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Nambooze has Won b’se of Opposition Solidarity!
25 May 2010 25 Comments
in 2010-2011 elections, FDC, IPC, Uncategorized
Dear readers,
I congratulate Beti Nambooze for winning the Mukono north by elections but she would not have done so,despite her popularity, without the IPC,Mengo and other opposition groups working together.The Nkobazambogo guys have been everywhere on the ground to protect the votes and so were the IPC Youths. Besigye, Lukyamuzi, Mayanja and Otuunu have all been in Mukono campaigning for her, and so were some Mengo officials. If CBS was still around then she would have been sold all over the country, but there has been a media blackout throughout this election. The bottom line is that any opposition candidate can have the votes on the ground but you need a lot of eyes to protect the votes, and this is what has helped Nambooze.
Colline Hotel in Mukono
Mukono north elections were a referendum on Buganda’s popularity Vs NRM. Thank God she has won. Therefore, the opposition should fight to increase its numbers in parliament whatever happens with the presidential results. That is why Otunu, Lukyamuzi, Mayanja and Mabike need to stand for parliament in 2011. Mengo also needs to work with the IPC to sort out the Buganda parliamentary candidates for 2011.If the opposition stand together , they will increase their numbers in parliament. The problem is that Mao’s decision to put a fence on his DP faction is causing a lot of problems for the opposition in general.For instance, there were two DP candidates in this race and this tends to confuse voters.
Nambooze was already a very popular candidate in Mukono and I guess that’s why the state machinery found it hard to rig this election but there is a always a next time after 6 months. She did not get the 70% she anticipated because there were a lot of forces at work.
The EC is not illegal because it was appointed according to the constitution of Uganda. What the opposition is challenging is the incompetence of the current EC to hold fair elections. As you can see, reports from the monitor newspaper indicate that the EC cannot do a good job. Anyway, tomorrow the EC will be in court to defend itself after a case which was filed against them by the IPC.
Nambooze’s win is a win for all Ugandans at heart:DPs with Uganda at heart not ‘selfish’ ones; IPC,Mengo and all pro-democracy Ugandans. Yes, Nambooze stood on a ‘team working’ DP ticket not a ‘selfish DP’ (headed by Mao). Nambooze’s victory is a victory for all those who cherish team work and togetherness. For me, I have resorted to one of my best, not favourite, song below:
A Song For World Peace & Togetherness
Thank you
Abbey
NRM has not given enough political cake to Muslims
22 May 2010 4 Comments
in 2010-2011 elections, Buganda, kingdoms, Obote and UPC, Religion, Uncategorized
Becoming a politician is not inborn or prophetic as in like Jesus or Muhammad(saw) born with unique features of prophecy. Anybody can become a politician if the situation warrants one to become one.General Kazini was teacher by profession but he died a military officer. Late Dr.Kiggundu Sulaiman was a banker and researcher but he died a politician.The current chairman of the electoral commission,Dr.Badru Kiggundu was an academician in USA and later in Makerere university but now he is fully in politics. But Let me go back to the gist of my message which is Muslims and how we have been marginalised politically in Uganda.
The Muslims have got no viable Muslim in the current NRM government apart from the Electoral Commission Chairman,Dr.Badru Kiggundu, and Hajji Kirunda Kivenjinja, yet the both the catholics and protestants are well represented. This has been the case since 1996 where no Muslim occupies a constitutional office anywhere in Museveni’s government. Muslims were well represented in the first 10 years of Museveni’s reign but not anymore.
During Obote 2, there was no Muslim in his cabinet. There was one Muslim ntege Lubwama who had been named a minister but Oyite Ojok and Chris Rwakasisi plotted his death and he had to go into exile.UNLF under Godfrey Binaisa, there was only Ntege Lubwama and Bidandi Ssali.UNLF under Lule, there was none although Lule was once upon a time a Muslim. Obote 1 had only two Muslim ninisters:Adoko Nekyon and Shaban Nkutu (from Busoga).
