PH
You need a thick skin to survive in Uganda if you are in the public eye. The skin must be even harder if you are a woman.
And the amount, size and sharpness of the rocks thrown at you for no crime committed increases if you are beautiful.
Now, we have this lady called Zari, who really needs no introduction around East African social circles, because she is a top socialite.
Now we conservative old fashioned girls don’t know exactly what a socialite does but we can recognise one if we see her.
Zari is the envy of other socialites. As I said, I don’t know what she does for a living but she seems to have everything she needs and even more of what she doesn’t need.
That is where her problems start. People are angry that she seems to get more added onto her while those who have little lose even the little they had as it is taken away from them.
Recently, Zari who doesn’t need a job was named Uganda’s new tourism ambassador. In other words, the State must ensure that she gets out there to be seen by as many loaded foreigners who we want to come and visit the country.
The missiles started flying at her even before the ink of the tourism minister’s signature on her appointment letter had dried.
Using social media, people have criticised everything Zari has done ever since she was appointed, and even what she did before.
Some of the criticism is justified, like when she is pictured carrying a basket of potatoes which she apparently harvested from a banana garden.
Or when she walks on the street protected by a tough-looking askari carrying a machine-gun. Who would want to visit a country where one needs to be covered by a machine-gun to feel safe? The men have pointed out such anomalies while the women have concentrated on her dress code.
They find fault with everything Zari is photographed wearing ever since she became the country’s tourism ambassador.
She has been accused of abusing traditional garments by not wearing them right, she has been castigated for wearing bathroom slippers instead of gumboots when going to the garden.
In short, they have thrown everything at her. But she has just started out on her new role. My prayer is that she takes in all the sincere criticism, corrects her act and goes out to ably market her country.
After all, she is doing it for free without pay, as the minister explained the reasons why she was chosen.
Secondly, Zari is beautiful, according to general public opinion. But in addition to the beauty, she is quite smart, a combination that doesn’t often occur easily.
She has not bothered to explain herself to her critics, possibly because she feels she doesn’t need to.
But if she wants the people she is representing to support her, she might have to volunteer some explanation.
After all, the other reason she was chosen is that she has a few million social media followers, something no other Ugandan apparently has.
