It was a scintillating presidential debate with gaping holes

Friday, January 15 will remain memorable in the electoral annals of Uganda.  The Waganda were out to prove that what the Americans, the Brits and the Kenyans can do, they, too, can do, with even a lot more hilarity.

The Uganda Interreligious Council, an august body of our venerable spiritual leaders, ranging from the Mufti to the Orthodox Metropolitan, found it fit to propose a televised presidential debate, bringing together all the vying eight candidates in a face-to face

discussion. This is in the build-up to the February 18th Presidential election.

Curiously, the hitman for the event was not one of the purpled or greened lords spiritual, but my own friend and Dar es Salaam contemporary, Justice James Ogolla. His Lordship retired from the Bench as Chief Judge some time ago, after a brilliant career,

which included even a poetic publication. But apparently his strong spiritual convictions have inspired him to put in a stint at the hallowed Council.

As Chairman of the panel organising the debate, Justice Ogolla sent out invitations to each of the eight candidates, Prof Venancius Baryamureeba, Col (Rtd) Kizza Besigye, Maj-Gen (Rtd) Benon Biraro, Gen (Rtd) Yoweri Museveni, Ms Maureen Kyalya, Pastor

John Mabirizi, Pastor Dr Abedi Bwanika and former Prime Minister Patrick Amama Mbabazi. The listing is random.

I notice, though, that underlining the oft-repeated claim that African names always have a meaning, nearly all the would-be Presidents’ surnames carry intriguing semantic suggestions. Besigye hints at the man people should trust, Mbabazi is good luck, and

Baryamureeba is the one who will certainly stand out and be noticed. Bwanika is the dryer or exposer, Biraro may refer to cattle kraals or resting places.

Kyalya means what she or he eats and Mabirizi suggests thick or tough ribs. This last one lived up to the billing by remaining in the race up to this point despite the walloping he received from “unknown assailants” the day after his nomination. I told you

about that some time ago.

THREAT TO TELEVISED DEBATE

Museveni is, of course, the warrior. He was named after the famous Seventh Battalion of the King’s African Rifles (KAR), which eventually became the Uganda Army and a few other identities before emerging as the current Uganda People’s Defence Force

(UPDF), of which he is Commander-in-Chief.

This warrior, unfortunately, posed the first serious threat to the televised debate by declaring quite early on that he would not attend the debate. His stated reason was that he was too busy and had more important matters to attend to.

As you can imagine, speculations were rife about the “real”, unstated reasons for his giving the debate a wide berth. But I will not lead you into temptation.

His aloofness, however, seemed to spell real jeopardy for the whole exercise. Most of his rivals, especially his fellow front-runners, Besigye and Mbabazi, pointed out that there would be no purpose in proceeding with the debate if the incumbent candidate did not consider it worth his while to face his rivals and the populace to reveal his agenda. They, too, threatened not attend.

But Ndugu Ogolla, the prudent jurist from Busia (Uganda), is a determined and persistent man. In the end he succeeded in persuading the contestants to turn up for the palaver under the glittering lights of the Serena International Conference Centre, except

for Ndugu Museveni. Incidentally, do you know that this Conference Centre was specifically built by Idi Amin for the then-Organization for African Unity (OAU) summit that made him their Chairman in 1975? Who will tell the long and colourful saga of

Ugandan Presidents?

As for the debate itself, it impressed many, in various and curious sorts of ways. For me, for example, I was quite intrigued at how and why the organizers managed to fly in from London the two young media icons, Alan Kasujja and Nancy Kacungira, as

moderators of the debate. I have in these columns expressed my admiration for both their top flight sound and screen personalities, especially for their refined and enticing speech and communication skills.

But I was left wondering about their suitability for the task of the debate. Though they both have Ugandan roots, their long residence outside the country made them dubious as knowledgeable insiders with a sure grasp of current Ugandan issues. Even their

“supers-standard” accents, which I unreservedly admire, grated rather embarrassingly against the “local” variety of most of th­e candidates, with the possible exception of Ms Maureen Kyalya.

Quite a few times, indeed, when these moderators were haranguing the debaters to “answer the question asked” or abide within the time limits, I had the impression of stern English schoolteachers calling to order a pack of their obstreperous young charges.

That though did not justify one of the candidates’ describing the exercise as a school debate. Courageous Mzee Ogolla had reason to reprimand the candidate, the one who did not attend, for his disparaging remarks.

Indeed, the loudest sound and the most lasting image from the great debate may be heard and seen as the absence of Ndugu Rais from the Conference Centre. What business can be more important than the sharing of our vision with the people whom we want to lead for the next five years?

Anyway, even for those who attended, the “sharing” was considerably conditional. As someone pointed out, in a place where the majority of wananchi do not have access to electricity or television, the value of such an event remains questionable. I had  to “watch” the final section of the debate on an FM radio channel on my tiny cell phone, because — you have guessed it — there was no electricity where I live.

But Justice Ogolla is quite sanguine about the debate and the public response to it. He has promised to organize a subsequent one, where, as he rightly observed, matters of international relations and regional cooperation will, hopefully, be debated by the full complement of presidential aspirants.

Prof Bukenya is one of the leading scholars of English and literature in East Africa