Ugandans-At-Heart

Besigye,Museveni and Kagame are all the same

October 28, 2009 at 12:15 am (2009 -2011 elections, Federalism, KINGDOMS, Kayiira Death, POLITICS)
Tags: lusoke willy

Ugandans at heart,

Please go slow on FDC and Federalism together with Kabaka AND Buganda issues. With all due respect, I have never gotten any impression that Besigye and Kagame are different from M7,at least from an ideological perspective.

Why?

From my experience with the three men during “the struggle” – I call it so because it was indeed a struggle for survival of the fittest – none of these men ever advocated for ‘Kabaka’ and Buganda in general. They only used to make fun of Kabaka that “he enjoys Banyarwandakazi”!!!! And that Baganda are ‘just empty tins and eternally scared by nothing” None of these guys has respect for Kabaka. It is true that for political reasons Kagame and Besigye threw some weight to Mengo and Kabaka i.e Kagame helped to send the ‘Prince’ to the military academy, etc and Besigye has been ‘an advocate’ for Kabaka of recent. I believe this is just to look for temporary allies!!! Those of you who were in Luweero and other areas during the struggle, you know the stories we used to hear and run about the Kabaka. By the way, the long run intention for sending the Prince to the academy is not positive for Buganda and Kabaka. It was planned. I do not want to go into this!!!!!!!!!!!

Guys, if Besigye had been different from M7 and he indeed supports the Baganda, why doesn’t he tell Baganda what befell their men like ‘Afande’ Kayira etc… is it because he (Besigye or Kagame) does/do not know the real story? Why doesn’t Besiigye tell Baganda what they did to Baganda during the Luweero war? Why doesn’t he tell Baganda what they did to Baganda in Masaka and Mpigi who were ‘UPC’ – remember the ‘kabazi’ which they told you it was Nkwanga doing it. Pure lies. It was not Nkwanga men. It was M7!!! Didn’t Besigye join the ‘camp’ in Kikoma to foresee the ‘Kabazi’ project in Masaka!!!!! How many Baganda perished? Was there any Munyarwanda save for the other guy of Villa – Maria called Muwonge who was hit from his own sitting room with an ax he had fixed the very evening!!! Has Besigye ever told you his position over Kabaka in the Gulu meeting which he attended?Anyway, fool yourselves!!! You will again be disappointed!!!

Concerns about FRONASA are valid but Ugandans may not get a lot about it for the time being until somewhere in May 2010 or even after when all that stuff will be out in form of a book.Be sure, the world will have lots of information from this work.But again, we posted a lot of it on “radio Katwe”. You might have to consult this source for some pieces.

Banange, mundeke. Naye, do not take things for granted. We took things for granted with our Kagame and now some of us regret!!! ‘It is not gold’!!!OK.

LUSOKE WILLY

UAH forumist and former Luwero bush fighter residing in USA

Role of Traditional Leaders-What is the government’s strategy?

October 26, 2009 at 5:53 pm (2009 -2011 elections, CULTURE, Diaspora)
Tags: Tendo Kaluma

Fellow Ugandans,

Interesting speech from the president especially now in the aftermath of the Riots-note the time; August 2, 1993. At the opening of Mengo’s Lukiiko, why has the sharing of power with the Lukiiko not been such a good experience for the president?

Is he expecting too much from them or has this body been rendered a toothless tiger, mandated to lead but left virtually powerless. They were given all the titles to function as a regional government, but with no money and power to carry out their jobs effectively.

A couple of years ago, I ran into one attorney general of Buganda-who was young and full of brilliant ideas, my interest in meeting him was purely from the stand point of finding out what crimes being committed on Buganda soil to warrant his presence.

I wanted to know whether he had the powers to arrest a simple thief found stealing stuff in Buganda, and to my surprise he didn’t. Well some of our legal experts on this forum will cite the constitution and claim that it is binding and he as a regional attorney general, he is supposed to look the other way when a crime is being committed in his region!

So I will try to wear my not so dumb hat -and ask the question: why would you create a title for a man that every one recognizes automatically, as the keeper of the law and make him toothless? Why would the kalangala courts carry jurisdiction while the one legitimately recognized is rendered useless.

You are damn right ,we still have lots of work to do, especially with the kingdoms and the main regional of Uganda.

There among us folks who are all “gang ho” about East African federations, we will be eaten alive an a huge federation, if we are not able to put our own house in order. Putting our house in order will have to start at the ethnic village level and some way of finding an assembly that gives us one voice in UNISON-without inter tribal disputes in the overtone.

And now I see the president discovering newer kings within integrated ethnic tribes and something in me wants to warn them-and say don’t do it, you have just become another ladder in an NGO: Because he has not provided the support structure to give life to all those titles on paper as witnessed in Buganda.

Yet the people have placed so much faith in them as time tested structures to resolve a slew disputes including land, family and inter-clan misunderstanding. I hope his strategy is not to have as many stooges as possible to be used to resist inter clan reforms necessary to have a solid block.

If we cannot resolve democratization issues at the tribal level, what makes us think we can make progress when we merge with folks who bring a whole new baggage of problems.

There are issues such as the Nomads problem, that could be solved in a joint East African manner since we’d be looking at a huge chunk of land for grazing from each member, but house cleaning work has to be done by us first, and I’m not impressed with the half measures and effort that we have done in this realm.

The president seems to be undoing work on the tribal level that was done by ancient kings, and in doing so he is arming new kings with ammunition to bring about war within large integrated tribes like the Baganda.

I’m saying this of the entire country and it’s collective groups, not to exclude those original 15 tribes. There is incredible preparation work necessary to co-join and form unions for either a local or bigger federation, if that is the plan. Some of our folks don’t even know the budgetary requirements of their region or a constitution in place to protect them from the ill effects of any federation.

We could take a lesson or two from the recent forming of the European union. Countries were asked to carry out the necessary reforms that bring about ease of integration. When you look at us, we have been seating in this East African club of nations for some years now, but no memo has come from our top leaders there to give a heads up at the tribal or ethnic level or to provide with the required tenets, in preparation for the bigger thing.

People cannot be herded like that, they need time to get organized and structures need to be put in place to make such moves. We need communication from honorable kategaya, as to what they are planning for us in the future. Do you honestly think Rwanda is training all these IT folks without a plan ?

I’m afraid this preparation requires years not months. If this is happening now, it is being done so secretly that only a few people are made aware of it-but one cannot move 30 million people into an organization(East African federation) without preparing them, even cows going into a kraal in the evening need time otherwise they resist the rush.

Tendo Kaluma

Boston Residence and a Ugandan

Letter to President Barack Obama

October 26, 2009 at 5:10 pm (2009 -2011 elections, Diaspora, POLITICS)
Tags: lugwema FN

Modify the attached letter as appropriate and send to your Congressmen and other people. I just sent mine to Senators Robert P. Casey and Arlen Specter here in “rural” Pennsylvania. I will be sending the same letter every week until I get a response from one of the two senators.

Don’t ever give up, even as the US gives more aid to Uganda.

*13 Uganda Federal Union States*
AcholiAnkoleBugandaBugisu-Sebei
BukediBunyoroBusogaKaramoja
KigeziLangoTesoTooro
West Nile-Madi

Open letter to the Leader of the free World
Mr. Barack H. Obama, President of the United States
Dear Mr. President,
When you delivered that historical speech in Accra, Ghana, Africa „hang‟ on your everyword – in fact many of us still do! In that speech you acknowledged the tragic past that has haunted Africa, and reminded us that the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants. Indeed, African leaders must take responsibility for the atrocities meted on the peoples of Africa.

Mr. President I am happy to inform you that efforts to take responsibilities for our own future have taken root in Uganda. However, the major concern is in respect to the United States‟ foreign policy towards Museveni which differs fundamentally from its foreign relations with other Sub-Saharan African countries. Indeed, despite Museveni‟s one-party style of governance,human rights abuses, the wanton killings of unarmed citizens, the United States continues to be supportive of his regime through aid which is said to be close to 50% of his budget. Moreover, the “soft-approach” to Museveni‟s regime taken by the United States in democratising Uganda is problematic and counter to the political democratization of the country and the responsibilities to the peoples of Uganda that Museveni should have assumed over the years. If this relationship continues, the United States would gravely be implicated in the gross human rights abuses that characterize Museveni‟s regime.

Over the last 23 years, Museveni has demonstrated that he cannot be trusted to open up the political space for a true multi-party system and for the rule law to emerge in Uganda. In addition, he amended the constitution to remove term-limits so that he can run indefinitely. Should Ugandans be concerned that the United States national interests would continue to impede Uganda‟s efforts to democratise? Such questions continue to boggle our minds but confident that you will ensure that they are dealt with appropriately.

The other most precarious human rights situation which exists in Uganda, and perhaps in the world, is the continual brutality being inflicted on the people in Northern Uganda. Therelentless war between Museveni and Kony has affected this part of the country for 19 years.

The issue of “ghost soldiers” made it very clear that Museveni had no intention of protecting people living in this region. What is not clear though, is why the United States continues to support Museveni irrespective of these irregularities. It would be comforting to learn from United States‟ actions that Uganda, the country, is important to the United States – not just Museveni; and hope that US foreign policy with Uganda will not act as an impedimental factor to enduring governance reforms that Ugandans seek.

May the Lord keep you safe for the good of humanity.

