Over the past couple of weeks, the tabloid media has been awash with allegations concerning Makerere University’s Guild Pesident Bala David private life.
Hardly had the dust settled on a story alleging an illicit affair between the student leader and a one Racheal Musinguzi, a fourth year student of law at the same university, than another was published exposing accusations by Enid Mirembe, the reigning Miss Tourism of Busoga, that he was cheating on her with a bevy of other women.
To clear the air, Campusbee’s Saasi Marvin sounded out Mr. Bala as well as the two ladies for an exclusive about the allegations that threaten to sully his erstwhile unblemished leadership. Below is the interview.
How do you know Enid?
Ans: She’s a friend, a student, a voter, a college-mate. I met her at campus.
What do you have to say abt the scandals in the papers?
Ans: I think the writers of such stories must be having ulterior motives or maybe they are interns practising how to write. They must have lost touch with reality. I think the writers surely wanted to practice how to write.
Could it be a political rival behind these stories?
Ans: I want to believe that that is possible because the story is hard to imagine. I dnt knw the motive but its a bad one. A person who knows Bala knows I can never indulge in such scandals.
Have you spoken to Enid since the stories were published in the media?
Ans: I called her and said “but Enid we have not been dating so how come you are making these wild allegations?” she expressed shock that they are saying it is her story. She denied being the one behind the WhatsApp conversation screenshots!
Infact she was also equally surprised that such a story was running because the people who know us know that we are merely good friends, nothing more, nothing less.
Are you intimately involved with Racheal?
No, we are friends.
Is it true you appointed her a minister in your Guild cabinet basing on that “friendship”?
But Racheal was my friend even before I contested. She was on my campaign team, she campaigned for me.
Infact she also contested to be the Guild Representative Counsel of Complex Hall and she was voted. Since people had trusted her with their votes, and surely as a friend and a person I knew; whose capabilities I was not in doubt of, I made her a minister.
And the claims that she is always in your office?
She never leaves my office? She does her work from the adjacent office but she also comes to my office just like any other minister. In any case, there is nothing wrong with her coming for consultations.
We are in holidays and for that matter, my office is always locked so does she pass through the window or what?
I think it is purely ill motive if there is a person who sits there and calculates how much time Racheal spends in my office every time she comes around.
Whoever makes those allegations must be having a psychiatric emergency, nothing else.
Psychiatric emergencies aside, are you dating anyone in the first place?
To ask such a question is to major in a minor. Let us not concentrate on whether or not I am dating. That’s not the reason why I was voted. I was voted for service delivery.
The interest of Makerere is seeing that there is no tuition increment. That security is guaranteed. That students’ priorities are taken as key.
I think our focus should be on what we are doing, the challenges we are facing, and the way forward.
Whether am dating or not, Makerere must rise. We must see service delivery. We must see students as shareholders. We must drive the desires and aspirations of the students. Period.
Whether there is a girlfriend or none, to me that is a non issue. I also have a private life and indeed it’s private, let it remain that. As a leader I am a role model. People look up to me so the question is am I living up to their expectations?
Any thing to say to your supporters who may have lost faith in you as a dignified leader in light of the reported scandals?
Makerere generally should know that am way beyond such scandals. My discipline is not questionable.
To say such is to say that am not guild president because one of the qualifiers is self respect, discipline. People should concentrate on guiding me, they should concentrate on positive criticism because negative writing does not change the fact that I am the Guild President and neither does it stop me from talking to my friends Enid or Racheal. I cannot be on tenterhooks all the time just because stories are going to be cooked up.
We have come a long way, the criticism must fit in the 21st century, instead of writing like early man, forging stories. It’s time to emanate positively. Either way, no matter the negative stories, bottom line is we are moving forward.
What are you planning for the tabloids generating such stories?
Firstly, is that God is going to punish them for spreading harmful propaganda, spreading lies. Secondly, I am making investigations. I am going to take legal action. The law will prevail. They can hide in tabloids but I will get them.
What do you have to say about the tabloid media which seems obsessed with reporting about sexcandals?
I have no problem with such media but they don’t have to run around concocting stories. I am sure they can do better. They should not underestimate their mental abilities or their ability to do professional work.
They can write about better things than sex scandals and it will help them traverse countries, achieve greatness, etc. I have never seen a journalist recognised worlwide for writing about sex scandals or rumour mongering. They should use their writing talent very well.
I see their writings are perfect. Their punctuation, grammar, diction etc are usually on point and I know that with that kind of writing, they can do very well. They only need to major in majors.
Final word to the electorate? What is the Students’ Guild up to?
The Students’ Guild is doing everything possible to make sure that the welfare of students is not questionable. Service delivery is key. We are doing everything in our means to make sure that students have a better stay within the university.
Campusbee spoke to the two ladies in question and this is what they had to say:
Enid:
“I don’t engage in that crap. You know social media, people can fake everything.” Enid says she is not the one who was chatting in the screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation that appeared in the media last week alleging that the Makerere students’ leader is a philanderer.
Racheal:
“The allegations that Bala and I are pushing out just because I am always in his office are just assumptions of the media. I am usually there to consult him about a project am working on, and as friends we can always chat once in a while.” Racheal adds that she has been good friends with Bala for more than a year now.
