July 15, 2009 at 5:10 pm (2009 -2011 elections, legal issues)
Tags: L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick
Dear all,
It appears Uganda, or rather UAH is so starved of heroes that when we see zeroes, we celebrate. I dare say, when some of us allow our eloquence to only slightly exceed our impulsiveness in our style of debate on this forum, it will soon dawn on us thatMbale municiparity MP, W. Kajeke, is playing games whose potential blowback he may not have fully reflected on.
Our typical flippancy also comes out in the Monitor article which states that W. Kajeke resigned yesterday, and then soon afterwards indicates that he has given notice that he will resign. Once notice of resignation issued, one quits parliament immediately.
This is what Articles 83 and 252 of the 1995 Constitution says about resignations:
83. Tenure of office of members of Parliament.
(1) A member of Parliament shall vacate his or her seat in Parliament—
(a) if he or she resigns his or her office in writing signed by him or her and addressed to the Speaker;
252. Resignations.
(1) Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, any person who is appointed or elected to any office established by this Constitution may resign from that office by writing signed by that person addressed to the person or authority by whom he or she was appointed or elected.
(2) The resignation of a person from any office established by this Constitution shall take effect in accordance with the terms on which that person was appointed or, if there are no such terms, when the writing signifying the resignation is received by the person or authority to whom it is addressed or by any person authorised by that person or authority to receive it.
(3) For the purposes of clause (1) of this article, “office” includes the office of—
(a) the Vice President;
(b) the Speaker and Deputy Speaker;
(c) a Minister;
(d) the Attorney General;
(e) a member of Parliament;
(f) a member of any commission, authority, council or committee established by this Constitution; and
(g) a public officer.
If W. Kajeke is really worth his salt, he must walk the talk. If E. Ssekandi is still worth the candle, he should show the light.
Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick
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July 15, 2009 at 4:27 pm (1980 elections, POLITICS)
Dear all ,
Ssebaana in no liar. Museveni states that he was a member of the Democratic Party. I repeat here Museveni was never a member! What my brother Abbey fails to do is to distinguish between the several categories that are found in a functioning political party. Parties have Members, Supporters, and Sympathizers. The research we have conducted indicates that he was a sympathizer for a very brief time; the question we could not answer, was as to whether he was sympathizing with DP because he was a benefactor of a strong DP family or it was ideological? As far as we know Museveni was even never a supporter of DP. Actually some of the confusion in Uganda’s political parties is for many to see parties as mass movements. Not every body who puts on blue, red, black during an electioneering period is a UPC or any one who clenches his/her fist and screams “Egumire” becomes a DP Member.
Members
:- Usually they hold membership cards, they can vote and be voted in party elections. Often they pay a membership/and/or a subscription fee and they are usually bound by a code and have specific obligations to the party.
Supporters:-
Usually they provide material and financial support to the party. (i.e. Mr. Sudhir R. Is a supporter of NRM, FDC, and DP.) These can influence party policies through there contribution. They do not vote and they are not bound by the party codes.
Sympathizers
:- Usually independents, who vote for a given party of their choosing. Some can continually have feelings for a single party over a long period of time. Usually there only contribution is the vote to the given party.
Re-read Bwengye’s “The Agony of Uganda” (Regency Press), it is a long time since I read it, but the facts are that Museveni came to DP leaders and asked them to give him the party leadership. At the end of the negotiation he wanted on of the three most senior positions in the party. When DP told him that all party position are not given, bur he will have to face an electorate he scrummed. His collegues like Buzabo (RIP) T. Kabwegyere, stayed and stood for offices.
Mzee Ssebaana is no liar, it is museveni who is a congenital and pathological liar. He know very well that he was never a member of DP. And who believes the “messed-up seed”, it is a pack of made up stories at best. The only truth about that book is that he wrote it!
Abbey, also check your argument that many Bahima were DP members. Real data may tell you a different story.
Addendum
:- DP was never opposed to the Federal status for Uganda. Our argument then and now was to not to page it to individuals, but look at it as a system of government. The Kind of Federal that was granted to some parts of the country in 1959/1960 was surely bound to fail. It is for the same reason that people should not be asking for Federalism from Museveni, we need to have a nation conversation as Ugandans and decide for ourselves. If Museveni “grants” anybody federal, minus the involvement of Ugandans it will be equally sham. DP fully participated and voted for the principal of federalism, the disagreement was in the details of how it would be structured and its leaderships.
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July 14, 2009 at 11:50 pm (1980 elections, History)
Tags: John Rubin Byaruhanga
Fellow Ugandans,
Do you remember the rift between President Dr. Apollo Milton Obote (RIP) and the Chief of Defence Staff Brig. General David Oyite Ojok?
The then NRA rebels had taken over the Western Region and Southern Buganda and were on the move towards Kampala. The national defence forces UNLA had failed to defeat the rebels. The President refused to talk to the rebel leaders, as he continued to call them ”Bandits”. The Chief of Defence Staff, Brig. General David Oyite Ojok urged the President to talk to the rebel leadership, but the President refused. At one point the Chief of Defence Staff threatened that the army would take over power. Well, we remember how the good Brig. General Oyite Ojok died, don’t we?
After the death of Brig. General David Oyite Ojok, the President deliberately sidelined the senior Acholi Officers to replace David Oyite Ojok as the new Chief of Defence Staff. He promoted Colonel Opon Acak to replace D. Oyite Ojok. The rebels continued to gain ground, as the UNLA began to split. The Acholi Officers were not happy and so they opted to take over power from Dr. A.M.Obote.
By dishonouring the ”Peace Agreement” signed in Nairobi, the NRA/M rebels might have noticed the disunity of the government with whom they were supposed to share power. They decided to dislodge the entire shaky government and assumed power themselves.
About Olara Otunnu serving the government that removed Dr. A.M.Obote from power, I don’t see anything wrong with it. I can’t speak on Olara Otunnu’s behalf, but I think he might have hoped for a democratic shift that would have emerged from the new government negotiations with the NRA/M rebels. I believe that Dr. Olara Otunnu should be welcomed warmly to any party of his choice without any blame for serving in the government that removed Dr. A.M.Obote from power.
BJ. Rubin
UAH Forumist
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July 14, 2009 at 9:51 pm (KINGDOMS, Kampala, Land matters, POLITICS)
Tags: Desmond Nzana
Ugandans At Heart,
While we await the official position of the FDC party on the Kampala Bill and the taking over Kampala by the central administration, let me volunteer the following personal perception:
1. FDC is unlikely to support the dilution of democracy as is proposed in this new Kampala bill. The people of Kampala deserve the right to be governed by their popular will just as other Ugandans in any other district. If other Districts are going to continue electing the LC5 chair persons by adult suffrage, why should city dwellers be denied this right
2.The question of territory is also not very clear, the expansion of the commercial attributes of Kampala into the areas surrounding it is inevitable. Urbanisation is on the up trend and that is good for our future, we can let the city expand into the neighboring Districts without first annexing them into Kampala. We could instead put in place the planning regulations in those areas that envisage such an eventuality.
3.These Districts should be prepared to host the growth of the city into their territory, it will be good for their revenues and I don’t see how it harms anybody least of all central GVT
4.Let Mukono, Entebbe Wakiso and Mpigi, be part of the same planning framework that envisages the commercial territory of Kampala growing into them but let them maintain their administrative identity. We can have a modern well governed metropolis that sits across several districts. It should not be impossible.
Having noted the above, it is also important that we remind ourselves that the district boundaries are not unchangeable. Article 179 (a&b) of the constitution empowers parliament by simple majority to alter boundaries of districts and to create new ones
Parliament has been creating new districts by splitting existing ones and what is proposed in this new bill is not new, only that in this case, chunks of existing Districts are being added to another existing District. There is nothing illegal in it
What is contentious is that the Districts losing territory are all deemed to belong to Buganda but Kampala which is to gain the territory does not.
Ugandans need to remember, that the only territory that the constitution considers immutable is the territory of Uganda as defined in the second schedule. Everything else within the territory of Uganda can be adjusted for administrative, cultural and political convenience as long as it is done in accordance with the constitution.
The regions, ie Acholi, Ankole, Busoga, Bunyoro, Buganda and Toro are not fixed territorial entities, they are instead groups of districts that consent or were deemed to have consented to co operate on cultural matters by article 178. This co operation is not irreversible. A District can democratically opt in or out acording 178(4).
The facts as per our constitution are as below:-
1.Districts can be created and adjusted by power of parliament. Their boundaries are determined by parliament
2.Regional groups (including Buganda) can be created and adjusted by the democratic consent of the districts involved. Their boundaries are determined by the vote of the district councils.
3.Theoretically Mbarara can vote itself out of Ankole to Buganda or choose to remain an attached like Kabale, Masindi could decide by vote to join the Acholi group. It may be difficult to imagine but it would all be legal and constitutional. Regional groupings by their constitutional status are more cultural than geographical.
4.If any Ugandans or Baganda for that mater are unhappy with the above constitutional disposition then the focus should be on constitutional reform, not political pressure when the other side is on solid legal ground. Eventually this matter may need a national referendum
The only battle worth fighting in the proposed Kampala takeover is the democratic right of Kampalans, and the maintenance of the entire council under universal Adult suffrage.
The issue of territory to me is secondary, because like I have elaborated above, within Uganda, there are no other unchangeable territories, no permanently fixed boundaries. Government can legally adjust district boundaries even if that may affect Buganda’s current deemed geography. But what is legally tenable may not necessarily be morally right or politically tenable.
Let me again reiterate that these are my personal views.
Desmond Nzana
FDC Activist and UAH forumist
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July 13, 2009 at 1:03 pm (History)
Tags: L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick
Forumists,
Dr Gombya claimed that Bakuli was named after “..a white man at this place who had a beautiful house and his name was Barclay..”.
L/Cpl Otto says that Bakuli was named after the first British Commissioner of “Uganda” after proclamation of “protectorate” status in 1894 (…but third overall after Gerald Portal and Colonel Henry Colville of the pre-protectorate days); EJL Berkeley.
1/7 If Dr Gombya should want to debate other issues, let him do so in a manner that does not obscure the facts like we are seeing with Bakuli/Barclay; because that makes his silence on Lukuli even more disturbing. I quote: “There used to be a white man at this place who had a beautiful house and his name was Barclay….and it became known in Luganda as ‘ewa Bakuli’ which, when translated (?!!!) in English was ‘at Barclays’”. Yes, things that we learn from Professors of Afican History in London and Oxford ….that is is intellectual terrorism. Anyway, there are things we learnt from the NCO Academy .
2/7 While I was at the NCO Academy, I was tought that Bakuli was named after the British Commissioner in “Uganda” from Christmas eve in 1894 to 1899. The man was called Ernest James Berkeley. He has a road named after him in Old Kampala and the place between Old Kampala and Namirembe Hill took on the indigenised version of at name: Bakuli.
3/7 Ernest James Berkeley took over as Commissioner after Col. Colville (also with a road named after him in New Kampala). Col Colville was the man that together with 7 other European officers, 2 maxim guns, a steel boat, 450 Sudanese troops, and anything from 20,000 to 43,000 Baganda rifle and spearmen invaded and ravaged Bunyoro in 1893/94.
4/7 I mention Col Colville because of his contemporary significance in Uganda’s poltics today, particularly in the question on land, “ebyaffe” and the relations between Buganda and Bunyoro…and I hope Dr Gombya’s aim was not to distract us from this bit of “African history” by going into Barclay and all that. The weapon that Col Colville ( Berkeley ’s predecessor) used for the mobilisation of the 2-3 Divisions of the Baganda levies was the promise of land acquisition. Commissioner Colville gave a verbal undertaking to the Buganda Chiefs that, “all Bunyoro territory south of Kafu River would be incoporated in Buganda and divided equally between Protestant and Catholic chiefs” (Lord Molson’s report, Page 3). That territory of Bunyoro consisted of 6 counties, totalling 6,000 sq miles, later called “the lost counties”.
5/7 That was the undertaking which was to be upheld by EJL Berkeley (Bakuli); even against the instructions of the Foreign Office. Commissioner Bakuli eventually signed away that territory of Bunyoro on the 19th November 1896. Most of the infamous “Akenda” is in that territory which the Attorney General of Buganda, Apollo Makubuya has recently referred to as “Ettaka lya Buganda lya dda! Ettaka lirikko nnanyini lyo” ( Buganda ’s land is ancient and it is owned by the Baganda). By “ancient” he means 19th November 1896!
6/7 This is what EJL Berkeley (Bakuli) told the Marquis of Salisbury in dispatch No. 113 of 19th November 1896:
“I proceed to explain the distribution of these territories between two religious parties as made by Col, Colville, would be maintained, namely, the district (marked as South Unyoro) bounded to the north by Ngusi River, to the West by the south-east shore of Lake Albert, to the South by Muzizi River and to the East by Kitumbwi river, would go to the catholics and the territory lying to the East thereof, viz bounded to the North by the Kafu River and to the East by the Nile and to the South by Buganda (as therefore) would go to the Protestants.” These are the areas comprising of Buhekura (Buwekula), Bugangaizi, Ebuuru, Buyaga, Buruli, Bugerere (Bunyara), Bulemezi and Singo.
7/7 So, to many a true student of African history, Bakuli is EJL Berkeley, the father of a huge chunk of 9,000 sq miles of land (arithmetically read as 4,227 sq miles)….forget about Dr Gombya’s ‘Barclay’…..and keep the eye on the ball call Lukuli.
Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick
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July 10, 2009 at 11:17 pm (1980 elections, Genocides, Obote and UPC)
Tags: Rukumbura and Otto
Dear world citizens,
Sorry, President Museveni of Uganda was kept in the dark as far as the intent and date of our going home were concerned. Ask the Ugandan forces that tried to stop our guys from leaving what they met. As for the death of Habyarimana as the cause of the genocide against the Tutsis, please just read the Arusha testimonies of the designers to that genocide. You will learn as to when the pangas were bought, which was way before Habyara died and which meetings came up with the list of the Tutsis in Rwanda and how fast they can be killed. You have also to acknowledge the killings of Abagogwe that was way before the Habyarimana’s death to mention the few who were killed because of being Tutsis.
The return of Rwandans to Rwanda was in Uganda’s national interest. The Uganda People Congress (UPC)’s that are preaching pretentiously about the genocide in 1994 were the same ones subjecting those same Rwandans to ethnic cleansing in 1982-83 in South-western Uganda.
I do not know whether some UPC supporters understand clearly what they mean when they say “..what triggered the genocide was the assassination of Habyarimana..”. Do they mean that the mass murders of Tutisis and moderate Hutus would never have taken place if that plane had not been downed? Does he mean that all the previous waves of Tutsi massacres were preceded by mini-Habyarimana plane crashes? Had Tutsi and moderate Hutus been dying before or not? Were the machettes bought in anticipation for the Habyarimana plane crash?
Or for that matter, what is a “trigger”? As a corporal, I know that where there is a trigger, there is a round of ammunition with an explosive charge, there is a corking handle, there is a magazine, there is a firing chamber etc. Is it YK Museveni of Uganda that concoted the Rwandan explosive mixture? If indeed UPC supporters fully understands what they means by “trigger”, is it the same thing as the structural and historical causes of that genocide? And in crisis analysis, do we previlge triggers over structural causes? Unless we are UPCs who, when it comes to analysis, they highlight the first four letters of the word.
Why didn’t President Samora Machel’s death in a plane crash in 1987 spark off a genocide in Mozambique? Yet many of us are the same people that were constantly calling those same Rwandans names, and claiming that they were taking all the good jobs. When someone helps to find a way of getting them back where they rightfully belong, we again turn up talking the same nonsense of the Otikas, the Mulindwas and the rest of the loud-sounding-nothing horde……..just like the peasant husband who tells his wife, “do not peel the food and do not cook it but I should find it ready”.
Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick and
Mr.John Rukumbura
UAH forumists
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July 10, 2009 at 10:59 pm (Food and health, Land matters, POLITICS)
Tags: L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick
Dear Ugandans,
I am recycling this message to once again emphasize that the uncertainty of national food supply (”food insecurity”) is a function of over-reliance on the peasant mode of production. The peasant mode of production has now reached its elastic limit and recurrent famine is clear testimony to that fact. The country must find the final solution to the peasant question. That population explosion bogey we keep resorting to whenever we come face-to-face with the limits of subsistence agriculture is sterile.
Uganda’s principle problem now is that it is experiencing an explosion of a population of elite that is mainly made up of part-time thinkers.
These were my words a few weeks ago:
1/6 An average person feeding on grains, legumes, vegetables and common meats requires about 300 Sq Metres of land to provide for his food requirements if the calorific consumption per day is the minimum requirement for a human being, i.e., about 2,600 calories per day; and assuming that there are 3 harvests per annum on that land.
2/6 An average human being requires at least 715 square metres of dwelling space at maximum dwelling density, this being the average amount of space per person in the great New York area.
3/6 Uganda has up to 5.2 million Hectares of arable land, that is, 13 million acres or 52 billion square meters. For the current population of 30 million, the optimum arable land one would expect to be used for food production, (assuming an average Ugandan consumes 2,500 calories of food per day – which he does not) is 18 billion square metres (30,000,000 x 300).
4/6 The amount of space that used for living is 2.15 billion sq M (30, 000,000 x 715) giving a total of 20.15 Billion Sq M that we would currently utilise if every Ugandan was taking up the maximum optimum living space (OLS) and consuming the recommended daily allowance of calories.
5/6 Therefore, out of our 52 Billion sq M, we are theoretically “using” only 38.75%. Basing on that computation, Uganda’s maximum carrying capacity is at least 77.42 million, which at the current rate of population increase shall be attained at 23:47 Hrs on 17 September 2036.
6/6 Note that, although we claim to be agricultural, our productivity is still abysmal. Kenya has only 4.6 million Hectares of land and they are able to add value agriculturally to the tune of $1,600 million per annum, compared to Uganda with 5.2 million hectares but adding value only to the tune of $574 million. Uganda’s value addition rate is about 36% that of Kenya. The difference can be attributed largely to Uganda’s peasant mode of production.
Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick
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July 10, 2009 at 10:54 pm (Food and health, Land matters, POLITICS)
Tags: L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick
Dear UAH,
1/7 The Countries of the world can be divided into three clans according to the waves of major change that they have undergone. “First Wave” countries are the agrarian countries, whose Court of Arms is the hoe.. For such countries, man has only made one major transition: from being the hunter-gatherer to domesticating innocent beasts and cultivating crops. “Second Wave” countries are the industrial countries whose Court of Arms is the assembly line and “Third Wave” countries are the post-industrial or information age countries Court of Arms is the Microchip.
2/7 The way countries work, produce, consume, socialize, politic, celebrate the beginning or end of life, raise families, fight wars, etc ……the way we live is shaped by the wave of change that precedes our present mode of existence. Uganda today is a “First Wave” country, that is, one of those countries still living off the First wave of change unleashed ten thousand years ago by the invention of agriculture…about 90% of us are peasants just like England in 1381 during the peasant wars, and the 100 years war.
3/7 As you know, the precondition of any form human advancement is energy. First wave societies like Uganda get all their energy from “living batteries”: human/animal muscle power, or direct from nature…the sun, wind, water. If anything, Uganda is at the lowest end of the first wave: we have not even dared yet to make the transition from the use of human muscle power to harnessing animal muscle power. We are not yet where Europe was by the time of the French revolution when they drew their energy from an estimated 14 million horses and 24 million oxen which pulled ploughs and carts, with waterwheels and windmills turning millstones etc.
4/7 Look at Uganda : everything is dependent on human muscle power. Economic productivity of a low- grade first wave society like us is a function of the pairs of hands available to operate the hoe. It is not a question of “moral hazard” as any member of UAH would wish to think, or ‘dark nights’ as Professor Kamuntu believes, or lack of financial penalties on reproduction as Mr Obbo has mused. Making more and more pairs of hands available is a functional necessity. Unless we break out of agrarianism, our demographic profile will not change. The question here is: does high population growth cause poverty or it is poverty that causes a high population growth? If at all there is a causal relation between high population and poverty, then the latter is the cause and the former just a spinoff.
5/7 Civil War America graphically illustrates the contrast between First Wave and Second Wave demographics. That civil war was a clash between the industrialism of the North (Unionists) and agrarianism of the South (Confederates). The leader of the industrial cause, Abraham Lincoln had two siblings, while Jefferson Davis was the last born in a family of 10. You mentioned China ’s one child policy. China came up with the one child policy as soon as they started making the transition to the Second Wave. That policy has not been there all the time, as Mr Obargot has pointed out: it was conceived of in 1979, and implimented wef 2000. The policy applies only to 35.9% of the population: it is restricted only to the urban areas. It does not apply to rural couples, ethnic minorities, and parents without any siblings themselves, or special administrative regions like Hong Kong and Macao..
6/7 The argument on population explosion is not convincing on several grounds: I remember from the days I was a mortar man, whenever there was an explosion, there would be fragments all around.. With our population explosion, where are the fragments? We would expect to see a lot of old people around, yet globally, Uganda has the lowest number of people over the age of 65. Why? : Because of our high mortality rates. Just today, 2,794 children will be born in Uganda . By 13 March 2010, 184 of them will have died, not because today is Friday 13th. It is because in Uganda , 65.99 out of every 1,000 live births do not live to celebrate their first birth day. We rank No. 35 in the world. For the 1.02 million that will be born this year, those that will die will be the equivalent of 170 Boeing 747s packed with babies crashing at Entebbe at the rate of three per week. Here is the point: the rate at which organisms reproduce is always commensurate with the odds of survival. We reproduce a lot because we reduce a lot. It is not immorality, it is mortality stupid!
7/7 The high maternal mortality you have highlighted is incidental to those underlying factors. Uganda ranks at No. 23 in the world, with 510 mothers dying in child birth for every 100,000 live births. Sadly, as long as we remain a “First Wave” or peasant society that atrocity against the mothers shall only pass as an occupational hazard, the whims/political will (or lack thereof) of our lumpen-bourgeoisie notwithstanding. We are simply pushing the wrong buttons….Bottom line: we have to find the final solution to the peasant question.
Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick
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July 10, 2009 at 10:48 pm (Food and health, Land matters, POLITICS)
Tags: WB Kyijomanyi
L_Cpl Otto:
Professor Kamuntu should have reflected on his own admission that only 9% of Ugandans have electricity. If that is the case, how come the country is teaming with youth if only those with electricity are overdoing it?
Professor Kamuntu should be helping the government to come up with credible measures to curb the population explosion. Uganda will not come close to meeting its millennium goals if the population growth continues to grow at that rate. Similarly Uganda won’t be able to offer effective health care to the people with such numbers. It simply can’t even with plentiful oil money in the future.
Ugandans do not seem to appreciate the strong macroeconomic growth because the micro economic fundamentals are terrible. Very little attention has been paid to the household level which is both the victim and author of their own fate.
I understand the jist of Professor Kamuntu’s assertion: that lack of leisure and work activities forces Ugandans to engage in sexual activities. he should live that to undergraduate students of micro economics. As the the minister in charge of planning it was very timid. He should tell Ugandans the uncomfortable truth, which is that as long as they continue to produce many babies, their fate is doomed. Period. Done.
There is no magic bullet out of poverty at the household level. Needless to say, households with more children are likely to be poorer than households with fewer children. As the minister in charge of planning that is the message he should convey to Ugandans religiously. As they say he should stay on message over and over.
The big question is how to get there given the socially conservative environment in the country. Is the government of Uganda prepared to confront the elephant in the house and extend affordable, safe and accessible family planing services to those Ugandan women who want them? The minister can talk of natural methods if they want but the most effective method is well known.
Ugandans cannot have their cake and eat it too. No way. The best and yes more efficient method was the one suggested by Mr Onyango-Obbo in his Daily Nation column that to save Africa, time has come to levy a tax on babies. Incidentally land tax would also be the most efficient in the country but Ugandans are allergic to taxation (read the big men are the largest landholders). Yes, raise the cost of having babies without shifting the burden and cost on the poor Ugandan women. That could do the trick faster than this electricity angle.
The Minister as a respected economist should also help the state review the legacy of its policies. Are some govt policies contributing to the population explosion? For example could UPE and USE be having unintended consequences on population? How? Now that the barriers to education are no more even those Ugandans who may have sought of family planing/child spacing may not care anymore now that the burdens have been relieved.
You know Ugandans and their mentality “let us now produce the govt will educate” so they say. But wait a minute the govt won’t feed or dress those kids. Yes, it is proposing to treat them for free but not yet. Are the very policies aimed to hep Ugandans hurting them instead? That is for the govt to review and change course if necessary.
To be brunt, there is no political will to address the population explosion and its attendant poverty in Uganda. As a result the state is killing Ugandan women who have to produce until God relieves them of the burden.
WBK
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July 10, 2009 at 10:42 pm (Food and health, POLITICS, Parenting and sex)
Tags: L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick
Dear UAH and Prof. Kamuntu,
Is there an inverse correlation between electricity consumption and size of population? Then Uganda would be popolluted!
Below are two global tables showing data on population density and energy consumption per capita .
Britain’s per capita consumption of power is 5773 KWh per person, Uganda is at 30 KWh. Uganda and Britain are about the same land area.. If we base population size on electricity consumption, Uganda’s population should be about 192 times that of Britain, i.e., 11.7 Billion. However, Uganda’s population is about half of that of Britain.. As you can see, Uganda’s population density is 120 persons per sqkm, that of Britain is 246.
How do you explain that discrepancy, ‘in light’ of your new hypothesis on ’shots in the dark’, Professor Kamuntu?
Also, another Professor told me that, Infant Mortality Rate is the number of infantry soldiers that die in any given battle. Did he tell me the truth?
Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick
“THE SAME HEAT THAT MELTS THE BUTTER HARDENS THE EGG”
WORLD POPULATION DENSITY/PER CAPITA ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION: ANY CORRELATION
| 1 |
Monaco |
32,671 |
1.95 |
16,754 |
| 2 |
Singapore |
4,327,000 |
699 |
6,336 |
| 3 |
Gibraltar (UK) |
27,921 |
6 |
4,654 |
| 4 |
Vatican City |
821 |
0.44 |
1,866 |
| 5 |
Bahrain |
1,046,814 |
720 |
1,454 |
| 6 |
Malta |
401,880 |
316 |
1,272 |
| 7 |
Bermuda (UK) |
64,174 |
53 |
1,211 |
| 8 |
Maldives |
329,198 |
298 |
1,105 |
| 9 |
Bangladesh |
150,448,339 |
143,998 |
1,045 |
| 10 |
Guernsey |
65,726 |
78 |
842 |
| 11 |
Jersey |
91,533 |
116 |
789 |
| 12 |
Palestinian territories |
4,018,332 |
6,020 |
667 |
| 13 |
Nauru |
13,635 |
21 |
649 |
| 14 |
Republic of China (commonly, “Taiwan”) |
22,894,384 |
35,980 |
636 |
| 15 |
Barbados |
269,556 |
430 |
627 |
| 16 |
Saint-Martin (France) |
33,102 |
53.2 |
622 |
| 17 |
Mauritius |
1,244,663 |
2,040 |
610 |
| 18 |
Aruba (Netherlands) |
103,484 |
193 |
536 |
| 19 |
Mayotte (France) |
186,452 |
374 |
499 |
| 20 |
South Korea |
49,044,790 |
99,538 |
498 |
| 21 |
San Marino |
28,117 |
61 |
461 |
| 22 |
Puerto Rico (US) |
3,954,584 |
8,875 |
446 |
| 23 |
Tuvalu |
10,441 |
26 |
402 |
| 24 |
Netherlands |
16,423,431 |
41,528 |
395 |
| 25 |
Lebanon |
4,011,000 |
10,452 |
386 |
| 26 |
Martinique (France) |
395,932 |
1,102 |
359 |
| 27 |
Comoros |
797,902 |
2,235 |
357 |
| 28 |
Rwanda |
9,037,690 |
26,338 |
343 |
| 29 |
Marshall Islands |
61,963 |
181 |
342 |
| 30 |
Belgium |
10,419,050 |
30,528 |
341 |
| 31 |
Japan |
128,084,700 |
377,873 |
339 |
| 32 |
India |
1,103,371,000 |
3,287,263 |
336 |
| 33 |
El Salvador |
6,880,951 |
21,041 |
327 |
| 34 |
Saint-Barthélemy (France) |
6,852 |
21 |
326 |
| 35 |
American Samoa (US) |
64,869 |
199 |
326 |
| 36 |
Israel |
7,180,000 |
22,072 |
325 |
| 37 |
U.S. Virgin Islands (US) |
111,818 |
347 |
322 |
| 38 |
Sri Lanka |
20,742,910 |
65,610 |
316 |
| 39 |
Réunion (France) |
785,139 |
2,510 |
313 |
| 40 |
Guam (US) |
169,635 |
549 |
309 |
| 41 |
Haiti |
8,527,777 |
27,750 |
307 |
| 42 |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
119,051 |
388 |
307 |
| 43 |
Saint Lucia |
160,765 |
539 |
298 |
| 44 |
Philippines |
84,566,000 |
300,076 |
282 |
| 45 |
Burundi |
7,547,515 |
27,834 |
271 |
| 46 |
Grenada |
102,924 |
344 |
260 |
| 47 |
Trinidad and Tobago |
1,305,236 |
5,130 |
254 |
| 48 |
Vietnam |
84,238,230 |
331,689 |
254 |
| 49 |
Guadeloupe (France) |
405,000 |
1,628 |
249 |
| 50 |
United Kingdom |
60,776,238 |
242,900 |
246 |
| 51 |
Jamaica |
2,650,713 |
10,991 |
241 |
| 52 |
Germany |
82,689,210 |
357,022 |
232 |
| 53 |
Netherlands Antilles (Netherlands) |
182,656 |
800 |
228 |
| 54 |
Liechtenstein |
34,521 |
160 |
216 |
| 55 |
Pakistan |
165,935,100 |
803,940 |
198 |
| 56 |
Italy |
58,092,740 |
301,318 |
193 |
| 57 |
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June 29, 2009 at 10:53 pm (POLITICS, PRESIDENCY)
Tags: Laman Masaba
Last week someone sent me an email reminding me that it was Heroes day in the Republic of Uganda. It came at a time when I was writing another article on the way forward for our great republic. With this in mind I have decided to write about both issues in this article.
