Editorial
Dec 15, 2003
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It was only a matter of time before somebody had to say something about how Uganda's current political leaders, President Yoweri Museveni included, have deliberately chosen to remember our country's history selectively. For instance, at quite a number of public rallies in the past, these leaders have told only half the story of Uganda's independence struggle. Some people, who played a large role, are rarely mentioned. Notice too that the choice of who should be declared a national hero has strangely been limited to those who gained visibility in the post-1986 era. To many of the young and impressionable members of our population, the sense they are developing is that their country came into being in 1986 - they know little of it before then. This is wrong. Powerful nations have made a habit of reminding their young of the good and bad in their history. Germany and Israel, for example, have built monuments that recount the horrors of 1930s/40s Nazi leadership and the holocaust during which an estimated six million Jews were exterminated. The United States of America is making an effort of cataloguing the tragedy that was the slave trade. In fact, effective February 1976 the Americans now honour every February as `Black History Month' during which time they learn about the achievements and rich history of African-Americans. The historian and educator, Dr Carter G. Woodson, who promoted the study of Black history from the early 1900s is quoted saying "truth comes to us from the past, then, like gold washed down from the mountains". The significance of this statement is patently evident in the dictum that a proper knowledge of one's past will shape your present behaviour with a view to creating a better future for those who will come after us. One point of view is that those who seek to `re-write' history do so for selfish reasons, that they want to take credit for transforming society even when their contribution was but part of a larger whole from several other actors. It is reproachful that this sitting President is under the light for suspected `distortion' of some historical facts. This will inevitably compel people to ask why he wants to perpetuate the myth that he was the struggle against tyranny and the struggle was him way back in the troubled 1970s. As a nation, we need to be careful the way we write our history. The need to recognise each and every hero, both big and small is simply too overwhelming to ignore. |
� 2003 The Monitor Publications
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