Opinion: Obote described Museveni perfectly in 1990

The late President Dr. Milton Obote wrote a pamphlet in April 1990 called ‘NOTES ON CONCEALMENT OF GENOCIDE IN UGANDA’ and it’s viable on the website of Uganda Peoples Congress to this day. It is real gem and people should read the whole thing. What is striking there is how the former President is describing the current day President and we can all still relate to it.

We are in 2021 and a text from 1990 is very relevant. Obote was able to write an explanation and description of a person, which was timeless. Obote and Museveni was enemies, Obote was overthrown and grudges. Still, with that being said. His insights are valuable and he dared to write to his peace in exile in 1990.

Just as his first description of him is so fitting:

“Museveni has a thirst for power in its most naked form. He believes intensely in violence as a means of governance and for holding power. He is an accomplished liar and a total stranger to truth. His method of conducting public affairs or his political Party, the UPM, and now his NRM/NRA is a combination of violence and lies. Museveni is an extremely poor, indeed inept, civil administrator. He seeks nor accepts advice from anybody on any matter and detests the conduct of public affairs through discussion, debate or competing ideas; his own ideas must be accepted as the only valid ones and all others are “bankrupt ideas”. Yet he is not averse to steal ideas from others and claim to have been the originator, but often without clear understanding of how to implement the stolen ideas” (Obote, 1990).

What is said here isn’t a lie. Museveni had a thirst for power and used all means to get it. He has always used violence to have power. While his lying about everything and everyone. Obote is also right about his governance and governing in general. Because, we cannot see any of his schemes, 10 point programme or anything succeeding. So, Obote is vindicated and shows that he saw the true Museveni even 31 years ago.

He continues: “Museveni prefers militarist (violent) approach in the resolution of problems and issues but would also, at times, put forward a dissembling scheme,while preparing a military solution” (Obote, 1990). We know that the President is using the UPDF to solve everything. He is issuing orders where the army is now doing construction work, targeting illegal fishing, micro-finance and whatnot in the Republic. Museveni is also toying with the army to settle civilian issues as the elections and stopping the opposition from assembling. Therefore, Museveni continues is old school ways of violence and using military to resolve civilian issues.

Not shocking, but very relevant is this: “Museveni is very corrupt and presides over a regime which is equally very corrupt. In fact the nature of Museveni’s corruption is some kind of mania. As already stated, he is acutely uncomfortable with his lowly background, a matter which to a normal person would be of pride. But the mania which he exemplified in 1979 by living at the Palaces of former rulers, has now led him to build with public funds, his own Palace in Mbarara District. The Palace was built and completed within three years. Some of the materials for building it were imported as were the furniture, fittings, carpets, etc. The Palace stands on a huge farm with hundreds of exotic cattle imported from abroad. The cattle, farm implements and tractors and vehicles were all bought with public funds. Workers at the farm are paid by the Office of the President and Museveni is, of course, the President” (Obote, 1990).

He just shows his heart here. The violent and militarism in combination of the corruption. That is what we are seeing and that is eroding the state. As the President is the personification of the state at this point. That’s just shows what his willing to do and how he can live lavish on the public’s dime. We all know this, but Obote exposed that even in 1990 when he was a donor darling and a friend of the West. When the West allowed the prolonged conflict in Northern Uganda and didn’t take issues with the additional extra judicial killings, which his government did to consolidate power. That has been allowed and therefore, he has continued all of it. Since he has gotten of the hook for all of these years, but Obote knew already back then.

This is just small pieces of the pamphlet in question and there is more information, but this is just a about the personality of Museveni. Not all of his mischief way of getting into power, which he wants to be kept a secret and not blasted in public. As he wants a legendary tale of prominence and greatness in January 1986 and beyond. Peace.

Opinion: Museveni is repeating the oppressive means of Obote II

The man who promised a “fundamental change” and be a different from the ones before him. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni promised a lot, but however these days it shows no difference between him and the second Dr. Milton Obote II regime. He is using the same means against opposition and activists.

The abduction and suddenly detaining of Nicholas Opiyo yesterday proved it. As he was taken by law enforcement in plain clothers from a restaurant in Kamwokya. Later it was reported that he was at the Central Investigation Division (CID) at Kireka. However, they have suddenly charged him with money laundering and such. That is just an easy way freeze accounts and find excuses to have behind bars.

It wasn’t only Opiyo who was abducted yesterday. His team was also taken-in. These was Simon Peter Esomu and Anthony Odur. Which shows that anyone can be taken by the state operatives for no apparent reasons these days.

There been reports of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) leaders and candidates who has been taken and in-custody without any warrants. The National Unity Platform (NUP) supporters have been attacked by soldiers as they were preparing for rallies. They were wearing red and posters of Bobi Wine. That was enough to get either brutally hurt by them or arrested to unknown locations.

