President Museveni should Come Out on Kazibwe and Ssebagala
26 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment
in Corruption, Kampala, Legal issues, Presidency, security
Dear Friends,
The current reports that former vice president, Dr.Specioza Kazibwe, has been suspended over another financial mismanagement of micro-finance resources is so sickening. Several Ugandans warned the president against reappointing the lady in any financial position of authority after the Valley Dam saga, but he went ahead and did so for reasons only know to him.
It is even more sickening that Ms.Kazibwe reportedly said that it’s only president Museveni who could fire her, an indication that she is one of those who no longer respect the institutions in the country. She looks at president Museveni as everything in Uganda, and she is probably right, but as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) explained that the ‘perfect nature of man’ could be defiled by a corrupt society. He believed that individuals willingly enter a ‘form of association’ with already known criminals because there is a mutual benefit of protecting all participants in this association. If president Museveni, therefore, does not come out to distance himself from Dr. Kazibwe’s actions, we will fairly believe that whatever Dr.Kazibwe did was sanctioned by him one way or the other.
The corruption in Uganda has spread to several institutions including the Kampala City Council such that it was again very embarrassing on the side of the president not to publicly come out to distance himself from another known crook in the names of Hajji Nasser Ssebagala over the Town Clerk’s residence issue. Just like Kazibwe, Ssebagala also claims that it is only president Museveni who can evict him from this house.Oh, i almost forgot another former Vice president,Dr.Bukenya, who rightly said that whatever he did during CHOGM was on behalf of the president. It seems Musevenism is everywhere now and state insitutions are dead.
Anyway, Property is such a very important issue such that it is always painful for anybody who lawfully acquired a piece of land or built a house to be unfairly evicted, but in Ssebagala’s case, I don’t know because the whole thing has got Museveni’s ‘good’ hands on it. We should only feel sorry for those small property or land owners that are continually evicted by the rich as Rousseau also said in his book: ‘the social Contract’:” the right of property is the most sacred of all rights of citizenship, and even more important in some respects than liberty itself; either because it more nearly affects the preservation of life, or because, property being more easily usurped and more difficult to defend than life, the law ought to pay a greater attention to what is more easily taken away; or finally, because property is the true foundation of civil society, and the real guarantee of the undertakings of citizens.’’(p.138)
I have heard old men saying: ‘these guys have stolen more than anybody before but they still want more’. This avarice among some of the current crop of NRM leadership is so scaring. It is, therefore, very important that we support those that use the law to bring these irregularities into the public domain or to be questioned. On this note, I would like Ugandans to support the mayor of Kampala and Executive Director in their efforts to follow the book as they sort out the mess in the city.
Otherwise, the high state of corruption reported daily in the media is likely to make us a bit more isolated on the global stage if we are not careful. Most of the great nations we have got today are building special relationships with one or two countries as a survival mechanism for the unpredictable future. For instance, Britain and USA have got a ”special relationship” which every leader of these two countries tries to defend regardless of some policy differences, something Sydney Blumenthal, one of President Clinton’s advisors, emphasized in 1998 to a meeting of the World Policy Institute.
However, Uganda, on the otherhand, looks to be a bit isolated in both East Africa and world stage. Both the Kenyans and Tanzanians speak ill of our president. We used to have a special relationship with Paul Kagame’s Rwanda but it sickens to read daily in newspapers that we have sunk so low to the extent of accusing each other of certain rebel activities , as we have seen since the death of Colonel Muzora.And it seems nobody seem to be doing anything to revive this good relationship we once had with Rwanda. It is all now accusatiosn after accusations!
By the way, it is good that the government is investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of colonel Muzora, and I believe their intentions are good. But I have read messages in different forums indicating that Ugandans don’t trust the government anymore when it comes to high profile murder investigations. Actually, General Tinyenfunza’s interview with the Daily Monitor recently in regard to Muzora’s murder has even made it worse because some people now believe that the whole investigation is meant to directly pin Dr.Kiiza Besigye . Some Ugandans seem to agree with what the American Professor, Thomas Stephen Szasz, once said in 1993 that the law makers do not uncover but ‘’invent crimes’. He also held the view that killing only becomes a crime if it is not sanctioned by the state, and I think he was right to some extent especially in developing countries such as Uganda.
But overall, those who think that Uganda is a special case whereby leaders will continue to unfairly imprison and kill political opponents without any international actions, are living in a dream cave. The world has changed and our leaders should find a way to change with it as soon as possible or they are gonna be run down by their own citizens and the international community at some point.We should all feel safe while in our country.
Byebyo ebyange
–
http://ugandansatheart.org/
http://twitter.com/#!/semuwemba
http://jjanguonkwekule.blogspot.com/
http://semuwemba.wordpress.com/
Preventive ”BESIGYEISM” Continues to expose Museveni on the International Stage
19 May 2011 4 Comments
in FDC, international, Legal issues, Politics, Riots and genocide, security
Policemen stop Dr Besigye’s car near his Kasangati home yesterday.(Photo by Daily Monitor)
Friends
I beg to disagree with those who still think that president Museveni ‘wants Dr Besigye around’ to help him keep power after today’s announcement by the police of ‘preventive law’ or ‘preventive arrest’ as put by police spokesperson, Judith Nabakoba. Yes, this kind of measure by the police exists in the books of law and it basically means to prevent or to keep a big crime from happening again, the kind of event that could take another thousand of lives. It requires the police to stop crime from happening before it happens, and that’s a good thing. The bad thing, it seems to me, is Besigye is all treated as a potential guilty criminal rather than an innocent citizen. He has not committed any crime by ‘driving’ or ‘walking’ to work as an individual protest against the Museveni government, but police keep stopping him by citing ‘preventive law’ . This is one of the individual peaceful ways of demonstrating and legally speaking, the state can do little about them.
