Opinion: An eye for eye, and a tooth for a tooth [a commentary on the return of Patrice Lumumba’s tooth]

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also” – Matthew 5: 38-39, New International Version (NIV).

It is tragic to know that the first Congolese Prime Minister of the Independent Democratic Republic of Congo – Patrice Lumumba was not only assassinated, but deposed of in a brutal way. Which is why the only remain part of his body is a tooth. The body was deposed with acid and totally destroyed. That was a deliberate act to mask and stop any sort of trace of the evil deeds committed to him.

While we know the Belgian authorities and the United States of America – Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was involved in the matter. They where both participating and ensuring a transition to Mobutu Sese Seko and his tyranny, which took over for the revolutionary and the popular prospect of a Lumumba government. Therefore, the West did this and has never answered for their crimes in the DRC. Belgium is “regretting” and saying “sorry” but they have never paid or had any direct consequences for the years of colonialism or overlordship of the Central African Nation.

That’s why I cannot celebrate the return the of the tooth. No, it is not enough. Just like the Belgians never has paid any price or had to take any sort of real accountability for the years of colonial rule. They have not paid for their brutality and generations of suffering. A nation which paid the costs of their mass-murder and looting. Therefore, the tooth of the former Prime Minister isn’t a token or a relic of hope. But a proof of the deviousness, which has roamed large in Brussels and beyond.

Just read this here snippet about the return of it:

“A newly-built mausoleum in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa is getting ready to welcome the gold-crowned tooth of the country’s independence hero Patrice Lumumba. The mausoleum was however designed by a Chinese architect and is about to take in the only known remains of Mr Lumumba. In September 2020, the family of Lumumba received news of taking in the tooth taken from his corpse. A court in Belgium had ruled that the tooth should be returned to Lumumba’s family. Lumumba’s tooth was believed to have been taken by a Belgian policeman who was helping to dispose of the body” (Africa Feeds, 23.06.2022).

What is even more striking is that a Belgian Police Officer has been able to keep it for all of these years. That a man of the law and of the law enforcement kept it as a token and a valuable artefact says a lot. Because, he and others in his company has to know how it got there. You just don’t take a tooth and other items from another country like that.

The police officer and fellow peers must have known and be aware of the “secrecy” of the assassination of Lumumba. That his life was taken prematurely and left to a grim fate. Which was acid and total destruction of his remains. That’s why the DRC is only left with a tooth.

The Belgian authorities only gives back a golden tooth. That is very symbolic of how they ruled the DRC. They called maybe the tribes of the DRC savages, but they were the definition of it. The way they looted, massacred and created horrors under rule of King Leopold. The Belgians should be aware of the bloodshed and murders that was committed in their names. That is something that should be told until eternity. Especially, when it has no consequence. The murder capital of DRC is somewhere in Belgium. Since, they ordered and ensured the demise of millions of Congolese people over the years.

Some might say it is reparation or a gesture between the nations. This was a theft. Not only the thieving of the remains of a body of a head of state. No, it was also a theft and stolen future. The Belgians together with allies hijacked the future of the DRC. They installed Mobutu and the ramifications we see to this day.

The tooth will not turn back time. It is a small item, but not insignificant. Yes, this has taken way to long. However, the ones behind the assassination is roaming loose and has no punitive actions done against them. They did a calculated murder with following destruction of all evidence. That’s how sinister the plot was and we may never know who actually did it.

The only thing we know… is that the DRC never got justice served. They only got an tooth. Which isn’t enough. Belgians should be aware and so should anyone else who has looted a nation under the banner of colonialism. They should answer for the pains and suffering they committed. It wasn’t just an one off and Lumumba’s demise is a testament of that. Peace.

Opinion: Museveni have become 2021 edition of Mobutu

“Nothing is not my business in this country: everything is my business, everything. The state of education, the state of our economy, the state of our agriculture, the state of our transport, everything is my business” – President Hastings Kamuzu Banda (1972)

In 2021 we can wonder if General Yoweri Kaguta Museveni wants to distort his whole legacy. He has already destroyed much of it and with more time in office. Now with a new term starting soon. The Self-Styled President for Life is soon ending up like Zaire’s Mobutu Sese Seko. Why do I say that? Mobutu was a man Museveni despised. However, it is so unique that he ends up replicating him.

Mobutu ruled Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo) from 1965 to 1997. He ruled the Republic for 32 years after being installed by the CIA and Belgium after the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. Since then he had all power and the state was the personification of him.

What is making him more similar to Yoweri is that they we’re both getting old. In 1997 Mobutu was 67 years old and had cancer. His cabinet was decaying. The army was hated by the general public. An army that killed and preyed on the citizens for their cuts. Mobutu owned several of businesses and the treasury was his personal bank. There was reports that he had an wealth of USD $4 billion.