These days the regime doesn’t have the State Research Bureau (SRB) which was a torture dome and where people was taken too. Today the Internal Security Organization (ISO), Chieftain of Military Intelligence (CMI) and other outfits are using not only CID Kireka, but also ungazetted safe-houses for the ones that is abducted by the state. This sort of operation have gone on for long and court cases proved it. However, the election is only showing the lack of space for opposition in the Republic.

The National Resistance Movement (NRM) is acting like Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) under Dr. Milton Obote II did to the Democratic Party in the 1980s. Where MPs was arrested, gerrymandering and abduction of people. There is no difference there. Only new names and parties, but the parties are clearly acting alike.

Now the green of the DP isn’t the deadly sin, but wearing the red or blue is the problem. If you are associated with NUP or FDC you can expect legal trouble. You can get abducted for weeks without warrants or charges. The people who is abducted is able to get access to get attorneys, neither are they freed after 48 hours without a trial. They are just keeping them indefinitely and hoping nobody is blowing the whistle on the injustice.

The NRM is repeating the ills of the previous regimes. They are using the military, expanded the Presidential Entourage and finding new measures to suppress the public. The President is blaming the victims and using words that even Obote did in 1983.

Where Obote said: “It is convenient for them to make allegations in order to hide the effect of losing support and the lack of policies to put to the electorate” (Leon Dash – ‘Violence Poisons Political Process Within Uganda’ 01.12.1983, Washington Post).

We can hear the NRM saying similar these days. They are deflecting and hoping people are forgetting the ones abducted and arrested politically during these times. That would be very convenient for them. As we are following the campaign trail and what’s happening to the main candidates. While the lingering supporters and smaller candidates… can be behind bars without anyone defending them. Some can even be at a safe-house and their families have no clue where they are taken. The ones abducted to unknown locations. Just because the state can do so… Peace.

The 2021 Elections can be Museveni’s final 1980 Election

On the 14^th January 2021 is the Presidential Election in the Republic. As things states the President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is automatically winning. That is why the election is continuing. Because, he has put everything forward for a total victory. The rest is just procedure and pawns on his chess-set. His waiting to take everyone out, one by one and in the end up as the victor.

In regard to the 2021 elections nothing seems out of the ordinary in this fashion. Just like Dr. Milton Obote ordered full loyalty from all civil servants to his party. He appointed the Electoral Commission and District Commissioners. There was clear indication of gerrymandering, shut down public counting of the votes and suddenly announced the results over the radio.

Some of these things are not yet to happen, but knowingly how the National Resistance Movement (NRM) is working. We shouldn’t be shocked if some things are bound to happen in 2021.

First, the President has appointed loyalist and cronies into all institutions. They are directly involved in all government organizations. This being the Electoral Commission, Residential District Commanders, Judiciary, Police, Army and all other security organizations. Therefore, the President’s Men will be loyal and serve all his wishes.

Secondly, the state has been busy gerrymandering. That is why the extension of MPs never been higher between the 10^th Parliament to the 11^th Parliament. This is clearly done to able to fixate the voter registry and secure incumbent NRM friendly MPs. Just like the gerrymandering under Obote was to secure more UPC MPs in the Parliament.

Now, the President these days are offering a febrile and violent atmosphere, which could describe the days now. Museveni controls it all and orders everyone to his bidding. There is no difference from 1980 election. The election that brought him to the bush and made him overthrow the government at the time.

He is using the force to silence opposition. Using techniques of intimidation. His even arresting his main competitors. Like he arrested Patrick Oboi Amuriat and has still Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine behind bars as we speak. Therefore, the rules are rigged. The man does it differently. The names has changed, but the end-game is the same.

President Museveni is pushing on. Even as the army is on the streets. The scores of dead citizens is rising, the amounts of injured is on the rise too. This is the game the President is playing.

The 1980 election can teach us something. President Museveni felt scorned and was bitter. He felt cheated and used that as a reason for war. Now, his using the same means again. However, his the culprit and the head who spoils the polls in his favour.

That is the act that Obote did with the use of the mechanisms left behind by the colonial administration. Where the “administration” appointed the Electoral Commission, which is the same practice done today. This is why its loyal to the President and not to the public. Like so many of the other institutions who serves him, but not the public. They are all in the working for his end game. This is why there are MPs going directly into the next election without any polls. These are given the advantage before things are really starting.

That is why Museveni wants another 1980 election. The one reason for his reign and why “they fought”. When he has to rehash the sins of the past to get into power. In spite of giving reasons for others to become like he did. He walks into the same pitfalls, which he was supposed to liberate the people. An assertion we can all with time dismiss and know that he clearly haven’t regarded to fix. As that would make it impossible for him to win.

It is just a mere fact. In a free and fair election, where all candidates has a shot of winning. Museveni would never win. He wouldn’t have a half-chance. The old man wouldn’t even be reckoned with. So, if it wasn’t for all of his appointees, control of the state and intimidation. The man would have nothing and even less than Norbert Mao. Just think about that. Nobody in their right mind would elect that man can easily order the death or your son, daughter or nephew without a flinch of an eye.

