Photo by Micheal Kakumirizi
Singer Ronald Mayinja has revealed that he sang ‘Bizeemu‘ song before the President to send a message about the grievances of a common Ugandan. The singer caused a stir at Catherine Kusasira’s concert over the weekend when he sang his controversial song Bizeemu in the presence of President Museveni who attended the show as chief guest.
In the song, Mayinja criticises President Museveni’s government for allowing history repeat itself.
“When the president went to the bush in 1986, he came to fight the bad governance by the previous presidents Obote and Amin,” he lyricizes in the song he composed in the local Uganda dialect.
“When he came to power, he came to stop corruption, killings of people, nepotism, looting of people’s property and being imprisoned without evidence, misuse of the gun. But after fighting against all that, the bad governance is back. Tell the president that all the things he came to fight against are back.”
Speaking at the concert, Museveni trashed Mayinja’s claims and said that the NRM doesn’t kill, but will instead hunt down the killers.
Photo by Micheal Kakumirizi
Museveni also said that none of the things the NRM Bush war fought have resumed.
Nonetheless, in an interview with Spark TV, Ronald Mayinja defended his performance.
He says that though some artists have criticised him, he is happy that his message reached the targeted audience.
“I was happy, that even though I did not send out the complete message, at least most of it was delivered. It is not easy to get the chance to pass your message to the right people. I am happy and I will be even happier that it is worked on,” he said.
Mayinja further revealed that he had whispered his concerns to the President right before his performance.
“At that concert, I talked to the president about those things in his ears and heard me and said okay we shall see. Then I told myself, now that I have told the president, let me pass on the same message on the mic,” he added.
Two days back, fellow artiste Bebe Cool wrote a long missive on his Facebook page criticising Mayinja for performing that song.
According to Bebe Cool’s statement, Mayinja ought to appreciate Museveni for all the good things the singer has achieved under the NRM regime, instead of criticizing the same.
But Mayinja had this to say to Bebe Cool and all the other who have criticized him.
“If we want this world to be a better place, we should stop thinking only about ourselves. That because you reached out to the president and got a handshake, everyone else is okay. Let us stop that selfishness.”