Uganda

Letter to President Museveni

2011-10-27T07:21:00.002+01:00

Letter to the president

First I thank you for coming out to support the national soccer team and for the financial contribution you made. While you have in the past made similar contributions to the same team, the nation has not had the opportunity to come close to national glory as it did on the 6^th of October. Ugandans have never been united in supporting a cause so dearly for a longtime under your tenure than this historic event and this points to a major concern which as a statesman I do hope you will look into.

The nation has won excellence accolades for pacifying regions globally, fighting HIV’AIDS etc but there seems to be slow progress in gaining our place in the world of sports not because we lack the talents or human resource but because of lack of an organized effort to claim our place. Development of Sports especially football affords us an opportunity to expand our national income through returns from export of labour in terms of skilled sportsmen plying their trade in distant lands and remitting returns to national development.

Almost half of the group you met at Namboole on the 5^th play in Europe and earn quite a lot which is spent in developing their country. Your government’s investment in developing such talents would mean increased revenue returns for this country. Your Excellency these efforts can be very meaningful with a full sports ministry being created to enable this development. Resources to facilitate this process can be sought from the Private Investments which enabled by your government’s liberalization have contributed towards development of sports but still need a commitment from government’s side.

Mr. President also afford me the opportunity to dispel the misinformation that a player David Obua refused to meet you on your visit to the Cranes camp. The player in question was irked by the fact that he was blocked from presenting his grieviances to you in his capacity as a professional player representing the nation and therefore acting as our ambassador. His actions must have been influenced by this disappointment but not any ulterior motive meant to injure your goodwill and name.

Thank you again for supporting the team and for supporting sports in the nation. While we were not able to make history, Ugandans will never forget your efforts in supporting the team.

Moses Kalanzi

Mpigi, Uganda

2011-05-14T07:32:00.004+01:00

Sitting in my room this school holiday, yours truly while making an evaluation of his high school students realized a striking semblance of the conditions of 1789 France with the current events in Uganda so much so that the adage that History repeats itself seemed somewhat almost as true as never before. As High school professors we are always encouraged to keep abreast with current events to avail our learners with a clear understanding of the issues we share with them.

It has been mantained that the occurrence of the French revolution was majorly attributed to issues relating to the economy but mostly important being the regime's insensitivity to the plight of its citizens against a background of high-handedness and corruption. Museveni's Uganda is a fine description of Louis ancien regime in 2011.

My motive here will be to highlight the conditions which offset the French revolution of which many of us maybe aware of and contrasting them with the conditions in Uganda today.

Louis government engaged in unnecessary wars creating an impetus for the increase of the defense budget much to the chagrin of the French people. Uganda's defence bugdet today is a shock as compared to that of the Education Ministry or even that of Agriculture which absorbs over 70 percent of Museveni's so loved peasants.

In this situation the middleclass became concerned about the economic situation in France, the state had run bankrupt due to exaggerated expenditure on loyalties and pomp. The King's partying and other extravagancies became insulting as peasants were taxed to finance these much in the same way as holding us at ransom for a billion shillings swearing in ceremony. As Marie Antionette prided in her idle pursuits and extravagant spending so has been our rulers always asking us to finance a new copter project or even having us finance their children's health abroad.

As the ancien regime weakened ofcourse due to the excesses of corruption, a need to curtail civil liberties was found in the lattre de catche, arrest warrant. Censorship of the media became pronounced and it became treasonous to claim dissent against established order. The King's wish became law just as someone's desire to chew his opponents like a pizza has resulted into anarchy. As the doctrine of the rule of divine rights became the standard of the King's oppression of his subjects has the idea of the 1986 revolution sunk Uganda this deep.

Our rulers today have sought legitimacy from their role in deposing bad rulers and vowing to protect this achievement at all costs even when it means overwriting the same achievement. In the situation even the royalists soon turned against the Monarchy.

But there were always some sober-minded heads to help the ruler avert the chaos, such Men like Turgot and Necker had made excellent reforms that would have seen Louis protect the throne but the infighting at the court coupled by the Firstlady's influences meant that the King had no choice but to do away with such men. Bidandi Ssali, Ssebaana Kizito, Kizza Besigye name them had brought good reforms, Besigye even authored a document to revamp the regime system but hardliners read cadres discarded this as a diatribe against the chief.

But the actual spark to the revolution was the poor weather conditions of 1789 to which i wish to sum this note. As the conditions deteriorated both in the countryside and in the cities, the masses became disillusioned. A people will always remain sangfroid until they have no food. The severe winter conditions of 1789 led to a scarcity of food items as ports froze and farms became destroyed. The costs of food increased and so did the cost of other basic items. Despite all these the regime remained insensitive urging the people to work harder while the nobles took to their idle and extravagant pursuits.

The formation of the famous Paris Mob had roots in a desire by the people to walk to the Capital to meet the king and express their grieviances. These were youths not different from those trekking today from Kasangati , Nakulabye, Mbale, Kaleerwe to Kampala. They were not idle marijuana imbued elements but rather concerned nationals seeking for redress from their leaders. The walk to work protests have exemplified the Paris Mobs. In this situation of give and take the leaders remained defiant, sticking to their age-long mental pre-occupations that the masses were idle loud-mouths.

Marie Antionette when responding to women who were marching in protest of the conditions recommended them to eat cakes if bread had became expensive in an extra-ordinary show of contempt and insensitivity only matched by Uganda Minister for Karamoja's recent newspaper article which showed that the conditions in Uganda were far better than we should ask for. It is this insensitivity that drove people to riot to overthrow the regime. But we need to remember that the French people had always prided in their monarchy and had protecting it despite all its excesses. It was only until when they realized that the rulers were insensitive that they did away with it.

Will Ssuubi deliver the hopes of Buganda?

2010-07-06T19:02:00.000+01:00

Will Ssuubi deliver the hopes of Buganda?
In late July 2010, apologetics of the Mengo establishment launched a political mobilization platform code-named Ssuubi 2011 with an aim of mobilizing masses in Buganda region to support the country’s opposition in next years general elections. Ssuubi 2011 which plans to use the leverage of former Mengo Katikkiro’s Dan Muliika and Joseph Mulwannyammuli Ssimwogerere has also enlisted the support of a cross-section of Buganda opposition politicians including renegade Democratic Party Members opposed to the manin stream DP leadership led by Norbert Mao. The renegade members led by the Party’s former spokesperson and Mukono North MP Betty Nambooze and former Party Legal Advisor Erias Lukwago have voiced their support for the Inter-Party Cooperation. This realignment of forces in Buganda has added a new twist to the already fragile relationship between the Kingdom of Buganda and the National Resistance Movement government.

Another Kabaka Yekka?
The project has met with significant criticism from a wide section of Ugandans across the political spectrum with many calling it a rebirth of the Kabaka Yekka, a political group credited for having abeted violence and rigged the 1961 elections to the disadvantage of the Ben Kiwanuka led Democratic Party. According to observers the realignment of forces galvanizing support around a cultural entity purportedly under state threat will only be able to elevate certain individuals to political office but also widen the rift between the central government and Mengo. Accordingly the promoters of this group now seek to resuscitate the Federo idea as a rallying point for massive kingdom-wide support.

This coupled with long held grievances of the Kingdom politburo which include the return of the 900 sq miles, re-opening of the Kingdom radio CBS, Return of the kingdom properties and misunderstandings over the proposed regional tier system of government throws the Central government into a precarious situation. While they may not manage to uproot the incumbent from power, this group is more likely to influence majority voting at parliamentary level. Buganda MP’s especially those from the NRM have been blamed for having betrayed the Kingdom by appearing hostile to the interests of Mengo on various occasions in Parliament most vividly, on the occasion of the passing of the Land Bill 2007.

In 1961 when Kiwanuka was attacked for trying to become an alternative to the Kabaka, the custodian of the interests, culture and identity of Buganda. KY supporters pitted Kiwanuka against the Kabaka to discredit him but that was more than 40 years ago and the conditions on ground were favourable. KY anticipated support from the UPC and held access to the instruments of coercion which are now held by the NRM. While launching the group in Masaka, promoters of Ssuubi 2011 promised to show them the presidential candidate who the Kabaka would have chosen.

While this can be brushed aside as another opportunistic statement calculated to sway votes, promoters of Ssuubi seem to have gained the explicit recognition from the cultural authority. While granting leave to his two former advisors and Ssuubi main promoters, Kabaka Ronald Mutebi acknowledged their contribution to the Kingdom and expressed his acceptance for their timely decision to actively take part in national politics.
In Buganda the King pleases (Kabaka asiimye) and this is a vague term that could also mean that the King supports, wishes, abets or recognizes a certain decision or action. The Kabaka perhaps aware of the trend of events has encouraged his subjects to massively register for next years elections to influence decisions to shape their destiny as a people (and under threat) The tone and timing of the events of the past few weeks points to a premeditated arrangement to foresee the realignment of forces to combat what Mengo call the Central government’s continued harassment of the cultural institution. The stage was set with the failure of the Kabaka-Museveni talks and the Kasubi tombs fire all having roots with the closure of CBS radio and the September 2009 riots in Buganda.

Will Ssuubi deliver the hopes of a Kingdom
Critics point to circumstances surrounding the formation of the group as lacking ground to sustain a successful opposition to Mr. Museveni. Ssuubi bears the DNA of the Inter-Party Cooperation a loose coalition of Ugandan opposition groups and its this reason that impedes its entrenchment in Ganda society. The Democratic Party which is opposed to the IPC enjoys wide support in Buganda and the unsteady relationship between the two will affect voting patterns. Its founding memers including renegade DP members will have to cut a balance between accepting to be viewed as destablising agents of DP riding on the back of opportunism or as members of the Inter-party Cooperation which is largely viewed as a construction of the Forum for Democratic Change.

Following a failure to resolve feuds within the DP, a section of DP members utilized the disagreements between the DP and the IPC to gain leverage by using the IPC as an alternative force to front their interests. The need to tailor their interests to suit the demands of their electorate in Buganda elicited the formation of Ssuubi to isolate Norbert Mao as guarantor of the interests of Buganda.
Bearing in mind the unquestionable authority of the Kabaka in rural Buganda and utilizing the recognition and wide popularity of Daniel Muliika a radical former premier , the vocal Betty Nambooze and Medard Ssegonna, the IPC’s formation of Ssuubi 2011 was meant in all manners and purposes to resuscitate the Kabaka Yekka conditions under which the Kbaka wish or pleasing holds supremacy over the interests of modern political party activity. In this instance Ssuubi 2011, is a mutation of the Kabaka Yekka which was formed from the Kakamega Club, an exclusive inner circle of the Kabaka’s close confidantes and friends.
But the hopes of the 800-year old Kingdom appear enormous to rest on the shoulders of a loose coalition of political forces even when these forces have the confidence of a monarch. Not so possible especially when the forces have only allied for a year against an antagonistic force that has ruled for the last quarter of a century. This is however not to appear pessimistic, true that the Ssuubi members will be able to gain parliamentary seats but even when all the 80 Buganda seats in Parliament are held by the IPC it will be no match for the over 200 NRM MPs.

It rests therefore that for as long as Mr. Museveni wins the executive position, the Ssuubi project will remain a total failure. What will happen to the aspirations of a Kingdom in the event of putting all its eggs in a basket with a hole.
Will it signify the defeat of the Kabaka?

Why reading is paramount.

2010-06-08T07:37:00.004+01:00

Why reading is paramount
Watching the Zain Africa Challenge made me think and reflect about something. Knowledge is what remains after learning much in the same way as education is what remains after school. Here where Africa’s strongest brains at work in a competition that has had more competitors thrown off as the Competition proceeds to each round. The Zain Africa challenge which pits universities across Africa in a knowledge competition has been touted as a major intellectual undertaking not so for its cash prizes and institutional grants but its ability to bring together in competition some of the top brains from Africa’s Universities . I say top not because they are originators of complex theories or that their names are inscribed in academic journals but because of their ability to express their knowledge of the most important things any human should be knowing.
But what is the success behind these competitors?
The challenge provides a rare opportunity for exercising of the competitor’s general knowledge on a wide variety of issues ranging from science, current affairs, sport, history, culture, literature e.t.c. It’s a simplified way of testing individuals or teams’ knowledge of various aspect of life from a wide spectrum of choices. But what makes them outstanding is their exposure to a wide variety of reading material from a spectrum of subjects. Knowledge is accumulated overtime through exposure to a wide range of literary choices.
Thus one remains awed when a student of technology takes on a medic in a battle of wits over the history of ancient Greece and Mesopotamia as much in the same way as an aspiring Artist is challenged by a poet in a duet over the isosceles triangle. This is representative of the fact that reading is not for the acquisition of good grades only but development of the mind to deal with complex challenges. The ability to compete in this challenge represents an individual’s wide spectrum of knowledge and fast thinking which can only be enabled by a good reading culture facilitated from childhood through to adulthood.
The influx of gadgets and the internet grossly undermined the development of the still weak reading culture in Africa. Books remained to be text-books and little emphasis has been put in to reading outside the curriculum. Reading empowers the individual and develops their communication skills and self esteem. Uganda needs to invest hugely into this area and interventions by such organisations like the Uganda Library Association, Reading Initiative Foundation of Uganda; Uganda Book Publishers Association should not only be commended but supported. Similar undertakings like the Newspapers in Education should be lauded for their continued promotion of literacy in less fortunate regions of the country.
Moses Kalanzi
The author is an Advocacy Officer with the Reading Innitiative Foundation of Uganda.

Towards a rights-based approach in the implementation of the DDR program in Uganda; A critical Assesment

2010-04-05T08:53:00.002+01:00

TOWARDS A RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DDR PROGRAM IN UGANDA

By Moses Kalanzi

Abstract
The conflict in Uganda has persisted for long and many means have been employed to bring the conflict to an end. These include the military offensive, Peace talks and Amnesty. This commitment of part of the Ugandan people to end untold suffering has much gained momentum with the last innitiative of granting Amnesty to combatants and collaborators with the prospect of ensuring lasting peace and reconciliation in the country. In this study the researchers seek to investigate the human rights dimension in the implementation of the Amnesty Act 2000. The purpose of this work is to address the institutional and legal barriers to the implementation of the Amnesty Act 2000. The study is not an attack on the workings of the Amnesty Commision but rather developed to act as a guide to the successful implementation of the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintergration Programmes.

In the analysis the study recommned a rights-based approach to the implementation of the DDR and recommends to increase the role of civilian actors in the implementation of the Act. Its the recommendation of this research that funding to lubricate the succesful implementation of the DDR be increased.

