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On Tuesday, February 4, 2014 12:44 AM, Hussein Amin <[email protected]>
wrote:
http://hussein-juruga.blogspot.com/2014/02/glad-to-bombard-political-enemies-with.html
Glad To Bombard Political Enemies With Creative Insults.
After reading Museveni's missive against the Monitor and the Red Pepper
newspapers on Sunday 2nd February 2014, I am left astonished to see that for
the first time, he has discussed the history of the NRA without blaming his
predecessors.
But we are indeed all aware that the National Resistance Army was a rebel group
created to fight against the results of the 1981 elections where then President
Apollo Milton Obote had been declared victorious.
Grumpy Kaguta then went to the Bush and formed the National Resistance Army
immediately after that victory, approximately two years after Idi Amin had
already left Uganda.
The NRA's Ten Point Program was a complaints list of what was going on in 1981
that he allegedly wanted to fight.
Yet it was during that time that the true lust for power of the so-called
liberators of 1979 came to the surface after initially pretending to be
fighting to save Uganda.
While explaining that phenomena during a speech in 1981, President Milton Obote
famously said "Paulo Muwanga wants to be president, Yusuf Lule wants to be
president, Museveni wants to be president, everyone wants to be president..."
and the crowd went up in a big laugh. He forgot to add "Milton Obote also wants
to be president".
But surely that wasn't a laughing matter because the internal power struggles
of the so-called liberators were to cause havoc in Uganda for more than a
decade starting effectively from the 1979 war.
According to an Obote insider now in exile,approximately 1 million Ugandans
lost their lives during this time and the skeletons of victims of those
conflicts were on display to show the despicable violence that happened
particularly in the Luweero triangle area between 1981 and 1986.
Lawrence Makubaga, 22, view his relatives among the piles of skulls
When I first saw these skulls on television, I asked whether anything was being
done against those responsible. A deafening silence was usually the response I
received as if I was naive to ask the question.
But weren't these human bones supposed to be criminal evidence in a court of
law then be given a proper burial?
It's incredible that a fully functioning government would simply ignore an
obvious case of war crimes and crimes against humanity to this day without
adjudication.
And everyone seems to be oblivious of the necessity to find those
responsible...including the Uganda Human rights commission, foreign partners
and local activists.
Yet they have all come out to demand justice in the context of another conflict
in Uganda, that of the Lords Resistance Army.
The current Minister of justice, Major General Kahinda Otafiire, is himself on
record for claiming that during the bush war that brought the current
government to power, he and his group would commit atrocities while dressed in
UPC T-shirts so that the people would blame the Uganda Peoples Congress
government of Milton Obote.
They would then run back to the bush, change into their rebel uniform and come
back to the same village as liberators.
He made the remarks while attending the burial of UPC member Adonia Tiberondwa
in 2004 after a dispute had arisen concerning what colors to cover the coffin.
Government had wanted the Uganda flag but the party members settled for the UPC
party flag. That's how the subject of what clothes an individual was wearing
would turn into a memorable confession.
This same tactic of clothes changing is said to have been used by Museveni's
soldiers in the war against Joseph Kony's LRA in Northern Uganda. The army goes
in looking like rebels, commits atrocities, then leaves LRA to shoulder the
blame. Some incriminating data has started to be made public. It is true that
whiule driving along the Karuma road in Northern Uganda. It would be difficult
to differentiate between rebels and the army. They all had the same rag tag
look.
But returning to the important issue of finding solutions to the crimes, can't
we for example, start court proceedings with the self-confessed war criminals?
Museveni has recently apologized and offered a "blood settlement" for the NRA's
part in the atrocities of Uganda. Something that surprised many while others
have praised.
But why would anyone want to bypass the judiciary when solving crimes?
The courts are actually supposed to investigate the crimes, determine any
culprit, punish them accordingly and compensate victims as already prescribed
in the laws of Uganda.
That is a minimum judicial standard. Even a Truth and Reconciliation process
would first establish individual responsibilities in any crime.
Our contemporary history is made of rumored deaths and imaginary killings. Many
remain unproven, others instigated by persons who were able to put the blame on
regimes they didn't like, and lastly, ones that are being apologized for.
This means that we surely have many criminals in government hiding behind the
suffering of their own victims as they now profess justice and human rights.
Yet they were clobbering to death some innocent peasants just yesterday and
then collected the skulls for annual rituals in broad daylight.
But getting to my second point, Museveni personally addressed the press and the
Daily Monitor readers on what he considered misinformation by the newspapers.
It surely felt as if the issues raised in his letter were of personal concern.
What's noteworthy is the fact that I am yet to hear any other senior NRM
(National Resistance Movement) politician or military officer explain some of
these military events of the 80's the way Museveni did.
To me this was a sign of the ideological bankruptcy within party cadres who
can't discuss and explain matters from a historical perspective. Either they
aren't aware of them or they simply don't care. I would vouch for the latter.
The "NRA history" is likely to simply fade away after Museveni who is the only
one who cares to publicize bush war events in detail and with specific dates to
pin point them in time.
Even then, I have heard people say that the narrative has been re-designed by
Museveni himself so that he stands out as central achiever and hero within the
NRM, but also in Uganda's history. Even the heroic acts and contributions of
his comrades have been minimized or even deleted outright.
The point though, is that all those who discuss publicly on behalf of the
ruling party and the government are incompetent or incapable of explaining
matters of historical value in detail the way Museveni did.
Instead, it is the shallow rantings of the likes of Presidential Press
Secretary Mr. Tamale Mirundi and Media Center Director Mr. Ofwono Opondo that
the country is treated to regularly. Officials who sadly seem not to have any
access to the boss for adequate prior consultations before going in front of a
microphone or TV camera.
One would be forgiven to think that their style of dealing with important
national matters is comparable to the shouting match between city idlers, who
then head home happy with themselves after bombarding someone with creative
insults.
Yet in reality, they have just brought down the dignity of their office to the
level of the idle and disorderly who only think constructively when faced with
a police swoop.
How can disrespect be THE official response of government technocrats if they
weren't incompetent?
As they say "wise people discuss issues, while idle minds talk people." So
shouldn't these public servants spare us from being subjected to their
ignorance and start operating as a tolerant government that gives credit where
it is due and admits failures where obvious?
Aren't those the trials and tribulations of smart gentlemen? The way progress
is achieved?
Admitting ones mistakes, as Museveni just did in regards to war crimes
committed by his National Resistance Army (now UPDF) should be standard
procedure in all activities of government where a grave mistake has been
committed.
Hussein Juruga Lumumba Amin
Kampala, Uganda
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