Another trick Mobutu had to prolong his time in office. Was the usage of Kleptocracy. Where the President held meeting with rivals, chiefs and opponents. Later he would appoint these persons into his cabinet or create positions for them. They became Ministers or at a leaders at a Governmental Parastatal. A place where they didn’t remain for long, but got enough coin to not create their own power-base.

I am just saying these things, as we can see similar things is happening to Museveni. Museveni is on the other hand celebrating 35 years since his takeover. Nevertheless, his popularity have been dwindling. He has used the tricks of Mobutu and become Ugandan answer to DRC’s Mobutu. If there was someone like a young Yoweri in the near proximity. They would have the rights to topple him and install someone else. As Museveni used all reasons and said it was for the betterment of DRC to get Laurent Kabila as the President there in 1997. Therefore, Museveni should be careful. Because, the old man has done this to others and his own actions could be applied to himself.

Yoweri Museveni is a walking contradiction and he knows it. If not his deluded and forgotten everything he did in the past. Something I doubt, as the old man is always telling stories that benefit him in the current time. That is how he white-wash history and ensures it fit his any given whims. Just like all the random people have on his pay-roll, as Presidential Advisors and appointed to a government parastatal.

The people despise the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF), Special Force Command (SFC), Uganda Police Force and all the other state security agencies. These entities are all destroying civil society and easily taking lives. They are state sponsoring violence and the civilians are their causalities. The President promotes this violence, usage of force and arbitrary arrests without any proper cause or justification for the action in the first place. Other then these people are associated with opponents and that’s why they are fair game.

We can wonder if Museveni wants to fall out like Mobutu. If he wants to fall out of favours in the West. Be a relic and a man who is a pariah. A man who went from being a donor darling into the total tyrant, which his currently proud of. The old man doesn’t care and he doesn’t mind it seems. That his turning into the 2021 edition of Mobutu. Where his kleptocracy and “Mobutuism” will destroy the republic. Where Museveni have skimmed off the top and built a extensive entourage of soothsayers, a rag-tag team of compromised opponents and loyalists. That is why there are former NRA historicals and Ghetto “Superstars” who was there to boost the President ahead of 2021 election.

Nevertheless, we are now on the 35 year of his reign. The man who promised “fundamental change” and promised more then he have ever given to the Republic. Instead he has turned into everything he promised to be different from. That is why his legacy is destroyed and what remains is how badly he wants to go out. There is no redeeming factor anymore. The old man had the opportunities, but he instead wants to become another Mobutu. Which is not a good look. When he spoke ill of everything Mobutu was about, but now he has become this man.

That what’s uncontrolled and absolute power does to you. It takes away your soul and whatever you possessed before and in return bathes in greed. This is why he resembles and have replicated the ones he promised to be different from. After 35 years in power. There should have been more positive things to look for. However, that train have left the station and there is no return. The General has ordered this meal and now he got to eat it. Even if it is bitter. Peace.

A brief look into how similar Museveni’s rule is de facto the same as Mobutu!

“In a clear reference to the team effort to dethrone Mobutu, the 53-year-old Museveni asserts that “for the first time since independence {in the 1960s}, the African intelligentsia, in partnership with the peasants, are assuming leadership.” This is an era of “new independence in decision-making. We don’t decide on matters because foreigners want us to decide.” He suggests that African leaders must push their countries toward “modernization and industrialization,” with special emphasis on infrastructure, education and health care. “If that doesn’t take place, the new order will be as empty as the old one,” he says” (Buckley, 1998).

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was supposed to be a liberator, a reformer and Marxists leader who rose from a Bush-War in the 1980s to change the state of Uganda. However, with time he has shown his true character, maybe that was the reason why he went rogue from being a minister to become a rebel. Maybe it should have been a visible sign from day one, as the National Resistance Army/Movement (NRA/M) leaders of 1980s has gotten a vital space from then until now. None of them has given way and are entitled because of what they fought for, which is non-existence.

Mobutu was supported and had a coup against the leader who liberated the now Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). President Museveni had a coup and a war against the first Prime Minister and President Dr. Milton Obote. Even on that level, Museveni has actually copied Mobutu. I’ll show parts of other articles that was written int the time of his reign, Mobutu, as it shows how he did it and then. It can show the similarities, and it shows that we haven’t gotten further than this. Museveni has become Mobutu in the flesh, he has become the ones that he fought against and isn’t funny. It is a tragedy, that to many people are living through and that should be shed a light on. Because the silence and the continued support of this sort of leadership and administration should stop. It doesn’t make sense.

