By Our Reporters
Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda must have suffered a very serious emergency at his OPM offices on Thursday mid-afternoon that required ex-CDF Gen Charles Angina’s urgent intervention. Our conclusion is based on the rush with which Angina was required to report to Rugunda’s office. And the following is how it happened. Angina was at Makerere College of Business & Management Sciences (CoBAMS) as one of the speakers addressing hundreds of students who gathered for the Pakasa Forum meeting.
Dubbed the 9th Pakasa Forum, the event had several successful entrepreneurs speak to inspire students having good business ideas to develop guts to put them to work. Pakasa is currently one of the very trending products by Robert Kabushenga’s Vision Group. According to Susan Nsibirwa, one of the Group top executives, the assumption is the young people always have a lot of potential which organizers seek to unlock by assembling a panel of eminent speakers to share business experiences in order to unlock that potential. So Angina was here to explain how some of the government billions available under the Operation Wealth Creation (OWC for which he deputizes Chief Coordinator Gen Salim Saleh) can be accessed to offer startup capital to enable the youth turn their brilliant ideas into successful business enterprises. He came a bit late and Bills Mboijana (who ably moderated all the sessions) explained this was because the General had been delayed at OPM where he started his day meeting Rugunda. Prof Erias Hisale, who is CoBAMS Principal, took to the microphone and called upon Angina to address the students. But midway his presentation (in which he urged young people to stop despising agriculture saying agriculture tourism was the best way OWC would support them start), Angina got a message that Rugunda urgently wanted to meet him again. One of his UPDF escorts came rushing with the phone and showed Angina a communication showing Rugunda was waiting for him. It appears the message required Angina to abandon whatever he was doing and run to OPM. “I’m sorry my beloved children I have to leave. I can’t speak beyond this because the Prime Minister is waiting for me and I have to leave now,” Angina unexpectedly announced at a time many in the audience thought his speech hadn’t reached midway. Angina then picked his things and matched out. Journalists chased after him unsuccessfully demanding to briefly interview him elaborating on some of the great points he had made in his speech. “My brother I’m really very sorry because I personally would be very much interested talking to you at length but I have to go,” Angina said as he offered his business card pleading with the inquisitive journalists to either call him later or email their questions to him. “But you even know my office. Why don’t you kindly come and get proper information when I’m not in a hurry?” Angina said as his evidently stressed assistants (holding his phones) opened the door to his vehicle and led him away. They then out quickly to go find the Prime Minister who evidently kept calling to establish how far the General from Teso had come. The manner of Gen Angina’s departure left many speculating as to which sort of emergency Rugunda was suffering from at his OPM offices as he waited for him. A very apologetic Angina asked Prof Hisale to organize another day and he returns to comprehensively address whatever he wanted to tell students about entrepreneurship, wealth creation and as well as reasons why the State no longer has capability to create job opportunities for all contemporary graduates. For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755.
