Northern Uganda needs post conflict leaders

LEADERSHIP

The members of Parliament for Northern Uganda have fired the salvo to re-ignite the debate about secession. For many years now, the idea of Northern Uganda breaking away from the Republic of Uganda has been a malignant urge. Understandably, the Northern Uganda situation is one which draws a lot of bad blood and sad memories of annihilation.

I am not very sure whether the problem of northern Uganda can effectively get resolved by cessation or federation. There are merits to both arguments; Northern Uganda is the size of Belgium and probably more endowed with natural resources. It has a vibrant community who feel that their vigor and enthusiasms are being nipped up in the bud by the violent NRM ideology. Many in Northern Uganda still believe that the NRM has held this sinister plan of transforming the North into a pool of insolvents and beggars.

The truth be said, Northern Uganda endures a deliberate marginalization and structural disadvantage as a consequence of the past twenty years. Unfortunately, this region has not been able to produce principled post conflict leaders who have a strong vision for the region. There is a belief that every situation is capable of producing its own leadership. In that aspect, this region has failed to produce such leaders.

Recent history of conflict in Northern Uganda was able to produce leaders and managers who stood by their unbroken spirits and guided the region through the genocide, afloat. The league of Hons. Reagan Okumu, Zachary Olum, Okello Okello Livingston and Hon. Norbert Mao represented strong voices for the people and they were able to stave off many ill intentions of the NRM regime against the Acholi people. Lango and West Nile sub-regions produced some of the most vibrant, reputable and consistent leaders throughout the conflict.

One of the biggest challenges that Northern Uganda has not come to terms with is the basic understanding that there is no equal place for recovery under the NRM where everyone is grabbing everything for self aggrandizement. Not that the region should produce thieves and scoundrels the type we see swindling anything called wealth. With few exceptions, the post conflict Northern Uganda has produced weak and opportunistic leaders who erroneously have been duped that the solution to the regions is with President Museveni.

Northern Uganda needs to produce a breed of post conflict leadership – a group of people who will not fight military invasion, atrocious acts of government and mass murders, but leaders who will have strong will to fight corruption, manipulation and theft of public resources from the grassroot to the national level. Given the high moral aptitude of the people from Northern Uganda, one of their failures is to look up to President Museveni and corrupted NRM system with hope for solution. Like a man who is sentenced to the guillotine, Northern Uganda is merely hoping that the noose man will empathize and set them free at a point. This is a wild expectation under this regime.

Cessation talk for now is metaphorical like the life of a seed. In that seed there is a tree and in that tree there are possibilities of many other seeds. For those conditions to fetter such that this seed of cessation can grow into a promising forest, a lot of realistic work must be done. One of such is to preserve the land and its endangered population!

It is also profitable to begin contemplating on whether creation of semi-autonomous Nile Region to demand for federal status with the Republic is a realistic idea. Further, the leadership in Northern Uganda needs to focus on developing a strong ideological framework to mobilize its “citizens” just beyond the complaint of “marginalization”. I think marginalization claims typifies a learned self-helplessness – the tendency of tendering our recovery duties to others. The false hope that the central government that is presided over by Mr. Museveni would change its mind and policies on this region we voted with euphoria.

The sordid conditions of Northern Uganda is not because people there drink alcohol, indulge in risky sexual behaviours, are lazy to the point that they are unable to hold the hoe, etc. The reverse is true. People of Northern Uganda are honorable and personable hardworking individuals emerging from two decades of war.

Their real dilemma is trying to fit into a very dangerous and meticulously scandalous world which knows no veracity, trustworthiness nor reciprocity – the world that despises them.

END

Museveni vs Besigye debate: DM and Dr Besigye won

POLITICS

The concluded debates between President Museveni and Dr Kiiza Besigye have provided insight into important aspect of our politics. It has attempted to reshape the culture of hostility to that of civility. Although the tone of President Museveni remains combative, I found that Dr. Besigye weighed in with a sense of measure and a focus on crucial political issues.

