| Opinion |
Why is the state chasing a mouse in burning house?
By Robert Adam Kasozi
BRUSSELS - A few years ago, when Gulu Municipality MP Norbert Mao was invited to speak at a Makerere University gathering, he began with a simple parable. He said that in their culture, there is the story of a man who once had a troublesome mouse in his house. This naughty mouse one day knocked over his tadooba and set his hut on fire. As the man fought desperately to put the fire out, he noticed the little mouse scampering for safety too. In anguish, he caught a stick and furiously chased the mouse around the burning hut. Needless to say he got burnt in the process. Pondering the recent fracas around the closure of The Monitor, I can't help thinking that the government has suddenly become just as irrational. The house is on fire in the north and hardly a day goes by without a murder by the Lord�s Resistance Army (LRA) -- and all the government is doing is chasing The Monitor around!
True, The Monitor might have been a nuisance for a leadeer accustomed to commanding (and getting immediate response) but is The Monitor�s �mis-reporting� the government's priority now? Has The Monitor shot anyone yet? Does it have a cache of arms, military intelligence or hardware? Does Kony have an armoury in The Monitor?
Any self-respecting detective would know that that's impossible and wouldn't waste his time at The Monitor premises. And again, who really was alarmed by The Monitor story as the government says? The soldiers in the north? (Probably they knew there was no chopper shot down). The ordinary man on the street (oh pleeaase)? The army generals seated in Kampala plotting a war in the north? May be. But quite frankly, I just can't see who would have been alarmed by a story the government swiftly denied.
So why the closure? Simple. The war in the north is going badly, and the government is jittery that no amount of posturing is going to end it any time soon. Army Commander Maj. Gen. James Kazini staked his career on the bet that the war would be won by December, and he might as well give us our badges and all
the other paraphernalia back, because you can bet that that war will still be on in December.
The Monitor's closure was the action of a man caught between a rock and a hard place who finds flies buzzing around him, reminding him that he is in serious trouble. Instead of getting out of the mess, he takes a swipe at the fly, wounding it, but remaining in the mess all the same. That's why it�s my humble opinion that the government had no reasonable grounds for the closure. Disinformation? If anybody should be shut down for disinformation, it should be the government. They mastered the art a long time ago. Do you remember the dance around whether we were in the Democratic Republic of Congo or not? Do you remember the salsa around the Jet Mwebaze crash? How about the many killings of Kony rebels?
The government has often lied to its citizens (ostensibly for security reasons), but if it was serious about shutting down disinformers, it should have started with itself. Telling yourself that things are okay when they are not in my opinion is more dangerous than telling a lie. If The Monitor lied, (and I would like to see a politician who hasn't) there were courts of law to deal with it. But what I find most objectionable is this "shoot first and ask questions later" attitude. I have some respect for some of our Police officers but since when has justice been "punish first then ask questions later?" Since when has standard practice been "search premises and confiscate property without a search warrant?" I think the wheel has come full circle. We are back to Mr Jones farm. The only winner in this sad debacle of course is the government. They have tested the waters and realised that even if they clamped down on the country's only independent daily, pigs wont fly. Donors wont pack their bags and leave. There will be no mass civil unrest. There will be a bit of grumbling and muttering from the international community, but the ship will sail on. And that's what I find most dangerous. The government has drawn first bloo
d and is rearing for battle. The wrong battle, I'm afraid.
October 24, 2002 00:04:24
Gook
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