[Ugnet] ANARCHISTS ABOVE THE LAW?
FDC behaviour childish get ready: FDC's Mugisha Muntu addresses a rally in Kisoro John Musinguzi HAVING followed the rallies of Front for Democratic Change (FDC) during the opening of their district offices in Mbarara, Bushenyi and Ntungamo and the people's reactions, I have been provoked to write this cautionary comment. I empathise with the youth, who might soon fall into the self-consuming inferno being peddled by the FDC. The manner in which FDC leaders demonise President Museveni is not only unfair, hypocritical and fallacious, but also uncivilised. It lacks moral and logical foundations, which is likely to render their project yet another futile gamble, an infantile disorder and an irrational outburst. FDC's appeals for "defiance", "civil disobedience", "bravery" could soon lead Uganda into a scenario where political parties conduct themselves as if they are above the law. One can be rebellious for revolutionary, political or religious ideals, but obstinacy and disorderliness for their own sake are anarchist, suicidal and retrogressive. Belabouring to portray Museveni as spoilt old wine does not make them any new wine. It benefits no one that FDC should pride itself in acting the old wine in new bottles. At first, FDC leaders and their public relations and propaganda infrastructure denied the existence of the People's Redemption Army (PRA). With more evidence of the PRA's existence, FDC now denies connections with it. But they repeatedly urge Ugandans to "banish fear" and prepare for "anything terrible" if Museveni declares his candidature. What uncouth logic! I have listened to FDC's repeated warnings to Banyankore and Bahima. They do not differ from Lakwena's and Kony's pseudo-moralist threats of cleansing the Acholi. I would not expect much from a party led by people like Mugisha Muntu and Salaam Musumba who, in a disorderly manner, trespassed the ministry of justice with a bag of coins. Musumba with a mob in FDC colours, also trespassed the International Women's Day celebrations in 2004. More disturbing, however, is the ease with which newcomers to this provocative and militaristic family like former DP member Ogenga Latigo, use the same language and divinations about Uganda's future. Most Ugandans are mature enough to remind these new-convert "saviours" that the latter have a share in whatever weaknesses and errors they attribute to Museveni. Most Ugandans cannot be impressed by FDC's treacherous behaviour reminiscent, of divorcees. Having all along been overzealous and complacent cadres of NRM, they cannot be qualitatively superior to NRM or Museveni, nor can they contribute anything to a perennially inconsequential opposition. These self-righteous ladies and gentlemen have a share of responsibility in Uganda's political gagging, social militarisation, a short-sighted national constitution, bureaucratic parasitism and ideological suffocation. I do challenge them to practice etiquette towards their elder, mentor, president, comrade and colleague: Museveni, and provide a social programme that can bring about a new dispensation. What has been published as their programme or "Manifesto" and that of their cousins, the Progressive Alliance Party (PAP) does not impress many. The FDC is busy manufacturing and nourishing bogeys and fictions of "presidential monarchy", "Mafia gang", "life presidency", "Muhoozi hereditary succession", and many more. If FDC's allegation that the Ugandan state and Museveni has become synonymous be true, then no one should expect any civilised justice for Museveni but pure venomous revenge, the kind that befell the French king in 1789 or the Rwandese people in 1994. Repeated regrets of why they fought Obote and arrogant assumptions of being the automatic organisers and leaders of the entire opposition do not help their ill-advised illusions. I fail to find a single grain of honesty, morality, principles or culture in several FDC leaders who boast of knowing Museveni "a lot because we have been with him for long". Such people are either consciously trying to blackmail Ugandans or unconsciously concealing treachery of their mentor, comrade and colleague. Otherwise, what is their new invention? Theirs is an in-marriage rivalry for succession and inheritance which serious outsiders, the majority of Ugandans, are bound to ignore. FDC is a self-sugared bait incapable of leading Uganda to modernity. Tumukunde's (or is it Pulkol's) PAP could stop where it has reached. All other similar attempts are bound to fail because they are neither genuine nor well-founded. Above all, Uganda deserves a methodology and dispensation unimaginable by the intellectuals and strategists of FDC, PAP and all offshoots of NRM. The writer is a freelance journalist Published on: Wednesday, 10th August, 2005 Email this article to a friend. Search:Advanced » ___ Ugandanet mailing list
[Ugnet] DUVERGER,S LAW?
Parties will be no threat to the NRM THE WRITER: Ofwono Opondo THE referendum to change from the Movement to multipartysm is over with a success. We should be mad about multipartysm, but it is likely to be reduced to a two-party system, between the NRM, and combined opposition. We shall witness a two-way contest because the strengths and credibility of individual parties is too diminished to offer any meaningful and real alternative to the NRM, and so, plots are underway for mergers, coalition, and syndicated electoral alliances. Fortunately, building alliances, especially with old parties is a non-starter because their records are awful although their leaders now hope that the new parties fuelled purely by cycles of passion can survive for long. Yet the new groups like FDC whose temporary supremo Proscovia Salaamu Musumba claimed recently that there was a plot to kill her also strangely hope to drain support from DP and UPC. So far, FDC has failed to recruit the so-called big guns from Lango sub-region because their political fate are entwined with UPC tribal sentiments to its life president Milton Obote. And having failed to block so far, the scrapping of presidential term limits under article 105 (2), they are now plotting 'mass' street protests or election 'boycott' should the NRM float President Yoweri Museveni as its candidate. In fact, the opposition is planning more desperate, if not sinister plans to show that the entire political transition is nothing but a fraud, and will not stop conjuring up false conspiracy theories to win sympathies and prepare public mood for their eventual defeat as Kizza Besigye and wife Winnie Byanyima did in 2001. In this, they hope to control events and history. In 44 BC, a group of Roman nobles conspired to murder Julius Caesar, the most popular, powerful, and wealthy politician in the then world's richest and strongest city, Rome. They did it to stop Caesar from dismantling Rome's republican government and make himself king. Instead, a civil war broke out, leading to their, and Rome's destruction as a republic, and in its place arose a new system headed by an emperor more powerful than any king. Killing Caesar was easy, but controlling history was another matter! Sometimes, Ugandans recite the term multipartysm in tones of reverence having copied from western European models, and falsely believe it is synonymous with democracy. Other times some of us, and history bears witness, utter the term as a curse, and question why westerners tell us to choose between near-indistinguishable options, when the no-party movement democracy had worked where parties destroyed! But that is now like crying for spilt milk, and since the constitution sets no limit, we now have 26 registered parties, and more are coming, even if most will not come out of the woods. Shall we name names? Action, Mandate, Socialists, Democrats, Forum, Truth, Justice, Congress, Progressive, Peasants, Workers, Reform Party, and the list goes on. No one mandates it, but as the campaign season has come up to march 2006 government and NRM politicians should get the hose out to spray themselves clean as they drive through opposition false storms of fabricated slurs, innuendos, insults, and lies. Already Musumba's claim of plans to assassinate her is on table, and her innuendo about Gen. John Garang's death in our presidential helicopter also fits in well. And you wonder why Uganda is so endowed with political parties led by intellectuals but limited to this Tweedledum and Tweedledee type of opposition politics. It is almost certain that opposition politicians, and sections of the media, will claim and bemoan how the coming elections will be nastier that 'previous' ones, and recall the 'good old days' when British colonialism ruled without elections. Do not be surprised if Musumba, Betty Kamya, and Wafula Oguttu remind you of the golden age of dignified democracy under Obote and Idi Amin in comparison to Museveni "dictatorship" and a "secret political mafia" gang they claim rules Uganda. You may get disappointed but remember that way back in the 1950s, French sociologist Maurice Duverger studied political systems and came up with a proposition now known as Duverger's Law. He said that a system in which the winner takes all, inevitably drifts towards nasty, no matter how many parties come out the gate. According to Duverger, this situation exacerbates despair because careerists know that once they lose elections, they have only one option - going back home to wash dishes at no payThe NRM only needs to co-opt enough good ideas to make them irrelevant and voters who will then send them back into the woods. Ends Published on: Friday, 5th August, 2005 Email this article to a friend. Search:Advanced » ___ Ugandanet mailing list Ugandanet@kym.net http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is
[Ugnet] THE TRUTH FROM THE PEOPLE
Go get the truth from the people Eva Mwine Eva Mwine Today, I choose to exercise and enjoy my right to freedom of _expression_ and take my thoughts on the politics of the day beyond the confines of my mind, into the mind of anyone that may happen to read this. The past few months have taken me on a private journey through rural Uganda, east, west, south, central and hopefully north soon. Mission? To talk to the people. What are they saying and why are they saying it? I was in the company of a British freelance journalist, an old college friend, who wanted to see Uganda and Ugandans beyond the bounds of international media. My sole purpose was to make total peace with my conscience for my passionate an unwavering support of constitutional amendment, in favour of removal of term limits and also to test and gauge the political temperature across the board, away from the newspapers that I read everyday. "All looks yellow to the jaundice eye" were the insightful words of Alexander Pope. I was determined to rid myself of the jaundice of media bombardment, political amnesia, intellectualism, detachment from the people, personal disgruntlement, donor dictates...the list is endless. I have emerged from my quest even more convicted that the greater part of our population are all in for the constitutional amendment, and I have also affirmed that truly the NRM party, to which I belong, is the party of the "people" and the party of the day. I know many at this point are thinking "here goes another sycophant" as this seems to be a fashionable description of those who choose to join the ranks and file of the new NRM party, product of the mother Movement. It is this very attitude and urban branding that drove me on my way to find out whether it is 'sycophancy' or simply responsible, level-headed, patriotic judgment. I have spoken at great length to many who do not share my views, I have taken into consideration their many seemingly logical and sensible arguments on the kisanja debate. But when all is said and done, the issue is really not a complex one. It is about what the majority of Ugandans want. My appeal today is to those in the Movement and to those who continue to sit on the fence, confused by the political climate and landscape of the day. Many of you have been stunned into an awkward silence by the shotgun of a small, but loud opposition, whose voice has been amplified by today's vibrant media. The nature of multiparty politics demands that we emerge from this silence, stand up and be counted and speak out loud and clear in defence and in support of the NRM, the party that is without doubt, best equipped, through its valuable experience to see us through this potentially destabilising transitional period. The cozy cover of the Movement system is off and we are now entering the harsh realities of the multiparty system, ironically the very system that was responsible for our past predicament. The antidote to this Kampala dwellers "media-mania syndrome" is a conversation with greater Uganda, the 85% who do not ride on intellectual high horses, that do not suffer political amnesia, but on the contrary remember clearly our turbulent past and now instinctively and passionately choose to hold on tight to the safer option. They are saying, even with its flaws and mistakes, the NRM party, with president Museveni at the helm, is the option that promises a more stable walk over the tight rope of transition. The G6 are just not ready. We as Ugandans, however, need to take pride in and celebrate the existence of the G6 for they stand as true testament that we are a country moving towards the internationally acceptable democratic governance. The disharmonious state of the opposition today is what stands as glaring evidence that the anointing is still on the NRM. The men and women in today's opposition may not be winners, come March 2006, but among them are the leaders of the future. Good luck to them. Let us rise to the challenge of the transitional season and respectfully agree to disagree as we channel our energies not into mud-slinging and war mongering, but towards building solid harmonious parties of integrity, that provide real food for thought by way of alternative solutions for the way forward. Distortions of our history, not worth the column space and all in the name of political mileage, have become the rule rather than the exception. Continuous talk of impending war, bloodshed and of a Uganda destined for mayhem, leave our populace questioning the motives of these prophets of doom. The economic leap that Uganda has taken over the last 20 years has put a transistor radio in the house of almost every Ugandan; from the goat herders of the hills in Bundibugyo to the fishermen of Kalangala, everyone is listening to the hair-raising messages being carried across the airwaves by a largely urbane and elitist opposition. "I do not agree with what you say, but will defend to death your right to say it"
[Ugnet] NRM USA PRESS RELEASE
LAUNCHING OF NRM USA CALIFORNIA LOCAL CHAPTER JULY 17TH 2005 NRM USA launched its California branch over the weekend on Saturday July 16th. The NRM event was an overwhelming success. By 4.00 p.m. enthusiastic delegates had began to arrive, each one proudly signing in at the reception desk with their names. The occasion was hosted by NRM USA at ABLE International in North Hollywood located in the heart of the entertainment capital of the world. The NRM function organizers deliberately designed it to attract potential partners of Development for Uganda who delivered keynotes on the importance of being organized in order to create an environment that can breed development. It was graced by a notable number of invited dignitaries including Her Excellency Ambassador Sempala, Congress Woman Diane Watson and Kenya?s General Council to California Ms. Nyambura Kamau. The event officially started promptly after dinner at 7.00 p.m. with a prayer led by Grace Lubwama, after which both the Ugandan and American National anthems were sang by Ms Rachael Kiwanuka, daughter to the renowned Ugandan singer and entrepreneur, Halima Namakula. She was followed by Mr. Robert Ssebugwawo, whose poetry has appeared in international media, who recited a composition in praise of the wise leadership of President Museve ni, after which the delightful Halima Namakula led the delegates in singing ?Kiboonge Kyanini? in a true Movement tradition. The NRM USA national executive was represented by the Secretary General Mr. Allan Katatumba, National Executive Secretary for Mobilization Mr. Kenneth Kanyike and Executive Committee Member, Mr. Edriss Kironde who is also the chairman of the NRM Colorado chapter all of whom spoke with passion for the Movement in their addresses to the delegates and the newly elected chapter members. They reiterated the need for a voice for the Movement in the Diaspora, especially in light of the incessant distortions being propagated by members of the opposition, mainly ?FDC? which was dubbed a ?Forum for Disgruntled Candidates?. The audience was reminded by the NRM Mobilization Secretary, Mr. Kanyike that NRM was waging a ?New Struggle? just like the one waged by the founders in the bushes of Luweero. ?The war in the Diaspo ra is intended to resist the negative distortions propagated by certain sections of the media and numerous disgruntled and corrupt individuals, whose aims are to derail Uganda from the path of development?, he said. Mr. Kanyike in his speech also highlighted the history of the National Resistance Movement USA and detailed their achievements so far. Mr. Katatumba stressed the need for partnerships with other Africans and people of African decent in the war against neo-colonialism, backwardness and poverty. In her address to the delegates, Congresswoman Diane Watson, who is also on the US Foreign Relations Committee, said she was glad to see a nation on the move, and acknowledged that Uganda had indeed come a long way from ?the Uganda of Idi Amin? ? a notion that is shared by the NRM. She was encouraged to see Ugandans believing that they can achieve the desired transformation. She pledged to continue to be Uganda and Africa?s advocate on AGOA. She said that her office doors are open to help in any way to help add value to Uganda?s journey towards Democracy. She also emphasized that it was key for all Ugandans to work together on creating an environment that will breed peaceful coexistence and empower the citizens to utilize their own resources to develop their nation, rather than depend on handouts. Ambassador Sempala highlighted Uganda?s History and stressed the need for Ugandans everywhere to participate in the processes of democratizing Uganda. Madam Sempala stressed the need for Ugandans everywhere in the Diaspora to actively articulate Uganda?s progress and also encourage investors to partner with Uganda to improve her capacity to achieve the vision of transformation. She noted that Uganda in the next phase of development is looking to begin adding value to her products with a view of leveraging these in the processes of development rather than depending on foreign AID that has proved useless in terms of creating any meaningful sustainable means of development for Uganda. She was thankful for NRM USA for having invited her to attend the launching of it?s NRM chapter in California, and said that the embassy doors were open to any other organ ized groups of Ugandan?s who have positive ideas that are geared to helping Uganda achieve the level of transformation it seeks. The ceremony was also addressed by the Chairman of the Africa American Chamber of commerce; Mr. Al Washington, who unequivocally declared his readiness to work with NRM USA California chapter to help add value to Uganda?s products, especially coffee, so that African products they can compete on the American market. He was delighted to see the birth of NRM California branch and was eager to explore avenues through
[Ugnet] OPPOSITION:NOT WORTH ITS NAME
Our opposition is not worth its name THE WRITER: Kabushenga IN a typical multiparty setting where you have an opposition, it has one major obligation to the country. It has an intellectual duty to provide alternative policies for public consideration. This is because it is not in government (in any case not doing much else) and does not have the pressure of having to run the Executive. It is expected to respond to government proposals with criticism and other well thought out options. These can then be debated for their viability or thrown out for their lack of it. When I look around, I do not see that this role will be effectively served or at all by those who will obviously be in these ranks. FDC, the main aspirants seeking to champion opposition politics, sometime back issued a wish list of what they intend to do once they came into office. This has since been shelved and what we hear now is a completely different language. Their message is insurrectionist and articulation full of hyperbole, and exaggeration has become their typical method of delivering it. They have resorted to mantra and scare-mongering instead of analysis and persuasion. That is why you hear phrases like "life presidency", "manipulation", "intimidation", "rigging", "mafia", "corruption" etc repeated so many times over like a damaged CD. To champion this line, they have adopted a campaign style that is typically used by the civil society. It is the way these organisations have been constructed to pursue their agenda. The approach they are taking is one of activism and advocacy which is why you hear a lot more criticism and pretty much nothing else. It is the kind that brings public attention and awareness to an issue but is not designed to get votes. The strategy is to prepare the public for a flawed election long before we even know who is going to stand for what. It is meant to deflect public scrutiny from following up the opposition on their obligation to provide a real alternative to the incumbent government. This is also why they are more obsessed with Museveni in their campaign than even those who prefer his leadership. So now you know why this approach is a losing one even if there was no incumbent to contest against. One thing for sure is that this is hardly an outfit you can have anywhere near state power. Elsewhere, they have been caught in their own logic and have failed to appreciate their own contradictions. They never stop to think about what they last said before they utter the next statement. In the past they have accused President Yoweri Museveni of lacking the commitment to take the country to partisan politics. When he gives them a taste of the majoritarian politics which is about the numbers that you persuade to agree with you, they complain. Many of them are political children of the inclusive politics of NRM. For this reason they cannot appreciate the implications of multiparty politics. Now that they find themselves in the cold, it is because of manipulation by the incumbent. The other argument frequently made is that intolerance has replaced consensus in the Movement. But then that is the bitter reality of the world of multiparty politics. You can only either eat your cake or keep it. It is one or the other. Externalising the causes of their political failings is typical case of living in denial. It is a refusal to accept that the way they have approached the issue and the whole ideological basis of their politics is essentially defective. Let me borrow their logic on the kisanja issue to contextualise their premature and indeed suicidal war cries. They say the campaign for removal of term limits can only be for the benefit of Museveni's candidature. By the same logic one can argue that their war-mongering can only favour them. This is the only reason they are going on about it. It is a way of preparing the public for what they have already decided to do. Losing a free and fair election is something they have trouble dealing with. It is not, as they say, an innocent word of caution to the country to avoid another Museveni term. It is what they intend to do notwithstanding that there is no basis for it. They will do anything to take power. And they have already shown affinity for precipitous violence. On the day of the second vote on kisanja, they rented a few hundred goons, gave them posters of Besigye, paid their transport, lunch and then led them into a stone-throwing run around with the Police. What was even more comical was the choice of the leaders of the so-called demonstration. It cannot get any more laughable, can you imagine a political process in which Mayi Kiggundu (controversial wife of Dr. Sulaiman) is one of the icons for us to follow? Then of course they came up with this argument that this matter was far too important to be dealt with by Parliament on behalf of 25 million Ugandans. So who was it who first objected to kisanja being taken to the people? It was the same people
[Ugnet] Fwd: [UNAANET] HON MBABAZI,S RESPONSE .
