witchcraft is but a euphemism for rubbish

June 28, 2009 at 4:19 pm (Africa, CULTURE, RELIGION, Social issues)
Tags:

Dr Muwanga-Zaake,

 1/6 You seem not to be sure whether to condemn or to condone so-called witchcraft.  And by the way, witchcraft is but a euphemism for rubbish. Why? Even when you peer into the kit bag of a “witch doctor”, all you see there is absolute rubbish: scales of a pangolin, snail shells, teeth of a hyena, porcupine spines, claws of a crab, cow dung of a leopard, skull of a victim of kwarshiorkor and all such manner of zoological collectibles. Gasiya peke yake!

 2/6  The basic fact is that, where man’s capacity to comprehend and/or tame the forces of nature suddenly ends, the belief in the supernatural immediately begins.  As man increases his mastery of nature, his belief in the supernatural diminishes.

 3/6  Belief in the supernatural is packaged in all sorts of ways.  All of them belong to the domain of superstition.  They range from what we call religions, including your Chrisitianity , to your so-called witchcraft.  In terms of man’s ability to cope with the forces of nature, Christianity and witchcraft lie on the same continuum: only varying degrees of superstitious content.  So, apposing Christianity with witchcraft is neither here nor there.  They are first cousins.  The difference is that, one has been divested of as much superstition as possible.

 4/6  And by the way, what do you mean by an “African belief”?  Do you mean belief in the occult?  Witchcraft and other forms of crude superstition are a characteristic of society that is backward, like Uganda is now.  There is nothing African about superstition.  Between the 13th and 19th centuries as many as 1 million people were executed in Europe for the crime of witchcraft. I am sure you have heard about the Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1661-1662.  You may also have heard about the trials of “witches” in the German hinterland of Rothenburg in the same period, going on even as recently as 1750.  In that town, as many as 400 “witches” were executed in one day during that time. In the USA , you may have heard about the witch hunts in Salem and Massachusetts . In England, the last person to suffer death for so-called wtichcraft was in 1684, although there is a case of a lady living in Hertfordshire village of Walkern, a few miles North of London, who narrowly survived death as recently as 1712 after being accused of being a witch….I think her name was Jane Wenham…she was saved by the intervention of Queen Anne….and so on….Note that the major victims were always women, particularly the poor and largely the widows, and trials were not only in religious courts, but also in secular ones.

 5/6 So, do not be racist or biased in other way you as you look at human superstition.  Whenever and whereever the level of science and technology is abysmal, witchcraft and religion come in to fill the gap.  There is nothing African about it, and we should not base on Africa ’s current backwardness to infer that manifestations of backwardness are a preserve of Africans only.  The irony with you Professor is that, you then go a head to base on Africa ’s current predicament to weave up some strange notion of your African Nationalism…or what ever one may call it.

 6/6 But, but, but, now how about you the Professor of Chemistry who then goes ahead to assert that, “The record of African spiritual leaders healing and successfully praying for rain are obliterated or never perpetuated.”? You as a scientist should be in the forefront of demystifying superstitions and dispelling such fallacies as “rain-making”, but here you are telling us about the so-called African spiritual leaders.  You Professor of all people, know the hydrologic cycle; you know the Bergeron Process of how rain forms and falls; you know that, the only way man can induce rain is by CCNs or cloud condensation nuclei.  You studied those facts in Chemistry and got a PhD, you teach them, and then you come here at UAH to tell us that, sijui, “African spiritual” this and that, should be perpetuated!  Does PhD mean “Pure head Damage”? How doesn’t someone rule you people for 50 years non-stop? How, how? That when some scary-looking self-important old chap in need of dentures in some village in Bulemezi throws cowries in the air, spits to the west, puffs to the North, walks to the road junction on his hands and slaughters a white hen facing south….then the rain will turn up! Professor Muwanga-Zaake want that to be perpetuated!  That is the myth that a 21st century Professor of chemistry wants to perpetuate, in the name of African nationalism.  Now, don’t you really see where Africa ’s problems lie?

 Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick

Leave a Comment

Do you believe in witchcraft?

