PAST POLITICS: JOSEPH OCHIENO
On December 30, 2007, as Kenya went into chaos for which Ugandans are near
expert, I read with interest an opinion piece by the Daily Monitor's Managing
Editor, Joachim Buwembo, "Ugandans and their culture of deadly rumours".
This was a nice and timely piece except that in driving home his very good
points, my brother Joachim went on to entrench another rumour, that in the
'60s,
all political parties were banned except the Uganda People's Congress (UPC).
False.
I challenged anyone to come up with a single constitutional provision either
in the '60s or early '80s UPC administrations that can be described as
dictatorial. This was one of those rumours and myths peddled by anti
democratic
forces in Uganda, most of whom have been agents of foreign interest in our
country. Joachim, like other journalists and ordinary Ugandans especially the
youth, have all been victims.
Considering the events next door in Kenya, perhaps this is a good time to
revisit these rumours. I know a reputable journalist within East Africa who
has
freely used the word 'stolen' to refer to the 1980 general elections in
Uganda.
Uganda's Democratic Party (DP), the party that had closely worked with Idi
Amin, claimed that those elections had been rigged against them. I shall
return to this subject in a detailed piece soon, hopefully in these same
columns.
President Museveni, who had been open about his intention to launch a
banditry war against a future elected government of Uganda, never believed in
multipartyism and was rather open about it. DP and NRA joined hands with the
Okellos in 1985 and '86 and militarily overthrew the Constitution and a
democratically elected government. It is now 23 years since they took over
power.
It is high time Ugandans are told how many seats were won by DP, how many by
NRA/UPM and how many by UPC. This is important because the very same backers
of these two organisations who refused to go to court then, are the ones
who are now asking Kenya's opposition party to go to court.
The courts in Uganda in 1980 were substantially staffed by judges most of
whom would have been appointed during Amin's regime. Most of these judges,
including their Chief Justice, were never close to UPC but to DP. Benedicto
Kiwanuka, DPs own leader, had a decade earlier worked under the same system.
The events that took place in Kenya were glaringly different. There was a
clear process of campaigning, voting and counting of votes across the country,
almost without incident. The problem arose from delay and withholding
presidential candidate results while releasing those for parliamentary
candidates.
Then came the variations from tallying local results at the Electoral
Commission of Kenya. It would appear that even with new technology, internet,
computers and mobile phones, the process seemed to predate mathematics.
Whereas DP claimed that early results (1980) favoured them, they were
exaggerated and misleading. For instance, without communications advance of
today,
DP was truly winning in Kampala and its environs, but surely not in the vast,
rest of the country. But this did not stop them claiming victory in an
Acholi constituency where UPC was winning by nearly 90 per cent, even to the
fury
of the Commonwealth Observer Team.
Every journalist, political scientist, historian, human rights advocate or
person with a genuine interest in Uganda must read Dr Milton Obote's 'Notes
on Concealment of Genocide in Uganda', _www.upcparty.net/archives_
(http://www.upcparty.net/archives) for a thorough insight.
Kenya confirms my repeated view that no one has a monopoly over violence and
every Ugandan is a compulsory stakeholder in discourses that demand for
objectivity, professional sense of balance and insight. We killed our past,
some are busy killing the present but let us save the future.
Mr Ochieno is UPCs Special Presidential Envoy to the United Kingdom and
Ireland. [EMAIL PROTECTED] (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"_______________________________________________
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