-. Bush Opposed to Third Term: Response by Hon. Amama Mbabazi Introduction In the front page headline, Bush opposed to third term for Museveni, the Sunday Monitor newspaper of July 10, 2005 the US ambassador to Uganda, Mr. Jimmy Kolker, is reported to have made the following points: President Bush advised President Museveni to retire from politics in 2006 The Uganda Parliament was manipulated into voting for the Constitutional Amendment Bill It is odd for a 9 year old constitution without allowing it to run, and on more than 100 articles some of which had not been tested, to be amended. The US Constitution was enacted in 1789 and only 27 articles have been amended. It is true that in the White House meeting between the two Presidents, which I had the honour and privilege to attend, President Bush asked President Museveni about the proposed constitutional amendment in Uganda on term limits and if the latter was preparing to retire at the end of his second term of office. He stated that the two term limit had worked well for the US. He raised the matter by way of inquiry. President Museveni in his response said that the Ugandan leadership was studying the issue and would come up with a position when ready. President Bush did not enunciate a US policy that Uganda should not consider amending her constitution or that, if it is amended, President Museveni should not consider offering himself for re-election. Indeed in the numerous interactions I have had with US Administration officials I have been told repeatedly that the US Administration has no problem wi th Uganda amending her constitution if it is done legally and transparently. Uganda Government policy on term limitation However, even if indeed the US government policy was that they were opposed to removal of term limits from our constitution, clearly this is a matter for Ugandans to decide for themselves. We can listen and even adopt foreign friendly advice, but clearly the decisions are for Ugandans to make. Uganda is currently undergoing constitutional review. The Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) proposed a comprehensive constitutional change in December 2003. The Government then made proposals to Parliament in September 2004 including the introduction of full multiparty political system and the lifting of term limits among other things. Taking into account that the National Resistance Movement struggle in Uganda was to restore the sovereignty of the population in decision making which principle was captured by the 1995 Constitution in article ONE which provides that ?all power belongs to the people who shall exercise their sovereignty in accordance with [the] Constitution? and who ?shall express their will and consent on who shall govern them and how they should be governed, through regular, free and fair elections of their representatives or through referenda?, the National Conference of the Movement passed, among others, a resolution in March 2003 to open up political space to allow people to organise themselves to compete for political power as they wished and to remove presidential term limits. The Bills incorporating the proposed amendments are now before Parliament undergoing consideration and decision making in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Constitution. Constitutional review is not the invention of Uganda. In the US itself, as the ambassador correctly observes, there have been amendments of their constitution. Whereas it is true that there have been 27 amendments (and not amendment of only 27 articles as the report in the Monitor suggests, after all there are only 7 original articles of that constitution), over 10,000 Constitutional amendments have been introduced in Congress since 1789; in a typical Congressional year in the last several decades, between 100 and 200 are offered. In fact the first ten amendments of the US Constitution, The Bill of Rights, were all adopted within a few years of the ratification of the Constitution. The amendments were proposed by Congress as part of a block of twelve in September 1789. By December 1791 a sufficient number of states had ratified ten of the twelve proposals, and the Bill of Rights became part of the Constitution only 2 years after promulgation! What is ?odd? about Uganda amending her constitution 9 years after its promulgation?! There are currently some amendments which have entered mainstream political debate in the US Congress. These include the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, the Flag-Burning Amendment, etc. So if it has been ok for this to happen in the US, why should it be taboo for Uganda to do? The Parliament of Uganda is just doing what the Constitution of Uganda enjoins them to do ? if it is so desirable, to amend the constitution in accordance with the procedure the constitution itself lays out. The suggestion that members of parliament have been influenced by stick and carrot tactics is an unacceptable assault on the integrity,
[Ugnet] LANEKO OPIRO OTOO
UPDF kills LRA rebel acommannder OKETCH BITEK Gulu A SENIOR LRA rebel commander, Col. Anaka Opiro, has been shot dead in combat with UPDF soldiers in Gulu district.Opiro was killed alongside three other rebel fighters yesterday morning in his home village in Patira-Anyomotil, five kilometers from Anaka Camp.The battle took place at 3am when a group of UPDF soldiers led by Lt. A.P Otim surrounded his residence at his original homestead and a fire fight ensued resulting into his death. His Aide de camp (ADC) whose name could not be established was injured and captured by government forces. He has been admitted to Anaka Hospital.The mother of the dead LRA officer wailed when the body of her son was brought in from the battle front. ?This is the body of my son, look at how brown he is.? Said the bereaved old woman amidst sobbing.Until Wednesday morning, Opiro was the commander of Trinkle Brigade charged with wrecking havoc in Nwoya and Kilak counties according to the Operation Iron Fist Intell igence Coordinator, Col. Charles Otema Awany.The 4th Division Commanding Officer, Col. Nathan Mugisha, flew journalists aboard a chopper to the frontline to witness results of the battle. Senior former LRA officers Brig. Sam Kolo, Kenneth Banya accompanied by colleagues were taken to Anaka to see the remains of Opiro.Mugisha said he was at the frontline to give a decent burial to his counterpart. He said it was not good that he died but there was no alternative to save his life during a fire-fight.? I have come to bury my counterpart Col. Opiro Anaka. We regret his death but there was no alternative. Please give him a decent burial and may the Almighty God keep his soul in peace,? Mugisha said before telling the relatives to go and pick the body from Anaka Hospital mortuary.Opiro commanded the massive killing of people of Koch Goma IDP Camp recently.Three sub-machine guns plus 200 rounds of ammunition were captured during the fire- fight.Mugisha called on the rebel collaborators living in Anaka Camp to work for peace by telling their brothers and sisters to return home.The LRA rebels have fought President Yoweri Museveni?s government for more than 18 years. They have killed many people and led others to Internally Displaced Peoples?camps. ___ Ugandanet mailing list Ugandanet@kym.net http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
[Ugnet] THE PEOPLE
For Immediate Release 8th June 2005 Ugandans Divided on Political Transition Kampala, Uganda - An Afrobarometer survey conducted in collaboration with the International Republican Institute (IRI) has found that Ugandans are closely divided on the major questions of political transition facing their county. These include the introduction of a multi-party political system and proposals to lift presidential term limits and create a regional tier of government. The findings reflect the results of 2,400 face-to-face interviews conducted in both urban and rural areas in 47 of Uganda's 56 districts between 12 April and 4 May 2005. Respondents were selected based on a scientific random sampling procedure, in accordance with international polling standards. The overall margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 2 percent. Over the past two years, Uganda has gradually opened space for political parties to operate. These reforms are expected to culminate in multi-party presidential and parliamentary elections in 2006. The survey found that the shift to a multi-party political system is favored by 51 percent of Ugandans, compared to 45 percent who express the desire to keep the Movement system. Compared with earlier surveys, this represents a trend toward greater support for multiparty rule. While a majority of respondents support the switch, respondents also express concerns about how a multi-party system would perform. A consistent plurality of Ugandans expects that the Movement system will perform better than a multiparty system at provision of good governance and securing of basic rights and freedoms. This apparent contradiction is explained by the fact that while those who want to keep the Movement system tend to strongly believe that the Movement will perform better, supporters of multipartyism are much more measured in their expectations of their preferred system. Apparently many supporters of multipartyism favor the system not because they think it will necessarily perform better, but for other reasons. Urban Ugandans (63%) and men (60%) are more likely to favor a multi-party system. Women also support the move to a multi-party system (52%), but by a much smaller majority than men. Rural Ugandans, on the other hand, are nearly evenly divided on the issue: 49 percent support the shift, compared to 46 percent who would retain the Movement system, a difference that is within the survey?s margin of sampling error. The Ugandan Parliament is also considering whether to remove the constitutional two-term limit for the president, and this has become a contentious issue in Uganda. The survey reveals that a slim majority of 51 percent favors removal of term limits, while 46 percent favor their retention. This represents a recent switch in public opinion because, in earlier surveys, majorities had wanted to retain a two-term limit. Five percent stated they did not have an opinion on this issue, a decline from IRI?s 2003 poll in which 17 percent of respondents did not have an opinion. Regional identity continues to divide Ugandans on political issues. A significant majority in the West and Central regions favor the retention of the Movement system and the removal of term limits, whereas significant majorities in the North and the East favor the transition to multi-party politics and the retention of term limits. Women and Ugandans from rural areas tend to support the removal of term limits, while urbanites and male respondents are more likely to endorse retaining them. Respondents were also asked if they support the creation of regional governments to complement the existing national level government and five-tiered local government system. A clear majority of 57 percent indicates that they oppose a move to establish regional government entities, while 34 percent are in favor. Only in Central region does a majority favor a regional tier of government. The Afrobarometer is an independent, nonpartisan research project that measures the social, political and economic atmosphere in Africa. Wilsken Agencies, Ltd., is a Kampala-based research and development consulting firm. IRI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to advancing democracy, freedom, self-government and the rule of law worldwide. For further information please contact: Robert Sentamu, Wilsken Agencies, +256-41-266111, +256 -77-528503 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Jeremy Liebowitz, IRI Uganda, +256-41-231303, [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Afrobarometer is produced collaboratively by social scientists from 18 African countries. Coordination is provided by the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa), the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and Michigan State University. Several donors support the Afrobarometer?s research, capacity-building and outreach activities, including the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The
[Ugnet] UGANDA OPENS TO DEMOCRACY:TODAY,S WASHINGTONTIMES
UGANDA OPENS TO DEMOCRACYBy Gus ConstantineTHE WASHINGTON TIMES---Uganda, the East African nation hailed during the Clinton administration as an emerging democracy despite its prohibition of political parties, is debating a move toward multiparty politics. But it also is seeking to amend its constitution to allow President Yoweri Museveni five more years in power. "Until recently, we considered a nonparty system necessary to avoid the tribal divisions that political parties had produced in the past," Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana-Rugunda said last week in an hourlong interview with The Washington Times. "The fact that we are moving away from a nonparty system to multiparty politics is an indication of the political maturity reached by Uga nda." Ugandan Ambassador Edith Ssempala delivered virtually the same message during an earlier visit to The Times. The two interviews appear to be part of a charm offensive intended to convince Washington audiences that Uganda is in step with President Bush's call for a worldwide march toward democracy. The move appears to be in response to insistence by Uganda's donors ? Western nations and nongovernmental organizations ? that the African nation open up its political system. The donors contribute to about half of Uganda's annual budget. But in a public statement last week, Mr. Museveni said the donors' generosity does not give them the right to dictate Uganda's political system. The interview with Mr. Ruhakana-Rugunda, conducted at the Ugandan Embassy, focused on Uganda's many changes, most of them promising, since the Clinton administration. The changes reinforce the success the Museveni government has achieved in its battle against HIV/AIDS. If a multiparty system takes root, it would open the political process to Ugandans who lack influence. But amending the constitution so Mr. Museveni can run for another term means that the outsiders will have to wait five more years before they are organized enough to participate. The entire process is viewed with suspicion in some quarters. "It looks to me like a trade-off: Uganda gets multiparty democracy, and the Ugandan president gets five more years in power," said Joseph Sala, a former State Department official and observer of African affairs. In its relations with neighboring countries, Uganda appears to have extricated itself from a morass of interventions ? i n Sudan on the side of the southern rebels and more recently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1999, Uganda and Rwanda intervened in Congo in a failed attempt to overthrow President Laurent Kabila. He subsequently was assassinated in January 2001, apparently by a bodyguard, and was succeeded by his son Joseph Kabila. In an agreement with neighboring Sudan, the two countries have promised to stop aiding each other's rebels. This put Uganda in a strong position to defeat a 16-year rebellion in the north by the Lord's Resistance Army. The LRA, led by Joseph Kony, is a movement mixing Christian mysticism, kidnappings, amputations and theft of children to act as soldiers. Underlying the rebellion is the dissatisfaction of some of the Acholi people, whose influence in Uganda was diminished by the 1986 victory of Mr. Museveni's National Resistan ce Movement over preceding dictatorships. Mr. Ruhakana-Rugunda, the internal affairs minister, described Uganda's past support of rebels in southern Sudan, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), as a just undertaking to prevent domination of the south by the Arab north. The Sudanese government and the SPLA signed a peace agreement on Jan. 9. "We regarded it as a duty to help our brothers in southern Sudan in their fight against the north," the minister said. Uganda's assistance to the SPLA had received strong backing in Washington, which waged its own political offensive against fundamentalist Islam in Khartoum and terrorist training camps that were suspected of operating in Sudan. The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States radically altered the situation in East Africa. Sudan agreed to back the U.S. war on al Qaeda and made peace with the SPLA rebels, led by Col. John Garang, who is to be sworn in as Sudan's vice president under the peace agreement. This was followed by the agreement between Uganda and Sudan to stop aiding each other's rebels, which ended the LRA's sanctuaries in southern Sudan. "The LRA has been severely weakened, and there is every expectation that the rebellion will be crushed soon," Mr. Ruhakana-Rugunda said. Uganda discarded another foreign affairs burden with its military exit from the territory of its western neighbor, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the process of ending its Congo intervention, Uganda clearly alienated the Tutsi-led government in Rwanda, provoking minor skirmishes in Congo between Rwandan and Ugandan troops. p;
[Ugnet] UGANDA OPENS TO DEMOCRACY:TODAY,S WASHINGTON TIMES
UGANDA OPENS TO DEMOCRACYBy Gus ConstantineTHE WASHINGTON TIMES---Uganda, the East African nation hailed during the Clinton administration as an emerging democracy despite its prohibition of political parties, is debating a move toward multiparty politics. But it also is seeking to amend its constitution to allow President Yoweri Museveni five more years in power. "Until recently, we considered a nonparty system necessary to avoid the tribal divisions that political parties had produced in the past," Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana-Rugunda said last week in an hourlong interview with The Washington Times. "The fact that we are moving away from a nonparty system to multiparty politics is an indication of the political maturity reached by Uga nda." Ugandan Ambassador Edith Ssempala delivered virtually the same message during an earlier visit to The Times. The two interviews appear to be part of a charm offensive intended to convince Washington audiences that Uganda is in step with President Bush's call for a worldwide march toward democracy. The move appears to be in response to insistence by Uganda's donors ? Western nations and nongovernmental organizations ? that the African nation open up its political system. The donors contribute to about half of Uganda's annual budget. But in a public statement last week, Mr. Museveni said the donors' generosity does not give them the right to dictate Uganda's political system. The interview with Mr. Ruhakana-Rugunda, conducted at the Ugandan Embassy, focused on Uganda's many changes, most of them promising, since the Clinton administration. The changes reinforce the success the Museveni government has achieved in its battle against HIV/AIDS. If a multiparty system takes root, it would open the political process to Ugandans who lack influence. But amending the constitution so Mr. Museveni can run for another term means that the outsiders will have to wait five more years before they are organized enough to participate. The entire process is viewed with suspicion in some quarters. "It looks to me like a trade-off: Uganda gets multiparty democracy, and the Ugandan president gets five more years in power," said Joseph Sala, a former State Department official and observer of African affairs. In its relations with neighboring countries, Uganda appears to have extricated itself from a morass of interventions ? i n Sudan on the side of the southern rebels and more recently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1999, Uganda and Rwanda intervened in Congo in a failed attempt to overthrow President Laurent Kabila. He subsequently was assassinated in January 2001, apparently by a bodyguard, and was succeeded by his son Joseph Kabila. In an agreement with neighboring Sudan, the two countries have promised to stop aiding each other's rebels. This put Uganda in a strong position to defeat a 16-year rebellion in the north by the Lord's Resistance Army. The LRA, led by Joseph Kony, is a movement mixing Christian mysticism, kidnappings, amputations and theft of children to act as soldiers. Underlying the rebellion is the dissatisfaction of some of the Acholi people, whose influence in Uganda was diminished by the 1986 victory of Mr. Museveni's National Resistan ce Movement over preceding dictatorships. Mr. Ruhakana-Rugunda, the internal affairs minister, described Uganda's past support of rebels in southern Sudan, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), as a just undertaking to prevent domination of the south by the Arab north. The Sudanese government and the SPLA signed a peace agreement on Jan. 9. "We regarded it as a duty to help our brothers in southern Sudan in their fight against the north," the minister said. Uganda's assistance to the SPLA had received strong backing in Washington, which waged its own political offensive against fundamentalist Islam in Khartoum and terrorist training camps that were suspected of operating in Sudan. The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States radically altered the situation in East Africa. Sudan agreed to back the U.S. war on al Qaeda and made peace with the SPLA rebels, led by Col. John Garang, who is to be sworn in as Sudan's vice president under the peace agreement. This was followed by the agreement between Uganda and Sudan to stop aiding each other's rebels, which ended the LRA's sanctuaries in southern Sudan. "The LRA has been severely weakened, and there is every expectation that the rebellion will be crushed soon," Mr. Ruhakana-Rugunda said. Uganda discarded another foreign affairs burden with its military exit from the territory of its western neighbor, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the process of ending its Congo intervention, Uganda clearly alienated the Tutsi-led government in Rwanda, provoking minor skirmishes in Congo between Rwandan and Ugandan troops. p;
[Ugnet] KIWEMBE KYA CHAMA
Vibrant media won't save errant cadres -- The stars are related to the sun but never obstruct its path ALTHOUGH they have travelled miles along a misguided path, it is not too late to appeal to them. former NRM and Movement cadres Col. Kiiza Besigye, Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu, David Pulkol Brig. Henry Tumukunde, among others, can reconsider their steps, after all they can now even gallivant with a brutal UPC. This appeal stems not from the fact that since they want state power, their individual and collective political careers could still be brighter within the Movement within which they can present their case, and even candidature for office. This political action group is singled out because they are craving for power, which is not a problem in itself except the methods. The old groups, and new support organisations, pressure groups and vested interests they are linking with, and the propaganda apparatus they are using, pose a grave and gathering danger. The rough lingo, obvious and deliberate misrepresentations all point to the fact that they did not and have not weighed their strength in every respect against that of Senior Commander and comrade Yoweri Museveni, and the NRM revolution to avoid acting foolishly to their own fatal detriment. It is often said that the tree that does not bend to the storm gets broken, while the one that bends lives longer because its trunk grows wider and roots deeper. Now that Tumukunde has lent himself to the latest adventurist and populist politics when still serving the army, it would be prudent for the NRM revolution cadres to have deeper reflection of what they want to be. And it is all well for opposition, and human rights activists bankrolled by donor groups to throw their collective weight behind Tumukunde in his present predicament in the military court martial simply because he is dissenting against Museveni. But they ought not to encourage army officers to flout the law, and army rules and regulations with impunity for political convenience because Uganda risks sliding back to the days when soldiers toppled and elected governments. Without prejudice to his cases, it is stupid for opposition groups to side with Tumukunde for cheap politics. Indeed, it is more dangerous for Tumukunde to portray his current woes in political terms in an attempt to gain sympathy because he knows the UPDF methods of work. And the cheap opposition somehow believes that Ugandans, except themselves, are fools, when they now praise Tumukunde who they vilified only months ago without a hearing over safe houses, high-handedness in intelligence gathering, campaigning for Museveni, and alleged beating of people and grabbing land in Kayunga. In any case, supposing a senior commander plants ghosts on the army's strength and supports a "third term" for Museveni, of what use is he to the army and country? Would the same opposition, when elected, accept an army officer who leads troops to incite them over radio against the elected authority by calling it unfit to lead the country and ought to be replaced? The best one can demand is that Tumukunde should get a fair hearing and substantive justice. Some senior officers exploiting politicking are deliberating putting the UPDF authority to test, and the force must be firm, swift and decisive because they want to infuse bad and dangerous tendencies to lower ranks. If Museveni is very weak and ready to fall as some argue, then let nature take its course, as there is little gain outshining a feeble superior. Since Museveni is still firm but some of you believe you are individually more capable, it is prudent to bide your time because he will eventually fade and if you play it right, you can outlive and outshine others to leadership. There seems to be endless efforts by some Movement cadres to turn Museveni into a lame duck because of the magical 2006, but the Movement political force will dismantle this gamble. In contemporary Uganda power politics, there are people who take their status for granted - actually power has gone to their heads, and as a result, they falsely believe they can be above the law, and Museveni! It is the reason some of them are being touted in the media as the establishment political gurus who "turned around" Museveni's 2001 presidential elections fortunes, which were allegedly on the decline. It is therefore not uncommon to read Pulkol or Tumukunde being falsely said to know "all" Museveni's kakuyege network countrywide and to portray them as the "real shakers and movers". Simple advice to them is, superiority is soothing, but to try and appear above the law is both stupid and fatal in a revolutionary organisation like the UPDF or Movement because you can be isolated or crushed. The tendency for politicians with grievances to run to the media may appear attractive but is fallacious and unsustainable. Lessons from the stars in the sky teach us that although they are related to the sun, and just as brilliant, they
[Ugnet] COMING IN FROM THE COLD
Im now in Movt, says Malinga Dr. Stephen Malinga BUTEBO county MP Dr. Stephen Malinga (left) yesterday announced his defection from the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) to the Movement, writes M. Nalunkuuma. I am going to the Movement. I will work for the Movement and I will support the Movement, Malinga, hitherto the chairman of the UPC parliamentary caucus, told journalists at parliament. All good things come to an end.I am ready to learn and I may turn out to be a dedicated member of the Movement, he added. Malinga first announced his defection from UPC at a rally addressed by President Museveni in Budaka, Pallisa district, on March 2. He, however, said his defection would hinge on the creation of a new district out of Pallisa. I have already written to UPC informing them about my joining the Movement. My constituents advised me to cross to the Movement to serve them better, he said. Published on: Thursday, 10th March, 2005 ___ Ugandanet mailing list Ugandanet@kym.net http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
Re: [Ugnet] I am still in UPC Malinga- Kabonero is this you?
Gook, the knock you hear is more MPs abandoning Congress.You are most welcome too. Im knocking on the Movt door - Malinga By Alex B. Atuhaire Victor Karamagi Mar 4, 2005 KAMPALA - The Uganda People's Congress (UPC) leadership yesterday rushed to Parliament to convince Butebo MP, Dr. Stephen Malinga to denounce the Movement. However, the MP told journalists that he is knocking on the door of the Movement, moments after he had met UPC Presidential Policy Commission Vice Chairman, Mr Henry Mayega, and the party's lawyer, Mr Peter Walubiri. After a 20-minute meeting with the UPC leaders, Malinga proceeded to Parliament and told reporters that the story of his defection to the Movement was like talking about a child still in the womb. Malinga, later said that he told Mayega and Walubiri that his move to cross was a result of demands from his constituents. People in my constituency have made demands, which we have discussed. What they are asking is reasonable and we have agreed that I join the Movement, he said. Malinga, according to a State House press release, crossed to the Movement during President Museveni's tour of eastern Uganda. He said he was under pressure from his constituents to join the Movement. The MP last evening confirmed that he is close to quitting UPC. I am very near the Movement now. I am knocking on their door. If they open the door and let me in, I will enter, he said. He said that Walubiri and Mayega were shocked at his decision, while some of his colleagues in Parliament expressed mixed reactions. Some are shocked by my decision, some have liked it while the others are telling me they are uncomfortable with it. But I will not change my mind as long as the Movement accepts me, he said. He said that he would hold talks with the Movement camp at later date. Meanwhile, Pallisa district UPC Chairman Kilan Didas Wamusike says he will stand on a UPC ticket against Malinga if he indeed crosses to the Movement. Wamusike was at the UPC headquarters yesterday and party officials were holding marathon meetings to approve him. Malinga, however, maintains that his constituents have decided and they will have the final vote. 2005 The Monitor Publications. ___ Ugandanet mailing list Ugandanet@kym.net http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
[Ugnet] F.D.C
FDC not the saint it claims to be By Frank Tumwebaze Mar 4, 2005 Last week, I featured on the Capital Gang talk show with Hon. Augustine Ruzindana to debate the unfolding political events in the country. Crucial to the debate, was the launch of FDC manifesto or platform as Ruzindana emphasized. The platform is nothing else, but a ten point programme. The FDC interim leaders are not new political actors that perhaps one would be anxious of seeing their political performance, but rather people who have been on the stage since 1986. And therefore, a lot of questions without any answers, surround FDC's alleged new role of putting Uganda back on the democratic path. As it was with Besigye and his Reform Agenda in the last Presidential elections, so it is today with FDC. The fundamental point of their disagreement with Yoweri Museveni and the mainstream Movement never comes out unambiguously. It is all about their usual song, that the Movement has been derailed and deviated from its original ideals. What ideals it deviated from are not articulated anywhere. Hon. Ruzindana, while referring to their document, repeatedly talked of fighting corruption and the ekisanja project. To them, ekisanja is one of their identified serious problems for this country. To the contrary ekisanja is not a problem for this country, but instead a problem for them. They can't believe the way the quest for kisanja is massively picking up allover the country. Thus their tireless efforts to criminalize its advocates, call them sycophants, extremists and even threaten war. First of all, it is actually they who gave the kisanja momentum by deliberately choosing to distort the term limits debate and call it third term. The fundamental issue to ponder, in this whole issue of ekisanja is just to pose a simple question that why do people advocate for a third term for the incumbent President? To try and ignore this genuine question is a recipe for disaster, in many ways. First it implies that those demanding for kisanja have not seen the alternative to the incumbent at this particular time and therefore cannot premise their hope and trust on the unknown. This is not just an issue to easily rubbish or ignore. Our history is still fresh, where leaders would change like guards on night duty and the cost of it ranged from untold human suffering to disruption of social order. What don't Ugandans remember? In fact, the late Hon. Wapakhabulo clearly stated in his letter which the kisanja critics widely quoted, though selectively and deliberately, that it was not wise for the country to have two transitions to multiparty and a change of leadership at the top. These were his genuine observations without being motivated by any political prejudices or bias. He rightly observed that the two transitions, moreover with the majority of Ugandans still skeptical about the one of retuning to multiparty, would easily do away with the hard-won achievements of the last 19 years, and easily take us back to the early days of post-independence, where the people who took over from the colonial rulers failed to manage the affairs of a young independent and heterogeneous state. He thus meant that the incumbent president would help in managing the transition and starting off the new political arrangement of multipartism. This however, was not to mean that there was no one to take over from Museveni, but rather to emphasize the confidence Ugandans still have in Museveni and point out the relevant and critical role he can still play in the anticipated new political arrangement (pluralism). So, the kisanja agitators are not just victims of Museveni's manipulation or sycophants as FDC time and again insults them. They share such views, and do so strongly. Secondly, FDC cannot win the confidence and trust of these Kisanja agitators by political blackmail and emotions; by labelling them sycophants and extremists; by sanctioning violence against them as Hon. Maj. Kazoora did in his constituency, when he launched the essanja (dry banana leaves) burning project and also directed to equally burn whoever is found in possession of it; and by threatening war, as if surely the various wars Ugandans has faced (Kony, ADF and many others) have been kisanja-motivated wars. Besides, it is criminal, democratically primitive and an act of political cowardice to threaten war over a matter under debate, with clear constitutional means of its resolution. It is another reason why Ugandans cannot easily see an alternative to Museveni and the NRM. I challenged Hon. Ruzindana on that Capital Gang show, for example to tell us what new proactive initiatives FDC is advancing to handle all those ten points they alluded to in their platform apart from making mere political pronouncements for cheap political capital. As former IGG for ten years, I asked Ruzindana to tell Ugandans how he now intends to fight corruption, that
[Ugnet] CONGRESS
First Kamuntu and now Malinga.Gook are you next? UPC caucus boss joins Movement MOVEMENT BRIDE: Museveni (left) welcomes Malinga (in yellow T-shirt) to the Movement at Budaka sub-county headquarters By Nathan Etengu in Pallisa BUTEBO county MP Dr. Stephen Malinga on Monday crossed from the UPC party to the Movement. Malinga, the chairman of the UPC parliamentary caucus, crossed to the movement at a rally addressed by President Yoweri Museveni at Budaka sub-county headquarters. The crowed cheered when Malinga accepted to have the movement T-shirt and cap put on him, over his striped suit. He was also bedecked with dry banana leaves (essanja) before he was received by Museveni. The move to initiate Malinga into the movement was hatched by Bulangira sub-county woman councillor, Anna Mungono, who invited him to dance to a local tune played to entertain Museveni. Mungono, a younger sister to Kibuku MP Rainer Kafiire, then whispered into Malingas ears before signalling another lady to bedeck him with essanja, the symbol of support for a third presidential term for Museveni. No sooner had Malinga been bedecked in essanja than did people seated nearby jump up with more leaves to decorate him. Malinga was then helped to put on the T-shirt as women sang movement songs. The Minister for the Presidency, Dr. Beatrice Wabudeya and state ministers Christine Aporu and Jennifer Namuyangu, along with MPs Louis Opange, Kirya Gole and Rainer Kafiire, witnessed Malingas defection. Drama then ensued as women and other movement fans surrounded Malinga amid cheers from the crowd. Museveni, who had just completed addressing the rally, left his seat to welcome Malinga. He asked Malinga to sit next to him in the tent. Malinga appealed to the Government to grant Pallisa another district: I will become a full member of the movement if my people are granted a district, Malinga said shortly after the events. The people of this area have worked with you in the past. They want you to continue working with them in future. However, they feel that when the left hand washes the right hand, then the right hand should also wash the left hand, Malinga said at a rally at Kibale primary school. Museveni said creating a new district was okay but needed time and discussions to reach a consensus. Ends Published on: Wednesday, 2nd March, 2005 . ___ Ugandanet mailing list Ugandanet@kym.net http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
[Ugnet] Fwd: Congress seing the light?