I read the President’s address in Hoima on the subject of Heroes with kin interest and great concern as for over a month the Besigye and Museveni camps where throwing mad at each other on who contributed more or less in the bush war.
This gave me questions; who is a Hero? Does he/she have to be a member of the Ruling Government?
From the time the white man stepped onto the Ugandan soil, many people have contributed to the well being of Uganda. King Kabalaga, Kabaka Mwanga, Nuwa Mbogo, Sir Apollo Kagwa, Semei Kakungulu, Musazi, Kabaka Mutesa, Obote, Ben Kiwanuka, Idd Amini, Yusuf Lule, Binaisa, Prof Nabudele, Tito Okello, Lutwa and Museveni have all made a contribution to the country. Whether the individual was poor in his position as a leader, he has put a mark on the history of the country.
In Britain, whether it is a Conservative or Labour government, Churchill, Oliver Cornwell, even King Henry the 8th who has gone in the histroy of Britain as one of the worst leaders, is always celebrated. Actually this year new coins are being issued in remembrance of the rule of Henry the 8th. Its the contributions of these people that have made our Republic a melting pot which makes us a unique country.
The Government should not cherry pick who is a hero and who is not. We should not have this mad throwing by the Museveni camp and Besigye in defining who is a hero and who is not. Heroes of the country should not be only those who can fire a gun. We all contribute to the well being of the country in different ways.There are Nurses, Teachers, Police officer around the country who play a part in making the machine we call Uganda run.These are the everyday heroes of the Republic of Uganda, we should always appreciate what they do.
Now turning to the other issue I was planning to write about. What’s the way forward for the Republic? It will be 47 years in four mouths since we obtained independence from the British. Uganda like life, is a project and like any other project we must evaluate its success and failure. Of the 47 years, 23 years have been under one leadership; that of Museveni and the rest is divided between Obote, Mutesa, Amin, Lule, Binaisa, Paul Muwanga, Tito Okello and Lutwa.
After 47 years we should now stop blaming the west for our failures. On the 09th October 1962 we told the British we can govern ourselves. Have we managed to do so? The British left us with one dam, Rail network, Tarmacked Roads (1809km), an airport and airline, a national health service which was based on one introduced by the labour party in Britain over 60years ago,an education system which was the pride of Africa, Transport system (UTC), Housing finance system which brought countries like Singapore to Uganda to study it so they could copy it in their own countries plus other properly running Government systems. The par capita income in 1962 was about $3 a day, today it’s about $1.25 a day.
What is left after 47 years down the road? Let’s start with the dam, yes it is still functional but it’s capacity can not service the population as it was meant for about 10 million people of the day. Britain has no dams but it has enough energy to keep them going for the next 50 years. Our energy policy has failed. Just a month of infighting in kenya brought the country to a stand still. The rail network does not exist. I am so much attached to the rail system because my own father worked with the East African Railways. Tarmacked roads are Just 2076 kms which mean since 1962 we have only increases it by about 200km. The airport still exists but its capacity can not copy with the increased google generation who are tavelling the world everyday.
We have no regional airports which could reduce the burden on Entebbe. When the American president visited, all the airport was cut off to everyone else travelling. This is an economic problem. As for the Health service, Hospitals are in a sad state that a daughter of the president can not give bath in these hospitals..I was in mbale hospital, children with different disease share the same bed. No medicine, you have to buy it form private drug stores which are owned by doctors on Government pay. I will be told that there is an increase in private medical care and those who can afford to obtain medical care abroad can do so. This i just about 3% of the population of Uganda. My grand mam in Namalogo in mbale can not afford this.As for education, Makerere has dropped in the world rankings. Even with the introduction of UPE, the standards have dropped so low that competition on the world stage will always be a problem for our students. As for the housing finance, it is still in existance but it has not helped the local person to get on to the property ladder. The cooperative societies which were the backbone of the country’s economy were delt a final blow by the introduction of liberalisation by the then Minister of Cooperative the late James Wapakabulo.
Cooperatives also hold a special place in my life as my father after leaving the East African Railways, worked for Bugisu Cooperative Union for 27 years before he retired in 1997.We have failed so much that we did not know part of our country ( Migingo Island) until recently. Actually my advise to the people of Migingo is to proclaim independence from both Uganda and Kenya. If the two countries’ claim for this island comes after over 40 years since both countries got independence, it means this island has not received any help from both countries.
They have been living without the help of both countries, which means they can still live without it, and hence independence is the only way forward.
So why have we failed to improve on what was left behind by the British? It’s simple, for so long we have continued to recycle the leadership. We have used the same people to ran the country; “we have had Obote, Amin, Lule, Binaisa,Obote, Tito, Museveni and people like Bidandi, Mayanja Nkanji, Semogerere to mention but a few”. All these came from that band of people who were in the independence struggles. They feel it’s their right to rule us as they took part in the independence struggles. This has created a situation where no new ideas come in and the country is held hostage by these so called independence heroes.
Leaders keep on thinking inside the box rather than outside the box. In the end it has created high corruption and hence faillure to improve the situation in the Republic.
What’s the way forward? My way forward is controversial but it’s the only solution for the Republic. Sometime back someone wrote; for Uganda to move forward, Iddi Amini, Obote, and Museveni should leave the political scene of the country. I do agree, and I also add that those who have been on the country’s political system since the independence days should leave the stage to pave way for new ideas. The world has changed, we are now living in the google, youtube, twitter, facebook, generation. Competition is global, we have to compete with other countries and thinking outside the box will be the only solution.
Let us have fresh ideas. Political parties should be democratic. This idea of Maria Obote becoming the leader of UPC just because she was the wife of the late leader is not democracy. She even goes ahead to sack someone because he is opposed to her son taking over the party. This is the problem with the parties in Uganda, they are undemocratic and their roles is to purely oppose and provide no solutions.
Whatever side of the divide you are, Museveni has contributed to the country, this must be acknowledged by the opposition. After acknowledging that, then tell the people where he has failed and then give them solutions. The middle class has increased, it needs better service such as roads, rail, planes, security, housing and proper business environment.
The government has failed on that, so the opposition should be looking at how to help this class of people plus the rural poor who are looking for medication, education and good transport network to transport the produces to the market. This should be the battle ground for the 2011 presidentail polls not personalities.
My idea is controversial, but it’s the best way forward for the republic.
For God and my country.
Laman Napio Masaba
One World Consultants
London
1 Comments
June 29, 2009 at 10:36 pm (Geography, KINGDOMS, Land matters, POLITICS, Uncategorized)
Tags: Tendo Kaluma
Fellow Ugandans,
I cannot imagine going to Mbarara or Gulu and taking over such perimeters without expected push back. President Museveni and his administration have become a very strange bed fellow when it comes to Buganda property, not only land but other revenue generating properties that seem to have been targeted to render defunct or non functional the cash cows for Buganda. In essence housing the capital of Uganda has been a nightmare for the tribe.
If the administration wanted to annex cities of regions from the previous 10 districts, then it ought to have done it across the board, take Jinja, Mbarara, Gulu and many other towns as a fair legislative move. Singling out Buganda things, simply because it is the capital has brought such unpopularity to the NRM/O both at home and abroad among seriously concerned Baganda.
My friend Kiyonga the political strategist has to be thinking beyond one presidency for his party! Having such unfair unilateral moves that target and impoverish Buganda cannot be a good thing for his party’s future. Incidentally the Baganda seem to have lost out disproportionately, in terms of economics, environment and lives wasted.
In the eyes of political forecasters this mounts to political party suicide given the projected future census of Buganda. Simply thinking that “generations would have changed and the ills will be long forgoten” is a myopic strategy. Had the folks in UPC been more foresighted during their reign, they would be enjoying incredible popularity today. Besides, why legislate on something that will definitely be reversed in the future?
Writing legislation to take so much out of Buganda alone is not only blatantly unfair it is discriminatory.
Look, Buganda/Baganda aided the Museveni administration to get in power, and it/they have paid the ultimate price. Buganda lost most of it’s ability to raise revenue take for instance, the Electricity project wich seems to have been designed without regard to Bugandan investors, who owned the old Owen falls dam. The adminstration did not have a plan or good will to replace Buganda’s investment with any other viable or similar revenue generating project. The Baganda like the Indians also had staked carefully their own revenue generating strategies and taking them away without adequate remuneration afforded to Indians is what’s put them at odds with the administration.
Even the Bristish who colonized us longer, did not take as much away from Buganda as has president Museveni and his administration. Here in Boston,echoes of disenchantment for the NRM/O party are heard from even those that are not following these debates closely.
I often say to my NRM/O friends in the USA that rescuing the NRM/O name in our towns is more difficult, because, people here see the party as the one that has taken on a very selfish posture to impoverish Baganda by overtly disenfranchising them at every turn. It will take a concerted effort to get back in the good graces of many Baganda, who have of late acquired this complex spline from irreparable suffrage. Laughing it away is unwise, un stately and indeed sadist to say the least. I hope the president will be able to look Bostonians in the eyes when he comes in September and empirically convince them that this ain’t so!
Tendo
Ugandan in Boston
1 Comments
June 28, 2009 at 4:19 pm (Africa, CULTURE, RELIGION, Social issues)
Tags: L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick
Dr Muwanga-Zaake,
1/6 You seem not to be sure whether to condemn or to condone so-called witchcraft. And by the way, witchcraft is but a euphemism for rubbish. Why? Even when you peer into the kit bag of a “witch doctor”, all you see there is absolute rubbish: scales of a pangolin, snail shells, teeth of a hyena, porcupine spines, claws of a crab, cow dung of a leopard, skull of a victim of kwarshiorkor and all such manner of zoological collectibles. Gasiya peke yake!
2/6 The basic fact is that, where man’s capacity to comprehend and/or tame the forces of nature suddenly ends, the belief in the supernatural immediately begins. As man increases his mastery of nature, his belief in the supernatural diminishes.
3/6 Belief in the supernatural is packaged in all sorts of ways. All of them belong to the domain of superstition. They range from what we call religions, including your Chrisitianity , to your so-called witchcraft. In terms of man’s ability to cope with the forces of nature, Christianity and witchcraft lie on the same continuum: only varying degrees of superstitious content. So, apposing Christianity with witchcraft is neither here nor there. They are first cousins. The difference is that, one has been divested of as much superstition as possible.
4/6 And by the way, what do you mean by an “African belief”? Do you mean belief in the occult? Witchcraft and other forms of crude superstition are a characteristic of society that is backward, like Uganda is now. There is nothing African about superstition. Between the 13th and 19th centuries as many as 1 million people were executed in Europe for the crime of witchcraft. I am sure you have heard about the Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1661-1662. You may also have heard about the trials of “witches” in the German hinterland of Rothenburg in the same period, going on even as recently as 1750. In that town, as many as 400 “witches” were executed in one day during that time. In the USA , you may have heard about the witch hunts in Salem and Massachusetts . In England, the last person to suffer death for so-called wtichcraft was in 1684, although there is a case of a lady living in Hertfordshire village of Walkern, a few miles North of London, who narrowly survived death as recently as 1712 after being accused of being a witch….I think her name was Jane Wenham…she was saved by the intervention of Queen Anne….and so on….Note that the major victims were always women, particularly the poor and largely the widows, and trials were not only in religious courts, but also in secular ones.
5/6 So, do not be racist or biased in other way you as you look at human superstition. Whenever and whereever the level of science and technology is abysmal, witchcraft and religion come in to fill the gap. There is nothing African about it, and we should not base on Africa ’s current backwardness to infer that manifestations of backwardness are a preserve of Africans only. The irony with you Professor is that, you then go a head to base on Africa ’s current predicament to weave up some strange notion of your African Nationalism…or what ever one may call it.
6/6 But, but, but, now how about you the Professor of Chemistry who then goes ahead to assert that, “The record of African spiritual leaders healing and successfully praying for rain are obliterated or never perpetuated.”? You as a scientist should be in the forefront of demystifying superstitions and dispelling such fallacies as “rain-making”, but here you are telling us about the so-called African spiritual leaders. You Professor of all people, know the hydrologic cycle; you know the Bergeron Process of how rain forms and falls; you know that, the only way man can induce rain is by CCNs or cloud condensation nuclei. You studied those facts in Chemistry and got a PhD, you teach them, and then you come here at UAH to tell us that, sijui, “African spiritual” this and that, should be perpetuated! Does PhD mean “Pure head Damage”? How doesn’t someone rule you people for 50 years non-stop? How, how? That when some scary-looking self-important old chap in need of dentures in some village in Bulemezi throws cowries in the air, spits to the west, puffs to the North, walks to the road junction on his hands and slaughters a white hen facing south….then the rain will turn up! Professor Muwanga-Zaake want that to be perpetuated! That is the myth that a 21st century Professor of chemistry wants to perpetuate, in the name of African nationalism. Now, don’t you really see where Africa ’s problems lie?
Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick
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June 28, 2009 at 4:15 pm (Africa, CULTURE, Social issues)
Tags: Johnnie Muwanga-Zake
messages on witchcraft are outright unbalanced? Some people focus on witchcraft – but is it more heinous than burying people alive, by, I presume, religious people? So, possibly, another important question is ‘ Has religion affected some of these people?’. Obviously, the murders believed in witchcraft although their religious backgrounds are not clearly stated.
what qualifies as witchcraft
Although I have been accused of being pedantic on this forum, I think we have a problem in defining a witch. It appears to me as though anybody with powers, which cannot be scientifically proven or which are not acceptable in the Christian doctrine, to cause havoc is a witch, especially in Africa where religions local belief systems to establish themselves. The record of African spiritual leaders healing and successfully praying for rain are obliterated or never perpetuated. Indeed, we have been assimilated into despising our beliefs as backward or witchcraft.
There are double standards applied in Africa. An African belief is subjected to scientific proof, otherwise it is backward or witchcraft. A biblical or foreign belief is never subjected to scientific proof. So we are told – Jesus walked on water, changed water into wine, fed millions with merely 5 loaves, etc. but we are not allowed to question these acts on the basis of science. I have no problem in believing the miracles Jesus demonstrated. However, for example, let us note that there is no scientific explanation for walking on water without sinking other than a belief in supernatural being.
Havoc is reported in enforcing religions, including Christianity for example. Would Samson who prayed until a whole building killed people where he was apprehended qualify as a witch? Or should we include biblical personalities (Moses is one) who prayed for the suffering of the Egyptians until the Jews were allowed to go back to their land.
The topic of witchcraft is indeed a can of worms, albeit an unfair one, which is selectively applied to any belief that is not Christian or non scientific. Ultimately, I think the question is unfair in perpetuating a complex that renders every happening, which neither Christianity nor science approves, as witchcraft. I.e., the question presumes a belief in Christianity and science as the only acceptable spiritual and knowledge systems.
Dr.Johnnie Muwanga-Zake
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June 28, 2009 at 4:08 pm (2009 -2011 elections, POLITICS, PRESIDENCY)
Tags: John Rubin Byaruhanga
Fellow Ugandns,
I believe that all Ugandans are focused towards the 2011 elections, with much anticipation for eventual everlasting peace in our country. While many think that the change of government from the governing NRM/O to another party will bring peace to Uganda, others think that a mere change of the governing party will not bring peace.
As I contemplate the possibility of peace and stability, I am one of those who donot believe that a mere change of the governing party alone will ensure peace and stability.The entire populace is confused. Many have turned to the Church, Mosque and other places of worship as a refuge to the seemingly never-ending troubles of our Mother Land. I am told that even President Yoweri K. Museveni has become a Born – Again Christian.
By turning to God’s Congregation as a place of confort, I remembered what I saw in my childhood that turned the peoples’ mentality to a positive one, for sometime.
About June, 1964 a less known organisation known as The Jehovah’ Witnesses had announced that on that particular day the World would end. In our township of Kilembe the Churches, the Mosque and other places of worship were full beyond capacity. The World was supposed to end at 14.00 Hrs. We were told that a strong wind would blow everything off the face of the earth, except the ‘’saved ones” and those who confessed their sins before the time of the end. Every slight wind passing by would bring tremendous fear. 14.00 Hrs came and passed. So were the subsequent hours. Shortly before midnight, my mother told us, the children to go to bed, saying that God must have changed His mind. The whole area was quiet, except the prayers that could be heard faintly from time to time. After that day, the entire community became so harmonious. Well, the harmony was short lived.Two years later, 1966 the news came that the Prime Minister of Uganda, Apollo Milton Obote had ordered the army to attack the Palace of the Kabaka of Buganda, who at the time was the President of Uganda. Since that time Uganda has experienced violence with short intervals, as the governments changed.
After many years of violence in our country, the Church, the Mosque and other places of worship have become the refuge to the millions of people, many of whom wish that the Creator would soon intervene. No wonder, the Pastors, Moalim, Sheiks and Gospel musicians are busy consoling the populace.
Let us refrain from acts of intimidation and thoughtless threats. Let us encourage dialogue among the politicians and political parties for the good of our country. The fact is that the entire country is suffering, despite the argument that some areas have suffered and continue to suffer more than others. Even those who seem happy are infact scared for their lives. Peace is lacking in the entire populace and the violence exhibited in the name of ”National Security”, is in reality an act of fear for change, in self defence.
I hear in some quarters that President Museveni has imposed himself on the people and that he wants to rule for life. In other quarters I hear that President Museveni is tired of the presidency and that he is forced into it to protect those who may face the Law for atrocities committed before and during the NRM/O administration, should he step down.
With all these arguments mentioned above, I ask the question; Will the mere change of government, from NRM/O to another party bring peace? Is there any party really capable of defeating the NRM/O in the forthcoming elections? The NRM/O continues to prove that they are invincible, come the 2011 elections. I note lack of unity in all opposition parties. It seems that the opposition is trying to form a ”Unity of Convenience”, simply to defeat the ruling party in the forthcoming elections. Have we all forgotten what happened when we united for convenience, simply to drive Idi amin and his regime out of power? The violence we have experienced since the fall of Amin, is a result of that ”Unity of Convenience”.
The best way out of our despondency I believe, is that the fund which should be used to administer the 2011 elections, be used instead to establish the Trurh and Reconciliation Commission. After the establishment of the T.R.Commission and its deliberations, Uganda will have a fresh beginning filled with hope for prosperity and harmony, for the good of our Nation. Unless we find a way to put the past behind us, Uganda will never be peaceful.
BJ. Rubin.
1 Comments
June 20, 2009 at 1:27 am (Parenting and sex, Social issues)
Tags: Assumpta Mary Kintu
The question posed is only a tip of the icebug. The bigger question is: Should we as parents talk to or teach our children, especially teenagers about being sexually active? And contraceptives become part of this question and/or answer.
Seriously, this is a topic many of our great grand parents and possibly parents never had to worry about. For example in my culture, the measure for a young girl to have involvement with a man was when she had her first period. Then the parents and relatives would know she can rear children and got her a husband. Sex outside marriage was unheard of then.
Then came the missionaries. They opened up schools first for only boys. Then when the boys were men and ready to marry, they had to marry illiterate girls/wives. Then they extended the schooling and opened up schools for girls as well. My mother went to some of the schools but did not stay long before the pressure to get married was imposed on her in the culture. My father on the other hand went very far because boys were not inhibited like girls.
When my mother had us, her creed in my family and my father’s was education, education, education and learning for life. As farmers we invested everything earned into education. There was no free education then. No one talked to any of us about being sexually active or not. We all knew however that to stay in school, boy or girl especially girl YOU HAD TO ABSTAIN and focus on the education your parents are paying for.
Realistically, young people ages 15 to 24 already have the urge to be sexually involved; some even earlier. Yet the pressure to stay in school, go to college and be able to be earning adults is on them as well.
If this was an ideal world, I would love to tell my 15 year old to abstain; 24 year old to abstain till you get a job and find MR. OR MISS RIGHT, but that may not do either of us any good.
I strongly believe that Mothers and Fathers, should teach the children first the importance of education by sending them to school and instisting on super grades. Then as they grow before age 15 talk about the attraction between girls and boys and let them know it is normal part of growing up but——————– with school and future carrier they are better of abstaining. Then they are guaranteed two things no reproduction and the responsibility that follows and putting a stop to career dreams. Then, the parents can also add, if you absolutely have to be active let us know, so we can give you some help like contraceptives.
But they need to know, that the contraceptives are not safe. Sometimes one can use them and still get pregnant. Again the best deal is abstainance. Both girls and boys need to know that they cannot keep having sex with everyone they date. Just how many partners will they sleep with before they say I do? They also need to know the deseases involved when people get sexually active. You would even show them pictures if YOU can find them. For girls contraceptives could interfere with child bearing at a later age. A girl having sex at age 15 or even earlier, while the body is still growing add on the chemicals/contraceptives; it could affect their ability to reproduce down the line–could become infertile [off course the pharmacuticals will never tell them this] You the parent must bring it up. There is also a possibility of having children with defects. I have watched American women who have children late in life have children with all kinds of syndromes. No one will tell them it could be the contraceptives they have been on for years. It is my guess work. On the contrary I have seen girls dropping out of school and having children early. The children are healthy unless the teen used street drugs, but the teenage mother is ignorant/illiterate, and has to go back to school to provide a future for the child and herself. Prez Obama wants many of them back in skilled schools because they are on welfare burdening the taxpayer for so long and making more babies to have a bigger check.
Basically, my people, there are no easy answers to this question, but the longer you the father and the mother can manage to impress upon your son or daughter to abstain the better off they will focus on their future. If they have to get involved, knowing the risks first hand from you the mother, the father is phenomenal. Forewarned is forearmed. It helps with morals as well. If a young man or woman gets active so early, in life just how many people would they have taken in secret before they say I do? And what is the guarantee that they will be faithful to one man or one woman having gotten used to advanturing so early in life with all types?
Well, well! Snap out of it! Who said parenting is easy? Get on it and do your best, dear father, dear mother. It is still doable. YOU are doing it and no one expects YOU to be perfect. Just do your best, starting today.
Have the best weekend ever! If YOU are a father, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY THIS WEEKEND! We appreciate what you are doing, raising your children for tomorrow’s Uganda.
Assumpta Mary Kintu
Ugandan in USA
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June 16, 2009 at 11:56 pm (1980 elections, Obote and UPC)
Tags: Ahmed Katerega
In the year 1983, there was no Muslim in Obote’s cabinet as Ntege Lubwama, the former Minister of Tourism and the only Muslim, survived narrowly being killed by Oyote Ojok and Rwakasisi at his Komamboga home. Ali Ssennyonga was Chief of Protocol at President’s Office, despite the duwas he was praying for Wakombozi in Tanzania in 1979. There was no Muslim in Obote’s cabinet in 1983 and no efforts were made to have one at all. Oyite Ojok had in 1980 vowed never to have a Muslim in cabinet simply because Amin was a Muslim. Obote attempted to include Ntege Lubwama and that was why Rwakasisi and Oyite Ojok plotted to kill him and Rwakasisi seized Ntege’s portifolio of Tourism and Wild Life. Oboteists were putting blame on Muslims for the 1971 coup whereas the coup was master minded by American C.I.A,British M15, Israeli Mossad and Southern Sudanese Anyanya, none of those were Muslims.
Muslims on Masaka Axis were protected because of the pre-colonial Buganda nation other than Oyite Ojok. Baganda and Bannabuddu in particular could differentiate Idi Amin’s men be Nubians or Sudanese who were massacring them, 70 in number (not hundreds and thousands), from ordinary Baganda Muslims who used to frequent Mauledi ceremonies to eat pilaawo, and dance mataali. Among those Baganda leaders were Paulo Muwanga, Samwiri Mugwisa and Israel Mayengo, who were the civic leaders in areas occupied by Tanzanians and Ugandan exiles. But for Banyankore, especially UPCs like Edward Rurangaranga and Yowasi Makaaru, they were seeing Muslims as alien Baganda, and could not differentiate between Nubians and Southern Sudanese from Baganda and Banyankore Muslims. Moreover, they wanted to grab their land which they took and a conflict will remain until Muslims are given back their land, or are paid. West Nile massacres took place between 1980 and 1982 when FRONASA was in Luwero Triangle. It was done by Acholi and Lango militia.
As TPDF was crossing Pakwach bridge, Yusuf Lule directed them never to hand over the sub region to UNLA. This was kept by even Godfrey Binaisa. It changed when muwanga was in charge. Oyite Ojok and Bazilio deployed there an Acholi militia which started massacring people, the worst being Ombaci massacre. Ask Ben Bella Ilakut from UCU who accompanied the then Premier Eric Otema Alimadi.
Obote inherited Muslim support from Uganda National Congress(UNC). But after the 1971 coup, he started usimg Muslims as political condoms.The Example being Badru Wegulo who is a spent force.
Ahmed Katerega
UAH forumist and NewVision Journalist
1 Comments
June 16, 2009 at 10:46 pm (POLITICS)
1/6 All of Uganda’s office-seeking political factions are exactly the same but always struggling to be different. They struggle to be different by basing on their historical fortunes (and misfortunes), the communal/ethnoreligious biases of leading members and such other non-achievement (i.e., ascriptive) criteria.
2/6 Even the most disinterested scan through the 36 or so fractious political factions in Uganda reveals that they all have at their helm members of the rent-seeking non-productive middle class (call it the meddle class). Shame on all 36 of them for not realizing what they really are and saving the poor Ugandan the burden which they all are.
3/6 The reality is that, political parties are, and have always been structures for articulating and aggregating group interests in socieities that have undergone vertical differentiation, into classes: industrialists, finaciers, landowners, merchants, wage labourers. Tell me: which of the 36 petty factions in Uganda is a grouping for labourers, or industrialists, or merchants, or financiers. Tell me.
4/6 By virtue of being a mediaeval, preindustrial society, your Uganda is still only horizontally differentiated. Lack of imagination has canalised us into mechanically imposing on ourselves vertical structures when our orientation is still horizontal: castes, lineages, clans, ebyaffe, ethnicities and all those ascriptive clusters. That is how the majority of our population is still organised; that majority called peasants whose proportion is as large as when the currently developed nations were still in the middle ages.
5/6 To pretend to transact our politics through the medium of structures that are suited for vertically stratified societies when we are horizontally differentiated is like forcing Kalitusi to grow like lumonde. It either withers away or becomes a disastrous weed as it tries to conform to the undulating terrain of a horizontally differentiated reality, negotiating around one clan, and then one religious, then left over a family of pseudonotables, then right over one ethinicty and then ebyaffe and so on. Does Uganda have the time for that nonsense?
6/6 In Uganda’s case, let me ask, is it pluralism or factionalism? I do not know what quinine one can concoct to whip our pseudoelite into shape. They need to be taught a les…….
Otto Patrick
2 Comments
June 16, 2009 at 10:29 pm (Finance, POLITICS)
Tags: WBK and Otto
The clarion call for the American war of independence was “No representation, no taxation”. That is the very dictum that is being turned on its head in Uganda when populism blinkers the political elite into abolishing poll tax. Paternalistic abolition of tax is an automatic dissolution of civil society. Once a population is lulled into not paying tax, it is automatically unsubscribed from membership to civil society.
Our political elite can now easily proclaim: “No taxation, no representation”. Indeed, this is what we see as an extreme case in countries that are completely devoid of a fiscal contract between the masses and the elite, particularly those that depend on oil for revenue. In Bahrain and Qatar, income tax is 0%, there is Zero parliament. Parliament is the venue for parley. If you do not bankroll me, what parley, or bargain do I have to exercise with you?
That is when even the notion of “accountability” which some people deploy becomes a mere bumper sticker and tedious cliche. Simply a sterile jargon. Accountability is a reciprocal process. It is a two way process. I am accountable to you if you owe me a living. If I depend on aid or oil, I am unlike an elite that depends on excise duties, export duties, import duties, income taxes and all other forms of revenue that create symbiosis between productive populations and the political class.
Institutions per se will not help Uganda. Ugandans must have a stake in their country. How can they become effective stakeholders? You and I argue that through some form of direct taxation. That may not be popular but is the best way.
Today, the very few taxpayers in Uganda are well facilitated. They are actually happy. Those who do not pay direct taxes are also happy so who is going to fight for what us-the elite-treasure.
I am watching the situation in Iran with interest. Things may boil over in that Persian country.
But the folks in the media who are always urging the opposition to unite should re-think their message. Instead they should urge Ugandans to embrace direct taxation if they expect to make progress. From my angle, a country or people who do not pay taxes cannot aspire for great things including democratization, decent health care services, housing, social services, education, and yes accountability, running water, police services etc.
Institutions can only be the icing on the cake. The cake is taxation: the nuts and bolts of democracy.
WBK and Otto
UAH forumists
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June 12, 2009 at 4:34 pm (Africa, POLITICS)
Tags: kyjomanyi
L_Cpl Otto:
Yes, the law can work in Uganda. remember that Kenyans also had or went through what Ugandans are going through: feelings of entitlement. I had been ordered out by then but I learned that Kenyan actually fought kifuba over FORD KENYA. Raila Odinga, yes that one felt entitled to led it after the demise of his father Mzee Jaramogi Odinga. The Luhyas said no and fought over it. I understand the situation was so bad-Mr Moi could care less-that many suffered multiple injuries.
