By Nathan Kikku Mubiru
Since Forum for Democratic Change, FDC launched at the top of the country’s political scene (have we mentioned that fact lately?), there has been a sizable increase in the number of articles from journalists about the party, and Secretary-General Nandala Mafabi.
It makes sense, of course. An ascendant FDC is novel and different. Anyone can write a glowing piece about Nelson Mandela, and the media was agog over Julius Nyerere’s ability to promote Ujamaa influenced by Mahatma Gandhi.
So now that FDC-FDC, for God’s sake! is at the top of the mountain, it feels like every single political writer on the planet is churning out articles trying to figure out why.
It’s certainly a welcome change from the doom-fest that was the Besigye and Wasswa Birigwa eras (ignoring the eminently forgettable Muntu Interregnum). FDC’s resurgence is notable not just because they’re instituting a style that’s almost completely different, but because of the refreshing personality of its new Secretary General.
And these pieces! They almost vibrate with astonishment about how Small Nathan has turned around a party mired in the tar pits of bad karma so quickly. Look at how he imposed an entirely new team leadership, and gushes Dan Malcolm Matsiko, the party’s vice president western region.
He knows everyone’s name at the party, even the staff, says Hajji Ssessazi Marlik of Nakawa. He lets his deputies lead training? Is he respectful and open? Surely he throws at least one person under the bus. Do you mean there aren’t any lemons?
If it seems like I’m gently ribbing Matsiko and Marlik, it’s because I am. In truth, both of the opinions are excellent, full of insight into the inner workings of Mafabi’s methodology at the party.
Malcolm attempts to sum up Mafabi’s methods as rooted in “normality and authenticity.” And, notably, these breathlessly positive opinions are coming from party members who seem completely taken aback by Nathan’s gentle transparency and loquaciousness. It’s hardly their fault.
They no doubt have plenty of experience dealing with, uh, some strong personalities in the course of their jobs.
To put a fine point on it, political leaders in Uganda (but also pretty much everywhere) are almost universally a bunch of excessively driven insane people.
It makes sense the pressure to succeed is everywhere in politics and the people who ascend to political leadership and management at the highest levels are outliers, attuned to perfection, to micromanagement, to squeezing every drop of juice out of that (cough) lemon because the margins between success and failure are extremely thin.
That’s how you get leaders & managers who are slavish to a particular methodology, or who ban ketchup, or who believe in energia universal and keep bowls of fruit in their offices to “absorb bad energy.” To be successful in this field, you’ve gotta be at least a little bit nuts, right?
But that’s not Small Nathan at all. Shockingly, in this industry at least, he lets his people be people, trusts that they will voluntarily buy into what he’s selling, and will also make good decisions along the way.
Some of the ways this manifests are small- talking openly about challenges and making sure his members and staff have all the support they need in every aspect of their lives, allowing his staff to make and learn from mistakes without fear of punishment.
It’s not that he’s perfect. He’s distant from his members, both physically and emotionally, in ways that feel a tad odd. He’s a little bit prickly, though never to the point of being mean or cruel. He’s perhaps a touch too slavish in his methodology of politics, even though it has yet to fail him in his career. But he’s managed to find ways to acknowledge and overcome even minor deficiencies in his personality and character and works around them to make the best possible circumstances for his members. Because nobody’s perfect.
In short, Nandala feels normal. Completely, refreshingly, and almost unbelievingly normal, in ways that feel abnormal to anyone who’s paid attention to Uganda politics l for more than a year or so.
Amusingly and anecdotally, Marlik refers to Nathan letting his deputies take the lead in training sessions (Gloria Panga is reportedly the chief executor) as “NFL-style coaching,” which to this blogger steeped in a lifetime’s worth of American sports culture, feels BONKERS.
But in a field that’s dominated by egotistical, manipulative, often megalomaniacal personalities, is it any wonder why Nathan comes across like a breath of fresh air? Counterfactually, being a relatively normal guy is exactly what makes Nathan something of a weirdo in modern politics.
It’s not a requirement to like your Secretary general. FDC members should know this more than most. But, notably, FDC is finding success, at least in the near term, thanks to someone who doesn’t rage or bluster or impose unreasonable expectations.
Small Nathan is (mostly) free from all of that, plus most of the other eccentricities inherent to other great successful politicians. He might make an inspirational speech, but even if he could draw a sketch of a heart and a brain holding hands, you’ll never see one of them on a whiteboard in FDC’s board room.
He’s demanding and distant, but he’s fair, respectful, and accommodating. And get this — he even wins!
Politicians are weird. Political leaders and managers are even weirder. How odd is it then to have someone so abnormally normal in charge of the FDC? A person could get used to this.