June 28, 2009 at 4:15 pm (Africa, CULTURE, Social issues)
Tags:

messages on witchcraft are outright unbalanced? Some people focus on witchcraft – but is it more heinous than burying people alive, by, I presume, religious people? So, possibly, another important question is ‘ Has religion affected some of these people?’. Obviously, the murders believed in witchcraft although their religious backgrounds are not clearly stated.

what qualifies as witchcraft

Although I have been accused of being pedantic on this forum, I think we have a problem in defining a witch. It appears to me as though anybody with powers, which cannot be scientifically proven or which are not acceptable in the Christian doctrine, to cause havoc is a witch, especially in Africa where religions local belief systems to establish themselves. The record of African spiritual leaders healing and successfully praying for rain are obliterated or never perpetuated. Indeed, we have been assimilated into despising our beliefs as backward or witchcraft.

There are double standards applied in Africa. An African belief is subjected to scientific proof, otherwise it is backward or witchcraft. A biblical or foreign belief is never subjected to scientific proof. So we are told – Jesus walked on water, changed water into wine, fed millions with merely 5 loaves, etc. but we are not allowed to question these acts on the basis of science. I have no problem in believing the miracles Jesus demonstrated. However, for example, let us note that there is no scientific explanation for walking on water without sinking other than a belief in supernatural being.


Havoc is reported in enforcing religions, including Christianity for example. Would Samson who prayed until a whole building killed people where he was apprehended qualify as a witch? Or should we include biblical personalities (Moses is one) who prayed for the suffering of the Egyptians until the Jews were allowed to go back to their land.

The topic of witchcraft is indeed a can of worms, albeit an unfair one, which is selectively applied to any belief that is not Christian or non scientific. Ultimately, I think the question is unfair in perpetuating a complex that renders every happening, which neither Christianity nor science approves, as witchcraft. I.e., the question presumes a belief in Christianity and science as the only acceptable spiritual and knowledge systems.

Dr.Johnnie Muwanga-Zake

Leave a Comment

Should teens be given contraceptive advice?

June 20, 2009 at 1:27 am (Parenting and sex, Social issues)
Tags:

The question posed is only a tip of the icebug.  The bigger question is:  Should we as parents talk to or teach our children, especially teenagers about being sexually active? And contraceptives become part of this question and/or answer.
  
Seriously, this is a topic many of our great grand parents and possibly parents never had to worry about.  For example in my culture, the measure for a young girl to have involvement with a man was when she had her first period.  Then the parents and relatives would know she can rear children and got her a husband.  Sex outside marriage was unheard of then.
Then came the missionaries.  They opened up schools first for only boys.  Then when the boys were men and ready to marry, they had to marry illiterate girls/wives.  Then they extended the schooling and opened up schools for girls as well. My mother went to some of the schools but did not stay long before the pressure to get married was imposed on her in the culture.  My father on the other hand went very far because boys were not inhibited like girls.
When my mother had us, her creed in my family and my father’s was education, education, education and learning for life.  As farmers we invested everything earned into education.  There was no free education then.  No one talked to any of us about being sexually active or not.  We all knew however that to stay in school, boy or girl especially girl YOU HAD TO ABSTAIN and focus on the education your parents are paying for.
  
Realistically, young people ages 15 to 24 already have the urge to be sexually involved; some even earlier.  Yet the pressure to stay in school, go to college and be able to be earning adults is on them as well.
If this was an ideal world, I would love to tell my 15 year old to abstain; 24 year old to abstain till you get a job and find MR. OR MISS RIGHT, but that may not do either of us any good.
 
I strongly believe that Mothers and Fathers, should teach the children first the importance of education by sending them to school and instisting on super grades.  Then as they grow before age 15 talk about the attraction between girls and boys and let them know it is normal part of growing up but——————– with school and future carrier they are better of abstaining.  Then they are guaranteed two things no reproduction and the responsibility that follows and putting a stop to career dreams.  Then, the parents can also add, if you absolutely have to be active let us know, so we can give you some help like contraceptives.
But they need to know, that the contraceptives are not safe. Sometimes one can use them and still get pregnant.  Again the best deal is abstainance.  Both girls and boys need to know that they cannot keep having sex with everyone they date.  Just how many partners will they sleep with before they say I do?  They also need to know the deseases involved when people get sexually active.  You would even show them pictures if YOU can find them.  For girls contraceptives could interfere with child bearing at a later age.  A girl having sex at age 15  or even earlier, while the body is still growing add on the chemicals/contraceptives; it could affect their ability to reproduce down the line–could become infertile [off course the pharmacuticals will never tell them this]  You the parent must bring it up.  There is also a possibility of having children with defects.  I have watched American women who have children late in life have children with all kinds of syndromes.  No one will tell them it could be the contraceptives they have been on for years.  It is my guess work.  On the contrary I have seen girls dropping out of school and having children early.  The children are healthy unless the teen used street drugs, but the teenage mother is ignorant/illiterate, and has to go back to school to provide a future for the child and herself.  Prez Obama wants many of them back in skilled schools because they are on welfare burdening the taxpayer for so long and making more babies to have a bigger check.
 
