Nabbanja, the Village Girl: Why They Hate Her – and Why She Should Be Left Alone

LET NABBANJA BE! | By Bernard Sabiti

At the centre of the constant mocking, lampooning and ridiculing of Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja by some Ugandan elites is educational and cultural elitism/snobbism.

Even the opposition hates her in the same way.

You could see this elitism in Ssemujju’s mocking of her achievements in Parliament the other day after her appointment.

Nabbanjja, unlike her predecessors such as Mbabazi or Rugunda isn’t an Old boy of Uganda’s elite schools and neither is she a scion of one of our political or wealthy families.

She went to Nkooko Primary, Bukuumi Secondary, did a string of diplomas before ending up at Nkozi for a degree. She rose through the ranks of lower level Local government politics in Kakumiro, a place few of her detractors can point on a map.

Her mannerisms and demeanor are so simple she could easily pass for a rural market fresh food vendor in Kalerwe.

This humility is why she was an effective NRM mobiliser and is also the reason Museveni chose her as PM, shocking the political establishment and the lousy Twitterratti. This, more than anything else, is why these elites hate her and mock her. She just doesn’t belong.

I also believe this is the same attitude that motivated that journalist to release that silly TV edits blooper just to make her look like a wimp.

American mainstream media treated the Bushes the same way, especially Bush 43, i.e. that they weren’t intellectuals. 

Leave this woman alone. I for one wish her well and pray that she keeps shaking those tables, using her rural mannerisms. More power to this Village Girl. 

After all what has those elites done for us other than use their fancy English and law degrees to fleece our country dry? Let Nabbanja be!

The writer is a politics and development analyst

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