By Our Reporters
This is the one million dollar question that many social media users have lately been asking regarding what exactly could have gone wrong to turn the once very submissive ex-Minister Asuman Kiyingi into a very outspoken regime critic he has lately distinguished himself to be. Unknown to a lot of people, Kiyingi has always been very independent-minded ever antagonizing what peers take to the orthodox-and therefore unchallengeable-position on things. It’s this character, of always questioning and fearlessly challenging authority that explains his misunderstandings with Busoga’s undisputed kingmaker Rebecca Kadaga. In fact many attribute Kiyingi’s electoral downfall in 2016 to the fact that he had over the years been angering Kadaga and by 2016, too much fury had built up in the Speaker’s heart, there is no way Kiyingi would be allowed back to Parliament. As Minister he was always bound by the collective responsibility doctrine-and he was always restrained and quiet not because he is dense (very far from it); otherwise he is a very intelligent Musoga who likes being outspoken on almost everything. “This is our time the generation that is neither too young nor too old to lead and serve,” a close acquaintance recently quoted Kiyingi to have told them in a bid to justify his taking-no-prisoners approach while confronting Kadaga who is famously feared in Busoga for being Uganda’s number 3 only after the President and Vice President. “That is the man: never taking prisoners in his approach to life,” added the friend who has seen Asuman Kiyingi grow from a young idealistic lawyer at Makerere Law School whereafter he joined NMS as Corporation Secretary. It’s from there that the go-getter in Kiyingi saw him go for the Bugabula South MP Seat in 2006 following the then incumbent Salaam Musumba’s political fallout with President Museveni over the lifting of term limits paving way for what Musumba contemptuously referred to as the “Sad Term.” On joining Parliament, Museveni who was grateful having been helped to overcome Salaam Musumba, instantly rewarded Kiyingi with a ministerial position and he was to remain cabinet minister (at Lands and later on Foreign Affairs) for the 10 years up to 2016 when he lost his seat to Kadaga-backed Maurice Kibalya. Kiyingi’s successor had opportunistically quit the opposition for NRM on sensing the opportunity to eat things in Parliament. In fact in 2011, Kiyingi manifested remarkable defiance when he protested defeat in NRM primaries by defeating a Kadaga-backed candidate in the general elections and retained his Seat as an NRM-leaning independent. An impressed Museveni kept him Minister. It’s generally understood that being able to win the big man’s trust without being marketed by Kadaga too rattled many feathers and won Kiyingi more enemies. He made it even worse by closely working with then super minister Amama Mbabazi, an archrival to Kadaga. To Kiyingi, JPAM was a source of inspiration being a fellow lawyer greatly fascinated by the realm of ideas. Kiyingi’s independent-mindedness further manifested when he refused to demonize JPAM even after he clearly fell out and ran for Presidency against Museveni. Insisting that despite being close to him, JPAM had never told him about his presidential ambitions, Kiyingi stayed with Museveni but remained courteous to Mbabazi, something adversaries capitalized on to paint him a Mbabazi mole. The foreign affairs docket gave Kiyingi chance to shine and win Museveni’s favor even more. It’s a difficult place where one has to be very cautious lest you goofed (Kintu Nyago style) and complicate many diplomatic relationship between Uganda and other countries. Kiyingi quickly fit in under Sr. Counsel Sam Kutesa’s parental mentorship. On losing the seat, Kiyingi remained a free agent ever freely commenting on topical issues on his widely followed facebook page.
CURRENT OUTSPOKENESS;
Lately the man has done and uttered many controversial things including spearheading efforts to get the FDC strongman Simon Muyanga Lutaaya out of civil prison where he was confined for failing to pay his Bulamogi rival Kenneth Lubogo’s court costs. It’s a cause that mostly had renowned opposition actors but this didn’t prevent Kiyingi from getting involved. He actually became the chairman of the “Save Muyanga campaign” and within less than a week, Muyanga was out of danger. Kiyingi maintained this had nothing to do with partisan politics but with like-minded Ugandans coming together to rescue a colleague with whom they share a generation cause. To the NRM and people in the intelligence community, the Muyanga issue was a very delicate one. He is very popular with Balamogi notwithstanding his opposition links and their strong support for Museveni as a person. Muyanga, who is a spokesperson for Zibondo who rivals the official Kyabazinga leadership at Bugembe, made his name being a fearless Bugembe critic using his popular talk shows on NBS radio. He even lost his job because of this outspokenness but to the Balamogi, who love Zibondo the way Baganda love their Kabaka, this amounted to their son being witch-hunted for defending their “king.” Balamogi always vote as a block and the Museveni State House has always been nervous treading carefully on the Muyanga issue. In 2016, Muyanga stood for elections and controversially lost to Lubogo who has continued to lead very hostile constituents. So by openly embracing Muyanga, Kiyingi wasn’t only risking offending State House but more immediately must have angered Kadaga even more because she is a key pillar in incumbent king Gabula’s scheme of things based at Bugembe and the Balamogi resent her for that. To Kiyingi, being the dare devil he is, none of that mattered. He has lately been insisting time has come for younger Basoga to work together regardless of political differences and get a more progressive leadership for their region. In that very spirit, days after rescuing Muyanga, Kiyingi publicly embraced Asuman Basalirwa who is the leading opposition flag bearer to become the pioneer MP for newly created Bugiri Municipality. His argument was that his opposition views notwithstanding, Basalirwa is a good candidate who Uganda and Busoga shouldn’t miss because of partisan party politics. Bugiri is home to NRM Secretary General Justine Kasule Lumumba who is understood to be favoring Siraje Lyavala, the ex-Bugiri LC5 chairman. Remarkably, Kiyingi in all this remains very respectful of his party chairman and mentor Yoweri Museveni who he says is a well-meaning/intentioned gentleman who is only being let down by people around him and those to whom he has delegated power to serve in different capacities.
