Lawmaker and lawyer Alhassan Tampuli Sulemana has said some recent actions by the Minister for Communications Sam George suggest he was fast overstepping his mandate.

He said this on the floor of Parliament, Tuesday, February 25, 2025.

“What the minister is doing is to probably later on request that every promotion that will take place at NCA must be brought to the minister for him to authorise. Even staff salaries would have to be sent to the minister for him to pay,” the Gushegu MP of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) said.

“Mr Speaker, it looks like we have an Idi Amin in the making. This House will not watch for an Idi Amin to emerge at the Ministry of Communication. We’re sending a signal to the Minister of Communication to relax. The exuberance is getting too much.”

From the opposite side of the House, the Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) responded, “Mr Speaker, I like Idi Amin. He’s a nice guy.”

Laughter was heard in the House.

“But where Idi Amin is painted as a dictator, and then a Minister of State is likened to Idi Amin, it becomes an inappropriate referral of the minister. So I beg you, you can make your point without alleging that an Idi Amin is emerging at the Ministry of Communications. I’m just happy that he’s admitting that this is not the first time a radio station is being shut down, and that even when the NPP was in office, radio stations were being shut down. But please don’t refer to the minister as Idi Amin,” the Majority Leader admonished.

When Mr Tampuli rose to react, he said Mr Ayariga “was putting words in my mouth.

“I never mentioned a dictator. I said Idi Amin probably because of their body size.”

Laughter was heard across the House, and seen on the face on Mr Ayariga.

“I’m making reference to… So there could be similarities in the two of them. I haven’t said he’s a dictator,” Mr Tampuli insisted.

Dr Murtala Mohammed, MP for Tamale Central (NDC), rose to speak, noting the Communications Minister and MP for Ningo-Prampram was not present to witness the exchange, and perhaps offer a defence.

“Mr Speaker, I think that he ought to apologise to our colleague who is not here. To body shame him is completely unacceptable. How would you take it if we say you’re as short as Nana Addo? How will you feel?”

“You see, someone is rising up,” he pointed out.

Since assuming office at the Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology & Innovation, Sam George has asked directors and senior managers to resubmit their CVs for perusal, in a move to restructure and realign in order to “optimise efficiency and effectiveness within the Ministry, its agencies, and affiliated programs”. He has directed the National Communications Authority (NCA) to shut down some radio stations, also.

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Idi Amin Dada Oumee, a military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until he was overthrown in 1979, ruled as a military dictator, and is considered as one of the most brutal dictators in modern world history.