That’s what he does and this is why the deaths of citizens doesn’t face him. Because, if it did. He would have acted differently. Like most of the time to show power he got to intimidate the public. Not that its enough with soldiers on the streets, para-military groups around and even armed people in plain clothes.

The 1980 election should be our lesson. As it shows where he gets the flair and bravado from. Museveni knows the Commonwealth and United Kingdom signed off the rigged election. There will be someone else doing his bidding this time. To ensure the election is legitimized in favour Obote. Now, in 2021 there will be someone else doing the bidding of Museveni. Surely we can expect Museveni wins by secure numbers and have total control of Parliament. Anything else is a shocker and a result the President wouldn’t accept.

Museveni doesn’t win elections, but he rigs them. Peace.

Opinion: Why isn’t the NRM and Museveni celebrating 11th April 1979?

It is special that the National Resistance Movement are celebrating the Independence Day on the 9^th October and the NRM on the 26^th January every year. The President is busy celebrating the end of the Obote II and the Independence from the British Empire, but something weird is up. Especially, considering how the President the National Resistance Army/Movement are so proud of being part of what toppled the Presidency of Idi Amin. They are still never celebrating an important day.

The NRM and Yoweri Kaguta Museveni haven’t in years been celebrating the 11^th April of 1979. It is like a day from the calender, that has vanished in thin air. The Independence of 9^th October 1962 is relevant. The victory over Obote II and the bush-war, the 26^th January 1986 is carved in stone. They got to celebrate it in lavish and nothing is speared in this manner.

However, the 11^th April is forgotten or is done on purpose. Because Milton Obote remembers Museveni’s way of liberating Uganda on that day: “ On 11 April, 1979 when Kampala fell to the Kikosi Maalum and TPDF, Museveni was in Fort Portal staying with Princess Elizabeth Bagaya in the Omukama’s Palace which the TPDF who had captured the Town never damaged at all. On that same day, the President of the UNLF and all his ministers who attended the Conference at which the UNLF was formed except Museveni were, like me, in Dar es Salaam” (…) “When the mobilisers and others left, Paulo Muwanga gave me what he and President Nyerere had discussed. Paulo reported that in the long meeting with President Nyerere, the President kept repeating and emphasising three points. The first was that 11 April, 1979 was a glorious day for him, the President and Milton Obote who had overthrown a most brutal dictator. The second was that he, the President, was very much pained that his “comrade” Milton Obote was not happy and the third was that he, the President, could not understand why his comrade Milton Obote was regarding Lule and the UNLF as anything other than flies falling on a carcass. Paulo reported that President Nyerere used the word comrade and the expression “flies falling on a carcass” repeatedly” (Milton Obote – ‘THE UPC ROLE IN THE REMOVAL OF AMIN – PAPER BY A. MILTON OBOTE)

Because, certainly if Amin’s rule was bad and Museveni was proud of taking part of the overthrow of him. The President of today would have celebrated this, but alas, it seems more to be part of his history, that he wants to erase and not speak so loud about. Since, his role in the overthrow of Amin wasn’t as successful nor as big as the President wants it to be. That is why, he cannot celebrate a military victory, where he was hanging out in Fort Portal, when someone else invaded Kampala. That is why the President celebrates the 26^th January and not 11^th April. Since, in January it was him entering Kampala, while in April it was someone else who did it.

That is maybe why it isn’t an important date to Museveni. His vanity and his lack of courage, that he has to rewrite history and make people forget of his mediocre role. Is the reason, why he doesn’t celebrate the victory over the Amin years. The brutality of Amin and the killings of Amin. As him as President didn’t get rid of him, but got rid of Obote II and others.

Certainly as a part of the newly transitional council, Museveni should take some credit and his participation from exile meant something. However, there are also evidence of his lacking resources and soldiers for the combat. But, the others saw the need for their and gave him a space in the National Consultative Council, interim government post-Amin.

That is why its weird for me, that he celebrates two other dates, which was ending of other people’s reign, but the President who usually credits himself as the saviour from dictatorships. Are not celebrating the one said to be the worst in time or his conscious playing tricks on him? As he feels guilty that he is acting as Amin and ordering killings in the same manner as he did?

Because, there got to be a reason, as this was a jubilant day and with celebrations in the streets of Kampala on the 11^th April 1979. Surely, the ones celebrating on the streets might not be living anymore. But the legacy and the history of that day is out there.

Darton reported on the 30^th April 1979: “ KAMPALA, Uganda — When Tanzanian soldiers and Ugandan exiles marched into Kampala on April 11, they found the carnage left by the institution.’ alized brutality of a state gone insane” (John Darton – ‘Idi Amin: A Savior Who Became The Creator of 8 Years of Horror’ 30.04.1979, New York Times).

With this in mind, the state should celebrate this. A ending of one tyrant, however the current one is maybe not so jolly about remembering his end. Since, that even remind him, that his day will come too? Peace.

FYI: If you calculate this year, 2019 is actually 40 years since it happen. A fourth decade since the Tanzanian army went in and invaded Uganda to free them from Amin’s rule. Still, it doesn’t seem to matter to Museveni. Just a footnote in the scheme of things.

