In Part VIII of the series, Jerome Kule Bitswande talked to NATHAN IRUMBA, retired diplomat who worked in Foreign Service for close to four decades and is now the chief executive officer of SEATINI-Uganda.
I was born on December 27, 1944 in Hoima. I studied at Duhaga boys school and later Duhaga junior secondary school after which I went to Ntare School where I finished O-level in 1962.
I then went to Makerere College School for my A-level in 1964 before I joined Makerere University for a bachelor’s of political science.
JOINING FOREIGN SERVICE
As a young man, I always wanted to study law; but at Makerere, law school had not yet started, it was only in Dar es Salaam; yet it was very prestigious to study in Makerere, in fact if you did not go to Makerere, the perception would be that you had not passed very well. So, for fear of not going to Makerere, I decided to opt for political science at Makerere University.
When I was at Makerere in third year, we did interviews to join different ministries and corporate companies; so, I did interviews with the ministry of Foreign Affairs and around April 1968, I and seven others were called for the job. It was Ambassador Matiya Lubega who had interviewed us.
At that time, I had about five job offers including one with the East African Community, but I zeroed down on the opportunity in Foreign Service. In September that year, as part of the apprenticeship, I went with the Ugandan delegation to New York and I was attached to the Special Political committee.
My stay on this committee helped me appreciate how the United Nations [UN] works; it also helped me understand the challenges in the Middle East: Palestine-Israel conflicts, the influence of superpowers on smaller countries and generally global politics. I sat on that committee for three months and it marked the end of my training in Foreign Service.
MAIDEN APPOINTMENT
On my return to Kampala in December, the permanent secretary of the then ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Sam Baingana, told me that I was going to be in charge of the minister’s office.
So, that is how I became the personal assistant to my minister Sam Odaka. Odaka became the first minister to have a personal assistant and, incidentally, he told me that his performance in cabinet shot up that even the president [Dr Milton Obote] asked him how he was making it, and when he [Odaka] told him [Obote] about a personal assistant, Obote ordered that all ministers should have personal assistants to help them improve their performance.
In fact, I always boast around that I am Uganda’s pioneer personal assistant. Unfortunately, the rest of the ministers did not understand the role of PA; so, people who were recruited in other ministries in the same capacity ended up becoming briefcase carriers; that, I refused to do because the role of PA was to be a link between a minister and other departments, and also follow up on any issue that he [minister] was pursuing.
I found this appointment very educative because I understood better how government operates; it also dictated that I do a lot of research for the minister hence making me more knowledgeable.
It also helped me improve my speech writing skills since I used to write draft speeches for the minister; in fact, at some point, I was even drawn into writing speeches for the president. I travelled a lot; whenever the minister and president were travelling, I used to be the first on the delegation list; so, it gave me a lot of exposure.
OVERTHROW OF OBOTE IN 1971
In January 1971, there was a Commonwealth ministerial conference which we had gone to attend in Singapore. Towards the end of three-week-long conference, the permanent secretary of Internal Affairs, Chris Ntende, joined us in Singapore.
I remember when I asked what he was up to; he told me he had come to brief the president about the issue of Asians of British nationality who were being denied entry to Britain, so that he also brings it out during the conference; I later learnt that he was lying, he had come to inform the president about a coup in the offing.
Obote did everything possible to secure a flight to Uganda to stop the coup but he failed. When the conference ended, we had meeting with the president and he told us that: him and the other political leaders would travel to Dar es salaam.
He asked the civil servants to travel to Kampala. He said, “You guys, go and work for government but be very careful and professional. Do not be so close to Idi Amin [Amin was the architect of the coup] because he will kill you if you do.”
Well, at that time, some of us could say it was politics, but I have come to believe that he was right because most of the people who were in his inner circle were eliminated even before his exit.
Three days later, I reported to the permanent secretary, Mr Sam Baingana, but we had been with him in Singapore anyway, he asked me to continue doing my work until further instructions are made. I continued keeping the office of the minister of foreign affairs even before a new minister was appointed.
Eventually, Wanume Kibedi was appointed new minister of Foreign Affairs. That period also helped me to understand how human beings behave; I saw people who used to fraternize with Odaka, turn around and portray him as somebody who used to mistreat them. I have since learnt to judge character, especially when they are faced with change.
APPOINTMENT TO LONDON
In January 1972, I was posted to London as a grade six officer. Lt Col [Sam] Lukakamwa was the high commissioner while Swaibu Musoke was assigned to the International Coffee Council; I was made responsible for trade and commerce in general.
Here, I was basically charged with linking our people to business opportunities and generally advising the mission on how we can help boost trade in Uganda. I closely worked with the ministry of finance.
This time was also a bit challenging because that was the same time Amin declared his economic war in which he chased the Asians away from Uganda. So, it was impossible to convince anybody to come and set up investments here when some traders had just been chased.
The other problem was the issue of intelligence officers; they didn’t know what they were supposed to do, they spied on the mission and Ugandans there instead of providing us with security. Well, for me, I never gave a damn; I did my job as professionally as possible.
The good thing is that the British also understood our position. Amin was in a love-hate relationship with the British; to them, he was a comedian.
I remember those days it was a high inflation period in Britain; so, Amin organized a fundraising in which people brought goats and all sorts of items for donation to the Britons.
He then asked us to communicate that Uganda would like to deliver her donation to Britain to save her from inflation; of course that made its way into the news but it was taken as a joke. We, however, made all communications as instructed because if we didn’t, we risked being executed.
I worked in London until the end of 1973 when I received another transfer.
