Prof.Edward Khiddu Makubuya: The Legal Genius from Buganda who was used and Wasted by Museveni’s Corrupt Neo-liberal System

 

Edward Khiddu Makubuya, down-to-earth politician

https://observer.ug/index.php/news/headlines/82219-edward-khiddu-makubuya-down-to-earth-politician 

August 21, 2024

Written by URN

Edward Khiddu Makubuya, who lived a distinguished life as a law professor, legal and human rights scholar, and Attorney General, passed away on Monday aged 75.

Born and raised in Bulemezi, Makubuya's illustrious career spanned various high-profile roles, including state minister for Foreign Affairs, minister of Education, and state minister for the Luwero Triangle.

Makubuya's academic achievements were equally exceptional. He graduated with first-class honours in Law from Makerere University in 1974, followed by a Master of Laws and a Doctor of Juridical Science from Yale Law School in 1976 and 1979, respectively. His dedication to the field of law was evident through his leadership as editor-in-chief of the Uganda Law Society Review and as head of the Department of Law and Jurisprudence at Makerere University.

In 1995, he was appointed director of the Uganda Human Rights and Peace Center, further solidifying his commitment to human rights and legal education. Despite his academic and professional accomplishments, Makubuya was known for his humility and sharp sense of humour.

This was particularly evident in his parliamentary appearances, where his wit often shone through, especially during his tenure as minister of Education and later as minister of Justice and Attorney General. Makubuya was also a devout Christian, often drawing on his faith in his public speeches. During a censure motion against him as minister of General Duties, Makubuya quoted Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes as he gracefully accepted his fate and departure from the cabinet.

 

“There is nobody who was born knowing how to be a minister of government,” said Makubuya as MPs pushing for his censure listened attentively.

"For everything, there is a season and a time for every activity under heaven, a time to be born, and a time to die...A time to become minister, and a time to cease to be minister" Makubuya proclaimed his exit from the cabinet. “Madam speaker Hon members thank you for listening to me."

Makubuya's career, however, was not without controversy. In 2010, he authorized a payout of Shs 169 billion to businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba and another Shs 14.9 billion to retired Col John Mugyenyi as compensation for lost market tenders. This decision ultimately led to his resignation on February 16, 2012.

Colleagues and contemporaries remember Makubuya as a down-to-earth politician who lived a simple life despite his prominence. Former Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda described Makubuya as a "fine legal brain" who made significant contributions to Uganda as an academic, politician, and student leader.

As minister of Education and later minister of Justice and Attorney General, Makubuya would walk without security from his office at Embassy House and Rajar Chambers to parliament despite the risks it posed. This down-to-earth approach would land him in trouble in January 2003 when suspected car thieves kidnapped Makubuya and his wife and held them hostage for hours. Fortunately, they were not harmed. His official car was later recovered in Kenya.  

Makubuya's rise to prominence began in 1986 when President Museveni established a commission of inquiry into human rights violations between 1962 and 1986. Makubuya served as the top legal mind on this commission, contributing to a comprehensive 4,000-page report documenting atrocities, including those committed during Idi Amin's regime.

 

His work on this commission and the subsequent 1995 Odoki Constitutional Commission marked significant contributions to Uganda's transitional justice and social reconstruction.

At the time of his death, Makubuya was among the 14 members who had been nominated in 2021 for yet another Constitutional Review Commission that was to be chaired by Prof Fredrick Ssempebwa. 

One of Makubuya's most controversial decisions came in 2005 when, as minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, he advised the cabinet to remove provisions allowing individuals to run as independents in elections. He believed that this would strengthen the multiparty system and promote party discipline, though the proposal faced significant opposition.

In 2006, Makubuya again courted controversy by advising Uganda's Electoral Commission that opposition leader Kizza Besigye should be barred from the ballot due to treason and rape charges against him drawing widespread criticism.

Edward Khiddu Makubuya will be remembered as a key figure in Uganda's legal and political history, whose contributions to the country's development were profound and far-reaching.

