Encounter at State House: Museveni's Intellectual Prowess

The other day we went with the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Prof. Muhammad Yunus, to meet President Yoweri Museveni at State House in Entebbe. Prof. Muhammad Yunus has more fame than many of the world leaders and his works are now subject to major academic debate. Prof. Yunus is a Professor of Economics who became famous because of his novel idea of lending to the poor primarily women which resulted into the formation of the famous Grameen Bank.

The Grameen Bank of Bangladesh founded by Muhammad Yunus is famous for microcredit, giving small credit to women to change their lives. The bank is now owned by the borrowers who are the shareholders. The bank has over 8 million shareholders and to date it has lent over 12.5 billion US dollars in small loans. Over 90 percent of the beneficiaries are women. This effort by Prof. Muhammad Yunus and transforming the lives of millions of the poor in a poverty stricken country like Bangladesh is what gave Muhammad Yunus the Nobel Peace Prize. Earning a nobel peace prize is not an everyday thing. Such a person must be held in esteem and earns the respect of the entire world. This is the famous Prof. Muhammad Yunus.

Meeting with the President Museveni, I noted that Muhammad Yunus had met his match. Everybody would wish to listen to a Nobel Peace Prize winner speak and such people are respected and revered.

Three things I noted and possibly learnt from my interaction with Muhammad Yunus in the 2 day encounter I had with him and in the engagements that we had:

He is a very simple person and does not have the sophistication of the wealthy people. Indeed he represents poor people by his approach and I guess his life style. He dresses in the usual ordinary Bangladesh Kurta Pajama (a common dress on the Indian sub-continent) with the peticoat. He doesn't carry himself around as an important person. Indeed an ambassador of the poor.

Travelling around Kampala, he was moved around in an old Toyota TX. You would have expected that the State should have provided him with one of the BMWs that carry very important foreign dignitaries.

As an Ambassador of the Poor, Prof.Yunus led by example, a modest man.  While we waited to go to State House, we waited at the Imperial Golf View Hotel. Behind the doors, I talked to Karim Hirji, the owner of the hotel to arrange a comfortable room where Prof. Yunus would wait. He rejected it, preferring to wait at the reception. Luckily since he doesn't carry himself as an important person, nobody noticed that this simple man dressed in the simple Bangladesh dress was a Nobel Peace Prize Winner.

Indeed a cleaner in the hotel would have told him to move away and he would have obliged. That is Muhammad Yunus for you. A very ordinary person who caused a revolution to improve the lives of the poor through micro credit.  

As he presented his case, Muhammad Yunus was advocating for Social Business, a new concept. As he put it to President Museveni, I saw him fail to put across this very important concept which he came to preach to this country. This was my second lesson from my interaction with Muhammad Yunus; even the mighty are vulnerable especially when they meet with the prepared. Muhammad Yunus explained to the President what social business was and he simply failed to say it. Very unfortunate. He instead asked his aides to explain it and they did a bad job at it. They brought out a case study of one Robert Okodia in Lira. I have visited Robert and he is an outstanding young man who has won various prizes for his work. He is also going to benefit from a loan by the Yunus Social Business Fund. He has also met the President. I feared at that time that if the President had found out who it was, the whole story would collapse.

It wasn't a very good example, it didn't bring out the concept as professed by Muhammad Yunus. It was at this time that Museveni's best came out. Museveni listens a lot and pays attention to detail. He is very knowledgeable and widely read. It was visible during the meeting that he was tired and sleepy but still very sharp. Noting that they had failed to explain the concept to him, he turned to Prof. Yunus' background and activities. Muhammad Yunus was visibly shocked by Museveni's knowledge of Bangladesh's history and the current leaders of Bangladesh.  Museveni talked about the two warring women politicians Sheik Hasina and Begum Zia. Muhammad Yunus  would keep on saying "oh you know that.." showing surprise that Museveni knew alot about Bangladesh. Indeed he knows a lot about many things in the world. This contributes to his leadership abilities. Museveni mentioned the leaders who caused a revolution in Bangladesh and Prof. Yunus responded in the affirmative. The shocker was when Museveni talked about the role of Indra Ghandi in the war that created Bangladesh. In the room, I felt there were three people in the room who knew this. President Museveni, Muhammad Yunus and myself. I wished I could contribute to the discussion but when visiting the Head of State, there are rules and I kept the rules and did not utter a word but felt pleased that I knew the stuff.

The point in this discussion was President Museveni moving away from the main issue because they failed to tell him what it was to seeking more knowledge about the person. Muhammad Yunus also came out as a revolutionary. He was teaching in the USA and he was an activist who advocated for the breakup of Pakistan  then into the present Bangladesh and Pakistan. Muhammad Yunus returned to the country after the Bangladesh war in 1971. Museveni's knowledge amazed him. I am not sure whether all of us in the room noted his knowledge of Bangladesh was primarily knowing the revolutionaries  in Bangladesh, something he has for revolutionaries around the world of whom he is one.

The third aspect was what many people from the Western world think of us as Africans including our Heads of State. Without mentioning names because I prefer not to embarrass people, many people from the West come to the country thinking they can meet with the President just like that. Of course the President has been very generous especially with investors many of who have been briefcase investors expecting that Government will give them money even for doing nothing.  I believe there have been such incidents where investors have come into the country and disadvantaged the country rather that create the required jobs. Many of them want to dominate you even when they don't know and show surprise when you actually demonstrate that you know. Many feel that without them, nothing will work and indeed they have this attitude of these poor Africans who they help to do things.

While waiting to meet the President, one of Muhammad Yunus' handlers decided that they should leave. I had warned them earlier that " if you are on appointment with the President, he will definitely see you but his meetings normally overshoot his planned time". Our visit was on a Cabinet day and the President was chairing Cabinet. Muhammad Yunus' handlers decided that they should leave. As a civil servant, I am bound by the rules of the Fountain of Honour . If I am scheduled to meet the President, I cannot go away because he is late.  I know now and again we have waited for Ministers at functions and they don't turn up. I normally go ahead with the function but not with the President. He has one million people to see and unless you are really loaded with money to invest, he would rather not see you. Our meetings have a cultural tinge. While many meetings with the President are on schedule, there is not much control about what the people who will meet him say. The President would appear rude if he says time over for his visitors hence the long wait for the various people who wait to see him. I thought it was disrespectful  for the country and the President for a visitor to walk out on the President.