Basically, my people, there are no easy answers to this question, but the longer you the father and the mother can manage to impress upon your son or daughter to abstain the better off they will focus on their future.  If they have to get involved, knowing the risks first hand from you the mother, the father is phenomenal.  Forewarned is forearmed.  It helps with morals as well.  If a young man or woman gets active so early, in life just how many people would they have taken in secret before they say I do?  And what is the guarantee that they will be faithful to one man or one woman having gotten used to advanturing so early in life with all types?
Well, well! Snap out of it!  Who said parenting is easy? Get on it and do your best, dear father, dear  mother.  It is still doable.  YOU are doing it and no one expects YOU to be perfect.  Just do your best, starting today.
 
Have the best weekend ever!  If YOU are a father, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY THIS WEEKEND! We appreciate what you are doing, raising your children for tomorrow’s Uganda.
Assumpta Mary Kintu
Ugandan in USA

Leave a Comment

Background checks in Uganda

June 3, 2009 at 9:10 pm (Social issues, security)
Tags:

Ugandans,
1/11 This question of background checks is related to many other questions that we have debated here, including that of the tribulations of Uganda Police, the ubiquity of violence in Ugandan society, and broader questions related to our general capabilities across the board.  Even when you look closely at the debate on political participation, the autocratic propensties of leadership/political elites at every level of society (not just in the state, a point we often refuse to acknowledge), the question of the capabilities of a pre-industrial, mediaeval society always catch up with us.
2/11 Now, background checks: what are these? What do they entail?  Me, myself, Corporal Otto: I was born in a banana plantation at the back of our kitchen.  My illiterate grandmother was the midwife.  My dining table, the placenta, for the 9 month intrauterine phase of my life was eaten by our dog, Popi.  There are no records anywhere in Uganda that I was ever born.  In places where they carry out background checks, things start from there: you are born in a hospital, your DNA is harvested, your blood group is established, bottom line, you get onto some database.  You are registered with a general practitioner in places where there is a national health system, and every ailment you get is placed somehwere on a database.
3/11 You will go to school and this is compulsory, lest your parents end up in jail, and that means you will end up on the national educational system database.  You will be mistreated by your booze-loving Mzee and end up on the vulnerable children’s database.  Your parents will be entitled to child benefits, that will place you on the revenue services database.  Your parents may get you a passport, and you will end up on the Home Affairs database.  Every trip you make abroad will be logged somewhere, right from your infancy.  And they will automatically have your finger prints.
4/11 As soon as you clock 16 years, you will see a card coming through the post, telling you that you have a social security number (SSN) or national insurance (NI) number depending on the country.  Because all your correspondence comes to you by post, it means that your physical address is known, by post code or zipcode.  You don’t live at “ekikkilira, kumpi nekiyinja, noyita kumuyembe, kumpi nakavule”.  No! If you are Otto, yours will be, 117 Coffin Grove; Death side, Warwickshire; CV40 10QT; United Kingdom (thanx Mr John Nsubuga).  In other words, you are on some one’s radar.
5/11 As you advance in your education, you will be entitled to a student’s loan.  You will open a bank account where monthly instalments of the loan will be deposited.  Every time, and whereever you draw cash, and where ever you do shopping, that is logged somewhere on a database.  You will take bus/train rides using a students swipe card.  Where ever you swipe it, someone knows already which city or town you are visiting.  You will own a mobile phone, and not pay-as-you-go, but contractual.  Whenever and where ever you make or receive a call, that is logged somewhere by GPS.
6/11 You will have a login to use the computers in your local library or your campus.  When ever you use those computers, that is logged somewhere.  You will have an email address.  What ever you do with that address and whenever you log in, that is captured somewhere.  Some camera will even have already recorded some of your biomentrics like the character of your iris…without your knowledge.
7/11 If you live in a country like Britain, which has 1 CCTV for every 13 members of the population, the highest CCTV density in the world, everywhere you walk, you are advised to smile, because you are on camera, being recorded somewhere.  If you acquire a driving permit, you are already on the database of the agency that licences drivers and vehicle owners, by address etc.