President Museveni ‘s proposal to change the constitution such that rioters or protestors are denied bail is also a violation of people’s rights, and I hope the NRM MPs, though I know that they won’t, resist the temptations to change the constitution for the sake of short term gains by the president.
What police actions,however, reflect right now is that president Museveni is so shaken at the moment by the events around him. Uganda is the first country in the history of sub Sahara Africa to demonstrate for more than a month against a sitting government.Black Africans are known to be cowards when it comes to repressive regimes, not anymore. If the issues fronted by the Activists for Change (A4C) movement are addressed by the Museveni government then this pressure group will just remain in name, as like most groups, but it seems the president is not ready to back down. All these actions show that president Museveni is uncomfortable with the FDC leader, Dr.Besigye, despite winning the 2011 elections.
I also think it was unwise for president Museveni to meet foreign diplomats and ask them ‘not to support opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye’’( according to the Newvision). This shows that the president has started seeing the real threat of being taken out of power by western nations as real and he cannot trust foreign diplomats anymore. But what does he achieve by meeting them? Not a great deal because big nations hate being ordered around by leaders of small nations. I can see the US and UK ambassadors angrily talking to themselves behind the scenes, after this meeting with phases like:’ what the hell does Yoweri think he is?’’. So, the whole thing is likely to back fire on him.
Yes, Museveni must have been advised to do this as part of a series of a public relations campaign against Besigye in the eyes of the international community, just like Isreal’s Benyamin Netanyahu did in December 2006 when he summoned 70 diplomats in Israel to a meeting to pressure them to join his country’s efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear program. It worked temporarily for the Israel on the international stage but it did not stop Iran from continuing with its nuclear program. I don’t know whether the Uganda ambassador was part of this meeting but at least we know now that president Museveni supports Iran’s right to nuclear technology.
Foreign policy is often very messy. Again, if you recall, Iran was holding Americans hostage when Reagan won elections. US was selling arms to Iran before it started selling the same weapons to Saddam Hussein. Militarily speaking, Uganda is not a threat to US or British interests in the region but it will be strategically important for any big nation in future. So the threat that Uganda poses is due more to their relationship with China than anything else
President Museveni’s twelve page statement on the 17th May 2011 was also another sign that things are not at all well behind the curtains. He specifically attacked BBC, Aljazera, Daily Monitor and NTV for cheering on ‘irresponsible people’ – meaning the protestors. The press is supposed to be a watchdog as far as government business is concerned but they are being muzzled out everyday by the president, and we don’t know how this is gonna end.
With the exception of the Daily Monitor, Sunrise Magazine and Observer, there is practically no source or analysis of news on Uganda national media that is worth reading. The rest of the media, if we are being honest, is a nauseating rude low-minded cesspool. Not only does it have no value, it is positively injurious to the wisdom and understanding of those who read it. For instance, Andrew Mwenda’s Independent has been recently boxed into a corner such that it was very painful to read his article on Besigye- saying that the later had a hammer in his hands to harm the police. I even no longer have the desire to read his articles like I used to. There is something unattractive about his newspaper page these days though I sometimes listen to the audio.
President Museveni was not clearly happy that Besigye got more attention than him on his swearing-in day, but anyway who wouldn’t? President Museveni expressed his feelings very clearly in his statement when he said:’’ The excuse of “big crowds” that held up Besigye for hours is a myth and a lie because I was the first to drive through that road after Kololo. Somebody had advised me to take shelter at Nakasero State Lodge until they had removed Besigye from the road. I rejected that view and went straight to Entebbe. I was able to see a few hundred people at Kibuye roundabout, at Najjanakumbi and Kajjansi, making FDC signs.’’ So who says that big crowds don’t matter in a politician’s life? With this, it is possible that people working with the president do organize buses to transport people to follow him whenever he goes as a way of appeasing the president. They know that big crowds mean a lot to him.
I wrote an article before the riots started- suggesting that Uganda tries to solve the current food crisis by adopting the Cuban experiment but it seems not to have caught the attention of those in power, and I assume that is why we are still having problems. So, like they say, let’s us leave the wise ones to come up with better solutions.
Byebyo ebyange
Abbey Semuwemba
–
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
http://ugandansatheart.org/
http://twitter.com/#!/semuwemba
http://semuwemba.wordpress.com/
‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL’ AND IMMORAL UGANDA POLICE LAWS MUST BE REVIEWED IMMEDIATELY
05 May 2011 6 Comments
in FDC, IPC, Legal issues, media in Uganda, Politics, Riots and genocide, security
Friends,
I’m still disturbed by the events that have unfolded in Uganda this month especially with the way the security officials handled the main opposition leader, Dr. Kiiza Besigye. I’m definitely proud of the people that have been marching in these so called ‘walk to work’ individual demonstrations, very disappointed by the people who turned violent, sad about the damage and death involved, and appalled at the police and army who have been attacking people with tear gas and bullets.
Ever since this happened, we have been washed with a lot of YouTube videos and this is the point where one appreciates technology because Ugandans abroad and those at home are somehow now connected to each other because of this. In some of the videos posted online, I watched the police, totally unprovoked; lob tear gas into groups of men, women and children which was totally unnecessary. Dr.Besigye was also sprayed with teargas by one Gilbert Arinaitwe as if he was spraying cockroaches in a car. It saddens me greatly that our civil right to peaceable assemble and demonstrate against the high food and fuel prices- continue to be violated by the security officials in Uganda.
What we have been seeing since last month is the end result of what happens when a government put profits before people and the planet, a point Mr.Robert Kabushenga,the Newvision boss, vehemently stressed in his recorded interview with the BBC World Service as a justification for tear gassing Besigye’s ears and eyes while in his car. Under the circumstances, one can only hope that the truth about the police record of human rights violations, and environmental devastation gets out to the rest of the world and the ICC does something about it. On this note, we must thank the international media especially the BBC and Aljazeera who have done a wonderful job in exposing all this to the world.