Objectives of the study
The research was carried out with the aim of :
Analysing the social, economic and political dimensions involved in the ressetlement and rehabilitation of rebels and the Human rights issue.
Evaluating of the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintergration Programes as tools in ensuring lasting peace and reconciliation and finding solutions to the succesful implementation of the Amnesty Act.
Examining the challenges faced in reintergarting former combatants in areas affected by the conflicts in Uganda and implications to human rights preservation.
Justification
The occurrence of the armed conflict in Uganda for the last 22 years perpetuated by various insurgents fighting the NRM government has exerted untold suffering on the peoples of Uganda most especially the regions of Northern Uganda and some parts of Western Uganda. For example,the conflict between the Ugandan government and the LRA, which began in 1986, has devastated the country's north, leaving over 1.7 million people displaced, an estimated 100,000 dead and 75,000 others abducted by rebels. With the enactment of the Amnesty Act 2000, 'it has come to represent for many ugandans the hope that the conflict in the country can be ended peacefully'1( handbook) However despite the progress, the absence of a succesful Human rights -based Intergration and Demobilisation Policy may foil an erstwhile remarkable venture by encouraging ex-combatants to return to the bush. Its is the aim of this study to chart out ways of harmonising the paradox and to find solutions to the loopholes prevalent in the implementation of the Amnesty Act 2000.
Methodology
The complexity and delicacy of the subject required the researchers to adopt a multiplicity of methods in collecting the relevant data. The researchers adopted primary and secondary research methods, which consisted of interview,discussion and use of existing literature on the topic and the internet. The reseachers used textbooks available from current and past researches on the subject. Extracting the relevant data was limited by the fact that most of the available research studies were committed to tracing the loopholes of the Amnesty Act rather than attaching importance to the implementation of the Act. Other works were highly subjective thus irrelevant to the researchers.
The researchers atempted to discuss issues related to the subject after research to harmonise findings soas to generate relevance on the topic. It was from the discussions that clarity and a deeper understanding of the human rights issue eveolving in the implementation of the Amnesty Act 2000.This was however without constraint as some discussants lacked facts though efforts were made to correct them.
The focus of the study was to understand how Human rights issues were handled in the implementation of DDR. The areas of study were selected by the members and each member was assigned a particular area for contribution.
The interview carried out was therefore designed to enable the student researchers have an insight into the workings of the Amnesty Commision and how the commision handles the Human rights issue. The researchers sought to understand the risks and opportunities involved in the implementation of the mandate of the Commission.
The research was conducted from early April to early May 2008 which also worked to constrain the resources available to the researchers bearing time. Our findings are not exhaustive nor fully representative of the workings of the Amnesty Commision. The reesearch however offers insight into the operations and limitations faced by the Commission.
Introduction
The conflict in Uganda borrows substantially from the colonial past in definition of its causes which fragmented the country along religious and tribal lines. It is no exaggeration that most of the insurgent groups are fighting along these colonial-demarcated lines. For example '95% of LRA fighters are Acholi'{Profiles of the parties to the conflict Balam Nyeko and Okello Lucima (2002) http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/northern-uganda/profiles.phpA number of insurgent groups have been fighting the Museveni regime since 1986. These include UNRF, UPDA, LRA, HSM,UPA,WNBF, ADF. As a response to the persistent insurgency in Uganda, the government enacted the Amnesty Act in the year 2000. This move was to pardon, exempt and discharge former rebels who voluntarily give up fighting the government through military means from criminal prosecution or any from of punishment from the state. The blanket amnesty that the government offered to all people engaged in rebellions against the government of Uganda, including the LRA covers all rebel movements since the 26 th day of January 1986.
The Amnesty Act 2000.
The unacceptably high costs of civil war have caused Ugandans to re-assess approaches to resolving conflict(Barney Afako (2002 Reconciliation and justice: ‘Mato oput’ and the Amnesty Act,http://c-r.org/our-work/accord/northern-uganda/reconciliation-justice.php )The Act owes its origins to the commitment of the people of Uganda to seek reconciliation with those who have inflicted so much pain and suffering through conflict.(handbookp.1)Many concerns regarding the best way to achieve a sustainable peace in northern Uganda revolved around the need to end the cyclic violence and impunity that had plagued Uganda since independence.The first attempt was the Amnesty Statute of 1987, which was passed by the National Resistance Council (NRC), to encourage various fighting groups and sponsors of insurgency to cease their activities. When the government introduced an Amnesty Bill in 1998, it was revisiting an old political formula of offering pardons to insurgents as a means of ending intractable conflict. Previous de facto and de jure amnesties under the National Resistance Movement (NRM) had offered general and specific pardons to groups that had engaged in rebellion, notably the UPDM/A and the UPF/UPA. The failure of the military strategy to end conflict formed the basis for the enactment of the Amnesty Act 2000 by the parliament of Uganda to grant Amnesty to Ugandans who participated in acts of rebellion in various parts of the country since january 26th 1986. The Amnesty commision established to facilitate the implementation of the Amnesty Act 2000. The functions of the commsion are enshrined in Article 9 listed as (a) to monitor programmmes of -demobilsation, reintergration and ressetlement of reporters. Its the purpose of this work to study the preservation and violation of humna rights in the implementation of these programmes.
,Disarmament, Demobilisation, Reintergration Programs and the human rights issue.
Disarmament is the first phase of DDR, and logically precedes demobilization and reintegration, the Thesaurus dictionary defines disarmament as the 'act of reducing or depriving of arms' (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/disarmament)Demobilization refers to the process by which parties to a conflict begin to disband their military structures and combatants begin the transformation into civilian life. It generally entails registration of former combatants; some kind of assistance to enable them to meet their immediate basic needs; discharge, and transportation to their home communities. It may be followed by recruitment into a new, unified military force.After ex-combatants have been demobilized, they are effectively and sustainably reintegrated into civilian life to prevent a new escalation of the conflict. In the short term, ex-combatants who do not find peaceful ways of making a living are likely to return to conflict. thus the process of reintergration. The demobilisation of ex-combatants in Uganda gives minimal attention to human rights issues. These include sexual abuse, ethnic intorelance, torture and the abuse of the right to life.
Social Stigmatisation
In spite of the culture of peace and discourses of forgiveness and reconciliation within recipient communities, there are real tensions around reintegration and reconciliation surrounding the return of ex-abductees. Experiences within the LRA may have fundamentally altered the manner in which exabductees function as members within a family or as constituents within a community.(Violence, reconciliation and identity: The reintegration of Lord's Resistance Army child abductees in Northern UgandaInstitute for Security Studies (ISSDate: 10 Dec 2003http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/OCHA-64C9TC?OpenDocument )There have been cases of stigmatisation of ex-combatants by the victims of the attrocities and the communities in general.Community members have concerns that this reintergration may be negative, and that ex-abductees may be aggressive or violent as a result of the violence they themselves were exposed to.
Women's rights and the DDR
Among the demobilised ex-combatants one group is particularly invisible – women and girls associated with illegal armed groups. The current demobilisation process does not adequately address the consequences of the sexual violence they have suffered before, during and after conflict. Reintegrating into a society with rigidly gendered social structures will put enormous stress on women who have been accustomed to freer modes of behavior and fairer divisions of labor.(The Demobilization and Reintegration of Women Combatants, Wives of Male Soldiers and War Widows: A Checklist http://action.web.ca/home/cpcc/attach/The%20Demobilisation%20and%20Reintegration%20of%20Women%20Combatants,%20Wives%20of%20Male%20Soldiers%20and%20War%20Widows%20A%20Checklist.htmVanessa Farr "Gendering Demilitarization." )Each of the DDR processes involves and has implications for women, whether they participated in combat, have family members who did, or are members of a community trying to integrate former combatants. While some women joined armed groups of their own free will, large numbers were abducted into combat and/or forced to become sexual and domestic slaves. But no matter how they came to military groups, almost all of them are neglected during the DDR process.(13) 13) Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration, United Nations Development Fund for Women, www.WomenWarPeace.org (Reference to demobilisation in Mozambique (and Sierra Leone?).
DDR and children's rights.
Thousands of children have been used as child soldiers and child soldiers themselves are also accused of human rights abuses including unlawful killings, rape and other forms of sexual violence as well as widespread pillaging and looting.It is argued that DDR can succeed only if it addresses the needs of all child soldiers, including those who circumvent the official process, child soldiers who demobilise as adults, and girl soldiers. The handling of returnee child soildiers in Uganda has been obstracted by the re-recruitment of fromer child-soildiers into the army. According to UNICEF' many former child soldiers in Uganda who have been freed from the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have been drawn again into armed conflict – this time with the national army' ( Child soldiers trapped in vicious cycle of war KAMPALA, Uganda, 16 http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/uganda_25184.html0). Those opposed to this mechanism ground their allegations on the perception that the government is using the reintegrated ex-combatants into the military ranks, as human shields in the process of military confrontation with their former abductors. Nevertheless, Uganda’s former child soldiers, haunted by exposure to violence at a young age, often find little solace when reintegrated into their home communities. When they return home, the nightmare continues, as they face stigmatization from their family and peers. The government of Uganda has not come up with a comprehensive plan for reintegration of ex-combatants back into their communities.
Denial of the right to Amnesty and forced Amnesty
Despite the eligiblity of some ex-combatants and collaborators to get amnesty enshrined under the Amnesty Act 2000 3(1) , the security agencies and Amnesty commision have denied this right which constitutes a violation of human rights. The classical case of Africanus Gabula, who reportedly belonged to a group called Kirimuttu, whom the commision failed to pardon is a case in point.(Treason convict seeks amnesty Monday, 24th March, 2008). At other times Amnesty has been used as a political gimmick to dissuade political dissent aimed at the Government of Uganda. Dr. Kiiza Besigye, an FDC politician believes that, his co-accused in the treason trial against the government of Uganda were subjected to torture to confess to belonging to a rebel group PRA hence forced to apply for amnesty to bail them out.( Nine more PRA suspects freed Friday, 16th February,2007 In february 2008, former UNRF combatants threatened to 'withdraw NRM support' if the government failed to pay their long overdue gratuity.(Ex-soldiers threaten to withdraw NRM support WAROM FELIX OKELLO monitor, February 5, 2008) This weakens the assumption of fairness in granting Amnesty and is likely to affect the legitimacy of the Amnesty Commission.

Recommendations
From the foregoing, the issue of human rights in the implementation of the Amnesty Act still has many loopholes; the need to correct these is still enormous. The following is recomended-

For sustainable resettlement and reintegration of the FAPs and IDPs to be attained, there must be security guarantee for both their lives and property. The government and its development partners need to have in mind a fall-back position on how to deal with the same community in case the Juba peace talks that have raised hopes for peaceful end of the war fail.
Sensitization training should be made available to community members in order to address the negative attitudes that clearly exist and impede community based reintegration and reconciliation with the ex-combatants.
Ex-combatants should create groups of their own, with elected leadership, which can interact directly with local leadership and NGOs. The ex-combatants groups should be able to critically assess their own needs and inform the parties of their intentions. This would also help to avoid duplicity in programming. Health concerns regarding HIV/AIDS and malaria, water and sanitation and other basic health services are prevalent in the camps.
There is a general consensus within the war affected communities to grant full amnesty to the FAPs especially those who were in the lower ranks of the LRA because most of them were victims of abduction against there will. It is imperative to note that, "the Amnesty Act 2002 of Uganda empowers the Amnesty commission to promote appropriate mechanisms of reconciliation in the affected communities".
It is crucial to break away from a simplistic view of perpetrators and victims, for some women have been both. Policymakers must recognize that many of the women and girls who participated actively in the conflict have also been victims of sexual violence. It is essential to recognize that not all women, whether ex-combatants, wives of ex-fighters, or war widows, will meet similar challenges after demobilization. The differences between women their capacities, experience, length of service, connection to, or disconnection from communities of origin, number of dependants, geographic location after demobilization, and levels of physical and psychological stress, will all influence how well they will manage their new lives. Given this, when training and rehabilitation programs are planned, they should expect to encounter, and aim to accommodate, differences.
Ex-combatants must be systematized and analyzed from a gender perspective. Such analysis is essential for informing future reintegration efforts, bearing in mind the high number of female combatants in the If the Uganda DDR process is to become inclusive it should ensure a holistic gender-focused, "because girls and women bear heavy responsibilities for rebuilding social and cultural infrastructures and are significantly affected by post-war decisions, they must be publicly recognised and empowered as key actors"( Reconstructing fragile lives: Girls social reintegration in northern Uganda nad Sierra leone Susan Mackay)
If the needs of a traumatized war generation are not adequately addressed they too will pose a threat to prospects of long term peace. Children’s rights need to be preserved for the successful implementation of the DDR and for ensuring lasting peace and reconciliation. It is argued that DDR can succeed only if it addresses the needs of all child soldiers. They should be separated from other ex-combatants, so that their special needs can be addressed and so they can avoid abuse by military authorities, who may force them to enroll in new military forces; quickly discharged and reinserted into society; placed in long-term reintegration programs that give priority to family reunification; provided with long-term psychological support, to help them recover from the negative experience of war and to limit asocial attitudes and aggressive behaviors; provided with education and professional training, which offer children with no professional experience an opportunity for a sustainable livelihood.
Conclusion.
The challenge of implementing the Amnesty law is formidable. It rests on the commitment of all stakeholders in the peace and reconciliation process. The violations of human rights in the implementation of the Amnesty law 2000 can still be overcome with a commitment from government, war-affected communities. There's still need to involve the international community. Funding needs to be increased to the Amnesty Commission to improve on and increase on the available resources for the successful execution of its mandate.
This was developed as part of an academic research innitiative undertaken by the author as a student Makerere University between June-November 2008

Ancient Buganda burial site on Fire

2010-03-22T14:52:00.001Z

Buganda under siege as Kasubi tombs are burned to ground
Unknown people have set ablaze the burial places of Buganda’s Kings in
what seems as the latest attack on the Kingdom of Buganda. The Kasubi
which harbor the last remains of the Kings of Buganda with a 129 year
old history were Tuesday night torched to the ground. The suspects of
this inferno have not yet been established. The fire which started
with Muzibuazaalampanga, the main ancestral house later spread to the
nearby huts at the tombs in a heavy fire which despite a heavy
downpour and fire brigade efforts could not be put out.
Thousands of Baganda loyalists thronged the site on Tuesday night to
mourn the incident, these included Eng Allan Waliggo Nakirembeka, the
head of the Clan Leaders Council, Mengo Minister for Culture and
tourism, Nakiwala Kiyingi and Prince Namugala among other Buganda
Kingdom officials. A visibly stricken Buganda Premier Eng. J.B.
Walusimbi regretted the incident and urged the people of Uganda that
the Kabaka’s government will come to the bottom of the case. He called
upon Baganda to remain strong amidst this confrontation and vowed that
the tombs will be re-built at whatever cost it may demand as soon as
possible. Wilberforce Luwalira the Bishop of Namirembe called upon
Baganda to remain calm and asked God to protect the King throughout
these hard times.

The Kasubi tombs were a few years ago earmarked by UNESCO as an
international Heritage site one of the few in the whole world; it is
one of the leading tourist revenue earners for the Kingdom of Buganda
alongside other sites. The site also was the final resting place of
Kabaka Muteesa I who invited Christian missionaries to Uganda, Kabaka
Daniel Basammulekkere Mwanga who ordered for the massacre of the
Uganda Matyrs, Kabaka Daudi Chwa who was king at the signing of the
1900 agreement with British Colonialists and King Fredrick Edward
Walugembe Muteesa II who was deported by the British and later died in
exile after troops loyal to former president Milton Obote besieged his
Mengo palace in 1966.
The tombs which were built in 1891 housed a number of items including
the royal drums and a number of royal regalia were kept at the place.
Also in custody at the enclosure were a number of animals both
domestic and wild believed to have connection with the ancestral
spirits. Chairs brought by the European Missionaries, jewelry ,
cowries shells among others.
According to eyewitnesses the fire started at 7:30 pm on Tuesday
evening and although the cause of the fire has not been established
the possibility of arson is high. According to residents an unnamed
individual was seen entering the premises a few minutes shortly before
the fire. Attempts to put out the fire were futile as the heavy fire
spread from house to house and despite a Tuesday night downpour and
heavy fire brigade presence, little could be done to put it out.

According to Princess Kagere it is like Muteesa II has been killed
again, Kagere one of Muteesa’s daughters was struck by grief. Speaking
to the Press, Kagere said it was unfortunate that the remains of her
late father had been burnt. Mengo Attorney general Apollo Makubuya
said that the Kingdom will rebuild the fallen structures as soon as
possible although he was pessimistic whether they would ever retain
the fallen glory after the infernal.
Angry people blocked the police from entering the tombs and this
forced the police to retaliate by shooting in the air to disperse the
crowds. By Monday Midday a heavy deployment of both the police and the
army was visible. Gen. Katumba Wamala the Head of Land Forces was
leading the deployed security forces.