Defeated, democratically-not enough delegates to back him-Raila left to left to hijack another parry then called NDP. From there he made a deal with Mr Moi, joined KANU and cabinet until Mr Moi pulled a fast one on all the pretenders when he three his weight behind Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and famously reminded the pretenders that KANU had its owners.
When YKM told off those pestering him to name his successor that none of the current pretenders have what it takes, he reminded me of Mr Moi, blunt and politically incorrect, a trait both share. They also do not drink chaanga and of course like mbessha too much.
It took the courage of the woman from Gichugu, Hon Martha Karua to reign in the political parties. Forced by law, most parties had no choice but embrace internal democracy. Those that thought that she was joking were caught off guard and are now in limbo. Needless to say political parties are not private entities.
But it is not just me obsessed with Kenya. Kenyans now rule the top echelons of the corporate sector in Uganda and even Vice Chancellors. Why is that the case?
However,I agree with your thesis. Taxes are what we pay for civilization. In other words, if Ugandans want democracy they should pay taxes. Now do Ugandans pays taxes? No.
NRMO was smart. It broke the bond you cite by abolishing pol taxes. Ugandans used to take pride in paying taxes. They used to gather before DCs and chiefs to be assessed or relieved of the budren. Not anymore.
Bottom line : a country of perennial tax evaders like Uganda cannot enjoy the type of democracy the elite crave for.
It is is inverse of the cry: no taxation without representation that sparked tea the famous Boston tea parties.
No taxes, no democracy babe. Taxes are what buy-force-democracy.
Now do you think the majority see it the way you put it in your thesis? Obviously not. Scam the editorials pages and you will see them complaining about taxes today and then tomorrow about lack of democratic space. Hello.
I know you folks are fed up with me referring to Kenya but just bear with me. Under Mr Moi, Kenyans were not paying taxes as much. Enter Mr Kibaki who declared that the era for tax evaders was over and all of a sudden KRA is minting billions. In Ugandan super crooks like Sudhir are day in day out fighting URA about one form of taxe or another. And then the crooks have the audacity to complain of lack of security. If the Ugandan police has no web page, or functioning patrol cars, cars it can only buy if allocated more money, money which only be raised through taxation, how can it deliver?
Instead of the opposition telling donors to cut AID, they should be telling Ugandans to pay taxes. Yap. is that likely? Nope.
Many in UAH and blame the peasants that they have prioritized sleep over democracy. Hello. As as long as they pay no taxes, no more strikes and for the young folks, it was strikes “Obwedimo” against taxes, a Ugandan version of no taxation without representation pioneered by the late Mr Eriabu Kamya which forced changes on Bazungu.
Abolishing poll taxes has had only negative effects. Men drinking from mourning is one of them. In the past, before one paid his or her poll tax, they would be on guard and working hard to pay before the chiefs pounced. Not anymore.
Think about it, we the elite are doing the wrong thing. What we should be calling for is more not less taxation if we genuinely treasure democratizaition in Uganda. some Ugandan singer sang that “essay come say go”. Ugandans want it essay, no taxes yet somehow hope aginst all odds that lack of taxation will translate into democracy. Wrong.
Ugandans should reflect on Oliver Wendel Holmes’ dictum: taxes are what people for civilization. You can define civilization any way you want.
WBK
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June 12, 2009 at 4:25 pm (Africa, POLITICS)
Tags: L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick
Dear UAH
Let me take you back to that Kenyan bill on intra-party democracy…you know that one one forumist called Kjijomanyi in USA has threatened to whip Uganda’s legislators with. It reminded me of his argument almost to the effect that, the organisational doctrine of the Kenya military is an OSFA…”One Size Fits All”…now, it is organisational doctrine of office seeking political groupings (is it “Parties”?).
What I believe is, that laws are moulded by the politico-economic realities that inform their formulation. It may not be prudent to hope that, a law propounded in Kenya can be workable here in Uganda:
1/11 In my layman’s view, laws are qualitative expressions of the concrete realities that dictate their formulation. When you transpose Kenyan legislation onto Uganda, all you will be doing is to dress up a porcupine in a Kanzu. You are better off crafting a special attire that is tailored to the spikes of the porcupine. Those spikes simply will shred the Kanzu.
2/11 I am reminded here of the political transitions in all three East African countries in the first decade of the 2000s. Even a cursory glance at those transitions will tell you a huge story of what is possible in terms of democracy in Uganda, and how the question of economics comes into play….you know the old addage that “Politics is concentrated economics”…that is, politics are the qualitative expression, or the distillate of socioeconomic realities. You can distil War Gin (Waragi) from Foot and Mouth Drink (Banana Beer) but not from milk.
3/11 In the early 2000s, Kenya depended on donor aid only to the tune of 5%, Tanzania, 33% while Uganda did so to the tune of 53%. Those figures are a reflection of the robustness of the “fiscal contract” in the three countries…just forget about Thomas Hobbes’ nebulous and intellectually indolent “social contract” which pseudoliberals love to bandy about. The nuts and bolts of the contract between political elites and their constituents is the fiscal imperative: tax, the subscription fee for membership to civil society.
4/11 Now, back to Uganda and her sisters, and the robustness of the fiscal contract. What we see happening in Kenya in 2002 was a long-reigning President attempting to have the constituion – the supreme law – ammended so as to secure for himself another term in office. That failed miserably. What followed then in Kenya was the incumbent president was never brought back to office, but neither was the ruling party. Kenya: President loses out, his party loses out, fiscal bond: 95%.
5/11 In Tanzania you have the highly institutionalised CCM, Mr Mkapa served his two terms from 1995, you could not even hear of a dreamer’s hint of a third term. He stood down, eventually relinquishing the leadership of the CCM to his successor. But even then, the party was returned in power. Tanzania: President stands down, party remains in power, fiscal bond: 67%
6/11 In Uganda, the constitution was ammended to allow the incumbent to stand for a third term, he remained the head of the ruling party, and he remained in power. Uganda: Constitution is ammended, president stays put, party is returned in power, fiscal bond: 47%.
7/11 Here is my hypothesis: The level of democratic responsiveness of a political elite of any one country is inversely proportional to the extent of aid dependency of the country in question. Put differently, The level of democratic responsiveness of a political elite of any one country is directly proportional to the extent to which the country in question relies on locally-generated revenue. The point here is, democracy is not just good manners. Let me define it as “Democracy is the tight corner in which revenue-thirsty political elites find themselves when they are forced to rely on their own populations to function”. Forget about the hot air of si jui, rule of the people for the people blah, blah….By the way, on ammending constitutions to get third terms, recall that General Obasanjo had to even fly to Kampala to consult on how he could force through his 3rd term. That consultation did not help: his people vetoed him. Nigeria depends on aid only to the tune of 0.01%
8/11 Worse still, Uganda is even lacking in the level of democratic pressure that it can bring to bear on the political elite. As you know, Uganda has the lowest median age in the world: 14.9 years. We have the youngest population in the world, likewise, we have the least number of voters. According to democratic theory, electoral politics only begins to make sense when 75% of the population can cast their vote. That 75% tells also another story: when those many people can vote, it means also you have more adults, you have more potential tax payers/workers and you can therefore have a strong fiscal bond between the elite and the population.
9/11 In Uganda, only 40% of the population are of voting age, you have no quorum: bottomline, electoral politics in Uganda is a mockery; it is a slap in the face of liberal democracy and every time Uganda holds any form of election, that reality is always there for all to see. There is no social basis for liberal democracy in Uganda. That 40% also means you have less employable people, and less tax payers. As you know, Uganda also has the highest dependency ratio in the world:- 100:111. Since you even have the lowest number of people above the age of 65% in the world, it means that all your dependants are babies, nappy wearers.
10/11 Kenya is urbanised to the tune of 26%, Uganda: 12%. Kenya’s median age is 18.6%…many more workers, many more tax payers, many more bargainers for political concessions. Recall what it took to quell mass demonstrations recently: armed polic in combat, with live ammunition. In Uganda: Kiboko squad…just whip them off the streets like the rowdy toddlers that they are.
11/11 So, three things for you to consider before you orthopaedically impose Kenyan law on Uganda. One, context; secondly, context and third but not least and always easy to forget, context.
Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick
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June 10, 2009 at 10:54 pm (POLITICS)
Tags: Otto Patrick
Dear Ugandans,
I have been tuned in with bemusement, to the debate on Kyandondo North, and which faction (or is it ‘party’) stabbed the other(s) in the back during the petty struggle to position one of their own for sharing the spoils.. The acronyms that keep coming up include the following: UPC, DP, PPP, NRMO, CP, JEEMA, FDC, JF, UGP, NDF (plus Vicks Kingo!) and on and on…probably heading for the 623 of the evening of Mobutu’s Zaire , when that country was the most vibrant multiparty democracy in the world.
But the question is, where does factionalism end and where does pluralism begin? When one looks at the random harvest of Uganda’s political elite, all one sees are individuals that are exactly the same, but struggling to be different. They struggle to differ because of the narrowness of the ‘panya’ that leads to the coveted throne where some ruling clique of the day dishes out patronage, lubricated mostly unearned income that is tossed at us in form of aid.
Let us take a closer look at Uganda ’s demographics. We are just over 30 million. Of that, about 27 million, i.e., 90% are peasants. Let us take another country like France in the past. In 1789 on the eve of that country’s revolution, the French were 25 million and of that, 23 million i.e., 90% were peasants. Yes, one could argue that, that was France , and the year was 1789.. In other words: different locales, different epochs. But in socio-historical terms, Uganda 2008 = France 1789: 90% peasants and that tells a huge story about our capabilities across the board.
But of course you know that when France had the same proportion of peasants like we do now, they did not have political parties. Is it because the French were blind to the virtues of pluralism, and we, Uganda are cleverer? Is it a historical accident that when the earlier modernisers had similar demographics like Uganda ’s now they were ruled by monarchs (Mono: single person; archs: rulers)? And I am not a monarchist please….but, with our 90% peasants, the rest being – let us be honest – a lumpen bourgeoisie, a functional liberal democracy seems to be a negative dream in Uganda, as the purposeless jostling between and within our factions clearly demonstrates.
Attempting to cheat social development will not take us anywhere, because the gravity of our social reality seems to always push us towards our historical station: mediaevalism: 20, 30, 40 yrs in power like the Hapsburgs, Hohenzollerns, Shoguns and Tudors did in their days!
Historically, political parties have always emerged as structures for forming and conveying group interests in VERTICALLY DIFFERENTIATED SOCIETIES whose structure is the outcome of the transformation engendered by the industrial and agricultural revolutions. In societies where political parties emerge, wage labourers at the base, bureaucratic elites in the middle and merchants, owners of capital, financiers, industrialists and land at the top (I am reminded here that, 70% of the land in Britain is owned by 0.7% of the population). In that kind of set up, a labourer in a factory will not give a damn about the ethnicity of a factory manager. What the wage labourer wants is a decent minimum wage, low income tax and acceptable working conditions. The head of his trade union can be any religion or lineage, as long as he is vocal enough to squeeze maximum benefits from the factory owner.
In those societies, political parties are nothing but the committees that manage the interests of those classes.. For example in Britain which colonised us, the interests of the top third are taken care of by the Conservatives, those of the middle third by the Liberal Democrats (the fence sitters) and those of the bottom third are managed by the Labour Party. Tell us: whose class interests do UPC or DP or PPP or NRM or CP or JEEMA or FDC or JF or UGP or NDF etc manage? Whose interests does Nzaana, Semuwemba, Ochieno, Wambuga, Nsubuga part I, Nsubuga Part II, Nsubuga, Adhola and…..er, L/Cpl Otto represent? Do we speak for wage labourers, landlords, financiers or what? Which class do we speak for?
Uganda now is a society that is HORIZONTALLY DIFFERENTIATED. The only groups known to the predominant ‘class’ (the 90% peasants) in Uganda are ethnicities, clans, sub clans, lineages, families, castes etc. The consciousness of the 10% (or even less) pseudo elite (one of whom you and I are) is false consciousness arising from what we see across the fence in the global north.
Now; people, when you impose the structures of interest aggregation and articulation of vertically differentiated polities onto horizontally differentiated countries like Uganda, IT IS AS IF YOU ARE FORCING A PAWPAW TREE TO GROW LIKE A PUMPKIN. That tree will either die off outright, or become a disastrous weed as it struggles to conform to alien territory: the undulating contours of that horizontal plane of pre-industrialism. The fact is that, political parties are not merely creatures of, but are an upshot of industrialism. We are not there. What political dispensation propelled the industrial, vertically differentiated polities to liberalism? It was not multipartyism!
Just like a pawpaw tree cannot grow like a pumpkin, or kalitusi can not grow like lumonde, liberal democracy cannot thrive in our mediaeval-like conditions. We may need to go back to the drawing board!…..Look at what other preindustrial countries had to do to create the infrastructure for liberal democracy.
2 Comments
June 10, 2009 at 10:50 pm (2009 -2011 elections, POLITICS)
Tags: L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick
Name , Date of Registration, Promoters/Address
1. Action Party [AP] ,15.12.2004, Ocheger Nelson
P. O. Box 8401 , Kampala
2. Activist Party ,22.10.2007, Ssebugwao Muyingo / Bampigga Stephen
P. O. Box 224780 Mengo, Kampala
3. Bridge Party [BP],13.10.2005,Kasule Med Leon / Opoka Jane
Plot 6 Cement Corporation Building
P. O. Box 31252 Kampala
4. Congress Service Volunteers Organisation (COSEVO), 10.09.2007,Saddam Bisase / Moussa Mudiba
P. O. Box 22061 Kampala
5. Conservative Party [CP], 22.03.2005,Mubiru Ali / John Ken Lukyamuzi / Dr. Nyeko
P. O. Box 5145 & 1604,
Kampala
6. Democratic Party [DP], 13.07.2005, Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere / Ssebaana Kizito/Dr. Ebil Otto
Plot 3 William Street
P. O. Box 7098 Kampala
Tel: 041232704
7. Farmers’ Party of Uganda [FPU] ,28.12.2004,Bombokka Nsiko / Lubega Shafiq
Plot 54, Naguru Drive ,
P. O. Box 33243 Kampala
8. Forum for Democratic Change [FDC] ,16.12.2004,Jason Ntaro / Alice Alaso
Plot 9, Entebbe Rd, Najjanankumbi,
P. O. Box 26928 Kampala
www.fdcuganda.org
9. Forum for Integrity in Leadership [FIL], 13.04.2004,Emmanuel Tumusiime/Enos Gerard Nabudere
Plot 48B, Ntinda II Rd Naguru,
P. O. Box 7606, Kampala
10. Justice Forum [JEEMA], 22.03.2005, Hussein Kyanjo Silman
P. O. Box 3999 Kampala
11. Liberal Democratic Transparency [LDT], 15.02.2005,Ssempebwa Hood / Mukasa Zaidi
2nd Floor, Room 21 Sunset Arcade , Wilson Road ,
P. O. Box 33235 Kampala
12. Movement for Democratic Change [MDC], 28.07.2004,Mutiibwa Johnson / Robert Kityo
Balintuma Road, Nakulabye,
P. O. Box 70952 , Kampala
13. Movement Volunteer Mobilisers Organization [MVMO],22.03.2005,Nyabwongo Apollo Oyo
P. O. Box 28640 Kampala
14. National Convention for Democracy {NCD], 28.12.2004,Degaulle Kawuma / William Kagimu
Plot 86 Jjunju Road
P. O. Box 25351 Kampala
15. National Peasants’ Party [NPP], 20.04.2004,Ssegujja Wamala Erias / Wanaba Luqman
Plot 123, Katwe Rd, Sapoba Hse,
P. O. Box 20692, Kampala
16. National People’s Organization [ NAPO ] ,28.12.2004,Jjagwe Abdul / Proscovia Chebet
Namugera Building, Mirim Rd Ndejje (Off Entebbe Rd)
P. O. Box 25645 Kampala Email: napouganda@yahoo.com
17. National Redemption Party [NRP], 14.12.2005,Bizimungu Charles / Cosma Kateeba,
P. O. Box 27947 Kampala
18. National Resistance Movement [NRM] ,30.10.2003, Musa Kigongo / Amama Mbabazi
Plot 10 Kyadondo Rd.
P. O. Box 7778 ,
Kampala
www.nrm.ug
19. National Unity, Reconciliation and Development [NURP], 28.12.2004,Sekabembe Patrick / George Odoch
Plot 79 , Buganda Rd.
P. O. Box 10107 , Kampala
20. National Youth Revolutionary Organisation [NYRO], 28.07.2006,Moses Kankiriho / Ssewanyana Hussein
P. O. Box 8254 Kampala
Tel: 0485 22554
21. New Order Democracy [NOD], 13.10.2005,Epajjar Ojulu Stephen
Kyebando, Bukoto Rd ,
Semwogerere Zone, Bukoto I Parish
P. O. Box 11652 , Kampala
22. People’s Development Party (PDP), 10.09.2007,Dr. Abed Bwanika / Nathan Kabunga / Isaac Baliruno
Makerere Hill Rd. Relief Bldg(Opp. LDC)
P. O. Box 25765 Kampala
23. People’s Independent Party [PIP], 07.04.2004, Yahaya Kamulegeya / Ssalongo T. Ssenoga
Plot 30, Luwum Street ,
P. O. Box 5350 , Kampala
24. People’s Progressive Party [PPP] ,07.04.2004,Jaberi Bidandi Ssali / Joseph Kakooza
Plot 6, Commercial Street, Luzira,
P. O. Box 9252, Kampala
Tel 0414 505178
25. People’s United Movement [PUM], 07.10.2005,Ogemba Shadrack / Sam Ssewagudde
P. O. Box 72605 Kampala
26. Popular People’s Democracy [PPD] ,19.07.2005,Webster Lukwiya
P. O. Box 24206 , Kampala
27. Progressive Alliance Party [PAP], 13.04.2005,Kibirige Bernard
P. O. Box 33770 Kampala
28. Reform Party [RP] ,22.03.2005,Ndyomugyenyi Robert / George Byamukama / Katabazi H.
Water House, 2nd Floor, Plot 688,
Entebbe Rd. Kampala
29. Republican Women and Youth Party [RWYP], 20.04.2004,Stella Nambuya / Jackson Mulumba
Plot 12, Johnson Street
P. O. Box 7590 Kampala
30. Social Democratic Party[SDP] ,01.04.2005,Farouk Ntege/Henry Lubowa
Plot 63, Mutesa I Rd Katwe
P. O. Box 21782 Kampala
www.sdu.africacentral.net
31. Society for Peace and Development [SPD] ,06.02.2006,Harshim Mwenyi / Deograteous Matovu,
P. O. Box 27126 Kampala or
P. O. Box 795 Mbale
32. Uganda Economic Party [UEP] ,15.12.2004,Watentena James
Plot 14 William Street ,
Kirumira Towers ,
P. O. Box 374 , Mukono
33. Uganda Mandate Party [UMP], 22.03.2005,Mulunga Wanjala W. / Amos Kisambira
P. O. Box 63 Tororo
34. Uganda Patriotic Movement [UPM], 18.04.2005,Lubega Byayi / Bukenya Miridah
Busabala Home Clinic
P.O. Box 2083 Kampala
35. Uganda People’s Congress [UPC] ,22.03.2005, Miria Kalule Obote / Peter Walubiri
Uganda House Plot 10 Kampala Rd.
P. O. Box 9206 Kampala
www.upcparty.net
36. Uganda People’s Party [UPP], 22.03.2005,Sulaiman Masaba / John Ssenkumba
Plot 6, Entebbe Road .
P. O. Box 11009 Kampala
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June 10, 2009 at 4:53 pm (2009 -2011 elections, POLITICS, PRESIDENCY)
Tags: Henry Ford Mirima
Dear UAH,
You ask to be educated on why FDC, UPC, DP, CP, indeed all the opposition parties combined, are a spent force. Yes, the opposition, combined, are a spent force because, they are politically short sighted. They are led by, immature politicians. Yet they are facing an accomplished group of politicians in the names of Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, NRM who have spent their time, indeed many years, studyuing the abc of politics.
On the other hand opposition politicians are politically immature people who have no ability to know how to plan to win an election. While the opposition plans their political strategy on the spot, Museveni plans his strategy many years in advance.
As a result, the 2011 Presidential and general elections are already won by the NRM/Movement party. This is so for the following reasons;
President Mseven and his NRM machinery possess 100 tricks to employ to win the 2011 presidential and general elections. So far they have employed only about three of these, the most lethal trick is,
INTIMIDATION AND CREATION OF FEAR IN THE POPULATION.
This weapon alone secures the NRM 50 percent of the election even before voting begins. Hence by the time the opposition goes into an election they are already 50 per cent behind.
POLITICAL PATRONAGE
This is another lethal weapon NRM uses.The NRM machinery has activated this weapon from the day they got Government machinery in their hands in 1986. Today virtually all District Admninistrations from top to bottom, are in NRM hands. Those district administrators who are anti-NRM cannot openly express their feelings. They are scred stiff.Hence, the District machinery , plus all the over 200 RDCs, are all already positioned to firstly persuade voters, and if persuation fails, to create fear amongst the electorate and to dupe them with some benefits.
NRM HAS THE FINANCIAL MUSCLE.
There is a saying in the USA which goes, When President J. F. Kannedy was campaigning for he presidentcy a reporter asked him, What is the most important thing a politician aspiring to win an election must have, he answered, ‘MONEY’.
Question No 2, WHAT IS THE MOST INFLUENCTIAL WEAPON IN POLITICS, he answered , ‘MONEY.’
Question3, ,WHAT WILL YOU DO TO WIN THE ELECTION, he said, I MUST HAVE MONEY.
Now, my dear Ugandans, you are answered; THE FDC, DP, UPC, CP, are already a spent force, they are already defeated in the 2011 presidenti and general elections UNLESSS THEY CAN FIND A SOLUTION TO THE ABOVE WEAPONS AND TRICKS WHICH THE NRM HAS IN ABUNDANCE.
No doubt the three weopns, INTIMIDATION, FEAR, DISHONEST USE OF POLITICAL PATRONAGE, MONEY, violate people’s human rights. If we were living under a Government that strictly follows the rule of law and order, NRM leadership should be prosecuted in a court of law for abuse of office which in some cocuntries is punishable by death.
Henry Ford Miirima
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June 3, 2009 at 9:10 pm (Social issues, security)
Tags: L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick
Ugandans,
1/11 This question of background checks is related to many other questions that we have debated here, including that of the tribulations of Uganda Police, the ubiquity of violence in Ugandan society, and broader questions related to our general capabilities across the board. Even when you look closely at the debate on political participation, the autocratic propensties of leadership/political elites at every level of society (not just in the state, a point we often refuse to acknowledge), the question of the capabilities of a pre-industrial, mediaeval society always catch up with us.
2/11 Now, background checks: what are these? What do they entail? Me, myself, Corporal Otto: I was born in a banana plantation at the back of our kitchen. My illiterate grandmother was the midwife. My dining table, the placenta, for the 9 month intrauterine phase of my life was eaten by our dog, Popi. There are no records anywhere in Uganda that I was ever born. In places where they carry out background checks, things start from there: you are born in a hospital, your DNA is harvested, your blood group is established, bottom line, you get onto some database. You are registered with a general practitioner in places where there is a national health system, and every ailment you get is placed somehwere on a database.
3/11 You will go to school and this is compulsory, lest your parents end up in jail, and that means you will end up on the national educational system database. You will be mistreated by your booze-loving Mzee and end up on the vulnerable children’s database. Your parents will be entitled to child benefits, that will place you on the revenue services database. Your parents may get you a passport, and you will end up on the Home Affairs database. Every trip you make abroad will be logged somewhere, right from your infancy. And they will automatically have your finger prints.
4/11 As soon as you clock 16 years, you will see a card coming through the post, telling you that you have a social security number (SSN) or national insurance (NI) number depending on the country. Because all your correspondence comes to you by post, it means that your physical address is known, by post code or zipcode. You don’t live at “ekikkilira, kumpi nekiyinja, noyita kumuyembe, kumpi nakavule”. No! If you are Otto, yours will be, 117 Coffin Grove; Death side, Warwickshire; CV40 10QT; United Kingdom (thanx Mr John Nsubuga). In other words, you are on some one’s radar.
5/11 As you advance in your education, you will be entitled to a student’s loan. You will open a bank account where monthly instalments of the loan will be deposited. Every time, and whereever you draw cash, and where ever you do shopping, that is logged somewhere on a database. You will take bus/train rides using a students swipe card. Where ever you swipe it, someone knows already which city or town you are visiting. You will own a mobile phone, and not pay-as-you-go, but contractual. Whenever and where ever you make or receive a call, that is logged somewhere by GPS.
6/11 You will have a login to use the computers in your local library or your campus. When ever you use those computers, that is logged somewhere. You will have an email address. What ever you do with that address and whenever you log in, that is captured somewhere. Some camera will even have already recorded some of your biomentrics like the character of your iris…without your knowledge.
7/11 If you live in a country like Britain, which has 1 CCTV for every 13 members of the population, the highest CCTV density in the world, everywhere you walk, you are advised to smile, because you are on camera, being recorded somewhere. If you acquire a driving permit, you are already on the database of the agency that licences drivers and vehicle owners, by address etc.
8/11 In other words, where ever you are, you are leaving a massive electronic footprint, and that is the real content of your “back ground” in that “back ground check” that you are wondering about in the Ugandan context. In countries where individuals have such a huge electronic footprint, by the time police come to you to arrest you, you know they have their data: you just ask with a smile, for the handcuffs to be put on your wrists, because in your heart, you know they have the data: wamenikamata, bankutte, bangemye!
9/11 The other day we were talking about safe houses and torture and so on. Where people undergo subtle surveillance like I have tried to describe above, there is not torture. It is not because of democracy, as some of us argue here simplistically, it is because you do not have to whip some one to get information from him. You have it by just one push of the button. In Uganda, you lack that background information, whether on criminals, prospective judges ( I heard of a Senior Justice Kalanda who was found to have used some one else’s papers to advance his education), MPs, presidents, let alone military recruits.
10/11 So, let us get real and understand what makes things work or fail to work, instead of spending all our time ridiculing ourselves, wishing that we were like others, and generally cursing the dark without ever lighting any candle.
11/11 The lack of such infrastructure as I describe above accounts for such proverbs as “Ente endhirugavu enakuleta”, in other words, I can’t catch you now but when darkness sets in, you will come back to roost……I think that is Lusoga, your language. In other settings, whether it is shining or not, they will get you. Why?
Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick
1 Comments
June 3, 2009 at 8:40 pm (POLITICS, RELIGION)
Tags: christopher Muwanga
Summary: THE 123rd anniversary of the execution of the workers/pages at Mwanga’s Court took place at the two shrines as is always the case. On the Cathoric side, it was hosted by KABALE Dioscese while on the Protestant side, it was Mukono Dioscese in charge.
1/4. Traditionally, there is no change in routine save for the language of the songs, which will be Alur when Nebbi is in chrge and Ruchiga , as today, when Kabale is in chrge, with a colouring og Kichiga dance by Mbabazi of Temangalo fame with his tormentor Banyanzakyi jining him to stamp the ground (Hmmmm).
2/4. DIFFERENT APPROACHES: While at the Anglican site [further to the East of the Catholic site] the occasion is marked with sorrow and the Martyrs; anthem [BEEWAYO...] is the song to be heard (the Namirembe Boys’ Choir not missing), there is full choir and the event is highly choriographed, even as a “harvest presents” occasion.
3/4. The debate on wheather these boys were matryrs or traitors of K ing and Country contiunes to be discussed in the press on this occasion. Colour was added last year or so when the Mukajanga lineage went to namirember and delivered a “letter of apology” to Bp. Ssekade for their “grand-fathers’ attrocities”. But today, in the opposite vain, the care-taker of Mukajanga’s grave took tourists around with new bark-cloth desplayed above the body in the mausoleum [Hmmmm]. “He was a great “OMUMBOOWA” (Royal Guard)” the tourists were told. (Confusing like two people seeing the same cow, one says it is white while the other says it is black. This is the World).
4/4. Other notable things on today’s occasion:
- M7 was present. In his address, he paraphrased the Kabaka who, in a recent speech, called for his people to “talk less and work more“.
- For the first time may be in 10 years [from1999 when Besigye wrote his anti-establishment letter], M7 and the Colonel sat in the same tent and to the surprise on many, Dr. KB did not march out, this time around (he has done so not once, e.g. at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Mbale). He sat side-by-side with Ssebana Kizito, the DP suprimo: (will they unite from now hence-forward??).
- Ms SARA EPERU of FDC and another were put in Police custody for distributing FDC “martyrs sympathy cards”.
- 100 pick-pockets and petty thieves were apprehended.
- In Tooro, at ythe birth-place of one of the martyrs, people gathered and went into inexplicable trances (un-catholic like, one would think).
- The “kasikyi” (eve) of martyrs’ day was celebrated on the streets of Namugongo, Kireka, Kiira and Kyaliwajala settlements/towns and other surrounding areas such that, during the day most of the pilgrims, even those from Kenya, Rwanda and Sudan who HAD FOOTED FOR WEEKS TO PARTICIPATE, slept/dozed the ceremony out. Business boomed, especially in meat-snacks {roast} and in drinks. That is NAMUGONGO on Martyrs’ day for you.
Christopher Muwanga,
Nakasero,
Kampala.
3.6.09.
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June 1, 2009 at 1:22 pm (2009 -2011 elections, POLITICS)
Tags: Abbey.K.Semuwemba
Mr. Muwanga and fellow UAH,
I was there in Kampala during these campaigns and I was very disappointed with the opposition myself. They were so fragmented and therefore produced fragmented results. DP and FDC need to calm down, sit on the same table and discuss the future. DP has got to join the inter party Cooperation because I’m sure that even donors will find it difficult to finance them independently.
