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Late
January marks two momentous events, at the international and local
level that deserve our attention. The international event concerns
the Allied forces overrunning Auschwitz, 60 years ago this week, in
1945. Auschwitz was the largest of half a dozen or so Nazi Germany
concentration camps. These were elaborate industrial complexes
created for the sole purpose of extracting slave labour from Jews
and Gypsies forcibly brought from all over Europe, before gassing
them to death.
All
were based on the Nazi supremacist ideology of hatred which regarded
Jews as sub humans that had to be killed off under their diabolic
"Final Solution" policy. At Auschwitz alone at least one and a half
million Jews, Gypsies, Soviet POWs, members of the Polish
resistance, in addition to the mentally sick and People With
Disabilities, regarded as undesirable by the Nazis were efficiently
gassed to death, usually after starving them, while concurrently
being subjected to extreme conditions of slave labour.
After
World War Two, the victorious Allied Forces formed the United
Nations and resolved through the UN Charter et al, that never again
should man ever subject fellow human beings to such devious cruelty,
as had been the case under Hitler and his Nazi goons.
However, no sooner had the ink dried on the paper of these
noble declarations, when again Cain grabbed Abel's throat! A
situation, unfortunately quite commonplace in our own environment
and broader surroundings of the Great Lakes and South Sudan, arose.
Post colonial states have supervised the mass killings of probably
up to 10 million people in the past thirty years, thirty years after
Auschwitz! The world powersâ hypocrisy illustrated by their
tolerating such wide scale destruction of life, is most probably
explained by the fact that this tragedy has largely been located in
the marginal former colonies and the South in general.
Although in Uganda accurate statistics may be difficult to
come by, the regimes of Amin and Obote II most probably killed, in
cold blood, up to 300,000 Ugandans through state- inspired violence.
Which leads me to the second late January land mark, in this
instance local, relating to the NRM's capturing state power in 1986,
after Ugandans organised themselves against indiscriminate state
violence.
This
occasion has however been contested, within Uganda, from the start.
Largely because the NRM came to power through the agency of a civil
war. That is, a war between brothers and sisters, involving citizens
taking up arms against each other. The war and the reality that led
to it has been definitely interpreted differently, with the victors
referring to their victory as liberation and the losers on the other
hand as a loss!
Schisms
within the NRM have further fuelled the contest around the 26th of
January celebrations. Leading former comrade at arms within the
ruling coalition have broken away and formed the FDC.
However,
many of these still closely identify, and rightly so, with this
anniversary.
For
instance Eriya Kategaya was for long Museveni's effective number
two. Sam Njuba, who by the late 1970s had already served as
President of the Uganda Law Society, was instrumental in publicising
the NRM's cause in Nairobi, where he had been exiled, and actively
recruited many a talented young man for the armed struggle, in the
Luweero Triangle, including Kizza Besigye! Similarly Mugisha Muntu
was the NRA's head of intelligence, when it captured state power, 19
years ago.
Against
this background, therefore, and as we proceed towards full fledged
multiparty politics, there is need for the ruling NRM not to
exclusively appropriate January 26th for itself, but rather allow
the people of Uganda celebrate it, in future, in a non partisan
manner, as for instance is the case with the celebration of the
French and American Revolutions or South Africa's
liberation.
When
celebrating January 26th, attention is usually accorded the
experiences of the NRM political leadership and those of their
military commanders. However, this revolution would never have
occurred without the participation of the ordinary people and
combatants. Around this time last year, I stumbled upon a friend,
Dani Musisi, who had served as a foot soldier in the NRA. Out of
curiosity I inquired where January 26th 1986 had found him. After a
sigh, the simple but charming Musisi told a fascinating tale, to use
an understatement! For he had been engulfed in the thick of battle,
as a Sergeant, in the crack 7th Battalion under the command of the
legendary Affande Matayo Kyaligonza, who, with others, earlier had
been assigned the task of capturing Kampala by the NRA High Command
at Nabbingo. According to Musisi some of the officers under
Kyaligonza's 7th Battallion were Mwene Muzeeyi (RIP) in whose COY he
had served, Sabata (RIP) and Ikondere (RIP).
The
unassuming Musisi had joined the NRA early in 1983. This was after
the Obote state had persecuted his family, notably so his uncle and
benefactor, Edward Mugalu (RIP), the entrepreneur. Mugalu in turn
had fled to exile in Nairobi were he emerged as a committed NRM
supporter and financier. To the extent that he offered two of his
sons Ssembeguya (RIP) and Bogole (RIP) to join the NRA. This was an
example Musisi soon followed.
By the
24th January the 7th Battlion had reached Busega round about and
later that evening the outskirts of Nateete, from where they were
ordered to tactically retreat in preparation for the final assault
on the nearby Lubiri barracks on the 25th, the following day. Lubiri
fell after intense fighting on the morning of the 26th, a task in
part eased by the ingenious bravery of the perpetually controversial
Affande Drago Nyanzi (RIP). Drago, with a machinegun, had climbed
over the Lubiri barracks parameter wall and silenced a group of well
positioned UNLA mortar operators.
But
it's a battle in which Affande Sabata and Bogole, Musisiâs cousin,
amongst many others fell. But their task involved little scope for
either mourning or resting! For the 7th Battalion was immediately
ordered to capture Makindye Barracks and then march on deep towards
Entebbe Road and block an advancing UNLA column.
Never a
career soldier, Musisi voluntarily retired in early 1990s as a
Lieutenant, and joined his family's business. However, most of the
heroes mentioned in the above experience are long dead, some in
battle, including two of Musisi's close cousins. What they struggled
for was a just and tolerant society where all people live and let
live.
As we
celebrate this year's anniversary throughout this week, there is
need for us to bear in mind that it's the responsibility of our
generation to offer to posterity an improved version of the
political inheritance bequeathed to us by our fallen
heroes.
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