Tamale Mirundi the Staunch Catholic who also worshipped Ancestral Sprits: Museveni’s media Propagandist Tamale Mirundi passes away

 

Prophet Kakande Prophesied Tamale Mirundi's death(Nabbi Kakande Abuulidde Tamale Mirundi Lwalifa. Asazeewo Kwenyeera Nile Special Crate 10 Buli Lunaku)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=PAGeC_ev1kw  

 

Using the devil to fight the devil: POPE's FOLLOWER Tamale Mirundi says The solutions to land problems in Uganda should be violence and witchcraft

https://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2017/06/popes-follower-tamale-mirundi-says.html  

 

When Tamale Mirundi wrote about the divine curse from the Catholic Church to Mengo

https://mulengeranews.com/when-tamale-mirundi-wrote-about-catholc-church-his-so-called-divine-curse/ 

 

My analysis

The late Tamale Mirundi was given access to many media houses to parade the deception that Yoweri Museveni is a good man although his government was hijacked by mafias. In exposing the so called MAFIA, he stepped on a number of toes of the top brass in Museveni’s government. This is the reason why Tamale Mirundi intimated that  he was poisoned in state house on several occasions. Tamale Mirundi was ignorant about the criminal neo-liberal State presided over by Museveni. Fred Lumbuye exposed the deceptions by Tamale Mirundi when he urged that Uganda is indeed a MAFIA state presided over by the chief Mafia, Yoweri Museveni.

How Tamale Mirundi impacted the Catholic Church

https://www.pulse.ug/news/local/how-tamale-mirundi-impacted-the-catholic-church/mxqeehb 

Samson Waswa

 

14 August 2024 08:00 PM 

 

 He might not have been the most pious Christian or even a regular at his local church service, but Joseph Tamale Mirundi had an unmistakable devotion for and strong impact on the Catholic Church.

 

The deceased former Presidential Press Secretary has been praised by his neighbors and the members of the Catholic faith in Zana for the role that he and his family played in the church. 

 

Speaking at Mirundi’s home in Kirimannyaga Zone, Zzana on Wednesday, Gladys Nakaddu a resident highlighted how the Mirundi family have served as a pillar at the St Matia Mulumba Church.

“Mirundi’s wife (Juliet Tamale) and children are very active in the church,” she said.

“His wife is a leader and a part of the Caritas Uganda (a conservationist development arm of the Catholic Church of Uganda).

 

“His daughter, Teddy Nantongo is the head of the Married at the church; another daughter Maria is in the church choir, while his son Dr Tamale is our youth leader.”

Nakaddu says all this would not have been possible without the input and support of Tamale Murundi.

 

Read: Tamale Mirundi family insists on postmortem to ‘rule out poison’

“His family has been a pillar of the church. You cannot say that his entire family took up leadership positions in the church and he did not play a role in it.” 

 

Supporting church initiatives

Mrs Ages Nannyonga, a municipal councilor and church leader also credited the late Mirundi for supporting the church’s groups and initiatives.

“We as members of the Mother Mary’s Army often came here and he called us his children. He loved us and he helped us financially,” she said.

Mirundi many times boasted of his commitment to his religion.

In his later days, however, he spoke out against the church and even claimed to have turned into a traditionalist. 

 

Changing his name

However, his elder brother Ssali says that from childhood, Tamale was a staunch Catholic, who even changed his name to reflect this.

According to Ssali, Mirundi’s birth name was Bulasio Mirundi which he changed to Joseph, because he loved the biblical Joseph the Worker

 

Tamale Mirundi the patriot leaves mixed legacy

https://observer.ug/index.php/news/headlines/82161-tamale-mirundi-the-patriot-leaves-mixed-legacy 

August 14, 2024

 Written by URN

The country is reeling from the death of renowned media practitioner and former presidential press secretary, Joseph Tamale Mirundi who passed on today morning (August 14) at Kisubi Hospital.

Mirundi, aged sixty, was holding the portfolio of senior presidential advisor on media and public relations, a position he loved to hate. Son to Molly Namatovu and Yowana Mirundi of Matale Kalagala, Rakai district, Mirundi leaves a mixed legacy, with some thinking he was a reckless and fearless commentator while others see a thoughtful and independent commentator.

 He has been renowned for his no-holds-barred attack on excesses in government despite being part of the ruling establishment. The journalist who reportedly made his way from a humble beginning as a school drop-out was brought to Kampala city by his brother – Ssali who was working with the then Munno Publications in the early 1980s.

Mirundi, according to accounts took on newspaper vending, a fit playing assist to his brother Ssali’s role but took a keen interest in writing especially letters to the editor. Later, he took on reporting about events and proved a worthwhile journalist. He was never to look back as the paper sponsored him for short-term training to hone his skills.

Soon he became a colossus at reporting, rising to chief reporter at the paper. He was later to become the paper’s editor but broke ranks with his employers in the early 1990s as some board members tried to force him to publish what he was opposed to on ethical grounds.

Mirundi in the mid-1990s started his own company, Lipoota Publication which published Lippota in Luganda and The Report in English. The latter was more short-lived than Lipoota though both publications did not flourish owing to the economic terrain faced by the media then. The situation might have forced him to compromise here and there for the enterprise to survive.