8/11 In other words, where ever you are, you are leaving a massive electronic footprint, and that is the real content of your “back ground” in that “back ground check” that you are wondering about in the Ugandan context.  In countries where individuals have such a huge electronic footprint, by the time police come to you to arrest you, you know they have their data: you just ask with a smile, for the handcuffs to be put on your wrists, because in your heart, you know they have the data: wamenikamata, bankutte, bangemye!

9/11 The other day we were talking about safe houses and torture and so on.  Where people undergo subtle surveillance like I have tried to describe above, there is not torture.  It is not because of democracy, as some of us argue here simplistically, it is because you do not have to whip some one to get information from him.  You have it by just one push of the button.  In Uganda, you lack that background information, whether on criminals, prospective judges ( I heard of a Senior Justice Kalanda who was found to have used some one else’s papers to advance his education), MPs, presidents, let alone military recruits.

10/11 So, let us get real and understand what makes things work or fail to work, instead of spending all our time ridiculing ourselves, wishing that we were like others, and generally cursing the dark without ever lighting any candle.

11/11 The lack of such infrastructure as I describe above accounts for such proverbs as “Ente endhirugavu enakuleta”, in other words, I can’t catch you now but when darkness sets in, you will come back to roost……I think that is Lusoga, your language.  In other settings, whether it is shining or not, they will get you.  Why?

Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick

1 Comment

Ugandans eat what they ’see’ not ’sea food’

April 25, 2009 at 2:50 pm (Food and health, Social issues)
Tags:

Dear Ugandans,
The other day, a gentleman asked what Uganda’s stepple food was and I told him: “see food”.  To him, it was like I had said “Sea food”.  He drifted into a lengthy rant about how I was lying, that Uganda was land locked so we cannot have sea food, and that probably I was not a Ugandan etc……on and on…until I told him we eat what we see, see food.
If it does not kill you, what is the problem?  One UAH forumist called Gook has been circulating a video on face book of people for whom rats are a delicacy.  In South Korea, dog chilli is afforded only by the posh individuals.  It is in fact called “Posh Tang”.  Many Euro-American cookery books have recipes for preparing squirrel meat, right from skinning the beast to serving it.
Besides, rats are rodents.  In that group of animals, you have the cane rat..omusu.  Baganda eat it.  The leporidae, i.e., rabbit and hare.  That one also, Baganda eat.  Porcupine..’namunungu’ Baganda eat it too.  There are many, many other relatives of the rat all over the world and they are eaten wherever they exist….guinea pig, pika, chinchilla, squirrels, capybara of Amazonia (which weighs up to 50 Kg), beavers and all other animals with this dentition:
2.0.3…3
1.0.2.3

If you eat one of the animals with that dental formula, do not make fun of another person who eats a smaller member of the group.. You are all rodent eaters.

Ridicule a fellow rodent eater, when you ambush innocent termites flying out of mounds of soil in the evening, and late at night…enswa, ennaka….heard about “Omulyannaka”?  Read “Omuganda n’enswa”?  After that, you will laugh at the Zambians that enjoy “kadoima”: caterpillars.

Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick

Leave a Comment

No Trust among Ugandans

April 3, 2009 at 4:13 pm (POLITICS, PRESIDENCY, Social issues)
Tags:

Dr. Henry Gombya,

I am glad to have read your clarification about the fateful day on which our dear compatriot and freedom fighter, Dr. Andrew L. Kayiira was assassinated. I believe that many like myself who have been confused about the matter will focus on the questions you raised in your clarification, hopefully the killers will be brought to justice. It is about 20 years ago when I suddenly declined your invitation while I was in London, and had to hurry back to Denmark. I conveyed the following mail to the UAH forum explaining the troubles I had to endure during my missions of good will, but hindered by rumours.

The moment I learned about the rumour mentioned in the following mail to the UAH forum, I was concerned by what agony you would be in, hearing the same rumour after my departure. Being from Western Uganda, I find it difficult to interact freely with other fellow Ugandans who always suspect that we, from Western Uganda are used by the UG government to spy on our compatriots. Dr. Gombya, I believe that you remember my perfomance in the Conference we attended together in Stockholm. After that I have been called a ” Traitor” by those who say that the government in Uganda is, ” Our Government”, simply because I come from Western Region of Uganda. There are certain foreign governments which in my view, are accomplices in Human Rights violations by the Uganda government.

