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By Mulengera Reporters
On the sidelines of a major diplomatic gathering at Kampala’s Uganda Management Institute (UMI), Foreign Affairs Minister Henry Okello Oryem was prompted to talk about Qatar’s growing role in pacifying the DR Congo conflict at a time priority ought to be on ‘African solutions for African problems.’
Veteran journalist Peter Kibazo, who is also the head communications at UMI, demanded to know how the GoU feels seeing the protagonists in the DRC conflict (Kagame, Tshekedi etc) rushing to Doha to be guided and lectured on how to quickly deescalate and reach a deal to restore sanity in that country as opposed to having Gen Museveni or any other African statesman mediate.
Renowned for taking no prisoners, Okello Oryem was revolting in his response. He made it clear that this isn’t something he is proud of as an African. He said even when he attends such meetings in observer capacity as a representative of Uganda, he always feels out of place and convinced that this isn’t time well spent.
“I always make it clear to people in such meetings that I wish I wasn’t here. I wish Uganda wasn’t here,” he told reporters in response to Kibazo’s question.
Oryem said it’s embarrassing that African leaders can rush and accept to go and be lectured in Paris, Qatar, Washington or New York and other world capitals by leaders who can’t even pronounce African leaders’ names correctly.
“I wonder why some of our leaders rush there when we have leaders like President Museveni here who have deeper understanding of conflicts in this region.” Oryem defended his country Uganda making it clear the leadership in Kampala isn’t among those who are always quick to exhibit dependency on foreign powers.
THE GREATER EVENT:
He had just presided over as chief guest at the event where UMI’s newly unveiled Center for Diplomacy & International Relations was launched.
The Center, the first of its kind in Uganda, will implement a comprehensive course or training programme which public and private sector leaders and actors will undergo to sharpen their diplomacy capabilities and understanding of global affairs.
Prof Sylvester Kugonza, the dean of the School of Civil Service, Public Administration & Governance at UMI, said the Wednesday launch was preceded by a prolonged thought and preparatory process that spanned over 2 years.
He revealed that UMI had been able to pull it off in close partnership with the Islamic Development Bank and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with which an MoU (obliging the GoU to permit UMI scholars unlimited access to the relevant processes of government) had been entered.
Oryem said his Ministry was prepared to support the Center all through by enabling all the necessary interactions and engagements.
The launching ceremony was made to coincide with a public policy dialogue on diplomacy in the Great Lakes region, which became a platform for several speakers to reflect on why the practice of diplomacy hadn’t been able to deliver sustainable peace for regional countries like Somalia, DR Congo and South Sudan.
UMI has been active in organizing such policy dialogues which culminate into the Institute preparing policy briefs to guide decision and policy making at the relevant GoU MDAs. The Wednesday one focussed on diplomacy and the practice of international relations.
The panel discussion had the likes of Dr. Charles Kiiza, Timothy Kalyegira, Dr. Mwambutsya Nsebesa and others make insightful and thought-provoking submissions. Charles Rwomushana, a renowned conspiracy theorist, was among those who leveraged the plenary discussions session to render their views on the subject.
Kalyegira doubted there is much the academia can contribute to international relations in the Ugandan setting because governments in this region treat diplomacy as a secretive arena in which only intelligence gurus and gatherers have to play.
Rwomushana agreed with him and said much more including attributing the endless chaos in DRC on the role of the Tanzanian Founding President Julius Nyerere, who died almost 30 years ago.
In terms of staffing, Dr. Kugonza said the Diplomacy Center was well established and prepared to excel tackling tasks at hand. He unveiled a Cuban Professor Dr. Aixa Cristina Kindalan Larrea who will be serving at the founding Professorial Chair for the Center. She will be working with several other eminent staffers including serving and retired senior diplomats.
Okello Oryem welcomed the development as long overdue and referenced Uganda’s growing role in using diplomacy to create and export peace to many turbulent parts of the region.
He said people like himself and President Museveni have accumulated a lot of knowledge relating to how diplomacy is practiced in this region and the problem is that they could end up dying with all that wealth of knowledge as opposed to the same getting recorded and documented for future referencing. He hoped there will now be plenty of documentation by the Center at UMI.
Okello Oryem also fondly spoke about his former boss Sam Kutesa who he said was Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister for 24 years, a period during which he accumulated lots of experiences and lessons which ought to be documented.
Oryem hoped that the Center at UMI will prioritize engaging with such leaders and actors in order to have their experiences and arsenal of diplomacy-related knowledge documented for referencing by future decision makers. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