Christine Nabukeera

Kabaka-M7 meeting 2

October 26, 2009 at 3:14 pm (Uncategorized)

more about "Kabaka-M7 meeting 2", posted with vodpod

kabaka and buganda

October 26, 2009 at 3:11 pm (Uncategorized)

more about "kabaka and buganda", posted with vodpod

Kabaka-M7 meeting 1

October 26, 2009 at 3:09 pm (Uncategorized)

more about "Kabaka-M7 meeting 1", posted with vodpod

Museveni and Child Soldiers

October 26, 2009 at 3:06 pm (Uncategorized)

museveni and child soldiers

more about "Museveni and Child Soldiers", posted with vodpod

Let Njuba and others write books for future generation

October 26, 2009 at 2:33 pm (2009 -2011 elections, POLITICS)
Tags: WB Kyijomanyi

People;

Let all those Ugandans who played some role put their thoughts in writing. Let Hon. Sam Kalega Njuba write a book about his experience for future posterity. There are many others who should write their memoirs, people such as, Dr Ssemmogerere, Mzee Byanyima, Mzee Cuthbert Obwangor, Mzee Adoko Nekyon, Mzee Tiberio Okeny, Mr Bidandi Ssali, Dr Rugumayo, Mr Nabudere, Professor Ssentenza-Kajubi, Mzee Mayanja-Nkangi, Mr Samuel Wako Wambuzi, Dr Martin Aliker, Mr Chris rwakasisi, Mzee Badru Wegulo, former education Minister under Amin, Brigadier Barnabas Killi-how did he do such a better job than today’s lot-Justice Kanyeihamba, Justice Mulenga and many ways and others.

These and others know a lot about the troubled events in Uganda’s history. For the good of Uganda, they should share their views with the future generation. Time to write is now. Their books/memoirs do not have to be long. They could motivate their thoughts in 100 pages or less less the way the former Enganzi did. The media and political folks who have access to these lucky Ugandans should plead with them to write books about their experiences.

Uganda’s history will be poorer if these men and women too take their experiences to heaven. There are some women who know a lot about Ugandan politicians in many ways. They too should write about their experiences. For Uganda’s future, they should be urged to write books. If many feel their revelations could be earth shaking, they could opt to publish them posthumously. They also be encouraged to donate their papers to their alma mater’s for future research.

WBK

Instead of a regional tier lets try a new ethnically balanced senatorial structure to bring about a balance of power

October 23, 2009 at 7:33 am (2009 -2011 elections, CULTURE, Federalism)
Tags: Tendo Kaluma

Fellow Ugandans,

Buganda took a long view of the regional tier and decided that it was dead on arrival. Fellows who have Buganda at heart like Katikiro Dan Mulika, view it as yet another gimmick that would eventually provide an additional power edge to the majority party.

Due to the sheer numbers and an unfair advantage of NRM officers in government ,any proposal to bring about a balance in the decision making machinery will require a genuine shift in paradigm, designed on pure proportionality of ethnic numbers(numerics) to be viewed as meaningful by all players in the huddle.

A long view on Ugandan issues of power these days is generally centered around a single cow kyozi which has gulped up all the fields as the saying goes. The problem of checks and balances both in terms of political numbers for legislation and other organs of the state vital to decisions making is currently a magical funnel with the NRM party at the obvious end that holds most of the volume.

The tipped balance as is currently evidenced has brought in un sustainable levels of bias in the system, completely ignoring inherent loops designed for feed back and stability. What we have built is a completely unstable system which has shown signs of fatigue and chaotic behaviour due to lopsidedness.

How do we solve the chaos that surrounds us in an unbiased manner?

The answer lays in looking at other alternative structures of governance with a capability of instituting the missing balance. The regional tier though good for inter regional commerce is not among them, it is too simplistic to provide a lasting solution to a range of complex structural issues of not only service delivery, but graft and trust by the majority of Ugandans to provide lasting change.

The arguments forwarded for the regional tier were not convincing enough for it not to be viewed as yet another round robin structure designed to feed to an already overwhelmed hub of the NRM party. We need devolution in a more realistic sense and the answer lays in ethnicity thus the idea below.

A few weeks ago upon hearing about the revival of the regional tier, I hinted on a system of ridding the state of ministers who have been ineffective on delivery in their respective ministries, in lieu of a more ethnically proportionate balanced senatorial body filled by ethnic senators from the 15 original tribes of Uganda. This elite body will assume the administrative tasks now run rather inefficiently by the permanent secretaries of each ministry.

This proposed group of senators will form the necessary committees to run the affairs of the state efficiently with veto power to compliment the current parliamentary body and a similar ethnically balanced judiciary.

I further proposed a similar proportionately balanced ethnic structure for our supreme court, and any regulatory body that has to make decisions that impact the majority of the people.

It is my hope that Majority tribes like the Baganda, Iteso and others will need to come up with the necessary formula that reflects their size to represent the will of their people. I hope any Buganda negotiations with the central government will be geared towards an improved structure of governance for all the people of Uganda and not just those with powerful cultural leaders.

I hope all interested Ugandans can start to look at this very simple but necessary adjustment in the structures of governance as steps that we can implement to arrest not only corruption that has become rampant, but as a way of returning our central government back from the malaise of a single ruling ethnic group of the time.

I’m not sure where we lost this senatorial structure, perhaps during 1967, when the president then was more interested in controlling the administrative structures. After the abrogation of the constitution and removal of all kingdoms; he deliberately chose not to enhanced the existing system with a senate (or house of the Lords) thus causing the systemic failure as observed.

When one looks at the current adopted system this missing structure sticks out like a sore thumb, and it’s absence is witnessed in many of the constitutional gaffs of our time.

Parliament will remain as it is, where folks of all walks of life from dominant and non dominant political parties can convene and deliberate about our issues of the day, however qualification to the senate will require a more elite cadre. The choice of who is sent to the senate will remain purely in the hands of these 15 original ethnic groups.

Tendo kaluma

Ugandan in Boston

3 Comments

The Regional Tier versus Federalism

October 23, 2009 at 5:42 am (Diaspora, Federalism)

By Joseph Senyonjo

New York, New York

The Regional Tier versus Federalism

The New Vision reported on July 3^rd, 2004 that the Uganda Cabinet had proposed a regional tier system for regions that desire it. The districts of Buganda would be deemed to have formed a regional tier. The central government would give some powers to the regional tier and to the districts. Districts would form a regional council.

The proposed regional tier system may at first glance seem to give way to de facto federalism. Indeed, while announcing the proposal, the government statement conceded one of federalism advocates’ major points: it pointed out that some districts are too small, and that the regional tier would enable them to pool resources.

Wherein lies the difference between Federalism and the proposed Regional tier? The fundamental difference lies in the conception and the spirit, as well as, the structural and constitutional underpinnings of the proposed system.

Structural and Constitutional Issues

There are two structural and constitutional issues that distinguish the proposed regional tier from genuine federalism.

First, the regional tier and the districts would essentially be mere agents of the central government. In genuine federal Systems such as those of the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada and Australia, among others, jurisdiction is constitutionally demarcated among the three levels of government: Federal (central), State (regional) and local (districts, counties, cities) in such a way that none of the levels derives its fundamental powers from any of the others. None of the levels can arbitrarily infringe on the other’s jurisdiction. In the proposed regional tier these powers and privileges would be contingent on the central government’s goodwill. Worse still, the proposed regional tier would be dependent on the ability of the districts to work cooperatively with it while they, simultaneously, report to the central government. Federal systems have no room for the central government agents in local politics, at either regional or local levels, yet all Uganda’s districts have Presidential appointees, the Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), charged with overseeing the districts.

Second, federal systems are designed to ensure national stability through regional checks on powers of potentially autocratic central governments. Consequently, federal regions are indivisible, that is, they cannot be broken apart. Their boundaries are inviolable. The Uganda cabinet’s proposed regional tier system, on other hand, stipulates that districts could withdraw from the regional tier by votes of two-thirds of the district councils. Such an arrangement would be a recipe for instability and disaster due to the inevitable acrimony among the different levels of government. The system would render the regional tier hostage to the districts since districts could threaten to withdraw from the system. In effect, the regions and the districts would be powerless to check on the excesses of the central government, since they would ultimately be consumed in petty power plays among themselves.

The Conception and the Spirit of the proposed regional tier

The proposed regional tier further falls short of federalism in that it was clearly conceived as a stopgap measure designed to contain Buganda’s federalism demands. The abiding spirit within the cabinet was clearly that of the unitary status quo rather than genuine empowerment of all Uganda’s people through powerful regions that would work in concert with the central government to address Uganda’s chronic under-development. If it were otherwise, the cabinet would not have ignored submissions to the Constitutional Review Commission from Acholi, Bunyoro, Busoga, and West Nile that also requested implementation of a federal system of government for Uganda.

The Example of the American Founding Fathers

When the U.S. ‘founding fathers’ started their campaign for federalism, they set out to educate the people on the benefits of federalism despite the fact that not all American regions at the time understood, nor appreciated the need for federalism. Some political elites from the various regions preferred a confederacy that essentially left most of the powers to the states with the central government having very little power; others preferred a unitary system. The founding fathers were far-sighted enough to ensure that the new constitution would be grounded on a system that would ensure its stability. They choose federalism– over a both a confederation and a unitary system– based on the fact that it ensured that all regions could advance many of their economic and political interests without interference, or veto of the central government, while simultaneously ensuring that the central government was powerful enough to guarantee the unity and harmony of the country. Federalism ensured that all of America’s regions had a stake in the integrity of the constitution since it empowered them to protect their interests.