During Iddil Amin,Uganda was admited as an islamic country at a conference in Lahore, pakistan in 1974 and Amin tried a lot to help Muslims during his reign. Nevertheless, Amin had only one Mulsim in first cabinet though this later changed as years progressed.
According to the 1958 consensus, i think muslims were not more than 5%. Because we are a minority, we have always needed catholics and protestants at our side when making political decisons.This means that a muslim president or Vice president can act as a bridge between different religions in Uganda and does not need to turn Uganda into an Islamic state which was somehow the dream of Iddil Amin. Non-Muslims can vote for a Muslim president looking at him as a bridge to unite everybody despite whatever happened under Iddil Amin.
Muslims in general do not discriminate people based on religions. In Senegal, there was a catholic president called Leopold Senghol but the majority of the population that voted for him were Muslims.In Tanzania, Julius Nyerere was a catholic but muslims loved him in big numbers. Museveni1(1986-1998) was also loved and supported by majority of Muslims before he came to power.
Religion, culture and politics are like three brothers competing with one another.The link between religion and politics in Uganda can be explained in the earlier relationship between Sudan and Uganda during the rise of the Mahdi, a force that overpowered the British and Egyptians and later led to what we call ‘NUBIANS’ in Uganda. When the Acholi, Lugabara, Kakwa, banyoro and others were converted to Islam, they became BANUBI. Amin was a kakwa muslim which makes him a Nubian is some way.
In the 1950s, religion played apart in party membership and formation. DP was mainly dominated by catholics and it had a catholic Lawyer in Kiwanuka as its first leader.DP was originally supposed to be called christian Democratic party before the word christain was omitted.It also used people like archbisjop of Lubaga, Joseph Kiwanuka, to tap into Baganda and catholic support during the elections. I think Kiwanuka died in 1966, the same year Obote abolished kingdoms.
Uganda National Congress(UNC) and later UPC were dominated by protestants. 75% of the UNC central committee came from King’s College Budo School, a protestant school.74% of their branch chairman were protestants.Islam was not an influence but it once acted as a unifying factor for protestants and catholics when the British and Arabs were fighthing for influence in Buganda. The British later sided with protestants as the formal ascendasy or official religion for Buganda.
For UPC, it benefited from the 1961 elections because of its protestant base. The greater the precentage of protestants in adistrict, the higher the vote for UPC though DP benifited from this more than UPC. Nevertherless,UPC tried to move away from religion in the 1962 elections.
Unlike Muslims, protestants have produced national and traditional leaders that have helped to unite them. Most of the Kabakas have been protestants including the current one. Obote was a protestant and presided over cabinets dominated by protestants in Obote and Obote 2. Catholics have also continued to be atleast well representated because they are the majority in Uganda.Muslims were also united when Amin was in power but it was short lived because since then we have not been having strong national characters to unite us. That’s why, atleast, we need a strong Muslim Vice president or prime minister as things stand and it could benefit all of us if we get a good candidate. The current NRM governnment should think about this as no Muslim is occupying any of the biggest posts in the government. Buganda’s Mengo administration should also think about appointing a Muslim Katikiro soon for the sake of creating balance in political appointees in the kingdom.
AbbeyKibirige Semuwemba
United Kingdom
Analysing Semujju’s Swipe at ‘Mole’ Norbert Mao
22 May 2010 32 Comments
in 2010-2011 elections, Uncategorized
| SSEMUJJU NGANDA: Mao is Museveni’s Trojan Horse |  |
 |
| Columnists |
| Written by Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda |
| Wednesday, 19 May 2010 21:13 |
| I had restrained myself from commenting about the recent election of Gulu District Chairman Norbert Mao as President General of one of the Democratic Party (DP) factions. Not because I didn’t have ideas to contribute to the debate on whether Mao was the most suitable person to lead DP; but, rather, because I thought commenting about Mao endlessly would be falling into Mr. Yoweri Museveni’s 2011 trap.