Guns and tear gas are supposed to be for self defence such that they should not be misused by either the police or individuals carrying them. In some states in USA such as California, one can register and get a license to carry tear gas. It basically involves an afternoon class where one learns useful facts about the capabilities and limitations of tear gas in self-defence. One’s right to protect oneself with this type of weapon is in no way infringed by the requirement to be licensed. It also make one feel safer to understand how to best use this type of weapon, what the legal implications are of using it, etc. But I’m wondering whether our security officials are subjected to this kind of training before they go out with tear gas on streets of Kampala and other cities, because from what I saw last month with the Uganda police throwing canisters of tear gas carelessly,it left my head pondering with a lot of questions. Protesters ran as the gas burned their eyes, noses and skin just because they are walking alongside their leaders.
Teargas is virulent and noisome and I’m wondering whether the gas used on Besigye was CS or CN teargas. CN teargas is used when the safety of children is at stake but I hear that some nursery school in Wobulenzi was also not spared with CS gas. CS teargas is not supposed to be used indoors but I hear it was the one used on Besigye inside the car. It is also not supposed to be used to force surrender because it is well known to induce panic in a confined area. Usually, it is CN teargas that is used to bring people out of buildings and cars. The good news for Besigye and his eyes is that I’m sure that they will recover back to normal because CS is less toxic but I were him, I would keep glasses on for future protection against police aggression. I also advice him to keep that ”white thing” around his arm for a long time as a sign of fight for freedom.It’s unfortnate that the government went ahead and repaired his car windows which were smashed because it would have been good for him to keep it that way for a long time for some political capital.All the same, his team should sue the Police for using CS tear gas on him inside the car and for causing bodily damage to him and his car.
What the police in Uganda should know is that everything an officer does is supposed to have merit in the investigation. The police officer is the very first stop in an offender’s long trip through the judicial system. The job of a police officer is to prevent crimes where possible, investigate crimes that have occurred but the job of bringing a suspect to justice lies with the prosecutor and the courts. But I was gobsmacked when I watched some of the videos showing police officers on streets acting as politicians especially one video that showed a cop accusing Besigye of owning a petrol station yet he is demonstrating against high fuel prices.
Some NRM supporters have unsurprisingly come out to defend Arinaitwe’s actions to the extent of saying that he would have been within the law if he had killed Dr.Besiye, but my understanding is that it is not the job of a police officer to kill an unarmed person unless that where they take it. Yes, When the shit hits the fan and a deadly force situation has presented itself, it needs to be ended quickly to protect not only the lives of innocent people, but also the life of the officer, but i have rarely seen these kind of demonstrations in Uganda that warrants any officer to shoot in the head of a two year old baby, as was the case in Masaka last month. It was just sheer luck that nobody was killed during the Arinaitwe-Besigye saga and it wasn’t for the lack of gunmen in uniforms trying. Honestly, Laws should not be in place to make it easier for a police officer to shoot people who not armed with anything such that if we have got such a law in our Police Act, as i have been made to believe, then it should be reviewed immediately.
In the UK where I live, most police men don’t carry rifles for many reasons and not the least of which is the incurred liability that a high powered weapon would cause if it is accidentally used. If one walks around with a gun 24/7, it is so likely to go off just out of panic, and such incidents kill the trust between the civilians and security officials.Civilians are under no obligation to make the job of a police officer easier, nor is the public at large. The solution here is to make sure that police officers don’t enforce unconstitutional and immoral laws, thus giving the public cause to lose all respect and esteem for them. Civilians are not obliged to lay down their rights, including their lives, for the sake of aiding people conduct a job that is largely reprehensible and clearly wrong(especially if the Police Act ,Section 32 and 36, chapter 303, still stands). We want ‘peace officers’ not just ‘law enforcers’.
Police should not expect automatic cooperation from civilians, no matter how objectionable the intrusion into our lives. Gilbert Arinaitwe’s sort appears to feel they are above the rest of us in authority, and by extension, value. As a result, they have made the police to look like a symbol of interference and literal evil yet police officers are supposed to be public servants and people as their bosses. I understand being a cop is a hard and thankless job but you don’t expect people to be so vacuously inane that they would thank you for punching their faces, kicking their ribs in, whether literally or figuratively. How can you possibly think that people would cotton to wholly unreasonable restrictions on their lives, like a simple individual ‘walk to work’ protest to Kampala or Jinja or wherever? Even some of the painfully docile opposition leaders don’t like it and i have seen then making some noise.
Good people don’t’ despise cops or security officials for no reason. Good people don’t want to waste the energy to despise the police. Surely, General Kayihura must understand this. The root cause must be identified immediately, which I have done in general terms above, and corrected. However, when given no choice, they do what they must and that is what Dr.Besigye and others are doing.I’m still hoping of organising a football game between Besigye and Museveni side,if they give me a go ahead, as a way of ending this stampede.
Byebyo ebyange banange
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
http://ugandansatheart.org/
http://semuwemba.wordpress.com/
BESIGYE AND MUSEVENI NEED A FOOTBALL GAME NOW
29 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment
in Corruption, Economics, Entertainment, FDC, health, IPC, media in Uganda, Politics, security, UPDF
Gilbert Arinaitwe 'punishing' Dr.Besigye's car for moving to Kampala
Now that calm has temporarily returned to Kampala after some body from ‘’above’’ changed his mind to allow Dr.Besigye to go for treatment in Nairobi, let me try to comment on the most beautiful game called football. My team, Chelsea FC, is out of the Champions League but I couldn’t stop smiling this week on Wednesday when I watched Lionel Messi ”teargassing” the Real Madrid defense in the last minutes. It was a real thriller especially his last goal.I had never seen anything like that since Diego Maradona days. It was a beauty which even brought a smile on Jose Mourinho’s face!
