By Spy Uganda
Kampala: Following the laying down of tools of Dr.Sudhir Ruparelia owned 88.2 Sanyu FM in protest of a 25 percent salary cut due to the effects of COVID-19 pandemic, renowned city activist and Bobi Wine’s lawyer, Andrew Karamagi on June 12, 2020 published a long missive on his Facebook wall where he allegedly claimed that Dr.Sudhir is one of Uganda’s small groups of individuals holding power in organized crimes, before he added that, the businessman’s reputation for unethical and unconscionable business practices needed no elaboration.
This, according to those close to city mogul Sudhir, rubbed him the hardest way. “The ‘guy’ was so irritated by such a statement to have come from a very learned individual of Karamagi’s calibre, he was quoted fuming by his close confidants.
It is against that background that the self made business tycoon made his final decision to drag pencil thin but Cantankerous Andrew Karamagi from King Oyo’s land of beauty to court for alleged defamation. If successfully prosecuted, Sudhir’s court costs, damages and compensation claims are in billions that Karamagi must pay or donate his ‘balls’ for roasting in the Correction Center-Luzira prisons.
Talking to our reporter Andrew Irumba last night when contacted for a comment, the Ruparelia Group Chairman Sudhir confirmed the development.
“Yes,true, I have filed the suit before the Civil Division of High Court through Galisonga & Company Advocates. I have done all sorts of odd jobs, including riding a cub in UK to hawking beer on Kampala streets to earn a living for myself and my family, a young boy born yesterday simply wakes up one morning and writes anything his head tells him, just because they’ve the Right and the social media platforms, and…. probably the good English to write! But we all have same Rights. Rights are not a preserve to only those with capacity to malign others,” Sudhir fumed.
The soft spoken but serious gentleman Sudhir said he cannot leave the city lawyer walk scot-free after defaming him and spreading malicious falsehoods meant to hurt his reputation among the right thinking members of society.
“If you let him go scot-free, his peers are going to make it a business to spoil people’s hard earned reputations in society. Today’s youth think that hard labour doesn’t pay but Social Media insults, gossiping does! That’s why, according to them, every one who has money of late is a thief, in their simplistic way of looking at things, dangerous!,” Sudhir fumed.
According to the suit seen by TheSpy Uganda drafted by Galisonga Advocates, it reads in part, “The plaintiff’s personal, diplomatic, social and business reputation had been seriously damaged and he has suffered considerable distress and embarrassment including numerous calls from family, colleagues, friends and peers and other concerned persons over the same post publicized by the defendant/Karamagi.”
Read Karamagi’s Full Facebook Post He Published On June, 12, 2020 Attacking Dr.Sudhir!
“DO NOT CELEBRATE FAT BOY’S DISMISSAL
By Andrew Karamagi
A few years ago, James Onen (Fat Boy) and I had a disagreement on his Facebook page over the legitimacy of what I called (and still call) the Museveni Junta.
He labeled me an extremist. I countered that he was defending the establishment which had lost every right to govern. The debate got so spirited that it unfortunately degenerated into a spat.
https://www.facebook.com/karamagi.andrew/posts/10216233574294691
I still find a number of his views to be misogynist, aloof and revolting.
In the wake of the termination of his employment contract with Sanyu FM, I have seen a stream of celebratory messages, taunts and relish at his and the fate of others with whom he was dismissed. I respectfully disagree with that approach.
You see, an objective analysis of the classes in our economy shows that it is high time the Ugandan working class—across professions, vocations, the gig economy and the ‘informal’ sector—appreciated our common fate and united around some basic minimums, regardless of the disparities in our worldviews, affiliations or persuasions.
Sudhir Ruparelia, one of Uganda’s oligarchs and kingpins in organized crime, happens to be the proprietor of Sanyu FM. His reputation for unethical and unconscionable business practices needs no elaboration.
It is his heir apparent, Rajiv, who has wielded the axe at the radio station and is leading the smear campaign against those who were sacked for protesting a pay cut. To avoid getting distracted from the point I want to make, I will deliberately stay away from the legality of the summary terminations.
In a society where workers are routinely mistreated, harassed, abused and exploited, Onen and his friends are experiencing what happens to the majority of working Ugandans every day.
Ours is a country where fields like accounting, media, medical, law and engineering firms not only pay peanuts but have no social security protections or safety nets.
The same is true for the banking/finance, telecommunications, insurance and hospitality industries. Those in the informal and gig economy are treated worse. It is fitting that I also debunk the abiding fallacy which holds that those who work in NGOs earn a living wage. Forget it!
It is wholesale exploitation everywhere of ordinary and mostly young Ugandans. We make the billions which fatten the same robber barons who have no qualms about summarily firing an entire team of workers at a popular radio station—knowing that there will always be an army of hungry, naïve, desperate young Ugandans ready to work for whatever crumbs the boss will offer.
Ironically, the above services are a major contributor to annual GDP which, apparently, has been on an upward trend. How then is it possible that the economic growth we see on Matia Kasaija’s charts does not translate into a standard of living that is commensurate to the cost of living for we workers?
The answer lies with the fact that we are a timid, poorly organized, under-represented and uninformed lot.
When Vision Group announced the first pay cuts and similar measures, the entire media fraternity and the rest of the Ugandan workforce should have raised hell and, at the very least, fought back in solidarity. The church bells that are sounded during a funeral are not played for the dead—they are a message to the living that a similar fate awaits them.
When we all kept quiet and left Vision staff to their devices, other media conglomerates and business proprietors got ideas and noticed that they could get away with murder. And so far, they have.
The axe has now hit Sanyu and it will soon reach us wherever we are. If in doubt, look at the National Budget and ask an economist about what it means for job creation and growth.
The same logic of being each other’s keepers should apply whenever unfair policies and legislation are proposed or passed by the ruling elites against teachers, boda boda riders, university students, matatu drivers and touts, residential and commercial tenants and food vendors, to name a few.
There might be a few differences in the way we behave, dress, live and drive or socialize, but at the end of the day, a doctor, a university student, a small business owner, a young professional in a bank, NGO, hospital, law firm or radio station and a casual labourer in Kikuubo are all ‘abantu ba wansi’ (everyday people).
We belong together and are in the same socioeconomic bracket. We have a common fate. We have a common predator: the corrupt, politically connected one percent who exploit our labour, talent and ingenuity while getting richer and expanding the income inequality gap between us and them. It is existential.
Anything that threatens the well-being of a person in our class should be treated as a threat to all of us regardless of whether we agree politically or hold different worldviews. There must be some bare minimums. Indeed, an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Therefore, unless you belong to the untouchable class of Ugandans, you cannot afford to be indifferent towards Fat Boy’s current misfortune.
A terribly sexist adage in my native Runyankore says that a co-wife who sees the stick that her husband uses to beat the other wives should throw it over the fence because after beating the others, it will be used on her”
Our efforts to get a comment from Kafamagi proved futile after his known number was picked by another person who said he doesn’t him (Karamagi). Another close friend we thought we would get him through told Karamagi is still abroad.