Major components of a genuine Federal constitution

First, there would be a national federal constitution that gives equal powers and privileges to all regions while allowing for regional differences in administration within the bounds of the national constitution.

Second, there would be states / regions with capitals and regional constitutions.

Third, there would be elected regional legislatures in which all the districts, or counties, in each region would be represented. Kingdom regional legislatures could have upper chambers specially representing cultural interests such as clans, and ethnic minorities.

Fourth, the governors of the regions, including the Katikiro in Buganda, would be elected officials. In kingdom regions, the candidates for election as governor, or Katikiro, in Buganda, would go through a nomination process with the involvement of traditional rulers. The traditional rulers would be the constitutional heads of areas where they are wanted, but would not be involved in partisan politics.

Fifth, the national legislature would have two chambers: the lower house, representing constituencies, and the upper house, similar to the senate in the United States, representing each of the regions. While in the lower house more populous regions would have more seats, in the Upper House all regions would have an equal number of representatives to guarantee that all regions small or big have an equal chance to protect, or advance their interests.

Sixth, the federal equalization concept would constitutionally ensure that funds are redistributed — via pre-established formulas — to less privileged regions to help them achieve and maintain standards of living which are, at the very least, comparable to the national average. The federal government would help ensure that social services such as roads, schools and hospitals in less privileged regions are built up to a desirable national standard.

In conclusion, unlike the proposed regional tier, or the 1962 constitution, a genuine federal system for Uganda would encompass all of Uganda’s regions. The architects of the system would have to transcend a 1962-like semi-federal arrangement, which many Ugandans mistakenly believe is representative of true federalism in a Ugandan context. The 1962 arrangement was not a genuine federal arrangement for Uganda. Under the arrangement, one region was heavily favored, because it was sophisticated and organized enough to strongly negotiate for a certain level of self-determination, while most other regions were content to cede much of their power to the central government. The system was so imbalanced that it exposed Buganda, the only true federal region at the time, to envious talk of being a state within a state.

In Federal Uganda all the regions would have equivalent constitutional powers to raise and mobilize resources locally, nationally and internationally, without undue interference from the central government. There would be elected regional assemblies and governors, along with special accommodation for the role of cultural leaders. Once empowered, by the federal constitution, all Ugandans regions would jealously guard it against encroachment. The Ugandan nation-state would for the first time in its history gain legitimacy in the minds of all Uganda’s people — leading to lasting stability and prosperity.

Long Live Federalism!

Visit www.federo.com, and check out the report that Ugandans in the Diaspora presented to Constitutional Review Commission regarding federalism.

Joseph Senyonjo

UAH forumist residing in USA

Dr. Henry Gombya lied about me in the story he published in the str8chronicle

October 23, 2009 at 4:55 am (Diaspora, POLITICS, torture in uganda)
Tags: john Rubin

Fellow Ugandans,
I convey this message to the UAH forum after many hours of restlessness and confusion, for the trust I feel was misplaced. I write this message knowing that many of you will read it with the purpose of understanding and of course, as in every society some may read it with indifference. However, I am not worried about that. This concerns Dr. Henry Gombya and the story he published in the str8chronicle, which I believe many of you have read. I here convey to you my reaction to the story he wrote and published without my prior consent for approval of the contents. He has since not replied to my e-mail I wrote to him expressing my disappointment. However, I convey to you the e-mail to Dr.
Henry Gombya in its entity, so that you may judge his journalistic work for your selves
and perhaps inform me and the forum what you think. This e-mail also puts right the statements which may have been deliberately or otherwise wrongly presented.
The purpose of his visit was to interview me about my case which also had been partly judged by the United Nations Human Rights Committee. The case had attracted many, including the Danish media who came to my residence in Denmark to interview me for the Danish Television. The UNHRC ruled that Denmark observed remedy and to make sure that the mistake never occurs again in the future. However Denmark ignored the ruling of the UNHRC and after waiting two and a half years for the implementaion of the ruling to no avail, I left the country with the purpose of requesting another country to inform Denmark to respect the ruling of the UNHRC.

I hope that this message will give you a better picture of what transpired, as opposed to Henry
Gombya’s ‘’sensational article”.
Byaruhanga Johny. Rubin.

UAH Forumist

Hello Henry,
I hope this e-mail finds you in the best of your health, as I appreciate mine. I tried to find the story on the internet this morning, but there was no network to my computer. I got the network a while ago and I have read through the story. Since you asked me to tell you what I think, I shall be honest with you. I think that you wrote the story hurriedly without even referring to the documents, the audio tapes and the notes which you took from here. Not only are there many mistakes in the story, it is also not written in a chronological manner. The story only raises more questions in the mind of the reader , as I mentioned above, chronology of the events
that led to my present situation was vital to the comprehension of the
story.
Without repeating what you wrote, let me give you some corrections. I am sure you will find the paragraphs that need correction.
1- I left Uganda in March, 1981. Within 24 Hours I was in Europe.

2- By 1983 I was undefeated in the German Bundesliga, so that I turned professional. By the end of 1984, the German Boxing Magazine, Boxsport ranked me no.10 in the World. The US Ring Magazine ranked me no.2 in the Commonwealth.

3- The National Resistance Army, NRA took power in January, 1986.
4- I requested the Danish police to communicate with the German Authorities to let me return to Germany which I considered home at the time. The police requested for the telephone number of where I was residing and I gave it to them. It was an unregistered number. The
next day I received a telephone call from the Danish Boxing Promoter, Mr. Mogens Palle. The police called me several days later and wanted me at their station. I went there and I was told that the Germans could not take me. At that moment the police advised me to apply for asylum in Denmark. They instructed me how to do it and they took my statements for asylum.

5- My sons Henry and Ronny, their mother comes from Gombe, Butambala. She disappeared during the war that overthrew President Idi Amin.
When Henry and Ronny’s mother disappeared, I met the Tanzanian girl who had come to visit her uncle in Kampala. Her uncle was a childhood friend of mine and so was the Tanzanian girl. I asked her if she could help me take care of my children because it was during the time of war and as a Platoon Commander, I was extremely busy. After several Weeks, she wanted to return to Tanzania. She told me
that if I wanted her to stay helping me with the children, I had to marry her. Thence we became intimate and she conceived. She is the mother of my daughter who lives in Denmark.
6- By 1989 when I learned that the National Resistance Army/Movement (NRA/M) had taken the children to their army, Ronny was 9 years old and Henry was 11 years old. They were not ”teen age”, as you put it in the news.

7- May 6, 1996 the culprit rang the doorbell. He could not have knocked the door. My appartment was on the 2nd floor.
8- When the man attacked me, I was trying to run away from him when he stabbed me on above my left wrist.I did not fight him. However, as I turned trying to run away from him, I tripped on the pavement and fell. That is when he stabbed me again twice, once close to my waist and once again on my buttock. Someone shouted from one of the apartments
above us and that is when the culprit fled. I saw him talking to a woman who spoke from the window above. He took the key from his pocket and opened the main door. I walked to the door and read the name on the apartment doorbell of which the woman spoke.I suspected that the culprit lived in the same apartment with the woman. As I tried to walk away from their main door, I was bleeding profusely. I felt dizzy and weak, so that I could not walk any more. I collapsed and was picked from there by the Ambulance staff and rushed to the Hospital. I spent about 4 hours in the Hospital.

9- The Doctors advised me to go to the police and make a statement about what had happened. I phoned a friend, Charles Muteguya (Not Mutebi) who came with a car and drove me to the Police where I identified myself. The Police Officer checked with the computer, after which he asked me, ”Bore De i Danmark?” Do you live in Denmark?. I told him that ”We
are speaking Danish. If I was not living in Denmark, where do you think I could have learned the language?”, I asked him. He then told me that according to the computer I did not exist in the Immigration files. He told me to sit in another room and wait, as he made telephone calls. He told me later that, ”We cannot find your immigration files and therefore we have to open a new file for you”. The new file was opened and I received a new Immigration Number. After that, my interview about how and what had happened to me commenced. I was assured by the police that the culprit would be apprehended. My friend, Charles Muteguya drove me home with his car.

10- Although my neighbours told me affirmatively that the culprit had been arrested, within less than two Weeks, after 10 days precisely I received a letter from the police stating that, ”the culprit could not be found, therefore the case is closed”.

11- On the way to dowtown Copenhagen, there was a bus stop, next to the Police Station. It is the Police Station that handled my case.
12- On the 31 July, 1997 I received a letter from the Danish Immigration Authority that my wife and daughter would soon be coming to Denmark. I was so happy, so that after preparing a meal, I decided to take a walk downtown Copenhagen. On my return that afternoon, my key could not open my apartment door. The lock had been changed. Whence I remained homeless for about a year. Later I received a letter from the Post Office, written by the police to inform me that all my belongings had been auctioned. Up to this day, there is no accountability of my belongings which the Danish police claimed to have auctioned without consulting me.

13- The last paragraph you wrote, ”The story took another turn when the Lawyer who defended him, Ms Tine Vuust, said she was shocked that a Court in
Denmark could find a person guilty of such a serious crime on flimsy evidence”. There was NO evidence atall. Even the boyfriend of the Prosecution’s witness to whose case I was allegedly linked, was not allowed to come to the Court and testify.