Later, he founded The Voice, which former minister Sam Kuteesa heavily bankrolled for political capital but that also did not live long and collapsed. He is also remembered for his struggles to maintain free media as the government moved to regulate the industry by bringing the press and media statute that required journalists to have a minimum of a diploma for reporters and a degree for editors.

In the panic that engulfed media practitioners, journalists moved to claim self-regulation, which failed. Those struggles saw the media practitioners divided between the elite (as Makerere University opened to mass communication and journalism).

The “Abataasoma (uneducated)” who were dominant by numbers belonged to the Uganda Journalists Association (UJA) as the elite registered under the Uganda News Paper Editors and Proprietors Association (UNEPA). 

The latter group belonged to the top honchos of the then-nascent Monitor Publications. Mirundi belonged to the former of which he was president at one time. Mirundi was to later (2003) go back to school, scooping a degree from Makerere University before becoming the longest-serving presidential press secretary (PPS) to President Yoweri Museveni (13 years), who is said to have bankrolled his university studies.

A close relationship had developed through the numerous presidential press conferences that Mirundi attended. At one of those press conferences, Mirundi would beat the president to a bet on whether he would defeat Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander Joseph Kony and his belligerents who were fighting government in northern Uganda. The deceased won his million and went away smiling.

In 2015 he was relieved of his PPS duties in what till his death he described as an intrigue-filled process that bordered on blackmail, ethnic sectarianism and outright abuse from some presidential office colleagues. Nonetheless, he remained a self-proclaimed admirer of Museveni, baffling many as he claimed loath for the system the president headed.

Even then, he remained vocal in his social media and print publications against excesses of power in Uganda, always doing it in a dramatic, comical and sometimes abusive style. Like him or hate him, Mirundi had a hero and patriot in him. Rest in peace Mirundi.  

Tamale Mirundi: the stubborn, sly and gifted orator I will miss

https://observer.ug/index.php/news/headlines/82222-tamale-mirundi-the-stubborn-sly-and-gifted-orator-i-will-miss 

August 21, 2024

Written by Siraje Lubwama

On August 13, JOSEPH TAMALE MIRUNDI, the former presidential press secretary and senior presidential advisor on media, died.

He was an outspoken person, had an acidic tongue, and used persuasive language that endeared him to the masses. He also dared to delve into the untouchable issues. As long-time friend and colleague Siraje Lubwama writes, Mirundi was a polarising figure who was loved and loathed almost in equal measure.

I came to know Tamale Mirundi in 1992 through my good friends Hussein Musa Njuki and Haruna Kanaabi, the respective editor-in-chief and news editor of the Wilson road-based Shariat weekly newsletter. He was a budding freelance journalist who wrote for mainly Munno newspaper, but once in a while transferred his stinging stories to Shariat.

From the onset, Mirundi had the persona of a very independent person. He openly declared that he was never baptized, claiming that when his father took him to church to be baptized at the age of nine, he wrestled with the parish priest and ran away. I learnt that John Ssali, his elder brother, brought him to Kampala in 1979 and enrolled him at Kampala High School in S2.

 

Even before completing S6, Mirundi was already a reporter for Munno, and during the NRM bush war, he got to interview key figures such as Gen Salim Saleh. When NRM came to power in 1986, the early founders of Utoda, the taxi operator in Kampala, patronised him as their de facto spokesperson whenever they ran into trouble.

Mirundi never disappointed, and this gave him the platform to become a mouthpiece for several distressed entities and individuals in the city. Shortly after completing his Mass Communication degree at Makerere University in the early nineties, many of us were still comfortable with being employed, but Mirundi initiated two independent newspaper publications, The Voice and Lipoota.

The papers only sold a few hundred copies on the streets of Kampala, but it was clear Mirundi was a man on an independent mission. He often despised us who were employed in formal media entities. He also took a pro-Buganda, anti-NRM stance that greatly endeared him to the ordinary folk.

On two occasions in the nineties, Mirundi was elected Uganda Journalists Association (UJA) president, and in both terms, I served under him as publicity secretary.

During a periodic press conference, Mirundi accused President Museveni of excluding Muslims from the human rights abuse inquiry, which Justice Arthur Order was chairing. In another press conference in the nineties, Mirundi staked and won Shs 1 million against Museveni when he predicted that the UPDF would not flush out Joseph Kony’s LRA in northern Uganda by 1997.

After establishing himself as a popular panellist on various FM radio stations, especially CBS FM, he tried his luck to vie for a parliamentary seat in Kyotera in 2001. But by then, he had already stepped on several high-profile toes, and there was already a force to fight his ascendency.

