Uganda and other parts of Africa only live to praise a person when he or she is no more. They come to your burial ground, struggle for a microphone to convey a message that touches every mourner about the good things the late person did. However, when you are alive, they only want to see you humiliated, accused, and your name, which you have worked hard to keep burning, soiled properly.
This is the case of Allen Kagina and her former UNRA employees, who are going through a lot of humiliation after having worked hard to promote the NRM agenda through infrastructure.
The team, which is facing a lot of criticism and humiliation, and others who have since been dismissed, worked hard to make NRM consolidate its support in the country, especially in Karamoja, where the Opposition was trying to confuse them by inciting them that the people of Karamoja have been supporting the NRM party since its inception, despite bad roads, no electricity, raids, and hunger.
In fact, it was remaining only minutes for the people of Karamoja to believe that propaganda, but the moment President Museveni stepped into Karamoja to launch the first-ever tarmac road that connected Moroto to Nakapiripirit, that was the beginning of watering down all that Opposition politicians were trying to incite the Karimojong about.
When another road, Moroto-Soroti, was launched, it made many Karimojong shun the bad message of the Opposition and keep on singing about President Museveni and the NRM government. All these roads were being worked on amid tense insecurity in the region. And who were those who sacrificed themselves to work on them? They were Ms. Allen Kagina and her team, who are now facing humiliation.
Surprisingly, the people who are now accusing Ms. Kagina and her team of being corrupt were not even near any government offices, but they are busy blackmailing Ms. Kagina and her team over their qualifications, which are not even connected with engineering studies.
To me, instead of blackmailing Ms. Kagina and her team, there is a need to recognise a job well done by Ms. Kagina and her team and give them a medal for good work while they are still alive, so that they feel their work was recognised, rather than waiting to go and praise them when they are no longer able to receive your praises.
Today, many national roads have been worked on not by the current leadership of the Ministry of Works, but by the leadership of Ms. Kagina and her team.
I want to assure those criticising Kagina and her team for what they claim was not a good job: wait for your time. Yours will be the worst of the worst performances in this country.
Keep blackmailing them. Mzee is watching, and I am sure he knows the good things Ms. Kagina and her team did.
The writer is a senior veteran journalist.