The scheme involved keeping the name of Mao in the media to raise his profile for future use. Once the name had gained enough feasibility, it would then be unleashed to the country as a presidential candidate for only one purpose: to attack the IPC and Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye in order to scatter all combined efforts to oust Museveni. And Mao has lived up to expectations. He has already attacked the IPC and Kizza Besigye. Col. Besigye is not an automatic IPC flag bearer but both Mao and Museveni have made him their target. Before I make any conclusions, I want to share with you three incidents that shook my faith in Norbert Mao. But before I do, I want to confess that as a parliamentary journalist during the time Mao was MP, I enjoyed listening to him. He was probably one of the best 20 speakers in the 6th and 7th parliaments. About two years ago, I went to Gulu Town to present findings of a research commissioned by ACODE and was booked in Acholi Inn. After making my presentation, I took a walk and on my return, I found Norbert Mao talking to Prof. Elijah Mushemeza and ACODE’s Arthur Bainomugisha. I heard Mao telling these two gentlemen that if Museveni “handled us properly, we can even help him defeat FDC in Acholi.” I didn’t want to mention the names of these two gentlemen but I have to in order for people not to think my assertion is a concoction. The conversation was not meant for me; it stopped when I arrived. Up to now I have never known why Mao wanted to help Museveni defeat FDC in Acholi and I also don’t know whether he has given up this desire. Secondly, again in the evening I went to town and on return I found Mao, Gulu RDC Col. Walter Ochora and Brig. Otema Awany swimming in the same pool. It was a bit strange but Mao later told us that such was the politics of the Acholi and his Gulu in particular. For them, serving Acholi transcended their petty political differences. But the Otema Awany I knew was the one who was harassing other Acholi leaders, especially MP Ronald Reagan Okumu. How come Awany is enjoying the same waters and breathing the same air with Mao? Why were they not mistreating Mao the same way they were harassing other Acholi? The third incident is when a group of Ugandan leaders together with senior officials of the Government of South Sudan (GOSS) flew to the jungles of DR. Congo to meet with rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). I am told Mao struggled to get onto the plane which was flying the GOSS leaders back to Juba for an urgent meeting, yet the same plane was to collect the Ugandan team the following day. The reason Mao wanted to return ahead of his other Ugandan colleagues was because he wanted to be the one to break news of the Kony meeting to Museveni. In fact Mao arrived in Kampala ahead of Col. Walter Ochora but failed to secure an appointment with Museveni. Because Col. Walter Ochora is an RDC, upon his return he drove straight to State House and spoke to Museveni ahead of Mao. Why was Mao competing with Ochora over who meets Museveni first? The most recent incident is that of confirming the existence of a new rebel group in Acholi for which some people are now in prison. You all recall when Mao wrote an article in The New Vision confirming the army’s claim that some Acholi in the Diaspora were working on establishing a new rebel group. Now that I have shared with you these four incidents, allow me to make one brief conclusion. Mao might be fulfilling his long desired ambition of helping Museveni defeat FDC, not only in Acholi but in other areas as well. All I can promise him and his clique that leads a DP faction is that 1% is all they can get. As national coordinator of Elect John Ssebaana Kizito in 2006, Mao’s efforts yielded only 1%. I am saying all this for God and my country. The author is the Inter-Party Cooperation (IPC) Spokesman. |
IPC Should not Boycourt Elections but Increase Parliamentary Numbers
22 May 2010 8 Comments
in 2010-2011 elections, FDC, federalism in Uganda, parliament, Politics, Presidency, Uncategorized, UPC current politics
Dear readers,
I will never support anybody who boycotts elections in Africa because our African dictators don’t care whether the opposition is involved or not. As the Baganda say: ‘OMUZIZI AZIMBYA TWE NGA TWELILA‘. President Museveni will be so happy if the opposition boy courts the 2011 elections and I’m one of those who hate the kind of opposition that keeps a smile on his face. It’s actually one of the painful reasons why I have got a problem with Bwana Mao Norbert at the moment because his entrance into the presidential race has kept president Museveni smiling all the time. I’m totally sure that president Museveni has been smiling ever since Mao was elected as president of one the DP factions.