Now, the real question on my mind is that ‘can football be used as a weapon to settle political and economic differences in Uganda too as it has happened in Ivory coast before Gbagbo made a mess of things after clearly losing the election?’’. Let us remember that Ivorian, Didier Drogba, did a lot to bring the two opposing sides together some couple of years ago, by organizing a football game that was played in the country’s capital, and it was attended by both Gbagbo and Quatara. Peace came back into the country and both sides agreed to have an election which Quatara won but Gbagbo refused to concede defeat. The rest is history as they say and I even don’t know where Gbagbo is after watching him on TV caught like a chicken thief by the French forces from his presidential bunker.
Kampala riots on 29/04/11
Nonetheless,with the current riots looking not to end soon in Uganda especially with Museveni swearing that Besigye will never be allowed to walk on foot in Kampala city, it is imperative that we all find a way of bringing the two sides together to find a way forward. So, I suggest that we organize a football game at Namboole stadium and invite both of them to attend. I will be happy to referee the game or be the goal keeper if both sides have got no problem with it and as long as they can meet my flight costs from England. Yes, I’m still annoyed with the way the police and army have inhumanly treated Besigye but , I promise, I won’t give a red card to the NRM side if I’m allowed to referee the game.
Back to the Real Madrid Vs Barcelona game in the champions League, It might not have been beautiful but it was sweeter than the contents of the sugar bowl for those who appreciate Messi’s talent. For me, I think the current Barcelona team is the greatest team in the history of football, and the son of a factory worker and a cleaner remains the world’s best player up to now. I don’t care what Alex Ferguston says about Real Madrid’s Ronaldo Christian because whoever watched that game now knows that Messi is way up there.
Nevertheless, I always ask myself why Uganda have not been able to turn their football into an a big business after years of listening to teams such as Villa FC, Express, KCC and others on our radios. In the UK here, teams such as Aston Villa, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur were floated on stock exchanges in 1990s, and they have been realizing considerable profits for the existing shareholders for a long time.Actually, it is fair to say that football became a business model in England officially in the 1990s when I was still doing my O’levels at Kibuli Secondary school. The media industry played and it still does the biggest part in helping the clubs make money out of football.
Football’s profitability is interlocked with that of the media industry here in Europe and it is greatly associated with football celebrities. So the simple business plan I’m giving to Ugandans back home interested in this kind of business, like my OB Kasule Mujib, is that in order for a club to be successful, one needs: to go into partnership with the media, create a celebrity footballer in the country, allow fans to buy shares into the club if the owner hasn’t got enough money and get good coaches. The stadium should also be located in a populated area to target more customers. The only populated area of any size in England where there are no clubs is Cornwall, which has a strong rugby tradition.
The people running football clubs at community level in Uganda should get serious as well. It is so disappointing to hear that the football club we used to watch as kids at Kangulumira is still in the same ‘ill’ shape. Football is a joint business production that requires a lot of clubs for anybody to make money. Instead of people just concentrating on about 6 big clubs we have got in the country right now, they should also find a way of developing the smaller clubs in the rural areas. For instance, The English Premiership was formed by top clubs in 1992 because they wanted a bigger slice of the available revenue, particularly television revenue (which they were able to increase), and a bigger say in how the game was run. All clubs make money regardless of what position they finish under at the end of the season. For instance, Chelsea may finish 2nd this season but there won’t be a bigger difference with Manchester United in terms of TV money shared at the end of the season.
So may be, we should follow this formula too in Uganda and increase the number of clubs involved in the top national league. This system can, in the long run, also help the clubs to identify talent at community or village level. I’m sure there are a lot of boys in villages who are capable of becoming the next ‘Messi if given a chance to develop their talents.
Our government should do everything in its power to help people who intend to invest in football business. I don’t know what the Ministry of Sport and Culture does about this but I have a few suggestions of my own. They could subsidize the costs of stadium construction and maintenance. They could invest money in community led projects especially sports at village level.
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
United Kingdom
UPDF/Police Should Not Shoot at Protesters In case of Demos in Uganda!!
26 Feb 2011 6 Comments
in 2010-2011 elections, IPC, Legal issues, Politics, security, UPDF
I know some Muslims felt for Brother Gaddafi as much as I did, for reasons which are known to everybody(i.e.we are Muslims), but we must accept that a brother who kills others should have no sympathy from anyone. The same reason I expect Muslim NRM supporters to denounce their support for president Museveni after 33 people were killed in riots in September 2009. No leader deserves anybody’s mercy if he is unjustifiably killing his own people, for whatever reasons. British PM,David Cameron, came out to warn all Libyan leaders that were committing atrocities against humanity that the international law would catch up with them. Basically, Gadaffi made himself a ‘prisoner’ of the international community before he had even lost power. So let’s hope that UPDF or Uganda police will not be tempted to shoot at our people in case demonstrations or protets start in Uganda.
''I will eat Besigye like Cake or Samosa''-Gen.Museveni. Picture provided by John Nsubuga of UAH
I know most Ugandans have probably given up on the future of our country after the 2011 elections were cleverly and massively rigged, and they have understandably developed fears that the opposition is gonna lead to more deaths if anybody comes out on streets to demonstrate, but we should all emulate the Brazilian born political activist, Paulo Freire, who explained the principle of ‘conscientisation’( the process of becoming critically aware of structural forces of power which shape people’s lives as a precondition for critical action for change). Please read one of his books and you will understand why some people are so passionate about the affairs of their country.
