This week on Monday, the Uganda national drug authority public relations manager Abiaz Rwamiri ranted on twitter accusing new vision editors of being lazy because of the story they reported showing that the IGG had halted the swearing in of the reappointed board members.
He accused the government newspaper managers of unseriousness, while claiming the IGG hadn’t halted the function which was meant to take place on Monday at a hotel in Kampala in Kololo.
Abiaz was making all this argument at the time when the IGG letter stopping the swearing in function was everywhere on social media and after judge Gladys Kamasanyu who was supposed to swear in the board members, had pulled out of the event prompting organizers to consider relying on ex-UNDA chairman Dr. Medard Bitekyerezo’s personal lawyer Leila Katusiime who is also a commissioner of oaths in Kampala.
Ugandans on social media went to the comments section of his own post and unloaded a lot of venom on Abiaz, some stated that he was blasting new vision because Dr. Medard whose reappointment the IGG had blocked, was his fellow westerner.
Abiaz made it even worse when he kept replying those attacking him which caused the attacks on him and the NDA board to increase. Ugandans defended new vision for doing its work and assured Abiaz that there is no way this could be a fake story, given the new vision’s high reputation as a government newspaper and Uganda’s leading daily.
Ugandan social media users made it clear that in their view, it was Abiaz who is a lazy PRO with no locus to lecture professionals who run the new vision, a newspaper which has been in the news reporting business for 40 years. Many asked Abiaz to explain his claim to fame and what his deliverables and outputs have been for all the years he has served as head of communications at UNDA.
Some Ugandan Genz asked him why he was so heartless to the point of defending old men like Dr. Medard who have been occupying those same jobs for more than 9 years now, instead of leaving the stage for the country’s youths to also serve and build experience.
Some commentators shared a screenshot of Abiaz’ tweet and threatened to start an investigation into how Abiaz got his own job and how much money he has made off the taxpayer for all the years he has served as the head communications at UNDA.
He was also asked to explain what the truth was and why the board members at UNDA were being reappointed without following the correct procedures such as getting the certificate of financial implications, the Interpol security vetting clearance and cabinet approval. He was also asked what exactly was wrong with the IGG doing her job to investigate if something wrong had been done in the reappointments.
For some Ugandans this was their only chance to rant about alleged corruption by UNDA enforcement detectives who are always unleashed on Ugandans under the cover of field inspections to weed out fake clinics and unlicensed pharmacies.
Abiaz was advised to use his X space to explain why Dr. Medard, Hanifa Ssengendo, Dr. Muhammed Mutumba and other old men and women deserved to be reappointed after heading UNDA for nine years. The biggest mistake Abiaz made was to insist on fighting back which gave a chance to ranting Ugandan online warriors to properly destroy him.
Some social media users schooled Abiaz on the fact that modern communications experts ought to be wiser than picking unjustified quarrels with major media outlets like the mighty vision group.