This article is a rejoinder to Mr. Timothy Kalyegira’s analysis of the debate between the two political opponents in “Assessing Museveni’s debate with Besigye”, published in the DM of February 17^th, 2013. The central premise of this article is to loud the optimism that Mr. Museveni has chosen in public discourse, in writing, and not by sending perceived opponents to jail. This gesture is indeed a departure from tradition and signs that someday, Ugandans will be able to witness a televised civil debate between Presidential contestants, a feat that our neighbouring Kenya achieved recently.

There are many ways that these debates could be assessed. Although Mr. Kalyegira in his assessment determined that both leaders handled their issues in a similar manner and accorded them draw performance. I would slightly disagree. What was very remarkable and deserves mention were the language that Mr. Museveni used and the framing of his “enemies” or “enemies of the state”.

For instance, to designate the Daily Monitor or any other media outlet that provides equal platform for expression of ideals and values as an “enemy” is both ideologically and constitutionally self defeating and diversionary.

The Daily Monitor publication has remained the most objective and non-partisan news media in Uganda. For that, it has weathered much storm but remained steadfast in providing a platform for scrutiny of societal issues at large. President Museveni has, in the last year resorted to framing any dissenting voices as charlatans, liars, enemies and so forth. These are unfortunate labeling because the public expects much from the President and they are getting little, each year.

One of the challenges of this regime is lack of transparency in sharing information. Naturally, Journalists will speculate if they suspect or become curious of any events and are denied information. Instead of calling them liars, banning their media and incarcerating the members of the fourth estate, why doesn’t NRM enact enabling policies of transparency in information sharing? This would enhance the quality of reporting and public education that are agreeable to the President and all citizens. Does it interest the President to realize that Ugandans know more about premier league soccer teams such as Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea etc than government affairs and NRM history?

The other paradox is the culture of denial. The NRM is a hub of deniers – group of people who lie with flat faces, because they would rather deny that face public scrutiny. Whenever they are put to task to account, the first line of defence is denial and manipulation of facts. Don’t we still remember the dramatic events that unveiled during the sham Dr. Besigye trial for fake rape and the lies of then CID, Elizabeth Kuteesa? If you want to document these lies, try to collate press releases from NRM spokespersons from 1986 and including UPDF public relations statements. These should be great sources of information for a full Masters’ thesis. Everything they say contradicts what the public knows and expect. This mindset is exactly how Mr. Museveni attempted to conceal the recruitment of his son, Muhoozi, into the army and the astronomical elevation in rank, the biased selection for military courses and training leading to his expedited leadership rise to the helm of the elite forces – leave alone the abuse of uniform explanation.

The most interesting construct that this debate gave life to, was projection. In human psychology, projection is attributing certain distasteful aspect of one’s character to others. For instance, people who lie a lot always expect that others will lie, cowards will always expect to be attacked even at peace time, so they amass enormous protection; thieves will garrison themselves in fortified homes for fear of being robbed even when they know that their property came from proceeds of corruption or theft.

This brings me to the repeated use of strong words such as charlatan, liar (lies), enemies, chauvinist, terrorists etc. The online dictionary defines “charlatan” as someone who is a quack, basically pretending to have more knowledge than s/he knows [from Cynic satirist Lucian of Samosata – “The Philosopher Charlatan” who drinks the Lether water (forgetfulness) and conducts himself exactly the opposite of what he preached earlier on]. In that rebuttal, Mr. Museveni also referred to “opinionated” individuals. Given our history and most specifically the history of NRA or its precursor, Fronasa, the entire liberation project was premised on lies and manipulation in the name of ideology of social transformation. To project these attributes on others is again self defeating because so many people in the NRMO party now know what they didn’t know back in 1980s and early 90s about their Party and its leaders.