MUSLIMS DISCRIMINATED?
Then over the weekend, Kiyingi did what many have since likened to crossing the red line. Taking advantage of his impressive facebook following, the former Minister posted something that appeared to criticize the Museveni political status quo using utterances similar to what the opposition have always said for years. “This is a classic case of sectarianism. The President wants Professor Balunywa re-appointed as MUBS Principal but a scheming Baryamureeba exploiting his tribal and religious networks is fighting to grab the job. Balunywa’s stellar performance record seems a secondary matter. He suffers the double tragedy of being a Musoga and a Muslim at the same time in a system that looks down upon both. I have very recently been a victim of similar tribal and religious forces though in my case it was compounded with Busoga’s PhD politics. I hope this time round the President prevails over these sectarian forces holding him hostage,” Kiyingi submitted in a Sunday afternoon facebook rant which instantly sparked a very polarizing debate. Many people shared his views and many others didn’t. In a larger measure, this statement sounds like an extract from Dr. Besigye’s defiance speech any day anywhere, any place in Uganda. Whereas the rest of the stuff is clear and self-explanatory, the part on “Busoga’s PhD politics” merits a bit of interpretation. Multiple sources close to him say Kiyingi used this phrase in the contemptuous reference to Speaker Rebecca Kadaga whom he believes has been working hard to ensure he doesn’t get any Museveni assignment or deployment in the next 5 years lest he builds capabilities to reclaim the Bugabula South MP Seat come 2021. His differences with Kadaga are well known and the last manifestation was just last month when Kiyingi acquiesced to many of the things Minister Namuganza was saying against Kadaga over the wrangling and factionalism in the Kyabazingaship.
WHY THE ANGER:
We can impeccably reveal that on losing his MP Seat and subsequently the cabinet slot, Kiyingi who has a master’s degree in law (and is an OB of Makerere College) determined to fall back on his legal profession to continue putting food on the table to feed his family since he is still a young man with some good years to his retirement. His plan was twofold, according to sources close to him. First plan was to team up with like-minded fellows and found a law firm and secondly also apply for the judiciary job to join the bench. He was convinced one of the two should get him home and dry. Consequently when Justice Benjamin Kabito’s JSC advertised for Judiciary vacancies, Kiyingi duly applied to join the bench as a Court of Appeal Justice. He did the interviews and believes he didn’t only pass but was one of the very best candidates in his lot. The JSC sent the names of the finalists to the President for formal appointment. Kiyingi is angry that, whereas the big man was very excited seeing his young man professionally excelling on his own and was prepared to endorse him, a strong Christian lobby group went to work. He considers that they liaised with their proxies in the intelligence services (to whom the H/E always sends such names for final vetting) to ensure his name was vetted unfavorably. “He was surprised he passed the professional assessment which is the hardest and to his dismay it’s the political vetting that he considered to be a done deal that messed him up. It’s something that has continued disturbing him that the President he so much served very loyally couldn’t prevail against the strong Christian lobby group in the state apparatus,” said a source adding that Kiyingi vehemently believes this same Christian lobby group is out to get Mubs long-serving Principal Wasswa Balunywa out of the job because of his religion and where he comes from. Indeed this belief clearly comes out in Kiyingi’s Sunday social media rant. He believes this same lobby group, working to appease the Israelites, fought him in order to avenge his efforts to consolidate Uganda’s OIC membership for all the years he deputized Sam Kutesa at Foreign Affairs ministry. Kiyingi specifically believes that Kadaga, his fellow Musoga from Kamuli, resented his ascendance to the bench fearing that he would use the position to always rule with bias in cases where Parliament would be a party. Ladies and Gentlemen it’s this alleged injustice, more than anything else, that is lately driving Asuman Kiyingi’s outspokenness on many topical issues and it’ very likely he will taking more controversial positions on many things in the coming days, weeks and months. “Many of the things he has lately become very outspoken about intrigue many Basoga and Muslims who just whisper about them in the comfort of their bed rooms. He is different because he has the guts to speak out and he has many silent supporters inside and outside government for raising these issues in the public fora,” remarked one of Asuman Kiyingi’s close friends we spoke to for this article. It’s difficult to establish the existence of the strong Christian lobby group Kiyingi and his pals are increasingly becoming furious about. For comments, call/text/whatsapp us on 0703164755!