As I write here, I want you and the UAH forum members to know that I am a victim of such accomplice against which I am still fighting. I wish you very well and May God Bless Uganda.

Byaruhanga, Jonny Rubin.

Fellow Ugandans, Firstly, I thank Mr. Mulindwa Edward for taking time to clarify the situation at home about which I was very confused. I am also grateful to many participants of the UAH forum who share their thoughts, simply in search for a solution to the situation in our country

In February, 1986 about a month since the NRA/M took power, I telephoned a friend in Kampala and asked him how the situation was. He told me that many people were rejoicing to see the Okellos out, ” for they were convinced that the Okellos were an extension of the Obote regime.” He also told me to mark his words when he said that, ” Museveni is here to stay.” What actually surprised me was that him (my friend) being a Lugbari from West Nile practically the people associated with Idi Amin, a person Museveni loathes very much, could speak so passionately and affirmatively about him. I guess, like many other Ugandans I prayed that the new government would restore the rule of Law and Democracy that were nolonger recognizable in Uganda.

By 1989, The Organisation of Ugandans in Sweden was practically the only voice of Ugandans in Scandinavia. There was also The Uganda Human Rights Activists in Scandinavia ( UHRAS ) led by Mr. Lance Sera Muwanga, based in Sweden. The latter was a splinter group from the original UHRAS which was led by Mr. Ibrahim Mukiibi, then based in Denmark. The organisation split when it was evident that Mr. Mukiibi was increasingly getting closer to the NRA/M, an act which was seen as compromising the organisation’s impartiality. As if to prove their argument, Mr. Mukiibi was appointed by the NRA/M government as Uganda’s Foreign Minister.

By mid 1989, the situation in Uganda was still unpredictable. Ugandans in Denmark were scattered and did not have any organisation to unite us like our compatriots in Sweden. I learned that the former Ugandan Minister of Culture and Community Development, Professor Dani Wadada Nabudere was lecturing at an Internation College in Helsingor, Denmark. I felt that the former Minister with his administrative experience could advise me on how I could form an organisation to bring our people, Ugandans together. I telephoned the College and the Professor was very glad to invite me for a discussion. The following day I went to the College to meet Prof. Dani W. Nabudere. I was accompanied by Mr. Jeffrey Abola, a former policeman in Uganda. Prof. Nabudere was happy and willing to advise us on how we could function as a non political organisation that would bring all Ugandans together irrespective of any affiliation.

He emphasized that not only were Ugandans scattered, but all the Africans were and seemed to have lost any sense of direction. I told him that I was determined to found the organisation. My colleague, Mr. Jeffrey Abola chose to establish an organisation which he called, ” The League of Elders.” I travelled to Sweeden, Germany and the U.K to meet as many Ugandans as possible, for a better knowledge on how we could found a non political organisation.

While in UK I was invited by Mr. Omwony Ojwok who explained to me how the Uganda Community Relief Association (UCRA) based in UK functioned. I met many Ugandans including a former Ugandan Ambassador to the UN, then living in Croydon. While preparing to meet Mr. Henry Gombya, (a former BBC correspondent in Uganda) I met a group of Ugandans in town who shocked me. I heard them speaking Luganda and I decided to greet them in Luganda. I told them that I was enjoying a walk in town. ” Wegeendereze nno, twaagafunye nti nno Museveni yaweereza mbega mukibuka okunoonya Gombya.” ( Be careful, we heard that Museveni has sent a spy in town to look for Gombya.) ” Byaruhanga ry’erinya”. (Byaruhanga is the name). We had not even introduced ourselves, I guess it is the natural happiness that exists when Ugandans meet. I Immediately, excused myself pretending to hurry for the train, but told them that we ‘’shall” meet at the UCRA meeting.

