The Prime Minister of the Republic of Uganda, Musafiri Robinah Nabbanja Majegere, has narrated her courage-extinguishing experience as an RDC that set her on a collision path with the late Aggrey Awori in Busia, Eastern Uganda.
It ought to be recalled that on her way to becoming the Prime Minister, Nabbanja has traversed different levels of service, which include tenures as a Resident District Commissioner in Busia District. While addressing the newly appointed Assistant Resident and City Commissioners who have been at the National Leadership Institute (NALI) this morning, Nabbanja recollected the horror experience she had on deployment to Busia where Awori, who later joined the government and ultimately became a minister, was an untouchable opposition leader whom many never dared to clash with.
Nabbanja, who recounts the various incidents as though they had just happened, says she was deployed in Busia as a Resident District Commissioner when Awori reigned as Bugwe County MP with his allegiance to the opposition Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) intact. As a representative of the President, Nabbanja had strict instructions to break the opposition command in the area, an assignment that implied it was unavoidable to antagonize the area’s most feared politician.
And the wait wasn’t long before her fears came to pass. She says as soon as she came face to face with Awori, she was fearlessly bashed, something that couldn’t have dissolved her confidence had she not been equally courageous. “I first met him at a function and his first remark was whether the President had run short of people that he deploys a tiny young girl as RDC. He called me and asked me what I was doing in his District, and I politely answered that I was there to help him and the people of Busia to improve service delivery. Then he sarcastically responded, ‘We shall see,'” she recounts.
When she started mobilizing, she again rubbed shoulders with the former UPC stalwart. “He came to my office and placed a walking stick onto my office table and strictly warned me against ever going to his constituency to speak against him. I humbled myself and politely assured him I wouldn’t do it again,” she told the RDCs.
Nabbanja, however, notes that she remained daring, and two days hardly passed following the threat from Awori before she was in another sub-county, assuring the people that poor service delivery in their areas was partly caused by their MP who sabotaged government programs to the disadvantage of the whole population.
This stubbornness stung Awori deeply, and he couldn’t keep his calm anymore. “He attacked me with anger boiling in him. He banged my table seven times with his walking stick. He warned me that many people had been there, and I would also go in no time if I continued antagonizing him.” But the seemingly naive RDC didn’t relent. She kept on antagonizing the powerful man until he felt he was losing relevance among his subjects, and he finally succumbed and joined NRM, becoming a cabinet member in the process.
Down the road, the Prime Minister says that she was able to cultivate a friendly working relationship with Awori, who she says even supported her when she sought to go to Parliament.
Using this experience, Nabbanja appealed to the new office bearers to resist intimidation in executing their roles, conscious of the fact that they represent the number one citizen of the country. On this, however, they should act with utmost calmness and humility to avoid scaring away potential new members from the party.