Mao knows that he cannot singlehandedly win the 2011 elections but I assume he is looking at 2016 where he assumes that he will have more political capital compared to his opponents. But I want to remind Ugandans that whatever will be happening in 2011 presidential elections will be the same story in 2016 when Major General Muhoozi(1st son) gets endorsed to become the NRM flag bearer. The only difference in 2016 will be that gates will be opened to all ambitious young men and women who wish to drive Uganda forward as most of the oldies will retire. For instance, FDC’s Anne Mugisha has already declared herself available for the FDC Presidential post , but I expect Major Mugisha Muntu to be around the scene again after losing out twice to Dr.Besigye. I also expect Winnie Byanyima to enter the race to succeed her husband as FDC president. So 2016 will be a very interesting year for many of us inishallah.
Nevertheless, Mao is being naive to think that he will be the only youths, if being youth means being in late 50s, who will be shinning in 2016. I know for sure that within DP itself, Erias Lukwago, has got presidential ambitions, and I’m still wondering why he did not stand for DP president in the recently concluded delegates conference. I guess it was because he takes the Mbale conference to have been organized illegally since it was not called by NEC. Among NRM, like I have already said, Major General Muhoozi, will be on the scene whether Ugandans like it or not. In UPC, we expect James Akena(Obote’s son) to bounce back though I don’t see him ever becoming the boss of that party in my life time, because UPC is rebranding itself away from Oboteists. So I will throw my coin on more youthful faces, like Robert Kanusu and others abroad.
As for 2011, as long as Norbert Mao is still playing in the hands of Museveni, the IPC should concentrate instead on increasing their numbers in parliament rather than wasting time on an already rigged presidential election. I think everybody can see it now that Mao has already helped Museveni win the 2011 elections. Those who are dreaming of a rerun should forget it. What Ugandans need to do is to punish bwana Mao in future when he starts knocking on their doors asking for votes.
For the meantime, I request all the IPC leaders who are still interested in politics to find a constituency to stand for parliament, with the exception of whoever will be chosen as the IPC flag bearer for 2011. This will help them increase their numbers in parliament after the 2011 elections. Personally, I would like Dr.Besigye to be the IPC flag bearer such that we say good bye to him for the last time, and we also expect him to use his popularity to help the IPC candidates in all local elections to be held. Therefore, Let Olara Otunnu(UPC), Kibirige Mayanja(JEEMA), Ken Lukyamuzi(CP) and Michael Mabikke(SDP) all go and stand for parliament somewhere. Actually, they should be already on the road campaigning in their respective constituencies because there is no time.
Meanwhile, i wish the Mengo administration finds a way to work with the IPC to sort out the candidates needed to stand in Buganda. Mengo should not do a Mao on IPC to work alone- because that will turn out to be constly for them. These things need a lot of money and a strong network for any candidate to succeed and that’s why Mengo needs to combine forces with the IPC. Mengo should secretly contact the IPC leaders to sort this out as soon as possible.They should all work together like they have done in Mukono north elections where Nambooze was endorsed by both the IPC and Mengo. Obviously, there are going to be some stumbling blocks like Beti Kamya who has got some personal wars to settle with some leaders of the IPC, but this can be sorted out amicably. Somebody needs to whsiper in Kamya’s ear not to ‘rock the boat’ for selfish reasons. We have seen enough of selfish politicians in the kast couple of years.
Byebyo banange
Abbey
Obote started militarisation of politics in Uganda
04 May 2010 1 Comment
in history, Obote and UPC, Politics, Uncategorized, UPDF
obote and mutesa
Dear readers,
I’m going to create this as the background to show you how Obote’s evils nurtured Museveni of today. I want to show you where Museveni learnt all the tactics he using in running the UPDF today.