- Sematimba would have won this election with a bigger majority if he had stood as an independent. I don’t think his pronouncing himself as NRM will help him in the long run if he is to remain contesting in Kampala. Urban centres are pro-opposition all over the world. This was just a one off.
- Sematimba said that he joined NRM in 1994 and that he only stood as an independent during Mayoral elections in Kampala because NRM had already fronted Mr. Kyambadde as their candidate. This alone shows someone with an element of indiscipline because he could not barge in for the sake of the party. Probably Kyambade would have won the mayoral race against Sebaggala if Sematimba had not stood as an independent. Sematimba said that he was in Dubai on Business and started admiring the way Arabs had built their city and that’s when he rushed back home to run as a mayor.
- Some people did not vote for Sematimba because he was looked at as a snob. I listened to him on radio CBS when he was being hosted by Medi Nsereko Sebuliba. He kept telling people that he is a very rich man and that he handles the same budget in his line of businesses as the Lubaga Division budget. He said that those running against him aren’t as rich as him. He boastfully called them all names under the sun depicting some one with less money. What confused me was when he said, at the same time, that he had decided to run on NRM ticket because ‘they are the one with money’. This means that the rich Sematimba is capable of joining any side with cash.
- Among some of his achievements he mentioned while being hosted on CBS fm was the introduction of Valentine’s Day in Uganda. I could not believe my ears that some one would use this to get votes and few in the opposition and religious circles challenged him. The fact is that the disadvantages of Valentine’s Day outweigh the advantages and we would have lived without this day. It is like some one saying that he introduced ‘sex’ day or prostitution in Uganda and we need to vote this person in a position of responsibility. Yes, I like Sema as a person but this was very cheap from him.
On the other hand, the opposition did not help themselves at all and I pray that this is the last time DP and FDC are fighting in public because it irritated a lot of voters:
- The opposition candidates kept campaigning while dressed in suits and heavy wears while Sematimba was only using T-shirts and light clothing. The opposition should know that Kampala is not a village where somebody needs to put on a suit all the time while looking for votes. Honestly, it’s so hot in Kampala and I don’t know how these guys managed to dress like this throughout the campaigns. The opposition should learn simple tactics of connecting with the voters.
- DP and FDC kept calling each other names in public and it put off a lot of people. I guess those are the ones who decided to stay at home on the voting day
- MP Kamya was another one that is more of a menace to the opposition than she realises. She is on FM radio political programs almost 3 times a week and her words towards FDC,Joyce Sebugwawo and Besigye are not helpful. We only know that she is playing politics but her politics is so childish and divisional. However, I listened to her when she was being hosted on either Capital FM or KFM and she talked sense about the PGB soldier who shot people dead at the bar before he shot himself. I think she was on this program with MP brother Hussein Kyanjo, UPDF spokesperson and other MPs.
- The opposition need to mobilise election funds jointly and need to have a joint candidate in all elections in future. The opposition did not have enough money throughout this campaign and this was evidenced on the size and the number of campaign posters they used. Sematimba’s posters looked bigger and more beautiful everywhere I went. I even tried to go in places which we call ‘BUSOKOLO SOKOLO’ like the junction at Namungona main stage. I went deep down there but Sematimba was everywhere and the rest looked like small babies on their posters. Sematimba looked like a smiling SALONGO with a baby face. Sematimba’s face was everywhere in Kampala and on the outskirts.
- For God’s sake,NRM had 7 people who contested against Sematimba within the party but they managed to agree on one. Why shouldn’t the opposition do the same in all elections?
Byebyo banange
Abbey.K.Semuwemba
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June 1, 2009 at 1:16 pm (2009 -2011 elections, POLITICS)
Tags: christopher Muwanga
On the just concluded by-elections of Lubaga Division (constituency), a lot must have been talked.Out of a regestered 130,000 voters:
1. 17 000 voted the opposition candiates.
2. 15,000 voted the fomr N.America base diaspola ’ssenga’ (sex-therapist on CBS) turned pentecostal pastor of the NRM.This means that the turn-out was 25% of th electorate, which constitutes a MASSIVE BOYCOTT.This means that ssematimba was elected with an 11.5% vote.
1/10. Summary: Every body must fight for principled UNITY, even “of opposites” as they used to teach in philosophy classes.
The DP-FDC rift should not be looked at in clear-cut terms or as a “black-and-white” issue. Why? They have worked together before.
2/10. Iexamples are not few: In the Buyikwe by-election, FDC campaigned for the DP candidate. The young doctor won easily. To trounce the NRM so called “living encyclopaedia” in Bugweri, DP did not put up a candidate. katuntu went through, causing NRM shem – for a whole deputy PM to loose in his own area.
What is the problem today then?:
3/10. The not so simple answer is “personalitioes” and ‘personalisation of Politics’ and some “poplitical hangover” with some people.
That is why you have situations where, for example, in the last election, ”Seeya” Ssebagala had to distance himself from DP and ride on the then “besighye factor” [muna-magye y'esobola muna-magye munne - i.e. a soldier (M7) can only be managed by a fellow soldier] – which may have fizzled out now. That is, he read the peoples’ mood and mind better. So did Ms Nabila who even had her party [Social Democratic] but decided to ride on the mentioned factor when it lasted.
4/10. Come places like Lubaga division: The mood and mind of the people were clear for everybody to see. “You either join togethr or we shall not vote”. DP’s bringing in the husband of the late Chair did not help matters: it split the DP core-vote catchment area, to the extent that the Doctor shephard at Lubaga DID NOT support the DP candidate, Mr. Makumbi. He supported, instead, Mr. Ssendikadiwa, a regular perishoner!/member of the Liety.
5/10. Before the media hype by the FM radios and the pentecostal/NRM avalanche swept in, Owek. Joyce Ssebugwaawo was the ’soul’ candidate [in most peoples' minds]. After all, had she not been elected fron the RC’s starting 1987 up to the District council before she left to concentrate on Mmengo issues, after the coronation in ‘93? [Owek. is short for "owekitibwa" - a tittle for high officials at Mmengo, especially ministers. Alomost like "Honourable".]
6/10. BUT, but, but: DP considered this Lubaga the ‘cradle’ of the Party and even Owek. an ‘outsider’. The turn of the tide agaist Owek. Joyce Ssebugwaawo is what alarmed the rest of the opposition leaders. The Results were/would be inevitable. The “Man” Ken {Kennedy} Lukyamuzi, President of the Conservative Party cried at the rallies and FM radios almost daily ” People, INITE!!! You are gifting the NRM with an unpopular oition again”. His permanent call fell on the deaf ears of the opposition leaders. Calls for compromise meetings were ignored. the situation became so bad that even the FDC leader predicted the minority NRM’s victory at one rally, which may also have contributed to the boycott.
7/10. Confusing the electorate: Another of the main causes of the confusion and subsequent boycott was the ‘anti-Joyce’ rhetoric of Beti’s “Federal Alliance”. The tiff between the two ladies Joyce and Beti within FDC board-rooms spilled into Lubaga politics. One voter [first name Francis, a Ssebugwaawo supporter asked, "If the Federal Alliance is for Buganda, how come they are decampaigning Owek. Joyce? I am giving my vote to Owek. but there is no chance with this 'fratricide'. It's bad" he concluded. His wife, like many potential opposition voters thus stayed at home.
8/10. So, were "Ssenga" [sextherapist] SEMAT’s votes genuine? Well, he got 11% of the whole voter-roll and that is not something to sing home about. In the last three days, the state macinery came in, in addition to the other preachers and hired youth brigades. Even though some good votes were ‘manufactured’ at Kyadondo road {NRM hqrs}, the media and poster and newspaper advert-campain were so massive that he had to get some votes. In fact, the per-capita cost of Ssematimba’s vote was, may be, 20 times higher than that of all opposition candidates put together.
So, the 11% was not bad, considering the presidential and ministerial ‘man-hours’ invested. The fact though remains, the cost in monetary terms was not justified by the fewer votes he picked, even in view of the wide-boycott.
9/10. Way foward: If the opposition are to have any go at the state next time , they must:
-
- Stop being driven by the past: “this is our area’, “this is our nationality”, etc. The NRM uses state resourecs to enter through such flimsy divisions.
- UNITE. Nothing need be added here. stop egos and selfishness. Indeed, does a house divided aginst itself stand?
10/10. Otherwise, the Uganda citizen-voter will continue to be betrayed by the the so called ‘political elite’ in Party leaderships. The Lubaga spectacle, like those before it, is an indictiment of the political leaders, for failure to guide the people properly and fo being slfish. The leaders are lucky to escape with a boycott this time around. Next time they may be stoned for failing to do the obvious.
“Cry, the beloved Country” – as Allan paton would put it in our stuation today [like he did in the case of 40's/50's South aAfrica].
Christopher Muwanga,
Nakasero,
Kampala.
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June 1, 2009 at 12:45 pm (RELIGION)
Tags: christopher Muwanga
It is 12:00 O’clock (East Africa Time)EAT, 31st May in the year of our Lord, 2009.Greetings fom Uganda. The sun is shinning, inter-sparced by rain, as usual. the credit cruch is bitting as the “kyeyo funds’ seem to have dried up and the financial year of the GoU is at and end, living on borrowed {called supplementary] funding.
- The 3-in-one sevice at this ‘ancient’ wonder of architecture has been going on since 9:00 AM. Things like the pesentation, the oaths, the Minutes of the House of Bishops, The ‘examination’ [a touch interrogation], are over. It is now the consecration. His Grace the Archbishop of the province of Uganda announces:“I hereby declare that Bishop Luwulira Kityo Wiberforce has been duly connsecrated a BISHOP”.
- But wait, Namirembe does not have a Bishop yet. Becoming a bishop as at this moment, does not give you authority over East and Central Africa’s oldesct Diocese. So, So, more things follow:
- The Mandate is read by the provincial Chancellor
- The New Bishop Luwalira reads the Promises.
- Then followed the investiture and presentation of the symbols of Office:
- The Archbishop delivered the Episcopal ring.
- the Pectoral Cross
- The Stole
- The Coper
- the Metre
- and finally: THE PASTORAL STAFF. This, presented by the Archbishop on behalf of the people of the Diocese of Namirembe is the symbolof Authority, of a good shephard like Jesus was – to uphold him and sustain him as he carries it in His name.
- The ENTHRONEMENT:
- After all this, actual enthronement took place. The Archbishop declared,at 12:30 Hrs EAT.
- “We, Henry, by the devine mercy of the Almighty God, do hereby declare Bishop Luwulira Kityo Wilberforce, Bishop of Namirembe Diocese…”
- The the Heavens broke loose and shouting, ululations and “Tukutendereze Yeesu..” could probably be heard all over the 7 hills of Kampala.
- The elders od the Church then took their new Bishop to the THRONE.
- Charge: the new Bishop then read his CHARGE [manifesto in Politics] where he promised to, among other things, fight child sacrifices, corruption, land grabbing , “..it is time the big men stopped robbing the poor of their land..” whereby the TV cameras focussed on Amama Mbabazi (of the Temangalo fame)who was sitting next to his boss. He asked that parents be allowed to provide for food in UPE/USE schools “a hungry child is an annoyed individual” [under UPE, no charges of any sort are allowed, even for food, which causes many to dop out.[M7, in reply, promised to consider a waiver on this].
- 2:30 PM Hon Ms Beti Kamya is invited to introduce political leaders. She starts with M7 and the Hon. minister for Karamoja. She is proud to say her grand-dad Andrea Kamya was the first catichest in Ankole Kingdom and that her dad’s protrait hangs in the Bishop’s office next door [he was diocesan treasurer in Amini's time, at Namirembe]. She then likened her self to the Biblical woman who touched the garment of Jesus after suffering from ‘a blood hamorrage’ for years and she asked to be allowed to say some thing. She asked M7 for “federo“. She had fogotten to recognise the presence of DP suprimo Ssebaana Kizito and was reminded and did later.
- Next spoke the Katikoro od Buganda and finally the BIG man himself, who pledged a vehicle for the new Bishop [as usual]. he said Kamya’s question cannot be discussed at this fora. “We discussed this thing (federo) in the Bush and since we came to power…”
- 3:20 PM. Two stanzas of the National Anthem are sang [as a rule when the President is present, otherwise one is the norm], followed by 3 of late Rev. Pollycarp Kakooza’s 1950’s “Ekitibwa kya Buganda..”.
- The ceremony in this former hqrs of the E.African church ended with a pubic fest at the grounds of Mmngo School (1897]. M7 and his entourage drove off with their mobile kitchen, hospital and this time around mainly dishuised security, though the gun nests could bee seen around as were the army filed kitchen and serving areas to the wers of kampala.
- The Archbishops of Kenya, South Sudan, Rwanda, Dallas, were present or represented.
The Building: Namirembe is old but still an imposing structure. First build in 1893 by the then Buganda’s the Chief architect Nicodem Sebwato, in ancient ganda syle of reed-arches and slanting thatch, it was destroyed by fire, termites, lightening, etc] and rebuilt final to the current form, from the Architectural drawings of Gerald Gelford Pite. Sir Apollo Kagwa, Ssekiboobo [Provincial Governor Kyaggwe] Ham Mukasa, and even the King, Sir Daudi Chwa, took direct part in the building process.. but, from 1915, it now needs repair and the New Bishop has his plate full on this one. May God bless him in his new office.
I did not see President Obote of the UPC but one can find out, and revert with an answer, either from the organising Commitee at St. Paul’s, or directly from her friends at Impala Avenue, Kololo House [matrimonial home [a Sh. 300,000/= storeyed flat offered as a gift by an Indian, in 1963 after their marriage (the Obote's ONLY property in Kampala, one hears). [in his book, "Crisis of confidence"-the NRM supremo KK (Kirunda Kivedindha) calls this Obote's first {and only?} case of corruption --Hmmmm]. [Obotes’s cascate ’rested’ there from Zambia}.
P/S: The Nkima clan were present in FORCE.
==end===
Christopher Muwanga,
Nakasero,
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May 29, 2009 at 11:45 pm (Education, History, KINGDOMS)
Tags: L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick
1/7 Even before we get entangled into the weeds of street names, names of schools and names of large slums, the fact is, that of all colonially imposed names, the most inappropriate and rather silly is “Uganda”, the name of our country.
2/7 As you know, on all their journeys to the interior of East Africa, colonialists went around with Swahilli speaking askaris and translators. Unlike the Bantu languages, Swahilli lacks the “B..” noun class. In the Ugandan Bantu dialects, the names of the territories occupied by key ethnic groups are prefixed with “Bu”, hence, Bunyoro the home of Banyoro, Buganda that of Baganda; Bukonzo, Bugisu, Budama, etc.
3/7 For all those names, the Swahilli drop the B, and refer to place names as Unyoro, Ugisu, Ukonzo and…Uganda. For the people inhabiting those place, the “Bu” prefix is shaved off completely…leaving you with Unyoro, the home of the Nyoro; Ukonzo the home of the Konzo, Uganda (Buganda) the home of the Ganda (Baganda). For other places, you will hear of Ungeleza, Umarekani, Uchina, Urengo (Portugal). If the Swahilli decide to use any prefix on the people, they will employ “Wa-”.
4/7 You also know that, originally, the interest of the British in the place now daftly called “Uganda” was to have Buganda (Uganda in Swahilli) as the protectorate or colony, not other adjoining areas. Hence, you will hear of the 9th June 1894 dispatch from the Earl of Kimberley (British Foreign Office) to the Consul General of East Africa (Arthur Hardinge) regarding the formation of the ‘Uganda’ (meaning Buganda) protectorate: “This protectorate ( Uganda ) will extend only over the territory which is included in Uganda proper (i.e., Buganda ), bounded by Koki, Ankoli (sic) and Usoga (sic)..”. You may also have heard about Commissioner Hesketh Bell’s policy slogan: My policy is going to be ‘Uganda for the Baganda”
5/7 So, even after they changed their mind and went in for a larger territory, they maintained the name of the staging post…Uganda (or Buganda). Even when the country has come to embrace Acholi, Lango, Banyoro, Banyankore (of Nkore..not “Ankole”), it is still called “Uganda” Swahilli for Buganda. Very silly indeed!
6/7 We are so enslaved that, because the British mispronounced the Swahilli word, we also adopted the same silly mispronounciation: “Yuganda” (as in Yugoslavia)..where a word starts with letter U, in English it (mis)pronounced as Yu. For countries like Uruguay, they were already firmly established that the name of the country could not be distorted.
7/7 If we are to castigate the inappropriateness of names, we have to start with “Uganda”, the mispronounced misnomer….and by the way, if the colonialists had invaded through Bukonzo, or Bushenyi, or Bugisu, would we have been happy for the country to be called Ukonzo or Ushenyi, Or Ugisu? If not, then, why “Uganda”, the land of the Ganda? Are Acholis, Banyoro, Bamba…all those…are they Ganda to belong to the land of the Ganda, or Buganda or Uganda in Swahilli?
Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick
3 Comments
November 19, 2008 at 2:52 am (CULTURE)
Tags: Henry Ford Mirima
Dear Netters Senkindu,Senyonjo, Mulindwa, Jessica, etc.
Thanks for responding to the subject of witch-doctors intimidating and causing untold fear amongst the Uganda population to the point of believing lies and tricks of witch-doctors in attracting people to believe that human sacrifice of calousily killing young girls and boys in the unfounded hope of acquiring wealth from such barbaric acts.
One characteristic of all the respondents is that nobody has hit at the effective solution. Nobody has agreed that practitioners of witch-craft are basically honest, genuine people but who act ignorantly.
Only education of their minds will remove their ignorance. And this can only be carried out in the education system begining in the prirmary, secondary and at university level.
The press can play an effective role, but people like Kalundi Serumaga fear to antagonise witch-dcotors. Killing innocent young girls and boys should invite sympathy but Serumaga has never presented a programme to condemn this practice for fear of antagonising witch-doctors.
Most netters are saying that witch-craft be criminalised and the Police Force be awakened to take strong action against practitioners of witch-craft.
The laws against witch-craft are there, but are they enforced.
The great weakness of these proposals is that the majority of Ugandaans, including the Police Force and the judiciary are all of them believers in witch-craft hence they cannot take action against witch-doctors.
In addition to that, and we have established these facts in our book UNVEILING WTICH-CRAFT these people are intimidated into fearing the repurcusions of witch-dcotors. Fear of witch-doctors makes law enforcers, the Police and the Press, to fear to take action against them. They fear to be cursed and to be possessed by the devil, they fear to be be-witched by witch-doctors.
This fear is based on ignorannce of the highest degree.
The only solution is to remmove fear from our people. Fear can only be removed if they are convinced from the bottom of their hearts that the witch-doctor has not power to send spirits to attack anybody. We have established that there are no such spirits known as amayembe, lubaale, emizimu, ebyookoola, ebyomunju, etc.
In our book we demonstrate very clearly the basis of how witch-doctors claim to possess such powers. We have converted hundreds of thousands of witch-doctors who have spilled the beans on how they deceived and trick people.
Netters have asked me whether we have approached the ministry of education and other law makers to educate the population about these lies and tricks of witch-dcotrs.
Yes, we have approached the highest authorities in Uganda. We have written letters to H.E. President Museveni, and the MInister of Presidential aAffairs, Hon Wabudeya, and the PPS in the President’s office, Hon. Amelia Kyambadde. The latter had even made an appointment for us to meet the President but some how it did not materialise.
We have approached Makerere University and delivered complimentary copies to relevant departments like that of Sociology, Psychology, Education, Anthropolgy, Religious Affairs, The Faculty of Law,etc
The Presidents office invited us to meet Canon Ruhunda who is incharge of Religious Affairs in HE’s office. We carried two ex-witch-doctors to his office, and all the spirits and other paraphernalia witch-doctors use in the spirits shrines and demonstratred how they tell lies and how they change their voices to sound like spirits and how they make horns (amayembe) walk about and how they make them talk.
WE were invited at Makerere Institute of Languages where the department of Anthropology operates from and we carried two ex-witchdoctors who demonstrated how they make spirits (horns) and lubaale, talk and walk about.
Briefly, we showed how witch-doctors capitalise on the gullibility of the population to deceive them.
At this stage Ugandans should be abhorred by the story of the young girl who was so calously placed in a ditch, alive and watching every activity going on, sand poured over her and made her die a very painful death.
In civilised societies such a story would prop up in Parliament and the Minister of security would be put on the carpet, indeed, the Government would be forced to resign if the culprit is not found and prosecuted.
Briefly, the solution is to criticlly read that book and analyse it and see how our findings can help educate the minds of the people so that they no longer succumb to witch-doctors lies and tricks. It is only after fear of witch-doctors has been removed that we can face them and refuse to kill young girls and boys for their body parts to prescribe medicine for acquiring wealth.
We also approached the Minsitry of Education and donated five books to all the ministers in that ministry and their commissioners.
But, dear netters, we have never even received a letter acknowledging receipt of our donations. And this subject has never been even mentioned in the minisrtry.
Our suspicion is that these officers are themselves believers in witch-craft hence they cannot take action that will remove what they believe in. Or, they are so effectively intimidated by the thought that witch-doctors will attack them if they take action.
Henry Ford Mirima
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November 19, 2008 at 3:02 am (POLITICS)
Tags: Abbey.K.Semuwemba
Old politicians should groom the youth to take over leadership
I agree with an article in a local magazine criticising President Museveni over his utterances against young people in politics. It is sad that the old politicians in Uganda have not considered grooming young people to take over their positions.
Milton Obote died without a young man taking over UPC. The party has brilliant young brains like Joseph Ochieno who are just being wasted.
A politician like Mr Bidandi Ssali, who has been in politics for ages, will not surprise us if he emerges as PPP’s presidential candidate when there are many brilliant young men in the party. The oldies want to stay on till when both their feet and brains develop wrinkles.
The NRM, a party initially blessed with a crop of young leaders including Dr Kizza Besigye, should never have allowed the Besigye’s to leave it. They should have been nurtured to take over leadership now instead of fighting them. The old people in the NRM are constantly fighting each other over the succession issue. For instance, one reads in the papers about the battles between Prof. Gilbert Bukenya and Mr Amama Mbabazi.
Mr Museveni does not want to leave power yet he is not grooming anyone to take over from him. This kind of politics compels young men and women to participate in politics only if they expect immediate gains.
Ugandans should admire the political environment in America where a young man like Barack Obama has been given a chance and is likely to become the next US president. Obama, 47, is not only the first African-American presidential candidate of a major party in the US but he is also a first term Senator to vie for president. He is a model and motivator for all the Black race worldwide.
Old people should give a chance to the youth to take over political leadership in Uganda. May be we need a party for young men and women to strongly send this message out there.
Abbey K.Semuwemba,United Kingdom
abbey@semuwemba.freeserve.co.uk
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March 3, 2009 at 2:57 pm (POLITICS)
Tags: L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick
Dear People,
Why don’t you push for an ammendment to the constitution?
You really must have missed out in the whole exercise of the review of the 1995 constitution carried out by the Constitutional Review Commission headed by none other than Prof Alfred Ssempebwa, a mulangira! The views you are expressing were expressed by many others as the Sempebwa report shows under section 11.6. I am sending you the link to that report: http://www..ugandaonlinelawlibrary.com/files/constitution/Commission_of_Inquiry.PDF
The report’s recommendation on the issue of the Banyarwanda was clear. Sempebwa states:
‘In our view, the existence of the Banyarwanda as an indigenous community in Uganda by 1926 is not in dispute and should be recognised. It is not for other communities to impose a name on this community.’ [here he was referring to the name 'Bafumbira' which was given to the Banyarwanda when Kisoro district was transferred from Belgian to British jurisdiction in 1926]
Note that, Banyarwanda who were left out of the Republic of Rwanda after the post-Berlin partition were named after the volcanic ranges close to which teir community lived. Those near Mufumbira ranges in present day Uganda were called ‘Bafumbira’, those near Mulenge hills in present day DRC were called ‘Banyamulenge’, those near Masisi hills also in present day DRC were called ‘Banyamasisi’ and those from Rutshuru hills are called ‘Banyarutshuru’. All those people are BANYARWANDA, the people of the old Rwanda Empire that was cannibalised by the British, Belgians and Germans. They were named after those hills to give them a new identity in their ‘new’ countries otherwise ETHNICALLY, they are Banyarwanda. DO NOT confuse them with Banyarwanda that are citizens of Rwanda, i.e., the RWANDESE. It is the Banyarwanda of Uganda who have sought to make a break by repudiating the derogatory name after some hills and asserted that they are Banyarwanda. This became particularly urge
The confusion with Banyarwanda is a result of coincidence between the name of their ethnic group and the name of a colony. That confusion never arises with other ethnic groups that are split between other neighbours just because those neighbouring countries do not share their name with an ethnicity. For every Alur in Uganda there are 2.5 in DRC (the so-called Lendu), for every 1 Mutoro in Uganda, there are 2 in DRC in Boga. There are Banyoro in NW Tzania, Itesot of Kenya elect Eimormor in Soroti etc. Imagine if Southern Sudan was called Acholi. What would have happened with the Acholi in Uganda? Or if Mao engineers a secession of Acholi, what would happen with the Acholis in Parajok and Kit in Equatoria province in Sudan.
They are saying they are Banyarwanda, but not Rwandese. Additionally, let us not confuse the ethnic group, Banyarwanda,with castes, the Batutsi, Bahutu and Batwa. Those were just socioeconomic classes just like Buganda has Balangira (equivalent of Tutsi) and Bakopi …the Hutus. Membership to those castes was not fixed. If you acquired alot of cattle, you could be dehutuised, and promoted to being a Tutsi, likewise if you were a Tutsi and lost your cattle like used to happen following outbreaks of rinderpest etc, you would be downgraded to a Hutu. They were not fixed groups like ethnicities tend to be. It is the Belgians that bastardised them into tribes: because Belgians have Walloons and Flemings as their two tribes, they wanted to recreate that arrangment in Rwanda and Urundi….with disastrous consequences…..
Likewise, in India there are similar castes, the Brahmans (Tutsi), Sudras (farmers..Hutu), the Dalits or Harijan (the untouchables…Batwa). The caste of Batwa similar meant ‘the to be spat on’ …you know how you spit: ‘Khroo, twa…’
[In India, later on they got the caste called 'Thugs' the Hindu word which entered English in 1839...they were violent robbers who murdered their victims according to specific rituals, prescribed by the Hindu goddess 'Kali' (from which we got the Swahili word kali or tough)].
So, compatriots, let us broaden our perspectives a bit to avoid interahamweist rhetoric.
Yrs sincerely,
L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick
UPDF Officer
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November 21, 2008 at 12:06 am (HEALTH)
Tags: Add new tag, WB Kyijomanyi
I know this is taboo but here I go.
Actually, abortion would not be necessary if women did not use it as a form of family planing. Some people sleep around carelessly without taking precaution. One would expect such fornicators to take matters in their hands and religiously use the contraceptive pill-best protection. If they did, 995 they would not conceive. And without conception, there is no need for abortion. It sounds simple and common sense.
But matters related to sex are not that simple in patriarchal societies such as Uganda. That is where family planning comes in. I am not saying women should not please their men or than men should not love their wives/lovers. That is none of my business. What women should do is use their agency and go for family planning. If they can’t deal with the daily pill, they should go for other means to protect themselves against unwanted pregnancies. To their credit that is what white women realized since the 60s. They can have their cake and eat it too. They not only sue the pill religiously, they also insist on condom use.
They may be liberal, but nobody get it without the condom period. Why can’t it be the same among Ugandan or African women for that matter? Teenage pregnancy among people of African descent in North America is 30%, way higher than the national average. Why? Because African parents have failed and failed miserably to teach their daughters and sons the dangers of fornications. They pretend that their daughters and sons are angels. Wowe. On the other hand white parents do not. They know and even encourage their teenagers kids to be sexually active. but to take the necessary precaution.
Girls are told to use contraception to void pregnancy. Both girls and boys are told to use the condom to protect themselves against sexual diseases. in many ways, the women who use the pill and insist in condom use have two and not one protection. Needless to say, they are not likely to get pregnant even in cases where they fornicate without the condom. In Uganda and I don’t want to sound harsh, it is the other ways round. fornicate endlessly and find out later. That is a disaster in country where abortion is banned.
No, abortion should not be legalized. What should be encouraged and promoted is family planning coverage all over the country. If family planning services are affordable and available to all the women who need them at a reasonable cost or even free in a country on the population brink such as Uganda, there would be no need for legalizing abortion. The women of Ugandan should know that they can have their cake and eat it too.
Take charge of your lives dear wowen. You and you alone can avoid unnecessary pregnancy without sacrificing the ‘fan’ of sex. Moderate sex is even good for us so we are told by experts. And it can be enjoyed without worries about pregnancy. Folks, the pill works very well.
And why would women want to endure the emotional torture of abortion?. Abortion is not an easy decision. It is emotionally draining. The good news and should I say common sense thing is that unwanted pregnancies can be prevented. If they can be prevented, then there is no need for abortion. It would not arise in the first place.
Now and this pains me. In Uganda today incest is on the rise. In such cases, abortion should be allowed to save the victims and those are true victims of such horrors. The other areas include rape. Those victims too should be allowed to procure an abortion legally. It would at least eliminate the evidence to perpetuate the stigmatization of victims of rape or incest.
Now, you see, there is nothing controversial written here. What I have said is that choices for women in the form of family planning services should be increased. Women should be provided with family planning services for free to ensure that all those who want them get them. Married couples who are faithful-yes there are still many-should be encouraged to use either the pill or natural planning method. Natural family planning is not effective for casual fornicators. Those should go for the pill and if they can’t remember to take the pill, they should go for an injection. Some will retort that the pill is dangerous. I say very minimally. The pill is safe. It works. It is effective and above all saves women the agony of an abortion.