Museveni acts more and more like Obote II: A Bush-War Wasted! Part II

As the time is going and the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni are just acting like the predecessors. This is making the supposed Bush-War in the 1980s pointless. As the President promised changes from the ones ruling before him. The NRM was supposed to be the golden age and greatness of the Republic. He come with pledges of respecting the peasants and create a democracy, instead it is the same type of tyranny of the past. There is now no difference between Museveni and Obote II. These regimes are acting the same and similar towards the opposition and media. Even American Journalists got two nights detained in the 1980s. Now the same is happening to local journalists in and around the Arua By-Election.

What I will now show, two stories or reports from the Obote II regime. Which shows similar resembles with today. All of the actions of the current day towards the Members of Parliament, are like of the previous President, these being Mubarak Munyagwa, Robert Kyagulanyi, Francis Zaake, Kassiano Wadri, Gerald Karuhanga and Paul Mwiru. All of these are now in the dire straits, they are in the midst of oppression, torture and detention, either with at Military Barracks or unknown locations. Therefore, there are two many similarities with Obote.

AI Report 1983:

“According to Amnesty International’s information, most people arrested in 1981 on grounds of national security, were arrested by the army. Same arrests appear to have been arbitrary or indiscriminate, but the majority were apparently directed at particular individuals. Most people arrested by the army were taken to army barracks and detained there, contrary to the law. Many were held for weeks or months. In very few cases were people known to have been transferred without delay to police custody. Detentions in military barracks were not recorded for police or legal purposes, and were not officially acknowledged. Such detainees had no legal protection in practice and the courts had no effective jurisdiction over them. In time, many of the detainees who survived were released or transferred to police custody, but it appears that torture was systematic, and many of those in military custody “disappeared” or were known to have died, particularly at Makindye and Kireka barrack” (Amnesty – ‘Memorandum to the Government of Uganda on Anmnesty International mission to Uganda in January 1982 and further exchanges between the government and Amnesty International’ April 1983)

One Story:

“Those suspected of supporting the guerrillas were viciously hounded. Mr Mukasa’s wife was beheaded by government soldiers in 1981 and his brother was shot dead. After two years in exile near London, Mr Mukasa returned to Uganda only to be arrested by Obote’s security service which mistook him – Mr Mukasa says – for Godfrey Binaisa who had been president for a short period between Amin and Obote. Mr Mukasa still bears scars from the torture sessions in the Nile Hotel. His interrogators dripped burning plastic down his right leg to make him talk. Not surprisingly, he has not been back to the hotel since. “The Nile Hotel was a slaughterhouse”, I was later told by Brigadier Jim Muhwezi who, as head of internal security, now has an office in the adjacent conference centre. “A number of my friends were interned and died there. It’s hard to believe the beautiful gardens were once littered with bodies.”” (David Orr – ‘KAMPALA DAYS; Ghosts that lurk in shadows of hotel’s gory past’ 20.05.1996 link: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/kampala-days-ghosts-that-lurk-in-shadows-of-hotels-gory-past-1348320.html).

As we see the similarities between the past and present. We see that the Bush-War is wasted, the freedom fighter is taking away people’s freedom. The liberation, wasn’t really liberating. The Orwellian nightmare is in the Republic. Museveni does whatever it takes stay in power. No torturing, harassing and charging fellow MPs with treason. All deliberately to send a message and intimidate the public. This is what Museveni has done since 1986. Now it is just appearing before our eyes.

President Museveni are now acting like Obote II towards the public, sending mambas, soldiers and police to intimidate the public. They are killing civilians and detaining civilians on military barracks. No matter who you are in the republic, Museveni can take you down and make sure your begging for mercy. If your killed by his Soldiers or his Presidential Guards, it will not have any consequences, they can do whoever and get rid of whoever. It doesn’t cost anything, for the President it is just collateral damage for the cause. The cause, which is just staying in power.

That is the reality. Nothing else. There is no difference between Obote II and Museveni. Peace.

Museveni acts more and more like Obote II: A Bush-War Wasted!

With the recent by-elections in Rukungiri, Bugiri and now in Arua. There been so much election violence and even killings in all three. There been enough of the army and mambas in the street, to intimidate the public. While the army and police are busy arresting opposition leaders and also activists. Therefore, the levels of arrests are over dozens, scores and in such levels that it has to hit about 20 and above to be right. This is what happens under President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. He is acting like President Milton Obote did in the 1980s. The second term of Obote was filled with arbitrary arrests, violence, torture and killings by the authorities. Now in the 2018, the Museveni regime is acting like them.

In 1982:

“The President allows a legal opposition party (the Democratic Party), and Obote seems to be trying to make parliamentary government work. However, opposition MPs for a time were arrested and detained. In a new-year amnesty, Obote allowed four MP detainees to be released; some 1,000 other detainees were released recently as well. The MPs, who had been accused of ‘‘connection with acts of violence,” were received personally by Obote” (John Worrall – ‘Uganda registers modest gains under Obote’ 04.01.1982 link: https://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0104/010442.html).

