At a C’wealth Gathering, Kutesa’s Diplomatic Flair is Seen as Phoney.

At a C’wealth Gathering, Kutesa’s Diplomatic Flair is Seen as Phoney.

ELIAS BIRYABAREMA

Kampala--The Commonwealth Business Forum, CBF, one of the prominent meetings that precede the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Chogm, opened on November 20th, 2007 at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala.

A number of officials both from the Ugandan government and the Commonwealth gave speeches before the final one by President Museveni who flagged off the Forum. Among them was Uganda’s Foreign Minister, Mr. Sam Kutesa known widely as one of the most powerful and influential (and wealthiest) ministers in Museveni’s government.

His speech was, unsurprisingly, low on substance: just about the kind that you would expect from any minister in the NRM government: they typically feature simplistic, generic remarks, shallowness of thought and frequent interjections with Dear-Leader-style praises of President Museveni.

So there was nothing remarkable in Kutesa’s speech and no body had a problem with that because no body expected anything better.

What shocked most Ugandans and the foreign delegates in attendance alike was the sudden trembling of Kutesa’s voice with the wavering worsening toward the end of his speech. There was total silence in the Grand Marquee where the CBF was hosted and so Kutesa’s wavy voice quickly caught the attention of many.

If a CEO of a small concern in Uganda or elsewhere had been intimidated by the powerful gathering (there were two presidents, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame being the second) and started shaking or losing control of himself, it would have been perfectly understandable.

But this was Sam Kutesa; a lawyer, a former Attorney General and one of the longest serving ministers in Museveni’s government. And most important: he’s Uganda’s top diplomat. He has met and talked with presidents, he’s travelled the globe and he has stood before and addressed some of most awesome audiences. On September 20th, 2006 for instance he addressed a gathering of world leaders at the UN headquarters in New York justifying Uganda’s granting of amnesty to the LRA leaders indicted by the ICC. So why did his diplomatic skills and composure fall apart at his most hour need?
Perhaps one would possibly sympathise with him if he was talking off the top of his head. But Kutesa was reading a prepared text.

I have since been asking myself why Kutesa cowered before an audience and I don’t seem to have hit an answer yet. But other questions, too, started popping up in mind: how then is Kutesa able to for instance square off with other foreign ministers or governments when conducting Uganda’s diplomatic business?
A foreign policy, for any nation, is one of the cardinal pillars of statehood. Foreign Ministers (or Secretaries) are typically the standard-bearers of nations’ foreign policies. Unmistakably common among them is their erudition, impeccable eloquence and finesse of personality.

Kutesa’s performance at the CBF showed an astonishing lack of any of these, casting his ability to steward Uganda’s Foreign Policy in deep doubt. One clue though may help us gain some understanding of Kutesa’s personality and why he didn’t shine at a moment he was supposed to.

On August 23rd this year, the Weekly Observer in a lead story, “US Firm Paid 2bn To Edit Museveni, Kutesa Letters,” reported that US’s ex Assistant Trade Representative for Africa, Ms Rosa Whitaker had earned thousands of dollars for assignments that included one where her firm edited Kutesa’s letter to the Editor of a US magazine, Foreign Policy. The letter was rebutting scorching charges by former UN Special Representative for children in armed conflict Mr. Olara Otunnu carried in an article “The Secret Genocide,” that was published around the world.

Any person with a reasonable command of English can read any article in any of our daily English newspapers and if he/she has any issues to raise or communicate regarding that article he can instantly write a letter to the editor. This is what ordinary Ugandans do on a daily basis to the letters’ editors of all our newspapers and that’s standard practice across the globe.
There’s absolutely no need for intermediaries and even if you hired one, it’s no guarantee that your letter will be given any priority over others. Selection of Letters for publication is done on merit.
But what then are we to make of the revelation that a whole minister, Mr. Sam Kutesa with such a “weighty” profile was incapable of personally composing a simple letter to the editor of Foreign Policy magazine?

That could be an important indicator of the level of sophistication of Mr. Kutesa and all these Professors and PhD ministers that populate Mr. Museveni’s cabinet.