Growing loans in 1980s:

“Although the details of possible corruption and massive personal profit have captured most attention, the major portion of the report deals with Zaire’s $4.1 billion international debt. On this subject, Blumenthal bluntly says: ‘‘There is no – I repeat no – chance on the horizon for Zaire’s numerous creditors to get their money back. . . . There has been and remains only one major obstacle to annihilate such prospects – the corruption of the team in power.” He concludes that ‘‘Mobutu and his government show no concern about the question of paying off loans and the public debt. They are counting on the generosity of their creditors and the indefinite renewal of the loans and their repayment.” (Fouquet, 1982). So as the news of growing debts to the Republic of Uganda, don’t expect him to be in a hurry to repay the debts to the international creditors or anyone. As he taking out debt, to repay debts and money gets lost along the way. Even the accountability and transparency is lacking, as there are many ghosts, projects without any signs of change or building the infrastructure as promised. The money just vanish. It is just like Mobutu, everyone expect handshakes, all business-deals and corrupt affairs has to get a thumbs-up from the State House. It is just made like a rewind of the Mobutu rule.

How the Political Elite is eating:

“Mobutu and his inner circle sit atop a social ladder of corruption. Everyone is forced to take from those less powerful, both to survive and to meet the demands of more powerful people above. Almost all of Zaire’s wealth stays on the upper rungs, in the hands of powerful politicians and politically-connected businessmen. The enduring symbol of this social stratum is the Mercedes-Benz. Zaire reputedly imports more Mercedes than anywhere in Africa and Kinshasa’s Mercedes dealers prosper while all around them crumbles. The Mercedes-riding class have made smuggling and black-marketeering Zaire’s leading industries. By paying bribes to customs agents instead of taxes to the Government, they have elevated illegal gold exports to ‘several times the (official) national production,’ according to a confidential World Bank report. While discreetly avoiding identification of the culprits, the World Bank also notes that theft and smuggling of Zaire’s most vital strategic mineral, cobalt, ‘is primarily carried out by some of the most powerful individuals in the country’” (New Internationalist, 1990). The richest people in Uganda, are the ones connected with the political elite, that get funds from the state, get license to do business and also lands. The businesses are getting back-door agreements with the government to do business. Even all investors are connected somehow and their deals are done in favor the President and the State House. If not Ministers and others close connected with the family, as the Operation Wealth Creations are giving state funds to favorable companies that are accepted by the General Salim Selah, which happens to be a brother of the President. The same thing is that Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kuteesa are having business-deals with government and also all-over, while being in office and profiting on his position. That is just natural in the state of affairs. Just like during the times of Mobutu!

Not possible to get rid off:

““The one thing that everyone agrees on is that we’re a long way from getting rid of Mobutu,” an opposition leader said. “He’s incredibly tenacious, and appears determined to hold onto power at any cost.”” (Noble, 1992). Museveni are using all tactices, rewriting laws, making the constitution to fit his life. He is rigging elections, he is fixing the Parliament and also the institutions, all to go around him. He sends the Special Forces Command into Parliament to install fear and let know how important it is to him to get the law passed. There isn’t anything the President will not do, he will kill you if your becoming to close to him. If not he will house-arrest for just being a viable Presidential Candidate like Dr. Kizza Besigye. He will put your trial for treason, he will send you from court to court only malicious charges with no criminal intent.

Making political enemies into criminals, damaging their homes, charge them and hold them in contempt. Destroy and allege that Civil Society Organizations are using bad methods and disorganizing society in general, therefore, it has to stop. That is why the Army and the Government are used as tools to keep Museveni in power. Nothing else. Mobutu would be so proud!

Stalling Tactic:

“Yet it is precisely these conditions that have made Mobutu’s tactics effective. Most Zaireans see a method in his seeming madness, a deliberate strategy of destabilization as a means of discrediting the movement toward democracy and undermining the capacity of the people to mobilize against him. “Mobutu tries to keep the population in fear,” a lawyer in Kolwezi told me. “The population is traumatized. Mobutu wants to keep them in this position for a long time. That’s how he maintains his position.” Foreigners living in Zaire often marvel at the “passivity” of the Zairean people; one I spoke to speculated about a version of the “battered-woman syndrome.” But Zaireans point out that Mobutu and his allies still have all the guns and all the money. Hundreds of thousands of people marched in Kinshasa, they reminded me, and more than thirty of them were shot dead. In any event, a clergyman said, “when the population is hungry and tired, it doesn’t have the energy to go into the streets.”” (Berkeley, 1993). It is not strange that Museveni does this, he has used the army all his life and his ego of being a General. His generals and his closest associates are usually connected with the army. He even shown up to Budget Speech with full army-fatigue. When the NRM shows up, he is either in a suit or army fatigue.