Mr. Henry Gombya was looking forward to meeting me, I believe because the Ugandans I had met in Sweeden, Germany and UK obviously knew about my mission and could have informed him not to fear me. However, I decided not to meet Mr. Gombya and hurried back to Denmark. In Denmark many concerned Ugandans including Mr. Francis W. Bwengye, Professor A. Baalam C.D. Kweri, Mr. Jesse Mutenga ( former Diplomat) often came to my residense for a chat whenever they happened to come to Copenhagen. Another shock was when I went to the Copenhagen Central Railway Station. I usually went there to buy International newspapers, especially the New African. I passed by a group of Africans seated on a bench inside the hall, as I rushed to and fro’ looking for where to buy certain items. I noticed that the Africans on the bench looked at me with some curiosity, so that I stoped to greet them. I told them that I come from Uganda and with much pleasure they said that they too were from Uganda. Realizing that they were new in town, I told them that I was also new and was looking around for Ugandans to advise me how I could easily get asylum. We spoke Luganda and I told them that I was from Masaka. This I said in case they noticed probably an accent which was not typical of Baganda from Kampala. They said that they were new and were living in an Asylum Applicants’ Centre north of Copenhagen. Before we parted they cautioned me, ” Twaawulidde nti nno wano e Copenhagen waliyo mbega wa Museveni. Bagamba nti oyo gemaaso era gemattu ga Museveni. Erinya rye ye Byaruhanga, oba Munyolo oba Munankole, tetumanyi”. (We heard that there is a Museveni’s spy in Copenhagen. It is said that this one is the eyes and ears of Museveni. His name is Byaruhanga, whether he is a Munyoro or a Munyankore, we don’t know.) I thanked them for the caution and left.

Several weeks later, the Organisation of Ugandans in Sweden, I think it was in conjunction with the Uganda Human Rights Activists in Scandinavia (UHRAS) organized a Conference on Uganda. The Uganda government would be represented by the UG Ambassador to North Europe, based in Denmark H.E Mrs. Edith Grace Sempala. I was one of the main speakers. We were all asked by the Conference Chairman to be as honest and fearless as possible. To my shock again, a senior member and Official of the Organisation of Ugandans in Sweden stood up and said that he did not trust me and that he had reports suggesting that I was a Uganda government spy. I almost collapsed. I sat there wondering who could have spread such false and dangerous rumours about me. Mr. Lance Sera Muwanga stood up and said that he had me followed for a year and found out that I was not a spy. He added that in fact I did not even belong to any party or organisation and assured everyone that I was harmless. Years have passed and there is still no credible opposition to the NRA/M in sight. The FDC which seemed to attract many people has problems of their own, apart from the rumour that it is actually NRM in disguise.

My question is how can anyone dispute my friend’s affirmation that, ” Museveni is here to stay”? Twenty three years in power and still counting. Ugandans don’t trust each other as we used to do. When your name is recognized as from Western Uganda, the topic of discussion changes. I used to hear a slogan, ” Divide and Rule.” Another one, ” United we stand.” We are not united as I can see and we don’t seem to know what we urgently need to do in order to have a system appreciated by the majority. A system that enables the citizens to elect the leaders that would ensure all of us to live in harmony. As long as the people of Uganda are not harmonious, I don’t see any other way to keep the country intact.

Byaruhanga, Jonny Rubin.

Leave a Comment

Homosexuality may be inherent to individuals who practice

March 28, 2009 at 3:28 pm (CULTURE, Science, Social issues)
Tags: ,

Homosexuality may be inherent to individuals who practice. One of the examples usually advances is in fact that of animals – that if they are not know to be homosexual, how could a whole human being be? Homosexuality has nothing to do with lifestyle. Animals are not known to have lifestyles, but act on instincts, and in this case there is a homosexual instinct in some horses.

Mw. Obargot writes: “If homosexuality is genetic predisposition, then it means in the many secondary and post-secondary schools in the country, we should have had homosexuals going about practicing their homosexuality; absence of which disprove the theory.” This is again too simplistic and mundane as control evidence on such a controversial subject, and cannot even be taken seriously. A quick internet search will reveal a volume of more scientific research by reputable universities to suggest that homosexuality may actually be inherent.  Also, homosexuality in Uganda is outlawed and is an offence.

Obargot wrote:”It is upto the populations to kill homosexuality quietly without making too much noise about it.” we all appreciate human sexuality is a highly complex issue but years of research and experiment do show that sexuality is hard-wired into our brains, so how can you justify the killing of a few whose sexual preference happens to be slightly different from the majority are used to?

Also, there is overwhelming evidence that second and third-born sons are more likely to be gay than first-born boys; should we ignore those findings and “quietly” kill those unfortunate ones just because of a hormonal change as during their developmental stages in the womb?

Worth noting that WHO finally came to the conclusion in the early 1990s that homosexuality is not an illness.

