By Mulengera Reporters
Based on how he conducted business as MC during a Friday high level government function in Entebbe, it’s our conviction that Ministry of Agriculture Permanent Secretary Pius Wakabi Kasaija could be the most dictatorial government technocrat. Oblivious of the fact that many big-name Ugandan and international guests were in attendance, Wakabi used the iron-fist approach that left different speakers clearly feeling harassed and humiliated.
Sometimes they say the end justifies the means and Wakabi clearly complied with this in order to manage time and ensure the event didn’t drag on for an eternity. It was the launching ceremony of the AU/EU-funded Regional Gene Bank (RGB) at Entebbe NAGRIC facility with an aim of preserving and conserving indigenous animal resources in 13 EAC & IGAD countries.
NAGRIC, which is one of the 7 agencies Wakabi directly supervises, was hosting the launching ceremony and are the ones to host the high-tech Regional Gene Bank that cost EU taxpayers millions of dollars to put in place besides four others in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Tunisia and Cameroon.
On realizing time wasn’t on the organizers’ side, Wakabi determined to act remedially and in the end saved much time though many were exactly not very comfortable with the draconian approaches he adopted almost humiliating some speakers.
The event, at which Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda presided over representing the President, was originally slated to begin at 9am but began several hours late. You had many speakers and agenda items on the program yet Premier Rugunda always doesn’t have that much time.
WAKABI GETS DOWN TO WORK
After rushing through the anthems and the opening prayer, the man from Bunyoro run through all the protocols recognizing all the big people present before decreeing that he doesn’t expect subsequent speakers to waste time repeating protocol; recognizing every big person present.
“We are time-barred and whoever I invite here, please just speak and don’t repeat protocol because I have deliberately recognized everybody present,” Wakabi said.
First, he called the area LC1 Chairperson, an elderly lady whom he eventually admonished for making a campaign speech instead of briefly welcoming her guests. Nevertheless, after admonishing her, Wakabi cynically dictated “Let’s clap for her for such a long speech.”
Next Wakabi invited the NAGRIC ED Dr. Charles Lagul, who (being his protege) complied and strictly made a short speech. Wakabi thanked him and said “this is a warning to the next speakers I’m going to invite; please let’s not repeat what the ED has already said.”
He added; “I know some of you might have come with written speeches but let’s edit them and skip things the ED has mentioned already.” This seemed to create some uneasiness in the audience. “Now our next Speaker you have one minute,” Wakabi said as he invited a representative from agriculture research-funding body ASARECA to deliver their speech.
The representative felt he deserved more time to explain many things because ASARECA will be the one coordinating the 13 countries to ensure each one of them meets their obligations for the Regional Gene Bank to achieve desired objectives but that didn’t prevent Wakabi from insisting the man strictly uses very limited time. Next was the IGAD representative whose insistence on running through the history of his organization clearly didn’t please Wakabi as MC.
Wakabi then called for the representative of FAO to come and give their message and when it turned none was in attendance, Wakabi (clearly desperate to manage time to ensure the PM runs back to office in Kampala) called this a blessing in disguise and immediately called on the representative from AU’s Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources Dr. Mary Mbole-Kariuki who reminded Uganda of its obligation to avail NAGRIC with necessary technical and financial support to ensure the RGB lives up to its intended objectives.
An expert on Technology, Innovation & Skills Development, Mbole was to speak again later explaining all the small details about the Regional Gene Bank.
The next speaker was the representative of the African Union Commission (standing in for H.E. Josefa Sacko) who started by showing his nervousness and reservations regarding the way the MC was harassing speakers off the microphone.
“If I make mistakes in my speech here, the Permanent Secretary (Wakabi) will be responsible because the pressure is too much,” he protestingly said causing instant laughter. He stressed the need for the regional countries to meet their financial obligations to enable NAGRIC maintain the Regional Gene Bank in good shape.
He explained that whereas this will be a backup Gene Bank, countries that don’t have anything to conserve their indigenous animal genes are free to benchmark on it as they urgently build their own NAGRIC-like gene banks for the first time.
He stressed that for sustainability, it’s extremely important that countries eagerly make their maintenance contributions without waiting to be pushed or policed.
“Rt. Honorable Prime Minister you can see we are here to hand over a shining facility. We should come here next time and find it still shinning or even looking better and for that to happen, both financial and technical support to NAGRIC must be increased,” the AUC boss said aiming his message to Premier Rugunda.
He urged Vincent Sempijja, who politically heads MAAIF which is NAGRIC’s mother Ministry, to quickly work out annual contribution figure for each member country and have the same urgently communicated to the respective capitals.
The PS then resumed his platform as MC and wondered why none of the speakers was reflecting on the hard competition Uganda endured before winning the bid to host the regional center of excellence.
He accordingly called on Ms Rodha Tumusiime who (as former AU Commissioner in charge of agriculture) knows how competitive it was. Rodha explained many things after which Wakabi called upon the entertainers for a musical interlude.
He insisted they must be very brief “because time isn’t there yet our visitors must return home.” He cracked jokes as he got back his microphone from the chief entertainer saying “that rap he has just given us in Kinyankole was a song praising the long-horned Ankole cow recognizing it’s God-like prominence.”
Saying this was consistent with the day’s theme on preservation of indigenous livestock genes, Wakabi demanded the audience claps for the entertainers for acting so innovatively. He also said the song was proof rapping originated from African cultures and not anywhere else.
It was time for the MAAIF PS to give his speech and being the day’s MC, Wakabi announced he was now speaking in his other capacity and doesn’t expect anyone to herd the PS off the microphone. This caused prolonged laughter as the PS delivered his speech and thanked himself (now in the capacity of MC).
Next was Minister Vincent Sempijja who ignored his protege Wakabi’s draconian directives on time restrictions and spoke for as long as he wished. The man from Kalungu even had time to invite the MPs present giving each one of them a minute to greet the audience and say a word about livestock.
Finally, it was Ruhakana Rugunda who Sempijja invited at the end of his speech without referring back to Wakabi, the MC whose bullish (yet jocular) approach kept many on tenterhooks throughout the ceremony. (For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755 or email us at mulengera2040@gmail.com).