Museveni has used the army and spread fear, they are targeting people and arresting people. They are creating unknown militias, that comes and goes. The army is all out during elections and campaigns to install fear. Make people worry, as it was full-war, when it is really just dropping ballots into buckets. Seemingly, the army is used to do police work and everything else. The military are used in any sort of work, to prove the power of the army and capabilities.

So that the people knows, that if they are having trouble with the NRM, then they might meet the power of the Army. The army will kill and show no mercy, like they did in the recent time in Kasese against the Rwenzururu Kingdom. As this crime hasn’t been solved and neither has anything positive come out of it. As well as the rising levels of kidnappings, killings of woman in Entebbe and so on. The Police and Army are not able to contain the violence, as the corruption and lack of accountability has hit the security organizations. Which is like a wet-dream from the legacy of Mobutu, that lives-on with Museveni.

31 Years of Mobutu:

“Once there, the strongman who, his opponents say, has beggared and brutalized Zaire for 31 years pledged that he was again ready to solve the country’s myriad problems. “The enemies of our country have chosen when I was sick to put a sword in my back,” Mobutu, 66, said in a nationally broadcast speech interrupted by applause, singing and the loud cawing of nearby peacocks. “I’m not going to disappoint you. I know your expectations and your hopes. I will act rapidly and positively.””(LA Times, 1996). Just like Museveni is saying anyone who questions his vision, his methods and policies are enemies of the state, so did Mobutu. Even after 30 decades of Mobutu, he did that and now we know that Museveni does the same. He says he will fix everything and he has the solutions, it is just that ones he orders to do it, doesn’t know how to do their job. That is just like a mantra he got from Mobutu.

We can see that Museveni has become a twin-soul of Mobutu. Everything Mobutu did, Museveni are doing. Both having amazing levels of cronyism, corporate politicians, bribes, corruption, spreading of fear and making people believe that Museveni cannot step down. The similarities are two alike. The same with the massive bank-accounts, while the state in rapid poverty, the lack of the accountability and transparency, all control from the State House and none in the institutions. Museveni and Mobutu are so the same.

Museveni forgot the peasants or he didn’t care about their participation, since he is the only man with a vision. That has he said all along. But that he has now become everything he was supposed to fight. Shows how bad it is for leadership to linger in power, because it evaporates and eat your soul. You loose everything in the hinges of staying in power. There is now nothing left for Museveni to do and that he hasn’t done. He can only eat, steal and spread fear, because he doesn’t have to deliver. He takes, he took and he continues to loot. There is no mercy, there is only thieving.

Museveni is now the Mobutu in the flesh, he is acting like Mobutu and talking like Mobutu. The difference is that is in Uganda and not the DRC. The DRC has the issue of Joseph Kabila, but Uganda has the issue of Museveni. Museveni, Museveni and Museveni is the problem.

This is just tragic and it should be known. Peace.

Reference:

Berkeley, Bill – ‘Zaire: An African Horror Story’ August 1993, The Atlantic

Buckley, Stephen – ‘AUTHORITY’S CHANGING FACE IN AFRICA’ (02.02.1998), Washington Post

Noble, Kenneth – ‘As the Nation’s Economy Collapses, Zairians Squirm Under Mobutu’s Heel’ 1992, New York Times

Fouquet, David – ‘Corruption charges swirl around Zaire’s President Mobutu’ (08.10.1982), The Christian Science Monitor

New Internationalist – ‘Zaire’s Den Of Thieves’ (05.07.1990)

Los Angels Times – ‘Mobutu returns to Zaire, but reveals no solutions Ailing strongman vows to fix myriad problems’ (18.12.1996)

Patrice Lumbaba CIA files: What can we learn from the Cables?

There are lot of information in the covert operation done by the American Government. It is well known for most that the main supporter and donor to Democratic Republic of Congo was the United States after Independence. This was to stop the Soviet interference during the Cold-War. It would seem most likely that the CIA or any other paid assassins from the US to assassinate the first President Patrice Lumumba, to secure their ally and political beneficiary Mobutu. Therefore, the newly declassified CIA cables, can say a lot that hasn’t be reviled about the plans and how it happen. Take a look!

A CIA Cable from August 6^th 1960:

“Appreciate excellent reporting your reference and commend his Alert Rolf. We wish to give every positive support in eliminating Lumumba from any possibility resuming governmental position or if he fails in Leop. Setting himself in Stanleyville or elsewhere. While fully aware of nefarious plotting Ghana, Guinea, UAR. To restore Lumumba, greatly disturbed at reference to and particulary as member of this cliques. Can you suggest any action we can propose to obacid or take otherwise to help detach them from Lumumba” (CIA, August 1960).

