The Ugandan community in Mamelodi held a thanksgiving ceremony for Mr. Muhammad Kirimwa, commonly known as Kirevu, the long-time chairman of the Ugandan community in Mamelodi. The colourful and fairly well-attended function, meant to appreciate his dedicated service to Ugandans in Mamelodi and Pretoria at large, unexpectedly turned into a political platform when Mr. Kirevu used the moment to urge the community to support the current government back home, a regime many Ugandans consider dictatorial and ruling with an iron fist.
“I thank all fellow Ugandans for coming. I understand we would have been many, but politics consumed most of my friends and they no longer want to associate with me. Some people gave me money in secrecy and told me they could not attend because I am ‘compromised’ (Nalya). But this tendency of hating people simply because they do not subscribe to your political party is not good and must stop. We should concentrate on what brought us here. Let me tell you, obey the government and support the government back home. People in Uganda are well off, take it from me; I visit Uganda regularly. People have made wonders in Uganda, and anyone discouraging you from investing there is mentally perturbed,” he said.
It should be remembered that Mr. Kirevu was previously a supporter of NUP and was among those who backed the party from its early days. However, his speech at the thanksgiving ceremony left many of the attendees puzzled. He revealed that Hajjat Hadijah Namyalo, the head of the Office of the National Chairman (ONC), an NRM-aligned office based in Kyambogo, had sponsored the ceremony. He publicly thanked Namyalo for the financial support she offered.
“I want to send my heartfelt gratitude to Hajjat Hadijah Namyalo for the money she gave me to buy a cow,” Mr. Kirevu said.
All the invited guests seated at the high table were known NRM members who even participated in the NRM Delegates Conference. None of his former NUP allies attended the event, signalling that he may have found new political alignment within the NRM. Attempts by The Pearl of Africa News to reach him by phone for clarification were futile.
However, some attendees expressed dissatisfaction with his remarks and regretted attending an event they believed was strictly a thanksgiving ceremony, not a political gathering.
“For me, I came to attend a thanksgiving for my chairman. Little did I know it was a function to declare that he is now NRM. We were duped by the term ‘thanksgiving’ to come in big numbers. I just hope he won’t claim that even those of us in the audience crossed with him so that he can get money from NRM. You know, joining NRM and bad-mouthing NUP and President Kyagulanyi has become a lucrative business in Uganda. People don’t support NRM out of conviction but out of convenience. I know Mr. Kirevu, he has invested money in Uganda, and he fears that if the government sees him associating with the opposition, NRM will confiscate the small properties he has back home,” a community member who preferred anonymity narrated.
Another attendee, Mr. Maxwell, known as chairman Attrigeville also expressed shock:
“I heard him, and as a person, I was surprised that my colleague has become a propaganda machine for NRM a violent outfit. But I know him personally. I am waiting for him to come to Attridgeville because he has a home and a wife here. I will ask him again whether he meant what he said or whether he was under duress. You saw me on the high table because I brought Sheikh Masanga, the main celebrant, but I regret Mr. Kirevu’s words. You know me for a long time, I have been a staunch strugglist; I can’t be part of such foolery.”
Ugandans yearning for change are spitting venom and cursing him for abandoning the struggle in exchange for “silver.” Many now refer to him as a Judas Iscariot who betrayed the cause at the final hour.
