A LEADER OF OUR GENERATION - Hon. Sylvia Rwabwogo

By Nelon Gerrard

I was a pretty young kid and all that mattered to me was living a life every normal child lives, school, food, clothes and fun all provided for. I never knew or even cared about leaders or politicians though I used to enjoy the campaigns and the propaganda it came with.

At the time my fascination was on radio because I loved the voices that made the airwaves exquisite every time. Voices of Nyakahuma Patrick Kamara, Gertrude Balinda, Big Bro Booker, Sylvia Rwabwogo and others kept me glued for years. My love for radio kept growing because of these cute voices and it’s no surprise my voice became one of those to rock the airwaves of Tooro at some point.

It was time for elections in 2006 when someone hanged a poster of a very beautiful young woman with short hair labeled Sylvia Rwabwogo. I rushed to my mum Abwooli and asked her whether it was Sylvia of VOT FM, she said yes. It was my first time seeing her face and in my mind lots of questions kept lingering; a radio presenter wants to be a councilor? (I honestly didn’t know what being a councilor meant) but I didn’t care because the most important thing I had gotten a picture of how the lady with that cool voice on radio looked like.

Nearly 20 years later, it was said that Sylvia who had rose through the ranks to the level of the district speaker of Kabarole wanted to contest the position of Woman Member of Parliament for Kabarole. The news went viral but sparked huge doubts about the abilities of the soft spoken radio vixen. Most people considered her just a beauty queen and a radio presenter, little did they know she was more.

A hidden treasure in Sylvia was unveiled when she overwhelmingly floored the then powerful incumbent Hon. Victoria Businge Rusoke in the 2015 party primary elections. Ardent doubters including Victoria herself who had returned on an independent ticket in the general elections were cleared downright when Sylvia won and made it to Parliament. Some shallow minds said Hon. Sylvia Rwabwogo would only distract Parliament with her beauty and wouldn’t do much other than collect salary and hefty Parliament allowances.

All these doubts became trash a few weeks ago when Hon. Sylvia Rwabwogo became the first Woman Member of Parliament and only the second MP ever in Tooro to come out clear against a bill tabled in Parliament to remove the age limit in favor of President Museveni who will be over 75years in the next general elections automatically disqualifying him from the contest according to article 102 (b) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda. Tooro had been infested with yes MPs to all Museveni wants since his inception at the helm of Uganda in 1986 until Hon. Alex Ruhunda stood on the floor of Parliament and firmly disregarded the age limit removal bill. Hon. Sylvia Rwabwogo crowned it all a few days later when she came out clear against the bill and become a national iconic woman. Sylvia was then chased from an NRM caucus meeting when she made it clear she had no plans of reversing her decision.

The icon went on and traversed the entire district reaffirming her stand on the bill while imparting the detriments of the crude bill to her constituents who unanimously supported and pledged to stand with her. 

 

I personally would like to thank Sylvia for being bold and making Tooro proud, standing over and above the shoulders of self-seekers that had tainted the image of Tooro leaders considered among the killers of the visions and dreams of Ugandans by always supporting dubious decisions of high national importance. Despite the unrivaled wealth of natural endowments, Tooro had become a laughing stalk due an ailing crop of leaders that lacked a clear sense of purpose since time immemorial until Sylvia and Alex. Sylvia has made us proud and revived our glory and hope that Tooro can have refined leaders in line with the vision and dreams of Tooro, Uganda and Ugandans. I and many other people of Tooro and Uganda at large can only commend Sylvia for being a true leader of our generation; a generation where no person is above the law of the land, a generation where leaders must be mentors and guides of the young, where leaders are for the common interests of Ugandans not their own gastric membranes and families.   

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