Veteran journalist Edris Kiggundu has the Ssemujju Vs Parliament exhibition war on the lavish expenditure.
Kiggudu who worked with the Kira Municipality lawmaker at the Observer Newspaper before joining politics, he penned down a lengthy opinion on what Ssemujju owes to do amidst this social media storm.
Kiggudu highlights that the more Ssemujju defends his public expenditure, the more he looks ugly as detailed in the statement below.
LONG POST
I wrote here last year that Ssemujju and other opposition Members of Parliament Ps can’t outmaneuver our complex rotten political system and come out squeaky clean. In the end, they will become UNWILLING (or in some cases even willing) accomplices to the very excesses they criticize.
Before he went into politics, I had the benefit of debating this decision with him. We were colleagues at work. He argued, naively, that he could change things. I told him that can only be possible in a fair political system which Uganda isn’t. I told him to go and just enjoy the perks of being an MP. I wished him good luck.
He disagreed saying I was just being argumentative as I am always. The last time we talked, he had all but given up on his lofty goals. Now Ssemujju is an intelligent fellow. He mentored me as a political journalist and when left to become MP I replaced him as Political Editor of The Observer. Yet like all of us, he has his failings & he is not perfect.
I believe he is one of the most outstanding MPs of his generation but like he often cautioned me, “never place too much trust in individuals.” I took this advice to heart. Sometimes, I go to places, sit quietly and hear people speak glowingly of politician X or Y.
I always resist the temptation to give my view because my years as a journalist have given me a unique window into the private lives of many of these people that some even worship. The bottom line, as I end is, no one is perfect. Given an opportunity to enrich ourselves at whatever cost, most of us will take it and even intelligently defend our choice. Yet for those that have built their public persona around integrity like Ssemujju, the harsh criticism is many times warranted.
Ssemujju and I know this because we have built our journalism careers on rightly criticizing public officials (and others) for misusing public resources. The more Ssemujju defends his public expenditure, the more he looks ugly. He should keep quiet.