Museveni blocked from entering scene
At around 11:00 am Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni attempted to
reach the site and express his grief but was blocked by Baganda who
chanted slogans expressing solidarity with the Kabaka and the crown.
It took military might to clear the way for the Ugandan president who
was from the view of events an uninvited mourner. Mr. Museveni who
appeared under heavy guard was booed by the crowd which later sang the
Buganda Anthem for the whole period he was at the scene. The police
and army had to shoot in the air to clear the way for the President’s
motorcade. Earlier on a number of government officers were chased away
from the scene of the infernal as if to suggest that government was
connected to the arson. Rubaga Division chairman Peter Sematimba could
not wait for a rough-up as he fled the scene after angry Baganda
youths threatened to burn him.
By midday on Wednesday the Buganda cabinet was in a closed session
following the inferno. Fires believed to have been ignited by
arsonists have ravaged different parts of the Kingdom and it remains
to be seen whether this could be the climax. In 2008 and 2009 alone a
total of 40 schools in the Buganda region were torched in fires
believed to have been connected to the Kingdom’s stand on the Federal
arrangement for Uganda.

Linked to Makerere university riots
However observers of Uganda’s political spectrum have intimated that
the torching of the Lubiri had a possibility of relationship with the
student’s strike at Makerere University on Monday night which left
three students dead from shootings by an errant security guard.
Ignatius Nyongeza, Brian Angoka both Kenyan students and Aaron Mugezi
a Uganda students were killed after being shot by Richard Akasi a
security guard attached to Snowwhite guards. According to eyewitnesses
a drunken Nyongeza tried to hit a car belonging to NRM guild
presidential candidate John Taylor after they came to his hostel to
canvass votes for their candidate. Nyongeza who was a supporter of
Simon Peter Kamau a Kenyan student contestant was according to
eyewitnesses confronted by Taylor’s supporters. Following the
shootings Makerere students took to the streets protesting the
killings of their colleagues. Business came to a standstill in the
areas of Wandegeya, Kasubi and Nakulabye as rowdy students vandalized
property and engaged police and the army in running battles. The
shooting incident which happened at God is able Hostel left the
premises shattered by students who destroyed the hostel’s glass
windows. Students then looted a coffin at Wandegeya and proceeded to
Mulago hospital mortuary to retrieve the bodies of their fallen
colleagues but were stopped by a heavy deployment of police. The
students then overran the police as the force ran out of teargas.
According to Police’s political Commisar Hassan Kasingye, the errant
guard had been arrested and is currently detained at Central Police
Station in Kampala.

Meanwhile police has disarmed all security guards belonging to Snow
White Security guards, the police has also taken over the security of
all student’s hotels near Makerere following the shooting of three
students. In a related development the Makerere Guild elections have
been postponed indefinitely until further notice following the
student’s riots. According to John Ekudu, the Dean of Students
Makerere University, the surrent situation is not condusive to a fair
electoral process. The elections for the new guild leadership are a
tight contest between the Democratic party’s Shaban Ssenkubuge and the
National Resistance Movement’s John Taylor. Others in the contest are
Grace Cheruto, a Kenyan student and Simon Peter Kamau also a Kenyan
student. Kenyan students have increasingly taken active participation
in the Guild politics of Makerere University. Makerere University has
over 2000 foreign students with over sixty percent being Kenyan
students.

Otunnu Warns Museveni

2010-03-22T14:49:00.000Z

Otunnu Warns Museveni
The end of president Museveni’s era as custodian of the Ugandan state
could be near. This according to newly elected Uganda Peoples
Congress President Olara Otunnu is not far as many Ugandans have been
made to think. Speaking at his first public appearance since becoming
UPC president in a tightly contested election , Ambassador Otunu
warned Mr. Museveni to prepare for his early retirement from the
position he has held for the last quarter of a century making him
Africa’s second longest serving ruler. “I have big news for Museveni,
that era is over, we are going to challenge Museveni frantically
without fear and intimidation” echoed Otunnu amidst cheers and
ululations from party diehards.
The former UN Undersecretary also warned security services against
intimidating opposition politicians as the country slides towards the
2011 presidential and parliamentary elections. “We shall not let
Museveni get away with accidental deaths and criminal killing of
(opposition) political leaders” According to Dr. Otunnu they shall
investigate all cases of intimidation and extra-judicial killing of
opposition members and hold Mr. Museveni accountable.
Otunnu is a survivor of a recent accident involving his motorcade and
the Presidential Guard Brigade in Gulu District of Northern Uganda. He
believes that the accident was an attempt at prematurely ending his
life thus blocking the democratic process in Uganda after expressing
intentions to stand against Museveni in the 2011 polls.
He also called for electoral reforms lambasting the Electoral
Commision for failing Democracy in Uganda arguing that there should
not be compromise with the Hajji Kiggundu –led Commision which has
been twice proved incompetent by the highest courts of law. Otunnu
also called upon the opposition to galvanise support around a single
candidate. According to Dr. Otunnu Political parties must unite to
cause regime change.
Otunnu a former minister in the Tito Okello government which ousted
Dr. Milton Obote from power in 1985, is among the main contestants for
the 2011 presidential polls which also have Democratic Party’s Nobert
Mao, Jaberi Bidandi Ssali representing Peoples Progressive Party and
the winner between Rtd. Col. Dr Kiiza Besigye and Gen. Mugisha
Muntuyera for Forum for Democratic Change. His main challenger to the
joint candidacy is Dr. Kiiza Besigye who has twice wrestled Mr.
Museveni and earned a term in prison alongside other state inspired
crimes including rape. Dr. Besigye also lost his brother Kifeefe in
Luzira prison on charges of treason and conspiring to overthrow Mr.
Museveni’s government.

Police deployment at Makerere Hostels unwarranted.

2010-03-22T14:47:00.000Z

Police deployment at Makerere Hostels unwarranted.

In 2005 in the pages of the daily Monitor Newspaper I warned about guns in Makerere University. Then I was a first year at University and had witnessed a student being shot by a colleague in a love-gone sour incident. I expressed dissatisfaction at the increasing gun culture in Makerere then with students attached to security agencies carrying guns . Recently 3 students were shot by a trigger happy guard over an election disagreement. I also warned about the militarization of students politics in Makerere with the influx of security agents during guild elections with a view of intimidating students. That same year a student was shot dead in a riot at campus and yet this wasn’t the first time that police under the same government had killed students. In 1990 at Makerere two students were killed by police in a riot at campus over student’s welfare during Mao’s reign as guild president. Now police has taken over the security of the student’s hostels but I don’t think this is a wise decision as police and students are sworn enemies. I commend the police for their work but am afraid they are prescribing the right medicine for a wrong ailment.

I don’t think the students died because of insufficient security but because of incompetencies of the police. Makerere has two police stations and a third one is in the offing but despite these cases of insecurity are rampant. Even if each hall was protected by a garrison, matters related to student’s risky behaviour would always arise as long as there are motivating factors such as a strike, an election or mutual disagreements amongst students.

Even if police was deployed, with constables shooting innocent children, the probability that disagreements between students (who are always known to have extra-ordinary detestation for uniformed characters) and police are bound to arise and trigger happy constables are more likely to unleash terror much in the same way as the private security guards.

Moses Kalanzi

Kampala

Why Buganda should not be sacrificed for the stability of Uganda

2010-02-20T14:23:00.000Z

Why Buganda should not be sacrificed for the stability of Uganda.

The standoff between Mengo and the Central government is still on and despite the relative calm, an observer of curious instinct can interprete the ceasefire as a half-time rest as the two power centers prepare for the next stage. In this article i trace the genesis of the confusion between tribalism and ethnic nationalism vis a vis the nation state. It is my conviction that the Buganda question in Ugandan Politics has been grossly misunderstood and treacherous politicians have capitalised on this conflict to balkanise the populace often presenting the Buganda question as an anti-thesis to the Colonial creation-Uganda.

Early this year the President wrote a letter to the Kabaka decrying Mengo's handling of affairs to the point of accusing Mengo of fueling ethnic animosity against the Balaalo. I found the President's fears imaginary and far fletched and was compelled by virtue of my trade to add a voice. His remarks involved confusing tribalism with ethnic nationalism. Tribalism can be a mental concept, it has basis in tradition and persisting cultural differences and it has been given new forms and attached to it are new interests and loyalties. A good reader of History can find H.F Morris' work on Buganda and Tribalism cited in Gulliver's edited Tradition and transition in East Africa interesting. The current wave of discontent in Buganda cannot be understood as tribalism but rather as ethnic nationalism. This may not go well with some sections but academically the Kingdom appears to satisfy the main attributes of a nation even if we are not to consider its pre-colonial position and institutions. The "nation" question was a subject of debate in the 1960s and i find it valid to help explain the present relations between Mengo and the centre. According to our history as a colonial state Uganda, Buganda had for many centuries remained a sovereign state before she accepted ( after rigorous consultations spanning for over 10 years 1890, 1892, 1893, 1894 all of which had proved futile) the protectorate treaty of 1900.

One must contend that there's nothing like a Uganda nation except in the sense of which 18th century European diplomats spoke of the Turkish nation to embrace Greeks and Serbs that is to say all people owing allegiance to a common sovereighn and in that instance the ottoman empire. Buganda's institutions adapted to mordern conditions have remained intact even todate, the language, common identity, loyalty to the cultural institutions of leadership tantamount not only to the definition of a tribe but a nation in the European sense of the word.

As far as size and wealth are concerned, Buganda does not appear insighnificant say if compared to Estonia or Latvia or the Irish republic. Yet the creation of these states on the principle of self-determination and nationalism was heralded as laudable, progressive by the very circles that worked to condemn Buganda's nationalism and self-determination brushing it off as reactionary and tribal. The post-colonial regime has maintained the rigid postion of the Crown towards Buganda's griveviances denouncing Mr Kyanjo's ideas as treasonous and radical atleast if we go by official remarks from goverment. What is more treasonous that supporting the seccesion of Southern Sudan from the Centre in Khartoum?. Do the people of Southern Sudan have a distinct cause from the one fronted by Mengo? i might ask. Was Norbert Mao summoned to CPS when he advocated for the formation of the greater Nile State and therefore seccesion from Uganda? Is it not that the president of Uganda has supported Garang for the last twenty or so years to secede from Sudan?

Buganda Vs Uganda's nationalism

It is no exaggeration that the degree of loyalty the people of Uganda have to the state is only intellectual and in speeches lacking emotional roots. Ugandans attach much significance to their cultural and ethnic distinction than to the colonial creation Uganda. Its the problems of the post-colonial state that spur ethnic discontent brewing from disatisfaction.For example no nationalist can allow public service to be populated by people from one region than is in Uganda today. So long as the Baganda were satisfied with the policies pursued by the colonial government, they were prepared to give it their loyalty. No people in Uganda were as responsive to the colonial regime as the Baganda before the fallout between the centre and Mengo over policies that Buganda felt were to undermine its institutions. In the clash of interests therefore one would be inclined to opt to their family, their clan and nation( recognise the omitting of tribe). The Baganda were so much receptive to the policies of the British in all spheres. They entertained Kasanvu and the growing of cash crops while others societies in Uganda rejected this as exploitative. They have cooperated with all succesive regimes that have not interfered with their cultural institution. The only problem has been leaders thinking out of misplaced anxiety that the strength of Buganda is an anti-thesis to the stability of Uganda which thinking must be contested by any clear thinking Ugandan.

Buganda's demands backward

There is a tendency to discredit nationalist sentiments as backward, the Crown applied the tactic against the Irish. Buganda's demands have been down played as backward, revanchist and detached from the realities of the 21st century conditions. But this backwardness has involved a criticism of its cultures, history and institutions and the Kabaka not spared. One needs to consider that nationalism even in the developed West where people have struggled to achieve it or preserve their national identity tends to contain a large element of nostalgia for the past. (backwardness) Historical exploits both factual and legendary is what nationalism feeds on. In such a condition traditional leaders come to prominence to give the nation its traditional element however backward they might seem. Someone must have noted the increasing number of elite clan leaders in Buganda can we classify them as backward? Almost all Buganda Ministers are holders of degrees. What can be said about my lecturer Dr Masagazi Masaazi serving as Buganda Minister for education?

Change of tone and language

There is a mud-painting of cultural nationalism first as backward and later as treasonous atleast if seen from the president's speeches and writing . How the repeated use of "backward", "collaborators", "feudalism", "landlords" and recently Kamanyiiro in refference to Mengo takes center stage in this case is left for the reader to introspect. What inspired His excellency to work with people he knew who harboured intrigue and Kamanyiiro in the Liberation war? Is this the payment for the support the backward people gave to the revolution? How about their children who died while his current cronies in the regime were enjoying luxuries in Europe? Is the president re-echoing Milton Obote's K.A.B.A.K.A and the fight against feudalism? In 1966, Milton Obote revealed that he had exclusive evidence that Muteesa had ordered arms from a British firm Gailey& Roberts to overthrow the regime. During that time it was the highest crime to contest a governement sanctioned by the West equalled to today's war on terror, the Weekly observer recently ran a story that there was a conspiracy to connect Mengo to Alqaeda and to arrest the Kabaka. The weekly observer is known to have credible sources, are we braced for the next move as Ugandans? Then very recently the powers that be arrested Mengo ministers which i commented about in another article as a reactionary mechanism to trap Buganda leaders into submitting to the NRM government and its demands.

Moses Kalanzi

Kampala

Mr. President Correction of past mistakes a mistake too

2010-02-20T14:20:00.001Z

orrection of Past Mistakes a mistake

An informed insight into the Lost Counties issue.

The president of Uganda has been in a number of forums been quoted as having declared a war against injustices with roots in colonial maladministration. The ex-leninist guerilla leader and avowed anti-colonialist {though now chairman of the colonial project] has on many occasions castigated the British for the kid-glove treatment of Buganda in the 1900 Agreement and the entrenchment of Ganda superiority through the divide and rule policy. Mr. Museveni has blamed the current land crisis and ongoing tensions with Mengo as effects of the 1900 Agreement much to the chagrin of the Mengo Establishment. Just like Obote he has attacked the British for having granted Buyaga, Buruuli and Bugangaizi to Buganda. This attempt at re-writing history rejects the conditions under which the territories enjoyed by the various benefactors of British rule gained them and while it may receive applause in certain quarters, it sows seeds of acrimony between ethnicities in Uganda. Mr. Museveni believes that by returning Buruuli to Bunyoro, inciting the Banyala and the Kabaka’s subject of Buvuma into secession, the disintegration of Buganda will be accelerated while forgetting that with the weakening of Buganda the country will be thrown into political confusion and economic stagnation. The misconception that once Buruuli, Bulemeezi or Bugerere go to Bunyoro then Uganda would be peaceful is based on an inherent fear of a stable Buganda by politicians’ intent on staying a little bit longer in power.

The excavation of historical facts reveals that the clock cannot be turned backwards suggesting that any attempt to do so would undermine Uganda’s territorial discipline. The platitude that time is a great healer depends purely on the assumption that memories good or bad fade but certainly not all bad memories fade. While we can accuse the Kingdom of Buganda to have risen at the expense of the disintegration of Bunyoro, the fact that many cultural entities rose out of Bunyoro should not be underplayed.

The foundation of Tooro Kingdom was a standard of defiance to Bunyoro. Is it viable to the new editors of our history to return Tooro to Omukama Gafabusa? The counties of Ruhaama, Rukoni, Ngoma and Rwenkindo all in Ntungamo were gained from Rwanda and the people of this area are Banyarwanda. The failure of the C.A to grant Ugandan citizenship to these people would have led to a secession of these people to Rwanda. The seccesion movement was led by Gad Gasatura, Higiro Semajwege and Augustine Ruzindana who had even vowed to cross to Rwanda on being denied Ugandan citizenship. Vast areas of Bufumbira belonged to Rwanda. Hon. Nathan Byanyima’s Bukanga County and Isingiro initially belonged to Buganda but were ceded to Nkore. Iron-rich Buhweju was also annexed to Nkore from Bunyoro under the reign of Kahaya and his son Rwebishengye. His grandson Mutambuka carried on the expansion over Buhweju. Rwebishengye had also invaded and plundered Kabula from Bunyoro in the East of Nkore and while Kabula then was under the jurisdiction of Nkore, it was not until 1949 that Bahima made an exodus from Nyabushozi into Mawogola and Kabula on a large exodus. This expedition was made by Prince George Herbert Mbata in defiance of Ankore government bylaws particularly one which forced peasants to make a compulsory contribution of ghee which was greatly resented by the Bahima “who also thought that they could live a freer life under the less paternalistic government of the Kabaka” {H.F Morris, Heroic Recitations of the Bahima of Ankore p.64}

Despite this Baganda have been regarded as ungrateful guests in Kabula since 1888 when fleeing Baganda Christians sought refuge in the land from Ntare V. Before then the land initially grabbed from Bunyoro had been sparsely populated with few Bahima.