A CIA Cable from 19^th October 1960:

“We still have political stalemate in Leopoldville, but Lumumba ‘s long-term political prospects may have been boosted by indications of support from UN quarters, and by Mobutu’s insecure hold on Congo army. A. Hammerskjold told Ambassador Wadsworth 15 October he still regards Lumumba as legal premier. Added that he plans to “break” Tshombe by insisting that Belgians and others route all Congo through the UN. 1. Hammerskjold probably softening his opposition to Lumumba in order to keep support of many African states for UN operations in the Congo” (…) “III. Mobutu appears to have dropped idea of reconvening parliament in order to strip Lumumba of his immunity from arrest. Neither side appears confident of strong parliamentary support” (CIA, 1960).

A CIA Cable from 30^th November 1960:

“Orientale Province controlled by Lumumba forces since mid-October, despite some opposition from army elements loyal to Mobutu. A. Lumumba, describing situation Orientale, recently observed that “liberation movement in Congo could be launched from there”. Probably hopes to consolidate position there, then build up his following in other areas. B. Lumumba agents, the UAR, and the Soviet bloc continue active in support of this goal” (…) “III. On 28 November, Lumumba partisans in Stanleyville launched sweeping arrests of Europeans, including UN personnel. Most released, but many beaten. UN representative in Stanleyville asked for emergency air evacuation of 1,000 Europeans on 29 November, but request dropped on 30 November with UN reporting Stanleyville “quiet” (…) “Mobutu’s Commissioners decided on 29 November to mount military operations against Lumumba forces at Stanleyville. This would be difficult. If UN unable to prevent such action, result would be a civil war” (CIA, November 1960).

A CIA Cable from 28 December 1960:

“1. Rival regimes in Leopoldville and Stanleyville continue to spar. A. Mobutu hampered by logistical problems operating against distant Oriental province. B. Gizenga threatened by critical shortage food and gasoline in Stanleyville. II. Gizenga has broken Mobutu’s “economic blockade”, however, by moving forces in Kivu Province which should relieve pressure on food supply Stanleyville” (CIA, 1960).

A CIA Cable from January 19 1961:

“1. Thanks for Patrice. If we had known he was coming we would have baked a snake. 2. Per GOK had no advance word what so ever. Lumumba severly beaten at airport by gendarmerie, then taken Jadotville prison where guarded by all white guards. GOK does not plan to liquidate Lumumba. Fears changes of Balubakat uprsing in Eville considerable increased” (CIA, 1961).

A CIA Cable from February 10 1961:

“Lumumba fate is best kept secret in Katanga. In addition Embassy demarche to Mukongo to request humane treatment for Lumumba has caused gok make every effort deny firm data to Odyoke, United States. 2. In above context following is review of reports received by Eliz since 17 Jan. A. From dr. De Coster (pediatrician from Stanleyville now living in Eville, we got data from unknown doctor who claims verified death). Lumumba, Mpolo and Ok to executed just off road from Eville to Jadotville on 17 Jan. B. Doctor Lauveau, Belgian Physician with good local contacts, stated on 19 Jan that Lumumba if not already executed was about to be. Mentioned GOK ministers had each been allowed to beat Lumumba first. C. On 1 Feb Commandant Roger Van Der Stock, G-2 Sud Kasai Army, stated categorically that Lumumba dead, but refused reveal source. Said knows man who executed him. D. On 2 Feb Dutch dentist St. Van Baalen, whose wife is secretary Tshombe office, stated definitly Lumumba dead” (CIA, 1961).

A CIA Cable from October 11^th 1975:

“Gottlieb testified poison intended for Lumumba came from Agency’s stockpile “… and (was) sent to a CIA agent in the Congo now known as Zaire for use against Lumumba.” Poison plan was never used as Lumumba was killed by unknown assassins in Katanga Province just few days before inauguration President Kennedy Jan 1961. In 1961 Gottlieb headed Central Division which among other things handled requests for poison by agents in field. He confirmed a number of critical details regarding earlier allegations that the Intelligence Agency was involved in trying to poison Lumumba” (CIA, October 1975).