Paulo Freire, who coincidentally has the same names as Chelsea FC’s defender, explained that when a leader has broken all avenues of change, the population usually develops what he termed as ‘culture of silence’. In other words, the marginalized population develops passive acceptance of the bad situation in the country. This passive acceptance can be displayed in different ways:
1. There are those that decide to join the regime in power because they need daily bread, as they say:’ if you can’t beat them, join them’;
2. There are those who decide to do their own things and distance themselves from anything that involves politics. This is the option most people normally take, and this explains why there was a low voter turnout in the elections. Most People are not bothered with Museveni and politics anymore as long as there can peacefully sleep, eat, drink and look after their families.Who can blame them?
Basing on the above theories, there is a big possibility that majority of the population in Uganda may decide not to join the opposition leaders on the streets of Kampala for any protests, simply because of the fear factor. The truth is that if anybody is to take Museveni out of power right now, the biggest celebrations may surprisingly come from those who claim to be core supporters of NRM/Museveni. We have seen this happening in Egypt and Libya where a lot of government people were denouncing their leaders and later celebrating when they are out of power.
President Museveni destroyed the true friends he had in NRM when he removed term limits from the 1995 constitution. One of the reasons why most Ghanaians still love J.K.Rawlings is because he respected term limits and handed over power when he lost the presidency. He also never attempted to rig the elections in 2000 just to stay in power, yet he and his men killed a lot of Ghanaians during the coup detat in 1978. What Rawlings did in 2000 has transformed Ghana’s political landscape to the levels not seen in 99% of Africa.
So we should be careful with who we publicly support when it comes to politics because things may change when we least expect it. Museveni is not immortal. He breathes the same oxygen which we all breathe. So many of us supported him between 1986 and 1990s till when he went AWOL. Yes, he has done some good things for the country but this itself is not a ticket to stay in power indefinitely, and i think this is bringing about endless demonstrations or protests in Uganda. Our country is a time bomb waiting to explode.
Anyway, we urge UPDF, police and other security organs not to shoot Ugandans in case they are just peacefully demonstrating. There is no need for that, honestly. We should learn to value human life whatever the situation we find ourselves in.Why kill someone just because he or she is on a street making noise and walking about? Police Chief’s statement today- warning the opposition, was not encouraging, but all the same, lets hope that the police will not be tempted to shoot at peaceful Ugandans as the international law has got no boundaries. Similarly, protestors should also respect the police men/women because they are there to ensure peace in our country.
Byebyo ebyange
Abbey.K.S
We Should All Try To Buy Dr.Kobusingye’s Book If Possible
20 Oct 2010 11 Comments
in 2010-2011 elections, Corruption, history, international, Politics, security
Dear people,
I would like to thank the Monitor newspaper for agreeing to serialise Dr. Olive Kobusingye’s book, particularly after the drama we have been exposed to by Uganda Revenue Authority and Mr. Kivenjinja Kirunda as part of the reasons for holding her book. The Monitor is doing a lot of people a favour because most Ugandans I know don’t want to part with their hard earned cash to buy books. Yes, they can talk about it as in like:’ Besigye’s sister wrote a book which is giving Museveni sleepless nights’, but they never spend money on reading books. It will, however, be easy for them to part with shs.1500 daily to buy a copy of the Monitor just to read about the book chapters and other stuff in the paper. If in the process, so many people buy the Monitor and the sales shoot up, then definitely Dr. Kobusingye and other intended beneficiaries will get something out of it financially. As we all know, a newspaper cannot just serialize one’s book without any catch because writing a book is not that easy.
In the same vein, it would be good if the Luganda newspapers such as Eddobozi, Gwanga Mujje and possibly Bukedde(if it wants to prove its independence from the state), do crack a deal with Dr.Kobusingye to do what the Monitor is doing at the moment. This may be helpful to those Ugandans who cannot read and write English to also benefit from this beautiful literature.
From the few chapters I have read so far, the book offers a selected view on the Museveni of today in comparison with the one of 1980s thorough research. While this book paints a rather negative picture of the president, it does remain as a very factual source. The book is written with a lot of sarcasm opinionated in the various quotes made by president Museveni verbally and in writing. The facts I have read so far are entertainingly presented and to be honest, I just cannot stop smiling.
Let us also remember that the world has seen a lot of controversial books being banned and accepted elsewhere. In 1906 in Britain, a book titled:’’ The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion’’ caused a lot of storm as it claimed to have secret minutes of the Jewish elites planning to dominate the world. The ‘protocol’ became one of the best selling books of the century before it was overtaken by another one of a similar sort written by an American politician, David Duke, whose research was done in the same way as Dr.Kobusingye’s ,i.e. by quoting major Jewish figures and sources as Dr.Kobusingye has also done by quoting Museveni and other big people in the government. As a result, in 2000, the Jews in Russia filed a complaint in the Russian courts of law asking that the Duke’s book be declared anti-Semitic and illegal but the courts decided otherwise after one year of examination of the book.
In 1953, the Literature Commission in Georgia (USA) proposed that a book titled: ‘Southern Exposure’ and authored by Stetson Kennedy is banned because it is filled with filth. This book did a good job of exposing the ill motives of the Ku Klux Klan and racism in USA. The main citation that was picked on for its ban was a statement by one of the southern officials that:’’ “The only way we’re willing to give the niggers equality is by filling them white”. Common sense prevailed and the book was not banned such that the author is now recognised as an award winning one.
In 1999, a book about Adolf Hitler with the title: “Mein Kampf”, put the German media company, Bertelsmann, on a collusion course with its online book selling partner, Barnesandnoble.com, because they believed the book was full of hate literature. Amazon continued to sell the book despite protests in some political circles in Germany.
In 2004, I believe a teacher was banned from working in France for questioning the Jewish version of World War Two and he was later sentenced to two years in prison by a French court after he made a film contesting the official Jewish version of an alleged massacre by German forces during the war. The crime was termed a ‘thought’ crime by the media.