In his book African Upheavals since Independence (Westview, 1980), Grace Ibingira, ex-Minister of Justice, recalls a conversation he had with Obote at the Governor General’s Garden Party on the 12th of October: ‘as I accompanied Obote through state guests’, he writes, ‘he pointed out Karugaba to me at a distance and inquired whether I knew him. I replied I did not. He then confided that the senior British Officers were recommending him to command the Army and to retire Opolot and Amin, who had reached the highest ranks they could reasonably attain. Obote then told me Karugaba was a Roman Catholic and as such could not be trusted and he would not accept him to head the Army’ (p. 92).
Ibingira goes on to claim that the chief reason for Obote’s dismissal of Major Karugaba,which he proceeded to have carried out, was not primarily one of religion but of ethnicity, since he was a southerner and stood in the way of Amin whom Obote had chosen in his mind to be his hatchet man. This was in the face of strong advice to the contrary from the Governor General, Sir Walter Coutts, and the British Officers, Colonels Cheyne and Tillett, following charges brought against Amin of using great brutality against the Turkana tribe in the Kenya border area late in 1961.Have you ever wondered why people like Salim Saleh commit crimes but nobody punishes them but they keep being promoted in the army instead.Where did Museveni learn that from?
At Independence the Uganda Rifles consisted of one battalion and though it was very largely composed of northerners from the Acholi, Iteso, Lugbara, Kakwa tribes and other West Nile groups, it did not have within it many men from Lango in the north, Obote’s home area.However, Obote portrayed tribalism of the highest degree with the introduction of the para-military wing of the General Service Unit, almost wholly recruited from Lango.
Again Obote kept on promoting Iddil Amin Dada in the Army despite the ridiculous procedure which was being used by the British before in these promotions.Amin should not have reached where he was in the army if Obote had a good vision in the matters of military promotion.Like Lieutenants Opolot and Amin, they had risen from the ranks. To quote Major Grahame again, ‘On recruiting safaris we went for the chaps who were tough and strong and ran quicker than anyone else. It was a terrible mistake.’
When eventually the Kabaka’s Palace, the Lubiri, was attacked at 5.30 am on 24 May 1966, the army had established itself in an indispensable position in the politics of Obote’s UPC government in Uganda. Many university students and their families suffered, if not loss of life, certainly extreme humiliation by having their faces trodden on and their wallets stolen by the oft-times drunken soldiery. From May 1966 until the end of Obote’s Presidential rule on 25January 1971 Buganda was judged to be in ‘a state of emergency’ and was held so by the Ugandan army and the police.
Obote hated Baganda and the viceversa is true. This is clarified by an incident of his attempted assassination. One student of Makerere University in the names of Fred Serwada lived to tell this story. He was driving home from Entebbe airport on the night of the attempted assassination of President Obote at Lugogo Stadium on 19 December1969 when his car was stopped at the roundabout just below Mulago Hospital,Kampala. He was asked his name. An army officer in civilian clothes but carrying a revolver reacted strongly on hearing that it was a Baganda name and, on being told that the owner of this name worked in the Faculty of Agriculture at Makerere, replied that he would then have to shoot him. In fact, FredSerwanga received two bullets through the stomach and thanks to the skill and devotion of Professor McAdam, Senior Surgeon at Mulago hospital, lived totell his story. As Archbishop Luwum was to write so courageously in his letter to Amin some seven years later, the guns of the army were being used not to protect but to terrorize the people of Uganda.
Increasingly in Uganda, and in particular from the time of ‘The Government Proposals for a New Constitution’ of 9 June 1967, more and more powers were vested in the Head of State. Increasingly too, private or public criticism either of the Army or of the government became a dangerous matter for Uganda. Obote’s cousin, Akena Adoko, was the head of the state intelligence services and the ultimate recruiter of government agents.
