Upon launching his bid to get elected to the position of Makerere University Vice Chancellor late last year, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe realized he needed much more money than was readily available to him. The race was very competitive and yet ironically, time wasn’t on his side. Groups of influential power brokers had already started work marketing him to stakeholders within and outside of Makerere. He was being told that many powerful offices outside Makerere needed to be contacted because a clique of Ministers campaigning for one of his opponents needed to be countered and blocked from seeing the President and this was a logistical operation that required him to do something and fast enough. The campaigners of his opponent (led by a Minister from western Uganda) had gone as far as getting ISO write dossiers falsely accusing Nawangwe of Mbabazism. This had become a way rivals with access to the President always went about deflating their opponents and the Nawangwe camp wouldn’t take chances. The conviction in the camp was that Nawangwe was internally a solid candidate having been spontaneously embraced by the students’ community, Muasa, Senate and governing council members. That wasn’t enough to cause complacency. Still work had to be done and the foot soldiers needed to be consistently given the impression that Nawangwe was financially solid and would as such not seek to dip his hands in the University till to enrich himself. So to keep the campaign moving on smoothly without showing any signs of financial exhaustion, the candidate realized there was need to have ready money available in case any emergency expenditure was to be required. Reliable sources close to him say, Nawangwe who had been DVC F&A under Ddumba-Sentamu, sat with his family and consensus was built that his St. Barnabas College Migadde (along Bombo Road) had to be sold and urgently.
KAYANJA WEIGHS IN;
Scouts went out head hunting and buyers weren’t forthcoming. It was at that point that Nawangwe’s wife sought to take advantage of her membership to Ps Robert Kayanja’s Rubaga Miracle Center Church whose membership comprises of some of Kampala’s wealthiest individuals. Ps Kayanja, who was already morally very supportive of Nawangwe’s bid for the Makerere VC slot, reacted with a lot of enthusiasm when the matter was brought to his attention. He offered to announce in the Church before the congregation about a good school that was up for sale. Images would be run on large projectors during church services showing the school’s beautiful scenery in order to attract quick buyers. For some days, there was no response and eventually those who came up were offering very little compared to the school’s worth. Reliable sources say it was then that Kayanja offered to buy the school himself on strict condition that the deal remained confidential. The purchase price came at the best time and from then on, a new momentum became evident in the good technology Professor’s campaign processes. Under the new ownership, the school has since been renamed from St. Barnabas College to something else. And promotional messages urging parents to consider the school are these days run regularly during and after services at Ps Robert Kayanja’s Rubaga Miracle Center Church. For comments, call/text/whatsapp us on 0703164755!