Nwoya County was initially belonging to Bunyoro. Dokolo County also was taken from Bunyoro by the stroke of the 1900 Agreement. The Kumam of Kaberamaido used to belong to Bunyoro. Even Mr. Museveni birthplace in the county of Nyabushozi belonged to Bunyoro and so was Kashaari County. Can the president help Nyabushozi return to its rightful owners? The Batooro of Uganda still claim parts of Congo with distant relatives on the other side of the boundary. From the foregoing discussion it appears true that almost every corner of Uganda has historical roots in another corner of the country. Such roots have been strengthened by nationhood. Under the umbrella of foreign rule our forefathers started to forge bonds of nationhood despite ethnic differences. Now is not the time for making kings with queer tittles such as Saabanyala, Saabavuma, Saabaruuli or even Saabagabe. Mr. Museveni’s king-making qualities can be of great relief to the people of Ankore who now 23 years into his tenure have not had a cultural leader.

Lastly Kingdoms emerge through military economic and sometimes magical qualities and power; they are not accidents of history and never creatures of constitutions. Once they emerge, their sustenance is achieved through spontaneous and habitual obedience of the King’s subjects not by the provisions of the constitution or even the wishes of a seating government. Their existence cannot be corrected just as a clock can’t turn backwards.

Moses Kalanzi

CBS RADIO CLOSURE: GENOCIDE AND THE PARADOX OF MEDIA FREEDOMS

2010-02-20T14:09:00.000Z

Over the past weeks an issue of eminent concern has been the centre of controversy in the country not for it's trivial character as has been advanced by regime-leaning politicians but mostly for its implication to good governance and the rule of law in the country. I first had this at the lawyers day dialogue at Makerere in 2009 where presidential assistant on Institutions David Mafabi likened CBS radio to Radio Television Libres du Mille Collines in extending hate propaganda. This was at a dialogue discussing Media Freedoms: Myth or Reality Then less than a week later Local Government Minister Kahinda Otafiire in his usual fiery attitude lambasted the Mengo estabilishment and reiterated his earlier position that Mengo operates as an NGO. He assured members present at the dialogue organised by the Makerere University Convocation and sponsored by Konrad Adenuer Foundatiion that the activities of CBS radio bordered terrorism and were fuelling ethnic divisions in the country and stuck a semblence to Mafabi's argument when he recalled the activities of Mille Collines in the Rwanda Genocide. Whether a common understanding has been reached by government to ally Genocide to CBS radio or views expressed by its loyal cadres, the crux remains that Mengo has managed to intensify Ganda consciousness amidst ethnic persecution as seen by ordinary Baganda. Word going round at Mengo from impeccable sources has revealed that the Kingdom is under pressure to lessen its criticism of the central government. By the NRM regime indicating a fear of Genocide purportedly perpetuated by Mengo which in itself appears an inadequate claim, it has opened up debate on who is actually fuelling ethnic animosity in the country. The misuse of the term Genocide will be the centre of debate in this argument. The term was invented after the second world war in reference to Nazi activities of exterminating the Jews and the Genocide convention was ratified on 9th December 1948.
The verdict of history has revealed to us that genocide is mainly a state crime and is usually practiced by those in power and to acuse Mengo of such a crime would be to reverse an agenda orchestrated by those in power. I advance that ethnic hatred aired on CBS radio as seen by our rulers is a veiled attempt to curtail media freedom under the guise of regulating content. Recently Police instituted a section on Media Crimes at CID and a number of the country's brains and resources are employed to record all statements 'injurious to stability of the country'. A radio presenter at the Mengo radio has even sarcastically demanded that the section be renamed CBS Crimes Unit. But one issue often forgotten by the accusers is that Radio Mille Collines enjoyed the support of the state. It enjoyed 24 hour power and was located(for security purposes)on the street just across State House. Its ownership was by state functionaries including the First Lady, Felicien Kabuga, Gaspard Gahigi, Ferdinand Nahimana and a host of others were well connected to the regime in power. Anyone who has watched the movie Sometimes in April featuring Uganda's own Abby Mukiibi will agree with me that Genocide as a crime cannot thrive unsupported by those in power. It was a small circle around Madame Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of President Juvenal Habaryimana of Rwanda, popularly known as the Akazu, or the Little House, which perceived the power sharing provisions of the Arusha Accords of 1993 as fatal to its ambition to cling to power and resolved to annihilate Rwanda’s entire Tutsi population. Suggestedly its is a small clique of politicians in Uganda keen on perpetuating Mr Museveni in power who seek to close down Buganda radio. While we can accuse Mengo of educating its citizens someone is arming his tribesmen with guns and the result has been terrorising of rural peasants and land grabbing in the countryside. Frank Chalk the Author of Hate radio in Rwanda has argued that the radio used to mould the opinions of rural citizens but that the role of the state in Genocide should not be underplayed. Genocide as a crime involves high organisation usually involving state machinery in concealment of objectives. It is more than a few presenters speaking their hearts out. To advance a claim that a Powerless Mengo with a government equated to an NGO,can incited genocide is to deny the magnitude of the issues discussed above. From a simple perspective, it occurs that Mengo in abid to organise its masses amidst temptations of desecrating the Kingdom by the NRM started up a radio station and later a newspaper Njuba Times. The King himself a former journalist with the DRUM Magazine,must have known the importance of the media in mass mobilisation for development. If Mengo is inciting ethnic hatred, it appears to be doing so as a counter-measure to counter those arming Balaalo for purposes that cannot be understood as of now. Lastly Genocide is a two-way traffic conflict in which like all wars one has an upper hand in victory. Even in Rwanda RPF had a hate radio the controllers of the RPF’s weakly powered radio station, Radio Muhabura (Radio Beacon) which only failed to counter Mille Collines listernership to have impact. Otherwise how do you explained a Tutsi-owned radio to Unite Rwandans as has been advanced by the western press when in its military and political composition it was 98 percent Tutsi. This should not be concieved as an affront to the Tutsi but rather a balanced overview. The Kabaka of Buganda welcomed the Tusti and even protected Kigeri IV at his court during the earlier conflicts. It has always been the politicians playing at the harp of ethnic divisions to elongate their stay in power that have always created instability.
Moses Kalanzi

2009-11-02T09:06:00.000Z

Uganda at risk as Alshabaab threatens revenge.Uganda at risk as Alshabaab threatens revenge.
Uganda and Burundi have been forewarned of an imminent terror attack for their efforts in Somalia by the Alshabaab Matyrs Brigade a terrorits organisation associated with the Alqaeda. This follows recent clashes between the African Union troops and the Alshabaab militia which resulted in the death of Burundi deputy army commander and killing of a number of suspected terrorists in Mogadishu. According to UPDF spokesman Felix Kulaigye, Uganda has officially received threats from the terror outfit and security is working around the clock to avert a likelihood of a terror attack on the country.
While its neighbour Kenya and Tanzania were bombed in 2011 at the height of the Alqaeda attacks on the United States of America, Uganda despite its close relationship with the US, survived the attacks. Uganda is one of the few countries that have offered troops to provide protection to the transitional government in Somalia. According to the UPDF Spokesman, Uganda is commited to the provision of security for the stabilisation of the Abdoulahi led government. Asked whether Uganda is ready to contain a terror attack recently, President Museveni said that the duty of Uganda in Somalia is to protect the transitional government as part of their AU mandate but not to attack Alshabaab outposts in the country. He assured the nation that the threat would be dealt with militarily arguing that those threatening the country were not from mars as to excite fear in the region.
Meanwhile the Uganda Police is not taking the threat lightly. According to the head of CID, Uganda is aware of the threat and is not taking any chances. The general public has been urged to report any suspicious individuals. The police dog unit has also been undergoing intensive training in preparation for suspected terror attacks. The Police Chief General Kale Kayihura has ordered the department to breed more dogs. He said this while conducting a tour to the Police Dog Unit in Nsambya recently. With lack of mordern detection equipment, dogs remain one of the major detection devices recently being prominent in the nabbing of smugglers by the anti-narcotics unit.
Uganda provided troops to the African Union Mission in Somalia without the consent of parliament. According to opposition defence minister Alhajji Hussein Kyanjo, the country has lost a number of soildiers in a war that was not explained to the general public. The government of Uganda has stated that Uganda’s adventure in Horn of Africa is premised on its commitment to the African Union Peace keeping objectives.

To maim or to kill, a desire underlined to harm

2009-10-19T08:33:00.000+01:00

Am perturbed by the constant support accorded to President Museveni for the manner he handled the Buganda riots by many people whom I considered responsible and am equally irked by his recent stand on shooting to maim. If find the difference between shooting to kill and shooting to dismember a matter of semantics underlined by an entrenched desire to harm which should concern Ugandans. It is unconstitutional for a man who swore to uphold the constitution and protect citizens and their properties to make such outrageous public utterances. Morally it defiles convectional wisdom for any popularly elected leader to turn against his electorate, unless our president was elected by Kenyans or Malawians. A ruler ought to take more care of his people’s happiness than of his own, as a shepherd is to take more care of his flock than of himself? It is most certain that at the pyramid of causes of these riots, a general feeling of frustration played a central role in fanning the emotions and our leaders are running away from issues. It is factual that the main rioters are unemployed Ugandans frustrated by their current conditions. The severity of these conditions is exacerbated by revelations of people in government or those connected to it by kith and kin who have amassed wealth. In any human society this causes envy but it transforms into hatred when all this wealth is seen to be possessed by people from one region. This could explain why a bus carrying passenger from Western Uganda was torched. To be specific Baganda youth who by nature were raised in this part of Uganda might feel deprived as to be relegated to mechanics, petty traders and boda boda riders when their counterparts from from the ethnic group associated with the ruling government are enjoying the benefits of state patronage. To this Sir Thomas More in Utopia asked. Who does more earnestly long for a change than he that is uneasy in his present circumstances? And who run to create confusions with so desperate a boldness as those who, having nothing to lose, hope to gain by them?
President’s statements to shoot to maim civilians indicate a desperate leader. This would be the last thing to be said by a president. If a leader should fall under such contempt or envy that he could not keep his subjects in their duty but by oppression and ill usage, and by rendering them poor and miserable, it were certainly better for him to quit his leadership than to retain it by such methods as make him, while he keeps the name of authority, lose the majesty due to it. We can call Uganda’s past leaders all sorts of degrading names but the line between the past and the present is becoming thinner by the day. Obote attacked the Lubiri, arrested Mengo ministers and Bataka, he later pounced on the royals incarcerating them in Luzira. Haven’t we seen Baganda ministers in the recent times being accorded a state tour to western Uganda prisons on charges of terrorism, haven’t Bataka been incarcerated in the aftermath of the riots in Kayunga or haven’t we heard about the impending charges against Prince Nakibinge for using foreign sources to destabilize Uganda.
He is an unskillful physician (he)that cannot cure one disease without casting his patient into another. He that can find no other way for correcting the errors of his people but by taking from them the conveniences of life, shows that he knows not what it is to govern a free nation.

ENACT LAW ON CHILD SACRIFICE

2009-10-19T08:27:00.000+01:00

ENACT LAW ON CHILD RITUAL SACRIFICE
Each day newspaper headlines carry stories of a slain child, a kidnapped toddler or a foiled attempt at dissapearing an infant on grounds that the said would be victim had marks of ever having split blood. Parents now had to endure the pain of pinning the ears of their children including boys not as a luxurious expression of beautifacation but of one of neccesity to safeguard their children from monstrous natives keen on earning a quick buck by murdering innocent children in the name of appeasing spirits to accumulate wealth.
A recent ANPPCAN report reveals a lot about the current state of children especially on child sacrifice. The 2008 Uganda Human Rights Commision report has classified the issues as an emergent human rights catastrophe. Parents like their children now live in constant fear of these criminals and this has affected their lifestyles. The morning and evening traffic jam on main city routes is caused by a delibarate attempt by parents to see their children safe to and from their points of study. Consequently schools have been fortified like military barracks and parents with children in boarding schools have to endure a rigorous identification exercise for the safety of their children just because some crooks in society are so desparate as to postpone reasoning to kill for money. Children are no longer free to play at ease without keen watchmen for their safety.Most intriguing is the fact that parents or people related to the children have been reported to be some of the leading accomplices in the ritual murder cases and the rampant kidnappings in the country. Ugandan society is increasingly becoming not only unjust but also unsafe to the children.
Yet something can be done to curb this growing insecurity with the goodwill of all concerned stakeholders. The light in the darkness is the enactment of an anti-ritual sacrifice law to strengthen the fight against this criminality. While there has ben considerable work done in reporting cases and interesting the intervention of prosecution, there’s still a lacunae in describing the criminality and thereby prescribing the appropriate punishment. Accused persons are charged with murder and manslaughter and accorded undeserving treatment. A focus group constituting of the Police anti-ritual murder Unit, Traditional healers body, ministry of education, child rights advocacy organisations and the law society should be formed to formulate a law to strengthen the existing weak laws. With a law in place, government can be able to pass guidelines to operationalise the law to safeguard the children.
Moses Kalanzi
The author works with Daniels Dream Uganda, a child welfare organisation.
mkalanzi@gmail.com

Boda boda swoop:More to it than just helmets and licences

2009-10-02T12:12:00.001+01:00

Boda bodas are pherhaps the most convinient medium of transport inUganda that they could not evade the conscience of legendary croonerElly Wamala. If you are not a chauffer driven politician or socialiteyou cannot evade their services unless your work is not conviniencedby Kampala’s traffic chaos. They have attained political significancestarting with candidate Yoweri Museveni’s 2001 campaign trail where hearrived at his campaign launch at Kololo aboard a boda boda much tothe surprise of many who considered the man fit for another term ongrounds of his ‘simple character’ exhibitedby associating with themost down trodden, the cyclists. Then like the president’s cowboy hat,stammering and gesturing, the boda boda was adopted as an officialelectioneering strategy with many politicias in this country fightingfor paparazzi shots aboard boda bodas. I have a newspaper cutting ofone minister who defied his ernomous size to jump on a boda boda forthe sake of being seen to associate with the “electorate” Everywhereboda boda cyclists became increasingly influential in politics and allother popular activities that involve mass mobilisation. When SeyaSsebagala returned, they lined the streets from entebbe to Kampala,when Gaetano Kaggwa exited the Big brother house after representingthe pearl of africa in that event, a heroes welcome awaited him andthe boda bodas were readily available to add colour to the occasionthat citizen number one was alarmed as to ask “Who is Gaetano” in aBig Headline in the national paper. He was to later know him asanother socialite but not as a homecoming exilee that he invited himto his ranch. Boda boda cyclists became empowered by the governmentthat they were soon on collision with Ssebaana’s KCC. Loans were givento youths to acquire Cycles after the elections and boda boda cyclistsincreasingly became associated with the president through RDC’s. Likestreet hawkers and market vendors,boda boda cyclists side-stepeedinstitutions like KCC to reason that their problems could only beunderstood by the president of Uganda.Everywhere on campaign trailsthey were assured of ‘per diem’ and free fuel at stations owned bymembers of the regime. With the return of Dr. Besigye and the increasein opposition against the NRM, Mr. Museveni’s role as patron of thedown-trodden shifted to Mengo and other political forces whereindividuals like Nambooze and Betty Kamya made them aware that whilethey could benefit from election loans for survival, there was lifebeyond politics. Nambooze’s Central Civic Committee comprises mainlyof Boda boda cyclits and market vendors as on –ground volunteers.Support for Kamya’s Uganda Federal Alliance has mainly come from thedown-trodden previously identified as Mr. Museveni’s soft spots. Inthe past there have been attempts to force cyclists to wear helmetsand observe road regulations but this has been resisted with supportfrom RDC’s who have instead suggested that KCC sits with lawbreakersto solve the situation. The climax of the fallout with Mr. Museveni(not NRM) has been the recent Buganda riots with their percieved rolein mobilising support in the town centers and surburbs. Because oftheir mobilisational role in hyping campaing trails and abettingdemonstrations by whisking off demonstrators, they remain to be sen asan important force in the election planning that they featureprominently in what has been consistently called ‘logistics’ so muchso that even in a University election, the candidate has to mobiliseresources for the “entourage”.My concern is that while they offertheir services at election campaigns, the posturing politicians ofthis world are quiet while an estimated 1000 cycles have beenimpounded for engaging in ‘lawless activities’ read expressing theirviews over the blocking of the Kabaka to Bugerere. Where isMuseveni’s simple character of 2001? Something said about the grasssuffering in a battle of elephants.

