B Wambuga <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Return of a Patriarch and Baganda’s history of treachery
By Elias Biryabarema
If we were all to be as ravenously vindictive as the Baganda are in their crusade against the return of the patriarch, Dr Milton Obote from Zambia, then what a nasty nation Uganda would be.
In fact, if people were to be humble and forgiving, then Baganda would know better: for they can’t have forgotten that they colluded in the first theft of Ugandans’ sovereignty; the British having tapped into their legendary gullibility, opportunism and propensity for treachery to launch their vicious aggression against the Ugandan people.
It was they that shook the hands of Captain Lugard and his imperial ilk and proceeded to swiftly turn themselves into proxies and compatriots of the enemy. The Baganda treasonously ganged up with the British to desecrate and destroy Bunyoro, subsequently annexing all other regions through a crafty mix of deception and intimidati on to put them under the queen’s rule. What was the motivation for this crime? Greed, avarice and mindless naivety.
Through the six decades or so of the stifling British colonialism, Ugandans never forgot the “enemy within” that was in fact the real force of white repression, for it was he (Buganda) that had traded off our power in their evil schemes—and childlike excitement—with Europeans.
It is thus logical to ask why the Banyoro, who had their royal heritage ravaged, their land stolen and the rest of our people conquered and humiliated, have never so much as asked the Baganda to apologise, let alone atone for that criminal conduct. For a people with such historical record of criminality therefore, (it’s not entirely unfair for the sons to bear the sins of their forefathers, but Europeans still carry the guilty over their savagery of Jews and are continuing to pay huge amounts for crimes of seven decades ago); how stupefying that they are the first to cast the fir st stone.
That they are cheerleaders of efforts to strip Obote of his truest image as the father of the nation, the loudest in stoking hatred against him, ever more ready to undercut efforts to return this man. How vexing!
We must rise collectively to douse this unworthy anti-Obote fire and let our Mzee return in peace and enjoy his evenings with the reverence, grace and honour he deserves.
The issue of culpability in the Luweero massacres is a muddy and complex one. And I would say it’s useless to let unexorcised ghosts of the past entangle current efforts to steady Uganda on its onward march: a situation that inevitably requires national harmony, goodwill and a culture of respect for retired leaders, more so for an independence figure that Obote is.
Obote’s account of what went on in the jungles of Luweero and the counterpoint by Museveni excerpted from his Mustard Seed book, have just shown us the futility of trying to fix blame for crimes in a hig hly fluid and volatile period that the early 1980s were.
After reading both stories, you end up persuaded by neither: suffice to note here though, that clues have continued to pop up incriminating NRA insurgents, said to have used the cruel guerilla tactic of brutalising civilians while disguised as their enemy forces to discredit and rob it of grassroots support.
What we are certain of is that soldiers murdered civilians: as to whether they were UNLA and under Obote’s explicit directive or NRA on Museveni’s orders will perhaps remain infinitely mysterious.
Museveni himself, who accuses Obote, was reported to have wondered while in northern Uganda recently whether Obote was aware of the killings or savage soldiers simply committed those atrocities on their own. That wondering suggested his awareness of the difficulty of attempting to pin Obote without compelling proof.
The Luweero war has little authentic documentation that offers us evidence abundant and plausible enough to determine the guilty with pinpoint accuracy.
Let us nurture a culture not of retribution, but reconciliation. John Nagenda through his acidic Saturday writings, alongside Luweero boss, Hajji Abdul Nadduli, have been leaders in denigrating Obote, scorning him as an unrepentant and unremorseful master minder of massacres.
What is good for the gander is also good for the goose: If we demand that Obote apologises, then I would rather Nagenda and Nadduli show the way by first apologising or better still atoning for the criminal treachery of their forbears that inflicted such harm to the peoples of this nation.
The Banyoro have never forgotten.Years of blistering attacks and defacing will not diminish Obote’s noble role in the evolution of Uganda as a modern state and Africa as a continent: notably his patriotic personality, his chivalrous stewardship of the independence struggles, two episodes of presidential incumbency, development of some of the best infrastructure Uganda has ever known and contribution to the planting of the seed that would give birth to today’s AU, OAU.
That’s not to downplay or omit some of the notable mistakes, which he himself has admitted in his series. He did point out that by hindsight it was a mistake to nationalise people’s property, not to recommend the firing of Amin, not be able to defeat Museveni’s insurgency and several other actions.
Let that contrition meet our compassion and move us to place Obote in a more worthy image and celebrate his life.
If Tanzanians are proud to have had a man called Julius Nyerere, Ghanaians, Nkuru ma, South Africans, Mandela, Kenyans, Kenyatta, then we have no choice but to venerate Obote as a member of those iconic ranks: men on whose watch colonialism crumbled and nations were born.
We have a double cause to celebrate because the man is still living. Most other nations have lost theirs.
This is the image that defines quintessential Obote; that’s the face of him that needs much stressing and not the slight indiscretions that are the natural limits of mortal, fallible man.
If Museveni retires or is deposed tomorrow, my plea is that his legacy be defined not by the failures, colossal as they are (to paraphrase US’s ex presidential candidate, John Kerry): the northern insurgency, endemic corruption or persisting poverty, but the more bold and glorious image of a great leader that returned sanity and control to government, disciplined the army and brought peace.
If we want Museveni to be reflected in that light, then we must set a precedence.
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