ENDING THE NORTHEN WAR

January 4, 2009 at 5:07 pm (Africa, POLITICS)

In his contribution to a discussion about the 20 year-long war in Northern Uganda, one Forum member has stated thus: “…There is only one cause for now: Mu7 (Yoweri Museveni) leaving power. The rest of the issues will have to be dealt with thereafter.”
The Forum member is 100% right.
We all know why the people of Northern Uganda voted overwhelmingly against Yoweri Museveni and his NRM party in the 2006 elections. It is because opposition leaders, like Dr. Besigye of FDC, had promised to end the war in weeks, if not months, after the elections. Suffice to say, therefore, that if President Museveni and the NRM party are voted out of power, THE WAR can be ended at a mere stroke of a pen. Noteworthy, Ugandans would additionally enjoy the long-term peace dividends and democracy that would ensue as a result of  the inevitable political and constitutional reforms in a post-Museveni and post-NRM Uganda.
Museveni and the NRM political infrastructure are Uganda’s main problem. They fanatically anti-democratic, and instinctively allergic to peace and democracy. They love war and hate peace.
Ending the War in Northern Uganda:
For anyone who has been awake to the political history of Uganda, and in particular the GREAT TRAGEDY OF NORTHERN UGANDA over the last 20 years, the facts are there to see… By all indications, Joseph Kony and his LRA fighters desperately want the war to end. [All they are asking for is for President Museveni to tell the International Criminal Court (ICC) not to poke its nose into Uganda's national affairs].
What the people of Northern Uganda want is for the war to end, and national reconciliation to take place. Most of the people of Northern Uganda want Kony and his fighters to be forgiven – JUST AS WHITE SOUTH AFRICANS WERE FORGIVEN BY AGGRIEVED BLACKS VIA THE TRUTH AND RECONCILLIATION PEACE-MAKING DYNAMICS.
Ask Archbishop Odama in Gulu - ask any of Uganda’s church leaders – all of them have said publicly that they want the war to end. Ask the Acholi MPs, and the Northern Ugandan MPs in Parliament – and they will say the same. Ask the Opposition politicians in Uganda – and the majority of Ugandan people - and they will tell you that THE WAR MUST STOP, and IF THAT MEANS FORGIVING AND RECONCILING WITH JOSEPH KONY, SO BE IT!
Yes, Kony and his LRA may have committed certain crimes in the course of battling the NRM regime in Northern Uganda (even Museveni and NRA/UPDF have committed certain crimes in Luwero, Northern Uganda, Congo, and elsewhere), but the Kony/LRA outfit have always begged and cried for President Museveni to negotiate with them to end the war. In all probability, Joseph Kony and his fighters (many of whom were forced to fight) do not love being and living in the bush indefinitely. After 20 years in the wilderness, they want the war to end. THEY WANT TO GO HOME!
There are some in Uganda, Africa, and the wider world, who think and believe that it was okay for South African Whites to be forgiven for their apartheid era sins and inhumanity, but that Ugandans cannot and must not forgive and reconcile with Joseph Kony and the LRA. Why must justice be selective? Also, why are we expected to forgive President Museveni and his NRA/UPDF armies for the grave crimes they have committed in Uganda since 1980, but not forgive Kony and his LRA? Why is the world silent about the crimes committed by Yoweri Museveni and the NRA / UPDF? Why doesn’t the world ask the ICC to indict and try these people, in order that justice is not seen to be selective?
The only way Uganda is going to be stable and peaceful is when Ugandans learn to forgive and to reconcile with each other.
Unfortunately, the militaristic establishment called National Resistance Movement (NRM), and its war-loving leaders and generals are sworn proponents and practitioners of WARRIOR AND GUN-BOAT POLITICS. They  will not end war in Uganda. They will, instead, cause more wars and violence, by their repressive and dictatorial tendencies.
Which leaves Ugandans with ONLY ONE CHOICE - TO THROW PRESIDENT MUSEVENI AND HIS NRMO PARTY OUT OF POWER, COME 2011 ELECTIONS. Let us do it the Kenyan way - Let’s do the ‘Raila Odinga’ way! In 2011, Ugandans must jealously and courageously guard their votes. They must refuse to compromise with the oppressors and dictators, who will be seeking to cheat heir way to power. In the event that Museveni and his NRM military establishment should attempt to steal votes, Ugandans should unleash a storm of PEACEFUL CIVIL DISOBIDIENCE.
Unity of All Opposition Forces:
The problem with the current political opposition in Uganda is the growing disunity among its ranks. In-fights within FDC, DP, and UPC and near-childish mutual suspicions and lack of trust between the parties is common-place. Adding to this, some opposition parties are poorly spread and badly organised, without effective campaign infrastructure in the countryside. Attempts are being made to overcome these weaknesses, but, thanks to President Museveni’s brutal repressiveness and political machinations, the opposition have an uphill task to overcome.
If they are to win the 2011 elections, the Ugandan opposition MUST FORGE A ROCK SOLID UNITY, across political party divides, and across ethnic and cultural divides. President Museveni and his militaristic NRM organisation will be kicked out of leadership if all Ugandans can unite around the issues and visions that are important to them. And these are many in Museveni’s Uganda today - ending the Northern war, sharing of resources, constitutional reform to ensure proper democratic and political dispensations, land issues, economic empowerment of the people…
The plan is simple – CONVERGE AND UNITE around common objectives, grievances, and ideas – AND YOU WILL KICK YOUR TOMENTORS!
In today’s Uganda, the people of the North are greatly aggrieved by Museveni’s/NRM’s inability to end the WAR. They are also aggrieved by the economic and political alienation. They are increasingly pained by the stealing of their LAND  by the NRM rulers. The Baganda – are greatly angered by the refusal of the NRM regime to deliver Federo, and to return EBYAFFE (property and land grabbed from them in the years past). Now they are angered by Museveni’s/NRM’s determination to steal their LAND. The Karamajong are very disturbed by the genocidal actions of the regime, committed in the name of dis-armament, and the political and economic alienation of their people. All other ethnicities and groupings have deep-seated grievances against the NRM dictatorship.
WHAT UGANDANS HAVE TO DO IS TO SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH – COME 2011, WE WILL VOTE AGAINST THE MILITARISTIC AND ANTI-PEOPLE REGIME OF PRESIDENT MUSEVENI. 20 years of NRM rule has been enough for Ugandans to conclude that Museveni can’t deliver, and NRM can’t deliver.
Why Unite?
Thanks to their  20 year experience and track-record of anti-democratic and anti-people politics, the militaristic NRM dictatorship is powerfully entrenched with its repressive, iron-handed rule, ever ready to clamp down on opposition politicians and their supporters, and to steal their votes to ensure that NRM is the only governing outfit in the country. VILOENCE AND MILITARY FORCE IS WHAT THEY HAVE USED TO ENTRENCH THEMSELVES IN POWER.
So, All Ugandan opposition parties, and all freedom-seeking Ugandans have a patriotic duty to shed their divisive tendencies – and focus all their efforts and actions onto the supreme OBJECTIVE of eliminating General Museveni’s anti-democratic tendencies. Of course, President Museveni can easily count on his various military outfits to cling to power. But, Ugandans can learn a thing or two from neighbouring Kenya – the People’s Power is mightier than the Gun!  Armed with their VOTE, and hardened by their DETERMINATION and LOVE FOR DEMOCRACY, the People are and Un-beatable and Unwinnable!
If the People are united and determined, and if they are armed with their VOTE, DEFEATING MUSEVENI AND THE NRM IN 2011 WILL BE LIKE DRINKING WATER. MUSEVENI AND NRM CAN GO, AND THEY WILL GO IN 2011.
Dr. Vincent Magombe
Africa Inform International.