APPOINTMENT TO PARIS
There was a conference of East and Central African states; so, I was called in to translate since I fluently spoke both French and English. One thing I want to credit these leaders [Amin, Obote and Museveni] for is that all of them have a fantastic memory. When Amin saw me before I even started translating; he introduced me: “This is Irumba, he also speaks French.”
Later on, a proposal was made by our ambassador in France to have a counsellor in his mission; with my knowledge of French, I was considered the best option; so, my name was forwarded to the president for promotion to counsellor and appointment to Paris, France.
I stepped foot in Paris, France in November 1974. I was put in charge of political issues. We were also attached to Geneva; but the truth is that it was impossible to handle Geneva because the workload there is too much to be covered in a one day’s visit. I liked Paris; we had Unesco, and those days France was beginning to assert itself in Europe.
I worked in France for about one year before I was sent back to Kampala. I am not yet sure who I annoyed that led me to be transferred that fast. So, in 1975, I was assigned to work as an undersecretary for finance and administration at [Foreign Affairs] headquarters.
There were those who argued against serving in the administration, but I always told them that it was an opportunity for me to serve my colleagues in the ministry.
ORIS SCARED OF TECHNOCRATS
As undersecretary, I directly worked under Ambassador Stephen Nabeta who was director of finance and administration. I tried doing my best because I wanted to give effective service to government through making the right decisions and also to support my friends who were in foreign missions. Our permanent secretary was Ambassador Lubega, while Juma Oris was the minister of Foreign Affairs.
My problem here was that Oris had a strong inferiority complex. I think he believed that the officers despised him; of course, that was not true. Maybe he had people who used to feed him on wrong information.
So, one day, he called me to his office and, out of the blue, said: “…Irumba, I cannot work with somebody like you in my ministry.”
The minister told Amb Lubega to write a transfer letter for me…Public Service wrote back to Foreign Affairs and asked the permanent secretary to give reasons that informed the transfers.
When Amb Lubega responded to that letter; he said he had no other reasons to advance except that the minister had ordered our transfers. Public Service declined to accept the transfers, but for me, I could not continue hanging around because anything could happen if somebody didn’t want you. So, in 1976,
I decided to ask for a study leave and Public Service allowed me. In 1977, I enrolled at the College of Law, Chancery Lane, London for the solicitors’ course. After studying the academic part of the course, I briefly worked at Wanume Kibedi’s law firm as I prepared to begin working on my articles for the practical part of my solicitors’ course.
BACK TO FOREIGN SERVICE
After Amin had been overthrown, I came to Uganda for a visit in 1980. When I was here, I was approached by [Mark] Ofwono who was then the permanent secretary in the ministry of Foreign Affairs; he told me I had been considered for appointment to the UN in New York.
I was still pursuing my solicitors’ course in London but I accepted the job. The posting on this council enabled me to understand power politics; I am convinced that we did a good job, especially in fighting apartheid in South Africa. In 1981, I was voted to chair the UN special committee on colonisation; that is the reason most of the people who were in Foreign Service then call me chairman till now.
Around 1984, I was promoted to deputy permanent representative, and later on, Dr Olara Otunnu was appointed minister of foreign affairs when Gen Tito Okello Lutwa took power. So, I started working in acting capacity as head of mission.
One of the things I dealt with were the demonstrations of Ugandans against government, what made matters worse was that the organizers always wanted to drag us into their protests; these included even the rebels, they would come and sweet-talk me to join them; but I always declined. Even NRA would come around but I would tell them “I am a professional who only serves a government in power”.
Well, they would say; “but we are about to capture power.” And I would respond: “As long as you are still hovering around Kampala, you are rebels, I can only relate with you as friends.”
I remained doing my job until 1986 when another transition took place for the NRM had assumed power. Bakulu Mpagi who had been designated as UN permanent representative died before he even assumed office.
So, the NRM selected Wnume Kibedi, for whom I had worked as personal assistant before, to come and head the mission. This time, I was working with him as his deputy. I stayed in New York until 1988 when I got a transfer.
PIONEER ENVOY TO GENEVA
In January 1988, I was transferred back to Kampala as director International Organisations department which later metamorphosed as Multilateral and Treaties department.
I did that job until 1996 when I was considered to go and found Uganda’s mission to Geneva, Switzerland. As founding head of the mission, I was involved a lot with securing office and residential premises for the ambassadors. Well, it was quite challenging, but we pushed on with support from the Swiss government since it always paid half of our rent.
Geneva is a very busy place, hosting a multiplicity of international organisations; World Trade Organisation [WTO], World Health Organisation, World Intellectual Property Organisation and so forth…Because of the hardline stance I took for African interests, I was voted as chairman of least developed countries in WTOs; in fact, the ambassadors from powerful countries started targeting me.
Ambassadors approached me and we would discuss issues even before the real debate. Actually, when they realized that a particular person was a well-informed hardliner, they would begin engaging you; if you ever saw any resolution being made when you had no prior knowledge of it, then you know it meant that you didn’t matter.
I remember at one time the American ambassador approached me and told me, “You see Washington is complaining, why you are not siding with us…..”
I would tell them, “but why is Washington complaining? We are a small country, why must we side with the USA? Can’t the United States also side with us?”
The others would intimidate me that they had been to Kampala and, upon discussion with government and/or the president; I was supposed to vote on their side.
Unfortunately, their interests and the African interests used to be at opposite extreme ends; so, I would simply tell them; “What you have got from Kampala was discussed between you and government, I have not yet gotten instructions.”
I continued doing this job, particularly becoming more active in fighting for Africa’s trade interests, until my retirement in 2004.
jeromekulbits@gmail.com
Look out for another engaging interview next Friday.
