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 In an interview published in our November 23 issue, President Museveni’s Press Secretary, Tamale Mirundi, alleged that Mengo hired him to attack the Central Government on the now closed CBS radio. Mirundi used to appear on the radio with BETTY NAMBOOZE BAKIREKE, the Democratic Party Spokesperson and Chairperson of the Buganda Civic Central Education Committee, who was then his good friend. From her hospital bed in South Africa, Nambooze told ENOCK MAYANJA KIYAGA how she got to work with Mirundi at CBS and what she makes of his utterances.
I met Tamale Mirundi in the mid-1990s when he was an editor at the defunct Munno newspaper where I was a reporter. Tamale was a critic of NRM and President Yoweri Museveni. He later started Lipoota newspaper [also defunct], in which he continued to criticise the President and his regime. We became closer in 1999, when we were invited, together with Haruna Kanaabi, to feature as panellists on a journalists’ programme called Ssekanyolya on the government-owned Star FM radio. We never received any payment since the station was giving us exposure through a platform to debate matters of public concern. We slowly got recognition and we used to debate as a pair. It is from Star FM that Radio Simba recognised us and invited us to feature on their popular Saturday show “Gasimbagane ne Bannamawulire” (Face the press), with a transport allowance and later a monthly retainer fee.
Going to CBS Around 2002, a group of CBS presenters led by Peter Sematimba left to start Super FM. There was fear that since Sematimba had gone with almost all the most popular presenters, he may take CBS listeners along with him. This is when we were approached by CBS’ Medi Nsereko, who had an idea of starting a similar journalists’ programme but on a Wednesday. CBS later interested us in taking up a permanent role. Since we had a good working relationship with the [Managing Director, Aga] Sekalala and his colleague [Isaac] Mulindwa, we discussed our new offer with them. Sekalala said he was not in competition with CBS but was there to complement it and so he had no problem with our going to CBS, as long as we could feature on Gasimbagane ne Bannamawulire on Saturday. We then met Charles Peter Mayiga, as a lawyer of CBS, [Personnel Manager, Robert] Kasozi and Kawooya Mwebe at Mayiga’s office in Kampala, and their talk was purely on business. They were concerned that a group of their presenters had left and were devising means to remain competitive. They agreed to give us a down-payment of Shs 2 million each. Tamale had a lot of financial problems then because he was in and out of prison for debts he accrued from his defunct newspapers. CBS used to come to his rescue whenever he was arrested. We were paid Shs 700,000 per month and Shs 20, 000 per programme as transport allowance. At CBS, Programme Director, Abbey Mukiibi, [did] not interfere with the presenters’ programmes. We decided what we were going to talk about. There’s no single time that CBS or its management or Mengo told us to say anything. But on air, Tamale used to say that “Buganda lacks a think tank”; “the Katikkiro should form a think tank” and Mengo thought Tamale was saying it in good faith. Tamale thought that because he used to be cheered while criticising the government, he could sway them and go with his supporters, but he lost favour with the listeners and left CBS in disgrace. After falling out with Mengo and leaving CBS, he joined State House as a Deputy Presidential Press Secretary.
Meeting Kaaya Kavuma
We were taken to Kaaya Kavuma by Kawooya Mwebe, Meddie Nsereko and Kasozi only after signing the agreement with Mayiga to be introduced as new staffers. The meeting between us and Kaaya Kavuma lasted not less than 10 minutes. Kaaya Kavuma told us that this was a radio for the Kabaka and cautioned us not to use inflammatory language that would put the station in conflict with the government. He specifically cautioned us against making direct attacks. Tamale’s allegations [that CBS hired him to fight government] are driven by hatred and calculated to frame the Kabaka so that that the government can justify its continued closure of CBS FM. But if you look at the big picture, the government is driving through its propaganda machine that is meant to lay ground for abolition of Buganda Kingdom. All this time, I have been keeping quiet about our relationship with them. In all meetings we had with Kaaya Kavuma, he used to caution us not to mention Museveni. In fact, he said that “you have to speak with caution because we don’t want to appear like we are attacking the government. You should give your opinions but with caution.” That is what the old man told us and he said he had been telling the same thing to Mulindwa Muwonge. He used to tell us to instead say “President.”
Praising Buganda When Tamale became popular with the listeners for his critical stance towards government, he promised to write two books: ‘Olutalo lwa pilaawo’ and ‘Fruits of Wembley.’ The listeners became anxious and started demanding the books, but instead Tamale started serialising Buganda’s history and describing it as a mighty kingdom which weathered the storm and survived British colonialists. We continued appearing with Tamale until I was arrested in 2003. When I left prison, we started separating. After prison, I found Tamale a changed man and eventually he joined State House while I joined DP as both of us became spokespersons. This is when we went separate ways.
Government critic Even on Ssekanyolya programme, Tamale was a harsh government critic. He used to do the same in his paper ‘Lipoota.’ Was it still Kaaya Kavuma or Kabaka’s government which bought him to criticise the government? By then he didn’t have any relationship with Mengo. In 2001, Tamale stood in Kyotera County and lost the elections, emerging fourth. Upon his return, he was very bitter; he told us how he was rigged out. I was a supporter of Reform Agenda then and we joined hands in critiquing government, thinking that government would listen and change. I saw in him a very articulate and objective young man. Later on, he started reviewing President Museveni’s Sowing the Mustard Seed on CBS and along the way started praising President Museveni. The listeners of CBS wrote many letters, urging the management of CBS to sack Tamale Mirundi. Instead, CBS offered an alternative by creating another programme with Meddie Ssebuliba where he was a consultant, and I was playing a teacher, with Kasibante as class monitor; both were about the history of Buganda. Eventually, Tamale lost favour with the listeners because he started contradicting himself. It is not true that he fell out with CBS because he was asked to support federo as he alleges. Tamale is a propaganda mouthpiece for the government. His allegations are laying ground for the abolition of the kingdom after polluting the minds of Ugandans.
IntellecTual Tamale Tamale amazes me when he claims to be an intellectual simply because he has a degree from Makerere University. But he contradicts himself when he rubbishes all his lecturers and professors, saying they are useless. Everybody cannot be a fool because you have a degree in Mass Communication while at the same time you are looking down at the awarding institution!
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