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�The biggest redress I can get is by insulting them. You can�t get much out of them�
Col. Kahinda Otafiire�s reputation of a frank and sometimes-abusive speaker precedes him.
We are in his office at the Ministry of Water, Lands and Environment on Friday, September 26, and I ask him why people think he is fierce.
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| 'VICTIM OR VILLAIN? Col Kahinda Otafiire is �terribly frank� by nature, has been married twice, is a liberal father and won�t use a �Western� name unless Europeans also start using African names (Photos by Henry Bongyereirwe). |
�I am firm. I am not easily intimidated and I can�t be moved when I know I am correct and I am polite and submissive when I am not sure of where I stand,� he says.
�I don�t like engaging in arguments for the sake of arguments, I believe every argument should take a direction and that direction should make me richer in experience and wisdom,� he said.
�You can say I am a little bit. I am terribly frank, I am a bit brutally frank,� he says and we laugh.
He does add: �I tolerate people who don�t understand what I am sayingwho genuinely don�t see things the way I do. I appreciate people who take me on for the sake of learning what I know and the thing is when I can learn something from them.
But I am very impatient with people who engage in cheap talk, cheap and sometimes base talk.�
Now he is clearly irritated as he talks about people who tell lies about him, who say he took timber or copper. He waves his hands, saying that the truth will never receive as much publicity as the initial lies.
This is the one thing he is afraid of.
�I am afraid of liars, if I am afraid of anything, it is people who tell lies,� he said. �If somebody can stand up and tell that kind of lie [about timber] then somebody can kill.�
He doesn�t understand their rationale. �I don�t know if they are looking for fame, I don�t know if they are mad, stupid or both, I am afraid of them,� he said.
I first met Colonel Kahinda Otafiire on Thursday, September 25.
He is attending a meeting on water and gender, which highlights the need to take women�s views into account when making decisions about water.
The session ends and I overhear his comments. He says something like: �Women carry water, men dig wells, what is the big deal. Everybody suffers if there isn�t water.�
State minister for water, Ms Maria Mutagamba, looks taken aback. His views are dismissive but they are clearly honest.
The next day when we meet in his office, it looks like the interview won�t happen.
�Why should people know if I eat cassava or rice?� he says from behind his desk, adding that voters should just be interested in his politics. But then somehow we relax, I put out the tape recorder and he starts to talk.
Later, a colleague says that he had met him once at a friend�s house and that he is very witty in his native tongue and it is easy to believe.
Otafiire is very articulate and likeable and appears to give thought to his answers. Many of his answers are tinged with exasperation or irritability at his detractors and it is clear he doesn�t suffer fools gladly.
Otafiire was born on December 29, 1950, the second-born in a family of three brothers and two girls. His father, a teacher, was very liberal while his mother was a disciplinarian.
He says, if anything, he is like his father and he too is liberal with his children.
He has been married twice, has five children � two boys and three girls - ranging in age from three to 25. I ask him what he would do if his children used the same language he has on occasion used in politics.
�We are never like that at home, we live a different life at home, we are a neat community, we live for each other, and arguments never get loud because we tell each other the truth; there is no room for rancour,� he said.
He added: �We discuss issues and argue and if they don�t see my point of view, I leave them alone.�
In fact, Otafiire�s only regret is that the lifetime he has spent in politics has not left him with enough time for his family.
He describes this as �opportunity cost�, but says he finds time for his youngest, the three-year-old. �I enjoy seeing her grow up, all of them growing up. It is a pleasant experience.�
Otafiire�s arrival in politics was by accident, he says. He was thrown out of school following a disagreement over an assignment with his English teacher.
�I was leading the rebellion against the intrusive assignment,� he said.
He joined the UPC in 1971 as a youth leader. �I didn�t know what UPC was, the only thing I knew was we were shouting against the DPs, we shouted at each other, and it was called a campaign,� he said.
The next year he was in Makerere, studying political science and public administration but by his own admission, he was a part-time student and a full-time politician.
�I stayed in it [politics] as time went on, as I matured, when I was in University, which was during the time of Idi Amin, then I realised there was a purpose in politics. Of course I realised, we had been misled and that what we had been doing so far was not politics. It was buffoonery,� he said.
It is here that he descends into political rhetoric.
�My mission was the liberation of this country,� he said. �My greatest achievement is participating in the freedom struggles of the people. I have also helped other people to fight for their freedom. I have made a contribution, however humble.�
Outside of politics, what is his greatest personal achievement? �I am at terms with myself. I am satisfied with what I have. I am comfortable, I am happy with what I am, as a person. I am at peace with myself,� he says, slowly and with thought.
Given that many politicians have business interests and it is his alleged business interests that have seen him make headlines in recent weeks, does he consider himself a politician or a businessman?
�I am not a businessman at all,� he says with frustration. �The only business I have been in is raising cows and banana plantations while I work for the country, I don�t think I can cheat the country.�
He likes politics because he likes serving people, �making things move and effecting change.�
He says he will be in politics for as long as the people need him. �I don�t view anyone as an enemy in politics, but everyone tells me in politics you have to have enemies.�
By now the photographer has arrived and Colonel Otafiire is very conscious of the camera. I get the impression he thinks he has been patient long enough. I ask him why he dropped the name Philip.