If the women used the pill and men used condom, Uganda would be safer place. there would be fewer babies and certainly less poverty than is the case today. There would also be fewer HIV/AIDS carriers. It is common sense people. Why it is that we refuse to do the right thing? If women or girls decided that they want to fornicate, then they should go for the pill to guard against unwanted pregnancy. I don’t which is more dreaded: unwanted pregnancy or HIV/AIDS or both? The good news is that both are can actually be prevented.
Talk of legalizing abortion should be avoided. It will simply inflame the debate about women’s reproductive rights. There are safer and lesser controversial choices for women. Prevention prevention people.
WB Kyijomanyi
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November 21, 2008 at 12:17 am (HEALTH)
Tags: Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
There is now a suspected relationship between abortion and mental illness according to the available research. Here in the UK, following the publication of a report by the House of Commons’ Science and
Technology Committee, at the Government’s request, The Royal College of Psychiatrists is currently in the process of pulling together its research on the subject.
The move to update research in the field brings into question the longstanding assumption in Britain that a woman’s mental health is at greater risk from continuing with an unwanted pregnancy than from the possible emotional or psychological backlash of ending it. This sensitive new ground highlights the importance of the work that counsellors do in this field, both with women considering a termination, as well as with those coming to terms with having had one.
UK has got two organisations (Marie Stopes International (MSI) and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS)) offering counselling services and advice to women planning to do abortion in the UK.
According to data from these organisations, abortion affects a lot of women such that some feel as if they have lost a real child. There are so many women that end up in mental health hospitals as a result of abortion.
One may argue that a child born out of rape needs to be aborted because of the obvious reasons people but I again beg to disagree on this. Some women grow to love the children they got after being raped. The child is always innocent whether he was manufactured as a result of rape or incest and this child needs our protection and love as a society.
Yes, I agree that the decision to have an abortion should be a matter of individual conscience but individuals need to be guided on what is right and wrong when it comes to abortion. Some people argue that religion should not be a basis to help one make a decision regarding abortion but I think they are wrong. Religion is a way of life for some people and when one goes against it, one feels guilty most of the time. Religion should form a basis of decision making. As a Muslim, I will never support abortion except in fatal situations. So religion should be allowed to trump individual conviction.
The most important thing in all this discussion is to allow women to be entitled to safe pregnancy, safe delivery, and safe abortion. Clinics in Bwaise(Angola Zone) should not be allowed to be places
where women got for safe pregnancy, safe delivery or safe abortion. So the streamline of any abortion law should clearly be looking into this area other than legalising abortion. For instance, South Africa
reformed the abortion law in order to improve the health of women and prevent deaths among women. Abbey .K.S
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November 24, 2008 at 7:04 pm (POLITICS)
Tags: Henry Ford Mirima
You have asked a proper question. Does Uganda care about its children? The answer is; No it does not. This is my observation. It is based on the fact that the killing of innocent children for ritual sacrifice has taken on the angle of tacit acceptance/approval by the state. Even Uganda parents who should normally be abhorred by reports of children being sacrificed, are also silent in a gesture that shows they also approve of the ritual killings of children.
If the state had cared about its children the current rampant kusaaddaaka of children including the calous one where a girl of 12 years was killed in a very painful manner where she was placed in a ditch and a mixture of concrete poured over her, even ignoring her cries, then state should have mounted a nationwide search for the tycoon who killed this girl.
But even Parliament has shown no concern otherwise the cabinet should have brouhgt a motion to outlaw witchcraft and stiffen laws against ritual sacrifice.
The possibility is that the people who should implement these laws are themselves believers in ritual sacrifice, believers in witch-carft, and most probably their huge buildings we see in Kampala are standing on the skeltons of these chlidren.
Henry Ford Mirima
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November 24, 2008 at 9:00 pm (POLITICS)
Tags: Balaba Asuman
State of child welfare in Uganda
By Balaba Asuman Student Makerere University P.O.Box 7062 Kampala
+256752536771, +256775519571
How child friendly is your country? Should parents or the state be held accountable for the well being of children? Does a country’s wealth guarantee better welfare for children? Should the state interfere in the how parents treat or bring up their children?
In Africa and the world at large, it is the responsibility of the nationals and the government entrusted to power, to create an enabling environment geared at safeguarding child rights and well-being of children because they are the future governors of the next generation. To answer the above question I will base on the NGOs findings and general observation of the situation in Uganda.
African Network on Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) had frequently reported a high level of child abuse in districts of Uganda. ANPPCAN, research reveals child abuse despite wide exposure by the media and other research institution.
Children have been abused physically, sexually and neglected in that out of 16,800 cases of child abuse 95 percent were committed by male aggressor and 5% by female. The sexual abuse takes (82.9 percent) 13,929, physical abuse (9.9 percent) 1670 and neglect with (2.6percent) 450, while a total of (4.5percent) 751 cases were not classified.
The compiled report from judicial proceedings totaled 1808 cases with Lira having the highest of 221 cases, followed by Mbarara 182, Mubende 136 and Moroto , Buganda Road and Masindi had few cases, 2, 5 and 6 respectively.
On regional level out of 8681 cases, western had 31.1%, followed by central 29.1%, eastern 22.7 and northern with 17.7%. District level, out of 3103 Jinja had 509 with the highest figure, followed by Masaka 419, Pallisa 399, Lira 359, Kira Rd ( Kampala ) 339 and Mpigi 312.
The cause of child abuse has been brought by cultural practices like early marriage with the desire to get dowry, inheritance of the deceased which is found out that most people donʼt use the responsibility entrusted of taking care to children. Also ignorance about the existence of laws to the public has been instrumental hence lagging the effective implementation of ANPPCAN objectives.
There also challenged with limited funding from government in that more emphasise is on child health care like fighting Malaria, Polio among others and little is forwarded to stop child abuse.
ANPPCAN does advocacy work targeted to policy makers to steer the programmes into force like enacting laws to punish the culprits involved. Giving children skills in decision making, build confidence and creating awareness to the public is essential to be focused on, but it wonʼt be possible if there is no proper implementation of policies and law to enhance child rights.
There is need for law enforcers to deal with the aggressors without favouritism promoted by corruption, as well dealing with parents, Guardian or authorities who at times settle matters in the curtain intentioned to bribes given.
Protection of children is everyoneʼs responsibility, for a better Uganda, tomorrow and forever.
ANPPCAN Uganda chapter was established in 1992 being part of the continental Pan-African movement with offices along Kira Rd to advocate for the rights of children and it work with other NGOs like Uganda human rights commission (UHRC), FIDA (Uganda women lawyers association), and Media in the country.
Those abused are in the age bracket of 8-17 and cases ANPPCAN had taken action includes defilement maintenances, parental neglect, child starvation, indecent assault, abandoned, alleged child sacrifice and giving support to former child domestic workers like education.
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November 27, 2008 at 12:53 pm (Africa)
Tags: Ahmed Katerega Mussazi-newvision
it’s true Nkunda was part of government, but unlike Baganda, Basoga, West Nilers, Banyankore and Acholi, who were in UPC when their people were being victimised by Obote, Nkunda (like John Garang) abandoned governmwent and joined his people in rebellion. His demands are not many. He wants Banyamulenge and other marginalised people to be recognised by Congo. But remember that DR Congo is supposed to be a federal state so it is better for Nkunda to be Governor of Kivu both south and north other than a minister or senuior military officer in Kinshasa. According to press reports here, both Kabila and Kagame are soon agreeing on a joint operation against Intarehamwe and Hutu militia’s safe heavens in Congo. We should not dismember colonial states, we should go for regional integration. Fortunately Khartoum and Juba have applied for membership of East Africa Community. In the first community, Zambia, Ethiopia and Somalia applied and we hesitated to admit them. May be the community would have been spared from personal clashes between Nyerere, Amin and Kenyatta.
l think DR Congo should not be broken up. You remember Ethiopia was broken up but that did not stop wars between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Even if Southern Sudan becomes independent, it will not stop war in Darful or Kassala. If we start breaking the colonial states, Africa will be no more because with the tribalism that has been rekindled, we may go back to pre-colonial nation states. Some of us are lucky we had some, but there are those that were still in bonds! If Kabila does not accept to integrade Nkunda and his rebels, and to chase away negative forces, let’s remove him.
Ahmed Katerega Musazi
(NewVision newspaper)
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November 30, 2008 at 9:05 am (POLITICS)
Tags: Henry Ford Mirima
Everybody knows where aid money has gone. But nobody wants to face facts. The late Kisekka made the following comment, “Banayuganda sibategeera. Balaba ekintu ekikyamu bo kye bakola” That I do not understand Ugandans, they see something wrong and that is exactly what they choose to do.
The article in The Monitor of last week which showed how Uganda is paying clossol amounts of money, billions every month, to maintain Presidential Advisers, and the chairman of the ruling Movement party, who do nothing but spy on the population on behalf of the Office of the President, should be an eye opener.
The money paid to Presidential Advisers should be used to build schools and to pay a decent salary to teachers so that teachers in rural areas can be motivated enough to do their duties like urban teachers who perform well to the extent that their school perform very well.
The devourers of aid money are the innumerable political patronage personnel found in every aspect of Ugandan establishment. These people are appointed on just one merit, to push the interests of the politicl party in power. They virtually have no skills to talk about but they are appointed to high ranking positions where they do unprofessional things.
Like today we have a minister of finance but he does not have the ability to know that the economy of the country is suffering because the ordinary person fails to get change when buying merchandise. Failure to get change has caused indescribable suffering to low income earners, but Presdsent Museveni’s ministers cannot see this.
Go to the ATM machine where you are given 50 thousand Shilling notes. You go to buy goods with it you will spend a whole day without finding somebody who can change it into small denominations which the ordinary Ugandan peasants use. You need to travel by taxi and you are required to pay seven hundred shillings but you have a note of fifty thousand shillings. The taxi driver will punish you by either taking you another two miles away from yur destination in search of change or you will not be taken.
The point is , why cannot President Museveni appoint a minister of finance who knows what he is doing. The answer is ,he appoints only political patronage personnel who have no professional capacity to think out such things.
Some ten years ago the UNO put aside billions of dollors to specifically fund economic development in Africa like it was in Europe after World War Two when the USA gave Europe a mere 112 million dollors in the famous Marshal Aid programme.
The Europeans used that money intelligently and today all European countries are extremely prosperous.
But the billions given to Africa by the UNO were spent wastefully (or stolen), like Global Fund and Valley Dam money, it all vapourated into the air. That money did not do the kind of miracle the Mashall Aid money did to Europe. As a result Africa is still as poor as it was before aid money was offered. Indeed, we are so poor and ignorant you find Ugandans dying from giggers on their buttocks and armpits.
I have been tempted to conclude that Africans are of a low IQ but then there comes Barack Obama who has displayed a rare IQ in outwitting the whites. You listen to Obama talking and yoou know you have an intellectual. But will our people follow Oboma’s examples? I doubt.
Briefly, the aid money we get is spent in making plans, including rigging elections, to keep the ruling parties in power.
Henry Ford Mirima
Bunyoro Kingdom spokesperson/journalist/writer
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January 4, 2009 at 12:59 pm (POLITICS, PRESIDENCY)
Brothers,
If you knew what Kigongo is capable of, you would cry for ever from today:
A few samples:
1/9.During the “presidential limit removal” machinations, the 5M was being distributed from his Guest House [called Mosa Courts], just after Sheraton Hotel, to the right, if approached from High Court side, eastwards.
2/9.In the Bush, he mobelised business men’s contributions, food acquisitions (by force), etc.
3/9.Most important, in our days, he is the CUSTODIAN OF THE IMPORTANT EXTRA BALLOT PAPERS. For every constituency, an estimate of, for example, how many votes Mzee should get in a certain district are calculated in advance of the election date.
4/9.Since the printers of the votes [usually in South Africa] are indirectly linked to M7’s men, these people are given extra money for extra votes for deliverly to Kyadondo Road [Kigongo's office] or any other safe house.
5/9. Trusted teams are selected and placed in different houses to ‘pre-tick’ the ballots in favour of the desired candidate [in rare cases, of a non-NRM plant, where cheating for an NRM would look stupid].
6/9.The next day, over the pre-election night, pick-ups are loaded with ballot papers in boxes, to pre-determined locations/voting booths. In many case, ?un-gazetted’ polling centres are opened and closed, unknown to the opposition.
7/9.The problem remains: Suppose , all the same, M7 gets embarrassingly low tarries, despite the ‘cheating’? In such cases, the results on the summary sheets are read by phone, fax, etc to Kigongo’s centre, where they are doctored before they re given to the Electoral commission. This is how, for example, the Supreme Court was shocked to learn that where Besigye got 340 votes against Museveni’s 20 [a booth in the east], the results reached the Electoral commission with Besigye having ZERO votes and Museveni having 80.
This way, Mbarara Municipality with 10-12 thousand voters, which Eng. Byanyima always won with 8-10,000 votes, ended up being said to have given Besighye about 9,000 votes and M7 about 19 thousand votes in 2001. This means that 20,000 ballots had to be ‘manufactured’ and that is how Kigongo’s team comes in.
8/9.Kigongo commands a very big team of computer data processors to achieve this, mobelised months in advance for the exercise. For example, their estimate/desire was to give ‘Mzee’ 60% of the tarry last time. They did their thing but were shocked to find that their man failed to make 50% of the vote [which would mean a re-run] (source say Besigye go 47% and M7 got 48%, despite the cheating and intimidation, register alteration, etc]. This was not acceptable to the Kigongo boys [mainly ISO agents] so, 57% was ‘manufactured’ for ?Mzee’ and the rest is history.
9/9.Pity Uganda. All the money from the privatisation of public enterprises, ?free’ land investment, etc, is being used to sustain such machinations and Kigongo and his buddies are at the centre of it. Do not be surprised if the NSSF loot was not meant for such satanic activities.
Christopher Muwanga,
Nakasero,
Kampala.
2.1.09.
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January 4, 2009 at 4:13 pm (CULTURE, History, Uncategorized)
Tags: Ahmed Katerega Mussazi-newvision
It is true both Christians and Muslims were involved in slavery and slave trade for centuries while Christianity and Islam are opposed to it. It is like Western Christians mad with capitalism when Christianity is opposed to it. As for Arch Bishop Jenan Luwum, Amin is blamed for killing the religious man before he was tried in a competent court of law. Otherwise there was enough evidence that rebels based in Tanzania had smuggled in guns to stage a coup on January 25th 1971. The plot was master minded by some Acholi and Langi. This is even admitted by the late Kigezi Bishop Festo Kivengere in his book, l LOVE IDI AMIN (1977) after he and Arch Bishop Yona Okoth, survived narrowly Amin’s killers. However Amin did not kill Luwum because the former was a Muslim and the latter a Christian. Amin killed even Muslims like Shaban Nkutu, Commerce Minister in Obote l government, Sheikh Asadu Lutale, father of Sheikh Abdul Obeid Kamulegeya, to mention but a few. We should stop stereo type labeling a section of our population bad or good according to what Baganda call “OMULYAMMAMBA ABEERA OMU N’AVUMAGANYA EKIKA.”
However l sympathise with you, Islam has not yet penetrated the North especially Acholi and those that should have done it are at Kibuli and Old Kampala fighting for a few Muslim property. Otherwise in Buganda where Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Greek Orthodox, 7th Day Adventists, Pentocoscals and even Lubaalism (African Traditional Religion) are strong, we are tolerant of any religion so long as it is not a destructive cult like Kibwetere’s or Bushara’s.By the way, l am a Luo Mubiito, your relative, who happens to be a Muslim by accident of my birth, descent and heredity.
There are things we can not agree. For example l know that religious leaders in Uganda are not only political but also partisan. It is true as Amin faced isolation, he become more close to Muslims. But Ugandan exiles and a section of Uganda Army were to stage a coup on January 25th 1977 and the Arch Bishop knew about it. What Amin should have done, was to put the Arch Bishop under trial. Can you deny that the late Emmanuel Cardinal Nsubuga was an NRA? But if Obote had touched, him, he would have been condemned. Even castration story l don’t buy it since l am a regular visitor of Middle East and l see Black natives even in countries like Saudi Arabia.
What is true is both Muslims and Christians were involved in slavery and slave trade despite the fact that Islam and Christianity condemn it. I will advise some Muslim agencies to concentrate von mass elimunization (evangelization) of Acholi sub region, were some of my brothers may even think that Muslims are sub humans.
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January 4, 2009 at 4:33 pm (CULTURE, KINGDOMS, POLITICS)
Tags: Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
1. It is true that USA has got no official language. It is again true that official languages are those designated by the law. However, a language can be considered to be de facto official language, meaning that although a language may have no official status in a particular country, it is the most commonly used language in that country and the one usually used in official settings. In other words, English is the de facto official language of the USA. It is considered the official language in practice if not in law. The US constitution and all federal legislation are also written in English. 30 of the US states already have got official languages. US naturalization laws standardize English.
2. It is also true that the US Senate voted in favour of making English the national language in 2006 according to the BBC(2006) (internet: available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4996512.stm ). 83% of the population of USA speak English. What I’m trying to say is that English is both the ‘official’ and ‘national’ language of USA whether it is endorsed by the law or not. It has got the hallmarks of both an official and national language of USA. That’s why I stated in my earlier message that Ugandans don’t need government legislation if they want to support Luganda as the national language. All they need is to promote it in their homes and the rest will just be a piece of cake.
3. Swahilli is already one of the official languages of Uganda, but like I stated, the decision was just political. Swahili does not qualify to be an official language of Uganda if we are to look at the basis of an official language. English is rightly the No 1 official language of Uganda and Kenya and I hope this status quo remains forever.
4. It is true that Swahili has got a bigger following in Sub Sahara Africa than Luganda. On the other hand, Luganda is more spoken than Swahili in Uganda. If we are looking for something national, then Luganda fits the bill very well.
5. In terms of technological advancement, this is just business by Microsoft. Both Swahili and Luganda are being technologically promoted in East Africa and Uganda respectively. Last year (2008), African software and language experts launched a project to translate Mozilla’s Firefox web browser into the local Ugandan language of Luganda.I also read something techological about Luganda in Bukedde in 2007,i guess.
6. A-China will always be on board with or without our people learning Chinese languages. China itself is promoting English for strategic reasons. Angola and DRC are some of the African countries that have got China as a strong key economic partner but they have got Portuguese and French as their official languages respectively. Angola president’s second visit to China in five months in December 2008 was an example of the strong partnership that exists between the two countries. Angola is now China’s largest-supplier of crude oil. The DRC government has also signed a series of landmark asset-backed deals with China, totaling around US$9.25 billion.
B-However, Language is a concern for foreign patent applicants. Both Chinese and English are the official languages of the Hong Kong SAR and it is only necessary to provide limited information in Chinese. In Hong Kong, traditional characters are still used, but in mainland China an application for a patent must be in simplified Chinese characters. Further, while some patent offices allow applicants to file in their own language and submit translations later, the Chinese Patent Office does not allow this.
7. Fifty-Five countries in the world have got English as their official language. So it’s not a delusional for any country to get on the band wagon anymore. So probably Rwanda is on the right track. Again, the politics between the current Rwanda government and France are very complicated just like the tensions between Tutsi and Hutus. So I don’t want to read much into why Lunyarwanda did not directly replace French. Kagame is really making the right decisions so far. Remember Rwanda was the first to come up with the idea of free primary education before Uganda.
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January 4, 2009 at 4:48 pm (CULTURE, KINGDOMS, POLITICS, Uncategorized)
Tags: Mugulusi
Let me start off by clarifying some information: 1) U.S doesn’t not have an official language 2) it is not true that in 2006 the U.S voted in favor of English as a national language. Let us not engage in a discussion of disinformation. In 2006 the U.S Senate (not the U.S) considered and voted on two amendments on the Immigration Reform Act, both Amendments avoided the word “official.” The two amendments, one sponsored by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) intended to “preserve and enhance the role of English as the national language of the United States of America” and the second sponsored by Sen. Ken Salazar ((D-CO) Obama’s appointee for Secretary of Interior) intended “to declare that English is the common and unifying language of the United States, and to preserve and enhance the role of English language.” The verdict – “Senate sends mixed signal on English.”
Also, adopting Swahili as an official language does not mean the end of English. English can still be offered as any other language and it will remain with us for ages. It is interesting that you use English’s global reach as a reason to maintain it as an official language yet you don’t even mention the regional reach of Swahili. If your reason to maintain English as an official language is because many people in different countries speak it; then you should use this same reasoning to have Swahili and not Luganda as our national language. Swahili is also technologically ahead of Luganda; in 2006 Microsoft launched a Swahili windows and office programs. Microsoft (pursuing market share and profits) recognizes the potential of the Swahili language, what about us? Let us take initiative and develop our languages, particularly those that have an edge over others. Swahili is an African language – a unique language with unifying potential.
Luganda as Uganda’s national language is a bit tricky; personally, I am not opposed to the idea. However, I would seriously consider the opinion of non-bantu language speakers in Uganda i.e. their opinion weighs more. It is easy for me to understand (speak, write etc) Luganda even though I have never had formal training or even resided in Buganda but I have seen the difficulty some of my Itesot family friends have with Luganda. I have noticed that most non-bantu language speakers that I know have difficulty with Luganda. So I am interested and would listen to their opinion on this issue.
If federalism were realized in Uganda, I would not compromise in my support for Luganda to be instituted as an official language in Buganda state.
As for China demanding more English, that is not surprising considering that China has become a major global political and economic player – a rising superpower, as some would argue. However, the traffic is not one-way, those other economic giants have also increased their demand for Chinese. In the U.S, demand for Chinese language study is at an all time high. See the following stories: “As China booms, so does Mandarin in U.S. Schools” By Elizabeth Weise, USA Today at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-11-19-mandarin-cover_n.htm Also, “With a Changing World Comes An Urgency to Learn Chinese” By Lori Aratani, Washington Post at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/25/AR2006082501418.html.
If we want to be strategic we should emphasize Chinese language study more than English!
Brother Abbey, I was tickled when you said with respect to the advanced (global reach) English language, “we cannot afford to dilute all these efforts because we want to feel more Arab-African.” No, it is not the unnecessary “Arab-African” comment that tickled me; it is the following words, “WE” and “EFFORTS.” By “WE”, I understand you mean “Africans” and by “effort” you mean the work and resources that were invested to make English a language with an expansive global reach. We never put in any effort; this was purely the work of the British and later on the Americans. Initially, it was through colonialism and later the through the British Council, DFID, USAID, State Dept. etc.
We on the other hand, have continued to promote these languages because 1) we can’t agree on “our” own languages, 2) are not willing to invest the resources and energy required, 3) we have this delusion that we need a language (e.g. English) that is globalized. Rwanda’s misguided shift from French to English provides an example of how “we” are not willing to put in the “effort” to develop our own. Rwanda is not like Uganda; they have a language (Kinyarwanda) shared by all Rwandans. If a shift is necessary, it should be from French to Kinyarwanda. Also, Rwanda just joined the Jumuiya Afrika Ya Mashariki, where Swahili is the official language. So a shift to Swahili from French would be more strategic and forward looking.
Mugulusi
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January 4, 2009 at 4:56 pm (Finance)
Tags: WBK
A weaker pound means a strong Uganda shilling. For those in the UK it is good because they can get more shillings from the pounds they send to Uganda. So Ugandans in the UK in particular win. Winners too are their families/friends /relatives who receive funds from the UK.
Other winners are UK exporters and Ugandan importers (due to identity relationship). UK exporters are winners because it is cheaper to send they products to Uganda. Ugandan importers win because it is relatively cheaper to import goods from the UK now that the it takes fewer shillings to buy pounds. Now is the time for Ugandan importers to purchases their dream products from the UK. Ugandan tourists/visitors-those lucky enough to get visas-to the UK are also big time winners.
But there are also losers. The biggest losers are Ugandan exporters in that Ugandan products are now more expensive in the UK due to a weaker pound. UK importers and travelers are also losers because it is now more expensive to import stuff into the UK or travel abroad because the pound fetches less of other currency.
Overall, it is hard to say whether Uganda is better off with a strong shilling/weaker pound. Why? Because it depends on whether Uganda has more exporters and visitors to the UK or more importers and tourists/visitors from the UK. But a stronger shilling is not in Uganda’s long term economic interest. The value of the currency should reflect overal economy wide fundamentals. It is hard to tell for Uganda. Yes, the macro economic fundamentals are okay, but the micro aspects are not that good.
This may account for the disparity you allude too on the ground in Uganda. But for the folks who travel to Uganda, it is certainly cheaper if you bought the tickets in Uganda.
Why is there still a huge disparity between the pound and the Euro? Because there are interest rate differentials between UK and the EU. The EU has cut further than the UK. That should be the fundamental factor. For those investors seeking for some relief, they are pouring their money into the UK and fleeing the Euro zone.
In Uganda too the pound is better known-more in use-than the Euro so it may have to do with sentimentality and the overal fundamentals of the Ugandan economy.
WBK
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January 7, 2009 at 9:38 am (RELIGION)
If the terrorist and racist State of Israel cannot tolerate co-existing with the State of Palestine. It should be wiped out. And it will be wiped out as kingdoms of Israel and Judea were once wiped out. Remember they survived on blood of indigenous Palestinians.
l have broken my taboo the second time. Which God of the Bible? How many Gods are there? There is only one living God. He is for all of us although we call him different names in different languages. The Jews and Arabs called him Allah. In the actual fact, in Aramaic, the language Jesus Christ spoke, He is called Allah and Jesus himself called him so. In Luganda we call him Katonda. As Jews call him Yahweh, El Shadai and others, we also call him Dunda, Lugaba, Liisoddene, Omukama, Omutonzi, etc….God is for us all not for the Bible.
Moreover Jews don’t believe in The New Testamanent and don’t recognize Jesus. We should be objective in analyzing Middle East conflict other than being religious fanatics. Abraham came from Ur in Iraq and in Canaan in Palestine, he found there natives, whose rights must be respected. If Jews are God;s people why were they cursed by Romas after Christianity had become a State Religion of the Roman Empire? Why did the Pope kept quiet as Adolf Hitler was slaughtering them? Why didn’t the Papacy made an agreement with Benedicto Mussolin which is still respected today? Were the crusades declared by popes to capture Jerusalem from Muslims, for the purpose of restoring the holy city to Jews or to Christendom? Remember these wars were fought before Christinity broke out into Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Let the rights of Palwesnians, the natives, and Jews, the immigrants, be respected and they co exist.
It is true US is the godfather of Israel but it is not the first super power. One time Pharaoh was very powerful as he is mention in Bible and Qur’an, then Alexander the Great, the Perian Empire, the Roam Empire, The Muslim Emire under Umayyads and Abbasids, Spain and Portugal, Turkey, Britain, France, Germany, US and USSR and now US as the sole power. It will crumble as many have crumbled and Israel will perish as it has ever prerished and Jews enslaved. However if both groups agree on co existence, they may survive.
If it is the will of God Israel will perish and it ever perished not once, not twice. Do you remember the rise of the kingdom of Israel? Then division of Israel and Judea? Then the fall? Then how these people were enslaved in Egypt and in Babylon? And how they were cursed by Christians after Christianity had become a Roman Empire’s state religion, the way they were treated in the West , the climac being Adolf Hitler’s genocide, Zionism, etc… Any thing can happen, if it is the will of God.
Ahmed Katerega Musazi
New Vision
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January 7, 2009 at 2:17 pm (CULTURE, RELIGION)
Tags: John Okello
Try and find out how the stae of Israel was formed amidst ALL kinds of hostilities including the British colonial hostilities to their settlement in Palestine. At some point they were offered Uganda, of all places on the planet, but they themselves rejected it. Why? There were a number of incidents that pointed to the fact that all British colonial govts up to end of 2nd world war and beyond never ever wanted the Jews to settle in Palestine. Fieldmarshall Montgomery was sent to Israel just before the British Colonial govt in Palestine pulled out unceremoniously amidst stiff guerilla war fare mounted by the Jews organised by the likes of Menachim Beagin. Montgomery reported to the labour govt of Attlee that if the British pulled out, the Jews would hold to their land in Plaestine for a mere 6 to 7 days only after which they would be totally overun and completely demolished by the Arab population. They were wrong.
Indeed when the British pulled out without much warning to the Jews, they were seriously attacked by 7 Arab armies. Despite lack of food, guns and amunitions, infrastructure and ill-preparedness on the part of the Jews fighting against the well trained and well equipped Arab armies of the day, the Jews won that war. They did not have much help from any govt in the world at that time including America. This is a point that has amazed so many historians up to today – a miracle you could call it and many still believe it was.
I am not condoning what is happening in Gaza battles today especially the suffering of the civilians. Anybody in their right mind would not condon it. We all know that and we all know what transpired before the incursion by the Israeli army into Gaza. However, I also think that the only thing that can happen in that part of the world is for the Jews and Palestinians to coexist but the Arabs will not succeed in chasing away the Jews out of Israel. It will be the greatest miracle of all times. I have not read the Qouran but the Bible clearly states that God dispersed the Jews out of Israel for a reason but He also promised to resetlle them back in the same promised land of their forefathers – Abraham etc without intervention from us the mortals of this world.
john Okello
UAH forumist
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January 8, 2009 at 1:56 am (CULTURE, POLITICS)
Tags: Otto Patrick
1/8 Gomesi started being with us in 1940s when it was adapted as the dress for boarding schools in Uganda, starting with Gayaza. Gayaza, as we know was founded by Christian missionaries ‘…to train girls especially the daughters of chiefs in those skills that would make them better wives’.