14- When I fled Denmark, I did not request for asylum in the Netherlands. This was the idea of my Dutch Lawyers who thought it necessary. My idea was to request the Netherlands to help me inform Denmark to respect the ruling by the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

15- Pastor Mient Dijkstra did not say that he would help me aquire asylum in the Netherlands. He is sympathetic and concerned about my situation and so is his family.
Although you interviewed me for several hours in which I told you almost the whole story about my troubles in Denmark and how my daughter managed to come,you wrote nothing about that. How I was instructed by the
Danish Immigration to go to Tanzania and bring my daughter and how she got stranded in Dar es Salaam for four years, was not mentioned. How I was eventually told by the Immigration Authority that my daughter could not be allowed to come to Denmark because I was ”not married” and how my fiance’e was deported from Copenhagen Kastrup Airport, was not mentioned. How my wife and daughter eventually got permision to come to Denmark, was not mentioned. Infact, how and why I was imprisoned is not clarified. How I was denied a Lawyer of my choice, is not mentioned. You have a copy of the statement made by the Court President, in which it is stated that, ”You cannot change the Lawyer….” You have not mentioned how I smuggled a letter from prison to another Lawyer, Mr.Tyge Trier. You have not mentioned that the Lawyer, Ms Tine Vuust wrote a letter to Mr. Tyge Trier to inform him that the Police ”has taken the Case File to be destroyed”, so that Mr. Trier
could not find out why I was in prison and why I was beeing deported to Uganda.
Henry, very frankly the story leaves many questions and infact gives a suspicion that I commited the crime for which I was imprisoned. Even the previous attempt by the Danish police to arrest me under, Anti Terror Statute was not mentioned. Do you remember, the Ugandan function in which the Ugandan Ambassador and other Diplomats were in attendance, after which the police squad came and ordered us out ‘’slowly”, that there could be a bomb? I was later informed by the Danish police that I was their prime suspect in the threat calls to the Ugandan Embassy and the bomb threat to the function I mentioned above. Well, all that did not qualify for a sentence in your story.

Anyway, atleast the correction of the errors I have pointed out will be a positive step, if you donot inted to re-write the story
correctly.
I wish you all the best, as I hope to hear from you at your earliest convenience.
Yours brotherly,
Byaruhanga, Jonny Rubin.

–

http://ugandansatheart.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/why-is-sport-not-taken-seriously-in-uganda/

The True Byaruhanga Rubin’s Story in his own words(part 1)

October 23, 2009 at 4:34 am (Diaspora, Sports, torture in uganda)
Tags: Jonny Rubin Byaruhanga

Dear Ugandans

This concerns Dr. Henry Gombya and the story he published in the str8chronicle, which I believe many of you have read. I here convey to you my reaction to the story he wrote and published without my prior consent for approval of the contents

The story by Henry Gombya was, in my view wisely distorted. What I wrote to him expressing my disappointment is just the skeleton of the real story. I kept it from the UAH forum because of its sensitivity and the fact that the creators of the problem are heavyweights that I have failed to defeat after all these years.

When I conveyed my disappointment about Gombya’s story to the UAH forum, I expected questions. As I pointed out earlier, the corrections I made about Gombya’s story are just a ‘’skeleton” of the Story.
Do you remember the article about sports in Uganda that I wrote?

I stated that the professional Boxing Promoters are very powerful, so that none messes with them. You mess with one, you’ve messed with them all. However, Germany did not do anything wrong to me. The problems are all from the time I was advised by the Danish police to apply for asylum. Although I gave the police an unregistered telephone number of where I was staying, it is the Danish Boxing Promoter who telephoned me and wanted to sign me under his management. After the advice from a compatriot who was, in my view very kind and honest to me, I turned down the offer for the boxing contract. I did not understand at the time that all the delays and derailments of my requests might be linked to the refusal of the boxing contract. Today, I suspect that the police made a deal with the Boxing Promoter to block my return to Germany, hoping that I would eventually sign a contract to fight for Denmark.
       There were many disappointments over the years, but always thought that it was bureaucracy to blame. You have read through my mail of correction to Gombya’s story, so that you know a bit of what transpired. The ”Knock out blow” by the Danish police was when they approached me and claimed to ask for my help. They told me that they had checked me out and found that I was the Coordinator for Pan African Forum and President of the Union of Ugandans in Denmark. I had just left the class for the day, at the Danish School of Transport. They told me that if I did not mind, we could discuss the matter at their station. I said that I did not mind. They took me to the Police Headquarters. There, they showed me many photographs of Africans. They asked if I recognized any of them. I told them that I recognized some of them, at least by one name. They told me that those photos are of smugglers of illegal narcotics into Denmark and that’s why they needed my help. I asked how I could be of help. They told me that in my capacity as the Coordinator for the Pan African Forum and President of the Union of Ugandans, I was a well respected person in the African community. That they would take me to a Court Justice to whom I should say that I suspect Africans for smuggling and selling of illegal narcotics in Denmark. By that they said, the Court Justice would give the police authority to ”remove those Africans from the streets”. I told the police that I did not suspect any African because none of those in the photographs is known personally to me. I also said that if I did that, I would be telling lies to the Court Justice and I would later be charged for it. They told me that I should not worry about that because after investigating, the innocent ones would be released. I still told them that it would be wrong to incriminate probably innocent people. They angrily told me that if I did not help them, I would be the one to go to prison. They told me to think about it and left me in the office. After a while, they returned and asked if I had made up my mind. I told them that I had made up my mind. One of the policemen said, ”I knew you would be wise”. I told them that I have decided not to lie to the Court Justice. One of the cops punched me on the head and then lifted me by the shirt collar saying, ”You are going to prison now”. Although the punch on my head was very painful, I thought that they were trying to scare me. I believed that it was impossible simply to throw me into prison without commiting a crime. I was wrong. When I realized that they were serious, I asked to telephone my family. They told me that I had many years to telephone my family from prison. They drove me to the Vester Faengsel (prison). As I was escorted by the prison guard to the cell, I requested to telephone my wife, but I was told that I should have telephoned from the police because they, the guards are very busy. The following morning I was taken to the Court, only the Procecutor to request for my detention for two Weeks in isolation, while they carried on their investigation. The man who had been introduced to me as my Defence Lawyer, was even more aggressive than the police. He did not even ask to know why I was being detained in isolation. He only told me that it was a serious matter. After the Prosecutor made his request to the Judge, the Judge asked ”my Defence Lawyer” if he had any objection. He answered that he did not have any. The Judge then ordered that I be detained for two Weeks in isolation. I raised my hand and the Judge asked if I had something to say. I told him that, ”I was detained yesterday, but have not even communicated with my family”. He ordered that I be given a telephone to call my family. After about half an hour, I was allowed to call my family.
       Anyway, to cut the long story short, I wrote a letter to the Court President requesting to change the Lawyer. I got no response, until I went to Court after the two Weeks in isolation. At the Court, the Judge introduced another Lawyer to me saying that my ”Lawyer is unable to come today due to lots of work”. I told the Judge that I don’t want him, and I have written to the Court President requesting to change my Defence Lawyer. He told me that before I am allowed to change the Lawyer, I should cooperate with the one offered by the Court. The lady Lawyer told me that I would not be released and that if I gave her a chance, she would try to find out why I was being held in prison. The Prosecutor requested for two more Weeks and that was granted.
       On my return to the prison, I was told that I had a letter in the office. It was the letter I had sent to the Court President. There was a response on it that, ”You can not be allowed to change the Lawyer….”
       After about three months, the prosecution brought a Tanzanian woman from prison, as their witness against me in a case that I knew nothing about. That’s when the woman claimed that in the Summer of 1999, she and her former boyfriend met me in Sweden and drove with me back to Dennmark. She claimed that her boyfriend had told her that I had 300 grams of heroin for her boyfriend. She continued to say that they brought me to my ”residence in Tingbjerg, Copenhagen. Asked whether she saw the heroin or heard her boyfriend and I talk about the heroin, she answered that she did not see any heroin and that she did not hear us talk about it. But she said that there was a smell of shit in the car. Asked where the smell came from, she answered that she did not know. Her ”boyfriend” was never brought to testify. I was then found guilty and sentenced to 2 and a half years in prison and expulsion from Denmark. I was shocked. My Defence Lawyer appealed the sentence. We returned to Court about 5 months later. The Tanzanian woman repeated her claims, but with lots of contradictions from her previous claims in the previous Court. She was asked whether she was sure my residence they drove me to was in Tingbjerg, Copenhagen. She replied that she knew the place very well and that she even had friends living there. She was later led out of the Court room. The Prosecutor then told the Court that after the testimony by the witness, I be jailed for a period not less than 3 years and be expelled from Denmark. My Defence Lawyer stood up and handed a document to the Judge and another one to the Prosecutor. She said that the witness for the Prosecution ”is not truthful”. She said that in the Summer of 1999 she, the witness for the Prosecution was in prison and that there was no possibility for her to have travelled to Sweden with her boyfriend. The Lawyer handed another document to the Judge and another one to the Prosecutor. She then said that according to the document from the Housing Company, I ceased to reside in Tingbjerg, Copenhagen on 31st July, 1997 and that it was also not possible that the Prosecution witness and her boyfriend could have taken me to my ”apartment in Tingbjerg, Copenhagen”. However, after that I was found guilty and the sentence from the previous Court was upheld. My Defence Lawyer tried to appeal the sentence, but the appeal was denied. She was subsequently removed from the case.
        I was then transfered to Albertslund Faengsel (prison) where I was supposed to serve my sentence. In January, 2004 I smuggled a letter out of prison to the New African publications. You may find the letter on line in the New African of 1st February, 2004. The police had to warn me against such letters. Prior to the letter to New African I had smuggled a letter out of prison to another Lawyer. The new Lawyer sent a telefax to my former Defence Lawyer requesting for my case file, as he intended to represent me. The former Lawyer wrote him a confidential letter in which she stated that, ”The police has taken the case file to be destroyed”. Whether intentionaly or by mistake,I got a copy of the letter.The new Lawyer tried to reopen the case, but failed. I then sent a letter to the European Court of Human Rights. The Court sent me a document for the Lawyer representing me to sign. My new Lawyer told me that the European Court of Human Rights was not a good idea. He told me that he had sent the case to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. While the UNHRC was investigating the case and communicating with the state of Denmark in this regard, I was released from prison. Later the UNHRC ruled that Denmark ‘’should observe remedy and to make sure that the mistake never happens again in future”. Denmark appealed the decision. The UNHRC replied that, ”there was no Legal basis to appeal the Decision”.
        I waited 2 and a half years for Denmark to correct their mistake, to no avail. Instead I got a letter from the police ordering me to leave my family residence and be detained in Sandholm, north of Copenhagen.
        My coming to the Netherlands was to request the State of the Netherlands to inform the State of Denmark to respect the ruling by the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
        Hopefully, the details will be in the Book planned for the people, especially my children to know what happened, should anything happen to me before the young ones are old enough to understand.
        I know that some of the members of the UAH forum may be asking themselves the same question. Believe it or not, I am not with the habit of, ”an eye for an eye”. I was brought up with the knowledge that one lives peacefully forgiving those who tresspass against him. I have no intention to sue him, but I shall tell him if or when we meet again, that he hurt me very much. You saw the mail I wrote to him expressing my disappointment, but in a brotherly manner. I know that the Dutch family whose hospitality he dishonoured by publishing their photographs in the story that does not concern them, are very unhappy. The man is a Pastor and a Senior Official of Defence. I can not talk on their behalf, but if Gombya has to worry, the publication of that family’s names and photographs without prior consultation, should be enough.
         I thank you for your concern.
                                                                BJ. Rubin.