---BeginMessage--- Kamuntu,Ogola, Malinga.Hmm? MP Ogola defects to NRM DEFECTED: Ogola By Abraham Odeke HON. Akisoferi Ogola, MP West Budama South and one of the most influential members of the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) in Tororo on Friday crossed to the Movement during a public rally addressed by President Yoweri Museveni. My people and I support the lifting of the presidential term limits and we are unanimously requesting you to stand again in 2006, Ogola told Museveni amidst applause. President Museveni was in West Budama South constituency as part of his meet-the-people tour of Tororo District. During the rally the State Minister for Labour, Henry Obbo, introduced Ogola as a good friend who wanted to take advantage of President Musevenis presence to officially announce his new political patronage. Ogola praised President Museveni and the Movement for the developments made since 1986. I particularly admire you for having waged a fierce war against AIDS and illiteracy through the introduction of UPE. Above all, when some of my political enemies wanted to turn me into dust you intervened in my favour. Now how can anyone expect me to say no to a good friend who has come to your house with a humble request, Ogola told Museveni. Ogolas statement prompted the Cabinet ministers and other VIPs who accompanied Museveni to step forward to hug and decorate the former UPC stalwart with several Movement T-shirts, caps and dry banana leaves. Reacting to Ogolas decision to join the Movement, Museveni said only people who lacked vision and focus would feel comfortable being members of the UPC and DP which lack the skills to govern the country. Your decision to join the Movement is good because we are flexible and responsive to local pressures which are not dangerous for our country. The UPC will never manage an army thats why they specialised in being overthrown by the army during the two times they ruled our country, Museveni said. He said the leaders should know that the army is like a spear, which can hurt those who handle it carelessly. However, the Movement has made its own spear and knows how to handle it well, Museveni said. President Museveni also pledged to assist the Jopadhola cultural leader, the Adhola, with transport. Ends Published on: Sunday, 27th February, 2005 . ---End Message--- ___ Ugandanet mailing list Ugandanet@kym.net http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
[Ugnet] (no subject)
Mary Karooro Okurut KEEN readers of this column know that every first Sunday of the year I make predictions of what we should expect to see on the political, social and economic scene in the next 365 days locally and globally. Most of these predictions have come to pass. But I am taking exception to my own rule this time round, to excuse myself from the predictions till next week or so. Reason is that my mind is still cloudy no doubt due to a hectic festive season and my seer powers have therefore taken a due break. Make no mistake though, they (powers) will be right back after this break. As I look back at what 2004 has been like, I will recall that one columnist whose name I do not care to mention was all over me. Her problem? I seem to be obsessed with President Yoweri Museveni and the Movement, and my writings were seldom on anything else. Now, now, now! Am I not the deputy spokesperson of the Movement? And is President Museveni not the chairman of the Movement? So what is surprising if my column is never far from the Movement and its chairman? The funny bit about this whole thing is that the one who is on my case cannot stop talking about Reform Agenda, PAFO and the, what is it called again...? ... Ah, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) or something like that. And she wont stop talking or writing if you please about Col. Kizza Besigye and some other names I cant recall just now. When was the last time you heard the pot calling the kettle black, or a frog making fun of the toads eyes? That aside, 2004 has been another excellent year for the Movement. It is still very strong on the ground in terms of structures and sheer numbers. Only the other day I saw ripples of excitement in some quarters when it was announced that the opposition parties the G6 as they call themselves have agreed to field a single candidate for the 2006 presidential elections. The reading of these people is that the opposition now has a strong chance of beating the Movement to State House. I have asked before, but I will ask this again: what is new about this single candidate thing? Have they not always joined hands to fight President Museveni? For those of you who thrive on statistics and data, I will remind you that in 1996 they fielded Dr. Paul Ssemogerere of the Democratic Party. President Museveni beat him with 75% of the vote. Five years later in 2001 when they fielded Besigye, President Museveni had no trouble scooping 69% of the vote. What and where is the magic about the opposition this time round? There will be nothing like an election upset, I can assure you. The kisanja movement is well on course and you can be sure President Museveni, in accordance with the will and wishes of the people, will be given another term in law (Constitution), and this verdict will be confirmed with another strong electoral victory. Contrary to what some opposition leaders are trying to preach, the donor community is not opposed to lifting of term limits, or specifically, another term for President Museveni. All they want is that it all must be done according to the law. Talking of which, there has been some noise made about the inappropriateness of the motion in Parliament that seeks to kill off voting by secret ballot in the House on constitutional amendments. Protagonists of this motion want MPs to be seen voting for a particular side of an issue, in the open; instead of restricting their sentiments to a piece of paper that no one else will know about. Why should there be a secret ballot? People ought to stand up and be counted in crucial times as these. There should be no grey area and certainly no hiding. Anybody who is too ashamed or shy of their position to openly stand by it is not fit to be an MP. There are two other highlights of 2004. One is the music industry whose artistes I salute with passion. They have come out with beautiful, rich and symbolic songs. Kudos to the likes of Julianna Kanyomozi and Bobi Wine (Taata wa baana), Haruna Mubiru (Ekitooke), Jose Chameleone (Jamila), Sheila Nvannungi and many others who have made our music such a
[Ugnet] Ofwono Opondo
Critics exaggerate Museveni, Kategaya friendship By Ofwono-Opondo Jan 9 - 15, 2005 Professional political biographers Charles Onyango-Obbo, F.D.R. Gureme, and Andrew Mwenda have consistently written that President Museveni has refused to listen to the wisdom of his childhood friend Eriya Kategaya on matters of presidential term limits. This hype about Museveni and Kategaya being childhood friends has been and continues to be stretched too far in our political development. I am convinced that it is time this hype and glorification through duplicity are dumped into the historical dung-heap where they should belong in a democracy. In a democracy what ought to count for legitimacy and acceptability are viable policies, popular electoral mandate that leaders enjoy, and record of achievements, and not historical, family or social ties. PRESIDENT: Museveni` FALLEN OUT: Kategaya Social ties may matter but they should not take precedence over regular popular electoral mandate. And in any case each adult politician should make a good account of his own contribution to the nations development, and not merely tag along as Ugandas current political biographers want the public to believe! The hype about Musevenis early relationship is peddled by critics in a futile attempt to show that he owes his public career, especially the presidency, to some of his childhood friends. And from this standpoint, they proceed to argue that Museveni has an obligation to always listen and accept, and be grateful to the views of his so-called childhood friends. But before chastising Museveni, it would be interesting to know how many of his critics, Gureme, Obbo, and Mwenda have kept and still confide in their own childhood friends, or those they met in primary school, like Museveni did with Kategaya. What is factual is that some of Musevenis allies merely supported his political crusades like many believers rally behind and contribute to Christianity and Islam, but cannot be taken as the bedrock of faith. Secondly, it is imperative for the public to know that some of these childhood friends, and allies especially those he appointed senior government officials got accustomed, and even took their positions, friendship, and relations for granted. In fact, many had turned themselves into court jesters, and even falsely claimed to be the kingmakers the powers behind the NRM throne, until they discovered otherwise. Indeed this explains some of the extreme raw anger they now espouse once driven out of the state apparatus. In politics, as in social life, it is important never to imagine that because the leader is a personal friend, relative or loves you, you can do anything you want and get away with it. Books could be written about favourites who fell out by taking their status for granted, and the more we democratise, the more we should learn to be out of power without a grudge! While it is natural to want to hire friends especially when in difficulty, it is important for Musevenis critics to understand that you do not know the people you call friends as well as you imagine. Quite often friends cover their unpleasant qualities so as not to offend each other, and can laugh extra hard at each others jokes, but just that. However, it is only when you hire a friend that you gradually discover the qualities he or she has kept hidden for a long time like inefficiency, incompetence, envy, ingratitude and self-ambition. And strangely enough, it is Musevenis benevolence that has unbalanced everything, because some people felt that they deserve their fortunes exclusively and permanently. That is why although outsiders or creepers, as Amanya Mushega calls them, think historical friends are privileged, they pay less
[Ugnet] LETTER
Published on: Sunday, 2nd January, 2005 A letter to MP John Kazoora THE WRITER: Kabushenga Dear John, IT was good to exchange greetings at a wedding recently. I hope you recall asking me in Runyankole what we were doing in our mashansha (dry banana leaves that symbolise the removal of the presidential term limits). I did not respond at that time because you had to attend to a phone call. Now I do. Your remark reminded me of another encounter with one of your colleagues who referred to me as kisanja boy. You get what I mean. I took all this in good humour, although in both cases I found the attitude rather patronising. This attitude assumes that we are misguided in our thinking, blinded in views by young age or immaturity or driven by opportunistic self-interest. In a word: sycophants. Well, there are those who thought the same of you as a young revolutionary in the eighties and others who do so today. But that is for another day. I have written to let you know that I intend to vote again for Yoweri Kaguta Museveni if he stands for president. I want you and your fellow MPs to give me the opportunity to do so. Whether you do so by complete removal of term limits or the Namibian option (suspending the operation of Article 105/2 on term limits for five years or until Museveni retires voluntarily or is defeated in an election) is up to you. I know many other people who are of the same view and are simply waiting to pronounce themselves on polling day. Let me share with you our thinking. As you know very well, Museveni is the chief architect of the rebirth of this country. The rest of you played a supporting role in various capacities. For this we are grateful. Now he has the obligation to midwife a new order through the transition. It is regrettable, but not fatal, for the country that he has not done it in this term as promised. It would be worse if he was not the one to do it and anyway, we are loath to trust anyone else. You need to take into account that the transition from Museveni to another individual as president is a process, not an event. It is one that needs sufficient preparation. Look at Ghana. They moved to partisan politics for ten years and then felt sufficiently confident to let go of Rawlings. The same goes for Daniel arap Moi of Kenya. In Burundi they were stampeded into a multiparty, winner-takes-all electoral arrangement. The rest is violent history. We have to be cautious because any slight complication can cause a miscarriage or even a stillbirth. If it is nothing serious, just a bit of pressure perhaps, then we can get away with a caesarian. We are interested in a normal process, otherwise we risk losing either the mother (stable country) or the child (advancement of democratic process) or both. In any case, none will live happily after such an experience. Some of you are saying that amending Article 105(2) to lift term limits is intended to create a life presidency for Museveni. This argument is as contradictory as it is defeatist. For starters, the Constituent Assembly did not see this as such crucial provision for democracy in Uganda, otherwise it would have been entrenched like the others. They would have made it very difficult if not impossible to amend it. As it is, they thought it simple enough to be resolved by two-thirds majority vote in Parliament. By the way, none of you in Parliament has since sponsored an amendment seeking to entrench this provision. It may be a desirable but not a primary component of the democratic process but if some people think it is, then why should it not apply to MPs as well to allow for a wider process of renewal? So all the noise about life presidency is just hot air. If the principle of lengthy incumbency in elective office is bad then it should be prohibited across the board not restricted to only the presidency. This argument also contradicts your actions in the opposition. The way you are organising to take part in the 2006 election shows you have confidence in the process. You must believe that you can win, otherwise why are you bothering to put a party together to contest for power? So it is possible after all, in the Uganda of today, for the voter to get rid of an incumbent through an election. In any case the entrenchment of the LC system ensures that the people are sufficiently enfranchised. Indeed quite a few LC offices are occupied or dominated by opposition politicians. Let us not delude ourselves, a tyrant can take power
[Ugnet] Free and fair elections not term limits
EU chief raps term limits POPULAR MANDATE: Michel (right) tours camps in Gulu By Cyprian Musoke IT does not matter how long a president stays in power as long as he still has the popular mandate, a European Union commissioner (EU) has said. The EU commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, Louis Michel, was addressing the press at Sheraton hotel Kampala on Thursday night. Michel, who had earlier met President Yoweri Museveni at State house Nakasero, said free and fair elections in a multi-party setting were more important. He was responding to questions on whether Museveni had hinted on whether he would retire when his constitutional term expires. Michel said popularity of a person, nature of the electorate and the fairness of the elections mattered most. I was elected for 30 years. I had seven or eight terms. Of course nobody doesnt find this abnormal. I am just a popular guy, he said, in reference to his former position as deputy Premier of Belgium. You need a loyal, free and fair election, but it ultimately depends on the people, the candidate, and fairness of the elections, he said. He said they talked about the White paper, democracy, multi-partism and the Uganda-Rwanda relationship. Michel said he told Museveni that multipartyism was an active condition for democracy, to which the President seemed to agree. Michel, who had just concluded a visit to northern Uganda, wondered why the international community had ignored the situation there. He said Betty Bigombe, the chief mediator in the peace talks, assured him that there was an opportunity to end the war, and requested for more funds from the EU. Michel said the EU alone could not deliver all the assistance needed for the war. He asked others to join the struggle. He said the EU would finance road infrastructure to make sure that the people in the camps returned to their homes to till their land.Published on: Saturday, 18th December, 2004 ___ Ugandanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
[Ugnet] UNBWOGABLE
Writing is on the wall for Kisanja opponents FORMIDABLE: President Museveni who has won two landslides Onapito Ekomoloit - THE INSIDE PERSPECTIVE PRESIDENTIAL elections in other African countries during 2004 should be an eye-opener for those opposing ekisanja (the removal of presidential term limits) or the third term. They are barking up the wrong tree. Specifically in Malawi, Namibia and Mozambique, the ruling political parties won despite fielding candidates who were not incumbents. In Malawi, Bingu Wa Mutharika, took over the mantle from Bakili Muluzi as the candidate of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and romped home to victory. In Namibia, independence leader Sam Nujoma handed over to his look-alike Hifikepunye Pohamba, but still the ruling South West Africa Peoples Organisation (SWAPO) won handsomely. Similarly, Armando Guebuza took over the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) mantle from retiring Joachim Chissano and is set to be announced winner over Afonso Dhlakama of the Mozambican National Front (RENAMO). These victories should awaken the Ugandan opposition from the slumber of thinking that President Yoweri Musevenis departure is the only thing that stands between them and State House. A discussion with any of the leading anti-ekisanja politicians shows that their real problem is not Museveni running again in 2006. They, too, know that the Presidents mere running would not mean him continuing as President. He would have to sweat it out on the campaign trail before the millions of Ugandans decide whether to re-hire him. The real crisis for the opponents of removing presidential term limits is their belief that they can never defeat candidate Museveni. With him having notched landslide victories in 1996 and 2001, Museveni has simply become unbwogable unbeatable in Kenyan political speak. The cry against the third term is one about desperation over what to do with an unbeatable Museveni. The Presidents opponents feel so hopeless that the best they can hope for is to try and wish him away. Of course, they will allege that he cannot be defeated because he abuses the advantages to incumbency to steal victory. It is a leaky argument because, for starters, during both the 1996 and 2001 elections, the President did not win by 100 percent. His capacity had a limit, actually declining by five percent in between 75% in 1996 and 70% in 2001. More importantly, he consistently under-performed in mid-northern Uganda scoring below 50%. Does it mean that the President selectively abused the power of incumbency? In fact, the opposition often peddles the theory that the army is the principal tool the President uses to steal elections, yet the north where he lost is most saturated with soldiers. The plain truth all this brings out is that Museveni remains unassailable, not simply because he is an incumbent. The Presidents strength is because of what he has done in the office. The incredible story of how he picked Uganda from political abyss, restored order in the country, established mass democracy, turned around the economy and above all gave Ugandans hope needs no retelling. But perhaps what those fixated with the Presidents departure should know is that he has over the decades done his political work in such a way that the people own the achievements. Museveni has become more of a symbol for the peoples aspirations organised under the National Resistance Movement (NRM). The bad news for the ekisanja haters is that just like FRELIMO and SWAPO and CCM nearby in Tanzania the NRM will outlive its founding president. The parallels between the NRM and these political movements are very obvious. Specifically, FRELIMO, SWAPO and the NRM share the distinction of being former guerilla movements. They gathered massive and genuine grassroots support on their way to power. Attempts to equate these former guerilla political organisations to the likes of Kenyas defeated Kenya African National Union (KANU) widely miss the point. Ordinary African political parties such as KANU, Jerry Rawlings National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Ghana, Frederick Chilubas Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) in Zambia and Muluzis UDF in Malawi, tend to have a weak loyalty base. Rawlings party has lost two straight elections since he passed on the baton to Prof. Atta Mills. And going by Ugandas stringent requirement of 50% plus votes for the presidential election winner, KANU has lost three consecutive elections. Similarly, Ugandas Constitution would have seen both successors to Chiluba and Muluzi defeated the new Presidents Levy Mwanawasa and Bingu, respectively scored under 40%. Clearly, opponents of ekisanja are not helping themselves by wasting energy on the person of Museveni. Naturally, they could have their day many years down the road, but only if they spent more time poking holes on the credibility of the NRM, with or
[Ugnet] Uganda,s friends in Washington.
By Jim Fisher-Thompson Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- Uganda may be a small country but its weight in Washington policy circles has enough heft to convince lawmakers on Capitol Hill to establish a new Congressional Caucus on Uganda -- only the third such caucus in the history of Congress that focuses on African issues. That impact has come about in large part because of Uganda's tireless Ambassador Edith Ssempala, who has spent the last eight years in Washington pushing for closer ties between her nation and the United States. A former engineer and one of the few women ambassadors in Washington, Ssempala made many friends in Congress as she lobbied for passage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the first-ever trade legislation between sub-Saharan Africa and the United States. The idea for a Uganda caucus arose during a meeting in September between Representative Christopher Smith (Republican of New Jersey) and Ugandan Minister of Defense and Attorney General Amama Mbabazi as a means of strengthening relations between the two nations. President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda visited the United States in May 2003 and invited President Bush to make Uganda one of the stops on his visit to Africa in July 2003. During that visit, Bush heralded the African leader as a strong advocate of free trade because you understand the benefits of trade [and] a strong leader ... using your prestige and your position to help resolve [regional] disputes. Bush also referred to his administration's $15 billion, five-year program to help Africans battle disease and cited Museveni as a world leader -- not just a leader on the continent of Africa -- but a world leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS. You have shown the world what is possible in terms of reducing infection rates. You have been honest and open about the AIDS pandemic, and therefore have led your people to seek prevention and treatment. The U.S. president pledged the support of the United States on these issues but especially on AIDS: We come to assure you and to assure the people of Uganda that when it comes to the struggle against hopelessness and poverty and disease that you've got a friend in the United States, he said. This presidential support for Uganda as a country with good leadership that is adhering to tough political and economic reforms combined with the wide bipartisan support the country has in Congress meant Smith's proposal for a caucus was received with enthusiasm by his fellow lawmakers. The new Ugandan caucus will be co-chaired by Representative Edolphus Towns (Democrat of New York). The African-American lawmaker's district in Brooklyn includes many African immigrants who are particularly concerned with U.S.-African relations. Smith and Towns sent a letter to President Yoweri Museveni on November 17 telling him of the formation of the new caucus, which will focus on: improving relations and communications between the United States and Uganda; providing up-to-date information about common interest items to members of Congress and their staffs; working to identify good policy ideas in each others' country and see how these might be applied elsewhere; recognizing the common concerns of the two countries, including, but not limited to, mutual efforts to combat terrorism in Africa and around the globe; ensuring stability in Northern Uganda as well as in other regions of Africa; and fighting against the spread of HIV/AIDS. Minister Mbabazi issued a statement on learning of the congressional action: I am pleased with the news that a Congressional Caucus on Uganda has been launched. Uganda and the United States share a commitment to eradicate terrorism, especially in Northern Uganda; to combat HIV/AIDS; to circumscribe human trafficking; and to eliminate poverty wherever it may be found. This caucus will effectively assist these efforts. the statement said. Move messages to.. Saved on AOL ___ Ugandanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
Re: [Ugnet] No Need for War - Muntu..I disagree
Let us be honest for the sake of our beloved nation. I can categorically state and be quoted that Milton Obote has never in anyway been a part of the so-called FOBA. The truth of the matter is FOBA was a creation of the NRM in order to persecute UPC leaders in various parts of Uganda and divert attention from the failed economic policy of BARTER TRADE. Obote has had a long political career in which he has contested and won elections unlike some people I know whose rise to power (and maintenance thereof) is by the use of force. Jimmy, You may defend your Dad as much as you want but history cant be revised.Read on and weep. Mansions of death ESCAPED: Major Mutale Nile Mansions was a notorious torture chamber during the Idi Amin and Milton Obote regimes. Joshua Kato talked to people who witnessed these horrors There is a live concert on the Nile Hotel compound. Several people young and old alike are making merry. All kinds of drinks are flowing; whisky, Nile special lager, Mateos name it. As the first song ends, there are chants for an encore. Clapping and foot stamping follows, almost in unison. Everybody is happy. In most of the lavishly decorated rooms, couples are planning to have a good nights sleep. Dreaming of breakfast in bed. Rooms 326, 305, 320, 211 and 311, all of which witnessed the epitome of mans brutality against fellow man, are occupied. If those rooms could speak, the world would be horrified by what they would say, says Joseph Bulemba Nkerrettanyi, one of the chief cooks at the hotel during the Amin and Obote regimes. At that time the hotel was called Nile Mansions. And it was a mansion for evil. When it was renamed Nile Hotel it aptly represented the transition from chaos to order. Between 1975-1986, there was no music at the Nile Mansions. There were no men and women dancing. Nobody was smiling, none at all. Death was stalking the mansion. Instead of music, there were shrieks and screams of women being tortured to death. It was either a red-hot piece of metal being pushed into her private parts or randy soldiers raping her repeatedly. From another room, it was the terrified moans of a man with bricks dangling from his testicles. In room 326 it was not uncommon to hear the menacing voice of a soldier issuing the order, wuwa yeye (Kill him). Yes. There was some whisky and beer at times, but this was exclusively for Milton Obote and his henchmen. The decision by Idi Amin to kill Archbishop Janani Luwum, Oboth Ofumbi and Erinayo Oryema was arrived at inside the Nile Mansions. Saulo Katabarwa, a high ranking National Resistance Army (NRA) officer, faced his last hours here. Fred Mukama, an ex-police officer, was severely tortured in 1982 in room 326. A heavy weight was tied to his testicles which rendered him impotent. Sophia Banura, Moses Irumba and several others who entered this room never lived to tell of the horrors meted on them. A few people like Brigadier Matayo Kyaligonza and Major Kakooza Mutale were lucky to escape alive. Mutale, who at the time was one of the leading journalists in the country, was arrested for writing a story that angered the regime of the day. The Nile Hotel complex was constructed in 1971 by Energo Project. It was completed in time for the 1975 OAU summit which Uganda hosted. After that, it was turned into a military command structure with some offices for government officials, but gradually it became a torture chamber. Idi Amin used rooms 205 and 220 as residence and office respectively for most of the time he was head of state. Today these rooms are lavishly decorated with imported furniture. In the early 1980s, Obote used rooms 211 and 217. He used to drink a lot. He loved Russian Vodka and whisky. But most of the time, he took Mateos, says Bulemba. At first, Nile Mansions was just a transit point for political prisoners. Room 326 was the most notorious of all. It was manned by Peter Owili, believed to be of Kenyan origin. When somebody was taken there, it was a point of no return, Bulemba says. In the early 1980s, the notorious bus, nicknamed Mpaawo Atalikaaba (everybody will weep) used to make rounds in the city, then return to Nile Mansions to drop those arrested. Many of them were subsequently killed. When the NRA captured power in 1986, sophisticated torture gadgets were found in these rooms. However, no one seems to know where the equipment was taken. We found electric wires, nail-studded slippers, hammers, clubs fitted with nails, plastic containers perhaps used for burning prisoners, bloodstained clothes and lots of other things, recalls Lt.(rtd) Steven Ssentumbwe. Most of the killing was done inside the rooms, away from the prying eyes of visitors at the nearby International Conference Centre, but that did not go on for long. One day, a captured Uganda Freedom Movement rebel known as Mohammed Jjemba committed suicide by jumping from the 3rd
[Ugnet] STOP WHINING COMPETE
Mary Karooro Okurut Karooro Okurut Transition of any kind is not easy. Take the transition from childhood to adulthood, when a cocktail of emotions and changes take place. A boys voice all of a sudden breaks into a boom. Many a boy gets confused as he talks and sounds like a cross between a croaking frog and a bull excited in ways I wont mention here. As the girl develops into womanhood, she sees blood from an invisible wound in her body that keeps flowing for several days. She goes into a panic. Then the woman goes into menopause, where the periods cease and she enters another era of her life where sanitary pads and tampons are thrown out of the budget. Confusion and uncertainty set in as she comes to terms with her new state of being. There will be that feeling of insecurity: is she still beautiful and desirable? All this is transition, and if one is to cope successfully with it, one needs to be fully prepared either through having read about or having been told about it. Political transition is not an easy journey anywhere in the world, and ought to be taken on with care. In Uganda, more caution has to be exercised because we have on our hands a hitherto fragmented and brutalised society in that the majority of the country is just beginning to heal and come together. Some of the turbulence we have today may be because we did not give the country an interim period after the previous brutal dictatorships. We went straight into too much freedom of speech which has been abused often. if you give a starving person too much food youll probably do him more harm than good, whereas a little at a time will save him. Likewise, because transitions are messy and need to be approached with caution, the majority of Ugandans are saying if we are transiting from the Movement to multipartyism, we cannot, in the same breath, afford to lose the national leadership. That would be biting off more than we can chew. We still need President Yoweri Museveni to steer the country through the transition. But then you have a section of our people (mercifully, they are few), going out on deliberate, diligent and sustained excuse campaigns. These are people who are very sure of their defeat, but are not willing to face the truth. The giving out of sh5m facilitation to Movement Members of Parliament to carry out certain tasks brought out the cry of foulplay: the MPs have been bribed to vote for a third term for President Museveni. Soon after that word went round that the Speaker, Hon. Edward Ssekandi, and his deputy, Rebecca Kadaga, had also received the so-called kisanja cash. The interpretation volunteered by our opposition was that Parliament had been thoroughly compromised and the third term bid would go through hands down. Then there is the excuse they have been singing all through about the army: if President Museveni does not involve the army, we shall beat him. None of those in the opposition cared to mention that for nearly two decades, yet some of them were part of the Movement machinery. If the Movement had been using the army to get votes, these people should have stopped the practice while still in the Movement, since they claim to be right. They have excelled in creating a rich, deep and huge excuse data bank from which they draw a bit every other day to explain away their failures. Their strategy is simple: repeat the message in the media every day and some people will believe it. They forget that in Parliament, the Movement has practically taken over and is holding sway comfortably. This has been demonstrated in several fora. All the committees that determine key policies and decisions were taken over by Movement cadres. This was months before the kisanja cash came up. Besides, it is an undeniable fact that every voter knows that apart from criticising the President and the Movement these people have no solid and sound agenda to sell to the people of Uganda. That is why President Museveni challenged his opponents to state their vision for Uganda since they want to lead the country. Instead the opposition turned around and said President Museveni had declared that he is the only one with a vision for the country. This makes me wonder whether the opposition has no better agenda than attacking the Movement and President Musevenis every move and success. The writer is the Woman MP for Bushenyi District Published on: Sunday, 28th November, 2004 Email this article to a friend. Copyright The New Vision, 2000-2004. All rights reserved. ___ Ugandanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