As Professor Mazrui shown, ‘It was Milton Obote, not Idi Amin, who began the militarization of Uganda’s political system’ (Soldiers and Kinsmen, p. 139). When Obote made Amin the head of the army in 1966 he clinched the idea of an alliance between the brains of Uganda and the guns of Uganda, with the brains as the senior partner. Amin’s gun was to be manipulated by the calculating intellect of Milton Obote’ . By the late 1960s the partnership which Amin,with his shared crisis with Obote, Onama and Nekyon of gold smuggling across the Congo border in 1965/66, and with the uprooting of the Kabaka of Buganda and his Kingdom behind him—the partnership, which Amin had engaged in so energetically—was beginning to fall apart. After being so actively Obote’s man, Amin began to go his own way.
As a way of removing Major-General Amin temporarily from having any opportunityto participate in military action against him, Obote sent Amin to attend Nasser’s funeral and strongly suggested he should follow this up with a pilgrimage to Mecca. In his absence, Obote made new appointments in the top command of the army and air force and largely separated the latter from army control. On returning from Mecca, Amin was reported to have been placed under house arrest, but to the cheers (and some jeers) of the Makerere university students, and to the evident anger of Obote, he appeared in the seats reserved for the academic staff at the inauguration ceremony.
Guess who was having the last laugh? Amin and later Museveni.
Abbey.K.Semuwemba
What has happened to hotels in Uganda after CHOGM?
04 May 2010 Leave a Comment
in Hospitality industry, Uncategorized
Dear people,
I have been reading pieces in newspapers about what has happened in Uganda after CHOGM but I have particularly picked interest in the numerous hotels that were built in and around Kampala prior to CHOGM. What has happened to them after CHOGM?
As you all know,the hospitality industry is a young industry in Uganda compared to the developed nations and I’m afraid there was an element of Bandwagon in the way people invested in hotels before Uganda hosted Chogm. I even heard that president Museveni plans to become a hotelier in his retirement(If he ever retires).
After Chogm, the occupancy level in hotels definitely became so low for obvious reasons. They are now few VIPs in town, not to mention that our tourism industry is still in crackers. Ugandans are not travellers within their country. Few people have got money to spend by the looks of the economy alone.
Africa is a continent that seems to specialise in symbolic hotels which, for months or years, are microcosms of their countries’ tumultuous histories. They are buildings where atrocities are committed, coups consecrated, embryonic rebel governments lodged, peace deals signed, and when the troubled days are over, they still miraculously come up with nice food, fresh tea or coffee and CNN in most rooms.
In Rwanda, that role is played by the Mille Collines hotel, where the management stared down the Hutu militiamen bent on slaughtering terrified Tutsi guests during the 1994 genocide. In Zimbabwe, hotel Meikles played that role, where armed white farmers rubbed shoulders with sanction-busters during the Smith regime. In Ethiopia it is the Hilton hotel, where during the Mengistu years some staff doubled as government informers. In Uganda, the Nile hotel was the centre for screaming of suspects being tortured by Iddi Amin’s police while in Congo the honour most definitely goes to the Hotel Intercontinental which acted as the emblem of Mobutu’s regime as his leopard skin hat.
The biggest concern for anyone setting up a hotel in the country is the cost of land and prime location. The budget hotels need land cheap to keep costs down. The government addressed this by giving free land to investors but they ended up with a lot of problems as we saw with the Shimon Land project donated to the Saudi Arabian prince to build a hotel. An investor argues that after Chogm they will bring down their cost per room by as much as 10 per cent but who is occupying these rooms now. Hotel operators in Uganda seem to be less sophisticated with poor strategies and tactics to maximize revenue and control expenses as evidenced in poor organizational structures and technology.
I’m afraid that some hotel investors did not take the time to properly research markets before swooping down to set up hotels in Uganda. Value should be based on net income trends, while speculation should involve complete market and property research before any investment is made. Asset value will ultimately return with new economic prosperity, political stabilization, and consumer confidence. This may take several years with certain ebbs and flows of transactions, mergers, and/or other shifts in hotel ownership structures.
The successful survivors in the hotel sector are those participants who consciously, strategically, and systematically evaluated the macro environment in the country before any investment was made. The band wagons have already lost out and turned their hotels into something else.
