Sixty-six respondents (15%), however still wanted the President to do this job, while 39 (9%) wanted Cabinet to set the criteria for one to be awarded an honour. On who should set the qualifications for one to be knighted, still the majority, 234 (54.8%) wanted Parliament to do so, while 138 (32.4%) prefer a civilian committee. Forty-two respondents (9.8%) want the President to set the qualifications, while 13 (3%) want Cabinet to do so. Heroes on legal tender The majority of respondents, 297 (64.6%) said they did not want people knitted as national heroes to be put on legal tender. However, most people had no objection to having streets or other landmark features named after national heroes instead of foreign ones. One hundred and sixty three respondents (35.4%) wanted to see the faces of their heroes on legal tender. Spending on monuments for heroes Asked whether Uganda should spend money to erect monuments dedicated to national or regional heroes, 290 (63%) agreed, while 170 (37%) did not approve. Departed national heroes Former Ugandan President, Idi Amin Dada, who died on August 16, 2003 in a Jeddah hospital, Saudi Arabia, is considered easily one of the worst dictators the African continent has ever produced. However, several Ugandans think otherwise. Results from the mini-survey show that 105 respondents (22.8%) said Amin was their departed hero. The major reason people cited was that he empowered them to manage their country in their own way, while Mr Museveni has handed it back to foreigners, mainly Asians. Some people quoted the case of the Apparel Tri-Star factory, which they said was a donation by Museveni to Mr. Vellupillai Kananathan . Others were clearly being good Africans by not ostracising a dead man who had done ‘a lot’ for his country. See table 1 below summarising the findings of the mini-survey on who Ugandans think are their departed heroes: Living national heroes President Yoweri Museveni beat all his rivals by a big margin. According to findings from another national survey commissioned by The Monitor at the end of 2003, 53.6% of Ugandans out of 1,900 respondents said they did not want Mr Museveni to present himself for re-election in 2006 (See: 54% Want Museveni Out In 2006, The Monitor, January 19, 2004). Despite his apparent unpopularity over the ‘third term project’, Museveni seems to be quite close to the hearts of many Ugandans.
Of the 460 respondents, 204 (44.3%) said he was their national hero. Dr Kizza Besigye was Mr Museveni’s closest in this poll, and was ironically his closest in the March 2001 presidential elections. The exiled colonel polled 78 (17%). As if by coincidence, another not so-friendly person to Museveni, former President Milton Obote came third in the mini-survey, with 69 respondents (15%) considering him their national hero. Regional heroes The mini-survey was conducted in four regions of the country namely, Western, Central, Eastern and Northern. However, respondents within Kampala who wanted to consider their regions of origin were free to do so. For reasonable representation, only the top five regional heroes are presented. |
© 2004 The Monitor Publications
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