UAH Forumist in Europe

There is enough food in Uganda

October 22, 2009 at 3:44 pm (2009 -2011 elections, Food and health, POLITICS)
Tags: Joshua Kato

Dear Ugandans,

There is food in Uganda however the problem is with the food distribution system. This is why while there is food insecurity in Teso, bananas are rotting away on plantations in Bushenyi! This shows that the problem is with the distribution chain. If you want to know that Ugandans grow food, just visit Koboko and Nimule. You will be amazed by the tens of trucks carrying food into the Sudan. That is the same case with the borders of DRC and Kenya. It is because Uganda supplies food to all these countries that i refer to it as a food basket. And yet, while this food is being eaten by the Sudanese and Congolese, there are people sort of food in Teso. This means that the distribution chain has to be improved.

You will also realize that for the last two years, all the flour that the WFP has supplied in Uganda was bought from Ugandan farmers. WFP buys from those who have and districts it to those who do not have and that chain some how improves the food distribution system.

At the moment, we are selling food to all neighboring countries including the Sudan and Kenya, but we should expand and sell food even to Ethiopia and Eritrea, countries that have got the worst food insecurity.

On the subject of performance, note that the hunger and poverty is more prevalent in areas led by opposition MPs and Local leaders and not by NRM local leaders. Such areas include Teso, where NRM has got only 3 MPs, Acholi were NRM has got only 1 MP and West-Nile.

For the record, Rwanda is far below Uganda in all features of social development. For example, while poverty levels are 31% in Uganda, they are 40% in Rwanda, even with production of foods, Uganda according to all recent Global Indexs is the regional food basket with a better food security than even Kenya, Sudan and Tanzania, again, Rwanda is behind. Overall, it is only Kenya that beats Uganda on all averages.

2011 might offer some surprises as far as Kampala is concerned. There may not be so much change as far as MPs are concerned, but with Local Governance, it will be a very different matter. Residents accuse the DP leadership in the city for failing them. Mayor Nasser Ssebagala came riding on a very populist ticket that his failure to change the face of the city has deflated all those oppositionists who had faith in him. The election of Peter Ssematimba in Rubaga Division was partly as a result of this opposition disappointment. In fact, during those by-elections, almost all councilors elected, including Minsa Kabanda of the Central Division were NRM. Among the MPs, Lukwago (Central) Ssebagala (Kawempe) Ssebuliba (Kawempe south) Hussein Kyanjo (Makindye) Beti Kamya (Rubaga North) are unshakable and will return.

It is not only Ssebagala who is not performing, even other DP LC3 chairmen, for example Nasser Takuba in Kawempe and Moses ‘Bill Gates’ Kalungi are not doing well. Even Nakawa division under Protazio Kintu is these days full of conflicts rather than positive administration. of the 5 divisions in the city, only the Central division under NRM has had less internal wrangles compared to the rest. For Ssematimba, it is still early to judge him. I see a time when the population simply lets go of these DP leaders and replace them with either independents or NRM. I bet on that.

There are things that you can see and conclude that so and so has performed. For example in urban areas like Kampala, the presence of garbage heaps means that the authorities have failed in the garbage collection task. The development of more slums and unplanned structures means that the authorities have failed on that task too, the pot-holes in the roads around the city means that the authorities have failed etc-then you combine these with on the spot views of the population about their leader and i assure you that Kampala is failing on all those fronts.

As far as Nasasira is concerned, i can give him 60% performance accross the country. If he is judged on Kampala alone, then he gets below average, but accross the country he gets at least 60% and this is why. At the moment, all major highways have got or are getting new tarmac. Such include Bombo-Karuma, Busunju-Hoima, Masaka-Mbarara, Masaka-Kampala, Soroti-Dokolo-Lira, Northern by pass, Gulu-Atik-Nimule etc. Secondly, roads that did not formerly have tarmac are being tarmacked at the moment and these include Gayaza-Wobulenzi, Matuga-Semuto-Kapeeka, Ntungamo-Kabale-Kisoro etc.

Previously, he also over saw the tarmacking of Kafu-Masindi, Karuma-Arua, Mubende-Fortportal etc and all these are major links. In reality, Nasasira is not a failure if you take out politics.

Kagonyera failed to harmonise issues at NSSF so he is a failure and about Akankwasa, he is currently under the radar for issues related to his wife and money, but not his work at NFA. Those are DPs and everybody knows them.

Joshua Kato

Journalist

Parliament should investigate why Kabaka was stopped from going to Kayunga

October 15, 2009 at 3:12 pm (2009 -2011 elections, Genocides, Land matters, parliament)
Tags: WB Kyijomanyi

People:

There is a new and very credible angle emerging that the NRMO government or should I say some crooks (read land grabbers) within the corrupt regime stopped His majesty the Kabaka from visiting Kayunga because they had information that the Banyala whose land had been grabbed by Brigadier Tumukunde would call upon his Majesty the Kabaka to intercede on their behalf.

I have taken time to get to the bottom of the stupidity of the NRMO’s regime decision making and why IGP Kaiyihura responded the way he did. Luckily, my elderly auntie lives in Kayunga and after talking to her briefly, she put her ideas in writing and off they got to me.

Since NRMO spin masters are reading they are likely to dismiss the new angle that it was not land grabbing but about Banyala. For the record and the media or Hon. Kirunda and Hon Atubo call tell parliament if it is not true that Brigadier Tumukunde grabbed land belong to the late Mzee Sajjabbi, a respected Munyala elder in Kayunga and left his children landless.

Let the Hon ministers all tell parliament and Ugandan whether it is also not true that General Tinyenfunza too grabbed land in Kayunga. The word from elders in Kayunga is that this Captain Kimeze is a creation of forces loyal to Brigadier Tumukunde and those other land grabbers who have grabbed in Kayunga to ensure that the his land grabbing venture is covered up.

You folks in Uganda do your investigation and find out whether Mzee Sajjabbi’s land was not grabbed by Brigadier Tumukunde. You should also find out his standing among the Banyala. My untie told me that the late Mzee Sajjabbi wanted to help Banyala take up business activities in Kayunga town. You should also find out why Captain Kimeze’s siblings disagreed with him.

Parliament should get to the bottom of the Kayunga saga. Minister Kirunda lied through and through to parliament. He all along knew or should have known that the stand off in Kayunga was about Tumukunde’s land grabbing, particularly grabbing the late Mzee Sajjabi’s land.

Once again let MPs, parliament and the few courageous journalists still willing to risk get to know the story about Mzee Sajjabbi’s (RIP) land. It becomes apparent that stopping the visit by his Majesty the Kabaka to Kayunga was a red herring masterminded by agents of land grabbing and their lackeys within security agencies.

Truth be said it Hon Kirunda was genuine; he would have ordered a very small faction of those security agents seen firing live bullets in Kampala to Kayunga and keep peace during his Majesty’s visit. The fact that the state kept on lying that there would be violence buy yet could not send a few soldiers to Kayunga to keep peace during the viist exposes the fallacy by Hon. Kirunda and Hon. Matsiko.

