Coup talk perpetuates the culture of violence

Subculture of Violence

After the steamy week of coup talk, Ugandans appear to have accepted that this country is deficient in democratic ideals. First, the talk of coup must have been treated as a case of treason. Nonetheless, we have to be very critical of the way President Mueveni operates; his craft is the generation and use of fear. In fear, Museveni finds a tool to cow all the branches of government and bully just everyone around.

I want to argue and support the simple notion that the leadership of President Museveni is at a crisis level. Museveni knows that he is losing command over Uganda’s fragile consciousness because people now fear him less. But this is the price he has to pay for staying in power for way too long. The degree to which Ugandans simultaneously respected and feared Museveni as a war hero has waned significantly. People now see him not in the light of the revolutionist he was, but a tyrant who presides over an increasingly corrupt regime; a regime whose interests are mutually exclusive to the aspirations of Ugandans.

When you speak to many Ugandans, they feel that they have lost control over everything Ugandan. They no longer have the power ascribed to them by the constitution, nor common control of the means of production or equal status in the economy. They feel that both the military and judiciary have become more or less personalized entities and the police – a predator.

The coup threat therefore is for Museveni to beat in the increasingly free minded Parliamentarians. But it is also to reinforce the magnanimity of the NRM subculture of violence.

If Political science is the study of how political power is attained, used and sustained, then we have to also study violence. Violence studies would enable us to understand the mechanisms through which violence is produced and sustained in Uganda and the purpose for which it is produced and transformed into a culture.

Now, by any means, the NRM is a violent enterprise. Their proximal location to weapons and their monopoly on who joins or gets promoted in the army, including membership in other instruments of coercion, makes them the sole agency of violence in our society.

The renowned American criminologists Dr. Marvin E. Wolfgang and his colleague Franco Ferracuti published a seminal work in 1967 called The subculture of violence. This subculture of violence theory holds that overt use of violence generally is a reflection of basic values that stands apart from the dominant, the central or the parent culture. Although many studies have refuted the general application of this theory due to its racist focus on black youths, it appears very applicable to the NRM mentality. 

According to Wolfgang and Ferracuti, a subculture is considered to be the normative system of some group or groups, usually smaller than the whole society (1967: 97).

Given that the NRM is not an inclusive party and also given its history and narratives, their influence over the Ugandan society is mediated through violence. This is their basic ideological driver and also the dominant one as such.

This violence manifests and occupies many facets of society; directly by ostracizing individuals like Kiize Besigye or Tumukunde whom they considered to have transgressed and deviated from the norms; they assault Ugandans my dismantling the systems of society that mediate the distribution of justice and resources; and they launch always the most vicious forms of assault in our psyche when they threaten coups and return to civil war, even when such a murderous venture is uncalled for.

Over the years, Ugandans have become smarter and more communicative among themselves. Ugandans view themselves less in the mirage of ethnic groupings than oppressed, poor, powerless and dependent people. Relationships between Ugandans of all walks of life are no longer defined solely by tribes, language, and education, or past relations but poverty and uncertainty about the near future.

Museveni and his cahoots have made it obvious that they occupy every private and personal space of all Ugandans by setting on ground military boots and the most vicious and yet pathetically corrupt police whose primary objectives are no longer keeping law and order.

The function of the Uganda Police is blocking peaceful assemblies, which are provided for in the constitution and conducting political operations.

It is only in Uganda that the Police never actually respond to thieves or criminal activities in the neighborhoods, but will respond swiftly to motions made by any of the opposition leaders. 

This wanton act of repression has diminished public space but has also ordained the Uganda Police with a branding that many Ugandans will remember this regime with. It is no surprise because every regime that has desecrated Uganda has left horrifying symbols or memories etched in our subconscious.  

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Mukula: the Insect that hoped to become a bird!!

SELECTIVE JUSTICE

In November of 1993, the famed Paris-based Congolese Musician, Koffi Olomide released a song called Papa plus. A portion of the preamble to that song has since been translated to me, from Lingala to English. In that song, Koffi warns that even when insects fly, they will never become birds. That warning, if well heeded to, prominent people like former VP, Hon. Gilbert Bukenya and Hon. Mike Mukula would not have been subjects to humiliation and selective justice of this magnitude. They were outsiders who wanted to become insiders without fully understanding the predatory NRM's nature.

Let me remind other NRM wanna-bes; even if you develop yellow wings for joining the Movement, you will only remain an insect. There are no prospects of ever becoming a yellow bird, even for crumbs clearing purposes. In other words, unless you are a member of certain clan, married to certain families, speak certain languages, been an historical, hold a gun and owe an enormous allegiance to status quo, you will remain just that – an easily disposable outsider.

Renowned researcher and advocate for anti-human trafficking, Kevin Bales, wrote a book titled: Disposable Human Beings. That book catalogues the path and troubles that trafficked women and young girls go through while in captivity. Once they arrive at their destination, mostly Scandinavian countries, the females are sold off into slavery, either for sex or hard labour. Once the girls have been used to the point of depletion, drugged, scolded, raped many times, infected with diseases and so forth, they are disposed. They become disposable human beings.