Re: [Ugnet] No Need for War - Muntu..I disagree
Muntu's role is to work on the syches of those who might think of fighting M7 and dissuade them. Why is Muntu allowed to hold these meetings when nobody else is? Maybe he knows something that armchair analysts dont.He does not want to end up defeated on the battle field like the the following who tried that route 1.Uganda National Liberation Army(UNLA) of Opona Acak and Bazillio Okello 2.Uganda Peoples Army(U.P.A) of Peter Otai 3Force Obote Back Again(F.O.B.A)of Milton Obote 4.Uganda Freedom Army(U.F.A) of Sam Luweero 5.Uganda Salvation Army of Amon Bazira 6.The West Nile Bank Front(W.B.F) of Bamuze 7.Uganda Freedom Army(U.F.A) of Herbert Itongwa 8.The Rwenzururu Movement of Ile Mangoma 9.The Holy Spirit Movement of Alice Lakwena 10.Allied Democratic Forces(A.D.F) of Hajji Mukulu and Kabanda 11.Peoples Redemption Army(P.R.A) of Edson Muzoora and co. 12. Lords Resistance Army(L.R.A) of Joseph Kony. ___ Ugandanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
[Ugnet] MOVEMENT CRITICS
NRM critics must prove their worth THE WRITER: Ofwono Opondo THOMAS Jefferson once said, The best thing to do with those in self delusion is to encourage them to hire a hall, and chat with fellow citizens, because nothing chills lies like exposure to air. This is what Ugandans will face daily in the run up to 2006 general elections, which, some have dubbed transition, or falsely as opening the political space. In fact, the space, is being closed and made rigid! Currently everyone is free to participate in politics either as a campaigner, voter, or candidate. All these will be lost. People will have to choose which role they want to play and never cross paths again. If by pointing political guns through lies against the Movement, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) or rather Forum for Dangerous Change hopes to captivate Ugandans, they are in deep waters. In fact, they should be given a long rope, and when they reach its end, they tie a knot and hang. According to FDC priests, Rtd. Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu, Augustine Ruzindana and Beti Kamya, believe that Uganda is worse off today than it was 18 years ago. Muntu regrets having joined the bush war! They all believe that UPC fascists presiding over a collapsed state and economy were better! Contrary to what UPC, DP and FDC have said that the Movement fears opposition, we actually respect them but only if they are worth the paper on which their names are written. Unfortunately, going by Muntus bellicose tone at every public fora where he has talked recently, he has tended towards macho, politics. Nations are neither built nor defended by cowards, but Muntus line is hollow, and he knows it. NRM opponents should be ready for a tough and civilised campaign instead of creating early scapegoats to explain their failures in advance, as Kizza Besigye did in 2001. While announcing their fledgling recruitment team for central region, FDC publicist, Beti Kamya claimed they took this painful decision, because of the character of both the NRM as a party and the Movement as a regime. For starters, FDC does not have a constitution, a mandatory requirement at registration and cannot blame government for its woes. The NRM is not the registrar general to process party matters. Hence, it should not be blamed for FDCs failures. Fortunately, the records of opposition and NRM leaders are all available for Ugandans to choose the credible from the unserious. For instance, UPC and DP records are so recent that possibly only they have forgotten. The performance of Muntu as army commander for 10 years dotted with Joseph Konys abductions of children in Aboke Girls School and massacre in Atiak are too recent for him to hide from and solely blame Museveni. Accusations that the Movement or Museveni have deviated from the original principles, of the NRM struggle and abandoned teamwork, is empty in many respects. Firstly, when NRM captured power, it transformed its bush organs and policies into a constitutional government for all and not exclusive to bush fighters as Muntu would want us to believe. It appears Muntu and his ilk do not appreciate these developments like LCs, Parliament and formal government structures in managing the country. They would prefer that Museveni continues to consult, the historicals. These are the same claims Besigye made to prepare his presidential bid. There is now a fertile but false talk within FDC that Museveni breached a bush understanding that guerrilla leaders would take turns on the presidential seat, which is at the centre of their grumbling. Fortunately, these NRM principles were not and will never be exclusive to a few like Muntu, Besigye, Ruzindana, or Kategaya. These principles as broadened over time are now available to the masses including Movement opponents. These principles lifted Uganda from an abyss that it was 18 years ago, kept it focused and boosted it to stand to the several challenges. Charges that Museveni failed to build, institutions are hollow because people like Muntu headed some of them. All they left behind was a legacy of half-naked and ghost soldiers on UPDF payroll. The institutions, which Muntu claims have not been built, to the contrary, have enabled different individuals and groups to come on board. It is strange that Muntu who for 17 years adored Museveni should now question the loyalty of those currently serving the President. I challenge Muntu to give evidence why he thinks it is only those thrown out by Museveni like himself, Pulkol and Sam Njuba who are bold and can speak their minds. As is known, none of them resigned their appointments, although they claim to have known Musevenis undemocratic, tendencies! For Pulkol to claim he was fooled, for 18 years, shows his depth rather than strength. The opposition has always alleged intimidation by the army except for Besigye who initially claimed 90 per cent support but later realised to the
[Ugnet] Onapito on Mao,s foot
Museveni did not scheme for Kerry By Onapito-Ekomoloit Nov 10, 2004 Normally even when you disagree with the opinion of Gulu Municipality MP Norbert Mao, he comes across as the kind of devil you give his due. However, in the article US Elections: How Museveni Ended Up with His Foot In His Mouth, the legislator went so much off course that leaving him in a ditch would be unfair to all. In his tortured and warped analysis of President Yoweri Museveni in the run up to US President George Bush's re-election, Mao maliciously painted the President as having schemed for a John Kerry victory. Without any iota of evidence, Mao purported to let the reader know that President Museveni was having such a bad patch with the Bush White House that he badly need a let off through Kerry. Mao cited some imaginary meeting between the President and Bush at which the latter supposedly told him to leave office come 2006. Needless to say, President Museveni has had countless meetings and conversations with his American counterpart. At no occasion has the US President sought to lecture to our President on how to run Uganda. Yes, the Americans are our major development partners but they fully recognise that the country is under a legitimately elected government and President. President Bush, therefore, has spent the valuable time of his encounters with President Museveni discussing issues beneficial two the countries. Largely their conversations, be it during face to face meetings or via phone, have centred on: Fighting terrorism, Great Lakes peace, trade and Uganda's exceptional success against HIV/AIDS. President Bush has taken President Museveni more as a consultant on African issues. Similarly, the Ugandan leader fully recognises the pivotal role of an American President in world matters and has as much as possible tried to be in tandem with him. The relationship between President Museveni and Bush as been symbiotic, not opportunistic as Mao purported. What the Maos of this world should note is that President Museveni enjoys excellent relations with Bush not so much as an individual but as the President of the United States. It is a pattern the President has continued with all US Presidents, stretching back to Ronald Reagan. Mao obviously needs no reminder that President Museveni is perhaps the only sitting African President to host both a Democrat (Bill Clinton) and a Republican (Bush) US President in his country in a space of five years! Clearly, the President was totally not bothered whether Bush retained the White House or Kerry came in -so long it would be the choice of American voters. The President is truly what the Americans call bipartisan. And Mao should know better that US international policy on crucial issues, such as democracy, is trans-regime. So even if indeed the Bush White House had found President Museveni that bad, Kerry would not save him. Mao claimed that President Museveni indicated his desire to ditch Bush by mentioning that he had misled Uganda into the coalition of the willing over Iraq. For the record, the President's reference to his being misled was strictly in connection with the Bush administration claim that Saddam Hussein had WMDs. This is a mistake that has been acknowledged by the Bush administration too. Nonetheless, the President has no regrets in joining the Americans on the wider desire to knock out Saddam, since he was supporting the terrorist activities against Uganda by Sudan. The only problem is that the Americans capitalised on inadequate evidence. Whatever the case, it was good riddance. In any case, Senator Kerry too voted for the war in Iraq. This being the case, the President's criticising of the war was not the best way to opportunistically endear himself to Kerry, and more so the wider American establishment. Surely, if there is anybody who is desperate, it is Mao and not President Museveni. The expectations of Ugandans is that the Bush White House will continue to pressure Museveni to abandon his despotic ambitions, he wrote. Sorry Mao, it will not be the White House to pressure Museveni, but those who put him in State House: The People of Uganda. The Author is the Press Secretary to the President 2004 The Monitor Publications East African | About Us | Feedback | Site Map | License | Monitor Mail ___ Ugandanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
[Ugnet] Onapito on Mao,s foot
Museveni did not scheme for Kerry By Onapito-Ekomoloit Nov 10, 2004 Normally even when you disagree with the opinion of Gulu Municipality MP Norbert Mao, he comes across as the kind of devil you give his due. However, in the article US Elections: How Museveni Ended Up with His Foot In His Mouth, the legislator went so much off course that leaving him in a ditch would be unfair to all. In his tortured and warped analysis of President Yoweri Museveni in the run up to US President George Bush's re-election, Mao maliciously painted the President as having schemed for a John Kerry victory. Without any iota of evidence, Mao purported to let the reader know that President Museveni was having such a bad patch with the Bush White House that he badly need a let off through Kerry. Mao cited some imaginary meeting between the President and Bush at which the latter supposedly told him to leave office come 2006. Needless to say, President Museveni has had countless meetings and conversations with his American counterpart. At no occasion has the US President sought to lecture to our President on how to run Uganda. Yes, the Americans are our major development partners but they fully recognise that the country is under a legitimately elected government and President. President Bush, therefore, has spent the valuable time of his encounters with President Museveni discussing issues beneficial two the countries. Largely their conversations, be it during face to face meetings or via phone, have centred on: Fighting terrorism, Great Lakes peace, trade and Uganda's exceptional success against HIV/AIDS. President Bush has taken President Museveni more as a consultant on African issues. Similarly, the Ugandan leader fully recognises the pivotal role of an American President in world matters and has as much as possible tried to be in tandem with him. The relationship between President Museveni and Bush as been symbiotic, not opportunistic as Mao purported. What the Maos of this world should note is that President Museveni enjoys excellent relations with Bush not so much as an individual but as the President of the United States. It is a pattern the President has continued with all US Presidents, stretching back to Ronald Reagan. Mao obviously needs no reminder that President Museveni is perhaps the only sitting African President to host both a Democrat (Bill Clinton) and a Republican (Bush) US President in his country in a space of five years! Clearly, the President was totally not bothered whether Bush retained the White House or Kerry came in -so long it would be the choice of American voters. The President is truly what the Americans call bipartisan. And Mao should know better that US international policy on crucial issues, such as democracy, is trans-regime. So even if indeed the Bush White House had found President Museveni that bad, Kerry would not save him. Mao claimed that President Museveni indicated his desire to ditch Bush by mentioning that he had misled Uganda into the coalition of the willing over Iraq. For the record, the President's reference to his being misled was strictly in connection with the Bush administration claim that Saddam Hussein had WMDs. This is a mistake that has been acknowledged by the Bush administration too. Nonetheless, the President has no regrets in joining the Americans on the wider desire to knock out Saddam, since he was supporting the terrorist activities against Uganda by Sudan. The only problem is that the Americans capitalised on inadequate evidence. Whatever the case, it was good riddance. In any case, Senator Kerry too voted for the war in Iraq. This being the case, the President's criticising of the war was not the best way to opportunistically endear himself to Kerry, and more so the wider American establishment. Surely, if there is anybody who is desperate, it is Mao and not President Museveni. The expectations of Ugandans is that the Bush White House will continue to pressure Museveni to abandon his despotic ambitions, he wrote. Sorry Mao, it will not be the White House to pressure Museveni, but those who put him in State House: The People of Uganda. The Author is the Press Secretary to the President 2004 The Monitor Publications East African | About Us | Feedback | Site Map | License | Monitor Mail ___ Ugandanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
[Ugnet] F..D.C
Wrangles shake FDC NOT TRUE: Kamya By Sheila Kulubya ALL is not well in the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). Three months after its inception, FDC is reportedly facing a major split within its ranks, which could break up the party. Sources say whenever Col. Dr. Kizza Besigyes name comes up in discussions, tempers flare or the issue is quickly postponed. During a November 3 FDC meeting at Katonga Road, a fight nearly erupted when Prince Vincent Kimera reminded a working committee that Besigye was their head. He reportedly asked the meeting Who is the leader of FDC? when Besigyes role was being discussed. According to reliable sources who spoke to Sunday Vision on condition of anonymity, there is a group resisting plans to have Besigye as president of FDC when it is registered. Sources said Besigyes alleged past links with Peoples Redemption Army (PRA), a rebel group, could be a disadvantage to FDC. The government has repeatedly accused Besigye of supporting and collaborating with both the PRA and LRA. Besigye denies the accusations, but some FDC members want him to lift the cloud of suspicion by denouncing the rebels and also to take steps to clear his name of the allegations. The anti-Besigye group is made up of members of the Parliamentary Advocacy Forum (PAFO), and some from the National Democratic Front (NDF). The group is also reportedly unhappy with Besigyes stay in exile. Besigye should be here with us not trying to control FDC from his comfort abroad, the source said. FDC spokesperson Beti Kamya dismissed the allegations of a split. Every one in FDC is happy, she said. If there are those who are unhappy they were overruled by consensus. And there are consultations going on to elect FDC leaders. It could be Besigye, Ruzindana, Muntu or any other. Kamya said all those who have grievances should table them in FDC meetings. Reform Agenda (RA) is also being accused of turning FDC into a political party yet it is supposed to be a loose alliance for individual parties to cooperate and coordinate their activities. Sources said RA had formed a caucus within FDC, defeating the spirit of the merger. They are boasting that Besigye has the three million people who voted for him in 2001, and that he is the only westerner who is popular in Buganda to justify RAs taking all the positions in FDC, said the source. According to sources, Reform Agenda has hijacked FDC and swallowed up PAFO and NDF. We wanted Wafula Oguttu to be spokesman but they backed Kamya. We now hear Ann Mugisha is heading the American wing. Who elected her? a source complained. The anti-Besigye group is worried that RA is emerging as the most dominant force in FDC with its members heading most of the committees. There has also been talk that most of the PAFO members who joined FDC are disgruntled because they have lost their identity as an advocacy parliamentary lobby aimed at checking the excesses of state power. They are planning to relaunch PAFO. FDC working committee Chairman Reagan Okumu, described such talk as political propaganda that is being circulated by State House to divide FDC and weaken its resolve to gun for power. Okumu, however, admitted that many of the PAFO members in FDC would like to see PAFO as an organisation delinked from FDC as it could easily jeopardise their parliamentary advocacy work and alienate them from their members who belong to other political groupings mostly UPC and DP. Okumu said in the end the top leadership would be decided by the party members by consensus. Published on: Sunday, 7th November, 2004 . ___ Ugandanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
[Ugnet] FROM THE CHAIRMAN
Search: Advanced Search in the Archive Monday November 8, 2004. Discussion Board | Archive | Advertising | About Us | Staff | Contact Us BUKEDDE | ORUMURI | RUPINY | ETOP | SUNDAY VISION | BUKEDDE KU SSANDE You are here: Sunday VisionSpecial ReportDetails To The New Vision WEEKLY FRONT PAGE EDITORIAL HOME NATIONAL SPORT LETTERS SPECIAL REPORT LETTER TO THE NEWSMAKER COMMENTARY PEOPLE POLITICS SUNDAY SIZZLER OPINION COLUMNISTS KABUSHENGA THE WEEK THAT WAS BARENZI SUNDAY MAGAZINE OLD FOX A DAY IN THE LIFE OF BAD IDEA TURNING POINT COOKERY TABLE TALK ADVENTURES OF TEMA STYLE M7 answers Bidandi 6 November 2004 Mr. Bidandi Ssali Member of the Interim Executive Committee National Resistance Movement Kampala RE: YOUR RESIGNATION AS 2nd VICE CHAIRPERSON OF THE INTERIM EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF NRM I have received your letter dated 3 November 2004, through which you tendered your resignation from the office of 2nd vice chairperson of the Interim Executive Committee (IEC) of NRM. I am now writing to respond to your resignation and other matters you raised in your letter. As you know, the NRM is a free organisation in which a member is free to serve or not at his or her own will. Our organisation is governed by the Constitution, which requires (under article 71 (c)) that a political organisation shall conform to democratic principles. This means that you cannot be compelled to continue to serve in any capacity against your wishes. I have considered whether or not I have authority as chairperson to accept your resignation. As you are aware, the IEC is just in the process of laying foundations for operating in multi-organisations/multi-party set up, so our rules have not yet provided for this situation. Nevertheless, as chairperson of the IEC, I am enjoined by section 14 (h) of the NRM constitution to do anything necessary for the good of the organisation and for the proper implementation of the principles and policies of NRM. Therefore, I hereby accept your resignation on behalf of the IEC and shall, at the earliest opportunity, brief the IEC. On behalf of the organisation, I wish to express our appreciation for the services you have rendered to the organisation. Secondly, I must give my opinion on some of the other statements in your letter. You categorically state that you do not agree with the resolution of the IEC that binds the organisation to the decisions of the National Executive Committee and the National Conference of the Movement. That position is not consistent with your declaration that you still remain a member of NRM and the IEC. Article 9 (2) (g) of the NRM constitution imposes a duty on all members; To observe discipline, behave honestly and be loyal to the decisions of the majority of the members of the organ where a member belongs and to the decisions of the higher organs within the structures of the NRM. In addition, paragraph (i) of the same article imposes a duty on all members; to adhere to the principle that the interests of NRM stand above everything else, subordinating his or her personal interests to the interests of the NRM and the nation. In light of the requirements of our organisation's constitution, I must draw your attention to your duties as a member of NRM and the IEC. The resolution of the IEC, which you disassociate with, was reached by a majority in a vote after open debate in which you participated. I, therefore, call upon you to abide by the democratic decisions of the organisation and observe the duties of members as long as you wish to remain a member. Having dealt with your resignation and your relationship with the IEC resolutions, I need to deal with the following other erroneous positions in your letter: Museveni not laying a firm foundation for the Movement ideas and principles in perpetuity; Museveni placing emphasis on the use of money and bragging on how money had consolidated Movement support in Parliament; how this has undermined the integrity of our MPs in society and the independence of Parliament; how the IEC never approved the facilitation of the MPs for explaining the White Paper and how I should not allow the support for ekisanja to divide the Movement any further. (I) Foundation for the Movement ideas and principles: What is amazing, Mr. Bidandi, is how you evolve obviously wrong positions and you insist so much on those ideas. When we were fighting Idi Amin and the Obote II dictatorship, I authored the 10-points programme. That document was, eventually, approved by the combined meeting of the High Command, the Army Council and the National Resistance Council (NRC) at Kanyaara, Ngoma, Luwero, in 1984. When we came from the bush, that document was adopted by the rest of society. It is these principles and ideas that have caused the recovery of Uganda as well as quite a bit of development. Even the
Re: [Ugnet] UGANDA, RWANDA AND CONGO: NEW AGREEMENT TO DISARM REBELS
MATEK writes, As a political observer, I believe ,very funny.Thats like saying Ssebagala is a bank examiner ___ Ugandanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
[Ugnet] FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES
UGANDA OPTIMISTIC FOR PEACE, CITES REBEL FLIGHT By Tom Maliti ASSOCIATED PRESS --- GULU, Uganda Through the dense brush of Uganda's northern savanna, Patrick made a desperate flight for freedom. Kidnapped five years ago at age 13 by rebels calling themselves the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), beaten regularly and forced to maraud through villages in a pack of boy soldiers, Patrick decided he would rather die than take part in another massacre. If I lost weight, I was beaten, and yet they never gave us food. We received beatings over petty things, said Patrick, whose surname is withheld to protect him. The 18-year insurgency, a chess piece in a broader conflict involving Sudan, Uganda and their respective rebellions, is wilting under a government onslaught, and a peace deal is in sight, the Ugandan government insists. It says scores of rebels from adolescent foot soldiers to senior commanders have broken away from the group in recent months. But the Rev. Carlos Rodriguez, a clergyman mediating between government and rebels, is among many skeptics, saying international intervention is needed. It will be very difficult to solve this problem with local resources, he said. The LRA is one of Africa's most mysterious and murderous rebel groups. Its leader, Joseph Kony, claims to be possessed by a spirit sent by God to liberate humanity, but has no stated aim aside from overthrowing Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. The rebels make daily raids into villages in the north, chopping off arms, lips and ears and carting away a human loot of girls to turn into sex slaves and boys to replenish their ranks. The rebellion dates to the late 1980s, when the Ugandan government began supporting the southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Army in its battle with the government in Khartoum, and the latter gave the LRA bases from which to raid Ugandan villages. Since then, aid agencies estimate, more than 30,000 children have been kidnapped, more than 23,000 people killed and 1.6 million a third of northern Uganda's population driven into refugee camps. After Sudan and Uganda normalized relations in 2001, Ugandan troops were allowed to enter southern Sudan and flush out Kony's rebels. But the short-term effect was more misery for northern Uganda: LRA legions poured back into the country, slaughtering families and torching villages. There are reports that senior Sudanese officials continue to buy the LRA's loyalty with money and arms, but the Ugandan army has been making significant inroads against the rebels. Last month, it announced it had captured Kony'sB /Bchief bodyguard and killed a senior commander and an intelligence officer during a raid on a rebel hide-out in southern Sudan. The rebels are being finished. ... We are now dealing with the nucleus. We are shattering the nucleus of terror, army spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza said after the operation. But critics point out that the Ugandan army has made similar triumphant claims in the past after killing or capturing rebel commanders, yet the fighting continues. The government is not capable of ending this war by shooting it out, said Zachary Olum, a northern Uganda lawmaker. New York-based Human Rights Watch says that as Uganda has stepped up its war on the LRA, rebel kidnappings have multiplied fiftyfold from 100 children in all of 2001 to 5,000 between June 2002 and March 2003. But as Kony deputies defect to the government side, the LRA has been dispatching envoys from rebel camps in the bush to talk to Mr. Museveni's representatives. In one positive sign, Ugandan diplomat Joseph Ocwet announced in late August that he had contacted three LRA commanders and discussed the prospect of initiating peace talks. A big obstacle, however, is that there is little to negotiate; the LRA has no agenda beyond dreams of a nebulous theocracy. While talks founder, thousands of boys and girls snatched from their families have lost their childhood in horrendous violence and squalor. Patrick is among the lucky ones. One day in May, he simply decided he had had enough. He escaped near the village of Palac, and met some villagers. They took him to an army unit, which brought him to a reception center in Gulu, the main town in northern Uganda, for debriefing. Days later, social workers managed to reunite him with his family. Now he says he is eager to recover his five lost school years. --- This article was mailed from The Washington Times (http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20041020-095955-1169r.htm) For more great articles, visit us at http://www.washingtontimes.com Copyright (c) 2004 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. Move messages to.. Saved on AOL
ugnet_: THE ROYAL OPPOSITON
Multipartists now thoroughly confused THE WRITER: Waibale THE malignant confusion which charactrises the multipartist camp, mainly constituted of de facto political groups, is glaringly manifested by inconsistencies. One of the most obvious cases is the recent birth of a new Executive for the Democratic party (DP), which interestingly, maintained the name of old-timer, Dr. Paul Semogerere at the helm. It is common knowledge that the political parties, particularly DP and UPC, have, for nearly two decades, laboured the accusation that government-sponsored restrictions on party activities have denied them the opportunity to put new party executives in place and install fresh leadership. Strangely, without anything having changed, the DP has set up a new party Executive, thereby contradicting the theory they have advanced for several years that such a step is impossible without the constitutional prohibitions. DP boss, Paul Ssemogerere has been harping on his readiness to quit leadership of the party if the machinery for his replacement became available. Incidentally, the opportunity arose when the DP gathered the political courage to name a new Executive, but Ssemogerere stuck to his guns and retained his position in the party ranks. perhaps the only redeeming aspect of the whole affair is that the announcement of the new Executive was made at a meeting in which he was reconciled with former DP secretary general, Francis Bwengye who had defected and formed his own faction of the party. Strangely, neither Bwengye nor Robert Kitariko, another former DP secretary general who had defected with him, were included in the new Executive. But DP being what it is, that occasions little surprise. Another occurrence that causes hardly any surprise is the contradiction between statements attributed to Iron Lady Cecilia Ogwal and Dr. James Rwanyarare, the Obote- appointed chairman of the UPC Presidential Policy Commission. Ogwal, a former UPC secretary general, defected and formed her own UPC faction after disobeying Obotes directive that UPC members must neither contest the constituent assembly nor the parliamentary elections. She contested both and won and consolidated her rebel stance. However, Ogwal recently told newsmen that she had been involved in reconciliation talks with Dr. Rwanyarare. She added that Obote had appointed a 15-man committee to facilitate the reconciliation exercise. But all that was denied by Dr. Rwanyarare who fired back that there had not been any reconciliation talks between him and Ogwal. He categorically stated that there was no reconciliation committee set up by Obote as was alleged by Ogwal. Whatever the true position, it is not possible that both Rwanyarare and Ogwal are stating the truth. At least one of them is lying. This of course is not strange as history can testify in the UPC camp. One aspect of the issue is that while Ogwal seems ready to talk and bring the internal friction within UPC to an end, Rwanyarare is arrogantly determined to keep the pot of factionalism boiling. And yet that is the man who constantly claims that UPC has the ability to talk Kony into abandoning his war of terror. By the way, time is ripe for UPC to follow DPs example to take the bull by the horns, put a proper Executive in place, usher in a new leader, and relegate, or rather elevate, Obote to the ember of memory. Another person who has strived very hard to keep his name in the press is Muhamad Kibirige Mayanja, who heads an organisation known as Justice Forum. He claims that the organisation is a political party, although I am not aware on what premises that claim is based. The Justice Forum was not one of the political parties named in the constitution, for it did not exist then. Nor has it been registered under the provisions of the Political Parties and Organisations Act. Nevertheless, Kibirige Mayanja has made one or two statements which deserve comment. Out of the blue, he advanced the proposal that consideration of the report of the Constitutional Review commission should be postponed until 2007, because there is not enough time to tackle the matter effectively. He said that consideration of Article 105 of the Constitution, which concerns presidential terms should be withheld until after the 2006 elections. Obviously, Kibirige Mayanja's proposal is precipitated by a fear that President Museveni might get a third term if Article 105 is amended before the 2006 polls in which he intends to stand as a presidential candidate. He has stood against Museveni and he knows he would lose again if Museveni was a candidate in 2006. That explains why he in the same breath, he urges that the constitution must be immediately amended to effect the transformation from Movement to multiparty politics. That will give parties time to get acquainted to the rules of the game. He conveniently forgets that the transformation is one of the issues embodied in the Constitution Review commissions
ugnet_: LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE
The masses can speak MANIPULATION: Oloka OPINION Ofwono Opondo DR Joe Oloka Onyango of Makerere University Law School and other political critics have invested a lot of energy in the media trying to spread half ideological, political and even legal truths about the current democratisation debate. Their pre-occupation is to portray the Movement leadership as obstructionist or manipulators of constitutional procedures merely to secure crude, corrupt and absolute power retention for President Yoweri Museveni. Every lawyer is now a constitutional expert. But American author Henry David Thoreaus warned in 1849, The lawyers truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency. And in Men of Good Hope, 1951, author Daniel Aaron quoted American religious leader Theodore Parker warning, If powerful men will not write justice with black ink on white paper, ignorant and violent men will write it on the soil in letters of blood and illuminate their rude legislation with burning castles, palaces and towns. At the heart of all these antics, is a class struggle by the elite representing minority interests against the popular aspirations of the peasantry, rural communities, and disadvantaged groups. Previously, despotic elite used force to control society, but as they lose this weapon, they are devising measures to prevent ignorant masses from interfering with public affairs. According to Onyango and his group, it is the masses that have no business to express themselves on constitutional matters in a referendum since there is an elected Parliament, and an independent Judiciary, which took so long to build! These features of modern political and legal doctrine are being used by critics who fear popular democratic outburst. Firstly, it is the opposition which took the third-term debate to the masses, by organising seminars and radio talk-shows across the country. Now that PAFO, UYD, the so-called G7, Reform Agenda and Popular Resistance Against Third Term funded by foreigners have accused the Movement of suspicious motives, it is only fair that the Government goes to the same court of popular public opinion. This, the Movement will do not only to defend itself against false accusations but to explain, educate people and seek a resolution on the matter. In any case, there are millions of wise men and women outside Parliament and the Judiciary, including Onyango, who are more able to speak for themselves than MPs often do. Delegation of responsibility does in no way mean abdication. Critics of the referendum are the good and gentry leaders of pseudo vanguard, multipartyism or intellectuals like Onyango who qualify as expert because they articulate the consensus of the powerful. They manage the business empires, ideological institutions and political structures, or serve them at various levels. These elites believe it is their task to shepherd the bewildered herd and keep the ignorant multitude in a state of implist submission, and bar them from the dreaded prospect of freedom and self-determination. But Onyango ought to be reminded that these ideas have been used before like when Spanish explorers set about what Tzvetan Todorov calls the greatest genocide in human history after they discovered America 500 years ago. The conquerors justified their acts of terror, oppression, subjugation and even mass murder on the grounds that the #natives were incapable of governing themselves any more than madmen or even wild beasts. In fact, they argued, their stupidity is much greater than that of children and madmen in other countries. In much of Africa, blacks were unfit to sit in parliaments, let alone sharing buses and toilets with whites until ten years ago like in South Africa. When English savages took over America, they continued taming wolves in the guise of men as George Washington said, because they were being eliminated for their (Red Indians) own good to create civilisation! When President McKinley sent Indian fighters to christianise and uplift, the Philippines, he accelerated their ascent to heaven, saying he was rescuing the misguided creatures. When Onyango calls a referendum mob justice, one is reminded of the 17th century political thinker Marchantmont Nedham who wrote of radical democrats thus: Ignorant persons, neither of learning nor fortune, being in authority, the self-opinionated multitude, given freedom, would elect the lowest of the people, who would occupy themselves with milking and gelding the purse of the rich, taking the ready road to all licentious mischief and mere anarchy and confusion. In the US, after the revolution, rebellious and independent farmers were taught by force that the ideals in the 1776 pamphlets were not to be taken seriously. The common people were not to represent themselves, but by the gentry, merchants, lawyers and others who hold and serve private power. Presidents Thomas Jefferson (1801-9) and James Madison (1813-17) believed that power should be in
ugnet_: OPEN DOORS
19 May 2004White House Doors Have Been Opened to Africa, Says Ugandan EnvoyAmb. Ssempala credits Bush with new attitude in Africa Society lectureBy Jim Fisher-ThompsonWashington File Staff WriterWashington -- An African ambassador noted for her tireless work promoting greater economic and political ties with the United States has praised President Bush for his unswerving focus on the continent and for reaching out to African leaders and officials.Ugandan Ambassador Edith Ssempala told the Washington File May 18: "I applaud the leadership of President Bush on Africa. He has done tremendous things for our continent. He has literally opened the White House to numerous African heads of state and officials -- I've lost count because there are so many."This is significant because it creates an opportunity for dialogue and for discussion and for better understanding," she added. In addition, "we are happy with his other initiatives for Africa: the emergency HIV/AIDS initiatives, the MCA [Millennium Challenge Account]."Ssempala made her comments at the Ghanaian Embassy as part of the Africa Society's Andrew Young lecture series. General Mamadou Seck, former Senegalese ambassador to the United States, gave the keynote address and Nancy Walker, former director of the African Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), received an achievement award.The Ugandan envoy spoke the day President Bush invited six African leaders to the upcoming summit of G-8 nations in Sea Island, Georgia, June 10. According to a statement by the White House press secretary, "President Bush has invited the leaders of Algeria, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda to meet" and have a "wide-ranging discussion on topics that include, among others, famine/food security, peacekeeping, development, HIV/AIDS and corruption."In the area of peace and security, the release noted, "Senegal, Uganda, Nigeria, and soon South Africa, participate in the United States' peacekeeping training program, ACOTA (African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance)."Asked about ACOTA, which since 1997 has helped train 12,000 African peacekeepers, Ssempala said, "I think it is basically a continuation and strengthening of the [conflict resolution] relationship" with African nations. "Anything that helps us to be stronger so that we can help ourselves is always welcome."On the economic front, the White House noted: "The five sub-Saharan African leaders are among Africa's strongest free trade advocates and their countries benefit from tariff-free export to the U.S. under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The commitment of Senegal and Ghana to governing justly, investing in their people, and promoting economic freedom was recognized by their recent selection as beneficiaries of President Bush's groundbreaking new development assistance program, the Millennium Challenge Account."Ssempala said Ugandans are excited about MCA because of its goal "to create a strong economy based on private sector investment. This is the type of aid that helped Europe climb out of destruction and poverty" caused by World War Two, and "we hope it will do the same thing for us in Africa."Returning to the attention Africa is getting, Ssempala said, "I'm extremely delighted to note the support for Africa that has been increasing under the Bush administration. It is a bipartisan relationship [on the part of Congress] and a bilateral relationship that is growing from strength to strength."(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
ugnet_: LISTEN TO BOTH SIDES
Listen to each other on term limits By Frank Tumwebaze May 19, 2004 If you want to be listened to, you must also listen to others, if at all communication is to be effective. This is the message I am putting across to Pafo, whose major crusade is on the Mr Yoweri Museveni Presidency and nothing more. And because of this ill-fated crusade against Museveni as a person, this group has chosen a repressive approach that is totally intolerant to the views. Their intolerance is so extreme that they screen invitees at some of their workshops, like the recent one in Mbarara. Invitations were given out selectively and whoever was suspected not to share their own point of view was denied entry. It is important that I discuss some of these deliberate distortions this group has been trading in as they criminalise some of us who oppose their views. At the Mbarara workshop, one of the speakers Mr Eriya Kategaya said that those who support a third term for Museveni and the amending of the constitution (in reference to article 105[2]) are blind and greedy. He used the analogy of the Pope and the Bible that if Christians see the Pope altering the Bible, what do they do? He asked, and then answered himself that they resist. To Kategaya, all those who support the lifting of term limits are blind nd greedy. Such insinuations are very dangerous and unfortunate. There are merits of having no term limits and that is why some developed democracies opted not to have them. So if Kategaya and his adherents are driven by convictions that propel them to advocate for the retention of term limits, let them be advanced and at the same time listen to others who differ with them in opinion. We are not blind and neither are we greedy. Some of us still follow the political ideals ushered in by the Movement system. And these ideals demand for cohesiveness within the system and respect for positions agreed upon by the organs of the system. It is also lack of political morality to undermine those who now agree with Museveni and call them all sorts of names. Then this analogy of Pope and the Bible. You cannot compare the two. What manipulation is more than this of comparing a Constitution to the Bible, so as to frighten people? Going by this reasoning, it means that not a single clause in the Constitution should be tampered with forever and ever Amen. But interestingly, to the Kategayas, the constitution is a bible only when it comes to article 105(2) and an ordinary document on others like Article 269. Then there is this argument that why change Article 105(2) which has not been tested. First of all, article 105(2) should not be separated from the entire Constitution. Let us give equal attention to all articles. What if this same question is asked, in regard to Article 269 or 74? And besides, it is true that a lot indeed has changed since 1995 to warrant that amendment. The Constituent Assembly had no good constitutional history of our own to look at, apart from the dark history that characterised the 1966 constitutional crisis, coups etc. So, between then and now Ugandans have seen a stable government. They have seen the strength of the ballot through free and fair periodic elections. They have owned power through the Local Council system. The demand to delete article 105(2) therefore is partly premised on this background, that is, the need for the people to sustain what has so far been achieved. Even if term limits are removed, how sure are those crusading against Museveni that his organisation will present him as the presidential candidate? And even if his organisation fielded him, those opposed to his third term would then struggle to defeat him. It is important that even those singing about a roadmap for the political transition bear in mind such issues. Our constitution gives us a roadmap. But perhaps the map to draw now is this quest for harmony and consensus building. We cannot entrust Parliament with all the responsibility to resolve our political questions when some of them have clearly come out with partisan positions. 2004 The Monitor Publications
ugnet_: OFWONO ON PULKOL
Ofwono: Pulkol is double-faced By Badru D. MulumbaMay 12, 2004 Pulkol still has two Eso vehicles, is guarded and driven by Eso/UPDF soldiers and still earns a government salary, OFWONO OPONDO says. For him to make an outburst against government qualifies him to be called a rabid dog. Badru D. Mulumba spoke to him:- Pulkol says that government is run by people related to the president by family ties or similar selfish interests. Where do you lie? I dont think Pulkol is related to Museveni by marriage because Pulkols wife is from Somalia. Pulkol is a Karimojong. Historically, Pulkol was not anywhere with Museveni until Museveni picked him from the university and made him a minister. But Pulkol is not like any other outsider. If there was cliqueism, he must have been part of the group. The president receives advice from many, many sources. When your advice was not taken, and you suspect that it was Ofwonos advice that was taken, you suspect that there is a clique. Ofwono speaking during a radio talk show at Obbligato in Kampala (File Photo).Why cant you have a situation where no side feels defeated?Which one side? There has not been sides in the Movement. But there has been tendencies. If you take the case when elections had been rigged, there was a big tendency led by honorable Bidandi Ssali that lets not pick up arms. Another led by Kategaya and Museveni that said, let us pick up arms. They separated ways. After 2000 elections a tendency by Bidandi and Kategaya called for opening up political parties. That tendency of Bidandi and Kategaya emerged victorious. Museveni conceded. Museveni has never accused them of cliqueism. After the Kategayas won that round, are you trying to win the next to lift the presidential term limits?Movement politics is not about scoring points, about saying that now that they won, lets us also see if we can win. First, you have placed a lid on presidential term limits, on academic qualifications. Since you are opening up, open up everything. Are you running the country your own way?Well, if we wanted to run the country our own way, we wouldnt have gone to the Constitutional Review Commission. We would have waited with our own ideas, come up to the floor of the House, ambush every one. We could have waited in March of 2005. Even if it were true that I want this country run according to my way, why should I let the country be run against my will if I am able to influence - democratically? We have said many times that these are proposals. And it is not the Movement Secretariat or cabinet that is going to decide. Even this canvassing of support in the population for a referendum is really to try and ensure that every Ugandan feels that he was included in the political process of fundamentally changing our political landscape. But even if we go to a referendum, ultimately, it is the Parliament that must take a vote to change this constitution. No body is proposing to bypass Parliament. Which Ofwono is speaking? The politician or the Movement spokesperson?Ofwono the Movement spokesman is a politician. I can never divorce I will not be in that group of people who say, I am now speaking as an individual, cardinal Wamala type. I always speak as the Movement spokesperson. So, the position I am giving is the official position of the Movement. Will Museveni run again?That is speculation and the president has been very categorical. That as far as he is concerned, he has never told anybody, he has never speculated, and he has said he is not going to be involved in speculation and said so far the constitution has not been amended. I have sat in meetings with the president of three, of five. He has never anywhere, even saying that, you Ofwono go and talk on third term for purposes of gauging whether I am still popular. There are people out there, scared of the unknown. This term limit thing was brought by Nyombi Tembo who said that we cannot discard our Movement. And again we cannot discard any possibility for Museveni coming back. You always seem to have a confident answer to every one government friend or foe. Who are you?But I am part of the Movement. I consult broadly. And I sit in meetings. Are you the eye and ear of the president? That is what I am appointed to be. I am the ear, I am the eye, the mouth of the Movement, which so happens to be headed by the president. You just called Pulkol a rabid dog. What is your most memorable phrase?The most current is rabid dog because it is so strange that Pulkol, the only person who has served twice in that position, to make this outburst the way he did, especially telling lies, for example to say that people are trailing him, they want to bump him, Pulkol has been in ESO, can he name anybody who disagreed with government and he [Pulkol] was detailed to kill? Pulkol has two ESO vehicles officially. The soldiers who guard Pulkol, and the ones who drive him, are ESO UPDF officers. Pulkol has a salary in govt or at least he has
ugnet_: Gwowonya eggere yalikusambya
Calm down, Pulkol IN Luganda we have an apt proverb to deal with the noises emanating from Mr David Pulkol, twice Director General of External Intelligence, difficult though it is to envisage how this came about. The proverb goes, Gwowonya eggere yalikusambya. Whose putrifying foot you cure is the one who kicks you with it afterwards. A few years ago, Mr Pulkol was serving outside Uganda for a branch of the United Nations. However, it became clear the contract would not be renewed. And what do you suppose this selfless, upstanding son of Karamoja did? He sought out the same President Museveni, whom he is now busily kicking in the media, and told him that he was coming back to Uganda because his work was here. Lucky fellow, he fell straight into the director generalship. I bet Museveni smelt like the choicest rose to him at that moment. Where and when did it go so wrong? I remember a day more than a year ago when a meeting was called to discuss the China Keitetsi affair. (Keitetsi was causing a furore at the time, but in part because of our committee which was set up to look into her misdeeds, her evil star waned rapidly.) The meeting included Mr Pulkol as Director General. When it came his turn to speak his delivery was in the manner of a tremendous waterfall. At the end, I discovered I had understood less than ten percent of his over-passionate contribution. Now with his talk of people trying to kill him by asking waiters whether he drinks his tea at the Africana Hotel with milk or no milk (surely it would be most wrong to kill you in either case), I think I can see where the gentleman is headed. And indeed when you read intelligence thrillers, it is often the case that many of the characters soon get paranoid, with delusions in the moonlight that every bush and tree will kill them. What a difference from the carefree guy Pulkol was about seven years ago! Then his cry was, I am Pulkol from Karamoja. You pull and you call! We loved it. May he soon return to those golden days. Sad that through all his recent whining it wont have been before he gave Andrew Tsetse Fly Mwenda the chance to write in Wednesdays Monitor the headline, Tough serving a dictator, with a grinning Pulkol beside it. Pulkol a dictator; whatever next? * * *
ugnet_: R.A MARCHING TO IRRELEVANCE :NEWVISION EDITORIAL
Make Up Your Mind REFORM AGENDA is like a headless chicken running all over the compound. It cant make up its mind. This is not surprising since its head is detached from its body with Kizza Besigye in South Africa and its membership largely in Uganda. Last week Reform Agenda said it was going to register as a party. This week it has announced that it is not going to register. A representative told a press conference that Reform Agenda might be harassed if it registered as a party. Ridiculous! If you cant stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Politics is all about struggle. Power cant be handed to you on a plate. The first mistake was for Besigye to flee to South Africa. If he had stayed in Uganda, he would have remained a far greater political force, even if he were harassed. The second mistake is for Reform Agenda not to register. If Reform Agenda does not register, it will soon be forgotten. It will wither away and die because it will have nothing to offer the voters of Uganda
ugnet_: NO AGENDA IN REFORM
Reform Agenda boss has no agenda at all THE WRITER: Waibale The only lesson man can ever learn from history is that man never learns from history. there is no shortage of examples to illustrate that statement. Col. Dr. Kiiza Besigye is a a good example. It is only because Dr Besigye failed to learn from history that he could ever imagine that he would create some impression by announcing that he would boycott the 2006 elections. A lesson from history would have reminded the medical doctor-cum soldier-cum politician that the boycott theory had been tested by two others Dr. Apolo Milton Obote and Dr. Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere and had been proved futile. In the absence of any lesson from history Besigye could not judge his boycott threat against the numerous boycotts claimed to have been declared by Obotes UPC and Ssemogereres DP in respect of various election exercises. When the Constituent Assembly elections were conducted, Obotes directive was that UPC must boycott the exercise. Many UPC members defied the directive of the Life President and a handful managed to filter through to the Assembly but were not many enough to prevent the Movements grip on the vital issues. UPC repeated its boycott proclamation in the 1996 and 2001 presidential and parliamentary polls, and ended up with exactly the same state of affairs. In the same manner, Semogereres DP could not in the 2001 polls retrieve from Ken Lukyamuzi the parliamentary seat they stupidly let slip into his arms when DP boycotted the 1996 parliamentary elections. So what is Dr. Besigye dreaming about when he tells his Reform Agenda he has no agenda for returning home and has decided to boycott the 2006 polls? The bitter truth is that the elections in 2006 do not depend on the participation of Besigye as an individual or the Reform Agenda as a political party. Ugandans will exercise their right to pick who deserves to lead this country and it will not matter if some people are too timid to venture on the weighing scale. Be that as it may, I am heartened by the decision by the Reform Agenda leadership to register as a political party. I have on several times in this column endeavoured to convince the Reform Agenda spokesperson, Beti Kamya that registration is the only way forward. It seems that the Reform Agenda have now discovered the futility of disguising themselves as a pressure group and realised the fact that in politics one has no option but to take the bull by the horns. Ironically, Besigyes call for a polls boycott and Reform Agendas registration u-turn, do not seem to tally. But I suppose those are anomalies that will have to be ironed out in the course of time. But it is pertinent to point out that the Reform Agenda gave the wrong reason for leaving the other G7 members DP, UPC and CP in the cold. They advanced the view that those three parties could continue operating as political parties without having to register because they are recognised by the Constitution. That is a misconception. The constitution categorically states that those parties existence is recognised up to the enactment of the law that prescribes the manner in which political parties are to be set up which includes registration. That law is now in place, and every political party has to be registered under that law in order to be legally recognised. Ends
ugnet_: MILTON,S MEN ON ARMY PROMOTIONS
Museveni has earned General ACTING BOSS: Mayega OFWONO OPONDO Opinion - New Vision -Friday, 23rd April 2004ACCORDING to the new guardian angels of the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) Dr James Rwanyarare and his sidekick Henry Mayega, Gen (rtd) Yoweri Museveni does not deserve that rank in the UPDF. President Museveni, the founder of the NRA (now the UPDF), was early this year promoted to general, but subsequently retired from the army. As a civilian, Museveni is anticipated to be a major player in the new political phase of multipartyism. To Rwanyarare and Mayega, Museveni has never attended any military academy, which means that he has been simply masquerading as a soldier. Mayega added, My feeling is that he has been promoted to continue his control over the army and continue his dictatorship over the country. So the question is: If they fear Museveni both in service and retirement, where do these critics expect him to be beyond State House? Rwanyarar e and Mayega ought to be ashamed of their logic because it is Museveni and his NRA, without the alleged military academy credentials, who openly and courageously fought for five years to dismantle the UPC fascist regime of decorated generals from high profile military academies around the globe! That army, the UNLA of decorated generals, was to say the least based on and controlled through ethnicity to spread dictatorship. The fascist ideology turned the UNLA into serial criminals of armed robbery, looting, rape, murder and extra-judicial killings with impunity in broad daylight countrywide. The army was turned into a private looting enterprise. Yet the enlightened UPC leadership where Rwanyarare was the minister for culture and community development refused to stop the crime or bring perpetrators to justice! Just for taming the army, Museveni deserves recognition, if not applause! Mayega, a supposed teacher of history, and civil servant at Makerere University ought to know that academies are not the only places of higher and useful learning or which build human beings to their full potentials. Indeed, the world is full of examples of self-educated people such as Jesus Christ, Prophet Muhammad, Socrates, Aristotle and William Shakespeare. In military tradition, kings who captured and ruled swathes of wealthy lands never attended any known military academies. In the contemporary military establishments, Gen George Washington, Chairman Mao Ze Dong, Kim Ill Sung and Commandente Fidel Castro became generals by learning on the job, mobilising mainly rural peasants and artisans to bring liberty to their people. In fact, Museveni has never claimed to have trained at any formal, let alone professional military college. Like many of the above, Museveni is a self-educated, trained and efficient, if not competent, soldier in his own right who ousted fascists, not through palace coups but revolutiona ry armed struggles. Then, as usual, failed presidential hopeful Aggrey Awori, the jack of all trades but master of none, jumped into the fray. Awori told The New Vision that he was not aware of any recent UPDF victories (field) that make him (Museveni) deserve that rank. To a falsely celebrated Awori, for promotion to take place, there must be field victories, which in UPDFs case he has not been able to see although it defeated his banditry Force Obote Back Again (FOBA). It should be re-called, that Awori has on many occasions publicly and proudly said he used his forces to indiscriminately kill RC officials in Busia district between 1986-90, simply because they belonged to a system he opposed at the time! But at any rate, even without recent UPDF victories, Awori ought to know that there are many stable and peaceful countries where soldiers are promoted without firing a single shot in combat. In countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, US, UK, Canada, Australia, France and Germany and others, military service is a professional career. Secondly, promotion even in Ugandas case can be based on other achievements either in research or intellectual work leading to a new technology or military doctrine or strategy. While Musevenis military strategy of a protracted peoples war is not entirely new in the world, its successful application within a relative short time (five years) could be a useful indicator to his military ability. Unlike China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam, Museveni successfully applied that strategy here in a small, landlocked and poor country with no rear base, yet bordered by large and hostile neighbours. Critics of Musevenis military credentials or achievements could alternatively be invited to study his Three Essays on Fighting Counter-Insurgency which led to the defeat of numerous armed groups since 1986, ushering in the current stability. Also critics need to know that the hitherto threats from Congo, Sudan, Rwanda, and Kenya in the early days of the NRM and supported by powerful nations, were not provoked by Uganda. The defeat
ugnet_: We are sure of final victory soon
We are sure of final victory soonBy Y.K. Museveni April 16, 2004 Greetings to the people of Uganda. I am addressing you, again, about the residual terrorism in the north central part of our country (Acholi-northern Lango areas).I call it residual terrorism because, as you know, at one time, Sudan had sponsored terrorism in the northwest of Uganda (West Nile), northeast (Teso) and west (Kasese-Kabarole-Bundibugyo areas operating out of DR Congo). Earlier on, we had had terrorist activities in the east (Tororo-Busia) emanating from Kenya. The army (the UPDF) and the people of Uganda have defeated all these terrorist campaigns. The only one that is still continuing is the one of Kony the so-called Lords Resistance Army (LRA) that has been supported by the same Sudan until about six months ago. Recently, there were indications, again, that certain Sudanese elements had contacts with Kony again. In spite of the obstructions from the donors in relation to our defence budget (they insisted that it should not exceed 1.9% of GDP), the army has fought a valiant struggle leading to the defeat of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) on the Congo border, Juma Oris West Nile Bank Front in the part of Sudan opposite West Nile, Force Obote Back Again (FOBA) operating from Kenya, etc. All these groups, as you know, originated from the dictatorship of Amin and Obote.Their criminal and, potentially, genocidal frames of mind and methods are nothing new. This is exactly what they were doing in the Luwero Triangle (1981-86) where there are 70,000 skulls preserved in 30 mass graves; or what was happening during Amins time when 500,000 were killed extra-judicially (between 1971-79). What they are trying to do in the Acholi-Lango area now, is what they were doing in the whole country at one time. As you know, in April 2002, our army entered Sudan and uprooted Kony from the Kit Valley and the Imatong Hills which he had turned into permanent bases from which he sprang to kill people in Uganda and, then, go back to his safe location (southern Sudan). After dislodging Kony and forcing him to release a lot of abductees, he entered Uganda, thinking that that will stop us from maintaining our forces in the Sudan so that he goes back in safety.They tried to spread the terrorism to Teso, Lango, Kaberamaido and Adjumani districts. All these efforts were defeated. That is why the remnants of Kony have now retreated to the Acholi area. In the last 10 months, in the Teso, Lango and Acholi areas, we have killed 1,150 terrorists including 72 of their commanders; 500 have reported (surrendered to government forces); and 6,000 abductees have been rescued. We have captured the following weapons: 700 SMGs; two-SPG-9s (anti-tank guns); two B-10s (82 mm recoilless guns) etc. Among the terrorist leaders killed are the following: Yadin Nyeko; Tabuley; Ochitti; Opiro; Okello-trigger; Akuri; Ojoku; Paul Okodi; Achaye; etc, etc. It is important to kill these leaders because they are the authors of the killings in the north. The only way to save themselves is to stop terrorism and come home. It is these serious losses that have rendered Teso unappetising for them; hence the peace now reigning in Teso and Kaberamaido. The 400,000 people, formally in Internally Displaced Peoples Camps (IDPCs), are now going home. Thanks to the resolute vigour of the army (UPDF) and wananchi. The Teso political leadership was particularly helpful. The remnants that have fled back to the Acholi area are very much weakened. The group that had come from Sudan with Vincent Otti to attack big targets has been decimated promptly. Between 18th-21st of March, the army killed 98 terrorists, 80 of them surrendered. These blows, delivered promptly by UPDF both inside Sudan and just inside Uganda, meant that the group of 300 fighters and families that had come to disturb Uganda was promptly dealt with. This demonstrated the mobility and the lethality the army is beginning to have. Using the improved funding for the army, we are, at last, creating a comprehensive spectrum of capabilities in dealing with these killers.We are, therefore, sure of final victory and soon. In fact, I regard the present operations as mopping-up ones. Nevertheless, since some years ago, we have been open to a quicker option for solving this problem through the peaceful resolution of the conflict. I wish to, therefore, reiterate my earlier call (in 2002) for the terrorists to end their evil campaign and go for a dialogue with us so that this problem is resolved. In spite of working with different mediators (President Carter, St. Egidio, Archbishop Odamas group, Bishop Ononos group, Chief Ojwak and, recently, a certain western government), the terrorists have never shown any inclination to use this peaceful option, which would exonerate them from the numerous crimes against humanity they have committed. This was, partly, because they thought they could commit these crimes with impunity.
Re: ugnet_: Yowere Tibuhaburwa(?) M7?
In a message dated 4/5/2004 4:17:25 PM SA Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: In one of his many postings Gureme discloses M7's other name "Tibuhaburwa", is this the name of his real Rwandes father or want? Please Kabonero help us here! Gook, Suffice to say that I will not dignify this gutterposting with an explanation. The only reason am answering you is because you did not originate the sewage.
Re: ugnet_: Uganda using torture to deter opposition -report
Uganda set up a shadow sector of security operations to contend with armed rebel groups and crime waves," Jemera Rone, a Human Rights Watch researcher, said in a statement HRW also said that Al Qeda terrorists should be released from Guantanamo,that Balkan rapists should not be extradited to the Hague and the Genocide perpetrators were in overcrowded jails.HRW has never seen a terrorist it does not like and whose rights are always violated.As for victims of terrorism well never mind.