KARIMOJONG YOUTH IN SEARCH FOR AN ALTERNATIVE LIVELIHOOD

2009-08-31T09:04:00.001+01:00

In pursuit of my passion – to see young women and men taking Uganda to another level; I set out to Karamoja-a region in North Eastern Uganda known for many challenges but mostly for its unique and strong culture. Karamoja includes the old districts of Moroto and Kotido and more recently, the newly created districts of Kaabong, Abim and Nakapiripirit. I dream of such a day when every Ugandan would be able to afford basic necessities and not live in the extremities of lack- that is the story of Karamoja. Karamoja has two sides to it: a side that has been known to be the worst to her neighbors, the Iteso, Langi, Acholi and Bagisu and on the boarders to Kenya. Decades of cattle rustling have made Karimojong the sworn enemies of their immediate neighbors. On the other hand the Karimojong are people that stand out for their resiliency- despite the grave challenges they have of extreme poverty, lack and desperation; they ‘survive’ alongside these challenges and many Ugandans live in oblivion of the situation of Karimojong.

I have always wanted to contribute to the transformation of this part of the country even if is by just placing one block to a building being constructed or other ongoing work to transform the region. The opportunities are always presented and this particular opportunity came through a small programme supported by Youth Action for Change Forgotten Diaries project. Forgotten Diaries is a project that is trying to document stories of young people in conflict areas that are often unheard of and unknown to the world. The Karamoja conflict has been overshadowed by the Lord’s Resistance Army rebel conflict that has had engulfed Northern Uganda for more than 20 decades. Little is still known of the challenges that these Ugandans live in even by Ugandans themselves. When this opportunity came, I jumped at it heading straight to Karamoja to document the stories of young people in a remote village of Nabual. Deep in my heart I know, that the future lies with young women and men of this region. If only young people can see the world in another perspective, then, we would be able to see a different Karamoja and a Ugandan very soon.

I travelled to Nabual village, in Iririr Sub County in Moroto district with the objective of conducting a peace campaign and particularly meeting with young people of this area and share with them on leadership. The journey took two days with a stopover in Mbale because I missed the only bus that would leave straight from Kampala to my destination. Iriirir Sub county is blessed with some of the most fertile land in Karamoja particularly Nabaul where I was headed. Nabual is home of Karimojong settlers from the Pian and Bokora clans and border Katakwi and Amuria district to the East. There have been inter clan conflicts between the Pian (Nakapiripirit) and Bokora (Moroto) for several generations and these conflicts have consisted of cattle rustling, theft and many killings over time. On the other hand, the Karimojong have also attacked their neighbours in Katakwi and Amuria district causing a lot of havoc which resulted into the displacement of people in these districts into camps. These ethnic conflicts have resulted in chronic poverty among the affected people and also hampering other economic activities in Karamoja and its neighbours.

The recent government disarmament programme and continuous sensitization of the natives on the need for them to settle and engage in productive life other than nomadic life and cattle rustling has born some fruit. There is now, relative peace and security in the region with fewer theft, ambushes and killings happening. This has attracted families to settle and even consider the life of settled agriculture rather than nomadic movements. The lives of Karimojong especially the youth are now at croos roads as they seek to redirect their lives to something else other than cattle rustling which had pre occupied the young men of this region.

‘There is hope for Karamoja. One day, we shall overcome all the challenges
we face in Karamoja but only when we work ourselves to provide solutions to
improve our conditions. Nobody is going to change Karamoja except if
Karimojong themselves do so and the task lies in you young people’
Monicah Amoding, Girls2Leaders Movement.

I met with about 30 young men aged 16-35 years resident in Nabual village. I got to hear the challenges that young people in this village face and shared with them how they can participate in promoting peace and developing their community. I shared with them that the young generation of Karamoja has an important role to play in solving the problems that Karamoja is facing.

The young men noted that hunger affects every Karimojong family, but young people are more affected than the elders, because the burden to feed their families is now falling on young people, who have to go and do casual work or business in trading centres to be able bring back food to their families. Due the chronic famine, young people have had to go to towns where they find themselves jobless and beggars on the streets in towns like Busia on the border to Karimoja, Mbale, Tororo, and Kampala in search for food and income for their families. What they get in town, they bring back home to support their impoverished families. They also noted that because they no longer go raiding, they have found themselves very idle with nothing to keep them busy and as a result many young people now spend a lot of their time idling in trading centres in search for local brew. Music at such times has proved to the most important social event for these young people.

I emphasized that young people are the leaders of today and tomorrow and that means that the present and the future ultimately belongs to them. By helping their families put food on the table, they are minimizing hunger in their homes and they are reducing the potential of conflict in their communities over food and other resources. By preventing the occurrence of conflict in their communities, they are also assuring themselves of a better future. I also urged them to engage in productive activities that can earn them and their families an income to avoid engaging in illegal activities in which they can get killed. I also asked them to be role models to other young people in other villages by not engaging in cattle rustling and also reporting any other people who engage in this activity emphasizing tolerance and love towards other young people from other clans and neighboring districts to Karamoja.

Who Killed Muteesa?

2009-08-21T12:59:00.000+01:00

Who Killed Muteesa ?
There are some figures in this era who cannot be repackaged , but must be revealed. These are outsized figures whose achievements defy attempts at trivialisation. Because their influence is so profound myths, legends and mysteries cloud the actual facts of their lives. In Uganda's case one man in our history relates immensely to such a figure and his death has remained a mystery to many.A dark cloud of fear and uncertainity descended upon the kingdom of Buganda on the morning after Nov . 21, 1969 the date on which the royal fire had stopped burning. Fredrick William Luwangula Walugembe Muteesa had succumbed to the treacherous hands of his lifelong tormentors. Muteesa like his father Daudi Chwa had met a mysterious death and like many assasinations , a complexity of theories have been manufactured to shroud his demise in uncertainity with many pointing to Milton Obote as a possible accomplice. His death like his father's was humiliating. According to Crawford Young, The Politics of Cultural Pluralism, Muteesa had died the of a lonely death of exile in a drab east end London flat. The coroners jugdement was alcoholic poisoning ,a verdict which failed to allay all suspicions. Muteesa, a victim of the 1953 deportation to England, the survivor of the 1966 Palace attack ochestrated by Obote, a veteran of the Pre-independence politics did not live long enough to retur to his kingdom from axile and most regrettably did not attend his birthday the next day, a ceremony he usually marked with pomp and pleasure amidst his subjects at his london encalve. Most certainly his killers must have been known him at a close level and must have been well briefed about his movements and schedule on the eve such that eve the solsier he was and a man of many enemies he atempted not to smell any air of foul play at the kasiki party usually attended by close relatives and inseperable friends. While it was identified by the Official British Police report as suicide, the death has been viewed as assassin ation by many who claim Mutesa may have been force-fed vodka by agents of the Obote regime. A British journalist, John Simpson, who interviewed King Freddie in his flat just a few hours before his death,stated that he was sober and in good spirits. This was confirmed by people who were around him in his last hours. Simpson actually reported this to the police upon hearing of the King's death on the following day. Incomprehensibly, this line of inquiry was not pursued by the Britishpolice who ruled out the possibility of foul play instead claimed that the King died of excessive drinking even when he was not known to be a heavy drinker and most of all indulging in excessive drinking amidst his most trusted friends and family.
Where the Scotland Yard covering something?
To uncover the mystery sorrounding the death of Muteesa emotions and wounds are re-opened but always the truth is settled by history. As Obote is implicated among the accomplices in the murder of his former UPC-KY ally, objectives attempts are paramount in tracking what could have been his role. Observers point to the climax of the UPC-KY fallout in 1966 resulting in the attack of the Lubiri by Obote's forces led by Amin and the exile of the Kabaka in UK. That Obote followed Muteesa in exile to end his life is a basic fact of life to many Baganda across generations. Muteesa was in Obote's words 'the ugly head of feudalism' which required beheading. Since the stability of the Ugandan state much depends upon factors playing in Buganda which are dictated by the Mengo hierachy headed by Muteesa, it follows reason that to counter Buganda and consolidate power the activities of its leadership had to be curtailed. Muteesa was known to have potential to direct events even when in exile and this can be confirmed by the British who failed to put constitutional changes in place even when he was in exile bwtween 1953-1955.
Was an exiled Muteesa a threat to a socialist leaning Obote?
The question is as good as an obvious answer. Was Obote fearful of the Israel and theWest returning Muteesa as an alternative to his socialist ideology? Was Muteesa a viable alternative caught in between cold war politics?. Since no single politician gathered as much popularity and acceptance as Muteesa certainly Obote must have felt insecure but even then the relationship between Buganda and the Queen's government were not much admirable to excite any fear of working together to oust Obote.It is true that Obote was suspicious of Muteesa and his British connections. It must be remembered that Muteesa was a Grenadier Officer and a Knight and according to one of Obote's reasons for the attck of the Lubiri in 1966 were intelligence reports that Muteesa had procured arms from Britain to topple his government.
The rise of Obote as a politician was a counter-surge against Buganda domination of politics. His activities in the LEGCO as a Lango representative and later leader of the anti-Buganda wing of the Uganda National Congress reflect a dislike of Ganda grandeur which Muteesa represented. The formation of UPC with Obote’s inspiration out of the amalgamation of Uganda People’s Union {an anti-Baganda party} and Obote’s UNC wing was to counter Buganda ’s demands to the Colonial government. Yet the tactful Milton married a Muganda wife and crowned his victory with the conclusion of the KY-UPC alliance. The general feeling in Buganda after the 1966 crisis was one of distaste for Obote. Interestingly Milton revealed in a 12 August 1980 memorandum to close party members during the election period to remember ‘how much the Baganda hate me personally’. According to a witness during the Commision of Inquiry on the Violations of Human rights 1995, Obote had at a rally in Soroti warned the people their not to behave like a certain tribe they knew very well. He ended his speech with the now famous dictum, a good Muganda is a dead one. Could he have forgotten his Muganda wife or was she as good as a dead one? The arrest of prominent Baganda including royal family members and kingdoms indicated to the Baganda that Obote had potential to kill Muteesa. The countrywide search for Muteesa amidst the 1966 imbroglio and the energy used in the exercise informed many Baganda of what could have happened to Muteesa had he landed into the hands of the feared General Service Unit. It rests therefore that Obote not only had the capacity but the intention too of killing Muteesa. It rests therefore according to Obote that Muteesa became a good Muganda with his death in 1969. Since no great man has a blameless record, Obote should take his share of reproach and while regard must be shown to the dead, more respect is to be paid to history without exalting fame or aggravating infamy. The charge which history will make against him is that he was the architect of the 1966 palace attack that resulted into Muteesa’s exile under which he was assassinated.
The Anglo-Israel Connection
.Despite the fact that the death of Obote was celebrated in Buganda for his percieved role in the death of Muteesa, members of the Uganda Peoples Congress have put Muteesa’s death to the machinations of Obote’s enemies. If we are to be swayed by this conviction and that an identification of Obote’s enemies is of any assistance then fate leads us to Israel and Britain working in collaboration with Amin. The enmity between Amin and Obote was phenomenal climaxing into the British-aided and Israel-abetted January 1971 Amin coup. Why would Amin want to appease the Baganda by promising to return the late King’s body with barely one day in office? How could he the commander of the search and destroy attack on the Lubiri in 1966 become Buganda ’s best friend in so little a time? Was the death of Muteesa an advantage to Britain ? Was containing Obote more easier than containing a stubborn Muteesa, the victim of the 1953 deportation? Both Muteesa and Obote had strained relationships with the British with Obote’s move to the left and Muteesa’s stalling of the constitutional process proving too cumbersome to Her Majesty’s government. Was it better for Britain to return a dead Muteesa in post-Obote Uganda ? No man could single-handedly assume acceptance than Muteesa with a deposed Obote. Was Muteesa a hindrance to the Colonial exploitation project with the overthrow of Obote. If by retuning Muteesa’s body, Amin was projecting himself as a pro-Buganda leader, were there attempts to install the new king with all the trappings of the position and office? Wasn’t Amin’s policy towards Buganda copied from Obote’s Notebooks? Can it be denied that Amin was a full member of the UPC and therefore was well grounded inObote’s anti-feudalist ideology? At one meeting of all cultural leaders in 1971, Amin informed those present that Uganda was to remain a republican state. It therefore highlights an influential role played by Amin in covering up for the murder of Muteesa. According to the Obote Family, the Nyamurungu never attempted even to kill a lice (even when he had a heavy hairstyle). It is argued that he did not through out his two presidential terms sign a death warrant. To crown his kindness it has been argued that even Sebadduka, the Lugogo assassin whom Obote narrowly missed, was never killed and is still alive today after serving his life sentence. They have blamed Muteesa’s death on the western powers working to disorganize Obote’s socialist Uganda by creating dissent to spark off a revolution in Uganda between 1968-1971. Yet Obote’s choice of Lusaka and Dar-el-salaam as points of refuge holds some pint of truth. Did Obote know a thing or two about exile in the western world especially for naughty African nationalists?Is my guess as good as yours?

2009-08-21T12:44:00.001+01:00

Who Killed Muteesa ?