In 1983:

“Obote, moreover, has denied that any civilian detainees are being kept in military barracks. Yet he has not allowed officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross to inspect the suspected military barracks. “There are no detainees in military barracks,” Obote said in an interview. “There are no detainees who are tortured or murdered or killed in any way in government custody.” A 1982 report by the human rights group Amnesty International and a U.S. State Deparment report released earlier this year support allegations of civilian detentions, widespread abuses of human rights and killings carried out by soldiers in the military barracks. Well-informed western diplomats, one Ugandan government official who declined to be identified and political opposition leader Ssemogerere said abuses directed at civilian detainees is continuing in the Army’s barracks” (Leon Dash – ‘Brutality Marks Army’s Conduct in Uganda’ 29.11.1983, link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1983/11/29/brutality-marks-armys-conduct-in-uganda/342af52f-fbdc-4491-a399-208124c677db/?utm_term=.a95022d4262a).

Later 1983:

“Soon after Obote’s inauguration speech, civil war erupted when two groups of his political competitors, both of whom charged Obote with fraudulently winning the December 1980 election, retired to the countryside surrounding this capital of Kampala and began waging a guerrilla war. The Army has recently managed to put the insurgents on the run, but political assassinations and the detention without trial of nonviolent politicial critics of the government have escalated as the war has died down. On Oct. 25 unknown gunmen abducted Mary Luswata, the chairman of Obote’s Uganda People’s Congress party in a district 80 miles from here, plus three members of the party’s youth wing and three party supporters. They were found shot to death two days later nearby” (Leon Dash – ‘Violence Poisons Political Process Within Uganda’ 01.12.1983, link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1983/12/01/violence-poisons-political-process-within-uganda/1d4a504d-d186-4100-ba19-971dbaa4c577/?utm_term=.321bf5362f86).

Militarism under both rulers:

“Although a small incident, (and indeed much larger incidents might have been cited), it has all the ingredients of militarism. “We fought for you” singles oult the “military” contribution to liberation to the denigration of all other kinds of contribution (including political) which people made towards the downfall of Obote’s dictatorship. It also becomes a “license” in the hands of the men in uniform to treat “you civilians” with derision and contempt. Although NRA’s record, compared to the that of Obote’s UNLA, has been generally impressive, this was so as long as they were in the bush, and did not enjoy “state power”. Now that they enjoy state power, their “militarism” is coming to the surface. Earlier in the same week that the above incident happened at Walukuba, soldiers burst into the house of the editor of the Weekly Topic (a paper that is critically sympathetic to Museveni), and searched his house, as also the office of his brother, a former Member of Parliament. Later they arrested a few people in the area who previously had UPC connections. All this was done without informing the Resistance Councils of the area, thus undermining their authority and relevance in matters of “high security”. When criticized, the NRA is consistently defended by Museveni on the same grounds that “they fought for you”. It is clear that Museveni derives his legitimacy and authority more from his army than from the political efforts of “the civilians”. The RCs with all their weaknesses analysed earlier, are nonetheless never likely, under Museveni, to acquire political control over the army, and hence militarism is likely to remain, as under Obote, the hallmark of Museveni’s regime” (Yash Tandon – ‘Elements of Continuity and Change Between Obote and Museveni: Some Lessons from Obote’s Rule for Musevents Government’ 01.01.1987, link: https://escholarship.org/content/qt667686n5/qt667686n5.pdf).

We can see now, that the ones that President Museveni overthrow for the betterment of the republic, he has become alike. He might not have arrested 1000 opposition leaders at the same time, but over the years he has detained, arrested and charged more than I can count. He has done the same during the recent days and even within this year. The NRM are acting as the previous leadership did. They are torturing opposition MPs, they are arresting them and also showing violence towards the public.

Right now, there are more and more similarities between Obote II and Museveni of now. The 1980s Uganda and current Uganda isn’t that much different. Only, that the public have smart-phones and the reports are spread without the central government control like in the 1980s. That is why we will know quicker and the reports will make sense. This is information sharing the authorities cannot control. That is why we knew of the violence in Rukungiri, Bugiri and in Arua.

Museveni’s ways of control is looking more like Obote… therefore, the bush-war is more and more pointless. As he is acting like the ones he overthrow. Not only overstaying and being an arrogant prick, but also being reckless, relentless and destroying people’s lives to stay in power. Using state sponsored violence to control the public.

The Ugandan people deserves better, all the lives lost are now just pawns in the eyes of the ones who had hope in the 1980s for something better for their kids. They fought and celebrated the fall of Obote II, but instead they got someone who was as brutal as him. Using the same force and same methods to stay in power.

It isn’t beautiful, not planned to be. It is just a cynics way of staying in power. Peace.

