My old friend Don Innocent Wanyama is as intriguing as he is interesting. In this era of Amama Mbabazi’s silent treatment, we expect people to pick a chaff or two from the Mukiiga and play their cards as the Anites and Todwongs–and yes, the Piga Pangas–of this world compete to make a meal of their predicament. Not so with some people. No wonder the controversial poll sought to compare Mbabazi with Museveni out of the blue.
Daniel Kalinaki was in May 2013 spirited out of his job as Monitor managing editor into exile in Kenya. He went quietly and concentrated his life on doing more useful things like writing a book. Barbara Among, whose position was scrapped by you-know-who did not make noise. She buried herself into the Bible. Today, she quotes from verses such as; Deut. 32:35 (It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them); and 2 Chronicles 20:17 (You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, oh Barbara, Kalinaki, Njoroge and Mazige–pun purely a deep fry from our pun!)
Joseph Mazige, formerly a deputy news editor, retired quietly to his cigarettes, while John Njoroge first went bananas, vowing on his Facebook wall that all the parties that hounded him out of Namuwongo unjustifiably would be sacked one-by-one. Whatever juju Njoroge was up to, Marsha Nyonyozi, the HR manager, was sacked; Alex Asiimwe, the managing director, was sacked; and now Don Wanyama (he denies having a hand in Njoroge’s sacking) has been sacked. Njoroge does not figure the denial; he is smiling his way to life.
There are survivors. Alex Atuhaire proved a mettle to sack, so was Aidah Nalubega, the newsroom administrator, and Margaret Vichuri, the opinions editor. These were considered ‘children’ of Kalinaki and were supposed to go. And now Don cries that some people perceived not to be leaning toward a certain fence are being targeted for sacking!
Today, Don Wanyama penned an epic blog explaining the circumstances that saw him embarrassingly kicked out of Monitor. You have to feel for Don!
He admits he did not let his superiors know of the poll results as he forwarded them to ONLY Henry Mukasa, John Tugume and Yasiin Mugerwa. Was copying in the superiors and other senior editor colleagues such a burden? Not even Henry Ochieng, the political editor who helped word the poll questions just because he was on leave? If leave was the excuse, then Don had no bloody business forwarding the darn poll results because he was himself on leave. In fact, he should have informed the Ipsos guys to send the poll results to the editors handling normal business at Monitor in his absence. Kalinaki used to leave this annoying autoreply that would say: “Daniel Kalinaki is away on leave until January 20, blah blah blah”. Someone never read these.
In November, Don grilled Patrick Matsiko Wa’Mucoori, the weekend news editor, and Fredrick Musisi, a reporter, for publishing an article critical of Katosi Road scandal without his approval. Wa’Mucoori had exercised his power as news editor to pass the story. But here is Don doing the same and expects a pat on the back after not letting his superiors know of the poll results!
So Monitor commissioned a poll, right? Did Monitor pay for it? I said in Tuesday’s blog that George Rioba, the finance director, denied paying for the poll. In short, Ipsos never received any coin from Monitor and good Don surely evades this particular aspect by not mentioning it. Neither do we get any explanation of the allegations that money was received on Monday evening for payment to Ipsos as Tom Voltaire Okwalinga alleged in his rant. TVO, as the social media bug is commonly known, claims Don received $5,000 to pay Ipsos and have a receipt backdated. But this would amount to naught since someone at MPL finance department had to sign somewhere. So what really happened?
Was the poll result story rushed just for the fear that Red Pepper could get their hand on it and publish first? If so, this is pure amateur decision that defiled the principle of verification as opposed to speedy execution.
In his blog, Don says: “Rules of natural justice, those that we emphasise in journalism everyday, demand that you listen to either side before you draw conclusions. It is simple logic.” Wondering where the likes of Barbara Among received the rule of natural justice from. Many were conveniently fired during Don’s 14-month tenure. They did not receive this natural justice and they live on wherever they went.
In the rumbling, Don says on being informed by Malcolm Gibson, the executive editor: “I asked him why he had just three months back (October last year) spent his own money (Malcolm paid the tuition) to send me to one of the best journalism institutes in the US—Poynter—and he was dropping me from the team now. That question was critical. Why? In the emails he exchanged with Alex, then MD, George, the finance boss and Moses Ssesanga, the HR manager, Malcolm had told them he had spotted me as his possible successor and thought the training would be critical in that preparation. Why would an editor whom he saw as a possible successor three months later be excess requirement to the newspaper?”
Dear Don, you were naive kabisa! Like Mukasa who was naive enough to just run the poll results as you gave him without consulting his supervisors who are not on leave, you also did just that. First of all, Don, the immediate reason you were to go on a sabbatical to the US has nothing to do with the grooming to succeed as executive editor. The reasons were a carefully planned coup. Send you out there for two months or more. While you are away, install Carol Beyanga as acting managing editor and on your return, you be kept on ‘kateebe’ (waiting lounge) as you continue drawing salary for literally passing wind in the corridors of Monitor without doing any work. Constipation would set in and force you to do some exercise (read hunt for alternative job). That was the original reason for the training.
Don, you failed to read into Malcolm and his plans. From the beginning, Malcolm wanted you out, Don. However, events changed because even at 72 as you scornfully stress in your blog, he was smarter than you. Smart enough to realise that the best way to kick Don out was to first kick out Alex Asiimwe from the MD role. Asiimwe never wanted Don fired. Once Malcolm played the cards and Asiimwe was out, Don became the next.
The only surprise to the plot was when Malcolm indignantly refused to sack you, Don, after it was recommended that Monitor would be better off without your service following investigations into the Katosi Road scandal. I notice Don skillfully avoids even any mention of the Katosi Road thing. Maybe because it is not written on the termination letter, but it was one of the pieces of charcoal in the grill.
When Don took over as managing editor, he had many friends. But then issues started arising. The mood was getting tense that a revolutionary mantra that “he who kills Brutus but does not kill the sons of Brutus will rule a short while.” It is the law the likes of Stalin applied to stifle any opposition from within the revolution they had carried out. They purged all those who would look soft to the dethroned government.
Now, if we were to name the many guys in Monitor who felt Don was just out of touch with reality and prayed everyday for his departure, it would make a louder noise than what emanates from the labour ward. Everyday, we were inundated with too queries of “when is Don going?” that at some point we started wishing it happened just so Facebook can rest. Kalinaki’s departure left so many hurt; Don’s left many happy. The only difference is that in May 2013, there was no reshuffle looming as it is now. The reshuffle has kept the mood tense.
Don was a good supervisor and still is. But supervising a unit and managing the entire newsroom are two different things. It meant he grinned at a few people and pretended to smile at others. Yet he was up against serious competition having jumped the queue. With just five years inside Monitor, he became the managing editor. That was fast. Easy come, easy go. And it is what happened.
Like they say, those who are innocent have nothing to explain. The truth shouts allover the place. Those who are guilty try so hard to explain themselves. Sh-t happens. The energy churned into explaining the exit and the poll thing should go into looking for a way forward. We doubt even a court can reinstate anyone now.
Credit: Pigapanga.wordpress.com