Reflecting on one past UNAA
convention as a precursor for UNAA San Francisco
UNAA CONVENTION 2005, MINIAPOLIS,
MINNESOTA
The
convention was very vibrant, interactive and one would say, up-close and
personal when it came to canvassing or soliciting for votes.
It is not every day that you camp with over 800 Ugandans for a
weekend. Noticeably this year, many Ugandans flew in
from the United Kingdom. The Ugandan government sent
a high packed delegation headed by Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere. The
delegation had cabinet ministers, members of parliament, special
presidential aide, ambassadors and other embassy officials. One of the
government officials, Catherine Naava Nabagesera presentation, she told
the community (UNAA) about the governments achievements specifically
concerning those in the Diaspora.
As a
Ugandan, I feel honored and grateful to the Ugandan government and
political leaders availing me a chance to meet and interact with so
many officials for the whole weekend. The fact that some government
officials ran out of business cards, is evidence enough that many
Ugandans were eager to meet and exchange their
business cards and contacts of some sorts.
The
UNAA Election:
As scheduled
by its constitution, it was time for UNAA members yet again, to elect
their International Executive Board whose service is purely
voluntary. The UNAA presidential campaign was
magnificent and very animated and one would be excused to think that
they were vying for a parliamentary seat. The zeal
shown in the campaign must be kept alive to realize the goals and
objectives of the organization and not wait for an electioneering year
to show such enthusiasm and the desire to play a role or two to uplift
the communitys well-being. Credit should go to
Margaret Musoke to have raised the campaign standards
as the first person to come out with a campaign website and sensitize
members on issues and possible solutions faced by the
organization. Agreeably, Abdul Kalema-Kimbugwe had
the best UNAA Christmas tree as far as the ticket, campaign team, and
most probably, the voting constituency was concerned. His team seemed to
have gone ballistic as far as campaign materials were concerned.
Then cyber
heckling and the quarterbacking ensued up to the wire.
I enjoyed the Word of the Day from Ed Kironde during the
vote-soliciting period. Then, the immediate responses
from Reverend Joseph Kamugisha, swatting anyone who was unfavorable to
his candidate. One would think that the man of God
had his anti-scuds missiles mounted in cyber space.
On the other hand, Dr Frank Matovu, on entering the race, had his
paintbrush ready whenever anyone threw dirt at his running mate; the
Doctor heavily applied the brush to cover any of that dirt. Albeit, as
the paintbrush swayed from one side to the other, a number of UNAA local
chapters got the ink splashed on them. One thing that
crossed my mind came from Dr Matovus forgiveness to Ed
Kironde. Though it came to pass, and I would like to
believe that it was a bluff and would not put a question mark on what
would have been the Executive Boards impartiality and ability to follow
UNAAs guidelines on bidding cities, had his ticket
prevailed.
..But Margaret and
I forgive you in advance of our winning on Sunday 09/05/2005. Remember,
Margaret and I will sit on the UNAA Board that will evaluate Denvers
suitability for hosting UNAA-20 in 2008
Dr Matovu [during the campaign
heat]
The Ugandan
community in the Diaspora is a cross-section of Ugandas
diversity. If you find that politics played a major
role in UNAA elections and find that it was a little uncharacteristic,
you need to be reminded that it is the rebirth of political party
politics in Uganda and politicians will go a long way to garner support
from all possible corners of the globe. Some voted
with friends and families, others were swayed by who they knew, and I
want to believe that however impressive either platform may have been,
few, if any voters, cast their votes simply because
of such impeccable credentials. Past elections never
generated any steam and fewer people participated in previous elections,
and strangely enough, quite a few people expressed that it was the first
election of any kind they have ever participated in.
In the end, we had victors and no victims.
Emotions were high, and it is possible that some people could
have been scarred, and opted to bottle the anger, but it will heal with
time. When Mr. Nekyon called Ms Musoke on stage after
the announcement of the results, the action sent a powerful message to
our present and future leaders. Whether those not
elected will create a virtual-bush, or work with elected executive,
time will tell.
The
Electoral Commission under the Chairmanship of Mr. Patrick Ayota, should
get thumbs up for its professionalism, impartiality and watertight
confidentiality. Omugave Ssemakula, clad in his blue
T-shirt, embarked on a Kabbo Ka Muwala mission dishing out entugo
and some other delicacy of sorts, to those waiting in line to vote,
saying that he had greetings from those he was openly campaigning
for. One Electoral Commission official (Moses Wilson)
intervened and Omugave Ssemakula was asked to move his ntungo at
a distance, he obliged and that was most probably the last time we saw
much of him in public.
One Georgian Doctor who declared himself candidate
as well, threatened to sue the outgoing UNAA President and the Electoral
Commission for closing the nominations prematurely.
He was heard saying that the amount of money he makes in a day,
will take UNAA a whole year to make it. This Doctor,
clothed in his Kanzu, later made headlines news in the Ugandan Press, as
he was frog-marched by security personnel, obviously having had
one-too-many. Had he been elected UNAA President, the
Georgian Doctor would have missed the closing highlights.
Miss UNAA
As other
activities took place, a flag bearer to carry the beauty mantle for Miss
UNAA was taking place and few have any information when and how the
finals went. Understandably, the panel was homegrown
and already handpicked well, according to some participant and a panel
of five had a couple as in spouses and dominantly Minnesota. Beauty
contest participants traveled from near and far, with expectation of
sharing their talents with fellow Ugandans.
Once it was discovered that some of the contestants could sing
and one of them actually was at the verge of releasing an album in the
studio, this showcasing was killed off for obvious reasons.
UNAA members now have to buy her music from record
stores. The judges eventually declared a Minnesota
resident as the winner.
They held an interview with the five
judges on Friday night Sept 2nd.The organizers had put down rules that
if any contestant failed to reach, would be disqualified. One of the
rules was being punctual. I am surprised that each of the contestants
from MN was late at all events but still they had the carriage to crown
Miss MN and put almost all MN contestants in the top five. One of the
beauty pageants wrote.
Political and Interest
Groups:
I was
surprised not to see Madam Anne Mugisha in the FDC political forum I
attended despite the fact that she was in the vicinity.
Most probably there is much more than meets the
eye.
Ugandans
have differing political ideologies and backgrounds, and it was good to
see them share a single platform; address the same people, who have
different political opinions without the need to clobber each
other. All, I hear, in the name of finding solutions
for a common good. On the panel of politicians, UPCs
representatives were visibly missing. NRM, FDC and DP were well
represented.. Judging the length of the line of those
waiting to fire their questions, future political forums maybe need a
whole days workshop.
The NRM
session was jammed to capacity though it was minutes before the Boat
departure. The FDC forum attracted many members of various political
interests who bought a few party items in the name of fundraising.
The Basoga
leaders had something going on somewhere upstairs.
AbbeyW