Obargot adds:”There are homosexuals out there who are working to plant it in the populations…” Of course, society is full of experimenters, the undecided/confused/borderline who usually fall prey to all sort of dubious influence. But like in every minority group, survival is critical. You get the extreme cases who insist on changing the status quo by all means possible (those “working to plant it in the populations”) and you also get those who keep a low profile (the don’t ask don’t tell types). Most importantly, when being wiped out “quietly” is a widely held view can we be be too surprised when gays embark on building capacity?

Bottom line is, considering the animosity meted out on homosexuals, I doubt people chose to be that which is so detested by mainstream society.

Peter Senoga & Musisi Bosco

UAH forumists residing in the UK

1 Comment

Homosexuality should be killed in Uganda.

March 28, 2009 at 3:16 pm (CULTURE, Social issues)
Tags:

Homosexuality should be killed in Uganda. There is a difference, big difference between an homosexual and homosexuality! An homosexual is a living though perverted, breathing human; homosexuality is a lifestyle. So when I say kill homosexuality, it means I am saying kill the lifestyle.

This of course can be done variously. The actions of killing homosexuality, which can be various, if carried out, should be detached from what I am advocating for. To be precise, in my understanding of killing homosexuality, killing homosexuality should be conducted in form of community education. This means each and every Ugandan community must embark on teaching all their youth of the contradictions homosexuality presence vis-a-vis our cultures and cultural norms; including its attendant pervertedness and lowly lifestyle. Once youths are taught of and religiously guided to never ever embrace the lifestyle, homosexuality shall be dead and buried. Period. There would be no any other way.

Further, the state must also take a stand on homosexuality and outlaw it. This is because we do have our cultures that don’t condone, promote, or even practice homosexuality so why employ a state of confusion and helplessness to deal with the strange behaviour?

The history of our cultures is never tainted with homosexuality; there are no proven records anywhere that men and human used to practice homosexual lifestyle. Claiming that homosexuality is genetic is going too far. Have you ever come across homosexuals in the many boarding schools that dot the country? NO! Not when I was a student in one of those schools. If homosexuality is genetic predisposition, then it means in the many secondary and post-secondary schools in the country, we should have had homosexuals going about practicing their homosexuality; absence of which disprove the theory.

So, Ugandans, homosexuality is a learn lifestyle; not genetic predisposition. Since it is a learn lifestyle, we hold every right to disallow our children from learning the lifestyle. It’s not within our cultural definitions. Therefore, yes, the lifestyle has to be killed.

Having said that, if others misinterpret the message and went ahead killed homosexuals, their cases should be judged purely independently. However, I would think that under such circumstances, our cultures must inform judgements of the judges, and if I were one of the judges, I would acquit such a person. End of story.


It is up to the populations to kill homosexuality quietly without making too much noise about it. There are homosexuals out there who are working to plant it in the populations, given what you are bringing forth, but if the populations kills it out every time it pops its head, there would be no options.

Leave a Comment

Ugandans abroad shouldn’t undermind each other’s jobs

March 25, 2009 at 1:18 pm (Finance, Social issues)
Tags: ,

Dear Ugandans abroad,

Africans don’t control the means of production so they really don’t have any choice when it comes to employment. That is why many Africans abroad are buried in the world of academia. You find them in Universities, mostly studying, from one area of discipline to the next, or doing research, if not taking some part-time teaching, or teaching assistant - full-time. There are really not much choices out there for Africans.

Quite often you find Africans who claim to have good jobs. But if you do a bit of investigations, you may find that the so called good jobs are not even good jobs, or that they have compromised too much to even get the good jobs and keep them. One cannot be all cool and relaxed under such circumstances.

Worse still, even back home, the few jobs available are never guaranteed because people who support the institutions, from government to you name it, are the so called foreign movers and shakers. They finance our governments, including all the institutions in a country. This they do because they basically take our natural resources at give away prices. Without their finances, even semblance of an institution of government would not exist in Africa. With productivities almost none existent, chances are, we would be fighting like savages yet again, hiding under the cloak of degenerate Kingdoms and Chieftaincies.

So, quite frankly, they, the foreign movers and shakers, are our government employees’ employers. We are therefore dependent on them all through and through; no choice.

We should all humble ourselves when it comes to employment; because we are all beggars for it.