There are some figures in this era who cannot be repackaged , but must be revealed. These are outsized figures whose achievements defy attempts at trivialisation. Because their influence is so profound myths, legends and mysteries cloud the actual facts of their lives. In Uganda's case one man in our history relates immensely to such a figure and his death has remained a mystery to many.A dark cloud of fear and uncertainity descended upon the kingdom of Buganda on the morning after Nov . 21, 1969 the date on which the royal fire had stopped burning. Fredrick William Luwangula Walugembe Muteesa had succumbed to the treacherous hands of his lifelong tormentors. Muteesa like his father Daudi Chwa had met a mysterious death and like many assasinations , a complexity of theories have been manufactured to shroud his demise in uncertainity with many pointing to Milton Obote as a possible accomplice. His death like his father's was humiliating. According to Crawford Young, The Politics of Cultural Pluralism, Muteesa had died the of a lonely death of exile in a drab east end London flat. The coroners jugdement was alcoholic poisoning ,a verdict which failed to allay all suspicions. Muteesa, a victim of the 1953 deportation to England, the survivor of the 1966 Palace attack ochestrated by Obote, a veteran of the Pre-independence politics did not live long enough to retur to his kingdom from axile and most regrettably did not attend his birthday the next day, a ceremony he usually marked with pomp and pleasure amidst his subjects at his london encalve. Most certainly his killers must have been known him at a close level and must have been well briefed about his movements and schedule on the eve such that eve the solsier he was and a man of many enemies he atempted not to smell any air of foul play at the kasiki party usually attended by close relatives and inseperable friends. While it was identified by the Official British Police report as suicide, the death has been viewed as assassin ation by many who claim Mutesa may have been force-fed vodka by agents of the Obote regime. A British journalist, John Simpson, who interviewed King Freddie in his flat just a few hours before his death,stated that he was sober and in good spirits. This was confirmed by people who were around him in his last hours. Simpson actually reported this to the police upon hearing of the King's death on the following day. Incomprehensibly, this line of inquiry was not pursued by the British
police who ruled out the possibility of foul play instead claimed that the King died of excessive drinking even when he was not known to be a heavy drinker and most of all indulging in excessive drinking amidst his most trusted friends and family. Where the Scotland Yard covering something? To uncover the mystery sorrounding the death of Muteesa emotions and wounds are re-opened but always the truth is settled by history. As Obote is implicated among the accomplices in the murder of his former UPC-KY ally, objectives attempts are paramount in tracking what could have been his role. Observers point to the climax of the UPC-KY fallout in 1966 resulting in the attack of the Lubiri by Obote's forces led by Amin and the exile of the Kabaka in UK. That Obote followed Muteesa in exile to end his life is a basic fact of life to many Baganda across generations. Muteesa was in Obote's words 'the ugly head of feudalism' which required beheading. Since the stability of the Ugandan state much depends upon factors playing in Buganda which are dictated by the Mengo hierachy headed by Muteesa, it follows reason that to counter Buganda and consolidate power the activities of its leadership had to be curtailed. Muteesa was known to have potential to direct events even when in exile and this can be confirmed by the British who failed to put constitutional changes in place even when he was in exile bwtween 1953-1955.

Was an exiled Muteesa a threat to a socialist leaning Obote?

The question is as good as an obvious answer. Was Obote fearful of the Israel and theWest returning Muteesa as an alternative to his socialist ideology? Was Muteesa a viable alternative caught in between cold war politics?. Since no single politician gathered as much popularity and acceptance as Muteesa certainly Obote must have felt insecure but even then the relationship between Buganda and the Queen's government were not much admirable to excite any fear of working together to oust Obote.It is true that Obote was suspicious of Muteesa and his British connections. It must be remembered that Muteesa was a Grenadier Officer and a Knight and according to one of Obote's reasons for the attck of the Lubiri in 1966 were intelligence reports that Muteesa had procured arms from Britain to topple his government.

The rise of Obote as a politician was a counter-surge against Buganda domination of politics. His activities in the LEGCO as a Lango representative and later leader of the anti-Buganda wing of the Uganda National Congress reflect a dislike of Ganda grandeur which Muteesa represented. The formation of UPC with Obote’s inspiration out of the amalgamation of Uganda People’s Union {an anti-Baganda party} and Obote’s UNC wing was to counter Buganda ’s demands to the Colonial government. Yet the tactful Milton married a Muganda wife and crowned his victory with the conclusion of the KY-UPC alliance. The general feeling in Buganda after the 1966 crisis was one of distaste for Obote. Interestingly Milton revealed in a 12 August 1980 memorandum to close party members during the election period to remember ‘how much the Baganda hate me personally’. According to a witness during the Commision of Inquiry on the Violations of Human rights 1995, Obote had at a rally in Soroti warned the people their not to behave like a certain tribe they knew very well. He ended his speech with the now famous dictum, a good Muganda is a dead one. Could he have forgotten his Muganda wife or was she as good as a dead one? The arrest of prominent Baganda including royal family members and kingdoms indicated to the Baganda that Obote had potential to kill Muteesa. The countrywide search for Muteesa amidst the 1966 imbroglio and the energy used in the exercise informed many Baganda of what could have happened to Muteesa had he landed into the hands of the feared General Service Unit. It rests therefore that Obote not only had the capacity but the intention too of killing Muteesa. It rests therefore according to Obote that Muteesa became a good Muganda with his death in 1969. Since no great man has a blameless record, Obote should take his share of reproach and while regard must be shown to the dead, more respect is to be paid to history without exalting fame or aggravating infamy. The charge which history will make against him is that he was the architect of the 1966 palace attack that resulted into Muteesa’s exile under which he was assassinated.

The Anglo-Israel Connection.
Despite the fact that the death of Obote was celebrated in Buganda for his percieved role in the death of Muteesa, members of the Uganda Peoples Congress have put Muteesa’s death to the machinations of Obote’s enemies. If we are to be swayed by this conviction and that an identification of Obote’s enemies is of any assistance then fate leads us to Israel and Britain working in collaboration with Amin. The enmity between Amin and Obote was phenomenal climaxing into the British-aided and Israel-abetted January 1971 Amin coup. Why would Amin want to appease the Baganda by promising to return the late King’s body with barely one day in office? How could he the commander of the search and destroy attack on the Lubiri in 1966 become Buganda ’s best friend in so little a time? Was the death of Muteesa an advantage to Britain ? Was containing Obote more easier than containing a stubborn Muteesa, the victim of the 1953 deportation? Both Muteesa and Obote had strained relationships with the British with Obote’s move to the left and Muteesa’s stalling of the constitutional process proving too cumbersome to Her Majesty’s government. Was it better for Britain to return a dead Muteesa in post-Obote Uganda ? No man could single-handedly assume acceptance than Muteesa with a deposed Obote. Was Muteesa a hindrance to the Colonial exploitation project with the overthrow of Obote. If by retuning Muteesa’s body, Amin was projecting himself as a pro-Buganda leader, were there attempts to install the new king with all the trappings of the position and office? Wasn’t Amin’s policy towards Buganda copied from Obote’s Notebooks? Can it be denied that Amin was a full member of the UPC and therefore was well grounded inObote’s anti-feudalist ideology? At one meeting of all cultural leaders in 1971, Amin informed those present that Uganda was to remain a republican state. It therefore highlights an influential role played by Amin in covering up for the murder of Muteesa. According to the Obote Family, the Nyamurungu never attempted even to kill a lice (even when he had a heavy hairstyle). It is argued that he did not through out his two presidential terms sign a death warrant. To crown his kindness it has been argued that even Sebadduka, the Lugogo assassin whom Obote narrowly missed, was never killed and is still alive today after serving his life sentence. They have blamed Muteesa’s death on the western powers working to disorganize Obote’s socialist Uganda by creating dissent to spark off a revolution in Uganda between 1968-1971. Yet Obote’s choice of Lusaka and Dar-el-salaam as points of refuge holds some pint of truth. Did Obote know a thing or two about exile in the western world especially for naughty African nationalists?
Is my guess as good as yours?

Kampala City Authority or Kampala Corruption Agents

2009-08-21T12:05:00.001+01:00

Kampala City Authority or Kampala Corruption Agents.
Investigating the feasibility of taking over Kampala.

Tensions are high between Buganda government and the NRM Government over the proposed take-over of Kampala in what has been dubbed the clash of the moment between the two centers. For starters Kampala is a district of Buganda according to the 1995 constitution, while at the same time occupying the noble role of being the country’s capital city. The central government proposes to transform Kampala into a Metropolitan City extending its frontiers to as far as Zinga islands. The same will see the frontiers extend to include such areas as Entebbe, Kasanje, Kira and many parts of Wakiso district.
Kampala is the micro-cosm of the 600 year-old Buganda kingdom with a known royal lineage line of 36 kings. It follows from history that each ruler of Buganda erected a capital(Kibuga) developing from a palace which soon became enclosed within protective townships developed by the King’s chiefs thus what came to be known as Ekibuga(Capital City) from okubugiriza embuga ( luganda term for enclosing the palace). Despite that rich history, the new bill seeks not only to erase that invaluable historical development equaled only by developed European capitals in significance but also seeks to break the constitution of Uganda the supreme law of the land forcefully taking over people’s land in direct contravention of the constitution which states that all land belongs to the people. It is an open secret that much of Kampala land is Private Mailo land exclusively owned by private landlords. In 1900 the Buganda government leased Kampala to the imperial government for development of a capital city for 99, consequently the lease expired in 1999 but ever since then talks for the return of Buganda property including have always ended in deadlock. The plan to disintegrate the 600-year old Buganda kingdom I have argued in many works has taken the form of administrative obstacles, legal gymnastics and sheer use of force and in this new bill a legal trap has been set. It is simply an enjoiner with the regional tier bill, which now seems to be refined to a specific goal having realized that the desecration of Buganda cannot be implemented by an ambigious regional tier bill which was a cocktail of many contradictions. Having tested the anger of Baganda over the land bill 2007 and its many refined disguised forms, the architects of this historical mistake now seek to use partisan politics to takeover Kampala by claiming that with the opposition out of Kampala, the development of Kampala will be a pie-eating task.

What is Kampala’s problem?
President Museveni has always maintained that the problem of Kampala is its management which is also true but even Uganda’s obstacles to development stem from poor management. Uganda’s managers are even not ashamed of Uganda’s position on global corruption index rankings. They still claim to have the moral authority to fight corruption and mismanagement when their relatives have assumed positions of corruption czars. Bad governance and corruption are not restricted to Kampala but Uganda as a whole. If corruption and mismanagement of Kampala is blamed on the opposition, what role do NRM cadres at Division and Municipality play in checking these tendencies? Who is directly responsible for Kampala heartland in the central division? Hasn’t Nyakaana been implicated in toilet investment scandals? What about Kira’s Mamerito and land grabbing wrangles attributed to him? Should we regard these as saints? If Kampala City Council is the most corrupt institution to warrant a government takeover, then Ugandans have a right to remove the current government which holds the mantle for having the most corrupt ministers in the country’s history.

Another Mengo betrayal or Truth twisting.
Many members of the ruling party have (as if pre-coached) at bimeeza and other informal forums maintained that this is a pre-determined position a result of consultations between Mengo and the center. Even if Mengo went into talks with the center over the proposed takeover of Kampala how sure can we be that Mengo accepted such a nasty deal given the regime’s record of twisting the truth? Could Mulwannyamuli’s delegation during the 2005 talks have betrayed Buganda’s sacred interests based on the nyamantono principle? What will remain of the geographical composition of Buganda with over 50% of Wakiso ceded to Metropolitan Kampala? Logic suggests that with Kampala extended to areas of Wakiso, Mukono and other Districts of Buganda (see 1995 constitution), the reduction of Buganda’s surface size will be concluded. Thus the final dissolution of Buganda as a geographical entity will be implemented. The calculation has been simple; starting in the countryside, land has been forcefully or voluntarily (due to biting poverty) acquired by the holders of power evicting indigenous Baganda. Consequently Abasatuusi as Kabaka Mutebi fondly calls them (illegal immigrants) mainly from Uganda’s western cattle corridor have occupied land initially and legally belonging to the Baganda. One army general in Uganda owns over 30 square miles in Mubende, Kiboga and Nakasongola. There’s no expression of an imminent desecration of Buganda plan than this example. Jubilation of talking over Kampala can be heard from NRM circles but where would Kabuye, Mamerito, Kintu and other Baganda leaders go.
The bill is calculated to mix politics to win the support of the common people as their heritage is usurped.
Who is responsible for the chaos in Kampala?
While sense can be found in the argument that Kampala is way too disorganized, to attribute this disorganization to Kampala City Council is to accuse the wrong people.
A cursory look into the causes of disorganization in the city exposes the multi-faceted role played by the government acting as protectors of the common man at the same time tormentors of the same. Who owns the blame for the congestion of the city with the buses, who owns the buses? It has been argued that Market Vendors pose a serious challenge to the urban development of Kampala but there sustenance has been maintained by government through Veteran schemes. The city is held at ransom by armed people of various shades of uniforms claiming to be veterans as if the city is their main source of livelihoods. One cannot deduce whether Kampala is Luweero where Veterans scuffle for public land to erect markets. We all agree that UTODA is a contributing factor to the disorganization of the city but where do they derive all that power? Who owns the Kibooko squad? Where are Abel Rwendeire and Kisamba Mugerwa of the National Planning Authority in all this? Why should we forego institutions for the sake of political longevity?
Another Authority!!
I have developed a dislike for the word Authority not that am archaic but it’s gross misrepresentation in Uganda civil life has had me hate the word. Ever since the NRM started Authorities, the level of corruption has reached grand levels. From Revenue (URA), Planning (NPA) Electricity (UETA), Environmental Management (NEMA) to Roads (URA) and Forestry (NFA) the most lucid expressions of nepotism, ethnicism and corruption have been witnessed in Uganda in the last quarter of a century. A transparency international report for east Africa has included Uganda’s revenue authority as a leading corruption parastatal in the region. NEMA itself has been accused of selective justice, NPA itself seems to be a corruption planning authority.
Moses Kalanzi
Uganda Citizen.

Museveni asks for another term

2009-08-21T12:03:00.000+01:00

MUSEVENI ASKS FOR ANOTHER TEN YEARS AS MENGO REJECTS KAMPALA TAKEOVER.
It is now official president Museveni’s ambitions of becoming Africa’s longest serving ruler have been confirmed. Speaking on a live telecast on Uganda’s WBS TV on Sunday, the aging ruler admitted that he would consider serving until expiry of the constitutional mandated 75 years. The president’s words were timely calculated to correspond with the climax of the intrigue and in-fighting within the NRM with each group accusing each other of jumping the queue while at the same time settling doubts about his possible re-election as NRM flag-bearer at the 2011 elections. Museveni whose exact date of birth has remained a mystery admits that he will be 75 in 2019, exactly 33 years in power since his military takeover in 1986. And because the president would reach 75 while still remaining with another two years to end his visional last term, Ugandans would have to wait till 2022 to see the face of another president and that would be 35 years in power enough to break dictator Omar Bongo’s record. Even then Ugandans are not sure of Mr. Museveni’s exact birth date just as they are not sure of his genealogical records. The Ugandan leader who relates his birth to the period of the great rinderpest invasion of the 1940s in the Nkore region has been a victim of recent fresh attacks from diplomat Olara Otunnu who has challenged him to prove his Ugandan ancestry.
But while answers over his over stay in power were crucial, more important was Mr. Museveni’s tone and language when discussing his government’s strained relationship with the Buganda government. A visibly angry Museveni who was reacting to questions from a panel of journalists trashed Buganda’s demands for a Federal arrangement in a two-hour diatribe calling it unrealistic and cautioned agitators against testing his patience with calls for a federal arrangement. He reaffirmed his government’s commitment to ensure the extension of Kampala borders in the proposed Kampala City Authority. Mr. Museveni attacked the Mengo establishment for what he called double standards and vowed to resist demands for FEDERO arguing that the regional tier arrangement was the best he could negotiate with the Kabaka’s government. Mr. Museveni faced a rough time as outspoken Weekly Observer writer Semujju Ibrahim Nganda put him to task on critical issue regarding Buganda’s demands.
This is not the first time Mr. Museveni is brought to task to speak about critical issues in the country, Mr. Museveni, an avid reader and contributor to discourse since his university days has authored a number of articles in the local press and frequently appears on various radio stations in the country to explain his position.

Meanwhile Mengo has rejected the proposed takeover arguing that the central government overlooked consultation with Mengo before reaching such a conclusion. Mengo Minister for information and Lukiiko affairs Owekitiibwa Charles Peter Mayiga decried the alarming levels of obstinacy especially regarding the centers relationship with the Kabaka’s government on crucial matters of engagement. He also attacked the government owned NewVision newspaper for defaming the Kabaka’s reputation by attributing false stories to His Majesty’s person. The SundayVision carried out a lead story indicating that the Kabaka through his company Rexba had mortgaged Bulange Building to a senior cabinet Minister in the NRM government.

Hail Thee Julunga

2009-08-21T12:00:00.000+01:00

Unanswered questions in the assassination of Tom Julunga.