Footage: Luweero the Killings Fields of Uganda (Interview from 1985)

The regime of Milton Obote (1980 to 1985) was characterized by an excessive disregard for human rights. Government troops massacred civilians, especially in the “Luweero triangle” in Buganda. The U.S. State Department estimated that between 100,000 and 200,000 civilians were slaughtered in the Luweero triangle by the government troops. Peter Otai, Ugandan Minister of State for Defense, was interviewed by Peter Sisson in April 1985.

NEWSWEEK/AUGUST 13, 1984 – Starvation and Slaughter in Uganda

One of the world’s most massive – and deadly – violations of human rights in recent years may now be occurring in the Luwero triangle of Uganda, according to State Department sources in Washington. That area is a center of the Baganda tribe and also the site of an ongoing insurgency against the Ugandan government. North Korean-trained Ugandan soldiers are reported to have killed thousands of Baganda. The death toll from the slaughter and from starvation is estimated to range from 100,000 to 200,000, but international refugee organizations have been prohibited from distributing food in the triangle, which is located north of the Ugandan capital of Kampala.

Hon. Jim Muwezi talks about justifying the house-arrest of Besigye; that personal freedom loses towards a state’s stability; I differ on those opinions; while he has totally forgotten the invitations from … to the Election Observers Mission.

When you’re losing a bar-fight and thinking that another beer, will give you extra strength and power to sufficiently hit the high and almighty bastard; that is the reasoning tactics of the Minster Jim Muhwezi today, the minister of Information and National Guidance!

Today Hon. Jim Muhwezi talked out on the FDC on the Breakfast Show on the NTV. Here is what he uttered today!  

 “When Kizza Besigye moves, he is followed by people, some of whom are potential criminals who want to loot. Police has a duty to stop that” (…)”“He [Besigye] is not under arrest. He is being regulated. He is free. Didn’t he go to church? Kizza Besigye is being treated as a security threat. Police can stop you from committing a crime. Uganda Police acts on information they get” (…)”Besigye’s ‘detention’ means government maintains responsibility of keeping law and order because elections shouldn’t turn Uganda anarchical so that is why security takes precedence over personal freedom always” (…)”“Besigye’s ‘detention’ means government maintains responsibility of keeping law and order because elections shouldn’t turn Uganda anarchical so that is why security takes precedence over personal freedom always” (…)”I don’t know the importance of this. They are diverting people’s attention from work. I find it strange that FDC is asking people to stay home. Very few people are following this. They are trying to defy nature and honest If Kizza Besigye wanted to go to court, we would have gone to court. Amama Mbabazi went to court without going to court” (Muneza, 2016).

Well, this here is not easy to subtle and kindly as he claims ordinary Ugandans are criminals for being supporters of Dr. Kizza Besigye, since the crowds and showing up at every town was big and many of the locals. Hon. Muhwezi follows the IGP Kayihura guideline, which Besigye is not under arrest: claiming the few hours going to All-Saints is the proof. I am sorry Hon. Muhwezi you’re soon getting three roadblocks to your home, getting a visiting book to sign in your entire guest, having police-officers outside your home for 40 days and not calling it a house-arrest. Then I and you can have an honest conversation. Even though the IGP Kayihura lies and you do as well, does not make it a truth!

Later you say the personal freedoms cannot be granted if it is fear of security and anarchical actions. The logic is flawed as your master and you’re Executive; your boss and the man you admire with all of your being Mr. Muhwezi. Hon. Muhwezi is defending a Preventative Arrest without any evidence that it has made an impact or given the country more secure. Law and Order means detaining people without having charges in sake of security, for me it sounds as making people criminal before they have even done a crime Hon. Muhwezi; is that the Information and National Guidance you will be remembered for?

Hon. Muhwezi it is ironic and fun to me how the NRM officials and NRM MPs and NRM Spokesmen have issues with the FDC Boycott. Why it’s ironic? If you are the grand-slam winners of the elections and have the majority then the boycott would not matter and wouldn’t be on your lips, right? Since it is, then it is hurting society and the general moral as it is way of peacefully reacting to the thieving of the election and acts of violence from the Security Forces and Police Force for the general public.

Then the last point on the Petition squabble, I did address this also with the CP Fred Enaga right after. It is special how the NRM people and Uganda Police sound like they have programmed to address and reasoning the same. Must be the 50 shades of ballot-stealing they are learning at Kyankwanzi retreat. It is hard to discuss this with rational sense that Dr. Kizza Besigye could go to court, he was under house-arrest, his fellow Party-Officials was not allowed to meet, the ones with DR Forms from the Polling Stations met at Gun-Point from the Police and also detained by the same Police; also the besieged FDC headquarter of Najjankumbi and twice raided since the Election Day. Therefore the assessment of easily walking with evidence and precedence to the Supreme Court is flawed one. If the NRM party had the aggravated assaults from the Police Force against their operations then their Executive would have gone back to his guns and taken the “Freedom, Liberty and Justice” for himself, but you know that right, Hon. Muhwezi?    

On International Actors during the Elections:

“Uganda’s internal matters” (…)”observers are not in our constitution and we don’t know why they were here” (Gorilla Express, 2016).