Re: ugnet_: ATTENTION RICHARD KABONERO
In a message dated 3/29/2004 11:17:24 AM SA Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Is the man lying? What some of these terrorists and their HRW sympathizers don't tell you is some of their plans that were stopped. How about trying to blow up fuel tanks on Kampala Road during Christmas season, what about efforts to blow up Owen falls and plunge the country into darknesslet alonefrom flooding Jinja.What of the plans to assassinate govt. officials and blow up a sports stadium. How about those that seek amnesty and go back to their old ways right from the court steps?.please spare us misplaced sympathises.There is a difference between political opposition and terrorism and we know those who genuinely oppose govt. policies and those who would kill thousands without losing sleep over it.
ugnet_: THE LATE HON WAPAKHABULO:OBITUARY
OBITUARY: Wapa Fought The Good Fight MISSED BY ALL: James Francis Wamboko Wapakhabulo, a great statesman, succumbed to a stroke on Saturday at his home in Bugolobi By Felix Osike and Denis Ocwich HE was a humourous man, cool-headed and very sociable. He was calm and balanced, never the bully who would impose his wishes and views. James Francis Wamboko Wapakhabulo has been at the helmof critical political decisions in Uganda for over 18 years. Now the once inspirational man, the role model lies in a casket. Wapa, as he was fondly called, breathed his last on Saturday at his home in Bugolobi, Kampala, just four days after his 59th birthday. He suffered a stroke last year, which was to be his final exit from the scene. He has been an exemplary leader, a national and international leader, said Oliver Wonekha, the woman Member of Parliament for Mbale, whose Municipality was represented by Wapa in Parliament. To the Bagisu, he was a mentor. He has been our advisor, not only in politics, but also in business and other things. He has been a calm person, somebody who was not sectarian, because his constituency (Mbale Municipality) had mixed tribes, added Wonekha in her eulogy. Surely Wapa was a political icon, not only for the Bagisu, but also for the rest of the country. Former Minister Bidandi Ssali, one of the people who worked with Wapa for several years in government was equally touched by the death of a man in whom the nation still had a lot of hope. He was a nationalist, a very brilliant and very focussed person. We shared a lot (with him) in our concept of the destiny of this country, said Bidandi. He was a great person and many of us still had a lot of hope in his contribution to this country. Wapa was considered one of the prospective presidential candidates in the event of an exit by President Yoweri Museveni. Otuke MP, Daniel Omara Atubo is one of those who saw in the fallen hero great hope for the Movement. He was a gifted man in administration and public relations, Atubo said. Above all, Atubo added, being a strong supporter of the Movement system never hindered Wapas quality of being balanced, honest and accommodative. His great mastery as Atubo calls it in steering the Constituent Assembly (1994-95) as its chairman, and the Sixth Parliament (1996 2001) as its Speaker, won the admiration of most Ugandans. Like other people, Atubo thinks the controversial issues, like Federo and the question of multipartyism, could have torn the Constitution making process apart, had it not been for the balanced and accommodative ability, based on the set rules and principles, of Wapa. That won him the respect of both the opposition politicians and Movementists. He would listen and judge correctly, he never imposed his viewsthere was no single occasion when he imposed his opinion or view on the house, recalls Atubo. His rise from just a radical student who shared a room with now Ugandas president Yoweri Museveni at Dar-es-Salaam University, to a man who went down in history as the one who presided over the making of the countrys Constitution, has been a source of inspiration to many. Wapakhabulo was born in Bulambuli county, Mbale on March 23, 1945. His father was former colonial chief and the mother was daughter of a paramount chief in South Bugisu. Both parents are now dead. He went to Namirembe Primary School, Budaka, Pallisa district before joining Nabbongo near Moroto for his junior secondary education. Wapa attended Nabumali High School, Mbale for Olevel between 1961 and 1964. From Nabumali, he went to Kings College Budo for A level. Wapakhabulo proceeded to study law at the University College in Dar es Salaam. There he met Museveni, Eriya Kategaya, Agard Didi, John Kawanga and Bugandas Katikkiro, Joseph Ssemwogerere, among others. Dar-es-Salaam then was the centre of convergence for Ugandan exiles planning their way back to Uganda. So Wapa was one of those who worked together to form the University Students Revolution Front. His former course-mate, John Baptist Kawanga, now MP Masaka Municipality remarked: He was open-minded and a very frank leader. What he told you is what he believed in We have missed a very pleasant person. I think we should borrow a leaf from his political tolerance. After his studies at Dar es Salaam campus, he worked with the East African Community in Arusha Tanzania. In 1976, Wapa left for further studies in Australia. From Australia, he moved over to work in Papua New Guinea (PNG) where he drafted laws in the office of the parliamentary counsel. By the time he left PNG he held a job equivalent to an Assistant Solicitor General in Uganda. He met Prof. Gilbert Bukenya in Papua New Guinea and convinced him to come back and join politics in Uganda. Wapa was also a founder member of the Front for National Salvation (FRONASA), one of the groups that joined the Tanzania Army to oust military dictator Idi Amin in 1979. But even before the liberation struggle, Wapa had
Re: ugnet_: Italian priest calls lack of media focus on Ugandan conflict 'a s...
"They will repair cities long ago destroyed;they will revive them,though they have been empty for many generations."- Isaiah 61:4
ugnet_: THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE
USAID Denies Aketch InsultsBy Catherine Ntabadde THE director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Vicki Moore, has said the state minister for security, Betty Akech, did not insult any US diplomat. Moore on Wednesday said Parliament should drop investigations over the alleged misconduct. The minister did not in any way insult the American diplomat. We were not insulted. She even did not throw wine at anybody. I consider Akech a very good friend of mine. She has been very supportive in our programmes in northern Uganda, Moore said. Moore was speaking at the handing over of books titled English for Life to about 40 secondary schools at her residence in Makindye, a Kampala city suburb. The media reported early this week that Akech insulted and walked out on a US diplomat at a party Moore organised to discuss solutions to the war in northern Uganda
Re: ugnet_: We Were Beaten By State House - Ruzindana
In a message dated 3/12/2004 3:09:27 PM SA Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: meanwhile the days of your man Yowesweri Kaguta ( the gun man) is Numbered. Like in Mr Matako, I thought you made a similar statement ten years ago.What happened? or it is the usual congress language of "uncordinated troop movement"
Re: ugnet_: We Were Beaten By State House - Ruzindana
Sorry mispelling the screen name for Milton,s man Mr Richard Topacho His name isMatek not Matako.
Re: ugnet_: How come all has gone quiet?
In a message dated 3/6/2004 2:21:23 PM SA Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Mr Yoga Adhola, a Ugandan living in the US and a Fronasa legend, wrote a tantalising and revealing insight on Fronasa and its men. This account completely offset most of the stuff that Museveni had been feeding us on. Since then, all has gone silent. Why? Could it be that Adhola hit the nail on the head? Its obvious Mr Opali does not know who Adhola is.Fronasa legend he is not.If Mr Opali is interested we could tell him who Mr Adhola is and his record.There is therefore no reason to respond to his utterances.
Re: ugnet_: How come all has gone quiet?
Gook, very funny.who is Derek?sorry about borrowing crates of beer but as you know in those Congress days you had to have a chit from the U.P.C hall chairman to buy beer.About Mr Adhola, yes we who were of age know about him.he may parade himself as Fronasa but his history is far different from that of the Fronasa comrades.Its coming since you asked for it.
ugnet_: Duel to the Death:
Duel to the Death Inside HIV-Infected CellsBy David Brown Most of the time, life with the AIDS virus appears to be a placid affair.Except for the days immediately after infection, people fighting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) don't suffer the roller coaster of fevers or aches typical of many infections. The debilitating symptoms of AIDS occur mostly at the end, years after the virus has taken up residence in billions of cells.AIDS virologists know, however, that appearances deceive. The body's fight against HIV is steady and fierce. Rough estimates are that hundreds of millions of cells called lymphocytes -- the immune system's foot soldiers -- die in the struggle and are replaced each day. The body mounts two broad forms of attack. Antibodies produced by the immune system kill individual virus particles, called virions, before they can infect cells. At the same time, killer lymphocytes hunt down and destroy their unfortunate brethren already infected with HIV in order to prevent the virus from making more virions inside them. Both of those modes of attack take place outside cells in the vast battlefields of bloodstream and lymph nodes. But it turns out they're not the only places where the fight is underway.In the last two years, AIDS researchers have discovered a much different struggle that is waged in the quiet confines of the cell interior. There, it's a cloak-and-dagger game between two individual molecules -- one produced by the virus, the other by the infected cell.This insight is one of biology's more exciting discoveries in years. It has shed new light on the shadowy workings of innate immunity, the body's ancient, although far from primitive, form of defense. It has deepened virologists' profound respect for HIV's wiles. At the same time, it has offered a new, previously unrecognized target where the virus might be attacked by a drug of the future.The AIDS virus contains only nine genes. Molecular biologists have known for many years that one of them enhances the virus's infectiousness. It was named Vif, for virion infectivity factor. But until recently, nobody actually knew what it did.Two years ago, researchers Ann M. Sheehy and Michael Malim at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine began to answer that question. Much of what they learned came from watching what happens when human lymphocytes -- HIV's preferred target -- are infected with a mutant form of the virus that lacks Vif.That work -- and that of laboratories following up on those findings -- has uncovered an unusual sequence of events that were the topic of much discussion last month at the 11th Retrovirus Conference, the annual midwinter AIDS meeting in the United States. It turns out that lymphocytes produce a substance that's been given the unwieldy name APOBEC3G. It's a member of a family of enzymes whose job is to edit RNA or DNA, the strands of genetic material that constitute genes.The various APOBEC enzymes -- there are nearly a dozen -- make specific changes in a gene's message. These are the equivalent of rewriting a word or two in a paragraph. That, in turn, alters the gene's meaning in small but significant ways.This system of gene editing makes the storage of information more economical. Genes whose messages differ by only a word or two don't have to be spelled out separately in the cell's genome. Instead, the cell can store one version -- and the minor variations can be created by editing that template once it's transcribed, or copied. APOBEC3G, however, is an editor grown tired of wearing green eyeshades and thanklessly editing copy. APOBEC3G dreams of being a secret agent. It wants to turn its pencil into a lethal weapon.When an AIDS virus lacking Vif infects a lymphocyte, molecules of APOBEC3G shadow the newly replicating virions. In a process that's not fully understood, the enzyme slips inside the viral envelope just before the envelope is sealed and the virion buds off from the cell. When that virion attaches to another cell and infects it, the material it unloads includes APOBEC3G. Transcribing and copying its genes into the cell's DNA is an essential step in HIV's replication. As the virus goes about this inside the newly infected cell, APOBEC3G goes to work, too. It edits -- and edits and edits and edits. It edits the viral DNA transcript to a point where the message is such an unreadable mess that the cell tears it up. This stops replication and breaks the chain of infection.This, at least, is what happens in APOBEC3G's dreams. But it isn't what happens in reality very often. That's because HIV virions lacking Vif don't exist in the wild -- and for an obvious reason. They cannot make more of themselves when APOBEC3G is around.In reality, nearly all wild-type strains of HIV do have Vif. It is HIV's own secret agent, evolved over time to neutralize APOBEC3G. Although many details of the mechanism are still undiscovered, Vif appears to work this way:As APOBEC3G trails a developing virion inside
ugnet_: Duel to the Death:
Duel to the Death Inside HIV-Infected CellsBy David Brown Most of the time, life with the AIDS virus appears to be a placid affair.Except for the days immediately after infection, people fighting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) don't suffer the roller coaster of fevers or aches typical of many infections. The debilitating symptoms of AIDS occur mostly at the end, years after the virus has taken up residence in billions of cells.AIDS virologists know, however, that appearances deceive. The body's fight against HIV is steady and fierce. Rough estimates are that hundreds of millions of cells called lymphocytes -- the immune system's foot soldiers -- die in the struggle and are replaced each day. The body mounts two broad forms of attack. Antibodies produced by the immune system kill individual virus particles, called virions, before they can infect cells. At the same time, killer lymphocytes hunt down and destroy their unfortunate brethren already infected with HIV in order to prevent the virus from making more virions inside them. Both of those modes of attack take place outside cells in the vast battlefields of bloodstream and lymph nodes. But it turns out they're not the only places where the fight is underway.In the last two years, AIDS researchers have discovered a much different struggle that is waged in the quiet confines of the cell interior. There, it's a cloak-and-dagger game between two individual molecules -- one produced by the virus, the other by the infected cell.This insight is one of biology's more exciting discoveries in years. It has shed new light on the shadowy workings of innate immunity, the body's ancient, although far from primitive, form of defense. It has deepened virologists' profound respect for HIV's wiles. At the same time, it has offered a new, previously unrecognized target where the virus might be attacked by a drug of the future.The AIDS virus contains only nine genes. Molecular biologists have known for many years that one of them enhances the virus's infectiousness. It was named Vif, for virion infectivity factor. But until recently, nobody actually knew what it did.Two years ago, researchers Ann M. Sheehy and Michael Malim at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine began to answer that question. Much of what they learned came from watching what happens when human lymphocytes -- HIV's preferred target -- are infected with a mutant form of the virus that lacks Vif.That work -- and that of laboratories following up on those findings -- has uncovered an unusual sequence of events that were the topic of much discussion last month at the 11th Retrovirus Conference, the annual midwinter AIDS meeting in the United States. It turns out that lymphocytes produce a substance that's been given the unwieldy name APOBEC3G. It's a member of a family of enzymes whose job is to edit RNA or DNA, the strands of genetic material that constitute genes.The various APOBEC enzymes -- there are nearly a dozen -- make specific changes in a gene's message. These are the equivalent of rewriting a word or two in a paragraph. That, in turn, alters the gene's meaning in small but significant ways.This system of gene editing makes the storage of information more economical. Genes whose messages differ by only a word or two don't have to be spelled out separately in the cell's genome. Instead, the cell can store one version -- and the minor variations can be created by editing that template once it's transcribed, or copied. APOBEC3G, however, is an editor grown tired of wearing green eyeshades and thanklessly editing copy. APOBEC3G dreams of being a secret agent. It wants to turn its pencil into a lethal weapon.When an AIDS virus lacking Vif infects a lymphocyte, molecules of APOBEC3G shadow the newly replicating virions. In a process that's not fully understood, the enzyme slips inside the viral envelope just before the envelope is sealed and the virion buds off from the cell. When that virion attaches to another cell and infects it, the material it unloads includes APOBEC3G. Transcribing and copying its genes into the cell's DNA is an essential step in HIV's replication. As the virus goes about this inside the newly infected cell, APOBEC3G goes to work, too. It edits -- and edits and edits and edits. It edits the viral DNA transcript to a point where the message is such an unreadable mess that the cell tears it up. This stops replication and breaks the chain of infection.This, at least, is what happens in APOBEC3G's dreams. But it isn't what happens in reality very often. That's because HIV virions lacking Vif don't exist in the wild -- and for an obvious reason. They cannot make more of themselves when APOBEC3G is around.In reality, nearly all wild-type strains of HIV do have Vif. It is HIV's own secret agent, evolved over time to neutralize APOBEC3G. Although many details of the mechanism are still undiscovered, Vif appears to work this way:As APOBEC3G trails a developing virion inside
ugnet_: martha stewart guilty:How did she vote?
Juror No. 12: Woman. Pharmacist, originally from Uganda. While she has been in the United States, has seen Stewart's "cooking recipes and stuff" on television, but has not paid close attention
Re: ugnet_: The Kabaka should have full powers... My party and I support th...
The same party that drove his dad into exile and ultimately his death.sometimes Congress is so comic.Maybe the Boston strangler supported neck massages.
ugnet_: MULT-PARTY SYSTEM CALLING THE OPPOSITION,S BLUFF
It is his first term, not third, not fifth By James Tumusiime Feb 7, 2004 After months of being fed on anti-third term rhetoric, there is now an explosion of pro-third term sentiments. Almost everyday, a senior public figure comes up with a reason why President Museveni should have at least one extra term in office. THREE: Col. Kayanja Apparently the pretence that the campaign to rid the Constitution of presidential term limits is not intended for Mr Museveni has fizzled out. Third term advocates have apparently realised that they cannot put up a strong case without leaning on Mr Musevenis record and personality. The initial attempt to market ekisanja as a principled stand, not connected to Museveni as an individual, has fallen flat on its face. Because the project has narrowed down to an individual, the level of debate has degenerated from principled positions to populist ones. The arguments have been so trivialised that theres hardly any attempt to articulate a strong case for removing term limits from the Constitution anymore. The case being put forward with so much gusto is, instead, why Museveni deserves another term, which to me is a different but related subject. Minister of Health, Brig. Jim Muhwezi set off this populist tone when he unofficially kicked off the campaign in Rukungiri last year, saying at the time that Museveni needed a bonus because he had performed well. In The Monitor on Wednesday, ISO chief Col. Elly Kayanja was quoted as saying that Museveni should get a third term just like a pupil who needs three terms in order to perform well and pass examinations. Minister of Water, Lands and Environment Col. Kahinda Otafiire was earlier quoted as saying that the President was still too young to retire. He recently added that Museveni still has some juice in him and, therefore, should not be discarded. Outgoing Kayunga Deputy Resident District Commssioner, Margaret Kivumbi reportedly said that Ugandans should support the third term because its only then that they can sleep peacefully and enjoy sex. Kyotera Movement Chairman, Hajji Abbas Mwanje has meanwhile threatened to drag Museveni to court if he does not seek another term. But the mother of all comments has so far come from Minister of Energy, Syda Bbumba who said Museveni should rule until he is as old as Libyas Col. Muammar Gadhaffi (in power since 1969) or Gabons Omar Bongo (1968). She forgot Togos Gnassingbe Eyadema who has been around since 1965! The anti-third group might argue that debate is becoming populist and Museveni-centric because the case for lifting term limits is weak, but I do not think so. I would say the pro-third term groups strength and weakness at the same time lies in pegging their campaign on the person of the President. While it is all right to do that in the countryside where the Movement enjoys most support, it is ill-advised among the urban elite and the international community, a constituency that needs to be convinced by reason, not populism. To be fair to the third term advocates, some points have come through. But the points often advanced are porous and prone to dismantling. They argue, for example, that the people should decide, conveniently forgetting that the people decided in the Constituent Assembly. And there is no evidence to suggest that they have changed their mind - yet. They also argue that other countries do not have term limits. But the countries mentioned are democracies with a history of stability and prosperity and institutions that have endured the test of time. How can anyone compare Uganda to Britain in that respect? They also say that other political leaders in Uganda have no term limits under the Constitution. But which other leader wields as much power as the President? Besides, it is just one office in the whole country. The trivialisation of the pro-third term campaign has done a great disservice to the person it is aimed at supporting the President. Surely, Museveni would not like to be categorised alongside Gadhaffi, Bongo and Eyadema when history is being written? He would want to earn another term because he is still relevant to Ugandas needs, not as a bonus. Or because he is still young at 60! Could some of these people be told to shut up or speak in the right forum which means the same thing keeping quiet? The job of promoting the third term should probably be left to the likes of Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Hope Mwesigye whom I have heard make what I believe is the strongest argument in the case for abolishing term limits. Her argument is that once Uganda goes multi-party, it will be up to individual political parties to select their candidates. And non-members have no right to dictate to the NRM-O who their candidate should be. Just as UPC can choose Dr Milton Obote (if age is on his side) and DP opts for Dr Paul Ssemogerere. It is not a water tight argument but it is, in my view, the smartest of
Re: ugnet_: REMINDER:DISCOVERY CHANNEL SCREENING OF UGANDA 9.00PM
In a message dated 12/1/2003 7:55:34 PM SA Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Abayombo, Thank you for the warning. I'll make sure I dont see it. What 'presidential tour' Last time I checked one was had a choice of what to see on television.
ugnet_: REMINDER:DISCOVERY CHANNEL SCREENING OF UGANDA 9.00PM
This is to remind everyone that the discovery channel will screen "Uganda The Presidential Tour" on Discovery travel channel tomorrow Tuesday DEC 2nd at 9.00pm.EST.The time for the screening in Europe will be announced later.
ugnet_: UGANDA ON DISCOVERY CHANNEL
IN THE TRAVEL CHANNEL SPECIAL, UGANDA: THE PRESIDENTIAL TOUR, JOURNALIST FORREST SAWYER TAKES A ONCE-IN-A LIFETIME TOUR OF THAT COUNTRY'S RICH LEGACY OF HISTORY, NATURAL BEAUTY, RARE ANIMALS AND THRILLING ADVENTURE, LED BY UGANDAN PRESIDENT MUSEVENI HIMSELF When former Ugandan president Idi Amin died in August 2003, the media spoke of the eight-year campaign of torture and murder Amin waged against his own people from 1971-1979. But during his visit to Uganda, journalist Forrest Sawyer found out that was long ago, and now this east African country has risen Phoenix-like to assume its former role as what Winston Churchill called, "the pearl of Africa." In UGANDA: THE PRESIDENTIAL TOUR, airing Tuesday, December 2, 9:00-11:00 ET/PT on the Travel Channel, Forrest Sawyer has a unique personal guide -- President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni himself -- through the revitalized country. Sawyer discovers a now-thriving country rich in cultural heritage, populated by an amazing assortment of wildlife, and blessed with varied environments that include lush rainforests, broad savannas, dense wetlands, snow peaked mountains and languid river valleys. Travel Channel viewers are along every step of the way as Sawyer also rafts dangerous white water along the Nile and finds joyous moments of discovery peering into rare animal habitats. After 70 years of British rule, Uganda gained independence in 1962. However, unscrupulous and brutal leaders, Amin included, murdered thousands of Ugandans, forced others into exile, and decimated both the country's economy and its natural beauty. Rebel leader Museveni ousted Uganda's oppressors and became president in 1986. The tide turned, and Uganda today reflects a new optimism and prosperity. Sawyer's search for the new Uganda begins with an introduction to the warm and humble President Museveni at his official home in Kampala, the country's capital. Kampala has been restored since Amin's time to a modern city of office towers, hotels and shopping malls. But the modern noise of the city soon gives way to the bumps and dust of a jeep ride, as Sawyer and President Museveni set off to look at the country's dazzling natural beauty and legendary wildlife. For years, the future of the animal population of Uganda was in doubt. The country's civil wars and widespread poaching threatened to eliminate many mammal species. Elephants, particularly, were among the most hunted, and there were only 150 left when President Museveni came to power in 1986. Their ivory was highly prized, and their numbers were nearly eliminated. Now, their numbers have reached 1,000, and during a visit to Queen Elizabeth National Park, Sawyer and his party come across a herd of the majestic creatures now safe in their natural habitat. The journey continues with a tough trek through the equatorial rainforest of Kibale Forest National Park where they encounter a noisy population of chattering chimps who seem to have little fear of humans. This forest contains one of the highest concentrations of primates in the world. From there, the duo observe hippos and crocodiles at Murchison Falls National Park, the largest national park in Uganda and one of the richest in the world. This visit also includes an unexpected glimpse of a sleek leopard that is sunning himself on the banks of the Nile. The Nile, which the ancients believed to be the source of all life, begins its four thousand-mile path in Uganda and today holds special adventure for Sawyer - a thrilling and life-threatening, whitewater rafting trip down Gujigali Falls, a class five rapid. Safe and sound on land again, Sawyer and President Museveni continue their adventure with a visit to Fort Portal, site of the ancient Toro Kingdom, where they meet the youngest monarch in the world -- twelve-year-old King Oyo - and serve as special guests in a special ceremony honoring their ancient native tribal rites and customs. Leaving Fort Portal, Sawyer and the president set forth on one of the most anticipated stops on the Presidential Tour -- a safari into the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to see the mountain gorillas, the most elusive of all primates. In preparation for an encounter, Sawyer is taught the rules of gorilla etiquette, including learning how to grunt to show he is part of the gorilla family. The gorillas don't disappoint - and the team's long wait pays off with a one-hour view of the rare creatures. As Sawyer wraps up his special Presidential Tour of Uganda, there is one more place the president wants to show him -- the cattle ranch where he grew up. Sawyer realizes that this ranch is indeed symbolic to the President. Despite the fact that Museveni has created a political and economic miracle in Uganda, he wants to remember his roots and the roots of his people. UGANDA: THE PRESIDENTIAL TOUR is an original production of KAOS Entertainment. The executive producers are John Scheer and Rob Englehardt. For the Travel Channel, the executive producer is Joe Swift.
