{UAH} Allan/Pojim/WBK: Caesar Mulenga: new ‘king’ of Kigezi and Ankole
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new 'king' of Kigezi and Ankole
A hitherto-little-known businessman is transforming the political and economic landscape in southwestern Uganda with financial donations, writes EDRIS KIGGUNDU.
In Kigezi and Ankole sub-regions, Caesar Mulenga's king-size influence has been on display, as leading presidential candidates Yoweri Museveni, Amama Mbabazi and Dr Kizza Besigye fought for supremacy there.
A mere mention of Caesar's name enlists mostly good reactions. Many people in the two sub-regions refer to him as a savior, whose generous and endless cash handouts have changed lives.
Others like the bar owner I talked to in Kabale dismissed him as a show-off, a threadbare businessman who will vanish the same way personalities like the eccentric Mike Ezra did.
Personally, Mulenga refers to himself as "king" and that is the private number plate on the fleet of his plush vehicles. He owns a couple of Range Rovers and a top-of-the-range Cross Country Mercedes, among other vehicles.
"Before you give to others you must be comfortable. You could call them lavish cars but for me I look at them as vehicles which I use when I am carrying out my activities of social responsibility," he told The Observer last week on the sidelines of Museveni's rally in Rukungiri.
"Our place [Kisoro] is a nine hours' drive from Kampala; so, if you don't have a comfortable car, it will make movement hard. But for me I can go to Kisoro regularly because of my cars."
In the real sense of the word, Mulenga, 49, lives and is treated like a king. Whenever he goes to any place in Kigezi or Ankole, people fete him as such. Religious leaders court him; politicians, including cabinet ministers bow to him and without his handouts, some schools in the sub-regions would have closed shop. But where does he get the money that he effortlessly dishes out?
"I started business at an early age. I have never been employed. From primary three, I would buy things in Uganda like mattresses, soap, watches and sell them to DR Congo or Rwanda. By the time I joined Makerere in 1996, I was already a millionaire. I was driving a Mercedes and I had a mobile phone [Celtel]," he said, as his personal aide kept close watch. The aide, a one Frank, constantly interrupted our interview to find out whether "King Caesar" was fine.
Currently, Mulenga, who was born and raised in Kisoro district, says he earns most of his money from the two major telecom companies he runs; Gemtel in South Sudan and Itel in Uganda. He has also invested in media in South Sudan and Uganda and is the brains behind St Augustine University in Kampala, which majorly offers courses in medicine.
Mulenga said he grew up in an impoverished home in Kisoro. His parents were the archetypal rural peasants concerned about where their next meal will come from.
As a young boy together with his four siblings, they did the normal chores like fetching water, looking for firewood and grazing cows.
But he has since crossed into the political realm. Throughout President Museveni's campaigns in Kigezi and Ankole, the slender and shy-looking Mulenga has played a prominent role. On the eve of Museveni's visit to Kisoro, he organized a fete in the municipality where locals ate and drank till morning.
He is also among the privileged few that get to sit in the president's tent. The tent is normally a preserve for senior local NRM politicians and mobilisers. Local politicians always acknowledge his support at the rallies. His car is always waved through the last security check point, where some ministers are stopped.
Mulenga said he has been actively involved in politics since the early 1980s when he was a mobiliser for the Museveni-led Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM), in that year's election.
Today, Mulenga says, he is not shy to identify himself as a supporter of the ruling NRM.
"You know politics is part of everything you do. Even at family level you have a father who is the political head. It is difficult to develop business-wise without participating in politics because I have worked in South Sudan, Egypt and Libya. I have business partners in all these countries and I have seen how their businesses are affected whenever there is political turmoil. This is not a new concept. For us who grew up during the Idi Amin days, we saw how businesspeople suffered. So, for me, I partner with political organizations like NRM because they have brought peace," Mulenga said.
POLITICAL KINGMAKER?
A number of local politicians in Kigezi said Mulenga's cash donations have made him a statesman of sorts in the two sub-regions.
"He is generous and donates to our projects. You cannot afford to fight him," said John Nzeyimana, the MP for Bufumbira North.
But Mulenga said that when he donates to projects of politicians, his intention is to benefit the local people in the constituency.
"I am only a participant in community projects. If, for example, a politician wants to build a church in his or her constituency and they have bought bricks, sand and cement but have no money to roof it, when they approach me, I roof it. This does not mean I am a kingmaker," he said.
Those who have tracked his activities told The Observer that Mulenga became a phenomenon in Kigezi and Ankole sub-regions just slightly over two years ago.
While he has been a businessman for many years, they say he was reclusive and was based in Kampala. Since 2013, he has donated hundreds of millions of shillings to church organizations, mosques, schools, orphanages and lately, politicians in the two sub-regions. At one fundraising function in Kisoro last year, Mulenga donated Shs 100 million in cash, astounding many people.
His activities have raised eyebrows of critics, who question his intentions. However, many are not interested in his background and are only glad to receive his help.
Mulenga said contrary to what some people may think, his donations have only one string attached: they must uplift the society.
"We have started a tea project in Kigezi where many farmers are engaged in starting nursery beds. When they are setting up these beds, they need money to pay for labour and to buy chemicals but you find that because they have no access to capital, they cannot set up these beds. So, when I avail capital, people set up the beds and in 12 months government buys the seedlings and they pay back.
The income I earn from this, I add it on my other money and then I can roof churches, donate to mosques and schools. So, it is a partnership with the community. This thing of social responsibility, I started it when I was young. We used to carry stones on our heads and give it to churches because we did not have money," he said.
Still, the Mulenga mystery continues. The father of three said he sleeps for two hours a day because he has a lot of work to do under his flagship organization, Caesar Development Kingdom (CDK).
"I am not an ordinary businessman," he said as we parted ways. "My name Caesar means king like the ancient Roman leader."
ekiggundu@observer.ug
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