Well, you’re a minister of information, but it is the country who get request and takes the Observers Mission sometimes as a way of creating credibility for the election or securing funding for the government as the precedence of the reign of the rule of power is by the ballot box and an election. Just as the Commonwealth accepted the rigged the election of 1980 was to get a positive government that the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom investment could trust, therefore the Election Observers from Commonwealth in the 1980s was there to give credibility to the Obote II Government. You who are man who has been in government for so long should know this?

Your right an election is an internal matter! But that does not make them righteous to do them wrongly, the reason is to respect the ballot and the wishes of the citizens. That is an internal matter and matter of government, to have the representatives and the leaders the people decided to vote for and get in power. Not for the one handpicked by the Electoral Commission or the NRM-O. So the internal matter can be questioned by the people following and outsiders as we can see that the Government does not respect the internal matter of respecting your population and the citizens in general. Complete disregard for the will of the people when the rigged election has appeared and the announcement takes away the will and power of the ballot.

Wasn’t that why President Museveni had MoU on the Election Observation Mission in December 2015! But that is forgotten in your mind Hon. Muhwezi? The EAC Election Observers Mission came on invitation from the Electoral Commission, which is also forgotten? The Commonwealth Election Observation Mission happens after an invitation directly from the Government of Uganda, so certainly the GoU and the Electoral Commission; they have asked them to come! That is why they were there and observed the elections, apparently. But as a NRM Ministry of Information and National Guidance, your work is to make people forget certain facts to fit into the vision of the only man with a vision, isn’t that right Hon. Muhwezi?

I did the other destroy the words of Hon. Opondo, but you Hon. Muhwezi was much easier and with more delight. Hope you get to read these words and respect them as a advisory, because it could have been less humble and been more disgraceful as you called the men and woman who follow Besigye criminals, which is a low-point and a common disregard to common sense; why? Because the men majority of the men and woman following Besigye is citizens, tax-payers and the “average” Ugandan! Peace.

P.S:

Well, Hon. Muhwezi you’re speaking so biased I am sorry for you. There is not easy to take you seriously. That is because when I sent a question to mail the NRM Party Online Page, I was sent directly to your Ministry of Information and National Guidance; promised an answer within 24 hours in mid-February, and by today; still no answer on a single question.

Reference:

Muneza, Stephen – ‘Besigye followed by criminals – Minister Muhwezi’ (30.03.2016) link: http://eagle.co.ug/2016/03/30/besigye-followed-criminals-minister-muhwezi.html

Gorilla Express – ‘Jim Muhwezi stings International Community for meddling in Uganda’s internal affairs’ (30.03.2016) link: http://gorillaxpress.com/?p=517

“No Peace In Uganda” – CBC’s The Journal from 1985 (Youtube-Clip)

“The Journal’s Ann Madina investigates the period in Uganda after Milton Obote is deposed in a second coup.It highlights the period when the civil war was raging in Luwero shortly before the NRA marched to Kampala” (CBC USA Footage/Clip)

Andrew Mwenda’s flawed logic; He claims that Mzee is not the problem with Uganda; I beg to differ

Andrew Mwenda keeps with his flawed logic. Like he has lost the plot and forgotten his traits and his theories of old. But hey, he is hungry and wants to eat. Here is has ploy of arrogance on facebook:

“It is simplistic to argue that Uganda’s problem is Museveni. A better argument is Museveni has failed to solve the problems of Uganda” (…)”Museveni (with Besigye) once told us that getting rid of Obote would be a major step in improving anything. What happened?” (…)”Besigye’s weakness is to personalize Uganda’s problems to Museveni and argue that his removal is all we need. The problems of poverty, weak state, poor Government services and democracy deficit were there before Museveni” (…)“If we fail to diagnose Uganda’s problems, the solutions will always elude us” (Andrew Mwenda, 17.01.2016)

Well, in sum there has gone 29 years of the one-man rule since 1986. There have been many benefactors and Members of Parliament since them, but the main factor in the calculations have been President Museveni. Since he took rule he has marginalized or used tactics to get people loyal to Museveni and not directly to any state institution. Therefore he is a major problem, because if it didn’t really happen, then he didn’t sponsor the benedictional project or program. Museveni could only support a program if he could benefit from it.

That Mwenda has a problem with Besigye is that he is in stark contrast to Museveni. Besigye asks for accountability and transparency something that doesn’t fit the world of development and growth for the editor and creator of the Independent Magazine. Something that is weird considering his past at KFM Radio and trouble for blasting governmental cronyism.

It is true that Museveni isn’t the only problem, but he is the one that creates the problem and feeds the issues, instead of fixing them. He doesn’t mend or complement them. Instead he adds on the weight until he overpowers it; because he has to do what he can rule and control it. Therefore he is the problem, as he is the executive power and the man who has had the majority rule or even rigged himself the majority. So Mwenda must have forgotten that part of the issue, if not he is blind by his own ego.

