SOCIETAL VIOLENCE
One
of the confusing issues for voters in this campaign is that President Museveni
is solely responsible for the prevailing peace in the country. In fact, the
prevailing peace has exposed Mr. Museveni’s anarchism and the tendencies to manufacture
violence as means of solving problems where peaceful means could suffice.
Through violence, Museveni has been able to manufacture consent of unsuspecting
voters.
The
credit for the prevailing peace in this country should be accorded to the
people of Uganda who have scorned violence, the religious and traditional
leaders who have mediated for ends to senseless conflicts.
President
Museveni should not run a campaign premised on falsehood that he is a champion
of peace, whereas he is not. After all, what Ugandans enjoy now, is relative
peace, as opposed to a well-deserved absolute peace.
Since
independence, Uganda has endured senseless conflicts. To an outsider, Uganda is
known for producing cruel savages like Idd Amin, and now a new breed of dictators
like Museveni who refuses to leave power, even when his continued tenure is
evidently a liability to everything Ugandan.
We
have not been lucky with leadership in this country. Amin caused us much pain
and indignation; Dr. Obote went to the left, and apparently stole 1980
elections. President Museveni has done everything - even in excess - exceeded all,
and remained the active ingredient of violence in Uganda.
Mr.
Museveni’s violence can be traced back to his student’s days. Since 1965, the
president was involved in forming militant organizations: FRONASA, Uganda Patriotic
Movement et cetra. All these organizations were premised on ideology of violence
as mode of obtaining social transformation. His predominant narratives are
hewed with ingredients of violence and destruction.
Once
you embark on studying the various posturing or manifestations of Mr. Museveni,
you find no grain of peace and peacefulness in his etic views of society. From
his justification of violence using theories and anecdotes from revolutionists
while at Dar es-Salaam University, to the practical approach of conscripting
children into his NRA ranks, this President has been the most active ingredient
of violence in Uganda.
In
fact, President Museveni spent nearly 25 years of his rule either fighting, or
creating situations that could generate conflict so he could fight. Northern
Uganda was a war theatre for two decades. There is no land in East and Central
Africa where Museveni’s army has not set foot. Everywhere they went, the
attendant violence and destruction of such places, like Bor in Southern Sudan,
becomes characteristic.
The
violence that characterize election years are always reflective. Promises to crash
opponents, return to the bush if not elected, commissioning Police and armed atrocities
on opponents to instill fear and uncertainty among the populace. President
Museveni always wears military attire and poses for pictures while firing his
AK47. Such pictures help to reinvent his image and reputation of violence, and
to cement that in the psyche of the population that Mr. Violence is still in
charge of this country.
The
disappearance of Mr. Christopher Aine, and the arrest of many Go-Forward
supporters in Ntungamo and the infamous “poking the “something” “something” of
the Leopard” are not isolated incidences. The speculation over the death of Mr.
Aine is nothing strange, or far from a possibility. One of the sons of Kifefe
was martyred in the same way. After all, every part of Uganda has mass graves
and heaps of skulls to show for this regime.
Ugandans
should be bold and honest to confront this violence by placing it behind us on
February 18th, 2016. The real active ingredient of insurgency and
violence in this country is Mr. Museveni. This, precisely is the reason the country
is so tensed up right now with illegal recruitment of militias.
Lastly,
the numerous contradictions that he (Mr. Museveni) is not willing to hand over
power when defeated at the polls, only signify a possibility for violence. Any
prospects of stealing votes this time using any means, including the Biometric
Voters’ Verification System, certainly will plunge Uganda into turmoil. Let’s defy.
END
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