ugnet_: no monopoly on patriotism
ONAPITO EKOMOLOIT to the point THE WRITER: Onapito Museveni Too Loves Uganda MANY, if not all Ugandans, imagine they mean well for our dear motherland. It is, therefore, amazing that some people want to rig President Yoweri Museveni out of this list. Never mind that he is, arguably, one Ugandan who has (practically) demonstrated the greatest concern for the country, throughout his adult life. The Presidents recent comment that he should not be pushed over leaving office was a fitting appeal to those who purport to mourn more than the bereaved. Many Ugandans are no strangers to the reckless leadership we had in the past. The scars of the terrible consequences are still visible. The Presidents call for more focus on the vision for the country was made in this context. The point is that Uganda has always had and will always have presidents. What should worry us more is what the President does. Given that we have in the past gambled badly on the presidency, we need to be extra careful. The President said it was important that Ugandans were assured of what to expect in the person who comes after him. This is a life-and-death matter presidents of the past personally occasioned killings and we should not gloss over it. President Musevenis concern was that instead of giving Ugandans a crystal clear picture of what to expect under them, his critics were dwelling on his departure. They seem to forget that Museveni still has two plus years on his popular mandate. In politics, a day is too long, so we are reminded. We should let the President do the job he was elected to, rather than turn him into a lame duck. More significantly, the President in questioning attempts to push him was worried about the democratic credentials of people clamouring to succeed him. Their actions are suspicious because they behave as if we have no constitution. As some one who has pioneered struggles against dictatorship in the country, the President was right to indicate that he may have to stand up against unconstitutional designs if need be. The critics of the President are more disturbing in their insinuation that he wants to hold the country to his own whims. This argument falls flat on its face because the entire history of the Presidents rise and stay in power shows that he has relied on the good will of the people. It is obvious that without popular support, the National Resistance Army (NRA) bush struggle would not have succeeded. This is validated by the fact that all copy-cat rebellions since 1986 have failed in capturing state power because they have lacked popular backing. And once in office in 1986, Museveni had the choice of ruling by the barrel of the gun for better or worse. But he knew it would be costly to the country. This meaning well for the country propelled him and his NRA compatriots without being pushed to ditch raw gun-rule and set the country on the democratic path. The long and well-calculated process resulted in the landmark adult suffrage presidential elections of 1996. This was the first time Ugandans got the chance and power to determine the occupant of State House. At this point, the President virtually lost any power to decide his stay in office. It now rests squarely with Ugandans. Come 2001, Ugandans again had the chance to decide whether Museveni or someone else would stay in State House the rest is history. How can a president who chose to subject himself to the risk of losing power he had to work extra hard not be trusted to care for the future of the country? One cannot even say that Museveni is no longer clear on what he wants for the country. His vision, which he re-emphasised during the 41st Independence Anniversary, was very clear: After helping Uganda achieve minimum recovery and diversify its revenue, he now wants to see it transformed into an industrial country. He wants the country to stop relying on cheap unprocessed raw materials coffee, et al and instead process them into high-value exports. This is the only way our people can decisively be lifted out of poverty. The thousands of youth out of school would have jobs in the factories. The farmers would have ready market in the factories since they need raw materials. Government would collect more taxes and hence provide better social care. It would be a sure win-win formula for us all. You couldnt get a clearer vision. Over to you who are pushing the President. Ends Published on: Friday, 17th October, 2003 Email this article to a friend. Search: Advanced
ugnet_: Editorial:Washington Post
Sunday, July 27, 2003; Page B06 THE MIDDLE EAST is a place in and about which people seem to do a great deal of moral agonizing. They debate the morality of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, of the use of suicide bombings to resist it, of America's invasion of Iraq and every facet of the efforts to rebuild that stricken country. How strange, then, that one of the most morally unambiguous public figures of the last century -- he's a criminal pure and simple, a murderer on a horrifying scale -- has been able to spend his final years in comfortable retirement in that very agitated region, protected by one of its most prominent governments. We're not talking here about Saddam Hussein, of course, but about Idi Amin, the former ruler of the East African nation of Uganda, which is still recovering from his depredations. Mr. Amin, who at last report lay on his deathbed in Saudi Arabia, on life support, was ousted in 1979 after an eight-year reign of terror that took perhaps 300,000 lives. After being chased out of his country by the army of neighboring Tanzania (which he had made the mistake of attacking), he was able to settle in Saudi Arabia, which apparently gave him haven because he professes to be a devout Muslim -- and never mind the many devout Muslims who died and suffered under his rule. The gruesome, sometimes bizarre details of the atrocities committed against Ugandans under Idi Amin were widely reported in the world press at the time. And yet during nearly a quarter of a century, there was little or no outcry -- from the Arab "street," from the United States, from Europeans or from anybody else other than some human rights advocates -- about bringing him to justice. Not long ago an Italian journalist named Riccardo Orizio tracked down Idi Amin for a book about former dictators. Mr. Orizio reports that, like most of those he interviewed, Mr. Amin felt little remorse for his actions. Certainly the people he came in contact with gave him little reason to do so. Idi Amin escaped the criminal trial that he deserved and the people of Uganda needed. He was often dismissed in the West as a clown -- an attitude both demeaning and coldly callous to Africans. In a time when such names as Milosevic, Hussein and Pinochet are bruited about as meriting trial, why wasn't the name of Idi Amin heard more often -- and thrown up as an accusation to those who harbored him? © 2003 The Washington Post Company
ugnet_: His mouthpiece say an elected govt should be shot out of power
Its Besigyes decision THE REFORM Agenda is demanding talks with government on whether it is safe for their leader Col Kizza Besigye to return to Uganda. They are planning to launch a mass campaign to return Besigye on 21 July if government does not cooperate. This is absurd because government never arrested Besigye or clamped down on him. His decision to go to South Africa after the 2001 election was purely personal. Therefore his decision to return is purely personal. Besigye did claim that security agents were trailing him before he went into self-imposed exile. However government denied this and certainly no-one stopped him from leaving the country. Even if he was being trailed, or having his phones tapped, did this necessitate exile? He would have been much more effective as an opposition mobiliser if he had remained in Uganda. If government had arrested him, he would have become the central figure in Uganda politics, both at home and abroad. As it is, he marginalised himself by quitting the political mainstream for the apparent safety of Pretoria. Besigye should therefore return home if he wants to remain politically relevant. The only risk factor is whether or not he was involved with the PRA in Congo. He has strenuously denied it although he still argues that resistance against the government is unavoidable. If Besigye was not involved in the PRA, he will have a clean conscience. He will know that government can only arrest him on trumped-up charges if he returns. If he was involved, then he has to decide whether it is provable or unprovable. Either way the decision to return is Besigyes alone. Published on: Thursday, 17th SOURCE: NEWVISION EDITORIAL
ugnet_: ''You're leading the way.''
ENTEBBE, Uganda (July 11) - President Bush and his wife Laura praised Uganda's aggressive prevention and treatment programs to combat HIV on Friday, declaring at an AIDS clinic, ''You're leading the way.'' It is one thing to talk about the scourge of AIDS, and quite another to see it up close in the face of victims, as he and the first lady had done, Bush said. ''I've met generals in the worldwide army of compassion,'' Bush said in a speech after visiting the clinic. Earlier, the president met with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and heaped praise on him at a picture-taking session. ''You have shown the world what is possible in terms of reducing infection rates,'' Bush said. Uganda, an Oregon-sized nation in east-central Africa, is a model for stemming its once-spiraling rate of HIV infection. It stands in sharp contrast to Botswana - another stop on Bush's African journey - which is struggling with the world's highest HIV infection rate. Bush's own five-year, $15 billion AIDS plan is modeled after a program in Uganda, which stresses abstinence, monogamy and condom use. Bush also praised Museveni as ''a strong advocate of free trade'' and a force for peace in Central Africa. He steered clear of Uganda's involvement in the 5-year civil war in neighboring Congo. Uganda sent troops into Congo to back rebels seeking to oust then-President Laurent Kabila when the war there erupted in August 1998. Uganda withdrew its troops in May, but human rights groups accuse Uganda of continuing to fuel the fighting in eastern and northeastern Congo - where thousands have been killed - by arming Congolese factions in the region. Amnesty International urged Bush to press the Ugandan government to end all military support to the groups. In a statement, the human rights group also called on Bush to back calls for a ''truly robust international military force capable of protecting civilians'' in Congo. U.N. troops deployed in Congo can only fire in self-defense and have not attempted to stem the violence. Uganda was one of four African countries that openly supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Museveni seized power in 1986. >From his meeting with Museveni, Bush and his wife went on their tour of an AIDS clinic in Uganda, his fourth stop during a five-nation African tour. After the speech, Bush flew to Nigeria, where he had no public events scheduled Friday. In his speech in the clinic, Bush mentioned his $15-billion program, without mentioning that the Republican-controlled House has not provided all the money he seeks. ''You are not alone in this fight. America has decided to act,'' he said. ''We want to be on your side in a big way.'' Bush spoke outdoors in a small courtyard outside the clinic. His audience of about 60 people was made up of mostly men, many in business suits but others in colorful traditional African clothing. A Ugandan children's choir sang ''America the Beautiful'' and signs proclaimed: ''Living Positively with AIDS'' and ''United Against AIDS.'' The president took his picture with the children, then embraced them in a group hug. The clinic Bush visited saw 4,787 patients in 1997, and 28,776 last year. The AIDS Support Organization clinic, founded in 1987, was the first and largest indigenous HIV-services organization in Africa. Most founders of the TASO clinic network have already died of AIDS. Bush spoke in a small courtyard outside the AIDS clinic, filled with about 50 people, mostly men, dressed in business suits and traditional African garb and shielding themselves from the hot sun with rainbow-colored umbrellas. Uganda has managed to put the brakes on a rising HIV infection rate that had devastated the country in the 1980s and 1990s. But the disease is still taking a heavy toll, with about 1 million Ugandans infected out of a total population of 24 million. A massive public education campaign helped drop the infection rate to about 5 percent. Condom use is widespread, the average age of first sexual contact has been raised and the average number of sexual partners has been reduced. The government's latest awareness campaign promotes the ''A,B,C,D'' of HIV - ''abstain,'' change ''behavior,'' use ''condoms,'' or ''die.'' ''We made it our highest priority to convince our people to return to their traditional values of chastity and faithfulness or, failing that, to use condoms,'' Museveni told drug company executives in Washington last month. ''The alternative was decimation.'' Prevention is affordable but drugs to treat the infected are not. They cost about $26 a month, while Uganda spends about $3.50 on health care per citizen annually. Bush's $15 billion AIDS plan would target prevention and treatment assistance to a total of 14 hard-hit countries - two in the Caribbean and a dozen in Africa. In Washington, a House panel approved only two-thirds of the $3 billion it had authorized for the first year of Bush's battle plan for global AIDS. AP-NY-07-11-03 1024EDT Copyright 2003
ugnet_: ``A this is my country's pledge to the people of Uganda: You are not alone in
Bush Touts His AIDS Initiative in Uganda By DARLENE SUPERVILLE .c The Associated Press ENTEBBE, Uganda (AP) - President Bush looked into the eyes of AIDS patients in this country that has stemmed its once-spiraling infection rate and declared: ``Life by life, village by village, Uganda is showing that AIDS can be defeated across Africa.'' Speaking Friday in the courtyard of an AIDS clinic where he met about two dozen patients, Bush touted his multimillion-dollar global initiative to target prevention and treatment to 14 nations hardest-hit by the pandemic, including 12 in Africa. And he praised Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni for his government's latest awareness campaign, which promotes the ``A,B,C,D'' of HIV - ``abstain,'' change ``behavior,'' use ``condoms,'' or ``die.'' ``The AIDS virus does its worst harm in an atmosphere of secrecy and unreasoning fear,'' Bush said. ``... The president of Uganda speaks the truth. And therefore you're overcoming the stigma of the disease, and you're lifting despair.'' Bush also called Museveni ``a strong advocate of free trade.'' But he made no mention of Museveni's hints that he may try to change the constitution so he can run for a third term, or that political parties are banned from raising money, organizing or campaigning throughout the country. And though Bush praised the Ugandan leader as a force for peace in Central Africa, the president steered clear of any mention of Uganda's involvement in the five-year civil war in neighboring Congo. When that war erupted in August 1998, Uganda sent troops there to back rebels seeking to oust then-President Laurent Kabila. Uganda withdrew its troops in May, but human rights groups accuse it of continuing to fuel the fighting in eastern and northeastern Congo - where thousands have been killed - by arming Congolese factions in the region. Amnesty International urged Bush to press the Ugandan government to end all military support to the groups. In a statement, the human rights group also called on Bush to back calls for a ``truly robust international military force capable of protecting civilians'' in Congo. U.N. troops deployed in Congo can only fire in self-defense and have not attempted to stem the violence. The United States has indicated that it will support U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recommendation to increase the U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo by 2,100 troops and strengthen its mandate. ``We are in discussions with the U.N. about sizing properly the force in the Congo and we've generally been supportive of making some alterations to that, if possible,'' national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told reporters during a briefing on Air Force One. `` ... I think everybody understands that we need very much to seize the initiative.'' Uganda was the fourth stop on Bush's five-nation tour of sub-Saharan Africa, which ends Saturday in Nigeria. Bush was greeted at the airport here by gyrating dancers and drummers in native garb, then past the first big crowds of his trip as thousands of people lined his motorcade route into town. The president has been championing his five-year, $15 billion AIDS plan at every stop of his Africa journey. But back in Washington, the Republican-controlled House was shortchanging the initiative. A House panel this week approved only two-thirds of the $3 billion available for the first year of Bush's plan. ``We'll work with what we get, but the president believes very strongly in full funding of this,'' Rice said, adding that the White House was making calls to urge lawmakers to allocate the total amount authorized. ``It's not as if there aren't good uses for the money, and so he's pushing very hard on Congress.'' The money would be used to buy and deliver medicine, train health workers, build and equip clinics, train child care workers to attend to AIDS orphans, conduct HIV testing and provide home care. AIDS activists in the United States worry that the full $15 billion will never be approved by Congress, and have said even more money was needed to stop the spread of the disease. Bush's plan is modeled after a massive public education campaign in Uganda. Now, condom use here is widespread, the average age of first sexual contact has been raised and the average number of sexual partners has been reduced. The country has managed to put the brakes on a rising HIV infection rate that had devastated the country in the 1980s and 1990s. But though the infection rate dropped to about 5 percent, the disease is still taking a heavy toll, with about 1 million Ugandans infected out of a total population of 24 million. The AIDS Support Organization clinic where Bush spoke saw 28,776 patients last year - 600 percent more than the 4,787 patients in 1997. Founded in 1987, the clinic was the first and largest indigenous HIV-services organization in Africa. Most founders of the TASO clinic network have already died of AIDS. As Bush spoke, signs behind him proclaimed: ``Living
ugnet_: The alliance is mutually beneficial
Uganda Is Dependable Ally for Bush, U.S. By MATTHEW ROSENBERG .c The Associated Press KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - Compared to the other countries President Bush is visiting in Africa, Uganda is a political and economic lightweight with few democratic credentials. Bush, however, has other reasons for making a four-hour stop Friday in the Oregon-sized country in East Africa. When it comes to security and trade, the policies of the two nations may as well be tailored for each other. And with Bush highlighting the fight against HIV on his tour of Africa, Uganda has waged one of the world's most successful battles against the disease. The country is seen by American officials as a dependable ally in a region fraught with uncertainty - terrorism, civil wars and failed states. The November al-Qaeda attack on a Kenyan hotel that killed 15 people, including three Israelis, and a recent string of U.S. and British terrorism warnings for eastern Africa, mainly centered on neighboring Kenya, have kept terrorism at the top of the U.S. agenda in the region. But U.S. officials worry that Kenya's security apparatus is prone to leaks that make capturing suspects difficult, said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Similar concerns surround other regional allies, the official said. Ugandan security, on the other hand, is considered relatively leak-free, making it an attractive country to operate from, said the official, who would not elaborate. Uganda also was one of four African countries that openly supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And America is providing unspecified military assistance to the Ugandans in their fight against Lord's Resistance Army rebels, who have ravaged northern Uganda for 17 years and are on the U.S. terrorism list, the official said. Uganda's role in neighboring Congo's civil war, however, has not pleased the United States. Uganda is accused of plundering Congo's vast resources and stirring up tribal rivalries that have killed thousands. Bush and Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, though, find common ground on free trade. After meeting with Bush in Washington last month, Museveni called for ``passionate trade'' between the United States and Africa as ``the best way to stimulate growth in Africa.'' Bush has touted the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, an initiative that liberalized trading rules with the world's richest market, as the solution. Despite Museveni's relatively liberal economic polices and a 50 percent jump in African imports, excluding oil, to the United States since AGOA was enacted three years ago, Uganda has benefited little. The country has only two factories that make apparel, Africa's main AGOA export, and the high cost of shipping from the landlocked country keeps investment away, said Velupillai Kananathan, the owner of Apparels Tristar in Kampala. Bush will also get a firsthand glimpse of Uganda's efforts to stem the spread of HIV, a rare African success story. In the late 1980s, with the HIV infection rate spiraling out of control, the Ugandan government launched a massive public awareness campaign. The results have been dramatic. The HIV infection rate today hovers just over 5 percent. Condom use is widespread. The age of first sexual contact has gone from 14 to 16. The average number of sexual partners has dropped from more than three to around one. And the government is still pushing awareness. Its latest campaign touts the ``A,B,C, and D'' of HIV - Ugandans need to ``abstain,'' change their ``behavior,'' use ``condoms,'' or they will ``die,'' said Sam Okware, a health ministry official. Prevention is affordable but the drugs needed to treat those already infected are not. They cost about $26 a month. Uganda spends about $3.50 on health care for each citizen a year Of the 1 million Ugandans infected, about 10,000 are currently getting drugs, either by paying themselves or getting the support of international aid groups, like Doctors Without Borders. Joy Tumuheirwe is not one of them. If she met Bush, the 29-year-old said, ``I would tell him if he wanted to really help us, he should bring these drugs.'' Not having them ``is our main problem.'' 07/10/03 15:35 EDT Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
ugnet_: Leadership in the fight
THE GROUP CALLS itself the Post-Test cluba name that came about because many of them discovered through testing that they had contracted the virus. And though they are neither doctors nor scientists searching for a cure, they are nevertheless a vital element in Ugandas response to HIV/AIDS. Uganda, with 1.5 million HIV/AIDS victims8 percent of the populationhas decided to take on the scourge as a national challenge. And with government backing, foreign experts, including the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control, think that a multi-pronged assault on the disease could reduce AIDS incidence here to at least half the current level. The Uganda approach requires AIDS testing of most of the population, counseling on how to change sexual practices, better access to relatively cheap medicine, preventive measures and public education. If we dont switch ourselves on [to tackle AIDS], we are finished, Dr. Francis Omaswa, the director-general of Ugandas government health service, told Powell and his party. But if we do, maybe other things could follow. AIDS, he said has provided us with an opportunity to rise to the challenge and to design new ways of doing things that can transform our lives for the better. The attitude of confronting the disease head-on, an approach chosen by president Yoweri Museveni himself, is itself a critical factor in the anti-AIDS campaign. Its been shown that having an open government, strong leadership, a president who supports providing information to the populace is an awfully good way to start, says Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC office in Kampala. And in Uganda, there are thousands of community-based initiatives to educate the public on ways to reduce the risk of the spread of AIDS. Today in this east African country, as in much of the rest of the continent, HIV is transmitted mostly through heterosexual sex. Originally spread at least in part through Boda-Boda driversthe motorcyclists who travel from border to border and offer rides to young womensufferers now include married couples with a partner who either strays or contracted it in an earlier relationship. AIDS: A 20 Year Toll 1981 - 1984: The Search For A Cause 1985 - 1994: The Epidemic Spreads 1995 - present: An Era of Hope Newsweek On average, and depending on the frequency of sexual relations, infectious disease experts estimate a 9 percent chance per year that an AIDS-afflicted partner will transmit it to the other. According to Mermin, the mere testing of partners lessens the risk of transmission by leading to increased awareness and precautions. Health authorities also try to strike pre-emptively to keep AIDS patients alive longer. To reduce the chances of the infected partner contracting other diseases like tuberculosis, AIDS patients are encouraged to take Isoniazid, which costs $10 per year; to avert bacterial infections, affected patients are urged to take a daily pill of Cotrimoxazole, at a cost of $15 a year. To prevent diarrhea or other water-borne infections, CDC promotes the use of a plastic water vessel with a dilute chlorine solution at a cost of $15 a year. Ugandas second-most common form of transmission is from mother to infant, with some 30,000 to 40,000 infants born annually with HIV. One dose of the anti-retroviral nevirapine for the mother and another for the infant reduces the chances of transmission by 50 percent, according to CDCs Mermin. One of the biggest problems for Uganda is the death of a households male breadwinner, which can lead to the destruction of the livelihood and the break-up of the family. About one in five AIDS victims dies of cryptococcal meningitis, a fungal infection of the brain and spinal cord. While a Pfizer-produced drug called Fluconazole can treat this illness, few Ugandans can afford the $2,000 a yearabout five times the average citizens annual incomeneeded for the medication. Shortage of funds impacts other areas too. Mermin estimates that if $15 per citizen were spent for every year for the next five years, it could change the status of HIV/AIDS from a pandemic to just another disease. That amounts to roughly $150 million. For Ugandan health workers, the big question now is whether the U.S.which just committed $50 million to the countrywill do more to help them get the job done. "
ugnet_: A.B.C
By Emily Wax Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, July 9, 2003; Page A18 ENTEBBE, Uganda -- Scrambling around the room wearing a puffy strawberry- and cream-colored dress, 7-year-old Florence Nampiuja plops into a seat, swings her thin legs beneath her and explains how to protect against unsafe sex. She uses her tiny hands to show how to use a condom. She hums a song about how to stop sugar daddies from persuading her to have sex. Such candid talk may seem astounding, but it's no wonder Florence is learning about safe sex at a tender age. She's sitting in the single-story, concrete building of the AIDS Support Organization, or TASO, holding her aunt's weak hand, cheering up yet another woman in her life who is dying from the disease. Florence knows how AIDS is transmitted because Uganda has waged a successful fight to reduce its infection rate by enlisting the entire population in a frank discussion about sex. Condom use is heavily promoted, putting the Ugandans at odds with the Bush administration, which pushes abstinence and has directed about one-third of new AIDS prevention money for Africa to groups that advocate "abstinence-only before marriage" messages. So when President Bush visits this clinic in the lush hills near the Entebbe airport Friday during his five-day trip to five African nations, he is likely to hear some opinions contrary to his own. "I won't mind telling Mr. Bush when he visits that young children need to know about condoms here," said Michael Bernard Etukoit, the manager of TASO. "It's too idealistic to say abstain when I serve 50,000 people for AIDS alone in my clinic." In Uganda, where nearly 1 million people have died as a result of AIDS since the deadly disease was first identified in the East African nation in 1983, it's almost never too early to start talking about AIDS or sex education. The entire nation, from the president to grandmothers and first-graders, has mobilized over the last 11 years in Africa's most successful fight against the epidemic. While Africa is home to 70 percent of the world's HIV patients, and in some countries at least one in three adults are HIV-positive, Uganda's AIDS and HIV infection rates have plummeted from 30 percent to 5 percent in slightly more than a decade. Uganda's HIV-fighting mantra is referred to as ABC: Abstain, be faithful or use a condom. The government launched a massive campaign on radio, television and in newspapers to encourage people to get tested and to follow the ABC's. It was the first African country to even talk about AIDS, which had been considered a taboo topic. In Kenya, leaders denied AIDS existed and called it "a mysterious disease." Still, the rates of infection in Uganda are uneven, with higher numbers in rural areas, health workers say. Free testing has been slow finding its way to rural areas, and people there cannot afford the $4 to $7 fee. They also don't have as much access to condoms and health care. Women living in poverty suffer the most because they perform sex for money. But in the cities, people of all ages are frank and focused about wearing condoms and getting tested frequently. "I think it's very good that she knows everything," said Florence's aunt, Zeporah Mukamusoni, who came to TASO to receive medicine and counseling. She was doubled over, had a swollen back and, she said, a pounding headache. "This is our life here. We can't fight it if we are hiding. I would die happy if I knew she understood." Florence's mother died last year after suffering from a violent cough and nighttime fevers that Florence treated by placing a warm rag on her head. Florence doesn't know who her father is. Health care workers here are hoping that as Bush witnesses the poverty that often forces woman and young people into sex and sees the heartbreaking damage the epidemic has caused, he will put health concerns ahead of political and religious ideology and talk about options instead of only abstinence. Bush, who has said the world is morally obligated to help save lives, has pledged $15 billion for programs to prevent and treat AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. Edith Mukisa, the feisty project manager at the Naguru Teenage Information and Health Center in Kampala, Uganda's capital, was concerned about the emphasis on abstinence and thought she might not qualify for some of the money. "It's a big problem, this abstinence stuff," she said. "Look, it's okay to use a condom if you are having sex. And by the way, it's okay to talk to your children about it. If you know that child might get AIDS and suffer, who cares if a 10-year-old knows what a condom is? I want to tell Bush, 'I just don't get the problem' " with educating the population on various methods of AIDS prevention. Young people pick up condoms and watch videos on both abstinence and safe sex at her center. A pamphlet at the center is titled, "Hot 'n' Healthy," and shows a sketch of a couple with their hands down each other's
Re: ugnet_: President Bush,s trip to Africa
In a message dated 7/8/2003 3:36:30 AM Pacific Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Kabonero, Another report syas in part: By mentioning AIDS in almost every speech and carrying the campaign into every village, Mr. Museveni has gone far to destigmatize the disease. That has helped reduce the infection rate by two-thirds, a remarkable life- saving achievement. Mr. Museveni's leadership would be far more impressive if he permitted opposition parties and free elections, a point Mr. Bush should insist on. The Fugee -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 07 July 2003 19:19 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: ugnet_: President Bush,s trip to Africa Monday, July Akena, I guess you did not receive the news in Lusaka but political parties are permitted.As for elections we have had three free ones since your old man left.