The murder of Tom Julunga in the days before Heroes day must have been calculated by his murderers to give him a decent demise, divert Ugandans on this day of self-evaluation and this calls to mind for most of us with a sense of history, the return of the bad times recognized in the preamble of our constitution. The rare kind of principled young politicians Uganda needs, Julunga without exaggeration was destined to cause trouble for the ruling regime in the upcoming elections, this is however not to point an accusing finger . An energetic mobiliser, he will be remembered as one of the young men who escorted and carried Dr. Besigye shoulder-high during the trying times of Reform Agenda and later FDC. He had seen the inside of police cells a number of times, been to a safe home, had received a number of threats just like many opposition politicians in this country and had found himself in as many demonstrations and riots as had his heart permitted. I remember Julunga coming to Makerere to mobilize for the FDC candidate Gerald Karuhanga during the 2006 Guild elections and was awed by his gusto and commitment. As a UYD activist campaigning for Ssekabira, I found his campaign tactics too confronting and hoped that they were not employed at an advanced stage involving politics of the gun; little did I know that he would succumb to the gun. An ardent listener of political talk shows, I found myself listening to him more than thrice a day. His death at such an early age casts a doubt to the country’s future especially as we near the 2011 elections.
Was his murder an indicator to what lays ahead of 2011?
Many people dismiss the idea that Nankunda was assassinated just because accidents happen every day, questions remain unanswered on the possible cause of the accident that killed Francis Ayume, the untimely demise of Noble Mayombo, the former President’s A.D.C. of Patrick Musisi whom we were told died of a heart attack or Anthony Sekweyama. We were told Ayume and Sekweyama died of road crashes. How dangerous roads can be when you have many enemies!! The assassination of Julunga brings to our memory the cold blood murder of Vincent Lugonvu another vibrant young man. We have been conditioned to believe that murders like these are not accidents from official speeches where ‘bad elements’ read opposition have been promised to go six feet under. God calls each one of us on a certain date to meet him but I have a feeling that certainly some individuals for their beliefs are forced or rushed to meet him. Human rights reports have indicated the presence of safe homes within our midst and have documented the torturous activities of security agencies mtted out on politicians. In a country where a certain Magara can shoot people in broad daylight, and opposition politicians domiciled in safe places, the possibility of an assassination on Tom Julunga or Nankunda Muwanga or Lugonvu becomes obvious. Killed only two days before Heroes day, Julunga’s stand on many issues will be remembered. Assassinations are not only aimed at weakening a group but destabilizing organisations and removing a stumbling block to an Agenda. But usually in all assassinations the victims have bulky volumes of information which if revealed can be harmful.
Was this a robbery?
The killing of Julunga had all traces of organized murder, why would a robber shoot an unarmed victim 4 four times? Why was police reluctant to handover the post-mortem report to FDC officials and her mother Yudah Kagenyi? Why would the authorities increase security at the mortuary if Julunga was an ordinary Ugandan, a victim of a robbery? What did Tom Julunga, Vincent Lugonvu and Nankunda Muwanga, William Kasirye and Wasswa, the other victim of the Julunga incident have in common? What did they know that others did not know? Why would they be harmful at such a young age? Who would want to end such young lives? The Roman writer Seneca seems to have an answer. ‘He who most benefits from a crime is the one most likely to have committed it’. Have you ever asked yourself why many vibrant young politicians flee the country, others under pressure from their families drop politics into business and the little few paid by the regime to keep quiet? DP presidential hopeful Sam Lubega was a victim of harassment, earning spectacular visits to safe homes until he found his way to UK . The formation of UYD posed a threat to the regime in Kampala that soon after its first month, members were picked up on charges of treason. It was even alleged by a one Joseph Luzige now an employee of State House that Dr. Kawanga Semwogerere was training rebels in Sudan . Mr. Luzige a former President of UYD at a press conference in Kampala had alleged that UYD members also planned to assassinate NRM leaders including Mr. Museveni. He alleged that differences arose when he refused to got to Sudan for military training. This was a way of discrediting a vibrant youth organisation. The formation of the group Popular Resistance Against Life Presidency saw the arrest of many youths affiliated to this organisation formed to contest Mr. Museveni’s hold onto power. Its members have seen the inside of many Ugandan prison cells perhaps more than the prison commissioners and a few have been forced to met their creator prematurely including Julunga, Lugonvu, Kasirye,Wasswa and Nankunda. The trick has been tactical reducing them by numbers.
The Julunga Assassination in Perspective.
In all murders of such kind confusing clues are manufactured to divert attention from the real cause. It’s exactly the reason why police in the first instance could report that Julunga was stabbed and not shot. Police says he was shot in Ndeeba but he was discovered wounded and crawling into Rubaga Police post, a distance of about two kilometers later. They could well have gone on to say he was poisoned but were overwhelmed by the evidence present.
Usually after an assassination a scapegoat murderer is identified to stall all efforts of independent inquiry and the case is rested. The method is that an immediate arrest is made, suspects paraded, they can be forced or coached to make confessions such that there’s no need for further investigations. This tactic according to David Icke (Author of the Biggest Secret) works best if done immediately. Already certain individuals whose credence is doubted have been “arrested” and are “helping police in its investigations” and like election petitions will last until Julunga’s last funeral rights. Then the second stage of diversion is initiated with the media where the public is made to chase a mass of false stories and leads. Already a ‘chase car’ story has been circulated as if it were a scene in a movie. Currently two scenes of the murder have been proposed, one in Ndeeba and the other in Busega. Confusion sets in with people being fed with conflicting leads and eventually their interest wanes. That’s why we can only remember when Ayume, Mayombo, Lugonvu, Kasirye, Wasswa, Nankunda, Julunga died but forget the circumstances under which they died.
Why would police insist on Julunga making a statement in such a poor condition? The Uganda Police Motto is ‘To protect and Serve’ but it is regrettable that while police could not protect him, they also failed to serve him. With a police force that operates like the party violence machinery, I had least expectations of the truth from the Uganda police. With officers like Police Spokesperson Nabakooba speaking like party ideologues, no Ugandan in their right sense of mind would believe that Julunga, a man whose voice could be recognized by 11 year olds was killed in a failed robbery. She seems to have cross-cutting duties with Karooro Okurut, the NRM spokesperson.
Ugandans will always remember Julunga and others before him and they owe us a commitment to pursue their visions.

Young Leaders Plegde to improve society

2009-03-11T10:49:00.005Z

Young leaders pledge to improve society
New Vision Monday, 2nd March, 2009

BY REHEMA AANYU

Kampala-With her hands on the lap, Susan Kangumean environmental science student, sat pensively as she watched other students speak. She is one of the 100 students who were selected to from Ugandan universities to attend the Gilrs2leaders National Conference in January.

Under the theme Shaping the Future, Redefining the Ladership Potential of Young Women in Uganda, the conference aimed at encouraging young leaders to make a difference in society. I want to contest for a political office in 2011. 'I crave to influence society positively by listening to people's concerns'.

Once a leader stops listening to his people, he ceases to be important to society. Leadership is a bridge between the people and policy makers, said Kangume, a student from Kabale University.Catherine Ikiria, a student at Kumi University, said: I was curious; I wanted to know what the conference was about, but I ended up learning a lot and can now speak in public.The Girls2leaders Conference was launched by James Kinobe, the former state minister for youth and child affairs. It was held at Pope Paul Memorial Centre in Kampala.

About 40% of Uganda?s population is composed of young people aged 18-30. Unfortunately, they are left behind in the development of the country. Our target is to reverse the trend, conceptualise it and launch business and social ventures in a peer supportive environment, says Deborah Kaddu Serwadda, the patron of the Girls2leader movement in Uganda said.

Monica Amoding, the founder and team leader of the movement, said women movements in Uganda are being frustrated by senior activists and the lack of interest by younger women,? she explains. 'Senior women leaders do not want to leave their offices for younger women'. Amoding says Girls2leaders plays a supportive and facilitation role in enabling young people acquire technical skills to discover and develop their leadership potential. Similarly, the aim of the conference, which will be hosted annually, is to build a vibrant community of women and girls to participate in multi-generational and cross-gender leadership dialogue and action.

Kaddu says the movement draws on the basic approaches of the African family informal education, which emphasises an individual?s responsibility to family and the community. We help individuals and groups reflect on their rights and responsibilities,Kaddu says. Our desire is to see that every young person also has a sense of self-confidence,he explains.

Kinobe applauded the initiative, saying it recognises the importance and potential of young people as leaders of a new day. Young people's leadership is important and is supposed to be the cream of the young top brains and national leaders in the making. As leaders, you must be morally upright and intellectually prepared. He called upon university women to be role models and inspire their colleagues. Kinobe cautioned them against corruption and sectarianism, saying it would dent their image and character.

The conference is affiliated to The Young Women African Leaders Movement of Uganda. It was organised by ICON Women and Young People?s Leadership Academy in association with the Centre for the Advancement of Gender Equality.

This article was published in the NewVision Monday 2, March 2009. Please check it out at

http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200903030124.html.

Why Multi party democracy still has a long way in Africa

2008-11-22T10:00:00.001Z

The recent elections held in the United States of America and in Africa paint a contradictory picture of multiparty politics in Africa and the western world. Despite the fact that, democracy is now seen as a prerequisite for development, there is a profound sense of hope being frustrated by previous and current governments under multi party democracies, of stereotypes being reaffirmed-that Africans can not govern themselves or if we can, that we are still a long way from the fruits of multiparty democracy.

The African historical context is not a democratic one. Historically, chiefs and kings were not voted, they were appointed. Every African leader who has come in has taken himself or herself as a king. As such, anyone who defies or challenges them is deemed rebellious. That’s why in such contexts incumbent presidents do not have kind words for their opponents- the opposition and government see each other as enemies. The era has changed but the mindset of many African leaders has not.

Governments in Africa elected on a ‘democratic tickets’ have become corrupted by the conscious development of personality cults. In Uganda, UPC had this weakness where the Party president then the late Mr. Obote Milton built an occultic personality that UPC was Obote and Obote was UPC, the reason why UPC has not really been able to pick up without Obote. Today we have similar challenges with the NRM, where the President is synonymous with NRM and the NRM is the President. Further more, each party is a resemblance of the iconic person's ideology. The challenge is that there is no separation between party issues and personalities, if I criticise a party then I have criticised the person. There is also no longevity with the party ideologies compared to the Luther King or Malcom X Movements in the West. When Kwame Nkruma or Nyerere for example died, that was the end of their ideologies.

One of the major challenges of multi party democracy in Africa is hunger for power by current leaders and how this hunger for power can lead to the erosion of democratic values, electoral fraud, and the near breakdown of relatively well-functioning multiparty systems. Many leaders come to power with the wrong objective to get rich, enjoy pompous life of status and power at the expense of the poor masses. Often time, the leaders in the opposition are only struggling to get into power not ignite social transformation but also to only get power or a piece of the national cake.

Patriarchy is the major anchor of power hungry leaders. Evidence is there that shows, that in Africa we have raised majority of the most power hungry dictators in the world. Why? Dictators and power hungry leaders arise because of the way patriarchy reigns in our homes. In Ugandan homes for example, we have kingdoms and absolute monarchies where the power of a man is absolute and unquestionable. Even right now some parents are busy raising dictators in young boys who will grow up to become the future dictators.

Tribal politics has remained one of our major unfolding. Every party that is existing in Uganda right now is meddling in tribal politics. Africa is also familiar with the concept of military democracy. For as long as the gun is brought into politics then multi party politics can not be effective because the gun has more power than the vote- the power to finish off life.

Multi-party politics however, is the only way to true representative democracy in Africa yet true democracy must take into account the perspectives of all people, tribes and genders and issues of marginalised groups. The over all challenge is that it will take time for African political parties to build coalitions beyond the interests of one region or one ethnic group or gender and to build a party platform beyond the ambitions of a single leader or one interest group. This took time in the West, but it happened. It will happen in Africa too, and I believe that the time is now. Meanwhile, we must not succumb to the notion that Africans are less deserving of their freedom to express their political views than any other people on Earth.

The Writer is gender advocate and policy analyst

What is the future of the Peace Process in Uganda?

2008-09-13T13:16:00.003+01:00

I have been following the Juba Peace talks with interest as a concerned Ugandan. The most recent report is that the LRA chief has again failed to turn up for the signing of the final Peace talks. Four peace preliminary peace agreements have so far been signed except for the final agreement which would indeed signify the end of the conflict in Northern Uganda. According to reports in the Saturday Vision of 13th September 2008, LRA Chief Joseph Kony on Thursday called the chief of the Acholi, Paramount chief Rwot Acana II to mobilize the Acholi cultural, religious and local leaders to mediate for a way forward. According to the LRA chief, some people were fighting to fail the peace process by blocking him from singing the final peace agreement adding that the major reason why he was not signing the final peace agreement was because of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The ICC under the request of the government of Uganda issued arrest warrants for LRA’s top 5 commanders including Joseph Kony for crimes committed against humanity during the insurgency in Northern Uganda. The Northern Uganda insurgency has been rated one of the worst human crisises in the recent times with tens of thousand of people killed or burnt to death, maimed, women and girls raped and facing all sorts of sexual violations imaginable. More than 30, 000 children have been abducted to serve as rebels. The population in this region is the poorest and this has gone on for 21years. The recent peace negotiations therefore in Juba were a source of hope for many people especially women and children who are the worst hit victims of this conflict, with the current youth of this region not knowing what peace is called since birth.

There have already been messages in the media that indicate that government is planning another military onslaught against the rebels since the rebels have failed to sign the peace agreement. However, the LRA say, they will not sign unless the ICC withdraws its indictments against them. Where does this leave the youth and children of Northern Uganda who in their lives have not known what a good meal, shelter or clothing is like and whose hope for a good future is greatly threatened by such developments?

The rebels have consistently expressed the wish to face justice within Uganda rather than at the ICC. According to Justice Julia Ssebutinde, Uganda can still regain its powers to prosecute the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leaders since the law establishing the ICC provides room for deferral of the indictments. This can be done by filing a formal inter-party request for the ICC to withdraw from a case, under Article 19 of the Rome statute, which established the court. The condition however, before the government applies for the withdrawal, it should ensure that the necessary legislation that will try the suspects is in place and are functional. The Peace Agreement signed on Accountability and Reconciliation signed in Juba by the LRA and Government provides that, a special tribunal for trying LRA case will be established. The final peace agreement is therefore still in balance until the two parties sort out the issue of ICC.

This is however, at the cost of people in these regions whose experiences are equivalent to living in hell while still alive and almost rendered a hopeless venture. There is no point justifying government’s position of resorting to military options after 21 years of fighting this war. Nobody can assume to be more grieved than the aggrieved person. Government has to respect the views of the people who suffered this war. To them Peace comes first and justice later. Indeed, for me as a person, peace is much more important than justice; because no punishment can ever be done to Kony and his people that will march the level of suffering that the people of the North all put together have gone through.

My take on this issue is that much as government is working hard to ensure that the LRA does not return to destabilize Northern Uganda, it has not explored all the possible peaceful avenues to resolving this conflict. I was on a talk show this morning where we were discussing the status of the Peace talks, and it clears to me from the comments of some of my colleagues (men) that, they supported a military onslaught against the LRA. I called men war mongers, because when you look at the wars being fought every where in the world, who is fighting them? and who are the main victims-women, children and young persons. Who make such decisions of fighting these conflicts-men.

I would like to see all Ugandans living in peace and prosperity. This should be the mindset of all Ugandans no matter what region ones comes from, because a country in war is a poor country. For stake holders that are involved in the peace process, peace must be achieved and maintained at all costs, because people want Peace! Also, now that government has already developed programmes aimed at the recovery of Northern Uganda, it must support this through adequate funding, it must recommit itself to fighting corruption country wide; strengthen the justice and law sector as well as the operations of local governments who are charged with implementing these programmes.