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Weaker pound sterling good for Ugandans?

January 4, 2009 at 4:56 pm (Finance)
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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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English,Luganda and Morbid Jealousy

January 4, 2009 at 4:48 pm (CULTURE, KINGDOMS, POLITICS, Uncategorized)
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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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English,Luganda,China and Development

January 4, 2009 at 4:33 pm (CULTURE, KINGDOMS, POLITICS)
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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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Islam,slavery and N.Uganda

January 4, 2009 at 4:13 pm (CULTURE, History, Uncategorized)
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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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Who is Moses Kigongo

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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IK Musazi was not part of UPC

January 4, 2009 at 12:43 pm (History, POLITICS)
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Each generation must discover its historical mission which it must fulfil or betray’

(Frantz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth)

Upon discovering his generation’s mission, did IK Musazi fulfil or betray it?

1/10 The UNC was formed in 1952 by IK Musazi who it is reported, had first desired that the Kabaka of Buganda should be the leader of that party. The party was overwhelmingly Protestant, and in the early days, mainly composed of Baganda old Boys of Budo who formed 70% of the governing council. The UNC’s predominance of Baganda, in a country whose other communities felt with justification that the colonial authorities were favouring Buganda, and the preponderance of Protestants against the backdrop of favouritism for that denomination by the colonial government meant that the party, which also made claims to being pan-Ugandan and Pan-Africanist, had life threatening congenital abnormalities.

2/10 IK Musazi got caught between the hysteria of being born a Muganda and the history of finding himself a Ugandan. His subsequent treatment by his colleagues and associates such as AM Obote was incidental to those realities. Although Mr Muwanga reduces IK Musazi’s predicament to Gandophobia, when one examines the events and processes that surrounded the emergence and eventual demise of the UNC, one begins to wonder about the real phobias that obtained during those years of the heady history of the country that we have accustomed ourselves to calling ‘Uganda’. Was it Gandophobia or ‘Gandachauvinophobia’: the aversion to Buganda chauvinism and insular nationalism? Was it not Buganda’s ‘Ugandophobia’?

3/10 In 1953, when the UNC was just a year old, the political situation in Buganda changed drastically. HRH Kabaka Mutesa was deported to England when he when he obstructed Andrew Cohen’s democratisation agenda and pressured the colonial government to grant Buganda independence. The Kabaka’s stance was also partly a reaction to a speech by the Colonial Secretary, Mr Lyttleton in which the latter hinted on an East African federation, to which isolationist Mengo was opposed.

