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INTERVIEW: Ssemujju took roundabout route into politics

Ssemujju’s Liteside

Any three things we don’t know about you?

People think I am brutal and chaotic which is not true; I am only a victim of circumstance. I am a family person and I choose to have one wife. I am a journalist by accident because I tried not to be one but failed. I don’t think I will be an MP beyond three terms.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

What you set out to achieve is what brings about happiness. For now, I imagine a day when President Museveni leaves power peacefully and we get a President of our time.

What is your greatest fear?

The fear to slide back in life deters me from making certain decisions.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

Balancing relationships with people is such a difficult thing; sometimes I tend to be direct which makes me end up picking quarrels with others.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

People who are not straight forward; one of the things I wanted in a woman is the ability to size up with me and air out her views.

Which living person do you most admire?

There are people I like and I can’t categorise who comes first; Kizza Besigye, Mugisha Muntu and Amanya Mushega are people I like for different reasons. For instance, if there is one person who says one and it is one in this country, it has to be Mugisha Muntu. Muntu will never seek an advantage for himself in anything. I don’t know of anyone in Uganda who will make a sacrifice like Besigye does for over 30 million people. I like Mushega for being straight forward and doing something he thinks is right regardless of people’s opinions.

What is your greatest extravagance?

Travelling with my family; one thing that I have overcome is to make and accumulate wealth and end up worshipping it.

What is the greatest thing you have ever done?

Staying in school because there was a possibility that I would have abandoned it.

What is your current state of mind?

I am in the right place

What does being powerful mean to you?

Powerful people are those who make things happen.

On what occasion do you lie?

I have never experienced it but I think I can tell a lie when I am in extreme danger of losing my life. If I have ever told a lie, it wasn’t deliberate.

What do you most dislike about your appearance?

I am a God fearing person and the nature of my training is that you don’t look at yourself but others who are not like you.

Which living person do you most despise?

It is difficult to point out one but I don’t like people who seek to advantage themselves.

What is the quality you most like in a man?

Someone modest and doesn’t seek to advantage himself.

What is the quality you most like in a woman?

Someone who is modest and calm.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

I don’t know of any.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?

It has to be my mother and wife basing on what I have gone through; my mother kept me in school and influenced my entire life.

When and where were you happiest?

Doubling my win margin in the 2016 parliamentary elections was a happy moment but I am looking forward to the happiest.

Which talent would you most like to have?

I want to learn to handle people in a better way.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Offering myself to battle for justice; I was an extremely private person.

Where would you most like to live?

I am okay living in Uganda.

What is your most treasured possession?

My religion and if I lost my wife, I would never be the same person.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

When people are deprived and extremely vulnerable to the level of a destitute living just by the wind.

What is your favourite occupation?

There is a very thin line between journalism and politics; eventually when I settled into journalism, I liked it because it made a great contribution to the person I have become.

What do you most value in your friends?

The value they add to me and not taking advantage of others.

Who are your favorite writers?

I read different people at different times; the latest book I have read is ‘Why Nations Fail’ written by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson. I like writers who research a lot in the line of history and politics.

Who is your hero of fiction?

I am not into fiction.

Which historical figure do you most identify with?

I am a religious person so I identify more with the prophet; he has influenced my life not only because of his conduct but because of many things he taught. There are many things I would have done if it wasn’t for religion.

Who are your heroes in real life?

There are people I will keep remembering like John Kazoora, Augustine Ruzindana and Ben Wacha; these people are disciplined and stand by their word.

What are your favorite names?

I share names with all my children ‘Ibrahim Ssemujju’; I am the first and they follow in second to fourth. My wife chooses the name for the girls.

What is your greatest regret?

I never wanted to be a journalist; it is a personal failure because I didn’t become a lawyer. It is something I feel I would have done much better to achieve. The others are beyond my control.

How would you like to die?

I want to fall sick and die within three days.

What is your motto?

When I set out to do something, I must do it 100% .

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editor@independent.co.ug

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