You’ve always wondered why a guild aspirant suddenly rises to power from unknown umbrellas that seem to shockingly have done a good job at molding these men for MAK politics. The noise is heavy through the campaign season and suddenly it goes down for one aspirant and rises for the other.
The flavor of the dynamics at that point of heat is never sweet for aspirants who are booed down as soon as they get to certain faculties and halls of residence to cry for votes. Amidst that heat, you should know, honesty is the hardest thing to keep. The aspirants often go from lying about the prices of their shoes to promising head-veils and sharias to Christians. The lies can seem quite unrealistic until the Man of the Competition takes the Day.
There are two determinants of political victory in Makerere; Tribe and Religion. Several times have we thought of political parties as playing the number one role in guild presidents’ victory. Look here, the current guild president, Were Papa Salim, was allegedly rejected by F.D.C.
Here comes the claim that Moslem are the reason Papa got the exaggerated votes. The Faculty of Education, we all know, is home to the hugest population of voters, wherein are members of the Moslem fraternity. The name “Salim” apparently pulled many Moslem eyeballs and sealed their hearts with the assurance that they would get home safe with the leadership of Papa Salim.
Upon seeing the name Salim on the ballot paper, they placed a finger against it and relaxed in contentment. The drama came in later after Papa had been sworn into power and revealed that he is not a full Moslem. Apparently he belongs to two religions and has no clear religious roots. A Freshers’ Duwa was held at the Mosque, Papa Salim was invited but never showed up. His response to the invite was a bag of facilitation. The Moslems have never forgiven Salim for the “lie”. Religion!
Former Guild president Kato Paul, who springs from the Education community was for so long thought to be a Muganda. Enough votes and support came his way because of “his Kiganda tribe”. So apparently, former Honorable, Kato is not even a twin in Buganda, and his full name is Katongoire. You can guess the region he comes from. The Education students have never felt more betrayed. Tribe!
Till then, we need to consider questions of great moment. Who is to be chosen and why! Tribe, Religion… Makerere, we should be disappointed in ourselves.