2/8 Initially, the ladies of the school donned the basic Kiganda ladies’ attire of the day: a sheet of cotton cloth wrapped around the breasts and tied to the waist with a smaller strip of cloth. This left much of the torso exposed and there were often some accidents with that attire especially when the ladies went to work in the school shambas. The missionary tutors found the exposure of the ladies’ torsos and breasts indecent and sought to craft a dress code that was a compromise of their own fashions and the bed sheet-like sash with which the ‘natives’ draped themselves (see attached picture, from Speke’s journal of the ‘discovery’ of the Nile).
3/8 They enlisted the services of a tailor from Gayaza trading centre, an Indian called Fernando Gomes. Mr Gomes was from Goa, an Indian province formally under the Portuguese. The people there like Mr Gomes and the Pintos, Almeidas etc adopted Portuguese names.
4/8 In designing the new Gayaza uniform, Mr Gomes maintained the extravagant sash, very much like the oriental Kimono or West African Obi that was to form a massive skirt. On to this, he stitched a quasi blouse with a square neck with two buttons opening on the left. The new dress was named after him, hence, gomesi. This became the first uniform for all girls in boarding schools (hence ‘boodingi’) and when they went back home for holidays, the traditional authorities were impressed by the new fashion, turning it into the ‘traditional’ dress.
5/8 Mr Gomes was later to be evicted from Gayaza by the Anti-Asian rioters in the late 1940s. A fifth generation Indian Raj Vajrakaya Gomez has recently come up to claim that he is a grandchild of Gomes and wants the ‘bodingi’ to be patented to benefit the family of its designer. His claim can however be doubted because his name, Gomez is Spanish where as the Portuguese version given to the Goans has a letter‘s’.
6/8 The gomesi dress symbolises the ostentation and conspicuous display and extravagancy of feudal society where value for money is an alien concept. From one gomesi, a contemporary designer can make at least 3 size 12 ladies’ dresses….let alone the ‘Kikoyi’, and ‘Kitambala’ that accompany that courtly attire.
7/8 The gomesi can only be a ‘national dress’ (hopefully for ladies only) if the nation’s life is going to be confined to the slothfulness, lethargy, flamboyance, splendour and vanity of the feudal court. An active, productive, non-parasitic, bi-cycle riding, boda-boda mobile female population cannot manage in that cumbersome garb. A mukiga lady will not wear it, and never wears it, and in much of the West, the less cumbersome two-piece dress and sheet remains popular: it makes it easy to shed off the sheet, which for the gomesi, is the entire garb.
8/8 To think that ‘Gomesi’ is a traditional dress is a bit problematic when we do not even have a vernacular name for it and at the very moment when some of us are agitating for a ‘national’ language. Looking at the name Gomes itself, its Portuguese origin makes the naming of the attire for our women even more problematic. Gomes or Gomez in Spanish derives from ‘Guma’ meaning a man or male, or masculine….i.e., Mwami/Ejakait/Ladit. A name that refers to masculinity, for a dress that embodies femininity is a comical contradiction in terms!
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January 15, 2009 at 1:37 am (CULTURE, POLITICS)
Tags: Ahmed Katerega
Kamya is a product of regional integration as the father is from Uganda and the mother from Kenya. Beti should not be allowed to glorify tribal sectarianism as it will set a bad precedent in this multtribal and multi religious colonial state.
We are all with prejudices. We, Bannabuddu from the south of Buganda, think that Bannakyaggwe, from the east of Buganda are night dancers and man eaters may be because of the infamous Kawuulu case. But Baganda proper think the same of us Bannabuddu and Bannakyaggwe. So Baganda and southerners have their prejudices against Northerners and vice versa. Otherwise my neighbouring parish in Mijwala sub county, Mawogola county, is Kidokolo, which was base for road constructors whose staff was predomknantly Bakokolo probably from Dokolo county. Although UPC was an anti-Buganda party before, during and after a marriage of convenience with Kabaka Yekka, our leaders have not been as tribal as Beti Kamya portrays herself and them. FRONASA had people like Akena P’Ojok and Fr.Okoth. NRM had people like Ronald Batta. UFM’s Chief of Staff originally was Maj.Oboma. So there no anti northern agenda. However UNLA which predominantly Acholi and Langi, and to an extent Teso in Special Force, has a bad genocide record in Luwero Triangle and West Nile. It is factual. L am not a tribalist that is why lam proud of being a Luo Mubiito.
We have five constitutional offices. President, Vice President, Speaker, Chief Justice, Deputy Speaker, Deputy Chief Justice and Prime Minister. Gilbert Bukenya, Edward Srekandi, Leticia Kikonyogo and Aplo Nsibambi are Baganda. Benjamid Odoki and Rebeca Kadaga are easterners and only Museveni is a Westerner. Unfortunately, there is no northerner nor a Muslim. Probably Moses Ali should have been the one.
In the forces, they only parade Chief of Defence Forces, Inspector General of Police and Commissioner General of Prisons. But we are a land locked country and the post that made Idi Amin and Oyite Ojok powerful is occupied by Lt.Gen.Edward Katumba Wamala.I think meritocracy is better than tribal and religious awards.Even politically one wonders for Ugandans to look at Besigye and Muntu as alternative to Museveni. All are westerners
I think l stated that Princess Rebecca ALitwala Kadaga and Justice Benjamin Odoki are easterners. Baganda are foresighted and they don’t condemn the enitre government unless it has turned against them. That is why they worked with the British and they gained copared to our Bunyoro cousins. Thay only turned against Obote because he abolished their kingdom. But l agree with you some Baganda and other Ugandan leaders are working for their stomachs and not for their country. We shall weed them out, God willing. Tribalists and nepotists are also still there, we shall eject them one by one. Let’s be hopeful. By the way hadn’t Obote antagonised Bganada no body was bothered whether the army is Northern dominated. People start raising who is who in government and army when they have griavances that are not addressed.
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January 16, 2009 at 2:43 am (History, MEDIA)
Tags: Ahmed Katerega
Father Clement Kiggundu, Munno Editor, was murdered in January 1973. His body was found burnt in the wreckage of his car. Tomorrow, it will be exactly 35 years from the date.He died around the same time Mr Kalema disappeared, plus others like Dr Sembeguya,Jolly Joe Kiwanuka, Paul Bitature
Immediately after 1971 coup d’etat, Idi Amin hosted journalists and gave a bull to Rev.Fr.Clement Kiggundu, for exposing excesses of Obote l regime. In reply, Kiggundu told Amin, that the relative tolerance under Obote regime allowed him to expose those excesses. He prayed that Amin should do better. But when Munno Newspaper continued exposing detention of civilians in military barracks which provoked Amin operatives to burn Father Kiggundu inside his car in Namanve!
Fr.Kiggundu was succeeded by Serwaniko, who later switched to Ngabo/Star newspapers and was replaced by the late Kamya who died of natural causes. Serwaniko went back to Munno and presided over the demise of the newspaper after management under Michael Kaggwa and the late Anthony Wagaba Sekweyama, chased away veteran reporters; Tamale Mirundi, the late Teddy Babirye, Herbert Lumansi, and Annet Namukasa and also Kimbowa who was a photographer. While Tamale Mirundi started his Lipoota Luganda weekly, Babirye, Namukasa, Lumansi and Masengere joined Bukedde in 1994. Babirye is dead, Annet is with KFM, Lumansi is Bukedde’s Photo Editor and Masengere Bukedde’s Copy Tester.
It is so heartening that an established paper like Munno could fail, followed by Ngabo, Uganda Eyogera, Lipoota , Njuba Times, Ngoma, Saba Saba and many other Luganda papers. Had it not been Bukedde, Luganda would not have a daily in fact tehere is not even a weekly..
Mr. Serwaniko is breeding CRUDE waragi at his home at Luwafu in Makiindye Division. You can pass via Salaama road or Luwafu road both bantunized. He also worked with Tamale Mirundi in Lipoota as his editor, and they started an English paper funded by Sam Kuteesa through Moses Byaruhanga. This died during presidential and parliamentary elections of 2001.
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January 17, 2009 at 4:10 am (History, MEDIA)
Tags: Jonny Rubin
Fellow Ugandans,
I have followed inquiries about the death or disappearance of Journalists, Priests, Politicians, Common people (Abantu baabulijjo) here on this forum, but it seems the answers given by some members here, are either not satisfactory or simply unbelievable. I think that the people who know the truth are either scared to come forward with it,simply because they want to forget the past or are silent to protect themselves from the ”Political or Military Heavy Weights” who may fear being incriminated in those cases. I may also add that during the rule of Idi Amin most people inside Uganda knew much less of what was actually happening than those out of the country. In the beginning the killings were not so secret, but with the support of the people Idi Amin enjoyed, even those who could have condemned the killings were convinced that ”Amin was killing Obote’s people”. The soldiers themselves were terrified as they did not know who among them would die next. Oh yes, they were pointing fingers at each other and the Acholi and Langi were the most vulnerable. It was commonsense that Amin inherited a Professional National Army, but the dominance of the forces by the Acholi and Langi scared him. Given the manner he liquidated them, one may conclude that he (Amin) feared that these two tribes would overthrow his regime and re-instate Milton Obote.
In 1973 I went to Nairobi, Kenya with the Uganda National Boxing team for the then annual Millington Drake Boxing Tournament. We were staying at the Brunners Hotel, about opposite Six-Eighty Hotel. One day I received a telephone call in my Hotel room. I was requested by the receptionist to come to the Reception and that there were two ”gentlemen” who wished to talk to me. When I arrived at the Reception I was introduced to two men who identified themselves as Captain Aswa and Mr.Jolly Joseph Kiwanuka. Immediately, I realized that I was talking to the man who actually announced the coup that brought Amin to power. About the other man, I often heard his name as ”Jolly Joe Kiwanuka” and had something to do with Express Football Team, which the fans called ”e Team Y’Abantu”. I was now confused about why these two wished to talk to me in particular. Mr.Kiwanuka told me that he was a business man and that he was temporarilly in exile and that he would ‘’soon return home”. Captain Aswa told me that he wished to talk to somebody ”who comes from Fort Portal” and that he had been told by the Ugandan Team Officials that I am the one who ”comes” from Toro. He requested me to convey a message to his brother, Regimental Sergent Major of the 2nd Paratroopers’ Battalion, Apollo Ezati, which I said I would. When I returned to Uganda I decided to shut my mouth. I suspected that he could have betrayed me for promotion as a loyal soldier, at which point he could have reported me as someone who was in touch with the ”enemies of the 2nd Republic” and wanted to involve him. Many people lost their lives, not because Amin had sanctioned their death, but because of personal feud,,jealousy or envy.
The people in Uganda relied on the Radio Uganda, UTV and Newspapers to know what was happening around the country. Amazingly, the people seemed to trust the press. People were dying, but the press would announce that ” He has run to his imperial master”. By 1975 fear was everywhere including in the armed forces barracks. Idi Amin had re-enforced the State Research Bureau (SRB) by transfering many ”Nubians” from Army and Air Force Units to the Bureau. After the struggle for the office of the Chief of Defence Staff by the then Military Police Chief Brig. General Hussein Malera and the Chief of Defence Staff Brig. General Charles Arube in which Brig. General C. Arube died, it was apparent that Amin was losing power. Amin was scared of everyone. Brig. General Hussein Malera was retired and sent back home to Southern Sudan. Colonel Mustafa Adrisi was transfered from Bondo Regiment in the North and made Acting Chief of Staff.
One morning, ( I’ve forgotten the exact date.) shortly after 0600 AM I heard on Radio Uganda (Ebiraango) that ” Hajjat Affua Namuddu abikka mutabaniwe Charles Lwanga, yafudde” ( Hajjat Affua Namuddu announces the death of her son Charles Lwanga). I thought I was dreaming because I had been with Charles Lwanga the previous day and he was inviting me out ” to enjoy” with him. Charles Lwanga was my brother-in-law and a brother to Halima Namakula, the singer. Halima came to my residence and told me that Charles had been short dead by the members of the State Research Bureau. I immediately went to the SRB Headquarters, Nakasero and told the Adjutant Lieutenant Jackson Kyalikunda what his people had done to my brother-in-law. He promised to inform the Director of the SRB, Lt. Colonel Francis Itabuka and that they would investigate and bring the ”culprits” to justice. I knew that the ” Law of the Land ” at the time was a firing squad, but I was not concerned with the type of purnishment. I only wanted to know who had killed not only was he my brother-in-law, but also my sincere friend. Later while on leave in Fort Portal I was infomed by the Acting Adjutant of the General Headquarters, Uganda Armed Forces, Lieutenant Ali Kaunda Vuni that a mutual friend and colleague, Uganda Marines Captain John Mule had been short dead at Kamwookya. The killers were thought to be members of the SRB. Capt. John Mule was also a childhood friend of mine. He was Kakwa, but grew up in Toro and spoke excellent Runyoro/Rutooro. As in Charles Lwanga’s case the killers were never found. I later learned that one of the tactics of war agaist Amin was to discredit his government in every way possible. Amin and his government had to be seen as killers who did not respect human life whatsoever. Some killers were in fact Ugandans who were sent to pose as members of SRB and harrass people or even kill. As the imposters were hard to discover, the Secret Service turned against itself so that they did not trust each other.
Although Kiswahili was the language normally used in the security and defence forces, it was gradually replaced with Kinubi. This brought about a feeling of alienation of the people from other areas of Uganda, but West Nile and Southern Sudan. I escaped assassination several times, but always thought it was mistaken identity, until Brig. General Maliyamugu told me, ” Batakuduupa ngu ofooke musiraamu. Nobu barakutiinisa oyijuke ngu nyowe ndi Mukristo Isaac, nkabalema” ( Don’t be deceived and convert to Islam. Even when you are scared remember I am a Christian Isaac, I defeated them.) After talking to him I realized that the attempts on my life were not ” mistaken identity ”, as I had thought. Some days later, I encountered Major Farouk Minawa in the Republic House. Although we were engaged in a friendly talk with other officers, the Major was suddenly hostile to me, an act that surprised me. I had to think fast how to get out of trouble. I kept quiet for a while and then told him that I have been thinking about converting to Islam, but did not know what to do about it. He looked at me with a broad smile, but somehow as though he had misunderstood what I had just said. I repeated what I had said, but this time confirming that I was converting to Islam. He jumped up and lifted me as he danced around with me saying repeatedly ” Allah Akbar……”. After a while he rushed out of the building saying that he was going to inform the President. Later that evening of 1976 Radio Uganda and UTV announced that I had converted to Islam. The following day President Amin called our office. He was asking for Captain Ali Bamuze ( now Lt.General retired.) He asked whom he was talking to and when I mentioned my name, he laughed almost uncontrollably, as he congratulated me. That saved my life and gave me a possibility to investigate what was actually going on. I realized that the regime was weak and that Amin had a paranoia, so that he trusted nobody and seemed to fear everybody, hence the dreams in which he claimed Allah told him when and how he would die.
” N’azina obulungi ava mu diiro” ( even a good dancer leaves the floor ), so the Baganda saying goes. My hope and wish is that we should be more open here at the Forum so that we can educate each other about what has transpired in our country that has brought us to where we are. The killings went on after the fall of Amin’s government and I am not surprised that the killings continue up to this day. I believe that it is the opennesss and sincerity that will bring an end to the killings and other forms of inhumanity. We must not be deceived to think that all killings are sanctioned by the President or by the Government. In all the chaos we can perhaps agree that it is the mismanagement and neglect of State affairs that is to blame.
I believe that the truth will heal our hearts and I pray for courage for all those who may need it to share what they know that will free us from this never ending-anger.
May God Bless Uganda.
Byaruhanga, Jonny Rubin.
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January 22, 2009 at 12:34 am (POLITICS)
Tags: Ahmed and Otto
lam not a professional soldier and l will avoid petty wars at Bombo as who is a good and bad army commander. Each had strong and weak points. We interact with soldiers who praise Kaziini as we interact with others who praise Aronda. On professionalism, Aronda is more credited as he is now and then sending officers some of which were on katebe for years, for training here and abroad in preparation for promotions. In my opinion, Muntu was a good administrator but not a sound commander like Yoweri Museveni, Salim Saleh, David Tinyefuza, James Kaziini, Aronda Nyakairima etc…..He njoyed good times with Sam Nannyumba, who was also an experienced administrator not a commander.
On Muntu, l think he was more of an administrator than a commander. He is credited for not being corrupt but he was never a filed commander. He was good in reconnaissance. Muntu’s weakness was an arm chair army commander, not a filed commander like Salim Saleh, David Tinyefuza and James Kaziini. He can not be personally responsible for what happened in the battle field
UPDF National Army?
We are all sympathetic with the conditions of our civil servants and soldiers serve in due to their numerical strength; police, army, teachers, nurses. Our economy cannot make for them havens. Unlike UA and UNLA, UPDF is a people’s army which has successfully transformed from a guerrilla force to a professional army. They are political but not partisan, so they know from where we have come from, where we have reached and where we are going. Some People seem not comfortable with the name NRA. But let me remind them that when DP wanted to change UNLA name to UA. UPC led by Defence Minister Paulo Muwanga refused. Fortunately UPDF was a consensus in Constituent Assembly since the army was NRA, the draft recommended for UAF and they all agreed with UPDF. Initially Sebaana Kizito was not comfortable with it because of the word people which, he said would reminding him of UPC and its atrocities. The army and the media are so crucial in the politics of Uganda and else where and those who are hostile to them will never see the gates of State House.
Uganda People’s Defence Forces is composed of the regular force; Land Forces, Air Force where Marines is a Unit, support forces like Mechanised Regiment, Motor Unit and others. Then the Reserve Forces including veterans and our LDUs. It can not be 100% percent one tribe. However on a surface, most senior officers hail from south western Uganda . For example yesterday on NRM celebrations(26/Jan) at Kololo, the Chief of Defence Forces (Gen. Aronda Nyakairima), the Inspector General of Police (Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura) and Commissioner General of Prisons (Dr.Byabasaiza) escorted the president when inspecting a guard of honour. They are all from South West. Yet in a land locked country, the most powerful man is Commander of Land Forces Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala. That was the position that made Idi Amin and Oyite Ojok powerful over Opolot and Tito Okello. So long as officers and men/women of UPDF and other forces are national in character, l don’t mind a few historicals mostly from one region who are phasing out. Can.Lt.Gen.Elly Tumwine, Salim Saleh or David Tnyefuza become chief of defence forces or Commander of Land Forces again? No. They are phasing out.
One of the stupid things President George Bush was to dismantle the Iraqi army, one million strong. It has taught him and his occupiers a lesson. A similar mistake was made by Tanzanians in 1979 when they banded Uganda Armed Forces as Idi Amin’s personal army. They regrouped in the Sudan and DR Congo and almost went with Obote and Okello Lutwa’s heads in Koboko in 1980. Ask Barig.Robert Rwenhururu.They became a prey for Isaac Lumago, Moses Ali, Faruq Minawa, Lutakome Kayiira and Yoweri Museveni’s recruitment against Obote ll regime. Brig.Kasirye Gwanga has been giving testimonies to that effect. Therefore any politician abusing UPDF will never step into power even for a day.
Ahmed Katerega
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Gen. Muntu served as Army Commander for 8 years. Before him, Gen. Tumwiine served for about 3 years, and Gen Akandwanaho for about 1 year. After him, Gen. Odongo served in that post for about 4 years, JB Kazini for just less than two years.
Administration…is one of the ten principles of war….you can not be a good commander when you are not a good administrator. When Gen Muntu was the Division Commander 05 Div from 1989 to 1990 he was merely the in-charge of reconnaissance? From there he was promoted to Major General, from Colonel (two levels up) to be Army Commander. Was that a reward for his predilection for the arm chair?
A good commander should make a good Army Commander: the latter is just a particular type of commander. Was the chap called James Kazini a good Army Commander?
Even as a mere Lance Corporal, I can confidently counsel you against that mechanical dichotomy between command and administration……It is like talking of a ‘good journalist but a bad writer’; or ‘a good scribe who pays no attention to detail.’ To be one, you have to be the other. Short of that, you are neither!
The point is, there is a difference between a giraffe in a China shop and a good commander. Check out Kisangani , and check out the circus at Bombo UPDF Hqs particularly from November 2001 to sometime in 2003. If, in the field you just bungle and blunder around, you will do so even in administration. Do not confuse poor administrators who take refuge in ’fieldism’, for good commanders.
UPDF National Army?
When you say:‘Uganda People’s Defence Forces is composed of the regular force; Land Forces, Air Force where Marines is a Unit, support forces like Mechanised Regment, Motor Unit and others. Then the Reserve Forces including veterans and our LDUs. It can not be one percent one tribe.’
What are you actually telling us? Does UPDF’s technical heterogeneity imply ethnic representativeness? Your argument is what is called a non sequitur : an argument consisting of an absurd conclusion that has no logical connection to the premises on which it is based. Example: Mr Kateregga is a graduate of Political Science; he is a mulangira from Buddu. Therefore it is going to rain tomorrow. The arms and services you have listed are the ‘tribes’ of the military as an organisation. They tell us nothing about the ‘tribes’ of the membership. Do they?
New Vision always covers recruitment exercises. In your archives, there should be data on national recruitment, showing the turn-up of recruitment candidates in various localities. You could even quote the law (if any) stipulating ethnic quotas and showing that it is not possible for one ethnic group to dominate the UPDF. You could even quote for us data from the personnel department of the UPDF showing the force’s membership by ethnicity.
Then you go on to tell us that: ’However on a surface, most senior officers hail from south western Uganda .’What does that statement actually mean? Do you mean, on the surface they are from the south, but when you scratch them deep they are from Karamoja? I remember reading a New Vision article some time in 2000 where you hero, James Kazini was quoted saying that, at that time, Nyabushozi county had a UPDF membership of 6,000 individuals. Do you remember that article? I think he was hosting a party for Mary Mugyenyi Rutamwebwa who was intending to contest for the Nyabushozi seat.
Otto Patrick
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January 23, 2009 at 8:37 pm (Africa, CULTURE)
Tags: Ahmed Katerega Mussazi-newvision
Rwanda had a revolution led by George Kaibanda, with the help of the French and Catholic Church that deposed King Kigyeri to Uganda and Muteesa gave him land in Mawogola where he settled and his people. During UPC/KY alliance, Obote hired Kigyeri and some of his people to work in General Service Unit. They continued even in State Research Bureau under Amin. However a section led by Fred Rwigyema were in FRONASA with Museveni. While many led by Ndugute were in Uganda Army. Since independence in 1962, Rwanda is a republic not a monarchy. Last year Kagame told Kigyeri to go back to Rwanda as a private citizen. Kigyeri refused and said that he wanted to go back as a king. He lives in New York .
Kigeri lost power in 1959 and his grandfather had lost power first to Germans and later to the British. Kagame fought and captured state power in 1994 and he is therefore the legitimate leader. He also organized elections and he won it. So somebody with political and military power and with the legitimacy of the people, he can direct a former king. Rwanda is not yet with a law allowing traditional leaders. Kigeri may be back like our own kings here in Uganda. It is the same with the family of the Sultan of Zanzibar, an extension of the Sultan of Oman. Then the former ruling dynasty of Burundi which was deposed in 1966, then that of Ethiopia swept away in 1974. The Banyamulenge king of former Zaire is a businessman in Kampala but Kabila is the one with power even if Kabila is a commoner. That’s life mwattu!!!
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January 23, 2009 at 8:56 pm (CULTURE, History, POLITICS)
Tags: Henry Ford Mirima
Bunyoro-Kitara is the only kingdom in Uganda where everybody is welcome unreservedly. Just go to Masindi you will find Luos in Cope who even have their own Luo-speaking MP, OTADA AMOOTI who owns a flourishing Bus company by his name, OTADA BUS COMAPNY.
Bagungu in Buliisa DISTRICT and elsewhere in Bunyoro-Kitara are very happily integrated into Bunyoro-Kitara cultures and traditions. Even the Masindi Disitrict chairman, Stephen Biriija is a Mugugu. But Bagungu, Alurs, etc. and Banyoro live very happily together. Come to Kibaale District, out of four MPs two are Bakiga.
In 1965 the whole Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara, Sir Tito Winyi officially invited Bakiga to come and settle in Kibaale and they were allocated a whole sub-county, RUTEETE. My own dad, the late Joseph Kazairwe played a major role in re-settling them.
And in 1992 Bugangaizi MP, the Ssali Sekitoleko in agreement with President Y. Museveni transplanted over 30,000 Bakiga from Tooro and settled them in Bugangaiizi County at Kisiita.
Banyoro are so hospitable the migrant Bakiga were given 12 acres of Bunyoro land free of charge. And later they were given Shs 12 million by the High Court. Where in Uganda do you find such hospitality and generosity.
Today the areas where Bakiga Bafuruki are settled are more prosperous than the ones where Banyoro are in the Majority. The Bakiga Bafuruki even changed the names of our sub-counties, for example BURORA was changed to RUGASHARI, ETC. We have Bakonjo and Bamba migrants in Kibaale living happily with Banyoro.
One must read Bunyoro-Kitara history and the Uganda Constitution. These documents show you that there are major historiclal atrocities which were committed against Banyoro and the Uganda Government has the moral and physical responsibility to rectify them.That’s why President Musevein called Parliament in 2003 and sought permission from the august house to ask for permission to unseat a Mukiga, Fred Rulemeera, to step a down and make sure a Munyoro replaces him and becomes Kibaale District chairman.The Uganda Constitution says these historical wrongs against Banyoro must be addressed and when this is done it will not mean that Banyoro are more human than others.
Henry Ford Mirima
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January 23, 2009 at 9:51 pm (Africa, POLITICS)
Tags: L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick
1/9 UPC, DP, PPP, NRMO, CP, JEEMA, FDC, JF, UGP, NDF (plus Vicks Kingo!) and on and on…probably heading for the 623 of the evening of Mobutu’s Zaire , when that country was the most vibrant multiparty democracy in the world. But the question is, where does factionalism end and where does pluralism begin? When one looks at the random harvest of Uganda’s political elite, all one sees are individuals that are exactly the same, but struggling to be different. They struggle to differ because of the narrowness of the ‘panya’ that leads to the coveted throne where some ruling clique of the day dishes out patronage, lubricated mostly unearned income that is tossed at us in form of aid.
2/9 Let us take a closer look at Uganda ’s demographics. We are just over 30 million. Of that, about 27 million, i.e., 90% are peasants. Let us take another country like France in the past. In 1789 on the eve of that country’s revolution, the French were 25 million and of that, 23 million i.e., 90% were peasants. Yes, one could argue that, that was France , and the year was 1789.. In other words: different locales, different epochs. But in socio-historical terms, Uganda 2008 = France 1789: 90% peasants and that tells a huge story about our capabilities across the board.
3/9 But of course you know that when France had the same proportion of peasants like we do now, they did not have political parties. Is it because the French were blind to the virtues of pluralism, and we, Uganda are cleverer? Is it a historical accident that when the earlier modernisers had similar demographics like Uganda ’s now they were ruled by monarchs (Mono: single person; archs: rulers)? And I am not a monarchist please….but, with our 90% peasants, the rest being – let us be honest – a lumpen bourgeoisie, a functional liberal democracy seems to be a negative dream in Uganda, as the purposeless jostling between and within our factions clearly demonstrates.
4/9 Attempting to cheat social development will not take us anywhere, because the gravitational pull of our social reality seems to always pull us towards our historical station: mediaevalism: 20, 30, 40 yrs in power by the rulers, just like the Hapsburgs and Tudors; and Hohenzollerns and Shoguns of the earlier modernisers.
5/9 Historically, political parties have always emerged as structures for forming and conveying group interests in VERTICALLY DIFFERENTIATED SOCIETIES whose structure is the outcome of the transformation engendered by the industrial and agricultural revolutions. In societies where political parties emerge, wage labourers at the base, bureaucratic elites in the middle and merchants, owners of capital, financiers, industrialists and land at the top (I am reminded here that, 70% of the land in Britain is owned by 0.7% of the population). In that kind of set up, a labourer in a factory will not give a damn about the ethnicity of a factory manager. What the wage labourer wants is a decent minimum wage, low income tax and acceptable working conditions. The head of his trade union can be any religion or lineage, as long as he is vocal enough to squeeze maximum benefits from the factory owner.
6/9 In those societies, political parties are nothing but the committees that manage the interests of those classes.. For example in Britain which colonised us, the interests of the top third are taken care of by the Conservatives, those of the middle third by the Liberal Democrats (the fence sitters) and those of the bottom third are managed by the Labour Party. Tell us: whose class interests do UPC or DP or PPP or NRM or CP or JEEMA or FDC or JF or UGP or NDF etc manage? Whose interests does Nzaana, Semuwemba, Ochieno, Wambuga, Nsubuga part I, Nsubuga Part II, Nsubuga, Adhola and…..er, L/Cpl Otto represent? Do we speak for wage labourers, landlords, financiers or what? Which class do we speak for?
7/9 Uganda now is a society that is HORIZONTALLY DIFFERENTIATED. The only groups known to the predominant ‘class’ (the 90% peasants) in Uganda are ethnicities, clans, sub clans, lineages, families, castes etc. The consciousness of the 10% (or even less) pseudo elite (one of whom you and I are) is false consciousness arising from what we see across the fence in the global north.
8/9 Now; people, when you impose the structures of interest aggregation and articulation of vertically differentiated polities onto horizontally differentiated countries like Uganda, IT IS AS IF YOU ARE FORCING A PAWPAW TREE TO GROW LIKE A PUMPKIN. That tree will either die off outright, or become a disastrous weed as it struggles to conform to alien territory: the undulating contours of that horizontal social template of pre-industrialism. This is what Mr Adhola tries to rationalise by stating that, I quote, ‘This is what UPC and DP for instance are about. DP seeks to improve the status of status of the identity of catholics, and UPC that of certain nationalities or tribes.’