I call upon parliament to set up a select committee to investigate the roles played by Hon. Minister, IGP Kaiyihura, brigadier Tumukunde and General Tinyefunza is triggering riots in Uganda. MPs may want to investigate the relationship between Captain Kimeze and Brigadier Tumukunde and General Tinyenfunza.

These two have grabbed a lot of land, with Tumukunde grabbing massive Banyala owned land, land that belonged to the late Mzee Sajjabbi. People, a pattern is emerging here: where there has been massive land grabbing there is confusion, confusion created by land grabbers in military uniform.

To the Buganda caucus members, I am going to be refrained, but I would have called you names. Why did you not take time to get to the bottom of the issue? How could you easily buy into the fallacy and lies fed to you by Minister Kirunda and IGP Kaiyihura that it was the fear of His Majesty’s security? You should have known that that was total baloney, but you swallowed it easily. Shame on you.

Now suppose it was fear of His Majesty’s security, how many soldiers or police or a combination would have it taken to keep the peace during his majesty’s visit Suppose it was fear of the Kabaka’ security, why did not minister Kirunda in his capacity as Minister of internal affairs offer to go to Kayunga with His Majesty (I know NRMO does not want to refer to him as His majesty) the Kabaka for the sake of keeping peace?

Further, suppose it was fear for peace, why could not IGP Kale Kayihura accompany his majesty or go to Kayunga to keep peace? What would it have taken to keep peace from imaginary combatants in Kayunga? Now suppose Minister Kirunda and Kale Kaiyihura were right that it was fear of security-they were lying on behalf of the land grabbers-and rather than blocking Kafu had offered to lead the visit from the front to ensure peace? The fact that they chose to block the visit illuminates the fallacy.

Finally, regarding the hundreds of so called presidential advisers, a bunch of yes women and men, how come not a single one put forward a different view? Why it is that Minister Kirunda, IGP Kayihura told lies when they knew or should have known the truth about Kayunga and the truth was not His Majesty’s security but protecting Tumukunde and Tinyefunza’s land grabbing?

Folks, if it was security Minister Kirunda and IGP Kaiyihura would have offered the necessary protection at minimal cost and damage to Uganda. That they chose not too is exposes their fallacy. They are liars. period.

Bottom line: the Kayunga saga had nothing to do with fears about His Majesty’s security. Rather the blockade was concocted to protect one or two land grabbers in the names of Brigadier Tumukunde and General Tinyenfunza. Mzee Sajjabbi’s grabbed land was the issue not His Majesty the Kabaka’s visit to Kayunga. That is the truth folks about Kayunga.

Among the president’s advisors, cabinet, NRMO and yes Buganda caucus, there was only one firefighter who knew the folly of the Kirunda-Kaiyihura-Kimeze-Tumukunde-Tinyenfunza gang and tried rather late to stop the fire. As always it was the affable General Salim Saleh. The rest who advised the president were bifure period. Bifure because they feared to tell the president and country the truth: that land grabbing has now become a danger to national security.

It is time for a select committee of MPs to get to the truth about Kayunga and ensuing riots
WBK

USA Resident

Do we need to sell land to S.Africans to do farming in Uganda

October 14, 2009 at 1:52 pm (Agriculture, Education)
Tags: Tendo Kaluma

Fellow Ugandans,

I’m not too sure what has happened to the government of Uganda, but, I get the feeling that they are now operating with the strategy and credo of a spoiler, If we cannot take it all, lets destroy it so that no other can ever enjoy it.

How else do you explain the ushering in of south African farmers in less than an advisory or consultancy capacity? This is a very disturbing trend indeed and in a way an admission of defeat by the current administration.

We are saying to the world that 30 million black Africans have regressed so far back to have lost the most ancient skill necessary for survival, “farming”.

How much more knowledge does a south African farmer bring to the table to warrant yet another tribe land wrangle in our mix?

We all saw how much effort it took the native south African to reclaim their land, besides why put us into such a vulnerable position to put us in bed with a people who have historically demostrated such hatred for the native African!

Well, we are now paying the cost of refusing to train and equip our own with modern farming techniques, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, has given us several hints on available scholarships, where they could train our agriculturalists up to the PHD level, as long as we provide them food and shelter.

You’d think our government would have jumped to such an opportunity, but, no one seems to be in the capacity building department of our country. We need those lights in the human capital department turned on and working for us.

How could we as Africans ever dream of taking a man to the moon , if something as simple as putting a seed in the ground, irrigating with fertilizers, requires the selling off of our land to a rich neighbour to relieve us of the nightmare of cultivating it on our own.

NO, Mr. Museveni, there has to be a point in your development where you can say with some determination ”I CAN DO IT ON MY OWN”

Tendo

Ugandan in Boston

Kagame is killing Rwanda slowly

October 13, 2009 at 10:58 pm (Genocides, World history and politics)
Tags: lusoke willy

UAH members,

Do some of you really believe in what that ‘allocation of opportunities in Rwanda depends on [I do not remember the right word you used but you sounded to mean] ‘objective’ criteria? Can you mention those criteria? And then, as soon as possible, reflect on the following :

a) How many senior officers to we have in RPA/RDF? How many are Tutsi? The last time I made efforts to analyze this was last year and there were 93% Tutsi

b) How many Ministers do we have in Rwanda? How many are Tutsi? Last year around December the figures were 89% Tutsi

c) How many Permanent Secretaries do we have in Rwanda? How many are Tutsi? In effect, these were 2% Tutsi more than ministers then

d) How many senior officers in the National Police? How many are Tutsi? The figure was 93% Tutsi last year

e) How many ‘presidents’ of National Commissions do we have in Rwanda? How many are Tutsi? IT was 98% Tutsi last year

f) How many Ambassadors does Rwanda have? How many are Tutsi? It was 91% Tutsi last year

NB. You guys could cheat any other person but not me. Anybody who has ever lived in Rwanda knows that you do not need an ID to identify who is Tutsi, Twa or Hutu in Rwanda.

Did you know that it would lead to an RPF/RDF senior officer’s death or risk never being promoted again if he/she got married to a Hutu?we fought the war. Actually it was not a war that time, it was a struggle. But, take it from me, all our dreams were sacrificed at Kagame’s Egoistic tendencies!!!!

For your information, Kagame, Ibingira, Mubarak, Murokole, etc, are responsible for the death of many Tutsi!!!!They started with killing the youthful Tutsi from Burundi who came in to join the struggle. They were being accused of trying to possess RPF!!! They were killed by agafuni.

Secondly, they should never cheat you that all the Tutsi were killed by Interahamwe. There are many prominent Tutsi who were killed by RPF as a way of ‘waking up’ the Tutsi who were in Rwanda to join RPF!!!!! This is on record, Sir!!!!!! Bwana Mucyo was among the field commanders for this ‘job’!!!! Bwana Rukumbura, please, just accept one thing that there are so many ’secrets’ that you probably do not know yet about RPA/RPF/RDF!!! It would be risky for you guys to commit yourselves to this network if at all you have clean hands because days will come when all these will become public knowledge and you will be ashamed of having been a defender of this system.

By the way, tell me one single area in Rwanda where there was no genocide against the Tutsi? But did you know that prior ro the genocide RPF had captured so many territories? How come that even in the RPF controlled territories there was genocide? How did the government forces plan genocide with the RPF territories? Isn’t it a thought for the mind

Come on, being Tutsi does not mean supporting criminals!!!

LUSOKE WILLY

UAH forumist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0OTmBN0xjU

Join the London demonstration against the brutal NRM government of thieves and criminals

October 12, 2009 at 9:48 pm (2009 -2011 elections, Diaspora)
Tags: semnda mustapha

Dear Sir/Madam,

You are invited to attend a demonstration on Saturday 24 October 2009 to denounce the recent brutal murder of over 30 Ugandans, the closure of over 4 radio stations and the arrest of over 1000 innocent people who are still in jail. The demonstration will take place at Terrace Gardens opposite 10 Downing Street from 3-7pm. The nearest station is Westminster station.

Everyone is invited regardless of any political affiliation or tribe. As long as you wish Ugandans the peace and freedoms you enjoy in the western world – you are welcome.

Just to let you know – we are also receiving intelligence reports from Uganda that the government is still arresting innocent people at night from their homes and never to be seen again by their relatives (panda gali). Some of the affected areas are Bwaise, Nateete and Makindye.

See the videos below and after please forward this message to all your friends. The future of Uganda as you know it rests with you and it is your responsibility to do your part. We hope to do our part, will you??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KCnlVkj8K0

Thank you

Regards

Mustapha Semanda

Mixed bag of sentiments following the president’s visit to Boston

October 12, 2009 at 8:11 pm (CULTURE, Diaspora, KINGDOMS)
Tags: Tendo Kaluma

Fellow Ugandans,

Mixed bag of sentiments following the president’s visit and his apparent skipping out of town in the middle of the night.

Mr. Museveni, we were told by some NRM/O operatives that he had skipped out of town in the night without regard to the special celebratory Gala which had been laid out here in his honor.

Mr. Museveni, had been warned for years that there is a tough spirited Buganda crowd in Boston, and this time they were charged more than ever since the dissing of his Royal highness the King of Buganda,coupled with the demise of many Buganda youth, who were killed and some remain detained on sedition and terrorism charges. Folks here wanted a real one on one with Mr. Museveni, similar to what is seen during the charged healthcare debates in America town halls.

