Mukono municipality member of parliament Betty Nambooze has lashed at President Yoweri Museveni for giving out a dummy of cheque of 300m to Buganda Kingdom to run dailly business.On the same event,M7 has awarded the Kabaka of Buganda, His Royal Highness Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II with the Nalubaale Medal in recognition of the King’s contribution towards uplifting the standards of living of the people in Buganda.
This was during a public lecture held yesterday in memory of Ssekabaka Edward Mutesa II at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel. The President also awarded a medal to the late Edward Muteesa II for his endless efforts and role played towards the independence of Uganda in 1962.
President with Katikiro Mayiga and other Buganda royals
Museveni contributed Sh300m towards the restoration of the Kasubi tombs and also pledged government’s commitment towards handing over Mutesa’s car, a Rolls Royce, that has been kept in the Uganda Museum for years.
On his part, the Katikiiro of Buganda Owek Charles Peter Mayiga called upon Ugandans to consolidate unity, a thing he said will steer the country towards continued development.
Below is Nambooze’s burst out;
I confess that I felt pain to watch Mr.Museveni embarrasing the Buganda Kingdom by giving a dammy cheque to the Katikiro in dramma filled “donation” of only 300 million shillings.
The embarrassing cheque is a confidence trick which has been used by canning people for generations against others. The truth is that the giver is not intrested in paying money to the receiver and the cheque is only a tool of humiliation.
Museveni’s cheque reminded me of one legend of a scam which was supposedly performed by a company selling pornography and other sex aids which was trading under a highly explicit name “The Anal Sex and Fetish Pornography Company”.
Customers were invited to purchase adult material from the company, and were assured that the actual transaction could be made with a separate company with a non-explicit name in order to prevent the explicit name from appearing on transaction logs and bank statements a thing that could expose the buyers to ridicule.
In fact, the company did not have any items to sell. Once a sufficient number of customers had sent money for items, the company sent out letters apologising that they had run out of the commodities and wished to refund the mpney . Indeed the company sent cheques as refund but this time in the names of “The Anal Sex and Fetish Pornography Company” by way of company cheques clearly printed with all details of the flopped transaction!
The plan would be that the customers would be too embarrassed to cash in a cheque showing the company’s real name “The Anal Sex And Fetish Pornography Company”, not wanting other persons to know about their private lives, so the cheques would never be cashed, and thus the scammers running the company got to keep the money.
The company pointed out that customers could cash the cheques via ATM or mail and thus avoid having to confront a bank worker in person. This would have saved the situation however the cheque description potentially appearing on their customer file would still cause them the same embarrassment.
I remembered this story yesterday, when I saw Museveni and his dammy cheque. The truth of the mattter was that his intention was to embarras Buganda. The cheque was drawn in the name of BUGANDA KINGDOM an account which I highly suspect doesnt exist and therefore cant be cashed in that form. Mengo would most probably have wished to recieve that money under another arrangment and not by a huge dame cheque handed out at a public function infront of cameras.
What would the Katikirro do as Museveni pulled out the embarrassing cheque. I want to believe that he was ambushed and had no way he could pull out of this,he had only one option;shaking Museveni’s hand and posing for the demeaning photos.
Yet, Buganda deserves the 300 million shillings and more.The Massiro are a World heritage which brings tourists here and hence supports the National economy. The Baganda as a people and region are the biggest taxpayers in Uganda and funding a project to secure our heritage is one little thing Uganda can do for us.
The fact of the matter is that, the country’s security system failed to protect this treasure and even failed to produce a report on the cause of the fire and the other acts of criminality that took place at Kasubi on the day of the inferno. All this makes Museveni’s government responsible for the rebuilding of the Massiro.
We therefore dont need to join Museveni in demonising Mengo however disappointed we might be. True there was poor judgement on the side of Mengo but if we take them on that we would be falling for Museveni’s trick. Let us leave it at that for Museveni didnt pick his personal money. Just incase this cheque is honoured, it will be part of our taxes we pay through the nose and we commit no offence to recieve it back to fund such an important project. Museveni as an individual paid for nothing and will get nothing from us.