That sums up the basic pathology of Uganda’s politics today. Uganda with political parties is like a porcupine in a kanzu.
9/9 The fact is that, political parties are not merely creatures of, but are an upshot of industrialism. We are not there. What political dispensation propelled the industrial, vertically differentiated polities to liberalism? It was not multipartyism! Just like a pawpaw tree cannot grow like a pumpkin, or kalitusi can not grow like lumonde, liberal democracy cannot thrive in our mediaeval conditions. We may need to go back to the drawing board!…..Look at what other preindustrial countries had to do to create the infrastructure for liberal democracy.
L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick
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January 23, 2009 at 10:06 pm (POLITICS)
Tags: Yoga Adhola
During a recent radio talk show discussing multi/party politics, a discussant, Dr Golooba made a rather startling comment on FDC. “……The only people who practised some kind of multi party politics were Miria and Sebaana. I dont even know what FDC represents.” The implication here is that FDC may not be having anything to articulate or represent and may therefore not even be a political party.
Before this remark, Bidandi Ssali had been quoted in The Daily Monitor of January 21 2006 as saying: “I don’t see a future for FDC after Museveni is out of the way, either through resignation or defeat. Most of the FDC leaders are in there for various motives.” In other words, apart from resistence to Museveni, there is no single thread which binds them. It is therefore not a political party in the true sense of the words.
What then is FDC?
Condintions that give rise to social and political struggles basically fall into two categories. First, is the search for economic advancement. One cannot postulate that FDCs share a common economic fate, and that it is that which binds them. Or that as a group they are seeking to improve their economic situation.
Secondly, there are those struggles which arise out of issues concerning identity.We all belong to various identities. They may be religions, schools, professions, etc. We are proud of these identities, and invest a lot of emotional resources to their well being. We also work hard to improve their status vis a vis other identities.
This is what UPC and DP for instance are about. DP seeks to improve the status of status of the identity of catholics, and UPC that of certain
nationalities or tribes.
FDC does not fall into any of these categories.Prior to the formation of FDC, Dr Besigye was a senior member of the NRM. To put forward this arguement is not to negate the possiblity of one belonging to a political party or organisation, and being able to transcend the limits of that organisation, and then move on to higher plane.
Rather it is to argue that Dr Besigye is ideologically not different from that of Museveni. He has not shown anywhere that he has transcended the ideological position of the NRM. This arguement is reinforced by Dr Besigyes own ealier arguement that Museveni had renaged from the original positions of the NRM. In other words all Dr Besigye needs is to bring us back to the the origial NRM. Initially he also sought to reform the NRM. It will be recalled that it is this urge to reform the NRM which initially led him to form and lead an organisation called Reform Agenda.
However, despite its limited scope and purpose, FDC seems to have garnered a lot of support. How do we characterise and expliain this
I would like to submit that the apparent support for FDC is a bubble. That is to say it is based on totally unrealistic expectations, and when reality reveals itself, the bubble will burst. Another way of characterisng FDC is to view it as a balloon. A fully blown balloon will look big. however, if you pinch it with a sharp pin, it bursts and shrivels into almost nothing.
In the financial world, the bubble means those stocks which come up and are highly rated well beyond their true value. With that kind of rating stock buyers rush to buy such stocks thinking they are making a good buy. However when the stocks assume their true value, the exagurated value collapses and the stocks assume their true market value which should be much lower than what most buyers would have spent. This is what in stock markets are called the busting of the bubble.
What do I mean?
A sizeable portion of the the population are opposed to Museveni. In their quest to rid themselves of Museveni, they thought FDC and, in particular its leader, Dr Besigye could do the job.
They viewed Dr Besigye as a very courageous man who could take up Museveni. They also saw him as a miltary man who should have the miltary support with which to checkmate Museveni’s miltary support.
Further Museveni himself gave Dr Besigye a tremendous boost by appearing to be terribly scared of him. Dr Besigye was not only locked up but several charges were brought against him.
Now that Besigye has “lost” the elections, those from other parties who supported him will take a review. It is during that review that the bubble will begin to burst.
Dr Besigye has also gone to court to protest election irregularities. There is a real posiblity that the Court could agree with his petition.
If the Court upheld the petition, and nullified the recent elections, that is to say knocked out Museveni, the problem of Museveni would have been solved.
In such a sitution, just as Bidandi Ssali had earlier said, FDC would have no objective necessity to continue existing. FDC would splinter, and those who had supported Dr Besigye in the belief that he is the only one who has the wherewithall to combat Museveni would review their position in the light of a sitution of Museveni out of the fight.
On the other hand, there is the cynical view is that the Courts cannot pass any judgement against Museveni. Should that be the scenario, then Besigye’s failure in court would further accelerate the bursting of the bubble. Many of his erstwhile supporters do expect him to carry the day in court. They feel they were cheated at the polls. A failure at the Courts would totally dash the residual hope and send them reviewing their political affiliation to FDC.
In the long run too, the FDC has no future as Bidandi Ssali says. It is no inkling as to the tasks which have come to the fore at the present phase of our history. It is just reacting to events, and particulalrly the person of President Museveni.
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January 31, 2009 at 9:47 am (POLITICS)
Tags: WB Kyijomanyi
People:
I am not a fan of the fads taking shape in Africa in the form of power sharing deals. It is a reversal of whatever little gains had been made in democratization. My Nigerian and Ghanaian friends laugh at us -East African and South Africans-for buying into power sharing deals. I hear Ugandans are excited about the propect of sharing power come to 2011. Bad idea period.
Take Kenya. ODM ministers have proven to be the most corrupt. It true. Actually Kenya is on the brink of a famine because ODM buddies colluded and sold maize to Sudan while their folks are about to starve. But those ministers can not be fired. So who is encouraging corruption in Africa? Is it not those who impose such power sharing deals.
Then there is the case of that spectacle in Zimbabwe. A political moron if there can be one. I shudder at the prospect of him as prime Minister. What has Africa come too folks?
It goes to show that even the opposition is not socialized to accept democratic outcomes. If they can mobilize goons to kill innocent women and children, they can scare the West to impose power sharing deals. So why bother to make efforts?
We need vibrant opposition not the maziwa lala type to put the govt to task. We do not need power sharing deals in Africa. They are anti-democratic. They breed corruption. Each part should “eat what they kill”. That is what will spur democratization in Africa. Oh yes, even Nigeria will eventually get it right.
WBK
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January 31, 2009 at 9:58 am (History, MEDIA, POLITICS)
Tags: Robert Nviiri
1. Namirembe used to have heavyweights as bishops, what happened? True, those were real heavyweights of those hey days but remember our Jjajjas said that ‘Enswa bw’ekyuusa amaaso ….’ What has happened now after the two favourite Nsubugas (Namirembe and Lubaga) is that the white ants are no longer regular in their flight operations, so the traffic controllers (read heavyweights) have to adopt new procedures and regulations. It is a game of Chess where bbugu bbugu ssi muliro.
2. The candidates are ranked by the Electoral College by means of evaluating their CVs and theology ratings. Of course interpersonal relating is also vital.
3. One does not necessarily have to be a Canon in order to be elected bishop. You might be a Canon but not qualify to be bishop material. To be a good bishop one must have good Shepherd skills and qualities. Take an example of a person with a masters degree that fails to run a company yet there might be an undergraduate being capable of turning around the company. Look at our State’s history and judge for yourself after several comparisons.
4. The House of Bishops is bound by the rankings of the Electoral College by Protocol because the Electoral College membership is vetted by the Synod. However, there shouldn’t be any difficulties in the House of Bishops unless political interferance creeps in.
5. It is absolutely out of question to redo the nomination process unless political interferance takes over. The nomination process has its own Protocol such that by the time the final nominees reach the level of being vetted upon by the House of Bishops, there are supposed to be no nuances.
6. The Archbishop has no influence at all in the election of the bishop under normal circumstances. The Church is supposed to be a Free and Fair organisation void of uncalled for micro-management/directorship. The Archbishop has to just wait for the outcome of the vetting process by the House of Bishops, the same way our Kabaka used to wait for the names of the nominees to the Katikkiroship in the pre-1966 military coup d’etat.
7. Majority of the countries where freedom of the press is practiced have got such Tabloids like the Red Pepper. However, those Tabloids should not be above the ethics of the society by publishing material that could easily lead to the manipulation of one section of the society to the peril of the nation. These Tabloids should desist from being used by rivals and or, politicians in the manipulation of the society. At least, that is my belief.
Everyone would of course wish to have a leader of an organisation who is on good terms with the political leadership of the State, however, then the question here to be asked is: Why should the State leadership not be on good terms with such an innocent humble non-political body as the Church or Islamic organisation? Don’t you think that when things reach to that level it implies that definitely something is amiss somewhere? Ako nno kalowoozo.
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January 31, 2009 at 10:33 am (POLITICS)
Tags: L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick
There is the link to the Uganda MOD where the details of the UPDF can be found. The information appears to be in the public domain: Link: http://www.defenceuganda.mil.ug/about_updf.php?status=true
The link for the Army, which you Ugandans have elected to call the Land Forces is: http://www.defenceuganda.mil.ug/landforce.php?status=true..
The link for the Airforce is: http://www.defenceuganda.mil.ug/airforce.php?status=true.
The link for the Marines is: http://www.defenceuganda.mil.ug/marineforce.php?status=true
Of course Uganda is a land-locked country, so reference to ‘Marines’ is a misnomer. Our geography has nothing to do with the sea. May they should have referred to ‘Amphibious’ or ‘Lake-borne’
Note that, in terms of doctrine, whether organisational or tactical, Uganda has borrowed from Tanzania. Even when you look at Kenya, we need to be clear about the structure. The heads of the services (Army, Airforce, Navy) are respectively called Commanders, they are all at the same level, falling directly under the CGS–>VCGS.
In Uganda, instead of ‘General Staff’ you refer to Defence Forces. Gen Aronda is the CDF (equiv of CGS) and Gen Koreta is the Deputy CDF (equiv of VCGS). Gen. Koreta is not the Chief of Staff of the Army as you indicate. The army has its own command structure as a service with Gen Katumba as the commander. The same applies with the Airforce where there is a commander. Each of the Services has its chief of staff. The Joint Chief of Staff, Brig. Rusoke oversees the chiefs of staff of the services, and not the service commanders. The service commanders are answerable to the CDF through the Deputy CDF, just like in Kenya.
Gen Koreta, the Deputy CDF is senior to the respective service commanders (Katumab for the Army, Owoyesigire for the Ariforce)….no contradiction there.
Whether Kenya mentions its chiefs of staffs or not is a matter of preference but I am sure they do exist there too and operate in a similar manner. I think all you Ugandans have not done is to draw an organogram like Kenya has done.
Note that, for Kenya you refer to the Army Commander as the third highest ranking but that is not the case. All service commanders are at the same level…they are peers (see this link: http://www.mod.go.ke/Modsite/about.htm)
But even, all this debate about structure and personalities really takes us into the weeds: bottom line, it is trivial in regard the defence and security of Uganda. Can’t you at UAH, some aspiring to be future party leaders and probably future presidents of the country etc be interested in debating the country’s national security/defence policy?
As you can see, that information is there on the net, like most other information. We do ourselves a disservice when we start from the negative position that information is being concealed, because then we generate unnecessary defensiveness and contestation from colleagues like Kateregga, who unfortunately browbeats himself through debates without informing himself first about the issues he tries to defend.
But the question of Uganda’s institutional realities: Institutions are a mirror image of the societies that they service. How institutions function (and malfunction) is a culmination of historical factors, and a distillate of political realities. It may be a bit unrealistic for us to take the Kenyan arrangement as the norm for all time and all places. One may ask for example, why is it that following the 1964 mutiny of the East African militaries, did Mr Nyerere disarm, lock up and finally disband the Tanganyika Rifles completely, then Mr Kenyatta did the same but not as comprehensively yet Mr Obote decided to honour all the demands of the mutineers, increased their salaries, gave them promotions; dismissed the ringleaders and reinstated them half an hour later? Part of what we see today has roots right there in our history.
How many civil wars has Kenya or Tanzania had? Do those countries have the equivalent of Buganda, as an ‘indigestible element’ in national life, to use Huntington’s words in his ‘Political Order in Chaging Societies’? How many times since 1964 has the Kenyan military been disbanded; and how about Uganda? How many rebel groups has Kenya had? Uganda…anything up to thirty. Co-opting all those for the sake of short term harmony has always been at the expense of professionalism. The Katebe ‘institution’ is an embodiment of some fo those skeletons in the closet of our politcal history.
Think of a peace agreement tomorrow, and you have a Lt Gen Kony. Atamuweka wapi? Will he command a division? Will you send him out as a military attache in a European capital? Can he be the commandant of your senior staff college? What are the antecendents of the Kony phenomenon? It is your politics! Keep such people out because you want professionalism a la Kenya, face them in the rural countryside as rebels. Point is, Kenya has had a completely different historical trajectory.
How about coups? Kazini’s status: Have you heard of any former Army Commander in Africa being taken to prison for stealing a few shillings? Kazini, Major General, S.3 dropout. Otamuweka wapi? Tanzanian retired generals are diplomats, regional governors,etc. Can you trust Kazini with your herd of goats? How did such an individual like Kazini become the embodiment of the values of a very important national instituion? I am told he still has some cases to answer for petty thieving. You know, when he was in Nigeria for senior command training, those officers there always wondered how he became a general. When they went out to look for ladies, Kazini would go in for those that befitted Nigerian Corporals! When he went to Ghana for a staff course, he nad a runin with an instructor. He was thrown off the course, escorted back to Uganda by the Ghanaian Military Police paka Entebbe, then they heard he was Chief of Staff, then Army Commander! Did they laugh or cry?
And with Kazini, when you talk to the average UPDF soldier, he will tell that if all he had left in his rifle were only two rounds of ammunition, and he found Kazini, Kony and Odhiambo in a dark corner, he would shoot Kazini twice in the head………
General Kazini….two words that are a heart-rending oxymoron!
Anyway as I said, ever since 1979, Uganda has tended to lean towards Tanzania in the manner of organising the military…for obvious reasons. Even subsequently when you did away with NRA, you opted for UPDF…mirroring TPDF. To appreciate the Uganda military arrangements, look at TPDF.
And by the way, the Tanzanians (and anybody else) would tell you that the Kenyan system is the one that is confused. Kenya lacks the conceptual grasp between ‘Command’ matters, i.e., everything to do with the general directing of operational matters (the teeth) and ‘Staff’ matters i.e., everything to do with directing support matters (the tail). The Joint Chief of staff in Tanzania is actually called the Chief of General Staff…he is incharge of Staff Officers that support the commanders. Kenyans call their biggest commander a ‘chief of staffs’ which is really funny….like referring to a headmaster as a head prefect. With the Tanzanians, the Chief of Staff is of a higher rank than the respective service commanders, making him the third most senior. The Tanzanians are also silent about the chiefs of staff of the respective services.
At UAH, we should really focus also on policy and statecraft issues. This is where the future of the country can best be thought about instead of spending a lot of time on recrimination, defensiveness and making comical promises. I will send you the country’s defence policy and the white paper on defence…..it is in such areas that incumbents should be put to task for the good of the country, not just hurling insults at them like we like to do here at UAH.
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January 31, 2009 at 11:05 am (Africa, POLITICS)
Tags: WB Kyijomanyi
The info we are seeking should be public as is the case in Kenya. No secrets are being spilled if UPDF were to come forward and state that the chain of command in the military is so and so.
In Kenya the structure is very clear for all. The overall Army boss is the Chief of General Staff (CGS), deputized by the vice CGS and then Army Commander, then Deputy Army Commander/Airforce/Navy chiefs. UPDF should do away with the chief of staff and go the Kenyan way with CGS. Army chief of staff in Kenya-may be there but-is not listed among the senior ranks of the army. CGS is the overall CGS for all units, army, air force and navy. In Uganda we have individual chief of staff for army (Lt Gen. Koreta), air force and so on. Now can anyone tell me how an army chief of staff is senior to the Commander of the army? This contradicts the statements made by some people that Lt Gn Koreta is senior to Lt Gen Katumba the army commander!
The media should tell Major Kulayigye to learn from Kenya where he just returned from some course. He should know by now that the man who was head of the staff college he attended in Karen, Lt Gen Tuwei (a Kalenjin) was recently named Army Commander to replace General Njoroge. He is now the 3rd ranking army officer. There is clarity in Kenya which is lacking in Uganda I guess for obvious reasons.
Do the media ever ask questions to govt spokespeople or they simply take their press releases and print it? Do the media or assigned reporters ever ask the police spokesperson questions on record? What about Major Kulayigye? Do defence or amy ever hold press conferences? And if they do, have the papers and FM stations assigned reporters to cover the army, police etc? Well we have been told that UPDF is open so why not ask them to send the media houses press releases if they are too busy to talk to the media about the chain of command in descending order?
Sometime back, there was talk of reforming UPDF. What I am saying is that the current structure may not be the best. I prefer the Kenya structure for its clarity and effectiveness. In Kenya at least, the Army Commander is 3rd in seniority. That much is clear. Kenya has tried to rotate the CGS among the three units Army (current), Navy (immediate former) and Airfoce (next if rotation stays).
Kenya also has a set ratio in terms of military promotions. The ratio that must be followed is 7:2: 1 in favour of Army, Airforce and Navy respectively. I suspect that is what makes the army commander a grade above the other service commander. Is there such a ratio in Uganda?
We are interested in debating the national defence policy. Certainly UPDF could do better. Again, I use the Kenyan example. CGS serves for one 4 year term and goes home. The President may extend that if need be, but it has served the military well. All senior commanders must also retire by the age of 58. That age limit means that the recently named army commander will have to retire in 2 years. The clarity makes it easier for others to emerge and lead.
Now compare that with Uganda where people come in and out. What is the status of Kazini for example? This business of Katebe should be ended.
I personally know a senior UPDF officer-will not say rank-who is well educated but he has stuck in the ranks for years. He wants to leave but they won’t let him go home. And yes, the chap is from South Western Uganda.
If you checked the Kenyan DOD, there are no army chiefs of staff anywhere so they must be lower the chain.
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January 31, 2009 at 11:29 am (History, POLITICS)
Tags: Herbert Buhanga
We need to start discussing business opportunities here in UK and US. Many of us have companies here and we need to share experiences with other Ugandans who can help us mainly in the section of tendering. We cannot be talking about politics only. We have incumbent problems which only money can solve. It’s good to talk about politics but you know talking politics every time won’t take us anywhere. It’s about blame and blame.
Many of us were born when Uganda was at war and all we know about Uganda is war. I saw UNLA/F raping and killing people. I resented them straight away. My first sight of them raping and killing is when they went to Nangwa in Mukono and raped the wife of Mr Paul Kalule Kagodo.Mrs Kagodo was like a mother to me. She was a family friend. UNLF/A boys raped her repeatedly and there after shot her repeatedly. On their way back to Kampala, they saw women crossing Jinja road in a place callede Kigombya, they were running to see Mrs Mbaale who had just given birth to a baby girl. UNFLA/F soldiers stopped and followed these women. Upon reaching Mbale’s house, people fled and soldiers started raping Mrs Mbale who had just given birth. They also raped the newly born baby. The baby bled to death. Mrs Mbaale was rushed to a hospital from where sperms were removed from her vagina.Unfortunately, Mbaale refused to sleep with his wife again and the woman had to leave the village later on.From that day, I hated UPC. I developed hatred for UNLA/F. My hatred was so much that it could only be quenched by revenge. So, we need to be careful by not repeating the past. We need to learn together without fear of rape, murder and other bad stuff.
I’m not a UPC sympathiser. However, I know some of the good things which they did and their failures as well. UPC was the government which completely failed to control UNLA/F.
UNLA/F boys could do anything with impunity. The most annoying thing is that UPC people completely deny that they mismanaged their army and that people had to take up arms to fight the randy army buffoons who were sexually thirsty all the time.
The man I’m talking about Paul Kalule Kagodo had to join UFM and he became the chairman. If you were in Nairobi during the war, you might have heard about him. I did not go into exile as I had just come back from one. People either had to just look on as the army misbehaved or had to join UFM or go into exile.
Now, we have to move on. We need to know that Uganda is for all of us. We need to learn that all people are equally important and that love is the greatest thing above all.
North, South, East and West, we are all Ugandans. We are not beasts. We shouldn’t be killing , raping and robbing one another.
Just for clarification and for history books, Paul Kalule Kagodo, formerly Government Auctioneer became the 3rd UFM/A Chairman after Balaki Kirya (BK) and Amin Mutyaba (Ibrahim Ndugwa). Dr Nsibirwa and Dr Kayira lobbied heavily for Kagodo’s election to the chairmanship in 1986 for certain reasons.
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February 2, 2009 at 9:41 pm (History, POLITICS, PRESIDENCY)
Tags: Robert Nviiri
For the benefit of our young generation who have been following our debates on Obote I regime and his government yet they may not even know how the man and his cabinet ministers looked like, and also for our historical memories, here below is Obote’s cabinet before he was kicked out by Maj. Gen. Idi Amin on 25th January 1971.
1st Republic of Uganda Cabinet as of December 1970
Dr. A.M Obote, President Mr. John Babiiha, Vice President Mr. Lawrence Kalule
Minister Animal Industry, Game Ssettaala, Minister of
& Fisheries Finance
Mr. E.Y. Lakidi Mr. Sam Odaka Mr. Felix Onama, Minister of Defence
Minister of Labour Minister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Basil Bataringaya Dr. J. Luyimbaazi Zaake Dr. Eriya Baabumba
Minister of Internal Affairs Minister of Education Minister of Marketing
& Co-operatives
Mr. Alex A. Ojera Mr. J.N. Wakholi Mr. J. Anyoti
Minister of Broadcasting Minister of Public Service Minister of National Service
& Tourism & Cabinet Affairs
Mr. C.B. Katiiti Prince William W. Kalema Mr. J.W. Lwamafa
Minister of Culture & Minister of Commerce Minister of Health
Community Development & Industry
Mr. James S. Ochola Mr. John Kakonge Mr. M.L. Choudry
Minister of Regional Minister of Agriculture Minister of Minerals & Water
Administration & Forestry Resources
Mr. J.M. Okae Mr. Shaban Nkutu Mr. Lamech Lubowa
Minister of Planning Minister of Works, Attorney General
& Economic Development Transport & Housing
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February 2, 2009 at 10:50 pm (CULTURE, KINGDOMS)
Tags: Robert Nviiri
Interested members and fellow Baganda,
Here below are more pictures of our first president and beloved Ssekabaka’s life for our archives.
Awangaale Ssabasajja
Brief Life Pictorial of Sir Edward II
This is when he wrote an essay about ‘What is Love?’ that won his teacher’s heart. In brief he wrote:
Love begins in our homes, when we love each other. It then grows to our neighbours, from there it extends to the whole village, sub-county, county, country and lastly the whole world. That is what is called True Love.
This essay is still closely kept up to this day, in Sir Edward’s own handwriting.
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February 3, 2009 at 8:26 am (CULTURE, KINGDOMS, POLITICS)
Tags: Robert Nviri
The First Cabinet of the 2nd Republic of Uganda as of 5th February 1971
H.E. Maj. Gen. Idi Amin Dada Mr. A.C.K. Oboth Ofumbi
Head of State, Head of Government, Minister of State for Defence
Minister of Defence and Commander-in-Chief (Fmr. Secretary for Defence)
Lt. Col. E.A.T. Obitre Gama Mr. Wanume Kibedi Mr. E.B. Wakhweya
Min. of Internal Affairs Min. of Foreign Affairs Min. of Finance
(Fmr. CO Paratroopers sch) (Advocate in Kampala ) (Fmr. Secretary to Treasury)
Mr. Apollo K. Kironde Mr. Yekosofat Engur Eng. J.M.N. Zikusooka
Min. of Planning & Econ. Min. of Culture and Min. of Works, Housing
Development (Fmr. Community Devt. (Fmr. And Communication.
Permanent Rep. to UN) USSR Ambassador) (Fmr. PS & Chief Eng.)
Dr. J.H. Gesa Mr. J.M. Byagagaire Mr. Wilson Lutara
Min. of Health Min. of Labour Min. of Commerce, Industry
(Fmr. PS & Chief (Fmr. PS Presidents office (Fmr. Director General, East
Medical Officer) and Secretary to Cabinet) African Airways Corp.)
Mr. William Naburi Mr. Erinayo W. Oryema Mr. V.A. Ovonji
Min. of Information Min. of Minerals and Min. of Public Service and
& Broadcasting (Fmr. Water Resources (Fmr. Local Administration (Fmr.
SG Karamoja district) Insp. General of Police) DG East African Harbours)
Mr. Abu K. Mayanja Mr. P.J. Nkambo Mugerwa Prof. W.B. Banage
Min. of Education Attorney General Min. of Animal Industry,
(Advocate in Kampala ) (Fmr. Solicitor General) Game & Fisheries (Fmr.
Prof. of Zoology faculty,
Makerere University
Mr. F.L. Okware Princess Elizabeth Bagaya
Mini. Of Agriculture, Forestry Permanent Representative to
And Co-operatives (Fmr. UN (Advocate & Actress)
Commissioner of Prisons)
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February 3, 2009 at 8:30 am (History, POLITICS)
Tags: Robert Nviri
How time flies and how history repeats itself!!!
In a bid to bridge the various religious sects, Idi Amin convened an All Religious Leaders Conference on Kabale in May 1971. He later convened a meeting of heads of States and Religious beliefs in June 1971 at the Kampala International Conference Centre in order to brief them on the resolutions of the Kabale conference. The pics follow below.
Enjoy the historical pics
President of Uganda General Idi Amin Dada opening the All Religious Leaders Conference in Kabale
Shortly after the Kabale conference, Idi Amin brief the Officers and Men of the Uganda Army in Mbarara’s Simba Battalion barracks.
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February 3, 2009 at 9:23 am (CULTURE, History, KINGDOMS)
Tags: Robert Nviiri
I think that this is also vital information for our nation that deserves to be in the archives for future reference. When I was still a member of the Boy’s scout at Baden Powell centre near YMCA, we used to go to YMCA canteen to buy some grub. This was 1976-78. This stone was still in place at the entrance to the YMCA building. When I gained interest in Buganda’s history once again in 1990, I took my time to visit the YMCA, tell you what? The Foundation Stone was nowhere to be seen. This means that the stone was gouged out during Obote II regime! Obukyayi obwenkana awo bulituusa wa? May Sir Edward’s Soul Rest In Eternal Peace. Tusabire nnyaffe Buganda.
Nviiri
Nviiri
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February 3, 2009 at 9:30 am (CULTURE, History)
Tags: Robert Nviri
I think that this is also an important part of Uganda ’s history and deserves to be among the archive files
On Thursday 31 July 1969, at exactly 3:00 p.m East African Time, an East African Airways Super VC10 touched down at Entebbe airport having flown in from the side of kampala and accompanied by four military jets flying in echelon. At exactly 3:13 p.m. the door of the VC10 was opened and Pope Paul VI stepped out of the aircraft amid ululations and jubilations.
On the tarmac he was met by Milton Obote and first lady Miria Kalule. Later on, Milton Obote introduced him to the Heads of State that had come to Uganda to benefit from the papal visit;
1. Julius Nyerere of Tanzania
2. Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia
5. Representative for Joseph Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku wa Zabanga of Congo-Kinshasa
6. Representative of General Gowon of Federal Nigeria
7. Reprsentative of General Ojukwu of Republic of Biafra (the break away Ibo Eastern Region of Nigeria)
The Pope then greated the Heads of the Church (both Roman and Anglican catholic) and proceded to the dias for the national Anthems of Vaticano and Uganda to be played. Obote later made a long welcome speech (he was fond of that) thanking the Pope for having a great love for Africa . The Pope on his part made a very brief speech but with a sting on dictatorial and communist leaders. The Prelate said that the Catholic Church would not just sit idle and let innocent citizens to be mistreated the world over by dictators who wished to deprive the people of their rights! He concluded with a phrase in Luganda, “Mwebale nnyo okumpuliriza“, to which the crowd thundered “Kale Kitaffe mu Katonda!” together with thunderous clapping. Some were heard whispering to each other, “Owulidde Papa bw’amanyi Oluganda! Ovanga ku bantu!“
The journey from Entebbe to Lubaga took a whole 2 hrs. At the Cathedral, he was welcomed by Cardinal Rugambwa of Dar es Salaam Archdiocese, who ushered him into the Cathedral. At the begining of the Mass, he said a short prayer in French and English. He then turned to the congregation and blessed them in Luganda, “Omukama abeere nammwe!”, to which they replied mesmerized, “Naawe abeere naawe!” More thunderous clapping!!!
From Lubaga he went to the presidential lodge at Nakasero to a dinner hosted by Milton Obote. Interestingly, all the reporters were barred from entry apart from those from the govt Min. of Information and Prediential Press. Obote presented the Pope with numerous gifts among which were 22 ivory tusks in rememberance of the 22 Buganda (now Uganda ) martyrs. In return, (the Baganda say, Kabbo ka muwala kajja kajjudde kaddayo kajjudde) the Pope gave the govt of Uganda thru Milton Obote, 350,000/= of the time (exchange rate was $1 = 8/-) in order assist the destitutes of Uganda and those suffering from Polio. He also bestowed upon Milton Obote, John Babiiha, Sam Odaka; The Grand Cross of the Order of Pope Pius. As for Basil Bataringaya and the Speaker of the National Assembly – Hon. Patel, he bestowed upon them The Grand Cross of St. Gregory the Great. In appreciation, Miria Kalule Obote presented the Pope with an expensive wrist watch.