4/10 The UNC was then hijacked as the platform for agitation for the return of the Kabaka, thus turning the party into a tribal outfit, making it lose its nationalist credentials. During the crisis of the Kabaka’s exile, UNC membership climbed to 50,000, from about 5,000.

5/10 The UNC, not only demanded for the return of the Kabaka, but as if to contradict its own name, made the independence of Buganda its rallying call. This only served to alienate and estrange the original social base of the UNC particularly in the cash-crop growing areas of Lango, Acholi, Teso and Bukedi and to make them rethink their future association with an organisation whose orientation was exclusively Gandacentric.

6/10 In the biggest meeting ever to be held by the UNC, no non-Baganda were invited, and two elected Lukiiko members were among the key-note speakers. The resolutions of that meeting served to make it clear for non-Buganda UNC members as to the party’s calling. That resolution was, for all intents and purposes, the party’s swan song as a national organisation. The Uganda Post of September 25, 1953 and Uganda Herald, of October 24, 1953 carried the resolution which I partly quote:

“We disagree with being united with those territories which have different customs, ways of living, and agreements which are entirely different from ours. For that reason, we, the members of the UNC, Buganda Branch, have met and decided that Buganda should be removed from the colonial office into the Foreign Office….In this determination to move from the colonial office to the Foreign Office we know that all our brothers who are the areas surrounding us, such as Toro, Ankole, Teso, Lango and other areas of Uganda, approve of this move and have the same determination. They are ready to hand in the same resolution. The reason why we have not mentioned them in this resolution is that Ssabasajja Kabaka of Buganda does not rule those areas. However, we confirm that in a few days, they will hand in their resolutions so that this decision …includes their areas as well. This decision …will be presented to Ssabasajja Kabaka and his government so that it can be discussed in the Lukiiko.”

7/10 With such a resolution and all its underlying attitudes, the writing was on the wall for non-Baganda UNC’s to find their own level. The logical consequence was the split-up of the party into the Gandacentric component that wanted an independent Buganda, and component for those with ‘different customs’. This led to the emergence of two UNCs, each of which was claiming to be the true one, one of them, IK Musazi’s, holding the views above, i.e., BNC, and the other one, AM Obote’s claiming to be Pan-Ugandan. There was also that non-starter, GL Binaisa’s United Congress Party (UCP). It is up to the reader to judge which of the two UNCs was destined to take centre stage as the future ‘nationalist’ organisation. I should point out that it would be incorrect to deduce that every Muganda member of the UNC supported IK Musazi’s abuse of the party by using it to pursue an exclusively Buganda agenda. In September 1954, Luyimbazi Zake strongly protested against the increasingly ‘tribalist’ and Ugandophobic stance of the party and went ahead to resign. It is in light of some of those observations that I would posit that, claims by Mr Muwanga regarding ageism and Gandophobia may be a smokescreen, and a little bit economical of the truth.

8/10 The return of the Kabaka in October 1955 marked the beginning of the end of the UNC. Its membership suddenly dropped from 50, 000 to 10,000 due to desertion back to the truly Buganda organisations, and generally to traditionalism. The deserters were later to re-emerge as Kabaka Yekka Even the UNC Secretary-general, Abu Mayanja ditched the UNC and joined the Kabaka’s government as minister of education.

9/10 What further tainted IK Musazi was his association with the so-called Uganda National Movement (UNM) formed by a furious and xenophobic demagogue, one Augustine Kamya, a Kampala cobbler. Ironically, key Buganda elites viewed Mr Kamya as an embodiment of the Kingdom’s aspirations and all fell in behind him (very much like the mechanical solidarity that runs key Acholi leaders into Mr J Kony’s cheerleaders). These included, as stated, IK Musazi’s ‘UNC’ (really BNC), another Budo old boy/Protestant outfit, Eridadi Mulira’s Progressive Party (PP), and GL Binaisa’s United Congress Party, one of the fragments of the fractured UNC. The UNM was used by Mengo as an instrument of terror during the trade boycott of non-African goods. Due to its terrorism, the UNM was proscribed by the colonial authorities and its key leaders including IK Musazi were arrested in various parts of the country. Musazi was also haunted by a history of forgery committed in the 1940s (see http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1951/mar/08/mr-ignatius-musazi-deportation )

10/10 After the October 1958 elections for the expansion of the Lagco, what was left of the UNC was the non-Buganda wing of AM Obote.. As soon as the new Legco met, a new ‘party’, the Uganda People’s Union (UPU) was formed, comprising the majority of the African representatives that neither belonged to UNC or DP. They were mainly leaders of their districts of origin. Against the background of the crisis caused boycott mentioned above, the UNC and UPU leaders in the Legco (where IK Musazi was not a member) closed ranks and formed the UPC. IK Musazi had long got entangled in exclusively Buganda battles to even be available to be excluded in the leadership contest for the UPC….I am not sure whether the Engur that Mr Muwanga has referred to is Mzee Engur, the interpreter for Lango colonial officers. I think he was not helped by the fact that his formal training was just as a medical dresser.

L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick

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