Up to now I cannot understand the definition of a “thought crime”. I don’t know whether the term is a technical one. So I guess my quibble is that the French teacher was punished, not for thinking, but for expressing and distributing his thoughts in the form of film. As a supporter of civil liberties, I have no patience for such absurd semantic quibbles.
I’m, however, surprised that the government of Uganda decided to give Dr.Kobusingye’s book free publicity by seizing it at the Entebbe airport. By the way, I remember telling a few Ugandans I interact with through online debates that several people will start writing about the years of NRM rule particularly when president Museveni is out of power, and this will bury the NRM for good, because there is a lot of evidence out there which Ugandans dread to read about. NRM will suffer more than UPC did when Obote left power, and they know it. That’s why they will do anything to make sure that they maintain the status-qou. For the meantime, let us all endeavour to buy Kobusingye’s book as we also welcome the reopening of CBS fm without any conditions.
Happy days!
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
United Kingdom
No wonder Kobusigye is smiling
GOVERNMENT SHOULD LEAVE KALYEGIRA ALONE
06 Aug 2010 15 Comments
in 2010-2011 elections, Legal issues, media in Uganda, Politics, security
Dear people,
I agree with the Daily Monitor’s Daniel Kalinaki analysis of Timothy Kalyegira as a conspiracy theorist rather than a terrorist or seditionist (going by the charges laid against him by the government). There is an old saying that one can never convince anyone who doesn’t wish to be convinced and I think whatever Kalyegira writes is up to the readers to make up their own minds on whether it’s true or not. I don’t believe in conspiracy theories but I think it’s wrong for a government to arrest a journalist for writing something that they feel very passionate about. As long as the media, TV journalists in particular, continue to leave some important questions lying dormant, people will continue to write their own opinions and there is very little the state can do about it.
It’s now acceptable worldwide that anyone who questions the settled version is ridiculed as another one of those “conspiracy nuts” but I think arresting and charging a journalist or anybody with sedition is a step too far. This kind of situation discourages further investigations, disparages all independent thinking, and all further efforts to find answers to all the unanswered questions simply peter out.
The July bombings in Kampala were as shocking as the September 11th attack on New York and several conspiracy theories were written after these attacks. Alexander Emerick Jones is on of USA’s ‘conspiracy theorist’ and journalist but the government there has never arrested him for sedition.
Film maker, Michael Moore, did a documentary titled ‘fahrenheit 9 11’’ that indicated that 9/11 was really a CIA plot but nobody searched his house or asked passwords for his emails. Another documentary titled ‘Loose Change’ ridiculously came to the same conclusion as that of Michael Moore’s and some people loved it. Moore’s documentary delayed being released in USA due to its controversy but it was allowed in time here in Britain, and I was among the first batch to watch it in the cinema.
Craig Unger also wrote an informative book which he called ‘House of Bush, House of Saud’, and it criticizes the Bush administration for allowing so many Saudis, including the relatives of bin Laden, to leave the country quickly after Sep 11th, while all other flights were grounded, without being questioned about the terrorist attacks. Unger cites FBI and Police agents as witnesses, but he also never faced the same wrath as Uganda’s Timothy Kalyegira after the bombings in Kampala.
What actually the then CIA director and Secretary of Defence, Robert Gates, did after conspiracy theorists went into gear was to issue a press statement in June 2005, stating that:”The American people know what they saw with their own eyes on September 11, 2001. To suggest any kind of government conspiracy in the events of that day goes beyond the pale.” They didn’t need to arrest people who differed with the government position on matters.
The truth is that several conspiracy theories have existed in our life time and several others will come up after us. For example: the owner of Fulham FC here in England, Alfayeed, also came up with a theory that Princess Diana and his son, Dodi, were murdered, but the UK government didn’t arrest him. He actually spent a lot of money on this investigation but it yielded nothing and now he has let it go.
There is also a theory that soft drink Fanta was invented by the Nazis but we are still enjoying our Fanta, don’t we?
When president Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, innumerable theories were written about him. Oliver Stone made a film called ‘JFK’ and it sold like hotcakes worldwide. The same Oliver did a film on Ronald Reagan when he was shot, titled “The Day Reagan Was Shot,” and he made a lot of money out of it. Reagan was shot and critically wounded on March 30, 1981.
In Uganda, up to now, people don’t believe that General Kazini was indeed murdered by a mere woman despite several contrary reports by the government.
Therefore, Please I request the government to leave Timothy Kalyegira alone. The police who arrested and charged him should be the one to be charged with sedition: for attempting to turn our Constitutional Republic into a Dictatorship. The sedition Act was introduced in USA in 1918 during World War I basically because it was a very unpopular war and therefore suppression of speech was necessary at the time, but the last sedition case to the U.S. Supreme Court was Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), when it overturned conviction of a KKK leader on similar grounds as in Yates. KKK leader advocated in speech the use of violence to effect political change. He was convicted under Ohio statute banning advocating violence for political change but the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it; saying law must distinguish between advocacy of ideas and incitement to unlawful conduct. This is the law today.
The bottom line is that the events of July bombings need a better investigation. Maybe most of the events were close to what the government and mainstream wants to claim, but there are definitely unanswered questions and Ugandans wishes to know them. The issue is all about lack of trust between the government and the people they lead, a loop hole some people will always exploit.
Byebyo ebyange
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
United Kingdom
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Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
Blogs:
http://ugandansatheart.wordpress.com/
http://semuwemba.wordpress.com/
http://ekitibwakyabuganda.wordpress.com/
http://ugandamuslims.wordpress.com/
A War against Alshahab Militants will not make Ugandans safer
19 Jul 2010 16 Comments
in 2010-2011 elections, East Africa, FDC, IPC, security
Dear people,
I’m not in agreement with those who are supporting the government’s position to wage a full scale war on Alshabab Militants because history has shown that the war on terror, if it is the one we intend to fight, is not won that way. The attack on Al-shabab Militants is a very small, almost incidental part of the War on Terror, certainly not the heart of the matter.
