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The Monitor (Kampala)
COLUMN
October 30, 2003
Posted to the web October 1, 2003
Charles Onyango-Obbo
Kampala
The Ugandan press has been toying with the story of First Daughter Natasha Kainembabazi Karugire flying the presidential jet to Germany to give birth to her second child.
The tale truly matured when the papers put a price to the cost of becoming President Yoweri Museveni's grandchild - about $180,000 (Shs 3.6bn).
Yet, I can't help but "warn" the press about this presidential jet childbirth. African presidents and their relatives do not react very well when their wish to buy a private jet is challenged, or its use questioned.
Mr Abdulrahman Muhammad Dan-Asabe, a Nigerian student studying in China, not too long ago wrote about Namibia's President Sam Nujoma's response to jet matters. Like our good president, he also does not like term limits, and had the constitution amended to extend his rule. Nujoma and his household have strong views about presidential jet privileges.
Dan-Asabe reports that in what was an "irrational reaction" from the president, it was reported that in an interview with German southern African journalist Thomas Knemeyer, "Nujoma was pissed at the criticism of his purchase of a private presidential jet by the journalist's paper, Die Weld. Nujoma was said to have shouted: 'we are entitled to travel by jet just like other people. If you go to Germany you find all over jets, even private people have them, and therefore the Republic of Namibia cannot buy a jet? That is arrogance, arrogance."
To which Dan-Asabe retorts; "No, Mr. President, what is arrogance is that the President of one of the poorest countries in the world thinks good use of public funds is buying himself a private plane."
A grieved Dan-Asabe, reflecting on this kind of behaviour, together with a long list of disgraceful things done and said by his President Olusegun Obasanjo says; "It is painful to know that the World has again, been given a cause to laugh at Africa in general and African leaders in particular.."
And I have not found someone who has laughed louder than Timeri Murari, a columnist for the Hindu Business Line. Writing early in the year in an article entitled "Situation Wanted; Dictator", Murari was struck by African strongmen's obsession with expensive toys like private jets.
Wrote Murari: "I am seriously considering applying for a job as a dictator. The pay is pretty good, you choose your own working hours, you get any number of freebies.
"Of course the downside, and there is always a downside to any good job, is that you have people gunning for you. I could live with that."
Commenting on a report by Fortune magazine about the world's richest men in March, Murari is struck that; "This time around, Fortune also published a list of the richest dictators.
"According to Fortune, President Fidel Castro is worth $110 million. My admiration for the man only increases at his moderation. He has been in power in Cuba for nearly 50 years. This works out to an annual salary of $2.2 million a year! You could not hire any CEO for that kind of small change.
"The big guys in GE [General Electric], GM [General Motors] pull in 40-50 million dollars a year, and that is not including stock options and other perks.
"However, compare Mr Castro's fortune against the ex-President Suharto of Indonesia who stashed away $8-10 billion dollars during his relatively brief rule of the country."
Then it is the turn of Africa. "African 'Presidents-for-life' from [Robert] Mugabe downwards, have stashed away billions too, and impoverished their countries.
"I watched them gather in Paris recently, dressed in their Armani suits and Dior dark glasses, looking like a bunch of gangsters. They brought in their families and chamchas in private jets, who shopped until they dropped."
Murari veers off to other strongmen, saying; "I am surprised that [Palestinian leader Yasser] Arafat has stashed away $300 million. When did he get the time to make any money? More importantly, where can he spend the money? He is trapped in Gaza and cannot even buy himself a three-course meal."
So what is the point? It is that the Museveni household is not alone in ferrying its members in the presidential jet to go shopping or to bear children. I have not heard the president say he is different from the other African presidents, so it is only fair to treat him like the rest.
Remember the words of Nujoma; "We are entitled to travel by jet just like other people. If you go to Germany you find all over jets, even private people have them."
If you go to deliver your baby in Germany, you do as the Germans do.
