On Friday, February 3, the Presidential Advisor on special duties, Odrek Rwabwogo organized an event to celebrate the 76th birthday of veteran lawyer and businessman, Elly Karuhanga, and also award a group of 21 elders who diligently served Uganda in different capacities, including those that made a contribution towards NRM’s capture of power.
The 21 elders awarded included; Eli Rwakakooko, Prof Francis Omaswa, Matthew Rukikaire, Ben Wacha, Henry Mungana Kajura, Ambassador Gabriel Kangwagye, Stephen Akabway, Prof Edward Rugumayo, Prof Tarsis Kabwegyere, Francis Katana, Dr John Patrick Kabayo, Prof George Mondo Kagonyera, Justice Bart Katureebe, Cecilia Ogwal, Kakonge, Mzee Ernest Kakwano, Amanya Mushega, Henry Kyemba, Prof Ephraim Kamuntu, Prof Ogenga Latigo, and Dr Elly Karuhanga.
Karuhanga’s birthday was attended by high profile personalities, including; former Prime Minister, Amama Mbabazi who represented President Museveni, former Chief Justice Bart Katureebe, Security Minister, Maj Gen Jim Muhwezi, Minister for Agriculture, Frank Tumwebaze, former Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Prof Ogenga Latigo, Dokolo District Woman MP, Cecilia Ogwal, former Members of Parliament, Ambassadors among others.
The event however, became more of a walk down memory lane as various speakers shared interesting stories of their experience with Karuhanga, dating way back from the 1980s to early 2000s.
Notable among them was Dokolo District Woman MP Cecilia Ogwal’s story.
Ogwal narrated how she first met Karuhanga as an MP representing Nyabushozi county.
Being one of best debaters on government side in the House, Ogwal never liked Karuhanga as she wanted her league that included Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) top brains Aggrey Awor and Ben Wacha to be on top of the debating game not only on the floor, but also in the House Committees.
“I came to know Elly when he joined the Legislative platform. I came to know you as a person participating in politics on the other side (NRM side in Parliament), and that is why you and I never liked each other because I would hate anybody articulating issues so powerfully the other side,” recalled Ogwal, a fierce critic of the NRM government at the time.
“I never liked those people because I wanted our side to always be hard, strong and overpower them. The good thing is that they had fewer good debaters. Elly did his best to befriend people like Ben Wacha, and even managed to penetrate some of our good strong leaders. And that is how we started narrowing the gap,” said Ogwal.
Karuhanga became the chairman of Presidential and Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament.
“A very difficult committee then, because you have to deal with the President if you want to discuss tough issues concerning the President and Foreign Affairs, and it was not easy for him (Karuhanga) to manage me and Aggrey Awor, and we made sure that we were permanent on that committee,” recalled Ogwal.
Presidential jet
At one time, the government submitted to Parliament the budget to purchase a presidential jet for approval.
The budget was sent to the Presidential and Foreign Affairs Committee chaired by Karuhanga for handling.
Karuhanga was very sure that Ogwal and her group of tough UPC legislators would frustrate the matter.
“Elly Karuhanga came to me and said, ‘Mrs Ogwal, you know the reason you want multipartism to return, suppose you overturn us and you become the President, don’t you think you will need a jet?’ We now talked about mathematics which he didn’t know so much but would depend on my guidance. I said let us agree on the jet, but you are not going to buy a new one because it would take a lot of money. That is when the Bank of Uganda governor came in and said let me talk to my sister because we both understand the numbers,” narrated Ogwal.
Karuhanga convinced Mrs Ogwal that buying a second hand jet would be costly to maintain.
“If you buy a second hand jet, you are buying headache, but if you buy a new one, you are buying a long life. So, when you (committee members) go to meet the President, you tell him that you need a jet that will last longer so that when he goes, you can also use it. That is when Elly Karuhanga did extremely meticulously well as a leader of a big committee. I will never forget that,” she said.
Ogwal invites Museveni
In the Seventh Parliament, Ogwal said that various MPs would invite the President to celebrate their victories in their Constituencies.
Although she never believed in such politics, Ogwal made sure she celebrated Norbert Mao’s victory as MP, saying “it was a difficult delivery, a childbirth which was hard.”
Ogwal who at the time was the Member of Parliament for Lira Municipality, asked Karuhanga (her committee Chairman in Parliament) to be the guest of honor.
Karuhanga turned down the request, and instead responded that he would ask President Museveni to be Chief guest.
This was putting Ogwal’s opposition politics in the northern region to test.
“I said [to Elly Karuhanga] if you bring the President, my politics are finished. People will say, “she is talking bad about the government when actually they are talking the same language.’”
Karuhanga insisted, convincing the President who amazingly agreed to travel to northern Uganda to celebrate the victory of an opposition legislator.
“I was shocked that the president was so willing to come to Lira Municipality. I told Elly, if he (Museveni) is to come, the Langis are difficult to manage, tell him to arrive on time. The President promised to arrive at 12 noon, he arrived at 12 noon. We the organizers on ground are the ones who were not ready. So that is Elly. Elly, I can assure you, you have left a big impact in the hearts of many people. They have never had a chance to tell you,” Ogwal said.
She added: “Elly has been a unique leader, he has been a unifier, and for a long time, he has been looking beyond Ugandan borders. Some of you may not know that when we were debating the creation of the new East African Community, Elly played a very critical role, and it so happened that we started with the Julius Nyerere discussion group. Elly was our team leader as the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee which used to take care of the East African Community.”
The Committee would meet various groups of officials from Kenya and Tanzania, and the observer teams.
The legislators led by Karuhanga put up a tough debate that East African Community must be private sector driven.
“That was the spirit of Uganda led by Elly Karuhanga. You (Elly Karuhanga) were doing this, you were not doing it for your family, but you were looking beyond Uganda.”
Foreign Affairs Ministry Headquarters
“Another thing you may not know is that the building of the [Ministry] of Foreign Affairs which you now see is one of the best government structures. It was Karuhanga’s committee that fought very hard to give a good face to our Foreign Affairs office.”
Ogwal said while MPs always have divergent political views, they should have it at the back of their minds, out of the house, they should be friends who should never be divided on political lines.
“Bart Katureebe (former Chief Justice) started as a Member of Parliament, and I can tell you, I went to his Constituency, and he was shocked that his people wanted to talk to me more than they wanted to him. He cooked for us, but they were upset when they found out that women who are married, in our culture, don’t eat chicken,” she added as Katureebe smiled.
“I have been to Adolf Mwesigye’s Constituency when John Nasasira was the Minister, I was the guest of honor on that day. We would visit each other’s Constituencies to prove that even when we debate tough, we debate on national issues, those are national issues, but we as individuals, we love each other, and we are serving the people of Uganda,” said Ogwal.