He escaped being cross examined by the likes of our Elder, Dr. Lugiira on a myriad of issues of neglect that irk many Ugandans pointing the finger of no confidence at the NRM regime.

Professor Lugiira once had a pointed exchange regarding the NRM policy and intent with an unsuspecting visitor to Boston, Mr. Eria Kategaya, who was asked why they were parting from the edict of a seemingly straight forward 10 point program, layered out on print and distributed globally as their script of governance.

To answer the charge, Mr. kategaya, seemingly paralyzed and shocked by the ambush, gave the canned NRM answer of escapism, known too well to all of us and used to insult our intelligence, “We went to the bush to fight and we can do anything we want, the type of change you seek will not be handed over to you just like that, you have to fight for it”.

As the boos filled the room from every corner from folks enraged by the arrogance of our new official, we were left agasp with an unsettling feeling and perhaps a glimpse of things to come. Little did we all know that the eye of an elder did not gray out of blight, on hindsight, it might have been the best town hall challenge ever faced by an NRM top cadre.

From that point on Boston was written off entirely as a Baganda town, well, by the powers that be and especially the office of the president. When we invited him to our UNAA convention he declined and gave us Mr. Gilbert, who cancelled at the last hour citing some northern Ugandan emergency meeting.

As to why Mr. Museveni, had promised the impossible to us, knowing fully well that his VP could not leave town while he was out himself, we’ll never know.

Certainly, Boston has become quite polarized, folks are suspicious of each other like never before. Like union workers, those who crossed the picket lines lost respect in the community somehow.

However, many of them ignored a rather civil warnings, that, their continued support for a regime associated with such pain in Buganda, would ultimately result in their being isolated as the wretched of the community. Many went to the Gala to dance, some citing “respect for the office of the presidency”, as a legitimate reason for attending.

Of course many in attendance were hard core NRM folks, who could not shy away from the responsibilities of leadership regardless of condition.

Threats were levied, from not being aided by the community, if a relative died to boycotting by the community of all functions thrown by an NRM supporter.

To those pained by the recent events, they could not understand the absurdity of a Baganda involvement in an NRM/O Gala, after the meting out of such a hard and inhumane crushing to the youth of Buganda and the blatant and deliberate staging of such indignities to the person of their beloved King.

The taunting of the last friends of the regime is continuous and frequent, they are repeatedly asked questioned at functions, whether it is deemed morally right to be blind to the plight of the Ugandan people, and at times this results into real altercations within the community.

Matters of contention with Mr.Museveni’s performance in the last 24 years are exhaustive, and it clearly reflects how far the president and the NRM folks have slipped away from the main stream with their un-ending term of governance. Many issues of contention could be discussed and resolved, but few have the spine at this juncture to meet and engage such enraged groups of the diaspora, perhaps the president will get the gumption to address the diaspora seriously on an equal footing.

Although the laundry list of answerable charges is long I’m not sure that the NRM/O folks who were deeply disappointed by his absence are about to charge the community another $80.00 bucks for a no show president.

Here is a list of but a few issues cited by those wielding signs of protest in the diaspora:

Museveni and his machinery have killed with impunity in Uganda, case in point the recent orders to shoot rioters and the genocide in the North.
Museveni has unfairly encercerated young men and women and now they are languishing in his prison from the recent riots.
Museveni encourages the atmosphere of graft, by simply rotating perpetrators to new positions-and is not tough enough on corrupt officials.
Museveni does not love the country like a native son, why else has he not followed Kagame’s act to root out corruption, instead he has left all Uganda’s institutions to rot.
Museveni, has impoverished Ugandans while enriching his own kind, look at the jets, state houses and the birthing trips by the family.
Museveni has been insular while Ugandans die of poverty and neglect in our hospitals,just ask yourself how much money you send home and ask anyone the experience of having a loved one as a patient in any state run hospital.
Museveni has refused to create fair and balanced platforms of governance, look at the lossy loop holes associated with his restructuring end product.
Museveni and his people have corrupted the entire nation, and we need to closely identify every person and accountant involved in cooking books to steal public fund and put them on notice even if it takes decades we shall recover our money.
Museveni has refused to return things that belong to Buganda, and he has put the federo system on hold because he knows it will curtail all the embezzlement of funds by his un touchables.
Museveni is selling off the country to his people, he has also picked judges that are quite partial to his cause.
Museveni has not addressed many bread and butter issues, such as employment in the waisted 24 years, he has not even groomed an heir!
Preserve the dignity of the King of Buganda and they will not rest unless issues are addressed or power is relinquish, they have had enough!
Museveni is messing with county borders and territories to suit an undesirable end.

As a witness to all this, I still pray for cool heads to prevail and continue to search for real genuine solutions for a system fair enough to stop the current bleeding of the nation and to have both our brothers in the NRM camp to have wide enough shoulders to face up some of the blame of the state of affairs in our country. As to our protesters of the recent violations, remember to include other tribes in order to forge a lasting solution for Uganda.

Tendo

Ugandan in Boston

Northern By-pass opens

October 6, 2009 at 6:44 pm (Transport)

Attention: 4 bullets in this post.

Now that Kampala’s northern by-pass road is open to the public, done well or shoddily, it is welcome. Attention should now be focused on the ’southern by-pass’ conceived almost at the same time as the completed one, as evidenced in the “Kampala Master Plan” by the 1971 coup d’état.
The concept of the “Southern by-pass” was to link the two trunks/arteries: Kampala-Jinja and Kampala-Masaka roads via Luzira, Bunga-Kawuku, Konge, Kajansi, etc. The novelty with its design is/was that the Luzira-Kawuku portion was supposed to be an environmentally-friendly ‘flyover’ that should leave the swamp between and the confluence of the Kampala drainage channels un-affected.
Once completed, the two ‘by-passes’ would give Kampala, like most cities the world over, an outer ring road.
Mother of all questions: is our government, at last, able to handle that, in addition to the vital and now much talked of ‘fly-overs’ over parts of metropolitan Kampala? Would an underground Metro-train network probably be a better alternative? Let’s pray for a miracle.

Christopher Muwanga,

Nakasero, Kampala,

Fratricidal Political myopia in Uganda

October 6, 2009 at 6:33 pm (2009 -2011 elections, POLITICS)
Tags: christopher Muwanga

Summary: The plunder of common resources in today’s Uganda is so rampant and merciless that those in power sometimes dispose of something {through selling it to themselves through someone else to manage, most usually, an Asian}, only later to need the facility themselves. The public parks and other green-grounds to the east of Kololo hill are a good example. Nice reading.

1/4.When Muniini K. Mulera [The daily Monitor Opinion, 5^th October, 2009] talks of “public lands and forests and greenbelts given away to developers and other … “, I cannot but recall the “cannibalism” of the powers that be regarding the ‘rape’ of open space, the same space that they themselves have been benefitting from. A good example is the green parks between Shell Lugogo and the near-by Indoor Stadium and that directly to the east of Kololo National ceremonial grounds.

2/4.The earlier administrations, since 1954, had left these green-spaces for up-country buses/vehicles, army and school transport, to deposit the hordes of praise singers and school marchers during independence and other public celebrations at Kololo airstrip and during public music festivals and sports events at the nearby stadia [Kyadondo and Kampala rugby grounds, the cricket grounds, the 8-KCC football pitches, the indoor facilities, etc].

3/4. Now, these have been replaced by a forest of “Indian” concrete structures.

4/4. Paradox: When President elect Museveni was being sworn in last time, the upcountry supporters had no where park and all the roads ended up being blocked and traffic paralyzed. Many never had a chance of reaching the venue. Talk of eating the cake and then asking for it!!! The chaos caused by lack of parking space during the recent music contests between our musicians and when foreign artists perform here, is clear proof of the “shot-sightedness” of our planners, misused by our hungry politicians.

Christopher Muwanga,

Nakasero,

Kampala.

If Ugandans are fed up with Unitarism, let them have federo

October 6, 2009 at 3:20 pm (Federalism, KINGDOMS, POLITICS)
Tags: John Nsubuga

Fellow Ugandans,

Do not allow your self to be split into half between then and now, by some of these illusionists. Uganda’s problems did not start yesterday, and they were not going to be solved by president Museveni alone coming to power…NO! Therefore, when faced with a situation where people demand to opt out of the unitary model of governance, you should start with addressing the causes, and not the symptoms. At that stage, it is late. When some one forces you to expound on why you prefer model A to B, with out first asking you why you arrived to that decision in the first place, then that person is taking un necessary short cuts. Had model B not been disfunctional, there wouldn’t have been a need to demand for model A.

For instance, when people profoundly report to you that there is a gross public funds mismanagement, but you choose to respond with turn off statements like ” those thieves are historicals” then you’re the problem.

But if you must debate the merits and demerits of federalism therefore, you can not omit the causes that have brought about the thirst to quench the rampant marginalisation we’re seeing in Uganda today. If somebody has a better option to sort out these problems once and for all, then why don’t they table them for scrutiny, instead of the half backed regional tier offer? When the war of liberation was being waged, it was very popular, even with all the losses that were being inflicted on the people that supported the NRA. Like wise, had the unitary model of governance been popular, those agitating for federalism would have found it very difficult to put their message across. Their actions would have been resisted by the the majority of Ugandans, as opposed to a few handful generals and some other opportunists making sporadic noises.

