Dr Yoram Ajeani�s head is totally covered in grey hair now. And he is a busy man � at his Paradise Lodge and bar in the heart of Arua Town.
On a Monday afternoon, Ajeani was perched on a plastic chair at one corner of the bar. He was smoking. He has none of the airs of the legislator that he was until 2001.
�I am now eating from my political toilet. Yes, people have been saying that once politicians lose their seats, they are then sent to eat in their former toilets. That is exactly where I am,� he says of his retirement.
Ajeani was the representative of Arua Municipality in Parliament for five years until 2001. Before that he was a minister of animal industry and fisheries (1987/1988), a special assistant to the president (1989/1991) and he served on the presidential and foreign affairs committee of Parliament.
Once upon a time, Ajeani was not just an influential West Nile politician; he made you aware of it. During his spotlight days, at a function in Arua, he assured the crowd that President Museveni makes appointments after consulting with him.
�I told him to appoint Ayume as Speaker and he appointed him,� he said.
It is believed that this statement angered Francis Ayume (now Attorney General) to the point that whenever Ajeani sought to speak in the house, the Speaker would deny him the opportunity. Ajeani would lament to colleagues in the corridors that the Speaker truly hated him.
Ajeani�s ministerial career had ended rather prematurely when he took the law into his hands on a sunny day on his way to Entebbe airport.
He had spent hardly a year in office as minister in-charge of research, production and fisheries in the Ministry of Animal Industries and Fisheries when he resigned the post
after ordering his guards to beat up a taxi driver whom he accused of careless driving. Ajeani was on his way to the airport to receive Julius Nyerere (RIP), former president of Tanzania, when the taxi driver provoked him. He says that the man�s actions nearly caused them to have an accident.
�I stopped him at Namasuba and directed my bodyguard to give him 12 strokes of the cane. When he had been given six of the strokes I realised my mistake for having taken the law in my hands. I told my bodyguard to stop caning,� says Ajeani as he looked away with a sigh.
�I felt ashamed. I thought the best thing for me to do was to relinquish public office,� he adds.
He had set the record as one of only a handful of President Museveni�s ministers to have accepted responsibility for their actions � and paid the price.
But despite the apparent reproach he brought upon himself, hardly a year elapsed before Ajeani was re-appointed by President Museveni as Special Assistant � a job he held until 1990 when he was sent to Kinshasa as Uganda�s ambassador.
Six years later, he was appointed to the mission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, but he never took up the assignment opting instead to contest for the Arua Municipality seat in Parliament which he won.
In 2001 he again contested for the seat but lost to Nasuru Okuti. And so Ajeani embarked on his retirement.
�Since then I am doing my private work like the piggery that I established in Wakiso District and this Project of Arua Paradise,� he says.
Ajeani has had quite an illustrious career. He taught in Namulonge Agricultural Research Station before he was called to lecture at Makerere University. He lectured in the faculties of Agriculture and Veterinary Science until 1987 he was appointed minister.
Ajeani is full of praise for President Museveni; he even supported his mission in Congo and wants the president to have a third term if he wants one.
�I think President Museveni has done his best for this country. Giving him another term in office is the best way to appreciate this kind of sacrifice,� he says.
Ajeani says he has witnessed a lot of economic prosperity and infrastructure development under the present regime than ever before.
�Look at the Arua-Nebbi road, how many presidents failed to tarmac that road before Museveni did it?� he queries. Ajeani says that he chose to stay in Arua during his retirement because he needed to identify with his people.
�He is a very affable person,� said a close friend of Ajeani who asked not to be named. �He listens to anyone regardless of tribe or age. He has helped so many people in problems.�
Ajeani supports the English soccer team Arsenal and he yearns for the day the Premiership starts in mid August. He holds a PhD in Single Cell Proteins in animal and human nutrition from Oklahoma University.