Mr. Museveni himself has regurgitated his own words many times; he derided African leaders who over stay in power as the real problem of Africa. Recently on BBC, Mr. Museveni was reported to have said that he is too experienced to leave power after 27 years; When Multi-party elections came to play, Mr. Museveni vowed that he would serve two terms; then he wanted to consolidate his gains and later changed to “No change”. All these flip flops are the roots of evil in our society because there are no principles and truth in our leadership.

In conclusion, I believe that Dr Besigye and the Monitor newspapers were the real winners of this debate. The DM was even courageous to provide a platform for this debate considering the many false accusations including that it distorted the words of the President previously.

END

Chaos in Uganda is the function of ruling elite

PEACE/CHAOS

Most of the accolades that poured during the NRM so-called liberation celebration spoke of the NRM as the inventors of peace in Uganda. The investment in peace is not an end to itself, but a means towards stability of any community and for the common good of society. Peace should not be merely itemized and priced. Neither should it be a sub-culture experienced by a few. Peace should be part of the dominant culture and should be evenly distributed in society.

To catalogue the occurrence of peaceful situation as a political achievement or agenda is ideologically self defeating. Society naturally strives to exist in peace with itself, first and foremost. When we invest in means of coercion and continuously perpetuate violence instead of peace at various layers of society, we commit serious crime of contradiction.

Ironically, the NRM have become custodians of our peace even when they profess violent ideologies. They continue to apportion and trade peace in manners that have transformed the experience of peace as a lifelong dream for others.

For a group of people to claim custodianship of peace, does this mean that generally they are more peaceful than others and are desirous of peace than the majority of Ugandans? Doesn’t it mean that they are more chaotic by nature and are therefore capable of disrupting peace? On the flip side, would it mean that the society is generally constituted of barbaric tribal elements and individuals who are naturally chaotic? Are members of this society in such a dire strait that they must be policed heavily with Mambas, over 50,000 armed soldiers and about 50,000 members of the police force armed to the teeth?

 This article argues that the prevailing dominant ideology in our society is inherently a chaotic one whose desire is to rule by force and use peace disproportionately as a token of appeasement. It uses and relies on theory of chaos to subjugate and itemize peace. It has undressed the population of its peace veils and itemized as a politically expedient pursuit. This confirms that those who are now tendering to our peace, are actually the perpetrators of commotion that we experience.

Our traditional societies are generally peaceful and had cultural institutions that mediated social disequilibrium. Peace was the penultimate objective of these communities and every community worked hard to secure peace with its neighbours. They did this through means of reciprocity such as marriages, rites of passage, seasonal festivities, trades, funerals, community development, harvesting, local courts and so forth. These institutions were incorruptible and served to mediate social harmony, unlike the current state institutions.

The real culture of violence in our midst results from the violent nature of the ruling elite. These avaricious people repress and suppress human liberties, violate human rights, perpetuate impunity and above all function by means of corruption to retain status quo.

It is therefore worthy rejecting the thesis that NRM brought peace to the communities. Peace is irreducible, but a condition that always finds equilibrium after it has been displaced.  Peace is also embedded at every level of human discourse, depending on the experience of social space and social location; peace can mean many states of being.

If we are to explain peace as merely the absence of war or violence, then we limit ourselves enormously. Peace of the mind is above all, the most important. When the mind is unsettled, the perception of peace is displaced. In our common daily living, the lack of basic human needs provides the first sense of insecurity. When a man cannot feed himself or his dependents, then by any measure of things, such a man is not in peace with himself or his conditions.

In our situation, this form of insecurity is the biggest and most proximal threat to our peace. To solve this proximal insecurity, we do not need mambas, machine guns, teargas, jetfighter and colored poisonous liquids. The society needs to be invested in peaceful means through which production and products of labour can get equitably distributed.