The constitution of Uganda clearly states that, “Power belongs to the people“. There is only one way for those who can, to deal with that segment of the constitution of Uganda. To either flout it, or respect it, but you can not have it both ways. When Ugandans demand that they want a certain system of governess, because what is being imposed on them has not yielded much since 1962, then they are simply referring you to article number (1) as enshrined in that precious document of ours. Is there anything wrong with that? If you disagree with that part, then you can opt for the lesser strainful panya road. You give five million to some people in Parliament, and they will purge that line and change it to read “Power belongs to me alone“

John Nsubuga

UAH forumist

Listen members, good ideas are not adopted automatically, but driven into practice with courageous patience and determination. Now, get moving!!

Let us replace ministers in Uganda with ethnic senators

October 5, 2009 at 6:16 pm (2009 -2011 elections, Federalism, KINGDOMS)

When I take a long view of the problems we are currently faced with, I can’t help but think that a modified American style of administrative and political federalism would work just fine for us.

I would like to get rid of the ministerial positions in favour of elected senators elected on the account of ethnicity and population numerics.

That is to say, if the Acholi have a huge population in the country then they might have more congressmen in the house, but for really large tribes two senators would suffice.We could decide on the “number of millions” of people required to warrant both congressional and senate seats.

Some ethnic groups too small to warrant a senate seat,would settle for two minority senate seats created to cater to them-folks would have to appeal to these minority tribes to form coalitions.A two tier body: house of commons(congress-parliament), and a house of the lords(Senate) flanked an elected president with an elected ethnically balanced executive chosen by numerics and their ability to work with the president (party affiliation) and of course the judiciary a body that would really represent each district or identified ethnic group.

I’m not too sure why we complicate this matter,with sijui secessionists and foreign policy makers, we can work out all the kinks as long as on the onset all looks fair among tribal eyes.A balanced force(army) truly representative of the numbers in tribes would be required along with a state(district) police augmenting the local town police force.

I think we have enough civility as Ugandans to make such a balanced fair system work for us. I fear the new territorial federation that is being curved out right now may not be as effective, WE DO NOT NEED MORE TRIBALIZATION!!.

In looking at all Otto patrick’s points below against federalism, the one I think would be a show stopper is this one Major Otto,

It leads to trouble, expenses, and delay due to complexity of a double system of legislation and administration.

I think we already bear this expense with the way our system is.

This is off the cuff, but we could have a debate on it, rather than say it is impossible.

Tendo Kaluma

Ugandan in Boston

Major sabiti Mutengesa’s position on the standoff between Entebbe and Mmengo

October 1, 2009 at 10:52 pm (2009 -2011 elections, CULTURE, Federalism, KINGDOMS, conflicts)
Tags: L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick

I googled the Major sabiti Mutengesa’s name and I landed on a paper on the website for the Havard University link to the Social Sciences Research Council (SSRC) in which the affande makes remarks that are pertinent to what we are witnessing now as the standoff between Entebbe and Mmengo. He wrote the paper in 2006 and its title is:

“From Pearl to Pariah: The Origin, Unfolding and Termination of State-Inspired Genocidal Persecution in Uganda, 1980-85″ (http://howgenocidesend.ssrc.org/Mutengesa/).

He makes the following remark that I have found interesting against the background of ongoing events:

What ought to be sounded as a caution, though, is however much the loci of collective violence shall shift within Uganda, the enduring problem in the national politics of Uganda shall remain the stalemate in the relationship between Uganda’s national authorities and Buganda’s traditional elite with respect to the status of the Kingdom of Buganda. It is this stalemate that set the stage, however remotely in history, for the events discussed in much of this paper. The selective restoration of traditional political institutions in the 1990s may have helped to ease the longstanding bitterness of sections of Buganda over the abolition of their monarchy but it may be too early to hope that pro-monarchist groups have outgrown their revanchist proclivities. If not, then any future divergence of visions between Buganda insular nationalism and pan-Ugandan designs of nationalist elites at the centre will undoubtedly generate animosities that may precipitate conditions that will lead to scenes the world witnessed in Luwero in the 1980s.

Does Kabaka Mutebi is any softer on Buganda’s demands than his father was?

October 1, 2009 at 10:29 pm (CULTURE, Federalism, KINGDOMS)
Tags: philip Oluni

Dear all

One UAH forumist asked me two things; firstly whether I was “justified to apply lessons learnt and not learnt by EW Mutesa with what will bounce off RM Mutebi’s head, and secondly “what does Mmengo want”?

Regarding the first question, what I had in mind when I stated that HH Kabaka Mutebi has shown that he has carefully studied the options that faced his late father is that it appears to me that the present Kabaka Mutebi is handling similar (but not exactly the same)conflicts better than his late father Sir Edward Mutesa. How do I justify this? I will give you two examples to illustrate my point.

In March 1961 following the DP victory in the self government election, Ben Kiwanuka the DP leader said from Entebbe, and I quote: ” My first step is to work towards an agreement on Buganda. I shall try to meet the Kabaka, if possible, and see what we can do in the ending of the present impasse.. The Kabaka is known to me personally, and if he agrees to have personal talks we might come to understanding”. Kabaka Mutesa, or rather his government reacted by issuing a statement saying that it would not be possible for Mr. Kiwanuka to see the Kabaka “in the manner and the spirit in which he made the statement”. Thus personal ego prevented Kabaka Mutesa from meeting with Ben Kiwanuka, and an opportunity was missed when Buganda might have made a settlement early and not waited until when it was too late and then tried to make a deal with the UPC. The outcome of a Kiwanuka v Mutesa meeting might have impacted differently than a meeting of Obote v Mutesa. We will never know the answer because Mutesa ignored the first option. Faced with a similar call by the head of state for a personal meeting last week Kabaka Mutebi accepted and met with President Museveni even if the invitation was made publicly and in somewhat bad mood. Thus Kabaka Mutebi showed that on this occasion he was interested in substance and not personal ego. Mutebi has thus averted a bad situation from becoming worst, at least for the time being.

The second example is from the Buganda crisis of 1953 which led to the deportation of Sir Edward Mutesa to England by Governor Sir Andrew Cohen. The conflict started over the issue of the East African Federation when on 30 June, 1953 the Colonial Secretary Oliver Lyttleton made a statement during a speech saying, and I quote: “Nor should we exclude from our minds the evolution, as time goes on, of still larger measure of unification, and possibly of still larger measures of federation of the whole of the East African territories”. Buganda Kingdom had always been very sensitive and opposed to the East African Federation because it was viewed that an EA federation would greatly diminish Buganda Kingdom. On this occasion Buganda was alarmed and Kabaka Mutesa through his ministers wrote a protest letter and sought clarification from the Governor. The following day before the Governor had even replied the Mengo letter on EA federation Mengo sent another letter to the Governor asking for Buganda independence, “within a specific stated time”. A few days later still, the Lukiiko refused to nominate Buganda representatives into the Uganda Legislative Council. When the governor asked Sir Edward Mutesa to advice the Lukiiko to drop their demand for independece Mutesa refused, and went further to state that in fact he would publicly demand for independence before the Lukiiko, and that he would discourage the Lukiiko from changing its mind on the Uganda Legislative Assembly. Thus what started as a small misunderstanding quickly snowballed into a full blown crisis. On 30Th November 1953, the Governor Cohen finally asked the Kabaka to give 100% assurance that he would cooperate with the Colonial Government as per 1900 Agreement. Mutesa refused and he was deported. On the other hand we saw during the recent stand off over Kayunga things quickly got out of control with rioting etc. How did Kabaka mutebi respond? By abiding with government prohibition on his trip to Kayunga, by appearing in Masaka a few days later and calming the situation and by meeting with President Museveni yet a few days later. These were two different conflicts but it appears to me that Kabaka Mutebi this time handled his conflict with President Museveni better than his father did his with Governor Cohen.

Does it mean that Kabaka Mutebi is any softer on Buganda’s demands than his father was? My answer would be absolutely NO, as far as the substance of the demands are today.

This brings me to your next question of what does Mengo want? It would appear at first glance that Mengo’s demands are obviously in the public domain. I have myself posted here what I have seen from public documents published by Mengo as a list of their demands which include, firstly, restoration to the Kingdom of Buaganda the 9000sq mile of land currently held by the Uganda Land Commission, which in turn has decentralized authority over to various districts in which the lands are found, secondly, the City of Kampala to become part of Buganda Kingdom area, thirdly, Uganda should become a federal state with proposed 13 states, forthly, recognition of special status of HH the Kabaka, to include immunity from prosecution, immunity from personal taxation, to rank third in national protocol in national activities happening within Buganda, and lastly, the Land Act 2005 to be reviewed to give greater protection to land lords . These are the five major demands that Buganda has stated publicly. However, with Mengo experience has shown that nothing is straightforward or should be taken for granted. So, for instance under the demands for the Kabaka immunities and protocol ranking, Mengo could still smuggle in at a later date a notion that by ranking third in protocol after the president and vice president respectively during ceremonies held in Buganda, the Kabaka was therefore regarded as “the figurehead of Buganda”. This would completely changethe dynamics of the notion of a cultural figure, as the kabaka is at present.

So, if you asked me to state entirly all that Mengo wants, I could not with certainty say what they are. I much less can say categorically that I know all that Mengo wants, because with Mengo you just never know for certain. Mengo is full of surprises.

Best regards

Pilipo Oruni