My Response to Media

If you are a public servant, the day you appear in the newspapers for the wrong reason is the day you know you have become possibly famous and important. There are thousands of people but they do not show up in the newspapers unless if they have done something stunning. The press acts as a media to inform the public and very importantly acts as a watch dog for the public. As society starts recognizing you, they start keeping a tab on you. As an important person in society, you have to be accountable for your actions and if you are not the press will tell the public so. But at times the press can also just take you down for no good reason. In most cases, malice or those who want to pull you down. It is not new it is only natural as human beings we are envious. It can be positive, it can be negative. Positive envy results into an individual aspiring to be like that person he envies. They are motivated. Negative envy however is that which wants to pull you down. People want to be like them or worse than them. Whenever I did something good, you have a small print about it in the paper. Good things do not make news anyway. Allegations or something really bad will attract all the space the newspapers require. If there is a detractor pushing it and paying money to those who publish. 

More than a year back as they renewed my contract as Principal of MUBS, detractors went to the press and made allegations about me which made headlines. We almost lost Norwegian funding for our PhD programme because of the allegations. This was followed by court cases including a criminal one which was thrown out. I have been sued so many times over these “what I call stupid allegations”. I say so because the haters who used them knew they were stupid but that was not the point. They wanted to create an impression in the public that this angel you see is actually a devil.

These allegations attracted the IGG and made investigations within them. The IGG has dismissed these allegations. However, on one count they have requested me to refund the money. This is money that my colleagues felt due to my contribution to the School they would support a heart operation of my mother in India. The IGG investigated this case and in the report It is said that some of the people who were in the meeting the Chair of that meeting denied having extended this facility to me. It is amazing but that is human nature, several of the senior colleagues denied having agreed to this. I was not in that meeting. Those who recall the meeting are shocked by what our colleagues said to the IGG. Before you get to my age, you never know that human nature is treacherous. So the IGG requests that I pay back this money. The IGG’s office has done it role. I appreciate it and thank it. They have only been fair. The last time the IGG wrote a report about me it had falsifications in it. I challenged it in court and I had it set aside. Public office is not easy. What is interesting this time round is that I found the colleagues who leaked this IGG report to the press. You will be amazed when you know who did it, how they did it and why they did it. The current story appeared in the Monitor today has also been leaked and it is not surprising. I expected it and from the newspaper article and the details from the school Council meeting is not surprising.

The press can be unforgiving if they are driven by detractors who want to get even with you. Hardly a week back, the name Balunywa and MUBS was in the press. Again for negative reasons, this particular article appearing in the sun reflected on how people can stoop so low to go towards destroying an individual. The Sun report talked about Balunywa of MUBS. For those who read the story, they wondered why it was written. For those who did not read the story but saw the headline wondered what was wrong with this Balunywa of MUBS and wondered why he was doing this. The Sun was talking about one Yusuf Waiswa a lecturer in MUBS and fabricated some story about him. They were told this person was associated with Balunywa and this story could be used to get at Balunywa. Indeed they got to me because I was embarrassed by it. Guess who provided this information? A senior colleague in MUBS. Watch out for the people you sit on the same table with, they stab you in back! I think The Sun newspaper owed me an apology but when you come to know what they were pursuing, you do not even have to ask for the apology. YOU CAN NEVER WIN A PRESS WAR. SO DO NOT START ONE OR GET INVOLVED IN ONE. When they drag you into it, keep out of it. If you were in the wrong, apologize and move on. Nobody is an angel, we all make mistakes. However those of us in public office have more obligations to provide the necessary leadership to the public. I think the press needs to be more professional in their job. They have an obligation to investigate and report facts. Our leaders in our various capacities get there because of one reason or the other. They need to be protected rather than destroyed especially if the investigations reveals that there is no case but they should not take pleasure in discrediting people who have taken their time to serve the country. 

The famous primarily artists are more prone to primarily scandal but let all those in the government key jobs be aware anytime you will be a target. I thank those who have found me fitting to be written about because they value the small contribution I have made to the country and I detest those who use the mistakes we committed if at all to demonize us. Fortunately, there is the good news. The world is changing and the press especially for those with internet is losing its values. I can also post this on facebook and I am able to tell my story. I dare the Daily Monitor newspaper to publish it so that other people can hear my views. The journalists who are taking the money have their days numbered because they no longer have the monopoly of reporting. I have seen the reaction on the monitor story