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Fr Larry Kanyike is Chaplain : Fr. Larry Kanyike...Oliba Gwee! So tell us.. who was Museveni's Minister of Internal Affairs in the early days of the NRM military dictatorship under whose leadership many Ugandans served and are still serving long jail sentences?..and still many more ( including Kayiira) were simply murdered ? How Many of our "fist folding friends", from accross the ally, where Lovey dovey with Museveni and the NRM during the days of "kadonya three piece"? The word from the grape vine is that Cardinal Nsubuga (RIP), staunch DP sympathizer even offered his farm to be used as training ground for Museveni's Rebels". .ather ..please, I hate when supposed "men of God who are under the cloak Must resort to telling lies ,just like Museveni. in an effort to champion their political objective... Shame on you Fr. The bottom line is that the NRM made it's bed, they must now lay in it.! Matek Violence has no room in Ugandas political space | ||
| Lawrence Kanyike | ||
| Makerere University
The colonialist, Lord Montgomery, once said that Africans are savages. They can't manage their own affairs. This statement might appear offensive to the Africans, but an honest examination of our Uganda history since the colonialists allowed us our independence certainly reveals that this colonialist was not wholly wrong. Ugandans my age or older will testify that we were better off under the British Protectorate than after they left us to manage our own affairs. Hardly four years elapsed after the departure of the British than Uganda moved from a peaceful and a progressive state to a violent battle-ground for state power. We sure have proved to the colonialist, Lord Montgomery, that we are savages.
Violence continues In my opinion, our young generation which has never lived under a non-violent political leadership and are full of resentment, with their newly formed political parties cannot be the answer to Uganda's problems today. They are full of resentment and too prone to violence. Blood cannot wash away blood. It can only make the situation bloodier. Problems are not solved by metal bullets, they can only be solved by mental bullets. Therefore the solution cannot come from that corner. Secondly, the NRM rules itself out because for the last 19 years they have not freed themselves from this violence and have always sought solution to conflict by using violent means. Thirdly, the newly formed political party which seems to attract a number of people, is in my opinion an offshoot from the NRM and they too have blood on their hands and the population looks at them not as bringers of peace but as those who may have the ability to confront the NRM with whom they speak a common language, the language of the gun. This would be blood washing away blood and would take us back to the bloody situation we want to overcome. All we have left now are the traditional parties, the UPC, DP and CP. The NRM, to conceal its militaristic and savage way of managing the affairs of our country, has often put the blame of our problems at the doors of these traditional political parties accusing them of tribalism and dividing the country on religious basis. One would have to sacrifice his intellectual honesty to believe that the NRM has done any better in this category of accusations. Our politicians have a way of concealing our problems instead of overcoming them. Whether the UPC likes it or not, they don't have a good history in managing the affairs of this country. It is their government that introduced military violence in our politics by violently solving the 1966 constitutional crisis. Milton Obote, in his recent interview with Andrew Mwenda was honest enough to admit that he regrets that he could not stop this violence. This therefore means that the solution to our problems cannot come from that corner either. The Conservative Party on the other hand, though it does not have a history of violence, does not have a history of being a national party and may be looked at as a party that caters for only a particular region and which promotes monarchism which other regions may be envious of and may cause others to believe that it may promote cultural imperialism. This leaves us with the DP. This party has everything any civilised leadership ought to have. It bears a motto of PEACE AND JUSTICE. This party has lived up to this motto more than any other party has on theirs. It has kept its tradition of settling conflicts through peaceful means and in order to promote justice it has used courts of law to settle disputes even among its own members. This party does not have a history of violence nor blood on any of its leaders' hands and believes that civility is not a sign of weakness. One of Uganda's most outstanding columnist, Charles Onyango Obbo, described its leaders as law abiding citizens, religious people deeply bound to their faith, good and faithful members of their families. It is because of these very positive qualities that the young generation, a product of a violent society, calls its present leadership weak and outdated. Violence solves nothing Now that the party has been in a state of inactivity for a long time, it is time for the party to recover its civility and its law abiding characteristics which some of its prominent members had abandoned. In order to command respect and trust from the world of civilisation, Uganda needs a leadership that respects civility, with a non-political army which is strictly professional, a leadership that has no history of blood on its hand and one that respects courts of law to settle conflicts. Fr Larry Kanyike is Chaplain |
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