By Mulengera Reporters
At the Wednesday All Saints Cathedral Nakasero Church service in memory of fallen Major John Kazoora, Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa encouraged senior citizens and well-intentioned Ugandans to keep calling him and his boss Nalongo Anita Among out while criticizing their weaknesses or excesses whenever they see any.
Tayebwa revealed how Kazoora, an elder who mentored both of them while still in FDC, would often summon either him or Anita Among to his residence in Kigo for haranguing of some sort whenever he felt they were going astray. He said in most cases, Kazoora would place a direct phone call to any of them and directly rant about their excesses.
“He would ask where are you people taking this country? That was him and he did this out of duty and in total honesty as a senior citizen. We always took it in good faith. But where we did well, he still called to complement and encourage us,” said Tayebwa to a large audience that comprised of several government heavyweights and private citizens.
In an earlier Tuesday eulogy during the vigil at Kazoora’s Kigo home, his widow Naome Kabasharira had commended Tayebwa for using personal money to contribute towards Kazoora’s medical bills. She said his boss Anita Among did the same. Being Rushenyi woman MP, Kabasharira would reach out to them saying “Your uncle has medical bills to pay” and they generously contributed. They had to use personal money because Parliament doesn’t directly support MPs’ spouses.
At the Wednesday Church service, Tayebwa said there is nothing wrong with senior leaders and citizens raising their voices to call out himself or even Anita Among because they are human prone to making mistakes.
He thanked Miria Matembe, Kazoora’s close relative, for equally being outspoken and always criticizing them as leaders of Parliament. He deamanded that other senior citizens begin doing the same because it’s the only way the young people who have been entrusted with public office can effectively serve their country.
He thanked seniors in NRM who welcomed him with open hands in 2015 when he first came around to join NRM having abandoned Kazoora and others inside FDC. He said elders in NRM didn’t show him any bad attitude. “Neither did any of them judge me as a young man coming to join their thing,” he said.
He also told the audience about how Kazoora initially negatively reacted to his joining the NRM but gradually understood his decision when he explained to him how serving Uganda was more important than any political party in Uganda.
Tayebwa referred to Kazoora being in opposition yet his wife Naome Kabasharira was a big-name cadre inside NRM. That same year 2015, Tayebwa used his printery at Nasser Road to print campaign posters for both Kazoora and Kabasharira-and it’s Kazoora who contracted him to do Naome’s who was standing on NRM ticket. He told the Major there was nothing harmful in him taking up a position to serve from the NRM side. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