It is true that all the issues that Mwenda mentioned in the government of Uganda as the bad governance, weak state-institutions and democratic deficit. This was inherited in 1986 from the Obote II and the short-term presidents in between like Yusuf Lule and Tito Okello. So there aren’t all Museveni faults, but he has had the time to fix many of the issues and defects in the governmental structures and democratic facilitation if he really cared about them. It is not like he was sitting for a hot minute and didn’t have the time to fix the corruption of UNRA, NSSF and other state-organizations.

When you see excellent record of higher and higher loan-rate on the government budget for any year, when the value of the currency falls and escalating inflations you can wonder if the government and economical institutions under the regime is for the people or the rich elite who is fed by the government. The Neo-Liberalization of Uganda has lead the government to expand the businesses into every part of society instead of governmental control as the Chicago School of Business wanted in 1970s, with the IMF and World Bank controlled Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP) that demolished state-financed agricultural and subsidized industries that was supposed to be controlled by market-powers instead of supported by tax-money to sustain growth and higher employment rate. The result of inflicting this on the Ugandan economy as the NRM-Regime has done with such a passion is that the business that has no cut for the government has been left astray and the ones that is not strong enough has gone bankrupt. Now Uganda has to imports of finished products and stop of productions from industry and factories in former towns like Jinja. Also with the historical institution of the Uganda Development Corporations, who from the 1950s gave growth through state-funds, and not through direct market power!

That must have been forgotten by the Andrew Mwenda, that President Museveni sold everything to foreigners or liberated the economy to point that the URA can’t tax, or control to tax without losing the control over the sold merchandise. That is why Uganda has one of the lowest rates of taxation on products since the URA doesn’t have the manpower or the regulations to without taxes. They can’t keep up with citizens and movement of money, if they had then they might catch up with more of the embezzlement and corrupted agreements between liberated companies or new structures in the market own by the ruling elite. But that is not good is it? Send cases to the DPP and OAG to fix the matters together with Uganda Anti-Corruption Commission which is so meager that they can’t keep the state of affairs and make government institution accountable, something that President Museveni doesn’t really want them to do, unless he want to get rid of somebody who has the dream of succeeding him. Then they will find something on the man or woman show some of the dirty laundry.

You don’t need to be giant man with much knowledge to diagnose some of the issues that the government of Uganda has to tackle, some the state of affairs and some tangible structures that need to be fixed. The government needs taxation with representation, also need to re-focus the money and also be more accountable for their actions. Not have a one-big-man rule as they have had since 1986 that keeps to eating of the plate, instead of serving the people. That is a problem: a problem that knows that he is the problem, if he stills remember what he studied in the end of 1960s and beginning of 1970 at the University of Dar-Es-Salam in Tanzania. President Museveni should know the issues and know how he made them, or prepared them through his loyal cronies. As Andrew Mwenda seems more like one of his mouth-pieces more as the time goes, instead of pseudo-intellectual as he wishes to portray himself.

This is a direct address to the issue, as he can try to clean his slate, but he has lost the plot. The problem and the real man behind it is President Museveni is only leader and nearly the only one who has been there from the get-go and have ruled so long that he know what has been done differently than under his wings. The reign will not be remembered as the ones who follow the dream story of liberation, but also of eating the riches and wealth while forgetting to feed the public, or let the get opportunity to eat and earn a living.

So Mwenda has a flawed view on the matter, that he at the same time says Besigye is wrong. Besigye has also said that the institutions need accountability and transparency which is starch contrast to Museveni. Something that is vital to rebuild them and prove that the government institutions are for the people and not the Executive to eat of. So if that have to change then the public funds and public expenditure together with strengthen them, not in ownership of the executive but by giving the civil servants power to execute the necessary flows of technical assistance or regulations to let the teachers, policemen, judges and bureaucrats to do their initial service to the public; now they are handpicked men to serve the executive. That is problem because the paycheck from the executive is more important than doing their job to the public who need the men to secure their daily life and be there to safely govern the territories of the state.

As we can see Mwenda has judged the matter very easy without thinking it through, if he has then his logic is very flawed as President Museveni is a problem in state clogged with issues and the problems. There isn’t a way solution to it all, how to fix the economy is there many theories, though the stability of the currency and inflation should be the first, also secure low loans-rate so that the growth can be similar to the inflation rate. There is also the level of building trust between government institutions and people as they are supposed to be connected and for each other. Not letting the state and its institutions being on an island, and when they need the public hire a ferry to let the visit. That is not the idea of the state, the state is supposed to be mirrored in the people with transparency and accountability where the public can question the behavior of the rulers, governors and mayors, as they are set to represent the public, not just execute the laws and regulations without mercy, then the government is an totalitarian state, where justice will not prevail unless you are on good term with the head or executive power on the top. That is how the system is now with government of Uganda. We can easily see that he is one of the major factors, why President Museveni is the elephant in the room when you discuss progress and development issues in the country, since he can decide where to go or who to hire to fix it.

That is it. Peace.