So there are clear talks of both project of Poisoning Lumumba, that some sent a message to Washington to bake a snake to him already in January 1961, therefore, there are clear indications that the United States and the CIA was involved in the killings. It is sad that Roger Van Der Stock never revealed his sources and neither who he believed did it. You wouldn’t send this sort of messages from the DRC to Washington if you hadn’t something sinister planned. The United States wanted to stop the fraction run by Patrice Lumumba, who we’re supported and had Marxist view, which was countering the ideals of Washington. That was why the death and demise of Lumumba, fit the US very well and the new puppet dictator Mobutu fit the program. Therefore, anyone with a beautiful mind, would understand the value of assassinate Lumumba, to get loyalty to Washington, instead of Moscow. Peace.

What do Mobutu and Museveni have in common after thirty years in power? Massive looting of their state reserves!

“Museveni: My critics always forget to mention that I was democratically elected, the others were not. Everyone in Uganda can challenge me, everyone can vote, the elections are free. Not many countries have achieved what we did. One third of the seats in parliament are reserved for women, five seats for youth, five for workers, five for the disabled and 10 for the army. How many democracies with such a record do you know?” (Koelbl & Puhl, 2016).

Just as the knowledge of the all the state businesses and properties of President Museveni that he has amassed over the 31 years in power in Uganda. It reminds more and more of the state of affairs under President Mobutu. Mobutu Sese Seko was a dictator that President Museveni was proud to ouster and reinstate President Laurent Kabila in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). So that President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni knows about Mobutu’s fatal fall, is certainly known.

President Museveni has gotten rid of other dictators before the fall of Mobutu, he even knew or had knowledge of the death of the plane of Juvenal Habyarimana, the plane who got shot down in April 1994, as his fellow comrade General Paul Kagame of Rwandan Patriotic Front was on the way to overthrow the current regime there. Also that the President Museveni together with President Milton Obote overthrew President Idi Amin in the late 1970s. So the current President Museveni has been involved in lots of armed change of power, he is even rumored and not verified if he had knowledge of the death of John Garang of SPLA and the South Sudan.

Still, the man who has used force and taken weapons to change history and his own fate, again and again, also to get puppets in states around. Have certainly thought of the demise of the men he got rid off. So when the stories of the last year of Mobutu sounds like this:

Mobutu’s Wealth:

“For 32 years President Mobutu has treated Zaire like a toy and used its rich mineral reserves like his own private bank account. He plundered its mines, insisting their entire annual profits be transferred to personal accounts overseas” (…) ““We had to be close to the regime to do business,” admitted Mohammed Abdul, a Lebanese businessman yesterday as he fortified his shop for an expected pre-Kabila pillage by Zaire’s ruthless and brutal army. The Lebanese are hated by Zaireans who believe they colluded with President Mobutu to plunder the country’s diamonds” (Kinshasa, 1997).

Swiss assets:

“The decision by the Swiss Federal Council came a day after judicial and police authorities seized his luxurious villa at Savigny near the lakeside resort of Lausanne. The 30-room mansion is estimated to have a market value of more than $5 million” (…) “After three decades of plundering the mineral wealth of his country, Mobutu is believed to have accumulated an enormous fortune. There have been persistent reports that he has stashed as much as $4 billion in Switzerland, but a government review of the country’s 400 banks last week said that none reported having accounts in his name” (Drozdiak, 1997).

Just as you think the dictator of Democratic Republic of Congo would be different than the current one in Uganda, your terribly wrong and President Museveni tries to keep it hidden, the way he is using the state reserves on himself and build his wealth. Just like President Mobutu was trying to move the money to the Swiss accounts, President Museveni has his own way.

A look into Museveni:

“The way the Museveni family is paid royalties, or rent, by escrow accounts for their ownership of the title deeds of the Stanbic Bank business name in Uganda (what was once the Uganda Commercial Bank, Uganda’s largest banking group) is the way it is paid for their ownership of other apparently South African or foreign-owned businesses in Uganda” (…) “These sources say that it is Stanbic Bank that is used to finance businesses like Roofings Ltd, Speke Resort Munyonyo, the J&M Hotel along the Kampala-Entebbe highway, businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba’s hotel and Kampala International University, all of which actually belong to the Museveni family” (The London Evening Post, 2012).

This is just the business side of it, it could be worse by now and they could own more pieces of all the businesses that are bailed out or even getting tax breaks by the government, because who knows the true deeds or royalties going to accounts owned by the royal Ugandan Museveni family. So the next says more about the value of the Museveni family and their estates.

“Museveni’s wealth includes ranches in Rwakitura and Kisozi Uganda which accommodates over 2,000 healthy cows which produce thousands of liters of milk daily. The Uganda president makes at least Ush 100 million per month from his farm” (…) “Apart from livestock farming, Museveni has interests in real estate, hotel industry as well as transport industry. He has also invested heavily in the banking industry” (…) “The longest serving president of Uganda is estimated to be worth $ 700 million” (Venasnews, 2016).

