{UAH} Allan/Pojim/WBK: Go ahead, laugh at Kato, then look in the mirror; now laugh at what - Comment

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/To-laugh-at-Ugandan-MPs-is-to-laugh-at-ourselves/434750-3376720-dxojdc/index.html

Go ahead, laugh at Kato, then look in the mirror; now laugh at what

At the end of the Nikolai Gogol's classic, The Government Inspector, a municipal official who has been conned goes into a tirade of self-castigation, calling himself names for having been so foolish. And in the very last line, he abruptly asks the audience if they realise they are laughing at themselves.

Uganda's February 2016 general election returned a strange mix of national legislators to the August House.

Musicians, DJs, police wo/men, career politicians, religious preachers and significantly, professional comedians. There are several in the last category but for now, the most prominent is Honourable Kato Lubwama representing the urban constituency in the capital of Kampala, who had previously won fame as a comedian.

In Ganda culture, Kato is the younger of male twins and it is a title in itself, so the name Kato strictly does not carry a title before it. But it would be unfair to deny a man who won parliamentary elections his title of Honourable, so he is Hon Kato Lubwama.

After doing comedy shows for a quarter of a century, Kato stood for parliament and his campaign proved to be a piece of cake. He assured voters that he only wanted to go to parliament and he wanted his share of the goodies.

Before him, environmentalist Ken Lukyamuzi had also been voted MP by an angry urban public that wanted one of the poor to go and "eat" the lucrative package MPs get.

Kato has not disappointed. There is five-yearly $40,000 each Ugandan MP gets to buy a car. Because of inflation and devaluation, the figure keeps growing in shilling terms. Last time in 2011, it was Ush105million. In 2016, it is Ush150million.

When the public complained about this growing drain upon their taxes, and video clips were circulated of MPs attending the opening of parliament driving in smart cars while dodging potholes, Kato rudely told off the grumblers, saying in effect that MPs had gone to parliament to make money, and that MPs must drive "very good cars" that match with the Honourable that comes before their name.

When Ugandan MPs travelled en masse to the US to attend the Uganda North American Association annual convention, effectively paralysing legislative business for two weeks, pictures of Kato in front of a designer label store dressed in shorts soon hit Ugandan social media from across the Atlantic.

Already it was being said that each of the over 70 MPs' tickets cost $5,200, a figure similar to what an MP gets in per diem for 10 days while travelling.

Anyway, in just a couple of months, the honourable Kato Lubwama has come to personify everything Uganda's frustrated poor hate about MPs. They now hate him as much as they loved him. For unlike his fellow legislators who try to justify their emoluments, he simply hits back at "les miserable" who have not yet got a seat on the gravy train.

But many people who castigate Kato Lubwama do not realise they are criticising themselves. For there is no Ugandan MP who is from Kenya, Comoros or China. They are all products of Ugandan society.

These men and women are selected from a field of many contenders, as the very best we have to serve the interests of our society. Whatever they do therefore is a true reflection of what our values are. For they never imposed themselves on us. They are the peoples' best choice. To laugh at them, is to laugh at ourselves.

Joachim Buwembo is a social and political commentator based in Kampala. E-mail: buwembo@gmail.com

Go ahead, laugh at Kato, then look in the mirror; now laugh at what - Comment

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/To-laugh-at-Ugandan-MPs-is-to-laugh-at-ourselves/434750-3376720-dxojdc/index.html

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