At the weekend, President Yoweri Museveni appointed singer Buchaman, real name Mark Bugembe, as a presidential envoy on ghetto affairs. He is supposed to popularize the NRM ideology among the youth living in ghettos.
Buchaman is a former close associate to musician turned politician Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine.
The appointment of Buchaman was viewed as an attempt by the Head of State to win over the minds of ghetto people, who are supporters of the People Power movement leader.
Museveni made the announcement on Saturday while meeting Ghetto Youth Groups who are under their umbrella organization known as NRM Youth Camp at their Kibuye headquarters in Kampala District.
He also launched the NRM empowerment office for youth living and working in the areas of Kibuye and Katwe.
“The office will be a registration point for SACCOs and will make it easy for us to support the youth in their different productive groups,” Mr Museveni said.
At the same event, the President also appointed singer Catherine Kusasira as his advisor on Kampala Affairs, in a move Kyagulanyi termed as ‘desperate’.
“For 34 years, this man impoverished, marginalised and ignored the ghetto people. He evicted them from their land. He didn’t care about their health, their education or their lives. He over taxed them, tortured them and killed so many of them. He thought the ghetto didn’t matter,” Kyagulanyi said on Sunday.
Kyagulanyi aside, Buchaman revealed – of his appointment – that he was ready to fulfill the responsibility accorded to him but one thing he will not do is to report to the President.
“Yes I was given a responsibility but as a leader I will not report to President Museveni and I will not write any report regarding my work because I’m my own boss,” he said during an interview with CBS radio station on Monday morning.
Who is Buchaman?
Buchaman was born 37 years ago in Mukono district.
In 2006, he told New Vision newspaper, that he chose to call himself Buchaman as his stage name because “….in my family, most people are butchers. My father is a butcher and so are most of my uncles”.
Before things got out of hand eight years ago, Buchaman and Bobi Wine were inseparable—they fought their musical battles against their enemies mainly Bebe Cool together.
In fact, Bobi Wine, Buchaman, Bebe Cool and others like Master Parrot and Tool Man were the pioneers of Fire Base Crew in the early 2000s. Later, Bebe Cool called it quits, leaving the group in the hands of Bobi Wine as the President and Buchaman as his vice.
During the heydays, he released songs like Bannakampala, Lwaki Temumatira, Mwagalaki among others.
However, in 2011, Buchaman shocked Ugandans by revealing he was leaving Fire Base Crew, citing exploitation by his leader.
He went ahead to attack Bobi Wine in one of his songs he called ‘Kyagulasada’.
However upon departure, things were never the same, literally life turned against him. One time he was arrested after being accused of stealing neigbour’s chicken.
In a video that went viral, Buchaman was seen begging a man only identified Najib to rescue him from the jail cell of Police.
When Bobi Wine decided to join politics, Buchaman was at the forefront of the people criticizing the former.
In 2017, when Bobi Wine came out to stand for the Kyadondo East Member of Parliamentary seat, Buchaman supported his opponent, Apollo Kantinti, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) flag bearer who lost the by-election miserably.
Buchaman later proclaimed himself as the new and rightful ghetto president saying that Bobi Wine was not fit for the position since he had neglected his ghetto roles to join active politics.
In August this year, he also scoffed at the Kyadondo East legislator’s presidential ambitions saying that he should keep his hopes low because politics is a dirty game.
“I don’t hate Bobi Wine and I can’t hate him because there’s no reason why I should hate him. But politics is a dirty game and I advise youths not to involve themselves in politics. Politics is a sin and no rastaman should be involved in that.”
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