Kira Municipality MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, never one to mince words when criticising the ruling NRM, was on solid ground as he argued with Odrek Rwabwogo, head of President Museveni’s advisory committee on exports and industrial development, about the employment situation in Uganda.
Mr Ssemujju, a regular on Capital Gang, the weekly current affairs show hosted by Capital FM, was speaking about widespread unemployment in Uganda, citing figures compiled by the government. The show aired just days after the International Labour Day, for which celebrations were held in Nakapiripirit District.
The MP quoted figures from the 2024 National Population and Housing Census, saying only nine of the 25 million Ugandans of working age (14 years–64 years) have jobs and that those who are employed in industrial parks, such as Namanve, are paid Shs5,000 per day—barely enough for cheap lunch.
Activist and lawyer Agather Atuhaire, who also works as a (social media) journalist and has built a reputation for exposing corruption in bite-sized posts on X, agreed with Mr Ssemujju about the dire employment situation and poor working conditions.
Both Mr Ssemujju and Ms Atuhaire accused Mr Rwabwogo, who said he had come to address lies spread about him by Mr Ssemujju, of being patronising.
You could tell there was tension in the studio, and Mr Rwabwogo, sounding irritated by Mr Ssemujju’s interjections, said he was upset.
“Some people protect their jobs,” he said in an apparent reference to Mr Ssemujju. “I protect my cause. Causes are higher than jobs. People just protect their jobs, but they don’t really see that we are in one large ship with different cubicles.”
He seemed to downplay the seriousness of unemployment and said he had come to tell Ugandans what the committee he heads is doing. “In the last two and half years, we have [had] $460m (shs1.6tn) worth of orders in about 10 to 12 markets,” he said, citing coffee, dairy products, fish, fruit and vegetables as key exports.
Mr Rwabwogo is paid by taxpayers, a fact Mr Ssemujju alluded to on the show. But if he was not Mr Museveni’s son-in-law, he would not be holding his current position. There is no presidential advisor holding a comparable position. Even if Mr Rwabwogo is a good fit, Ugandans find it hard to ignore the nepotism factor. There is no evidence, for example, that he was selected strictly on merit after competing with other Ugandans.
The problem for Mr Rwabwogo is that whatever he does, whatever he achieves, many Ugandans are focusing—and rightly so—on the mess the NRM has created and continues to create: nepotism, repression and torture.
Mr Ssemujju was speaking for many when he said on the show: “This country is now effectively under family rule.” He said Salim Saleh, Mr Museveni’s brother, is in charge of wealth creation and that people were trekking to northern Uganda to speak to him about jobs. Mr Rwabwogo, he added, is now handling exports.
Ugandans have every right to complain about nepotism given that the vast majority live in abject poverty while the nepotism beneficiaries enjoy an opulent lifestyle.
Mr Rwabwogo is paid by taxpayers, a fact Mr Ssemujju alluded to. But if he was not Mr Museveni’s son-in-law, he would not be holding his current position. There is no presidential advisor holding a comparable position. Even if Mr Rwabwogo is a good fit, Ugandans find it hard to ignore the nepotism factor. There is no evidence, for example, that he was selected strictly on merit after competing with other Ugandans.
Ugandans struggle with failing businesses and still pay taxes. When they see a president’s son-in-law being paid their money, they will ignore any good things he is doing and see unfairness.
Mr Rwabwogo ran a communications consultancy called TERP Consult, but it was not a lucrative business. At one point, his wife said, their home in Buziga near Kampala was nearly sold by a bank because they had fallen behind on repayments. Many are wondering why a position had to be created for him to feed off taxpayers if he indeed had enough entrepreneurial skills to run his own business. How many can enjoy such a privilege?
The NRM has real problems to address. It is now relying on kinship networks for survival. But let us face it: If you have a ministry of Trade, the Uganda Investment Authority, the Uganda Export Promotion Board and they are all effective, do you really need a son-in-law to handle exports and trade?
As Mr Ssemujju asked, what can Mr Rwabwogo do that the board cannot?
🔴 Musaazi Namiti is the Founder and Editorial Director of OJ-UGANDA. He previously led the Africa Desk at Al Jazeera in Doha, Qatar, worked for Globe Media Asia in Cambodia and writes a widely read column for Uganda’s Sunday Monitor. His work has been quoted by The New York Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Jeune Afrique, The Africa Report—not for playing it safe, but for saying what others will not.
Email: musaazinamiti@ojuganda.com
X: @kazbuk