So when you see how the Museveni family has become as wealth and rich as President Mobutu did. Mobutu had after his 30 years of dictatorship stashed away US$ 4 Billion into Swiss Bank Accounts, what is more uncertain is the total value of the 30 years President Museveni rule in Uganda. What is right now and known is the businesses that the President is involved in or having ownership in. Secondly is the knowledge of estates, as well as ranches in Uganda with livestock that the President owns. Therefore, the extended wealth of secret bank accounts and not revealed businesses could show the true value of the Museveni family.

With the knowledge of this and the sudden departure that President Museveni together with President Kagame, as they forced the dictator away in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). I don’t think there will be an intervention on President Museveni from one of the neighbors. Still, the world can see the dictator protocol is kept by Museveni as he himself have crafted ways of emptying the state coffers. Therefore, that the riches, the estates and the value of Museveni have risen over the three decades in power isn’t strange. What is more worrying is how he has been able to keep is wealth and ownership.

That President Museveni wishes to look like a hardworking rancher and that he works for his fortune. The yields are coming from hard-work and dedication. At the same time the ownership in banking industry and in other parts of the economy shows how much control the family and the President does have. The private industries and companies are run or ordered directly from the State House.

So that President Museveni said this in 1997 as he overthrew Mobutu is now insane:

“Mr. Museveni’s ideology is simple. For too long, he says, African politicians have hoodwinked the common people, manipulating tribal sentiments to stay in power and steal millions of dollars in foreign aid and taxes. A former Marxist, he sees the true struggle on the continent as one between corrupt leaders and the dirt-poor people they exploit” (McKinley Jr., 1997).

So he said for to long African Politician played the commoners, using the sentiments of tribe on their populations and using this tools to stay in power, while doing so taking an emptying the state reserves and donor funding to themselves. Therefore, 20 years since he stood for this and said these words, he has now done the same.

President Museveni of today would assassinate himself or overthrow himself… since he is now the Mobutu of Uganda, he has the character of the men he overthrew in past. He should be worried, because the ghosts of the past and the reckless leadership will follow him and that is why he trust the guns more than people. Since his own insincere political game might catch up with him.

On some levels now, there aren’t much difference between President Mobutu and President Museveni. Peace.

Reference:

Drozdiak, William – ‘Swiss Freeze Mobutu’s Assets; Reports Put Worth at $4 Billion’ (18.05.1997) link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/africa/zaire/swiss.htm

McKinley Jr., James – ‘Uganda Leader Stands Tall in New African Order’ (15.06.1997) link:http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/15/world/uganda-leader-stands-tall-in-new-african-order.html

Kinshasa, Mary Braid – ‘Mobutu takes the money and runs to a safe haven’ (16.05.1997) link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/mobutu-takes-the-money-and-runs-to-a-safe-haven-1261945.html

Koelbl, Susanne & Puhl, Jan – ‘’This Is Our Continent, Not Yours’ (10.06.2016) link: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-ugandan-president-yoweri-museveni-a-1096932.html

The London Evening Post – ‘Revealed: How the Museveni family owns Uganda’ (03.01.2012) link: http://www.thelondoneveningpost.com/comments/revealed-how-the-museveni-family-owns-uganda/2/

Venasnews – ‘Yoweri Museveni Salary and Wealth’ (27.06.2016) link: https://venasnews.com/yoweri-museveni-salary-and-wealth/

Documentary Soicety – Crisis in the Congo: Uncovering the Truth (Youtube-Documentary)

“Millions of Congolese have lost their lives in a conflict that the United Nations describes as the deadliest in the world since World War Two. Rwanda and Uganda, invaded in 1996 the Congo (then Zaire) and again in 1998, which triggered the enormous loss of lives, systemic sexual violence and rape, and widespread looting of Congo’s spectacular natural wealth. The ongoing conflict, instability, weak institutions, dependency and impoverishment in the Congo are a product of a 125 year tragic experience of enslavement, forced labor, colonial rule, assassinations, dictatorship, wars, external intervention and corrupt rule. Analysts in the film examine whether U.S. corporate and government policies that support strongmen and prioritize profit over the people have contributed to and exacerbated the tragic instability in the heart of Africa” (Documentary Channel, 2016).

Letter: 067/SG/MLC/2015: “MLC – The stage is set for May 26, a peaceful march for all Congolese!”

DRC oppositon condemns ruling on Kabila and elections (Youtube-Clip)

“A leading opposition party has condemned a ruling by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s highest court that President Joseph Kabila can remain in office, if elections scheduled for November are delayed. The Movement for the Liberation of Congo says the court was not independent. The ruling came amid rising tensions over the government’s failure to set a date for the country’s next elections, originally due in November this year before Kabila’s mandate ends” (CCTV Africa, 2016).

