By John V Sserwaniko
Influential city journalist Andrew Mwenda has confessed being the one who caused the sacking of veteran scribe Tamale Mirundi from being Press Secretary to the President.
Mwenda told Mulengera news Thursday evening that he one morning woke up feeling “sick and tired” of having a man of such lukewarm commitment continuing to hold such a sensitive position. “Early in the morning, I picked my phone and called the President personally asking him to sack that man. He was everywhere on radio saying bad things about State House and its employees yet it’s his job to ensure the image of State House is intact,” said Mwenda who Mirundi has for years been belligerently accusing for orchestrating his disgraceful departure from the coveted office. “But I was magnanimous because I’m the same person who lobbied and asked the President to appoint him Presidential Advisor.”
Mwenda says he isn’t remorseful for what he did because he is convinced State House is now a better defended place of honor than it was when Mirundi was still charged with safeguarding its image and reputation. “He was tarnishing the image of State House and I had to defend State House staff whose names he was tarnishing everyday calling them mafias,” Mwenda explained.
“There was a recording people listening to him had put together. He says it was a forgery. It wasn’t because he confessed that being his voice appearing on different media shows. I asked the President to allow me come in with my phone to be able to play that recording during that meeting. When I played it, he [Mirundi] admitted that was him bashing State House employees and calling people mafias.” Mwenda says, as a patriotic citizen, he considered it his duty to ensure the image of State House and its employees is intact. “Otherwise I can’t be said to hate Mirundi because I don’t even know him that much and in any case there wasn’t anything I had ever dealt with him prior to that State House encounter that resulted into his sacking.”
He adds that waging a hate campaign against the very State House whose image he was hired to protect made Mirundi a legitimate target for his (Mwenda’s) patriotic actions. “The image of the President should be defended at all times and that is why a Press Secretary is hired. Tamale Mirundi can complain for 500 years [calling me names] but as for me, I don’t regret what I did. It was the right thing to do because he had become such a menace. And by the way I’m not in any way terrified by his witchcraft threats because I’m the overall head of all witch doctors on the African continent. As a biggest witch on the continent I can cause worse things to him than he keeps threatening to do to me,” said Mwenda in his characteristic sarcasm.
He ironically added that, despite all the very disparaging things Tamale Mirundi has been saying demonizing him on radios and TV shows, he has no ill will against the very rudimentary wordsmith from Kalisizo “because I don’t even know him that much; neither is there any history of us dealing together on anything” prior to the belligerent State House encounter that resulted into the Mirundi ouster.
Mwenda also denied narrowly surviving being thumped by Tamale Mirundi on Tuesday at the Kamwokya Media Plaza-based NBS TV studios where they stumbled on each other. Mirundi walked in for his [“one on one with Mirundi”] TV program as Mwenda concluded his Morning Breeze topical discussion interview with Simon Kaggwa Njala. Reliable insiders say Mirundi had to be kept somewhere in the corridors to prevent him physically going after Mwenda as he exited but the Independent magazine CEO says nothing of the sort happened. (For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755 or email us on mulengera2040@gmail.com).