�I don�t use a Christian name because I don�t see any of you in Europe calling yourselves by an African name; my name has meaning. I don�t see why I should adopt a name whose name I don�t understand, that is point number one. I don�t see why I should call myself by an English name or a Jewish name, when none of you English or Irish or Jews use our names. I am proud of who I am and I am proud of my name,� he said.
His name means �Unless I die� � part of a proverb which means that he will see great things. I ask if he is religious.
First he says we should discuss that another time, then he says that it is a stupid question and he can�t intrude on the role of the Archbishop or the Mufti. There are clearly only a few minutes left of this interview.
We ask for a chance to take more informal pictures, but he is reluctant.
I think he thinks he has said too much or rather given us a lot of information. When this is done and published, he says, I owe him a beer.
We meet again, much sooner than expected.
My editor sends me back with further questions and a request for further photos. He agrees to meet at the Sheraton where he is having his hair cut.
It is Monday September 29 and we are outside the Rhino pub on the terrace at the Sheraton Hotel.
He is drinking a glass of red wine and wearing a casual shirt. This time, he is discussing his resignation in 1988, his views on the third term.
He also warms to the theme of himself as a victim of other people�s abuse.
I suggest that President Yoweri Museveni has kept him close in government, as it might be easier to control someone who is seen as a loose cannon if he is kept close. Otafiire doesn�t agree.
�I don�t think so. I think the categorisation and character appreciation has been built by one, the press. That is primitive. Two, people don�t know about character assessment. I am neither a loose cannon nor a very harsh man; stereotyping, you know�
This really rubs him the wrong way, because he continues, �(Because) you are strict you don�t tell lies, you are an example of what political leadership should be. Now when you work with a community that is not used to this kind of person, then you are looked at as an exception but I am not an exception, I should be the rule.�
Without prompting, he returns to a question we had discussed in our earlier meeting, that of his rudeness.
�People quite often say I am rude, see they don�t know why I am rude and why I sometimes make very nasty sounding remarks,� he says.
When people make accusations, he wants �to provoke you to prove you are right and I am wrong.�
He says he called the person who accused him of stealing copper rivets �chicken s**t� to motivate him to prove the allegation was correct. He never did.
�If someone comes up with a scatterbrained idea, you don�t know what to do. In our situation even if you go to court, some of these fellows are nobodies, you don�t get revenge.
The biggest redress I can get is by insulting them. You can�t get much out of them, they are just liars,� he said.
The danger is that by insulting them he is bringing himself down to their level. But Otafiire says, �This is an opportunity cost, what can I do?� and laughs.
�I take the risk of being misunderstood rather than letting the person get away with it.�
He says he is a victim of aggression � the aggression being the unfounded allegations. �Why should public sympathise with the aggressor and not the victim of aggression,� he said.
Otafiire asks if I have read The Government Inspector by Ivan Gogol and then suggests that I do.
In 1988, he resigned as minister of internal affairs, after pulling a gun on the wife of a colleague. He is reluctant to discuss it as the woman has since passed away.
�I thought it was unfitting for me as a senior minister, senior army officer to behave the way I did behave, so I tendered my resignation. It was improper behaviour,� he said.
�Personally, I think politicians ought to be people of integrity and dignity, and when you fall short of that, you should take responsibility for your actions.�
Otafiire was back in government two weeks later.
Should Museveni stand for a third term? He pauses before he answers.
�I really don�t know. I wouldn�t want to restrict the president. If the population wants him to serve a third term, I would not want to say no, don�t ask this man to serve. Museveni should be the best judge himself, he should look at his capacity.�
Otafiire argues that opponents of the third term should campaign to ensure Museveni is defeated as this is more democratic than opposing the third term itself.
He thinks it is unfair to assume Museveni wants presidency for life.
�The time will come when he becomes useless. When he becomes useless then people will get rid of him,� he laughs. Otafiire isn�t interested in the presidency for himself.
�Not really, not really. (But) If the position falls vacant. If I look at the other contestants and I think there is nobody better than me, why shouldn�t I?� he said.
The previous Sunday, The Monitor ran a story about the president�s daughter Natasha Karugire flying abroad to give birth.
In Colonel Otafiire�s mind, this is clearly improper behaviour.
�That is not proper, that is not proper, but depending on the situation, if it was an emergency and the girl had to be moved, well, that would be proper. The family of the president should not take advantage of such government facilities. If there is no emergency, I wouldn�t approve,� he said.
It�s been said that Otafiire keeps the beer tops in his pockets, in case bar staff try and inflate the bill.
But he laughs it off. �I don�t do that, I tell jokes about myself. By the time they give you a wrong bill, they are sure you are not in a state to answer back,� he said.
He talks about journalists who write inaccurate stories about him and his family and people who make groundless accusations.
The photographer arrives later. Col. Otafiire admires the photographers� portfolio and reluctantly agrees to have pictures taken. I suspect Col.
Otafiire is regretting the whole exercise, interview and photographs, the lot. We get our photographs and it is about half seven when we leave.
His last words: �You will hear about it.�
I guess these words are spoken in reference to the interview, which he thinks he might regret.
�We are never like that at home, we live a different life at home, we are a neat community, we live for each other, and arguments never get loud because we tell each other the truth. There is no room for rancour. We discuss issues and argue and if they don�t see my point of view, I leave them alone�
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