Above all, involvement of women in all decision making processes spells progress for all Ugandans, without 50% of the total population of Uganda, means a 50% loss for the country, that is why we are seeing such wars dragging on unnecessarily.
It is not until; the day women will lead Uganda or this world for that matter, that the world will truly experience peace and prosperity. Ask me to substantiate this statement when that happens! I thank you readers.

Arrest of kingdom ministers portends trouble for Mengo

2008-08-01T07:51:00.002+01:00

I was shocked upon learning of the arrest of Buganda Information Minister Mr Peter Mayiga, Deputy Information Minister Mr Medard Lubega and chairperson of the kingdom’s civic education committee Ms Betty Nambooze for inciting sectarianism. The action of arresting the three Mengo notables reflected humiliation of the people they represent.
I am a listerner to all of the accused’s programmes on the kingdom’s Central Broadcasting Service radio. While I sometimes find their language confrontational, their arrest will only inspire them to hero status and will only increase resentment to the NRM government.
Being the mouthpiece of the kingdom, whoever ordered their arrest should have respected their position in Ugandan society. The manner in which the youthful minister was arrested is a clue to what the police has already been accused of.
Why would an elite police force smash the window glass of a car whose occupant Nambooze cannot match the size of the smallest police constable? The image of the police force should be preserved.
Secondly, this should not have been done on the occasion of the Buganda Conference for it would loosely be interpreted that whoever arrested them was cowed by their achievement.
The government should be made to know that the people of Buganda today are more united against any force that will seek to antagonise them. Diplomacy would have been better than confrotation.
It was also conspicuous that Prof. Apolo Nsibambi, he of the Mawazo fame, did not attend the Buganda conference when colleagues Mazrui, Mamdani, Juuko and Sempebwa were indulging in intellectual discourse.
Why was Ms Ruth Nankabirwa and Speaker of Parliament Mr Edward Ssekandi the only notable people from the central government? Where was Prof. Makubuya? Was this scenario deliberate? Was it a reaction to Nsibambi’s recent humiliation at the funeral service of the late Kiggundu? Is this how a government reacts to pressure from a non-armed force? We need to differentiate between wit and abuse. Who of Mengo and the President is abusing the other. I don't need to be educated to know that words like 'Gasia tu', stupid, swine and many othes from the president's vocabulary are abusive.
That said and done, closure of CBS radio could be next. But how will Baganda react? Are we not rapidly sliding back towards 1966? Time will tell.

THE LAND ISSUE IN UGANDA: BREWING YET A NEW CONFLICT

2008-07-28T13:58:00.002+01:00

Once again Uganda is awash with tensions over the controversial land issue which in fact is brewing a possible bloody conflict in Uganda

For close to six months now, there have been hostile discussions concerning land in Uganda. These as a result of Government’s suggested amendment to the Land Act 2007. The main sticky point to date has been that the fact that Land Amendment Bill seeks to protect tenants from being evicted from land they have lived in by their landlords without the notice of the Minister.

The reason why this is a sticky issue is because it will mainly affect the Baganda who are in the central location and capital of Uganda where the fertile is and where majority of the land is owned under tenancy system. Secondly if this Amendment passes through in parliament, majority of the Baganda risk loosing their land which has been occupied for long time by people from other parts of the country since the land is in the central business region of the country.

The Baganda have not of course taken this lightly. They are up in arms against the current government with the Buganda Kingdom being the central mouth piece of Buganda concerns with some Members of Parliament coming from the Buganda region.

The recent incidents showing the stand off between the government and Buganda Kingdom have been arrests of three Buganda officials who were conducting civic education on the proposed land amendments. The Officials were accused in relation to allegations of acquisition of illegal guns, inciting violence and secretarianism. Since the arrested persons have been critical of the proposed land law, and vociferous in demanding for federo against the declared intentions of the state, their arrest raises eyebrows.

The youth have taken to the streets. Incidents of violence have already broken out from some parts in the central region in resistance to the arrests of the officials and what is believed by the Buganda Kindgom as an affront on the Baganda. This is exacerbating the existing ethnic tensions in Uganda and brewing a possible ethnic clash.

Ancient animosities threaten an east African country yearning to be modern

2008-07-28T08:06:00.002+01:00

A grumpy kingdom
Jul 24th 2008 KAMPALA
From The Economist print edition

ONE feature of Uganda is the persistence of its five Bantu kingships. They have no formal political power but centuries of powerful tradition behind them. Foremost among them, or so its subjects crow, is the kingdom of Buganda, from which the modern state of Uganda takes its name and whose people, the Baganda, were once the most numerous and powerful. For many years, however, they have felt unfairly treated—and are becoming ever-more-hostile to the 22-year-old regime of President Yoweri Museveni.

Once again, land is a burning issue. The now ghostly realm of the Baganda takes in the fertile lands in and around the capital, Kampala (see map). The Baganda number only 5m of Uganda’s 31m people, but are proud and prickly about their past. They say they were never conquered by the British, but entered voluntarily into a protectorate. Certainly they were favoured with a measure of autonomy. The tensions between their kingdom and the Ugandan state have never disappeared and are now as high as they have ever been since independence.

The Baganda have long nurtured a catalogue of grievances. They cannot forget how their king, the kabaka, was burned out of his palace in 1966 and exiled. King Edward Mutesa, known abroad as “King Freddie”, a former officer in Britain’s Grenadier Guards who was then serving as Uganda’s non-executive president, later died of alcoholic poisoning in London in 1969; some Baganda think he was murdered. After a bloody interregnum during the years of Idi Amin (1971-1979) and the ensuing civil wars, the king’s son, Ronald Mutebi, was allowed to return by Mr Museveni. The idea was to use the kingships (the others being Ankole, from which Mr Museveni hails, Bunyoro, Busoga and Toro) to build national reconciliation and attract educated and prosperous Ugandans back to a ravaged country.

But the Baganda say that Mr Museveni is breaking a promise to give back their communal lands. They claim 9,000 square miles (23,310 sq km) of central Uganda. Mr Museveni dismisses this claim out of hand. He says that the calculations are erroneous, that the claims to title are shaky, and that those who occupied the land for the past few decades should have rights to it. His government says that 420,000 Ugandans with land in the best parts of the country should not have priority over 30m Ugandans who have little or none.

The minister of lands, Daniel Atubo, argues that the Baganda cannot reasonably lay claim to more than 700 square miles. This assertion was applauded by many non-Baganda, particularly the rival Bunyoro, to the north-west. The government is resolved to push through a new land law that would strip Buganda of its communal lands and weaken the hold of all landlords over the land they still control. The Baganda are also furious at a government policy of settling pastoralists from other parts of the country, along with their cattle, in Baganda villages.
Some fear that this could lead to war. Several young men filing out of Buganda’s Parliament building in Kampala on a sunny Saturday afternoon say so. “The government has squeezed the kingdom too far,” says one, waving a tract on Baganda land rights. “It’s time to fight,” says another. The potential for outbreaks of ethnic violence of the kind seen in Kenya after last year’s disputed general election is high; in some districts, fighting has already been reported. Aggrieved Baganda may target pastoralists and other poor non-Baganda with nowhere else to go.

Even if violence is prevented, the problem of how to settle and protect the displaced poor while not angering the landed would be hard enough. Moreover, Uganda has other big worries. Its population is exploding; in the past half century it has leapt from 6m to its present 31m. Grazing land for cattle is fast running out. In the north, some 1.7m people, mostly of the Acholi tribe, are still displaced as a result of the brutal decades-long rebellion of the Lord’s Resistance Army. Mr Museveni is far from achieving his ambition of turning Uganda into a regional industrial power.
Educated Baganda, especially those in the government, accept that a compromise is necessary if Uganda is to move forward but say land reform must be fair. They complain that some of the disputed land has been dished out to army officers friendly to Mr Museveni. Independent land experts and bankers agree with the government that some of Buganda’s land claims are hard to prove but add that the land law is full of inconsistencies.

By hook or by crook
Mr Museveni may be trying to split the Baganda’s vote before the next elections, due in 2011. Though he strong-armed Parliament three years ago into changing the constitution to let him serve his current third term as president, the latest whisper is that he is bent on having a fourth. Hence the latest grumbling among Ugandans of all tribes (except his own), but especially among the once-dominant Baganda.

Creating a clearer federal structure for Uganda could help, but Mr Museveni is against the idea. Though he has warm relations with the government of Ethiopia, which has championed ethnic federalism, he says Uganda is too complex, with many ethnic groups living together in mixed areas, for such a system to be anything but divisive. Besides, it would mean loosening his grip on power at the centre. The Baganda seem loth to rebel in the near future. But if the 2011 elections are badly handled, Uganda could slide into violence again. And the land issue could all too easily be the catalyst.

Copyright © 2008 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.

TRACING THE ROOTS OF ARMED CONFLICT IN UGANDA

2008-07-23T10:17:00.000+01:00

Uganda is one of the countries that has had a long history of conflict. Conflict has been part and parcel of the lives of many youth in Uganda. Since my child hood, there has been conflict occurring in different parts of the country at any one time.

I want to address in this article a fundamental issue that is a root cause of conflict in Uganda but is often un addressed and not discussed. When discussing the root causes of conflict in Uganda, it is easy to trace it to the colonial legacies, ethnicity and tribalism that has affected national cohesion as well as the materialistic tendencies of leaders that have so far been in power. Domestic violence or conflict is however often not mentioned in such debates.

Every one of us comes from a family and the family plays an important role in determining what kind of human being one will grow to become. As children grow, their perspectives of their society are largely shaped by what their parents tell them and what they see happening in their environments. When male children are told by their parents and communities that they are more superior to their female counter parts; that is the beginning of violence. When such a child grows into a man that batters his wife and does not respect other persons in his communities, who is to blame for the current violence that we see occurring?

Evidence from a national wide study undertaken by Uganda Reform Commission in April 2006 indicates that 66% of Ugandans report that domestic violence frequently occurs in their homes. Records from the Police stations indicate that domestic violence ranks among the highest of the cases reported monthly to these stations. North and Eastern Uganda are the worst affected areas with the highest incidences. These areas are also the worst affected by conflict and poverty in Uganda. Where as poverty and conflict are contributing factors causing domestic violence in homes, the root cause lies in the unequal power relations between women and men built on a culture that subordinates, discriminates and subjugates women in all aspects of life. Women in the Ugandan communities are battered by their partners, denied basic needs, abused, sub ordinated and disrespected. Domestic violence or conflict is any act or threat that is likely to result into physical, psychological, economic or sexual abuse and it us usually perpetrated by men against women.

When children grow up in such an environment, it is difficult to achieve a peaceful community or country. We are all reflections of one another; the armed conflict in the country is a true reflection of the domestic conflicts occurring in the homes which ultimately impact on the larger society.

Time is now however, that the current generation rewrites the history of their families and nation, Uganda. If as a young person I come from a family with a history of domestic violence, I can choose a different destiny by denouncing this bad practice in my own life. By doing this we will all be contributing to changing the destiny of our beloved families and country, Uganda. What do you think?

UGANDA THE BEAUTIFUL PEARL OF AFRICA DESTROYED BY CHRONIC CONFLICT

2008-06-23T11:33:00.002+01:00

Uganda-The Pearl of Africa is a very beautiful country found right in the middle of East Africa. Blessed with lots of natural forests, waters, very fertile land producing all sorts of food particularly some of the sweetest fruits on this planet earth. Uganda boosts one of the best tropical climates, indeed a must visit destination for every nature loving person who needs to see nature at its best.

However, due to the conflict that has been a part of this country since its independence, Uganda’s vast potential has not yet been tapped and properly exploited. Since its independence in 1962, Uganda’s history has been marked-indeed charred by armed violence. Conflict has affected almost every corner of the country and all the conflicts have mainly been based on struggles for resources and power. However, there has been no other conflict with some of the worst and far reaching effects on people as the current twenty one year old protracted civil war in the Northern part of the country. The conflict between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Uganda Government has been responsible for hundreds of thousands of wanton killings and gross violations of human rights and some of the worst human crises the world has ever seen. The war-torn districts have become grossly impoverished as a result of this war. About 70% of the populations in Northern Uganda live below the poverty line with each adult spending about 20,000 shillings (11$) per a year. The consequences of the war have generated untold suffering on the people of Northern Uganda which majority are internally displaced and forced to live in squalid and life-threatening conditions dependant upon relief from humanitarian organizations.

Although the effects of this conflict have affected the people of this region in various ways, there is perhaps no other group that has been more affected than the children, youth and women who have been the direct targets of attacks by the LRA. Over 25,000 children have been abducted and trained to become child soldiers by the LRA, a process in which they get killed in battle or face other physical and psychosocial traumatic experiences including being stigmatized for the conflict.

In the words of Herbert Hoover, ‘older men declare war, but it is youth that must fight and die’ many young people have died as a result of this conflict. While other children went to school, the abducted children were being trained to fight wars they never started. Others witnessed the killings of their parents or families members or were displaced with their families. Girls have been abducted to serve as sex slaves for the LRA soldiers who the media erroneously calls ‘wives’ of the LRA while others have also suffered body organ mutilation, rape and forced impregnation.

In July 2006 however, the LRA requested the Government of Uganda for Peace talks. These peace talks which have been mediated by Riek Machar, the Vice President of the Government of South Sudan in Juba were a light in the tunnel for many Ugandans particularly for those directly affected. The Peace Talks resulted into the signing of four preliminary Peace Agreements between the LRA and the Government of Uganda but however hit a snag in April 2008 when the rebel chief Joseph Kony refused to sign the final peace deal. Media reports however have indicated that the rebel chief has again requested that the peace talks resume.

Where as there is relative peace in the country side right now because there are no direct attacks of the LRA of civilians, peace for the people from this part of the country is yet to really to be achieved. This peace does not mean only the absence of guns shots but for a secured live hood and future for every one particularly for the young people who now are faced with the reality of growing up in a society where survival is practically a struggle.

Hi to all

2008-06-14T06:36:00.004+01:00

Am Moses Kalanzi a human rights activist finalising my BA education degree at Makerere University. My areas of specialisation include human rights reporting and advocacy. I currently work with a youth-led community organisation concerned with resettling children from the streets of Kampala through the use of sport. We have realised that many of these children are victims of conflicts in the Northern part of the Country and from the North Eastern part of Uganda( Karamoja area) I look forward to exchanging experiences and learning from others in conflict areas.
Moses

Introduction

2008-06-13T13:01:00.001+01:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings to all of you. It is great that we are having such an imoportant forum to learn from each other. My name is Monicah Amoding. Iam a Ugandan female aged 27 years from North Eastern part of Uganda, a region that is just recovering from the Lord’s Resistance Amrmy (LRA) conflict but currently working and residing in Kampala the capital city of Uganda.

I am a women’s rights activist consistently working to make a contribution to the women’s movement for gender equality in Uganda and Africa. I hold a Bachelors degree in Social Sciences with a bias in Social Administration and Economics. Currently Iam writing up my thesis for an award of a Masters degree in Gender Studies from Makerere University on a research topic; Youth Particiapation in Peace building: A gender anlysis of the peace building initiatives in Gulu District.

I have experience in Policy Analysis, research, Advocacy and Communications. My main interest is in the area of Conflict and Peacebuilding, Commucations, human rights and gender issues.

Currently, I am working for a women’s parliamentary association (Uganda Women Parliamentary Association- UWOPA) as a Policy and Communications Officer. I am also currently volunteering my time in building up a newly founded Young Women Leaders African Movement (YWLAM)-Uganda Chapter. Through this new initiative; I am working to strengthen the Young Women’s Movement in Uganda.

I am also a founder member of the Centre for Advancement of Gender Equality (CAGE), a newly founded organisation that we are building to promote the ideals of gender equality in Uganda. I am particularly building up a programme that will closely work with young women and men. I have special interest in working and empowering young people.

I look forward to fruitful exchanges with all the YAC team.

Monicah Amoding