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
United Kingdom
Oryema Johnson is wrong on Buganda
19 Mar 2010 2 Comments
Dr.Oryema Johnson wrote on the UAH forum : ‘After 40 years of baby sitting Buganda politically, the time of reckoning has arrived to confront Buganda directly, and have them explain straight up what it will take for Buganda to understand that , one particular part of a country cannot be allowed to pull everyone down for life.’’
Ugandans
The statement above is really so upsetting. I would like to know, hands on heart, what Oryema meant by baby sitting Buganda. Who has been or is baby-sitting Buganda politically? Yes, Baganda are very welcoming people and they have welcomed everybody starting with every name in the alphabets from A- Z. Oryema reportedly owns land in Luwero or Bulemezi and nobody has ever made any attempt to chase him away because Baganda are very welcoming people. Now that he has become too comfortable as a ‘settler’ or ‘omusenze’, he wants to pull down the original ‘abataka’ down with him. Does that make him a good ‘settler’ in Buganda or a ‘snake’ in Buganda waiting to bite any time he gets a chance? Now, I have got news for Oryema: most Baganda and Ugandans are now aware of all these snakes loitering around in the bushes and are ready for a political fight.
Politically, Obote was the first person to bear the same sentiments as about Buganda and he tried to pull it down but he somehow lost the game. However much I admire the political acumen of Dr.Milton Obote, he made the gravest mistake of attempting to destroy Buganda by attacking the Lubili in Mengo. It later came back to haunt him and his party, and like I said some time back on the UAH forum, it will take a bull’s eye for UPC to ever lead Uganda again. Personally, I admire the political skills of Dr. Obote and he was probably most intelligent president Uganda has ever had but he kicked himself in the teeth by attacking the ‘sabataka’ yet he was ‘omusenze’.
I’m not gonna go into Amin’s regime because I try my best to forget about that period in Uganda. We did not deserve a president like him. His only contribution to Buganda was the return of ‘enjole ya sekabaka Mutesa’. The rest is history as we all know.
Nevertheless, President Museveni is not baby-sitting Buganda as some people would like to make us believe so. He is doing exactly what Obote was trying to do in the 1960s though in a different but clever way. His only obstacle is that Baganda have wizened up and are ready to deal with people like him. By restoring the traditional leaders in the constitution, Museveni thought that he was going to keep them at that level for a long time but wapi. They started by demanding for ‘ebyaffe’ and now they are demanding for political power in terms of federal governance. They want to be able to control their land and that’s why they fought the 2007 Land bill Act till when he ‘forcefully’ paassed it using his rubber stump parliament. Even if Museveni succeeded and passed the land bill, another future politician who wants to ‘babysit’ baganda as some people call it will come and retract this thing. This is what we call ‘eating some body else’s vomits’. Museveni can only sustain the present trend if he is succeeded by somebody who wants to strengthen what he has already achieved in regard to weakening Buganda and not the other way round.
His attempts to introduce the regional tier did not go through as he wanted though I’m pretty sure that he is going to use long routes to achieve exactly that. The bill for the central government to take over Kampala is among the long routes taken to weaken both the opposition and Buganda indirectly because in the same bill the Mengo municipality will be created as a way of creating the new frontiers for the Buganda kingdom. The introduction of ‘sabaluli’ on the scene is another way to isolate and weaken the Kabaka and his kingdom. Presidential statements fuelling divisions between Banyoro and baganda is another stunt being pulled by the president. Actually, his ‘divide and rule’ policy will be extended to other parts of the country once he is finished with Buganda.
Buganda is not pulling any body down for life as some people put it. If I was a psychologist, I would say that such statements portray a mixture of envy, jealous and hatred for ‘buganda’. This is really a bad disease and if such people love this country, they should treat it immediately. It is statements like these that produce a lot of ‘ Buganda conservatives and sessecionist’ because they are made to believe that every body hates Buganda and that’s it- which I can summarise in the following words: ‘they will never like you even if you make them your friends’. They are so many moderate Baganda who want to keep Buganda as part of Uganda and such statements keep letting us down. Buganda is the heart of Uganda and we should keep this heart healthy for this relationship to work. Don’t attempt to pull the heart down.