The only Africans who can be proud of who they are and what they do are the peasants because they make their living. They choose what time to do what they do and how to do it. The only problem is, rapid economic development cannot be realised without organised peasant productivities. Until then, even our presidents are slaves whose lives and times depend on some peoples else letting them be; otherwise their breathings can, individually, be stopped.

That is the dilemma of not controlling anything. You are more or less disposable goods.

Jobs do not matter .It is whether you get some income or not. Lazy people resort to guns to terrorise communities to earn a living by stealing. In New York, foreign doctors, lawyers, pilots , nurses, are cleaners, cab drivers  and at the end of the week they get paid. Being a blue or white collar worker  does not matter as long as people know what they are doing and what they want in life.I do not think some people should look down on other people’s jobs. What is important is survival.


OpaA

1 Comment

Why Uganda men & women abroad are hard

March 25, 2009 at 12:57 pm (CULTURE, Social issues)
Tags:

Dear Ugandans,
You wonder why many Ugandans still come home to try their luck with ms or mr right? You also wonder why Ugandan men and women abroad are hard?

You should know that the divorce rate among immigrants in the West is now at par and in some cases higher than the divorce rate among the locally born.  And this applies to all immigrants irrespective of region of origin or religion.

Why is this the case and this goes to you question? Expectations. People have it upside down about life in the West. Take it from me that it is tough and can be hell for immigrants.

Furthermore, immigrants not just Ugandans do not adjust well to the liberal nature of the West, which is strong on women equality.  Again, most immigrants not just Ugandans are still traditional and want to command women to obey them as if they were still living in Kampala, Nairobi or Abuja.

Since the laws favour women in general, most women simply can take the abuse? Why take abuse when in most cases the women are the bread winners because the system treats them favourably over men. Mark you even in household where the women is the bread winner/working steadily some men still expect the women to come home, tired, and cook for the man who spent his entire days drinking beer or watching porno movies on TV?  Which women in the West can take that kajanja when they know that the law is on their side?

It is also the motherhood thing as employers treat women-as mother God bless them-sympathetically? Why? Because they are responsible.  Men simply do not know how to hand the role reversal well. Actually men are depressed.  Studies shows that immigrants are among the fastest growing group among mental illness patients. Why? Poor social capital and yes, racism.

Another problem and this again goes to some people’s observation that Ugandan men come home to look for that ms or mister right. Big mistake most of the times? Why? Expectations? Those from Kyeyo misrepresent their true situation most of the time so when they person finally arrives in the West and finds a different set up, it is trouble.

But here is another reason and I have had two good friends who came back home to look for ms right and threw big weddings.  Their problem is that they went for higher standards in terms of class. Class matters mark you. I asked my friends about their backgrounds, specifically what their parents did back home? And they told me their parents were peasants but they were courting daughters of elite men. One went for the daughter of a lawyer while another went for a doctor’s daughter. My buddies were well educated men.

They won over the women even after I had cautioned them that they were making a mistake to go above their class-I know people will attack me for saying this but it matters. To cut the long story short, the young women they had married and brought over left them in less than a year. Why? The women cited socialization that even though my buddies were well read men and gainfully employed, their socialization was still different.  So those UAH folks still looking for ms or mr right but especially ms right do not ignore class or to put in bluntly “mwana wani” simply because you have been on kyeyo abroad. Wrong. Do not punch above your class.

But the biggest problem is the hybridity-modernity/west vs tradition. This has been the killer especially for conservative immigrant men who ironically still espouse the public private sphere idealogy.

And Mr Abbey Semuwemba is right that it is better to go for similar minded kyeyo who know the true picture and understand -I hope-the misery in the West.

But you folks in Uganda will soon grapple with this problem if not already. I noticed when I visit that the women have the good jobs with NGOs while the men are grassing. And my friends in the NGO sector complained that there are no marriageable men anymore in Uganda, lol. What they really mean is that there are no men of their class. Bingo.

Now the good, your folks in Uganda who are employed in decent jobs have it both ways. Your quality of life is certainly way better than for most of the folks in the Diaspora. Hard to believe but true so value your jobs and stay in Uganda. But be faithful, okay.

Have you noticed another trend?  Ugandans (most immigrants actually) now take their children born in the West to study in Uganda or their motherland. Why? Because and sadly, children of immigrants are not generally doing well in school and could need up less educated than their parents. Smart parents are taking them back where schools can still discipline them.

WBK

1 Comment