By Mulengera Reporters
On Saturday, Simon Kasyate hosted the Capital Gang program on Capital Radio where eminent Ugandan political theorist Dr. Yusuf Serunkuma was one of the guests. The others were Abdul Katuntu, Dickson Kateshumbwa and Lydia Wanyoto.
At the very beginning, Kasyate demonstrated extreme hostility and contempt towards Dr. Serunkuma when he belittled him with questions like where he is based and what he can be introduced as now that Makerere University, his previous employer, had relentlessly been issuing out public notices disowning him. He provocatively asked him “Where are you these days?” and he sarcastically replied with “I’m here.”
Kasyate, whose last formal employment was with KCCA as their communications guru, said this is a question he gets asked many times these days as well. Clearly uncomfortable responding to claims of Makerere disowning him, Serunkuma warned Kasyate against trying to imply a “scandal” where none existed.
Serunkuma said it was good enough to merely be introduced as a Makerere-based researcher and also a columnist with the Observer newspaper. Serunkuma, who had already been flattered with complementary comments by Kateshumbwa who described his weekly articles as ‘provocative but insightful,’ quoted what fallen New Vision columnist John Nagenda said one time that-he didn’t crave being an MP for as long as he had the New Vision platform to keep putting out his column every week.
Not done, Kasyate attacked him on this issue too by directing him to stop quoting Nagenda out of context because, in his view, the Observer for which Serunkuma writes is way a much smaller newspaper or platform that can’t be compared to the gigantic Saturday Vision that Nagenda was referencing. Kasyate went as far as belittling the Observer by likening it to a small radio station upcountry which can be so insignificant to the extent that those who appear on its weekend political program ought to be ashamed coming to Kampala to brag about it.
He went on to reference what he called social media rumors to the effect that a certain newspaper (implying Observer) was closing shop anytime soon. He made it clear Serunkuma should be ashamed equating such a dying newspaper to the New Vision for which Nagenda wrote and for decades had his Saturday column (One Man’s Week) published in. Serunkuma, who must have been bewildered by the unprovoked hostility, remained calm and made it clear he wasn’t prepared to plunge into the discussion on collapsing Ugandan newspapers because the producer who invited him never indicated this would be one of the topics.
ATTACKS HIM AGAIN:
As the program progressed, panelists discussed the ongoing operations by KCCA to force street vendors and hawkers off the city’s roads and streets. Sophisticated, public-spirited and broad-minded as always, Serunkuma defended vendors and said it was escapist for KCCA and the GoU to go after vendors by claiming they were the conduit through which counterfeit products were being flooded onto the Ugandan market-to the health detriment of the ordinary Kampalans.
Serunkuma insisted the blame lies with government agencies like UNBS and URA, where Kateshumbwa was for years employed as a senior manager before becoming MP in 2021. He said especially UNBS was responsible for ensuring that such counterfeit goods are not cleared at customs clearing points as imports. He went on to say that as a researcher, he does some of his research through direct interaction with traders, downtown.
He claimed to have interacted with a big-name businessman downtown who one time told him about UNBS officials who pocketed Shs1bn and let in containers full of counterfeit goods. He said such should be blamed on UNBS and not the street vendors. Kasyate immediately attacked and blew him up demanding that he reveals the rich man who told him and exact UNBS officials who shared that Shs1bn. He said that Serunkuma must expect to be held to a high standard since he calls himself a big-name Ugandan scholar.
Serunkuma defended himself saying he knows what he was talking about but can’t disclose such details since in research, its common practice for researchers like him to merely “anonymize” as opposed to disclosing such sensitive details. He sarcastically demanded to know if Kasyate, the day’s moderator, was intellectual enough to understand what such terms (as anonymize) mean.
He went on to braggingly declare he is both a high repute journalist and scholar, which greatly rattled Kasyate. He responded by declaring how he is a much better journalist since he is entitled to carrying the title “award-winning” journalist, which Serunkuma isn’t entitled to. Kasyate was boosted when Kateshumbwa, who sounded angry at the political theorist for “demonizing a government agency [UNBS]” jumped in and declared Serunkuma “a counterfeit scholar.”
As Kasyate cheered him on, Kateshumbwa demanded to know about some of the scholarly papers Serunkuma had ever published in peer-reviewed journals. Serunkuma politely responded there are many and he is more than ready to share details if Kasyate would allow him time and space to do so.
At some point, Serunkuma demanded to know why only streets were being decongested without the government considering doing the same to Parliament, which he claimed was full of not-so-very useful people. He wondered why the rest of the government doesn’t get decongested too in order to achieve greater efficiency the way vendors were being targeted under the guise of decongesting Kampala City. He also demanded to know why Kampala Golf Course doesn’t get relocated far away so that that space it occupies in Kitante is put to more productive use.
At this point, in his capacity as the moderator standing in for Oscar Semweya Musoke who was absent, Simon Kasyate threatened to force Serunkuma out of the Capital FM studios on grounds that he was commencing bigger wars than he had capacity to handle. Gratefully, Serunkuma maintained his cool and remained part of the discussion which ended with panelists being invited to give their views on Robert Kyagulanyi Bobi Wine’s speech to AU leaders at Geneva.
It remains to be seen how easily Serunkuma (who gratefully has many other media platforms to speak from) will accept subsequent invitations to feature on the Capital Gang program for as long as he knows the moderator will be Simon Kasyate, a man who demonstrated extreme contempt and resentment towards him as a scholar. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
