IUIU students and lecturers gave the First Lady and education minister Hon Janet Kataha Museveni the shock of her career when they could not sing a single line of the Uganda national anthem. The 1st lady was compelled to lament thus;
“This is quite unfortunate that you people failed to sing the national anthem. It’s just because I don’t have the time but I would challenge you to sing the anthem.”
All this lip sinking drama happened at the IUIU Mbale campus where the First Lady and also a council member had been invited to lay a foundation stone on the new IUIU modern library building last Friday.
If there is one thing IUIU will never trust again, it’s the power of Public Address Systems for they gave them a reality check. A congregation of intellectuals stood up, cleared their voices to sing along to the recorded national anthem but when the machines went silent, they turned ears at each other only to realize not any of them was singing along.
“We should move out of that mentality of just playing recorded national anthem but instead learn how to sing it. This business of playing recorded versions should stop,” the disappointed First Lady said.
Ali Edinai the PR and director IUIU Kampala campus defended the students and lecturers saying; “They only failed to sing the anthem during the opening. They were relying on the public address system. As we were closing the function, people sang all the three stanzas and the minister was happy.”
With this defense, then IUIU must have innovated a new silent version of the national anthem.