1st August 1969 was Mass day at Kololo airstrip which he celebrated with 11 Cardinals and later ordained bishops from Uganda (Halem’imana – Kabale, Baharagate – Hoima, Kakubi – Mbarara and Magambo – Fort Portal ). From Kololo he went to the National Assembly to meet the MP’s and made a brief speech. From the parliament he went to Old Mulago hospital, being accompanied all the time by Cardinal Emmanuel Nsubuga, where he was welcomed by Hon. C. Katiti then ministr of Culture and development. He then went to New Mulago hospital where he was welcomed by Hon. Wakhooli who was representing minister of health Hon. Lwamafa. Among the govt delegates at New Mulago were Maj. Gen. Idi Amin, IGP Erinayo Oryema.
From Mulago he went to Mmengo Kisenyi to the spot where Yakobo Buuzabalyawo and Yozefu Balikuddembe were murdered. He blessed the spot and donated money to build a church at the spot in rememberance of the duo. From there he went to Lubaga Uganda Social Centre where he also prayed and donated money to complete the Social Centre.
2nd August 1969 was Mass day at Namugongo. He started off at the Anglican catholic site where majority of the martyrs were murdered. He was welcomed by Archbishop Eric Sabiti and Bishop Dunstan Nsubuga of Namirembe, in whose Diocese this site is located. He was taken in a mock-hut similar to the one in which Kabaka’s Chief guard Mukajanga used to live. He entered the hut and prayed for the poor fellows soul. He was briefed on the Buganda kingdoms norms of the days when Mukajanga carried out the death warrants. Archbishop Eric Sabiti presented the Pope wityh a Bible and Kiganda traditional mats. In return, the Pope presented the Archbishop with his own (Pope Paul) cross which he was wearing at the time while to the rest of the Anglican catholics he presented medals. Obote and all the visiting Heads of State were present.
The Pope then headed to the Roman Catholic site where Karoli Lwanga was murdered. He was welcomed by Cardinal Emmanuel Nsubuga who offered him a seat. The cardinal read out a welcome speech in which he further thanked the Pope for his extra generous contribution of 140,000/- towards the completion of Namugongo Martyrs Shrine. He then invited the Pope to consecrate the Holy Altar that was built at the very spot where Karoli lwanga was murdered. The Pope walked silently to the altar amid solemn silence, knelt down and kissed the ground where karoli Lwanga had laid slain. He then consecrated the altar and proceded with the Mass in which he baptised 22 children in rememberance of the 22 martyrs. He also confrimed 22 confirmants in rememberance of the 22 martyrs. At the end of the Mass, the Pope removed his papal vestiments and mitar and did something that had never been done before anywhere in the world by any living Pope. He presented his papal vestiments, mitar and staff to Cardinal Emmanuel Nsubuga! Cardinal Nsubuga was humbled beyond words!
From Namugongo the Pope went back to Lubaga where he had lunch with the bishops and clergy. The different Hads of State also were invited and they held brief talks with the Prelate. He later celebrated Mass at Lubuga cathedral at 5:30 p.m. At the end of the Mass, in his farewell speech, he donated 1,400,000/- to the Uganda Roman Catholic church in order to help spread the gospel. He then headed to Entebbe airport where he boarded the EAA VC10 back to Rome . While in cruise, the Pope telephoned Obote to thank him and the people of Uganda for the hospitality offered to him.
Who was Pope Paul VI? He was born Giovani Batista Maria Montini, a very humble boy that was born in Italy in 1897, that had never dreamt of becoming a priest until at age 17, when he was turned away from the Italian Army conscripts evaluation during World War 1 because of his poor health.
That is our history that should also not be re-written.
Robert Nviirimbiziwomerannyinizo
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February 5, 2009 at 7:45 am (CULTURE, History, KINGDOMS)
Tags: Kalundi Serumaga
Hello Netters,
Seriously, can somebody please help the bunyoro spokesperson,Mr Mirima, in learning to correctly choose friends for his Kingdom?Now he is admiringly describing Gadaffi as “furiously anti-colonialist”. Does he really know who he is talking about?At the same time he is trying to be clever and pretend that the Tripoli events he himself previously described as “demeaning” in the ‘ UAH’ forum did not take place.
The facts are these:
a) If you take Gadaffi’s money, you will have no choice but to allow him to “ku-jooga” you. Ask all these African “Presidents” (President Museveni included) whose security guards are regularly beaten up under their noses by Gadaffi’s security detail. The mistake of the Bunyoro and Toro government’s was to assume that they would be spared such humiliations. Nigerians say: “Those who choose to lie down with dogs should not complain when fleas begin to bite them”. Take note, Mr Mirima.
b) If Gadaffi is “furiously anti-colonialist” as Mr Mirima admiringly puts it, then why did he immediately shut up during the Arab League summit before the first Gulf War when another delegate interrupted his wild anti-American speech with the simple question: “Gadaffi, who exactly put you in power?”.
You see, there is a widely held view in the Arab world that the 1969 coup against King Idriss (?) that brought this madman to power was actually organised by the CIA. Take note again, Mr Mirima, before making yourself the Publicity Secretary for the Muammar Gadaffi Fan Club.
This is why Gadaffi has never really been taken seriously in Middle Eastern politics, despite all the noise he makes and money he deploys. Eventually, in his frustration, he decided to abandon the Arab Leaue and re-invent himself as “an African”, and be a big fish in our small-pond politics. This is what those native leaders need to grasp: The man is here because he is a reject in Arab politics (where he really wants to be respected). This has nothing to do with love for black people, or for the mighty Kabalega, or even African women. He does not care about you and your problems at all. You are his “spare tyre”. He is simply looking for an arena where he can appear like the Big Boss, and then use that to go and try and impress his fellow Arabs as the “President of Africa”. Because of our material and intellectual poverty, some of us -Mr Mirima, and President Museveni being perfect examples here- fell into that trap, and are now struggling to disentangle themselves from its humuliating costs, having long consumed the “benefits” (i.e. cash and Rado watches).
The African Presidents are now realising their mistake and trying to isolate Gadaffi within the AU, so his tactical response is to pocket as many traditional leaders as can be bought, and then use them as a stick to beat the Presidents with. This is very risky, as it can create instability and civil wars in very many sub-saharan countries (like Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda) that have not yet properly resolved their domestic “traditional-modern” relationship.
Now, this is a very serious situation for Black Africa. Our indigenous nations (Bunyoro, Buganda, Toro, etc) are our only real hope for the future. For this arrogant half-Arab (he is actually a Ber-Ber) to play around with our Presidencies and fake “Republics” is one thing, but to begin toying with native rulers is a very grave threat to our futures indeed.
Those claiming to work for the Kingdoms of Bunyoro and Toro need to wake up and seriously review their strategic game-plans: Who are your friends? Who are your enemies?
Your first big mistake was to assume that a central government (currently NRM) was your friend. Through it, you were introduced to this even more disastrous Gadaffi relationship. Your troubles are now just beginning. Do you imagine that Gadaffi is going to stop where he has reached so far?
Your real friend is the other native nations that face the same problems as you do. As again the Nigerians say: “why spend so much energy trying to see behind your ear, when all along what you are looking for is right under your nose?”.
Mr Mirima; it is past time for you to stop hating Baganda and start thinking. And send back the watch.
Peace.
Serumaga
………………………………………………………………….
For clarification, Col. Muammar El Qaddaffi is not a president but a leader. He ceased to be president when Libya transformed from a republic to a Jamahiriyya (State of the Masses) Even there are no ministers in Libya but secretaries. There is no parliament but General Popular Congress and People’s committees. There are no embassies but people’s bureaus and no ambassadors but people’s bureau secretaries.
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February 5, 2009 at 11:46 pm (History, POLITICS)
Tags: mulindwa Edward
Ugandans
As a Ugandan outside Uganda, I have the ability to look at Uganda from the out side, an ability that those are at home do not have. And tonight I need to introduce another section of Ugandans that we have failed to address all along. In reading the many postings here, one gets an impression that if Museveni gets out of power today Uganda will change for a better nation, yes I have seen postings of how Museveni directed the attack on Monitor publications. Do you seriously think that a president can have even a time to direct such an attack?
The problem you have comfortably agreed to ignore is the part Uganda society plays into this very terrible situation. And I am going to give you several examples of how this problem has been slowly growing to such a magnitude. When UPC was in power, one of the most important things they did was to create a self sustaining economy, but let us look closely on Eastern and Western Uganda. Both of these regions were involved into animal husbandry, Places especially Eastern Uganda, they had thousands of cows, cows that fed the Karimojongs and their children. That is why you did not see Karimojong kids on Kampala road for they had an economy to self sustain. Because of the cows industry, the then sitting government bought special train wagons to transport cows from Eastern to the rest of Uganda for the market. When these men and women came from the jungle, they not only killed the Karamoja cows industry but they changed the train wagons from carrying the cows from Eastern Uganda to ferrying the population. They named it Akayoola. Do you remember that term Akayoola?
Although its creation was a sign of a travesty in Eastern Uganda, Ugandans called it a development. What they did not know was that the cows in Eastern Uganda had been all looted and sent to Mbarara, guns ferried to Karamoja, they did not bother to complain about it. Where we are today, the Akayoola industry collapsed as well, the Karimojong kids are on Kampala road and Ugandans are stealing the rails from line to be used as a base to build a concretes of pit latrines.
When Iddi Amin came to power he decided to up grade the Uganda Railway, you see that railway was very important into the development of Uganda. There are those of us who expected it to be developed that it would take all containers going to Rwanda Burundi DRC Sudan and Central African Republic. You have just removed the trailers off Uganda roads. You see when you can dump all containers to Kaseese, the owners can pick all of them from Kasese and then drive them to various countries. Imagine a spin off of jobs in Kasese. Some of us had a dream of extending the Pakhwach line to Sudan, for when you connect that line to the Sudan line you can send a train straight to The Mediterranean sea. That can open up an entire market of goods to Europe, but you can as well run a passenger train from the Mediterranean to the Great Lakes. Iddi Amin pumped some real cash into the Railway industry and refurbished most of the coaches to obtain up scale kitchens and refrigerators. Those facilities arrived to the Uganda railway, and Ugandans not Museveni but Ugandans looted them that today there is no single coach in Uganda with a fridge and except those of us a few that keep our noses into everyone’s business, I wonder if any of you ever saw the up scale coaches Amin bought.
I went to Uganda to visit one day and a very good friend called me to visit him for a week end which I did. As the dinner got to the table I failed to eat for a very simple reason that the plates that were brought to us to use were clearly marked Uganda Hotels. The plates, the spoons, the folks and even the table napkins, all were marked Uganda hotels. You would think that we are in a dining room of Apollo Hotel. Was Iddi Amin a bad president? Yes if you say so. Was Obote a bad president yes if you say so, but did they order you as a Ugandan to go to Uganda hotels and steal all those plates and when did it become even legal to use them? But society accepted it and moved on, they only stand day in day out blaming Amin and Museveni but them selves. It got better when we went to the bed, for the first day we slept into bed sheets marked Namirembe hospital and the second day it was Rubaga hospital. The bed I slept on belonged to Mulago hospital. Did Museveni take this beds and bed sheets to this friend of mine?
Which reminds me of a Ugandan in Bbaale Galiraya who went to industrial area and looted a full container of boxes with engine parts labeled Made in Germany. He decided to keep quite about it until when the looting spree passes. This guy told us very openly that he has thousands of Mercedes Benz engines, “I am going to assemble one by one and die rich” so he stated. After the looting this man started to look for the mechanics to start the assembling of the engines, but no one knew what these parts were. He came to Kayunga to no solution, he went to Spear Motors and they did not know the parts. Lastly he asked a technician from Roko Construction to show up. It was revealed that they were actually spare parts of train engines. The fella did not have a plan to make a railway line in Bbaale Galiraya. Did Amin or Obote or Museveni instruct this Ugandan to take these equipments?
Let us go back at the removal of Amin, this man had decided to make massive changes in Uganda, among the things he had bought was the garbage trucks that used to lift the bins, do you know that one of the members of FDC today, actually stole all of them and sent them to Rwanda to be registered as private trucks? What happened to all Peugeot 504s that Uganda Police received towards the fall of Amin? But here is a good one, a new company of buses was being created to help on the UTC and Republic Express Services. The buses were being assembled in Kireka Ministry of works, and they were yellow. Remember those? All those buses were stolen by Ugandans to no avail, but in all the fleet that were stolen, there was this bus that made me understand Ugandans. This bus was towed into a valley of between Bweyogerere and Kireka, on the south side near Mandela stadium, and you could see it from a far. but every morning we would see this bus from the road but loosing body parts every day. Ugandans were cutting its body and taking it until when they finished it. The bus literary got obliterated by Ugandans them selves.
On visiting a relative in Hoima I walked into an old woman’s hut, and she had a magnetic head phone. Remember those that were brought in Uganda under the Amin’s services nearer to the people program. They had a handle you need to turn to call the operator. So I asked this old woman what she had on her table, and she ravishingly stated “Oyo malidadi wange abaana bamujja Kampala ne mugula” She did not even know that it was a phone for she had never seen a phone in her life.
Let me not tire you this is my conclusion. Ugandans are not only naked thieves but they are killers. Where do you think do the members of black Mambas come from? Canada? No sir they are Ugandans these are men and women you dine with in restaurants. One of the reasons we will pressure an inqurery into Uganda nightmare is to let Ugandans understand how brutal their children are. UPDF soldiers and mainly Baganda go to the North and rape men in front of their wives and children. Did you expect a Muganda to do that? I hear a story of Baganda are very well coming people, well can we allow a Northerner to put that thesis to test? And I refuse the nonsense of they are directed, and I have seen that lie walking in here naked. Tell me right now, can you be directed to rape a man in Uganda and you drop your pants? Barracks unit 35 of Andrew Kayiira was all killed in one night. It is a pile of crap for any one to claim, Eh Munange Museveni yeyabalagiranga okutta abantu. Gogera nga aganywedde amalwa. No these are all killers and they should all be put to trial. Give me a dam break. I challenge you to understand the population that the Movement is leaving you to use. For the population you have today, it is a very worrisome population that no body can use to even re build Uganda. Museveni no Museveni. So as you are looking for a new leader, one might want to start to look for a new population. A crossbreed of Kenyans and Burundians can be a good start.
Mulindwa Edward
Canada
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February 6, 2009 at 12:07 am (History, POLITICS)
Tags: Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
In reaction to the letter wrote by Raymond Otika in the weekly Uganda observer entitled:’ Sedition comes with oppression’, I would like to say that sedition charges did not start with president museveni as he learnt that from one of his predecessors, Dr. Milton Obote. Journalists and the media were some of the biggest casualties of the government’s sensitivity to criticism during Obote and now Museveni. Pro-baganda newspapers like the economy had a breather after the fall of Amin but things started getting tougher afterwards. Obote also got tougher on foreign journalists who had had freedom under Lule and Binaisa. Many newspapers like the weekly topic were closed down by government officials under obote 2. Anthony Sekweyama, the editor of the main Luganda newspaper, Mumansi, and two other employees of the paper were arrested in March and held for three weeks on sedition charges. They were released in mid-April, but the paper — which was the voice of the opposition, Democratic Party — did not reappear until the middle of May. Even the Chief Editor of the new Sunday edition of the government Uganda Times was detained after only editing two issues. The Obote government was apparently annoyed by an article criticising the US boycott of Libyan oil. Obote had turned his previous socialist policies on their head and had been hard at work courting Western investors. No doubt he did not wish them annoyed by a government paper. Surprisingly, Museveni’s paper: Resistance News of the NRM was left on the streets for a while-a point which strengthenes the argument of those who say that Obote always did undermine the strengths of Museveni from day one.
Museveni’s idea of the media centre headed by Robert Kabushenga did not come from the moon. Obote was the man who first introduced Newspaper and Publications Act to lay down conditions for the starting of a newspaper or magazine in Uganda. Museveni’s media centre is an equivalent of Obote’s Press Accreditation Committee (PAC) which had representatives from the Ministries of Information, Internal Affairs and Foreign Affairs. Ugandan journalists wishing to send material to foreign sources had to be approved by the same body.
In addition,the throwing away of foreign journalists from Uganda did not start with Museveni as some people think. Four Western journalists who included: Christabel King, Nick Worrall, June Dechter and Bob Dietz, had their accreditation withdrawn before the December 1980 elections which brought Obote to power, mainly because they were considered unsympathetic to Obote. Then four other journalists resident in Kampala also had their press credentials withdrawn and these were: Cameron Morton (September 1981), Mark Lee (December 1981), Tom Lansner (November 1981) and Trent O’Keefe (January 1982). Visiting correspondents, including representatives of the Daily Telegraph and British Independent Television News, were also thrown out of Uganda. The Minister of Information at that time, Dr David Anyoti, said that only qualified and bona fide journalists were permitted to work in the country. He condemned freelance journalists as bent on ’sensational and subjective journalism’ and condemned the foreign news media for using ’second-rate yellow journalists’. Cameron Morton, for example, was put under house arrest and expelled immediately after reporting army massacres in the West Nile and Trent O’Keefe had his accreditation withdrawn a few days after a BBC report of the murder of five churchgoers by Ugandan troops during a Sunday service in Katiti village in Luwero district. Actually, any body telling you that the killing of Ugandans like bees in Luwero started with NRM is just kicking himself in the teeth. Probably president Museveni can now be called a student of Obote politics in Uganda.
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
United Kingdom
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February 7, 2009 at 3:24 pm (History, Uncategorized)
Tags: L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick
The charter was the shutter and shatterer of AM Obote’s political career. Throughout the (first) cold war, there was a fierce struggle between NATO and Warsaw Treaty block over who would control Africa, particularly the strategic southern cone where there many liberation wars raging, in addition to the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa.
The stand-off between the rival blocks played out along what was called the ‘Blue Belt’ (BB) and the ‘Red Corridor’ (RC). The RC was a chain of pro-Soviet countries running in a north-Southerly direction from Cairo with the intention of linking with the Cape, thus: Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, then linking to the countries that were then struggling for liberation..Rhodesia, Angola, Mozambique…the frontline against apartheid South Africa. That corridor was perceived by the west to be a pipeline for transmitting soviet military aid to the frontline states, then eventually to the antiapartheid movements that would subsequently take South Africa out of the control of the West….making the Cape sea-lane of communication unavailable for oil tankers coming from the gulf.
The BB was NATO’s attempt to interrupt the RC by slicing it in the waist from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, from Kenya, through Uganda to Zaire. Uganda’s geostrategic location placed us at the confluence of those two trails of East-West struggle. He who controlled Uganda controlled Africa. Recall that in 1967 Mw. Nyerere made the Arusha Declaration turning Tanzania into a socialist (hence supposedly pro-East state), then in 1968 Mr K Kaunda made the Mulungushi Declaration also turning Zambia into a prosocialist state (’Humanism’). That made the West shiver. Before they could recover from that, then later in 1968 comes the Nakivubo Declaration, Uganda’s move to the left. So, three declarations to consolidate the RC.
Then enter 1969, with Gen G Mimeiri overthrowing Ismail al-Azhari, and immediately making a kind of “Khartoum Declaration”. Like the other three in the RC who made declarations to nationalise banks and industries, Nimeiri did all that nad set Sudan onto the path of socialist reforms. In all this, as we have seen, Uganda was the centrepiece and the ultimate prize that each of the global powers was salivating for. J Mobutu was blue already, thanks to the earlier death of P. Lumumba who would have probably made a “Kinshasa declaration”. J Kenyatta was the West’s son-in-law, and Mombasa was already available for the United States Central Command Forces (formerly Rapid Deployment Force). So Uganda had to get out of the RC, and AM Obote had either to take back his words of the “Nakivubo Declaration” or go.
This reminds me of these words: “Mr Obote seems to have been misled or misinformed that the Baganda will accept a commoner to rule this country when the British go. The truth is Buganda will use all its available forces to see that the Kabaka becomes head of state of Uganda or Buganda secession when independence is attained” (Paul Tebandeke, Uganda Argus, Saturday, 20 August, 1960; page 2) So, the Common Man’s Charter was the commoner’s shatter. Nevertheless, it was big algebra at play.
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February 7, 2009 at 3:28 pm (History, POLITICS)
Tags: Abbey.K.Semuwemba
This document rubbed a lot of people’s feathers including the British who saw it as a threat to their interests in Uganda . It is believed that it may have been one of the strongest reasons why the British and Israelis decided to sponsor Amin’s coup against Obote. Actually, Obote confirmed this when he was in London on February 24, 1978, to prosecute successfully a libel suit against Judith Countess of Listowel, author of a laudatory biography of Amin. Obote and two of his aides left London about $125,000 richer than when they came, at least on paper.
Also, former CIA officials who have become critical of the agency said that Mossad, the Israeli intelligence, service worked out with the British Secret Intelligence Service and Langley to get rid of Obote. In 1971, Obote was regarded as a dangerous socialist who was embarrassing Britain in particular over Prime Minister Edward Health’s insistence on selling arms to South Africa .
By the way, I’m not an Obote Hater as some people want to portray me. I’m just pointing out facts as far as Obote was concerned. For instance, I know for sure that Museveni was obsecessed with Obote throughout his first years of leadership and that is why NRM created that organisation called FOBA(Bring Obote Back) as a way of scaring the Baganda. But at the same time, I know the evil side of Obote and I don’t need to be 60 years old as Mulindwa thinks to know what Obote was capable of. Like I said, the whole truth will come out slowly and I think we are getting there.
Abbey.K.Semuwemba
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February 8, 2009 at 4:21 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: Robert Nviri
On 04th March 1971, the president of Uganda, General Idi Amin Dada, authorised the release for public consumption, a once upon a time Top Secret document meant for ex-president Apollo Milton Obote and the UPC top elites from Lango, to be read on Radio Uganda. The document which was authored by a one Okello-Apello, claiming to be airing the views of the Langi elders, was one of the Top Secret documents that had been confiscated by the Army after the 25th January 1971 military coup d’etat. Here below is the document in detail.
Your Excellency, Dr. A.M. Obote,
Thank the heavens! We wish you the best of luck, and long live our dear son. Lead the people of Uganda with dignity and at the same time as per the norms of the Langi culture. We have taken it upon ourselves to study the different regions and peoples of Uganda with the aim of finding out what the different tribes think and do. We have also got feedback from fellow Langi who work in different regions of Uganda but have now returned back to Lira, on how ready they are to give you advice on how best you can rule Uganda. In its entirety, here below is our advice:
First of all, the Langi were mistreated by the British colonialists and, after the departure of the British after attaining independence, all the tribes of Uganda despised us. We had very few educated Langi which led to all the top government posts being filled by people from other tribes. This made all the Langi to envy other tribes. We are now totally convinced that should you follow to the letter what is stipulated in our document, herewith known as The Lango Development Plan, Lango shall rise and shine and, you shall be able to rule Uganda for at least 50 years!
Fundamental steps to be taken:
- Increase the number of schools in Lango and post in them highly educated teachers, we shall take it upon ourselves to fill the schools with pupils and students every year.
- We must ensure that Langi are made Education Officers in order to equate the number of Acholi Education Officers, or even to supersede them. We must not accept the Acholi to boast that they are cleverer than us, Langi.
- With immediate effect, send Langi students abroad on scholarships. We must ensure that vacancies are reserved for them in key government positions to deter people from other tribes being employed in such positions, such that our sons and daughters get employed immediately upon their return. In the unlikely event, should an Acholi be employed in a key position, then he should not be boss to a Langi.
- Increase the number of industries and factories in Lango in order to boost our economic power. We are well aware that this will cause the other districts to become jealousy of any developments in Lango, but this shall force the other regions to federate with us basing on our strong purchasing power base. The only serious opposition we might face is from the Acholi, especially should the number of industries in their region increase.
- We are aware that there is a considerable number of Acholi in the army, police and Prisons’ forces more than the Langi. We would be grateful if the numbers of Langi were increased to supersede the Acholi, and we request that this be implemented as soon as possible. We foresee with dismay the danger of the Lugbara and Madi joining forces in order to topple your government. We therefore recommend that the following Langi army officers: Arach Metucela, Oboma Ayumu, Ogwang and Elyak, be promoted immediately in order to head the armed forces. Since we do not trust other tribes, Metucela Arach should be promoted to the rank of Major General and, either Oboma or Elyak be made Chief of Staff. With respect to Police, Odongo should be made the Inspector General of Police and Samson Ochan should be made the Commissioner for Prisons. Should these recommendations delay to be implemented, we shall suffer heavily. We therefore make the following proposals in order to implement these recommendations: There is quite a considerable number of Acholi officers in the Police and Prisons forces who have served for quite a long time although they are not well educated. You should promote these not so-intelligent elderly officers but not the young energetic intelligent Acholi. Langi youthful officers should be strategically put to work side by side with these Acholi elderly officers so that with time you weed out the Acholi and replace them with the Langi youthful officers. The good in keeping the elderly Acholi officers is that they despise any advice from the youthful Acholi that could lead them to get ideas of toppling your government. We should be wary of Idi Amin despite his being semi-illiterate because he can easily join hands with intelligent Lugbara who can plan to topple your government. We do not want that Acholi, Anywar, to be head of the Special Branch. This post should be given to a Langi.
- We wish that all recruiting officers in all government departments are Langi. This will give a chance to those Langi who did not get access to education to get access to wealth. Any Indian or foreign national who mistreats a Langi should be expelled from Uganda. The following ministries should be headed by Langi: Planning and Economic Development; Agriculture; Education and; Health. The Acholi should not be given an opportunity to head ministries or even departments that are directly in the line of developing the country.
- Whenever a need arises to carry out a project in Acholi, the same project should also be carried out in Lango, as a must. Should there be any programme to be executed by the Acholi, we must see to it that also Langi officers are involved.
- Send as many Langi officers as possible to work in Acholi, especially as administrators. This shall dupe the villagers in Acholi that we Langi are the best educated. Ensure that the District Commissioner for Acholi district is always a Langi who shall give us a non-compromised report on exactly what the Acholi are up to. This DC should also encourage the fanning of divisions among the Acholi and any progressive Acholi with the intent of uniting East and West Acholi should be earmarked. However, should East Acholi wish to join us, they should be most welcome, in fact should there be any developmental projects to be carried out in Acholi, they should be along the border areas with Lango in order for the Langi to benefit the most.
- Please ensure that many Langi join the ranks of NUYO, as this will dupe the other tribes that its only the Langi who are capable of leading the nation. We should instil this myth in the minds of all the other tribes by ensuring that only Langi are appointed in key administrative posts. This will serve us well since the country is headed for development because then all the other tribes in Uganda shall be made to believe that it is only Langi who are capable of being good leaders and that anything good can only be found in Lango.
- The Langi are quite unhappy about the current boundaries with Acholi. The boundary should have been from Adilang straight to Bobi following the road to Koch and Karuma. This was the wise counsel of Yakobo Adoko. On the side of Teso, Kumam territory should be annexed to Lango, whereas on the side of Karamoja, Lango should stretch up to Labwor.
- We should be secretive on whatever goes on within Lango. All developmental projects in Lango should not be brioadcast on the national Radio or even in the newspapers. People without a strong foundation should not be allowed to work in Lango. At the same time, people who are well conversant with Lango but despise us should also not be allowed to serve in Lango. This should be so in order to avoid the impression that Lango is being developed at a fast rate at the expense of other regions.
- The following departments should be headed by Langi: Public Service Commission; Uganda Development Corporation; Nyanza Textiles; Tororo Cement Works; Uganda Hotels; Kilembe Mines and Uganda National Parks. All this is possible but it seems that there is an element of inferiority complex. Please also note the following:
Ankole: Kahigiriza is incapable of implementing our ideals because of the fear that someone else could take over his position.
Kigezi: Mpambara readily accepts anything put before him on his plate.
Toro: Samson Rusoke is wary of Rwambarali because he thinks that the latter might replace him as the Omuhikiirwa (Prime Minister) of Toro.
Buganda: There is nothing to fear in Buganda, except for that stupid Acholi by the names of Daudi Ochieng, who is not even liked by the Baganda themselves. Even in his own home he is not popular and his relatives loathe him as well, they do not trust him.
Busoga: Nadiope is well aware how he faces eminent opposition from Bamutire and also how he is dislikedby the Basoga in Iganga.
Lango: You are adored by all in lango except for that fool Ben Emor, who tried to make himself popular by means of trying to promote the Union. Emor has been earmarked and all his movements are being monitored.
Acholi: There is nothing to fear in Acholi land, for all the bad elements were taken care of by Peter Oola. The remnants are now located outside the district and, even though they returned; it would be too late because no Acholi could believe what they preached.
Lugbara and Madi: These are hopeless people, there is nothing to fear among them.
- The Scholarships Committee responsible for sending students abroad should be composed of only dedicated Langi. Educating of the Acholi should be put in check; however, there should be no fear for educating the other tribes.
- We wish that all the teachers in Ngeta and Boroboro TTC be strictly Langi. Teachers from other tribes other than Langi who wish to teach in schools and institutions found in Lango should have a good knowledge of the Langi Luo version and English only.
- It is an open secret that there is a privately owned school in Acholi which is aided by the government. This school falls in the same category as those of Jefania Okae and Kejekia Okulu in Lango district. Where is it that these latter two schools in Lango are not aided by the government?
- We do not want to see any Jaluos in Lira or even to see them fishing in Kwibale, Namasale, Acung, Ibuje or any other place in Lango. They should relocate to Acholi or West Nile.
- We hope that you are well aware how the Baganda used to seat on the busts of our grandparents while they drank liquor or brew. This act by the Baganda shall always be remembered