Both Hon. Mukula and Hon. Gilbert Bukenya, in the sense of Kevin Bales, represent our modern day political disposables. The fates of the two leaders symbolize the nature of the NRM politics and reaffirm my hypothesis. I long hypothesized that the NRM is a party of President Museveni and some historicals. The first generation proprietors are their children and the second generation owners will be their grandchildren. That is the given direction of the ripple and anyone else who situates himself or herself outside of those socio-political gridlocks, only gets washed on by the wave for exploitation.

When it comes to corruption, the fight is taken way too peripheral. It is the small guys who are fought, and yet this culture of impunity and immorality has been nurtured and cultivated by those situated at the crux of governance.

During Hon. Jacob Oulanya’s wedding to my sister, Ms Okot, the President was quoted in the dailies to have praised Hon. Okello Oryem, Jacob Oulanya and others as potential allies for his “great” intentions for Acholi region. The President stated that previously his rather great intentions, such as plans to usurp land and intern the people of Acholi were rebuffed by bad leadership. He went ahead to mention Joseph Kony as such leaders.

Let’s be candid to the President and again extend an olive branch to him. First, the Acholi people have related with Museveni in a very civil manner, it is the revenge attitude that Museveni carried against the Acholi which perpetuated he hostility. Second, for years, Acholi people have sent NRM representatives to work with Museveni. Most of these leaders are humiliated and disposed easily. How long did Acholi MPs occupy the Ministry of State for Sports in the Ministry of Education? I recall very well, Omony Ogaba from Aruu was the pioneer of that office which had no budget; Okello Oryem followed suit and for so long, no Acholi name featured prominent in full cabinet position.

We all recall how Acholi people loved Atuku Betty Bigome and you recall how Amuru elders were surprised that Bigombe could only become Minister of state for water. Given the above, whenever Acholi people send NRM representatives to work with the President, they send us Madvhani with his intentions to “plant” sugar canes in the most fertile soils of Amuru. We all know that Amuru has oil and minerals. We know that land in Acholi is customary land and there are clear means of acquisition that land, why the political interference?

Finally, I still remember how Permanent Secretary Opika Opoka was summarily dismissed from his docket at Ministry of Agriculture for the failures of his boss, the then VP, Hon Wandira Kazibwe to account for her imaginary dams. Had the scandals in the proportion that we see now at OPM happened when an Acholi is the PS, would he still be in office and not jail?

Given the above accounts, the President has no excuses for holding double standards on Acholi on account of hostility. Acholi people have been honest and modest with the NRM even when they were being pounded and shredded by NRM mortars in an inferno for over twenty years! Now, if the Mukula debacle does not teach us a lesson, then look around and see where Alice Kaboyo, or Mukula’s contemporaries in the money affairs of GAVI are!!

Well, when you know that you are an insect, please, do not develop unnecessary hopes of becoming also a bird, you end up a jail bird!!

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Museveni: Our President, Our King, Our Coroner

PRINCIPLES

These days, Presidential powers know no boundaries. In Gambia, President Yahya Jammeh has claimed to have discovered potent HIV drug. In his testimony last October, Jammeh confirmed that he had cured 68 people so far and was now planning to build a huge hospital to administer his medicine to Gambians living with HIV virus.

These days, African Presidents have become something else. Either they are presiding over mass as priests or are establishing their persona through symbolism as the undefeated Kings in statues. African Presidents are the Kings and our chief coroners; some sing while others Deejay, too. President Museveni has been each or all of these and probably more. Not very long, the President of Uganda abolished priests and traditional leaders from participating in politics. The President reiterated that politics involves nasty elections. In that essence, traditional leaders and priests are not elected through universal suffrage and therefore they should remain apolitical. Period!

Many Ugandans suspected that such draconian directives were targeted at specific Kings and Priests. In particular, the Baganda accused the President of attempting to sideline the Kabaka of Buganda from mainstream politics. Cynics were quick to defend the President by pointing to the near tragic relationship between Buganda King and politicians at the advent of the so-called independence of Uganda.  The President threatened that if any cultural leader, especially the Kabaka, indulges in politics, he (the King) would be compelled to expose himself to elective processes henceforth. Figure out an elected Kabaka of Buganda in 2016!

True, traditional leaders should remain custodians to our cultural and traditional heritage. But when the government deliberately feeds off of the Kingdom’s property, uses and abuses its land and appropriates prime cultural lands for its few henchmen, then certainly a political contraction of the these cultural leaders becomes inevitable. Culture cannot be preserved outside a setting or context. Settings are defined by geographical location and within that setting must be space for cultural symbols and the environment for its preservation or evolution. This is exactly what the NRM regime has tried to winnow out and restrict the popular cultures of the native Ugandna through its capitalist expansionism. That is the hand of my President, the King!

The President also refused to let the priests indulge in politics. He stated that politics rooted in religion typifies the sectarian tendencies that post-colonial Uganda politics were organized. He warned that should priests indulge in politics, a field of his expertise, he, President Museveni would also pick up the Bible and begin to administer baptism to infants. Figure out a priest carrying AK 47, in military combat and with a Bible baptizing a child!!!On many occasions, Museveni, in the tow of his wife, presided over mass euphoria on  Decemeber 31^st  at Nambole Stadium. Museveni has not hidden his infatuation with the so-called born again Christians for whom; he continues to vest much trust. Recently, he even requested that his cadres identify more honest born again Christians to fill lucrative and prime government jobs.  That is your President, the Priest.

