President Museveni’s former press secretary Tamale Mirundi has rubbished Monday’s event at Kampala Serena Hotel where Uganda’s MPs since Independence in 1962 were awarded Golden Jubilee medals as ‘miscalculated’.
President Museveni decorated the more than 1, 000 MPs medal recipients and his promise of a stipend package was a soothing music to the ears of lawmakers who quickly fall on hard times upon losing their seats.
But on Tuesday during a morning talk show on NBS Television, Mr Mirundi disagreed with the importance of the medals which were first mooted by President Museveni to mark Uganda’s golden jubilee in 2012.
“A medal is an award of excellence and not a certificate of attendance,” Mirundi said.
“These medals were meant to be certificates of attendance. A medal involves good performance among other things but the medals were given to everyone. Did they all perform well?” Mirundi questioned.
In the past weeks, opposition leaders and social media went abuzz over Speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga’s decision to spend 600 million shillings on medals.
Museveni’s biggest political opponent Dr Kizza Besigye and his wife Winnie Byanyima were among the most notable former legislators who missed the ceremony despite featuring on the awardees list published by Parliament. Besigye has been on a tour to United States and Europe to galvanize his support in the Diaspora after losing the 2016 general elections.
The opposition figures that didn’t turn up for the awards despite having been invited include; the DP President and former Gulu Municipality MP, Norbert Mao and the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Winnie Kizza.
FDC party President, Gen. Mugish Muntu, whip in Parliament, Ibrahim Semuju Nganda, former Mbarara woman MP, Miria Matembe and former Kampala Central MP, Erias Lukwago all didn’t turn up for the occasion.