Therefore, I disagree with president Museveni’s war drums since I believe he is not focusing on the problem of terrorism as in terrorism. It seems he has an agenda that has not been presented to the citizens succinctly. I suspect one of the reasons why the government is war mongering is to get people to think of war instead of domestic issues. Most leaders do so to deflect attention from their inadequacies and I simply think that president Museveni is petty.At this time, I really don’t understand our need to go to war with Alshabab despite the recent bombs in Kampala, because we simply don’t have resources to fight such wars. Perhaps some Ugandans are content with his reasons but I’m not impressed with what he has put on the table.
President Museveni should not fall into the traps of the former US president, George Bush, who after Sep 11th attacks on New York, kept telling Americans and the world that the war on terror will be worn, but later to backtrack on this statement some years later, in an interview broadcast by the ‘Today’ show, where he told host Matt Lauer that he doesn’t think his ‘War on Terror’ is winnable. “I don’t think you can win it,” said Bush. “But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world.”
Of course some of us had already seen it that a war against terror cannot be won by bombing and waging several wars. Terrorism is a weapon. How do you wage war against a weapon?
Religion
It’s also so unfair and wrong when some people generalise that all Muslims are terrorists because they are quite wrong. While there are some scriptures in the Koran which encourages violence ,it is quite pale compared to the bible and that’s a fact. Secondly, some of these verses were revealed to the prophet depending on the circumstances at the time but some writers manipulate them to fit in today’s surroundings.
I know the Koran has a lot to do with the Old Testament and some Christianity because whatever is in it does not really conflict so much with the original books of earlier prophets. But many historians are frustrated the earliest texts are locked away and have been allowed to rot rather than be examined and copied. Few early copies of Koran have been examined and most findings never publish widely. Much of history is threatened or political correctness forces it off shelves.
There are over a billion Muslims in the world and about 9 millions in Uganda. If they all supported Kampala’s 711th bombings ,we would already have a hell of a problem on our hands. It is therefore wrong to call Somali alshab militants ”Muslim combatants” and ”Jihadists” instead of simply “the terrorists” and the “evil doers”. It is simply an insult to the rest of the peaceful Muslims in Uganda or the rest of the world.
Terrorism is simply a tactic of war and in the past has been used even by the Western democracies, e.g. the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the fire bombings of Hamburg and Dresden Germany. So it is simply wrong to call the warriors of al Qaeda, Hezbelloh, Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, etc, ”Muslim” terrorists.So I have a better idea: Hold individuals accountable for their acts, don’t collectivize and group based on alleged beliefs, and have a counter-terrorism policy that does not play into the hands of extremists who say we are true to our evil core of conquest and killing for the sake of wealth and power.
I must also point out that Islam has no central religious authority like the Vatican in Catholicism. So there is conflict over interpretation of some verses and sayings of the prophet, as some claim Koran calls for slavery to god, others say servant, some obedience, some say it is presented in strict format. So we have Sunni and Shi’te and other splinters all over the place though personally, im just a Muslim without any alliance to any sect.
Some people say that Islam was forcibly exported to other regions but this was also the case for christianity in parts such as Spain and America. Spanish colonialists forcibly exported Christianity and they were after gold, not souls, while the people that conquered what is now Saudi Arabia were unambiguously after souls.I don’t have enough information to measure Saudi religious oppression against, say, that of Spain on its own territory , but there were certainly periods of forcible Christian expansion.
Old pagan religions, Mithraism, Gnosticism, Arianism, and non-Christian Judaism all just didn’t disappear out of Europe because the Catholics employed sweet reason on infidels and heretics. Christianity also came to Europe wading in blood.Besides the Spaniards in the new world, most of European colonialism had a religious component. Europe conquered the world and religion was a part of that.
IPC and terrorism
Now that we already know NRM position on fighting terrorism, we would like to know FDC’s stand on this since we have been reading conflicting reports from the party officials ever since the bombings on 11th July. Is it really asking so much for the second largest political party in Uganda to put forth some official statement of position on terrorism and how to deal with it? It shouldn’t have to be an election trick.IPC should also have an official position on this instead of newspapers quoting Besigye and Lukyamuzi as having different views on the issue.
I think the perception among some Ugandans is that the FDC and the rest of the opposition would simply shut down the war on terror and commit to a policy of appeasement and apologism. So I call upon the opposition to break that perception and show us that there’s other people besides president Museveni committed to addressing the problem of terrorism in Uganda and Africa in general.
Solution to terrorism
I consider terrorists to be like criminals as like any other. As such, the way to get rid of (we’ll never get rid of evil) is to simply limit them through detective work. We can use the military for crushing pesky folks, but the way to limit these folks is through detective work, infiltration, Intel, seizure of money, but military muscle should be a last resort.
One defeats terrorism by undermining the conditions which breed terrorists. Economic inequality, crushing poverty, shattered educational infrastructures, rampant violence and a total lack of hope are the soil in which suicide bombers germinate. Until one get rid of those, there will always be terrorism. Period. Somalia is fertile with such conditions such that a simple act of war will never make Ugandans safer in any way.We should do more assessment before we think of a war with Alshahab militants because i believe it may breed more problems for our people.
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Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
Blogs:
http://ugandansatheart.wordpress.com/
http://semuwemba.wordpress.com/
http://ekitibwakyabuganda.wordpress.com/
http://ugandamuslims.wordpress.com/
Is the UPDF really a professional army after what happened at Kasubi?