ugnet_: President Bush,s visit
Tuesday Reflection With Kintu Nyago Bargain with Bush we must July 8, 2003 That two sitting American presidents with varying ideological inclinations, Democratic liberal William Jefferson Clinton and right leaning Republican, George Walker Bush, visited Uganda within less than five years, is something we should pat ourselves on the back for as a country. It is, indeed, our achievement as a people, under the leadership of President Museveni. To get the required perspective, let us remember the early 1980s when then US President Jimmy Carter compared Ugandas situation to a car with all its tyres punctured, stuck in mud, and yet fully engaged in reverse gear! Times have drastically changed since, to the extent that Uganda now symbolises economic recovery and progressive policies aimed at social economic empowerment, poverty reduction and the reduction of HIV/Aids. Without the willingness of Ugandans to adopt these policies and implement them, usually through various forms of sacrifices, they would never have succeeded, and it is for that reason that they deserve to be congratulated. To fully appreciate President Bushs visit to Uganda this week, it is best that we bear in mind that it is based on well thought out political considerations, for all parties concerned. In November 2004, next year, the US will be holding presidential elections. Though some commentators have questioned Mr Bushs cerebral capacity, do not be bluffed; he is an ambitious and consummate politician with a clear strategy to hold on to power. Remember his reaction to Al-Qaedas dreadful September 11 attacks, and how this enabled him to drastically enhance his legitimacy, which the Florida electoral debacle had denied him during the last presidential elections? Bushs Africa visit is aimed at putting him in good light before the American electorate next year. Uganda would offer him the opportunity to identify with progressive social policies, success in Africa! More particularly, successful policies aimed at combating HIV-Aids and poverty eradication. >From a geo-political perspective, Uganda is proving to be a reliable partner in the war against international terror, and reports from Washington indicate that the Pentagon would like Kampala to offer the US Air Force privileged refueling rights. >From the Ugandan perspective, Musevenis administration stands to benefit tremendously from the American presidents visits. And this is something they have worked hard to achieve. Remember our joining the Coalition of the Willing against Saddam Husseins Iraq, and this governments controversial decision to side with Washingtons demand that US troops on foreign mission be exempted from the jurisdiction of the International War Crimes Tribunal? President Bushs four-hour visit will be extremely important in boosting his Ugandan hosts profile in the region, and indeed the world! Few world leaders would ever get the opportunity to meet with a sitting US president for more than 30 minutes! Four hours at Entebbe is like a lifetime! It is also significant that the visit is coming at a time when Bush is still serving his first term. He is no lame duck president. Consequently, he is in a better position to effect any commitments and promises his delegation makes during this visit. What we require from our leaders is hard bargaining to enable us gain concessions in five main areas. First, our access to the Millennium Challenge Account, as this would accord Uganda further privileged US economic assistance and collaboration. Second, we should be allowed to manufacture inexpensive non-generic HIV-Aids drugs. Third, the US administration should remove the subsidies it offers its agricultural sector, as this would enable our agricultural products to be more competitive on its lucrative market. Fourth, there is need for further reduction of Africas clearly unsustainable debt burden. And lastly, the US should enhance Ugandas capacity to counter terrorism in all its manifestations. 2003 The Monitor Publications East African | Daily Nation | About Us | Feedback | Site Map | License | Monitor Mail
ugnet_: President Bush,s trip to Africa
Monday, July 7, 2003; Page A16 PERHAPS WISELY, President Bush's trip to Africa this week begins in Senegal, a country that has made great political and economic progress in recent years, and includes Botswana, the fastest-growing developing country in the world, as well as South Africa and Nigeria, two regional powerhouses. By visiting African success stories -- including Uganda, another country that has made progress -- the president will force the world to focus, at least momentarily, on some of the good news coming from the continent, a laudable goal. But the bad news will be hard to avoid. For the president will also be traveling near Sudan, Liberia and Congo, sites of horrific conflicts. In South Africa, Botswana and Uganda, he will be at the center of the AIDS crisis. Everywhere, he will encounter leaders of countries where infant mortality is high and curable diseases are still rampant. Three sets of issues should therefore concern Mr. Bush: security, economic development and health. In all three, his administration has lately been active, but the strength and endurance of its commitment remain questionable. In recent months, it helped push a bill through Congress authorizing $15 billion to be spent on AIDS and HIV internationally over the next five years. The Millennium Challenge Fund, if it gets off the ground, may encourage some of the better-governed countries in Africa to become more so. The administration also helped negotiate behind the scenes in Congo and called for money to help African nations work jointly on peacekeeping and against terrorism. What matters is whether these commitments will be sustained. Critics note that money for the AIDS bill has yet to be appropriated, and they fear that even if it is, the administration will lose interest. AIDS prevention and treatment programs need to be designed so that money is not wasted. Drug companies need to be involved. All of this takes political time and effort. Those who monitor economic aid do not feel much more secure about the future, given that much of the good that is done through new initiatives such as the Millennium Challenge Accounts is effectively erased by the administration's farm subsidies. U.S. subsidies to cotton producers alone threaten the livelihoods of million of West African farmers. Indeed, it is difficult for the World Bank and others who advise African states to persuade them to open up their markets if Western countries don't. More could be done in the realm of security, too. The United States should be speaking far more forcefully to governments in Uganda and Rwanda about their involvement in the Congolese war and more clearly about human rights violations on the continent -- in Zimbabwe, in Sudan and elsewhere -- as these are a major source of political instability. Finally, lurking in the background of this trip is the decision that the administration needs to make about Liberia, where the United Nations and other countries have asked the United States to help lead a peacekeeping force. All indications are that the president will send some troops, but not many. The level of American political and military commitment to this mission is not only important in itself; it also sends a powerful signal about the administration's long-term commitment to peace and stability on the continent. This matters, to the United States as well as to Africa. In a world where "failed states" and regions of perpetual conflict are breeding grounds for terrorism, Africa is no longer as far away as it once seemed. Like it or not, its conflicts are now America's problem, too. © 2003 The Washington Post
ugnet_: AND THE APOLOGISTS DEFEND THIS?
LRA Kill 3 In Gulu IDP Camp HAVE MERCY: Bernard Odongo was hacked by rebels in a recent attack on Alito sub-county, Apac district REBELS of the Lords resistance Army (LRA) have again struck Anaka Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Nwoya county, about 35 miles (56km) west of Gulu, killing three people including a UPDF soldier. Dennis Ojwee reports that they also set ablaze over 380 grass-thatched huts. The rebels reportedly looted foodstuffs from the camp and forced the captives to carry the loot to their hideouts in the bushes. Local sources said the rebels, whose number could not easily be determined, struck the camp from its western side, the same direction they used when they attacked the catholic mission late last year. Details of the attack were still scanty by press time due to the poor communication network between Anaka and Gulu town. Anaka hosts over 25,000 internally displaced persons from various villages within Anaka sub-county. Others are from Purongo in Nwoya county. The army spokesman based in northern Uganda, Lt. Paddy Ankunda, yesterday said three people, including a UPDF soldier, were killed. He said the rebels burnt down at least 382 grass-thatched huts, looted foodstuffs and abducted several civilians. The rebels, in a letter dropped during their massacre at Pabbo IDP camp in Gulu, said they were showing their power by killing civilians. Ends Published on: Wednesday, 18th June, 2003 Email this article to a friend. Copyright The New Vision 2000-2002. All rights reserved.
ugnet_: Wat Odwogo?
Priests trace Konys deadly flow of arms By Ogen Kevin Aliro June 17, 2003 President Yoweri Museveni meets Gen. Omar El Bashir of Sudan in Nairobi, in 1999. Can their two countries ever be good neighbours? (PPU photo). The deadly flow of weapons to the LRA rebels continues from the Sudan, says a new report on the war in northern Uganda. The Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI) Secretariat yesterday said in a report that it has evidence pointing at the Sudan Armed Forces. Senior officers of the rebel Lords Resistance Army (LRA) have been receiving a constant supply of arms, ammunition and other items from officers of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) since the last months of 2002. This accounts for the fact that in recent months violence has escalated to unprecedented levels in northern Uganda, with the civilian population bearing the brunt of the rebel offensive. The ARLPI said that the information on the Sudan armys continued support for the LRA has been systematically verified. The ARLPI, which is seeking for a peaceful end to the conflict in northern Uganda, last week interviewed six different LRA returnees in Gulu and Kitgum. The returnees had all stayed with the LRA for between seven to ten years and had held ranks of sergeant to major. Following is a slightly edited version of what the ARLPI found: They were interviewed separately in the Lwo language without an interpreter and in places away from the sight and hearing of others, without any of them knowing that we were asking the same questions to their companions. Most of our informants whose anonymity we are obliged to respect knew members of our team from previous peace contacts made in the bush by the ARLPI. So that made it easier for them to speak without fear and with trust. These are the main points that came out of these interviews: 1) At the beginning of the Operation Iron Fist, launched by the UPDF, the LRA found themselves in a difficult position having to fight against the UPDF, the SPLA (Sudan Peoples Liberation Army) and the SAF. 2) The LRA attacked positions of the SAF and kept them under constant harassment with regular ambushes against their vehicles. 3) During the second half of 2002, after the capture of Torit by the SPLA, some officers of the SAF sent an emissary to [Joseph] Kony in order to restore the old link with the LRA. The SAF stated that the UPDF was supporting the SPLA in Torit so they proposed working together with the LRA in an attempt to reverse the capture of Torit. The LRA representative involved in this discussion has been identified as Boggys father, an Acholi from Atyak who lives in Juba and is the father of a senior officer from the LRA. 4) Members of the SAF have been delivering truckloads of military assistance to the LRA in Nisitu since at least October 2002. In recent months, the LRA appear to be keeping a quasi base near Nisitu (where they come, stay for a few days and go), which they call Wat Odwogo (the relation is back). The LRA officers who deal more with the SAF are Col. Caesar Acellam and Lt. Col. Livingstone Opiro. Joseph Kony has also been present there several times during delivery of military and food aid (durra, lentils and beans). 5) Part of this weaponry and ammunition is being buried in secret locations in south Sudan and northern Uganda. 6) In mid-March 2003 a group of LRA fighters received instructions by radio-call from Col. Acellam to wait for a big delivery of supplies in a place located on the banks of the River Pager near the Goma Mount (Kitgum district). Soon after, a group commanded by Brig. Vincent Otti and Brig. Raska Lukwiya came from Sudan. Col. Acellam remained behind in Sudan to continue co-ordination with the SAF. These are the items they distributed: - B10 bombs, RPG shells, SPG shells, MGL shells, about 30 each. - 20 boxes of bullets for each LRA commander, containing 720 bullets each. - New uniforms. - Groundnut paste in tins with Arabic inscriptions. 7) According to all our six informants, had the LRA remained short of military supplies since last year, by now they would have been forced to come to a negotiated settlement with the Uganda Government that would have made it possible to have peace in northern Uganda. The report by the religious leaders concludes that the continuous flow of weapons and ammunition to the LRA is killing the Acholi people in endless ambushes, attacks on displaced peoples camps and more recently destructive attacks on religious missions. The LRA appears to feel strong again as it continues its campaign of terror, abducting many innocent children who are being forced to fight and die in their ranks, says the report released yesterday by the ARLPI Secretariat in Gulu. We really have to work at the international level, putting pressure on Sudan to stop this deadly flow of weapons, a member of the ARLPI told The Monitor yesterday. The report by the ARLPI would seem to confirm President Yoweri Musevenis latest
ugnet_: AIDS BILL SIGNING TODAY
WASHINGTON (May 27) - Signing a $15 billion authorization to fight AIDS abroad gives President Bush more leverage to press other wealthy nations to work harder against the killer disease as he prepares for a European summit. In a ceremony Tuesday at the State Department, Bush was to sign a five-year plan designed to help prevent and treat AIDS, especially in more than a dozen African and Caribbean nations. If fully implemented, the legislation is supposed to prevent 7 million new infections, care for 10 million HIV-infected people and AIDS orphans and provide anti-retroviral therapy for 2 million. The president had urged Congress to get the bill to his desk before he traveled to the June 1-3 ''Group of Eight'' summit in Evian, France, where he is expected to use it to solicit other countries to contribute more to the cause. The G-8 comprises the leaders of the world's seven richest countries - the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada - plus Russia. ''Other wealthy nations - specifically G-8 member nations - must follow suit with similar funding increases,'' said Jose Zuniga, president of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care. The new AIDS package, which Congress completed last week, recommends that 55 percent of direct aid go to treatment programs, 20 percent to prevention, 15 percent to palliative care and 10 percent to children orphaned by the disease. It also would allow, but not require, the administration to contribute up to $1 billion in 2004 to the international Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. ''This is a whole new day in the fight against this epidemic,'' said Mark Isaac, vice president of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. The foundation fights HIV and AIDS and other serious and life-threatening diseases affecting children. To appease conservatives, the measure says one-third of the money going toward prevention be set aside for projects that promote abstinence - an issue that was prominent in the final congressional debate. The bill says religious groups will not lose funding because they oppose certain preventive methods, such as condom distribution. Supporters of the legislation said Uganda has been successful in lowering infection rates with its ''ABC'' program of ''Abstinence, Be Faithful and Condom use when appropriate.'' Others say it is a mistake to focus on any one strategy when local customs vary widely. ''We were speaking to the first lady of Uganda the day the bill was being considered in the Senate,'' Isaac said. ''And she was quite firm in saying that people in the countries most affected are the most knowledgeable about what kind of prevention works best locally. We need to give them a full range of options.'' While the legislation nearly triples current U.S. contributions to AIDS programs, Congress still must approve actual spending levels in its annual budget appropriations process. The bill calls for spending $3 billion a year, but the administration is seeking only $1.7 billion in fiscal 2004, $2 billion if related programs for malaria and tuberculosis are included. ''The president moved with great speed, but now Congress has to move with the same speed and dispatch,'' Isaac said. AP-NY-05-27-03 0535EDT Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
ugnet_: Neither Museveni nor Nec can free political parties
Neither Museveni Nor NEC Can Free Parties THE WRITER: Paul Waibale Senior Recent newspaper headlines proclaiming that President Museveni has released political parties or urged the Movements National Executive Committee (NEC) to release them are technically misleading. While, in my submission, the inappropriate attribution of facts is, by and large, a consequence of semantic pit-falls, it would be impertinent to let it pass without comment. One obvious misconception created by that linguistic misappropriation is the false conclusion that it was either President Museveni or NEC, or both, that locked up political parties, and have, therefore, both the duty and authority to release them. Interestingly, neither Museveni nor NEC has the key to open for the political parties the door that was locked by Article 269 of the Constitution. A referendum is the key provided by the constitution for unlocking that door. Museveni has, quite correctly, in my view, categorically advised that a referendum is the proper way to proceed. It is pertinent to point out that the recent judgement of the constitutional court, which declared null and void two articles in the recently enacted law on political organisations, has no effect at all on the constitutional provision embodied in article 269 which demarcates the perimeter within which political parties have to operate. Given that situation, all that President Museveni and NEC can do to enhance the process of releasing political parties (if I may borrow that rather crude terminology) is to actively mount a campaign to have article 269 expunged from the constitution. But that has to be in compliance with the prescribed method. Consequently, advancing the argument that there is no need for referendum merely because two articles in the political organisations law have been declared null and void is, to put it mildly, the height of folly. I am intrigued by President Musevenis contribution to the so-called third term debate in which he suggested that the whole concept of limiting a president stay in office to a specific number of terms, be it two or 10, should be abolished. He contends that a presidents stay in office should be determined exclusively by the electorate rather than technicalities in the law. I have a lot of sympathy for President Musevenis proposal. I nurse the conviction that the limitation of the number of presidential terms is an American innovation that militates against the fundamental principles of parliamentary democracy. In fact, it was an after thought that crept into the American constitution after one President wanted to contest for a fourth term after serving three consecutive ones. Interestingly, developing countries, particularly in Africa have blindly adopted that system and cultivated the false view that it symbolises democracy. Britain, which is regarded to be the worlds cradle of democracy does not have any such limitation. So long as somebody has the endorsement of the party he leads and that party has the ability to win elections any number of times, he or she will remain the occupant of 10 Downing Street. By that shroud combination, Margaret Thacher remained the Prime Minister of Britain for a good 12 years. Incidentally, the Frech and the Germans do not have limitations regarding the number of terms somebody can hold the post of President. It is important for Ugandans to realise that traditions imported from outside, whether from Britain or America, have to be swallowed with a pinch of salt. If we have to choose between the Ameican system where Congress has to approve ministerial appointments or the British one where the Prime Ministers choice is final, should depend on careful study of both systems. It should not be dictated by sentimental considerations. Be that as it may, I would, as I have indeed subscribed in the past, support the idea of abolishing the setting of minimum academic qualifications for electoral offices. The present system has precipitated forgeries by prospective candidates who produce false crtificates in a bid to beat the qualification target. Subsequently, several MPs have had their elections nullified following petitions challenging their academic qualifications. Consequently, fresh elections have to be held, and at times the displaced MP is a very capable legislator. Why waste money on holding two elections and lengthy court proceedings just because one may not have acquired the standard of education that entitles him to hold one piece of paper or another? That is not the case in Britain or the United States where school drop-outs have turned out to be great Presidents and capable Prime Ministers. If they had had such supid hinderances, Sir Winston Churchill would never have become Britains, perhaps greatest, Prime Minister. And Reagan would never have had the opportunity to leap from the cinema screen to White House. Ends Published on: Monday, 31st March, 2003 Email this article to a friend.
ugnet_: D.P :THE INTERESTING TIMES AHEAD
DP power struggle resumes in earnest KAMPALA - The Democratic Party has been thrown into confusion now that President Yoweri Museveni favours a return to multipartyism. No longer shall the incumbents say they cant organise a delegates conference in order to relinquish posts they have held for over 20 years. There are people who feel it is their turn to run the DP and are now about to step out into the open. These include MPs Norbert Mao and Winnie Byanyima. As if he knew what was going to happen, showman Nasser Sebaggala named his campaign committee last week and decided to tie the hands of his biggest potential rival. The man Sebaggala fears most for the DP mayoral and presidential candidature is none other than his city successor, Mayor John Ssebaana Kizito. So the shrewd Sebaggala puts Ssebaana at the top of his task force!
ugnet_: E.A.C
the URL (Internet Address) for the Official Website of the East African Community is: www.eachq.org. The following Information is currently available on the EAC Website: 1.Press Releases 2.Speeches and Statements 3.The Treaty 4.Agreements and MOU's 5.Development Strategy 6.EAC Calendar of Meetings 7.Statistical Database 8.EAC Newsletter 9.etc
ugnet_: DUE PROCESS
Rwakakooko Denies Bribe I DONT LOVE MONEY: Rwakakooko addressing reporters in Kampala yesterday By Richard Mutumba and Felix Osike THE sh55m paid to former Uganda Revenue Authority Commissioner General Elly Rwakakooko by a Kampala tycoon, Karim Hirji, was payment for property and not a bribe, their lawyers said yesterday. Karim’s lawyers, Masembe Kanyerezi of Mugerwa and Masembe Co. Advocates, said the money was the last installment on sh210m, the price for Rwakakooko’s house on Plot 30 Lower Naguru East Road. The URA probe commission led by Justice Julia Ssebutinde, learnt on Monday that Rwakakooko took sh55m from Karim under unclear circumstances. “There is no single day when I have taken a bribe and it is too late for me in life. I categorically deny any bribe whatsoever. The money was part payment for the sale of my building,” Rwakokooko said. He described the allegations as a “design” meant to malign him. He said he was a senior citizen who had spent his entire life in public service championing integrity. He said he once declined a new Mercedes Benz bought by the URA for him. He said he also declined to travel first class to which he was entitled. “I started work in 1966 as an international civil servant. I have run a number of institutions. I have never been interested in amassing wealth. I operate one bank account. I have one farm where my grand-parents were buried and a house in Kampala. The most important asset I hold is my family,” he said, throwing his arms up in the air. His lawyers, Kwesigabo, Bamwine and Walubiri Advocates, said in a statement that their client had suffered mental pain, anxiety and inconvenience over the ‘false’ reports. The documents seized by the Special Revenue Protection Services (SPRS) indicated that Rwakakooko was paid by cheque on June 3, 2000. The lawyers said the message conveyed by the newspapers that the money was a bribe is not true. “The property transaction took place four years ago and has nothing to do with the alleged sh2.4b revenue loss of last year,” said Masembe. He said Rwakakooko and Karim signed an agreement on December 21, 1998 in which the former sold land to the latter at sh210m. He said Karim initially paid sh100m by two cheques, 508276 and 508277, for sh80m and sh20m. Two Kampala advocates, John Wyne Ojok and Semakula Musisi, signed as witnesses. Masembe said the two parties agreed that the balance was to be paid in two installments of sh55m on February 15, 1999 and April 15, of the same year. He said the last sh55m installment was paid by cheque 074672T/C 701 on May 1, 1999. Rwakakooko’s lawyer yesterday showed the press the original sale agreement, banking slips for all the payments and the copy of the transfer in favour of Karim. The lawyer said Karim appealed to the President’s Office over the inaccuracy of tax assessment because the SPRS, which made assessment, are answerable to the President. The President’s legal assistant, Fox Odoi, yesterday said his letter to URA was to inform them of the petition. He said the President’s Office never gave preferential treatment to Karim as portrayed by the media but merely conveyed the message to the tax authority. “We have referred this matter to the Commissioner General Uganda Revenue authority and asked her to dispose off all the issues raised in your petition,” said Odoi in the letter to Karim. Odoi said the letter did not suggest that Karim’s tax liability be revised. Rwakakooko also criticised SRPS methods of work, saying they ought to have cross-checked their information. “I am the one who set up SRPS although sometimes I didn’t agree with their methods of work. My vision for SRPS was that it should have finally been transformed into a highly sophisticated and knowledgeable economic analysis unit—- not running around for coverage in newspapers.” Asked if he knew of the tax evasion before selling the house to Karim, Rwakakooko said, “I don’t particularly remember receiving information about Karim.” He said even if he did, he would have passed on the information to URA’s investigations department. “Absolutely for the period 1966 up to 2000, I don’t recollect one temptation where I wished I would have been given money to change direction of my job. I am one of the people who don’t believe in materialism,” he said. Ends Published on: Wednesday, 30th October, 2002 Email this article to a friend. © Copyright The New Vision 2000-2002. All rights reserved.
ugnet_: Freedom from the truth?
It was the legendary Sen. Hiram Johnson who said in 1971. In war truth is the first casuality.Lost in the hoopla and hysteria sorrounding the Monitor incident are some basic facts. Fact: no helicopter was shot down and before the usual suspects jump on this, it is not because Bantariza said so but because the country has only two helicopter gunships and reporters were shown both of them. Fact: reporter Nyakairu did not bother to go the site of the purpoted crash.While my friend Vukoni was talking about his dissapointment with Onapito and his Journalism collegues,it is the basic tenet of any journalist verify information from sources. Fact:The Monitor Group as well put by Anne is a business entity governed by the laws of the country.Its premises are not inviolable in such of evidence of a crime by the police.Futhermore as a business entity compliance with the law is necessary.For example in the US ,title 39 of the United States code of 1970 compels all Newspapers to file a report showing ownership,management and circulation annually. Therefore after all is said there is a big difference between the right to do something and the right thing to do. And yes an apology was in order.CNN apologized for carrying a story about US massacres near Hanoikilling filed by Peter Anan.well CNN was not raided you say.What would happen if the Washington Post published a press release by Bin Laden ? wouldnt the bureau be interested in how they got it? Before you say Al Jezeera does remember Bin laden is not waging war against Qatar.As Journalists pursue the truth and hold government accountable they should not forget that truth is paramount.Maybe the methods used were highhanded but the goal is the same compliance with the law is mandatory even for the members of the Fourth estate.
ugnet_: Onapito,s to the point
The Monitor’s debacle has clouded the air around the state and the media Onapito Ekomoloit To The Point IN the wake of the ongoing trials and tribulations of The Monitor, the newspaper where I cut my journalistic teeth in, it’s conceivable that some journalists now see President Yoweri Museveni an enemy of press freedom. I dare say, nothing could be further from the truth. Of course, the police action against the “Independent Voice” heavily blurs such scribes’ current thinking. They may no doubt dismiss my assertion as nothing more than the rumbling of a salaried lap-dog. I make no apologies, but will maintain to the hilt that Museveni is still the best ally of the Ugandan media, the state action against The Monitor notwithstanding. The uproar from within and without the country over the temporarily shut-down of The Monitor clearly shows that it was something unthinkable. Why? Unlimited media freedom in Uganda was being taken for granted that many of us became oblivious to any laws governing it. True to his inaugural 1986 speech about effecting a “fundamental change” in the country, Museveni unrecognisably changed the media scene in Uganda. From one state broadcaster in 1986, the country is today awash with radio and TV stations. Few of us can name even a half of them. And not only are the FM radios alive and kicking, but they also bite. One cannot help hearing the echoes of the song Who let the dogs out? while listening to FM radio talk shows. The print media industry, on the other hand, has seen newspapers and magazines come, flourish and go, with scant attention from to the state to the goings-on inside them. It’s no overstatement to say that Museveni’s government was the pacesetter in demystifying private broadcasting in the region. At a time when Ugandans have lost count of their FM stations, both Kenya and Tanzania can each only talk of a dozen or so media houses on air. One will even appreciate more what Museveni has done to free the dogs of press freedom, when juxtaposed with the situation in a neighbouring country. A presidential aide in that country confided in me that they could not fathom the level of media freedom in Uganda. He said the kind of media debate in Uganda, particularly on FM radios, was unthinkable in their country, and he thought the Museveni government was breeding a monster. Given the happenings at The Monitor, it would appear like his prophecy has come true. But time will tell that it is just a passing storm; media freedom, thanks to Museveni, is here to stay. To be precise, it is here to stay at least for as long as Museveni is the chief tenant at State House and calling the shots. This is so because there are some attack-dog press haters lurking in the shadows. It is only the President holding them in restraint. In the behind-the-scenes government debates on controversial media issues, such as the ebimeeza (open-air talk shows), positions as extreme as shutting them down have been floated by bonafide media haters. Little known to the unsuspecting media, it is President Museveni who has always saved their day. The President’s preferred response to perceived hostility in talk shows, especially when it is mere politicking, has been to answer fire with fire. He has gone to the extent of making impromptu calls into talk shows to correct lies, as he did one time on CBS FM. Similarly, the President is on the verge of becoming an accomplished columnist, always writing exhaustive replies to distortions that will have appeared in the newspapers. In ‘closed’ meetings with editors and even reporters (as was the case in Gulu recently), the President goes the extra mile explaining the inside/confidential workings of government. He does this in the understanding that the media, a.k.a. Fourth Estate, are stakeholders in the running to the country. Elsewhere, journalists who are sometimes frustrated by delays in securing one-on-one interviews with the President should blame it on the traditional bureaucracy that surrounds him. Evidence? Journalists who have ‘crashed’ on the President, and directly made their case for interviews, will testify that they have never been disappointed. Of course, the President often jokes about journalists as ‘rumour mongers,’ but it is all in good faith. But where the President draws a red line, and has made it known, is the question of national security, especially in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States. September 11, as it is now famously called, changed the world and made it paranoid. It showed that terrorists, the likes of Joseph Kony’s LRA, will sink to any level to get their way. Subsequently, all including the media must be on the watch because terrorists use the innocent. The Monitor is caught in this September 11 web. But it is an isolated incident, and it will pass away. Ends Published on: Friday, 18th October, 2002