To contextualize our experiences of peace we must invest in civil our mannerism. Peace is a pre-requisite for economic and social transformation. But this peace should remain a cultural competency and expectancy accepted and practiced by all, not merely a political item. The failure of this society is to assume that we can reinforce peace by coercive means. Conceptualization of peace ensues through our spaces and in real time; people must be comfortable with this process and the outcome, to enable them build social and cultural capitals out of it, in the absence of a domineering systems of chaos.

END.

Bishop Niringiye: Uganda's jails are for immortals

PRIESTLY ENDEAVORS

I was overjoyed to see the picture of Bishop Zac Niringiye emerging spiritually unscathed from Wandegeya Police post. I am no stranger to Wandegeya Police station.

As a student leader back in the late 90s and early 2000, we often posted police bonds for our colleagues who would get arrested arbitrarily from Makerere University Halls of residence or hostels for all sorts of trivial accusations.

In Uganda, prison is not used for the purpose for which it was made. Prison and confinement have been used for purposes of demoralizing the righteous people. Real hard core criminals are never kept in jail. They get bail and they remain at large.

But to even think that a very devout religious man like Bishop Niringiye can be humiliated or demoralized by confinement is a joke that is an award winning. Do Policemen really know how rigorous, both mentally and physically, the priesthood training is?

When I completed my education at Mulago, friends of mine tried to persuade me into enlisting into the Uganda Police Force. They argued that the Museveni had mooted a master plan to overhaul and transform the UPF into a vibrant, modern and efficient civil force that would have state-of-the-art equipment and modus operandi. They even convinced me that specialists like myself would get front row treatment, be accorded special treatment and commissioned at a higher rank.   

Certainly, those offers were very enticing, safe for one encounter with a colleague who is now at very high rank. He had just completed his Masters studies in international relations and enrolled into the Uganda Police. The fellow, then in his sixth month of Police training, narrated to us how they would be turned upside down, inspected thoroughly in between the legs to ensure that all was well. He described many more strenuous and rigorous physical regimes, but with less mental work. Nonetheless, I was never convinced that Police was my destiny. I value social justice, rule of law and I could not imagine serving in the NRM police, given its current public profile.

The Police training is something that cannot pass for priestly endeavors.  Priests, by nature of their training and indoctrination are people who are prepared and used to solitary confinements already. Taking them to jail and confining them only fulfills their own purpose. It is like their absolute end, a struggle for which they deliberate. True Christians are very prepared to endure all sorts of suffering and humiliation, including living in the worse conditions of poverty or standing up for a belief they hold dear. I wonder whether some members of the Uganda Police read the beatitudes in the Bible.

Now, in detaining Bishop Zac, the Police were creating something beyond their imagination. The Bishop could easily become a living saint or a Martyr as such.

Seriously, in most times, the UPF is not serious. According to the media reports, the Bishop and his associates were arrested while distributing anti-corruption pamphlets at Makerere University to students. The content of the pamphlet has long been published in many dailies and there has not been any provocation of violence.

In Uganda, it is a tradition that when the powers that be, decides to waste taxpayer’s money on junk helicopters, planes, tanks or strange military uniforms etc, journalists and media houses try to break down the waste amounts in terms of social services.

What the anti-corruption group – Black Mondays have done is not exceptional at all. What is true and very surprising is that the Police find that the anti-corruption groups are capable of inciting violence using pamphlets and not the media houses, despite of their wider audience.

The Police have abrogated the constitution and deprived Ugandans of the fundamental freedom to associate, assemble and hold free speech. These acts of impunity reflect a condescending and spiteful attitude that the regime holds against Ugandans, generally. The notion of tolerance, rule of law and democracy are pricy commodities now.

The overall implication, and something that we must fear, is that restriction of public spheres narrows both the personal and communal efficacious growth. People will still resort to violence and mob justice as means of attaining legitimate justice because they have lost faith in existing institutions.

This is my advice to Bishop Nigirinye and his troupe. The next time the police arraigns you, carry the Bible. When they begin to interrogate you, take your time to read from the bible, those passages from revelations to a corrupted world.

END