The mysterious demise of flamboyant NRM legislator, Cerinah Nebanda (RIP) also brought out the Physician part of the President. The President’s latest manifestation is that of a Chief Coroner in Uganda. When qualified pathologists from Parliament and Mulago decided to carry out postmortem to establish the cause of death of the MP, the NRM machinery sunk on them. The properly qualified and professional pathologists ended up in jail and discredited for carrying out their duty as required of them. The President took over and ordered tests to be carried out in the UK and Israel to establish the cause of death of the MP. That panicked response exposed the NRM’s public relations’ prowess. The President undermined the powers of the public postmortem and thought that by usurping the process, a credible and acceptable result would absolve popular suspicion. Ugandans no longer trust lab results from the UK or Israel. Those are politicized results that only expounded on the ire of the locals. Both the President and his NRM party lost a political fight in popular public opinion. That is our President, the King, and Chief Coroner!

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Uganda: Oulanya bringing dishonor to Parliament

Dishonor to Parliament

The many years of our tribulation as a nation should have taught us to indulge in politics with integrity. Understandably, history has not taught us and we illustrate utter contempt to learn from history. Clearly, events of 2012 that are spilling over to 2013 need us to pay keen attention to our situations especially in Parliament. I am in particular concerned with the performance of the deputy speaker of Parliament, Hon. Jacob Oulanya and callous characters like Pius Bigirimana.

I have resisted the temptation to comment on the impunity engulfing the office of the Prime Minister, especially the objectionable position taken by the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Pius Bigirimana that he is a whistleblower. As the accounting officer in the ministry, the PS cannot be a whistleblower. The evidence available from the Auditor General’s report indicates that he personally approved several transactions worth billions of shillings. 

Practically, the PS cannot be a whistleblower because he is part of the mechanism of the fraud that occurred in the OPM. Mr. Bigirimana should be treated as a suspect. It would be more understandable if a junior officer reported the alleged thefts and fraud to Bigirimana himself as the person in authority. You cannot authorize theft, preside over it for a long time and then become a whistleblower. That is called outright incompetence or negligence of duty and he should be punished or be dismissed with disgrace from public service.

The Bigirmana kind of impunity is widespread in the NRM government and it has been socially normalized through patronage. People in authority do not take full responsibility for their actions. This dishonesty is a cover up for incompetence or an act of showing outright contempt for the will of the voters. It only makes us appear of less intellect when all we do is to vehemently deny the obvious.

Hon. Oulanya, a relatively new comer in the yellow bus, has taken to act like the original twenty-seven rogues if his many transgressions were to be scrutinized. He is showing utter contempt for civilized parliamentary decorum and acting like parliament is part of Executive.

Hon. Oulanya always steps in to do all the dirty works of the NRM regime for which the speaker has seen no logic in pursuing. For instance, he worked tirelessly to pass the illicit supplementary budget 2012; he presided over the approval of Hon. Nantaba as state minister for land and his performance during the Oil Bill with its illogical clause 9 truly painted Hon. Oulanya in bad lights. What has inspired this article are twofold; one to ensure that Oulanya is reminded of the dishonest path he is pursuing, for instance in 2005, he chaired that parliamentary legal committee that recommended the removal of term limits from our constitution through bribery and; to put it before him, that he is bringing disrepute and ridicule to the office of the speaker of parliament and to the legislature, a significant branch of government that should act independently.

In recent interview with the CID boss, Hon. Oulanya is purported to have denied any knowledge of who hired the forensic pathologist, Dr Onzivua to investigate the cause of the death of Hon Cerina Nebanda. Evidences available show clearly that the office of the Speaker is fully aware of its relations with the pathologist. It was also reported in the media that Hon. Oulanya vowed not to preside over the emergency session should MPs fulfill the 125 signatures required for legal recall. This kind of attitude only illustrate that Hon. Oulanya is a man who has lost the most significant attributes of integrity and good conscience required for independently executing duties in the office of the Speaker of Parliament.

The political implication is that Hon. Oulanya is not for independence of Parliament but to lap dance to the tunes of the President. It is obvious that Hon. Oulanya is no longer serving the interest of his constituents or that of Parliament in its pursuit of just laws and policies in Uganda.  Clearly Hon. Oulanya is more engrossed with the whispers of the President or NRM at the expense of the people of Omoro County and Ugandans. This is why questioning his priorities should serve to awaken his consciousness to the plight of taxpayers.

Ugandans are losing patience with dishonest leaders like Oulanya.  This is not the Oulanya we emulated and looked up to for guidance a while ago. If the MPs cannot question the dishonorable acts of Hon. Oulanya, we the taxpayers will. The bigger question here is, can the MPs remove Hon. Oulanya as speaker for bringing hatred, ridicule, contempt and disrepute to the office of the speaker? This is an avenue that should be pursued seriously.

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