[Ugnet] In Uganda, a Helicopter Could Be Something Else

Two tragic events have connived to put Uganda in an uncomfortable spotlight. The first and most recent is the death of veteran rebel-turned-peacemaker, Sudanese First Vice President Lieutenant General Dr John Garang. The leader of the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) died last Saturday when a Ugandan MI-172 helicopter he was travelling in crashed in Southern Sudan, killing him and 13 others; some Ugandan senior army officers and Dr Garang's aides. Dr Garang had just concluded his first official visit to Uganda as VP of the Sudan.

The other event was the July 11 gunning down of a Kampala lawyer, Ms Robinah Kiyingi. Her killers pumped seven bullets into her head in a macabre case that has seen her estranged husband, Dr Aggrey Kiyingi, a cardiologist who lives in Australia, being charged with the murder.

It's Dr Garang's death however, that is hogging the international spotlight. Consider that as SPLA's strongman and symbol of the southerners' struggle against the Arab-dominated north for more than 20 years, Dr Garang lived in the constant shadow of death. Rebels who do not live long enough to become presidents often meet very violent ends (think Unita's Jonas Savimbi). But those who live often live to tell tales. And lived, Dr Garang did.

In a deal he signed with the Khartoum administration last year, he bought peace for his fellow southerners and the vice presidency of the country for himself. It's therefore quite ironical that a man who was previously the key target of enemies in northern Sudan, as well as among some of his lieutenants in the south, died in a helicopter belonging to the government of a neighbouring country, just weeks after becoming the second most senior government official in the political administration he had spent a good portion of his life fighting.

In the case of Mrs Kiyingi, the wheels of justice seem to have grown wings in the immediate aftermath of her murder. Just days after she was killed, Mrs Kiyingi's husband and several others were arrested, charged and remanded. The media has been replete with gory details of motives, plans and the execution. When a person is charged in a case involving the murder of a spouse, the innuendo often revolves around infidelity, divorce, property.

Ugandan media was so replete with these tales that the court that charged Dr Kiyingi banned any and all reportage on the case, with the exception of the court hearings. Which was just as well, as some newspapers had basically got the killer, tried the person, passed judgement and meted out their own justice.

These two cases belie a disturbing sub-text that often plays out in ways that are completely out of kilter with established norms. The Garang/Ugandan chopper for example has taken centre stage in investigations about what actually happened because of its alleged condition. What we've heard are ministers denying that it was one of the "junk helicopters" that a businessman and some senior officers in the Uganda army bought from Belarus a few years ago.

We've also heard the SPLA assert that they found 17 bodies aboard the chopper, while the Uganda government says there were only 14 people when the chopper took to the air. Ordinary Ugandans have no reason to believe either party because they don't know the SPLA that well, while their government has a reputation of not shooting straight. What is straight is that the Ugandan military has been in the habit of purchasing moth-eaten military hardware, expired military rations and under-sized uniforms. Not one officer or businessman fingered in any of these scandals has ever spent a day in jail. And people wonder why the SPLA does not believe the story that this was an unfortunate accident caused by bad weather?

What about Ms Kiyingi's case? As tragic as her death is, it's just one of many violent deaths that occur in Uganda every day. The other victims are often anonymous, with name, age and address mere statistics stuck on a piece of paper at their toes as they lie in the morgue. There is scant effort to solve crimes in Uganda because the country seems to have collectively resigned to the fact that crime is part of the social fabric. Police officers are badly trained, ill-equipped and live in the most dehumanising conditions (with President Museveni often accusing them of not supporting him).

Their idea of solving a case is beating the living daylights out of a suspect and forcing a confession. And since an army man, Major General Katumba Wamala was deployed as Inspector General of Police, the force has taken a distinctly partisan stance, enforcing a political agenda instead of keeping the peace and maintaining order. It will not be surprising therefore, if the suspects in the Kiyingi murder case all claim to have been tortured while in detention.

And it's not just with these deaths that Ugandans are struggling to separate fact from fiction. In the recently concluded referendum to open up the political space, the government and its Electoral Commission said that 47 per cent of all registered voters cast their ballots. Almost all independent observers indicate that a much lower percentage of voters turned up. When over 200 Members of Parliament were each given a USh5 million (Sh210,000) earlier this year, before they voted to remove presidential term limits in the constitution (and allow Mr Museveni to run again next year), no one could pinpoint the source of that money.

The government's financial dealings are similarly shrouded in subterfuge. There is almost no parastatal that has been privatised without being dogged by controversy and tales of big bribes exchanging hands in high places. The latest is the National Housing and Construction Corporation, one of the most profitable government companies, whose shares were controversially and secretly given to the Libyan government (it is said), when the law that governs the privatisation of bodies is very strict and clear about due process.

One bizarre outgrowth of this constant duplicity and deception is that word of mouth has taken on a symbolism it has not enjoyed since the days of Idi Amin when the so-called Radio Katwe ruled the airwaves.

At the height of his murderous reign, Amin's Uganda was not very conducive for unfettered journalism. So Radio Katwe (essentially rumours whispered from one set of lips to another) swept the land like a bushfire. Today, some variation of the famous rumour-mongering has returned, and it's teaming up with other variables to stretch the credibility gap in Mr Museveni's government.

With the president set to head a new administration next March, look out for more of the same in the coming years. Then again, that is just Radio Katwe news, because Mr Museveni has maintained a stony silence on the matter.

[Ugnet] In Uganda, a Helicopter Could Be Something Else

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