20 Mar 2010 5 Comments
Ugandans,
I was baffled by the comments written by Mr. Ruzindana Augustine in one of his articles in the Monitor Newspaper, where he agreed with General Aronda that the UPDF will remain neutral and support any winning candidate other than the incumbent in 2011 presidential elections. I have heard people say that President Museveni resigned from the UPDF but up to now, I don’t understand what duties he resigned from. He seems to be still the top man in the decision making department when it comes to UPDF. 
What happened at Kasubi on 17th March this year when three people lost their lives just because some youths (whom the media reported as Baganda youths), had tried to clock the presidential envoy from reaching the burned site, displayed the unprofessionalism in our armed forces. It just reinforced my fears that anybody can easily lose life while in Uganda. It seems Ugandans in the armed forces have stopped valuing human life at all as if there is a shop where you can go and buy it.
I was also very disappointed when I later heard that Mr. Felix Kulayigye, the army spokesperson, had come out and indirectly supported the negative actions of the man that committed murder at Kasubi tombs. These officers shot live bullets at a group of people that were not armed with anything life threatening, and this is pure murder by my book, which deserves punishment.
According to the current constitution, the president is the chief Executive officer and also the commander of the armed offices. He determines the operational use of the armed forces; appoints members and promotes officers to any office within the UPDF. Whoever is recruited in the army is supposed to be commissioned by him.
The Defence Council is the supreme governing body of the armed forces. It is still chaired by the president and it is the one that appoints the Chief of Defence staff, Army chief of staff and Chief of Air Staff. All these people must be approved by the chairman of the Defence Council who is the president of the country and as such continue to look at the president as their top boss. The president can sack them or influence their sacking any time he wishes.
The Defence Council also establishes the ‘Volunteer Force’ and ‘Voluntary Reserve’ in the army. All these ex-service men and women in the UPDF continue to look at the president as their boss and they are right.
The Defence Council consists of the president, minister of Defence, three senior Chiefs of Staff, army and Air force and any other person appointed by the president. When one looks at all the other people that form the Defence Council minus the president, they are all appointed by the president. The president can sack them or influence their sacking any time.
The Defence Council which the president chairs is also empowered to make regulations as may be necessary for securing the displine in the army. So in effect, the president’s hands are likely to be found in the General Court Martial or any other army displinary procedures in place.
The president also appoints one of the people that sit on the Chief of Staff Committee. This Committee deals with professional advice on strategy and military operations and on military defence police generally. 
Apart from the army, the police have also some times got a problem following the constitution. The Police force is not established to increase the powers of the Executive or the Chief Executive or to be used as a weapon to enforce the Executive’s arbitrary control over the population. It is so absurd that the police can hold suspects for longer than they are supposed to be held as was the case with the Mengo ministers, journalist Sserumaga Kalundi and Beti Namboze, and then the president comes out publicly to support them on that. Actually, the president was quoted by the media saying that he was not happy with the judge who ordered for the unconditional release of the Mengo ministers and Namboze.
So may be we need some one from the UPDF to come out and explain to us in details how president Museveni retired from the army and how far UPDF has been professionalised. We also need the UPDF to come out and clearly explain the army police on shooting non-armed civilians because this situation seems to be getting out of control since September 11th 2009 during the Buganda riots when about 40 people were killed like bats.
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
United Kingdom
Ofwono’s case should be reopened to ignite the debate on gun control
28 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in 2010-2011 elections, security
People should remember, shooting a thief in your own home while he is in the act of committing a theft or robbery is considered “self defense” and is a justifiable homocide in so many states in USA..Unfortunately, in countries like UK where I live, this is not the case, you shoot a thief as Mr.Ofwono Opondo allegedly did in a school compound, you face the music of the law. Thieves have got a right to life in this country and nobody can just kill them and get away with it. For instance,on August 22, 1999, Tony Martin of Emneth, Norfolk, England, killed one burglar and wounded a second. In April, 2000, he was convicted to serve a life term. I think he is now out though im not so sure but I remember watching a documentary on TV when he was giving his side of the story to the journalists.
Tony Martin was convicted because he shot a man in cold blood. He was convicted by a jury of his peers, local people who detest burglars as much as he did, but recognised that that does not give them the right to take the law into their own hands. They convicted a man who had professed the desire to round up gypsies in a field and murder them all. Yes, I love the UK legal system but in this case, they somehow let me down too. Why convict a man defending himself and his family!
The most important thing is to take guns off the streets of Kampala because guns are everywhere in Uganda at moment and most people are misusing them. I have had several cases of Ugandans abroad who visit home and end up being killed anyhow. Personally, I would welcome possession of the gun when im in Uganda because I believe I can’t let it fall into wrong hands.I need to feel that i can protect myself if the police cannot protect me and my family when im back home. Right people should be allowed to possess guns for self defence but the problem is how to determine the ‘right person’.
There is NO rational way that taking guns from law-abiding people will in any way reduce crime, and ALL evidense PROVES that by disarming law abiding people you actually INCREASE violent crime, and yet the first choice of the subjugated British government here is to react to their fears, no matter how irrational they are, by taking away freedom from those who could NOT possibly cause the problem they are afraid of. Guns have been banned from Britain before even my mother was born. They just dont want anybody to possess guns on the streets, not even the police.
On the other hand, guns in Uganda are possessed by both the ‘right’ and ‘bad’ people. So sometimes, the bad people use guns to terrorize the masses. There is less gun control. The right people in this case are mostly the tycoons, celebrities, ISO, police, army,……… but some of these also misuses them to torture and kill people.
So, im not gonna be quick to judge Mr.Ofwono Opondo because I dont know much the circumstances around the murder he allegedely committed. If it was really self defence then I say ‘ bingo’. But then again, Ofwono should have let the courts determine this and not the police departement who are supposed just to invesitigate. So let the case be reopened again,if its possible, and we all get a chance to reexamine it.
Nze Bwendaba
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
