” I found her fitting wars in Busoga, and I was impressed. I said, “Why don’t I take her to fight for me in Kampala?”” President Museveni Yoweri Kaguta, with a grin, said proudly while addressing a Presidential Advisors’ retreat at the National Leadership Institute ( NALI) in December 2021. Babalanda had convened the very first interaction between the Advisors and Assistants to the President, the first of a kind on the entire life span of the National Resistance Movement Government.
Nearly five years later, Babalanda established herself as one of the most efficient, battle hardened of the ” fishermen’s” cabinet of the President.
As Minister for the Presidency, the choice by the Veran leader in June 2021 shook many heads, with strong doubts about her suitability for the very demanding job she had been thrust into. Many questioned her experience, while others doubted she was educated enough to handle the sensitive docket. Unsurprisingly, the President never doubted his fighter lieutenant an inch. At Kyankwanzi, he chest thumped about how his trust in the Budiope woman was already ” paying off.”
Having transformed the presidency by an unprecedented measure through interventions that have eliminated scandals, formed and strengthened teamwork, restored integrity among the RDCs, enhancing workers’ welfare, among others, rivalries have set in. There have already come up with a debate on how the Minister arrived at the very top with the most coveted leader in the country’s history – Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
Recently, First Deputy Prime Minister, Rebecca Kadaga revealed her elleged role in propelling Babalanda to wherever she has reached, noting she was even forced to forge recommendations to the President to appoint the Budiope West Lawmaker elect as Deputy Resident District Commissioner.
A deeper inquest into Babalanda’s journey has, however, revealed a very disturbing inconsistency in Kadaga’s revelations, which could point to a completly zero connection between her and Babalanda’s rise.
As has already been told, Babalanda had been a top mobiliser of the NRM government in Busoga, often canvassing support for the president and other party candidates. In the early 2000s, President Museveni convened a meeting of influential leaders from the subregion at the State Lodge in Jinja to chat ways on how the stench of poverty could be addressed. As a big-name mobilizer, it was almost unfathomable for such a function to miss Babalanda’s name, and as such, she was invited to represent Kamuli, where she hailed from the same birth constituency-Buzaya as Kadaga.
When President Museveni sought suggestions for a locally brewed solution for the poverty disease, which was threatening the NRM a loyal support base, all leaders looked clueless. As the President watched nothing but desperation on the faces of his audience, the village mobilizer from Kamuli swung her hand in the air, much to the shock of everyone.
” Mr. President, I think I have a proposal on how we can get our people to lead the charge against poverty in Busoga. Mr. President, my proposal is about allowing the people themselves to take charge of their economic destin through small capital support. All leaders at the State Lodge watched in astonishment and wished to know who this girl was. The Head of State was equally impressed and ultimately asked his aides to arrange a meeting for the bold girl of Nalinaibi to make a presentation.
At an agreed time, Babalanda appeared before the president with a smart proposal, which she presented inch perfect to the amusement of the man from Rwakitura. In her presentation, Babalanda suggested that through an initiative she wished named Busoga Rural Development Agency( BURUDA), minimum seed capital would ve extended to the poor with a zeal to work, train them and monitor their activities. Babanada assured the president that if well mobilized and empowered with start-up capital, the Basoga were capable of commanding their economic destin.
The President was convinced that Babalanda’s initiative would indeed improve the livelihood of the Basoga and, thus, accepted to fund the proposal.
Through BURUDA, Babalanda and the team she worked with were able to touch many hands and the initiative didn’t only change lives but drew more Basoga towards President Museveni in the 2006 general election.
By 2007, BURUDA faced challenges with fights from different groups taking center stage. It was argued that Babalanda was less suitable to handle the program which the president had handsomely capitalized.
As a result, the President ordered for the closure of the initiative but one woman- had sunk deep into his heart with her resilience, loyalty, honesty and hardwork.
What followed BURUDA have more sophisticated engagements, right from Deputy RDC in Busia to the office of the National Chairman and ultimately the minister she is today.
The revelation in this story tell a completely different perspective as regards to Babalanda’s meteoric rise, beginning as a mobiliser at the village to one hailed at the National level today.
It’s therefore, not difficult for one to conclude that a blend of unique qualities have propelled her, and kept her at the top other than anyone else’s favors and recommendations.
