By Aggrey Baba
Uganda’s Ambassador to the UAE, Zaake Kibeedi, has revealed that his boss, President YK Museveni is his number one role model, crediting his leadership philosophy for inspiring his own approach to public service and collective responsibility.
Kibeedi made the revelation during an interview on the Morning Briefing podcast aired daily on Mulengera Media, while reflecting on the people who have inspired him in his political and diplomatic journey.
Asked whether President Museveni was among his role models, Kibeedi answered without hesitation.
“He is number one,” he said.
The ambassador explained that his admiration for Museveni began when he was in Primary three, when the President came to power in 1986, at just 42 years.
He said he had followed Museveni’s leadership over the years, but his understanding of the President’s leadership philosophy was strengthened after reading Sowing the Mustard Seed, his [M7] book,
Kibeedi said one particular story in the book influenced the way he thinks about leadership, recalling Museveni’s account of the original 27 members of the National Resistance Army (NRA) and how they dealt with disagreements whenever they reached a junction and had to decide which direction to take.
According to Kibeedi, Museveni explained that even when he was on the side of the minority, the group would follow the decision of the majority and move together, rather than split.
He said the lesson he drew from that experience was that a leader cannot always assume that his or her preferred decision is necessarily the right one.
According to him, what mattered was agreeing on a direction and moving together so that responsibility for the decision became collective.
“That is one of them,” Kibeedi said, referring to the leadership principles he had drawn from the man who has ruled Uganda for over forty years.
He also paid tribute to his late brother, Wanume Kibedi whom he described as a role model from his childhood and an important mentor during both his political and diplomatic careers.
The Diplomat said that his late brother guided him through his experiences when he entered elective politics and later gave him firsthand lessons when he joined the foreign service.
He described his late brother as one of the best foreign service officers Uganda has had.
Wanume Kibedi (RIP) served as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also served as Uganda’s first Representative to the United Nations, where he served between 1986 to 1988.
Kibeedi further named former Speaker of Parliament and woman MP for Kamuli District, Rebecca Kadaga as another major influence, describing her as his “good friend” and “political mother.”
He also recalled how Kadaga and the late Kirunda Kivejinja supported him during his campaign to become Youth Member of Parliament for Eastern Uganda.
Kibeedi said that during the final stages of the campaign, he brought the two together at the home of former energy minister Daudi Migereko, where they stayed for three days as they campaigned for him before eventually winning the election. Kadaga and Kivejinja had political misunderstandings and there were factions in Busoga among supporters, where a certain faction was in bed with Kadaga, while another was team Kivejinja.
However, despite the misunderstanding, he (Kibedi) managed to keep the two Busoga giants under one roof for three days without any fight.
Having served as Youth MP before joining the foreign service, he was asked during the interview where he sees himself in the next 10 to 15 years and whether he could return to elective politics, particularly in Jinja.
Kibeedi stopped short of declaring a political comeback but did not rule it out either.
“I don’t know. I like crossing the bridge when I’m there, but as of now I’m enjoying representing my country abroad,” he said.
He nevertheless indicated that he expects to return home eventually and contribute to Uganda’s economic development, with agro-processing among the areas he is interested in.
His answer leaves his political future open, although he appeared more focused on completing his current diplomatic responsibilities than announcing another electoral bid. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