He lost to little-known Pius Mujuzi thanks largely to the influence of Gen. Elly Kayanja, whom Mirundi accused of using the UPDF to intimidate voters. Tamale and Kayanja later made peace. After burning his fingers in politics, Mirundi amplified his outspokenness and activism, and he got patronised by several leading politicians and businessmen.

Jaberi Bidandi Ssali, then minister of Local Government, covertly backed him financially while businessman James Kibuuka Mulowooza bankrolled the publication of Murundi’s occasional ‘intelligence’ pamphlets disguised as books.

JOINING THE STATE

By 2004, Mirundi’s stature had risen so high he had become the most sought-after panellist for political talk shows. He had the rare gift of simplifying complex historical, political, security and intelligence issues with similes easily discernible by ordinary folk. He, at times, used sexual innuendos. Where other panellists would be given a minute to talk, Mirundi’s time was always unlimited.

However, Mirundi would soon fall out with the Buganda kingdom when he made a 180-degree turn to attack several kingdom officials, including the Kabaka. Rumours swirled that he had been ‘bought’ or become disillusioned, but Mirundi insisted he was speaking his mind.

He also used his popularity to attack Dr Kizza Besigye and it didn’t come as a surprise in December, 2004, when President Museveni, at the urging of his principal private secretary, Amelia Kyambadde, appointed Mirundi deputy press secretary.

He told me back then that as he was moving at Queen’s Way towards Katwe to meet Gen Henry Tumukunde and others comrades to discuss forming a political party when he was waylaid by security operatives who bundled him in a car and drove him to Rwakitura to meet President Museveni.

“At Rwakitura, I asked him [Museveni] for money but he instead offered me a job I couldn’t resist,” he told me back then.

That proved to be a turning point for Mirundi as he became the chief defender of President Museveni. Interestingly, in the course of acting as the president’s ‘barking dog,’ even several top-level government officials found themselves on the negative end of Mirundi’s acidic tongue. He openly harangued then vice president, Gilbert Bukenya, for being a womanizer. He labelled Gen Jim Muhwezi as the most corrupt person in Uganda. No one, even in government, was safe from Mirundi.

So lethal was Mirundi’s tongue that many corrupt officials dreaded him knowing about their dealings. However, Mirundi made many of his utterances without clear evidence or proof. It also became clear that he was always being used in internal fights within government.

In all this, it always intrigued me why no one took action against Mirundi’s often reckless utterances that had the power to change appointments or alter multibillion-dollar deals. He always confided in me that no Ugandan apart from President Museveni can take him on because “they all have skeletons in their closets.”

The one person who dared to take him on was Charles Muganzi, the former Ministry of Works permanent secretary, who dragged him to court for defamation.

According to reports, Mirundi settled the case out-of-court in 2012 for about Shs 150 million. Behind the scenes, however, Mirundi always had my best interests. He always shared intelligence information with me, especially in regards to Muslim arrests. He was always concerned about the government’s arbitrary arrest of Muslims.

During the September 2009 Buganda riots, after the government stopped the katikkiro from visiting Kayunga, Tamale alerted me and fellow panellists on Radio Simba’s Gasimbagane ne Banamawulire about an impending raid by security operatives to arrest us on air. We escaped through the windows and narrowly avoided arrest.

LEAVING STATE HOUSE

In 2015, President Museveni, under immense pressure from close associates, relieved Mirundi of his position as press secretary. The machinations that led to this are still debatable to this day, but Mirundi was never the same.

Whereas State House continued to offer education scholarships to his children, Mirundi felt betrayed and spent the rest of his life lamenting about the circumstances that led to his sacking. Mirundi’s ouster from the State House greatly broke him down, to the extent that he frequently had confused perspectives of the government.

He often said that a group of thieves and self-seekers surrounded a good man in President Museveni. Some of the people he attacked relentlessly were Odrek Rwabwogo, Andrew Mwenda, Col Edith Nakalema, and Gen. Nalweyiso.

GUN FOR HIRE?

For all his influence, Mirundi spent the last few years of his life as a downgraded version of his former self. The Mirundi, who used to turn tables and influence decisions in key government boardrooms with a single utterance on radio, was reduced to providing comic relief for social media enthusiasts.

It also became evident that his love for the bottle, or simply alcoholism, was taking a toll on him as he reduced himself to sometimes uttering vulgar statements in a bid to stay relevant in media circles.

At the time of his death, his influence had greatly waned, and it had become a public secret that Mirundi was a sure-fire gun for hire for influential people to settle political and personal scores.