DR Congo police fire tear gas at Opposition leader Moise Katumbi Supporters (Youtube-Clip)

“Clashes between supporters of opposition leader Moise Katumbi and the police erupted in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s second largest city. Police were forced fired tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters while at least 10 people were arrested outside the prosecutor general’s office in Lubumbashi who surged toward the building. Moise Katumbi, a leading opposition candidate for president is being questioned over government allegations of hiring mercenaries, including former U.S. soldiers, in a plot against the republic. Katumbi is a favorite in the race to succeed President Joseph Kabila, whos constitutional mandate ends in November” (CCTV Africa, 2016).

The House-Arrest of Opposition Presidential Candidate of Moïse Katumbi in the Democratic Republic Congo; and the Fear Tactics of President Kabila too regain the Presidency for a third term!

They are gearing up for coming General Elections in Democratic Republic of Congo. Where the incumbent President Joseph Kabila is making sure his candidature is the ones to recognize. As the other candidates are stifled with and intimidated that is why we have seen the army and the military vehicles in Lubumbashi in Katanga and in Kinshasa. Because the DRC civilians don’t need peaceful means; instead they need weapons to underscore the value of their ballot.

Clip from April 2016:

“The Populaton who sings ” Moïse President” before being dispersed by the lacrymognes of the army…”

As it is Opponents have vouched for another man the incumbent President. This man is no other than former Governor of Katanga, Moïse Katumbi who owns TP Mazembe, the team who have won the grand title of CAF Champions League twice!

The House-Arrest of Presidential Candidate Katumbi:

“‪#‎Exclusive: is since 12 h30 under arrest. It will be tomorrow at Kinshasa to be submitted to the attorney general of the Republic” (Oeil d’Afrique, 05.05.2016).

This is what happens after he said he would run on the 5^th of May:

“this is the response of kabila to my candidacy for president… No matter what happens I keeps my candidacy…” (Voice of Congo, 05.05.2016).

U.S. Response to Allegations:

“The U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa condemns in the strongest terms the ambush on a MONUSCO convoy last night near Beni, which resulted in the deaths of two Tanzanian United Nations peacekeepers. We recognize and honor the ultimate sacrifice of these soldiers, who are part of a United Nations mission dedicated to bring peace and stability to the Democratic Republic of Congo. We offer our deepest sympathies to the families of the soldiers and the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, as well as their fellow peacekeepers at MONUSCO” (U.S. Mission in Kinshasa, 06.05.2016).

First Answer from Katumbi:

“”They call me a rebel. But the rebels are people who don’t want to hold elections in our country.” (Zambian Day, 06.05.2016).

Message from Felix Tshisekedi said this:

“I forcefully denounces, these methods Stalinist who is to muzzle the opposition. Together with Moïse, let us resist the dictatorship” (Diaspora Katangaise, 06.05.2016).

In Northern Kivu:

“Youth Katumbiste North Kivu assemble around the general coordinator in the person of Hon. Maris Mambo to acquire information on PresidentMoïse  Katumbi and reiterate their full support to his candidacy for the presidential elections in 2016” (Ensemble Pour Moise Katumbi, 07.05.2016).

Today’s Message from Moïse Katumbi:

1) Since this morning, police forces are surrounding my house. To arrest me. This is Kabila’s response to my presidential bid !

2) No matter what occurs, I maintain my bid and remain firm in my peaceful struggle for the rule of law. Democracy will win.

In the end Kabila’s Men failed to Arrest @moise_katumbi The UN soldiers Intervened.

That’s just outside his house along Lofoi Street, Manuciple de Golf, Lubumbashi” (Katumbe, 07.05.2016).

So as we see, the Opposition leaders are under attack, the owner of TP Mazembe of Lubumbashi, Katanga Province in Democratic of Congo. Who are now running against two-term President Kabila and trying to overcome his ruling hand. There hasn’t been a peaceful change of Power in DRC since Independence. As we have seen with the three Presidents before in the country like Mobutu Sese Seko, Patrice Lumumba and Laurent Kabila where all overthrown by the gun and not by the ballot.

Before even his candidature I wrote about the military presence that President Kabila already has used to intimidate people to vote for him. Therefore he continues to oppress his opponents and even give them a phony charge to secure that there no viable candidate, but himself. This is not a new scare tactic, I am sure the Roman Senate of Roman Empire they did the same. So the mentality of owning Power is still viable and the ghost of the past resurrects just in new forms and with new names. Peace.