Byebyo Ebyange.
Abbey.K.S
Police brutality unnecessary
11 Dec 2009 1 Comment
in Politics, Riots and genocide, Uncategorized
Police brutality unnecessary
Thursday, 10 December 2009 16:28 katende Bob Roberts
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I keep wondering why the Uganda police always get their tear gas out whenever there is an attempt by the opposition to demonstrate or group up against any government decision. We are so saddened by the incident in Hoima where the police, totally unprovoked, lob tear gas into groups of men, women and children who were just happy to see their hero, Dr.Kizza Besigye.
It was totally unnecessary. It saddens me greatly that people’s civil right to demonstrate or welcome a leader of their choice in their respective regions is being denied to them by the state organs particularly the police. And it’s certainly no justification for calling the opposition violent, not when they have been recipients of violence several times.
I know there are a lot of folks on here that don’t understand this but teargas is chemical warfare, and therefore it should not just be used irresponsibly. The effects of tear gas are immediate It is virulent, noisome and irritating that even in a fresh air out of doors situation, it is guaranteed to cause people to flee from its presence simply in order to be able to breathe ,but some governments use it to repress the voices of those opposing their leadership. For instance, the South Korean government is the world’s largest consumer of tear gas, to repress the people who hate the government that has sold out to foreign interests.
Tear gas may be dangerous through long-term exposure. Physical effects of this tear gas are felt almost immediately and these include: severe burning in the eyes, involuntary closing of the eyes, copious tearing, extreme burning in the nose, tendency to breathe through the mouth, extreme burning in the throat, coughing, consciousness of pain, holding of breath, breathing and heart rate slows down, blood pressure rises, circulation on the periphery of the body shuts down. In some cases there can be mucus secretion, nausea and vomiting, also burning sensations on the body in places touched by the hands. Recovery quickly follows after an affected person is immersed in fresh air. Tear gas is not known to have caused any deaths or permanent injuries; however its use has been banned in some American military operations.
The heartlessness of the NRM Government in subjecting innocent children to tear gas is so hurting. Most of these kids just turn up because they have seen so many cars passing on the roads in their areas or just to have a gaze at leaders like Besigye. They are innocent but this does not stop the Uganda police from tear gassing them. I wonder what the Geneva War conventions says about this because this is clearly illegal…you cannot use tear gas on people just excited to see a leader in their region? But the Uganda police is not afraid to use tear gas on kids….and babies.
In the civilized world, when a government is faced with a hostile people, the police are called in to form a barricade, if this proves insufficient to keep the peace, water cannons are used, then onto tear gas, and if this still is not enough to control rioters the police may use rubber bullets to disable their targets. In the extreme case police may resort to live bullets and shoot at the legs and in the extremely rare case when this may fail to stop the most determined opponent…shoot to kill if life of a police officer is directly threatened. This is the definition of “Minimum force Necessary” which is totally different from Museveni’s directives of ordering the security organs to shoot anyhow after the Buganda riots without following all these steps. It is totally wrong.
Now since this is developing into a pattern of recklessness on part of the Uganda Police, I request all Ugandans who turn up to welcome their opposition leaders to buy themselves masks (gas masks, goggles, scarves, scuba masks, filter masks, and sunglasses) as these can serve to minimize the effects of tear gas. This situation may become worse as we approach the 2011 presidential elections.
On the other hand, I request the government to stop using tear gas irresponsibly because it gives a bad international image to our country. Uganda’s image has already been badly damaged by the recent September 11 riots, and before we have even recovered from that, police is at it again. It is not good for the country.
*Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba*
*UK
N.B. The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of Independent Publications Ltd.
source:http://www.independent.co.ug/index.php/component/content/article/106-myblog/2256-police-brutality-unnecessary-
Hope FDC takes sports seriously when they get political power
16 Oct 2009 1 Comment
I would like to thank all Ugandans who responded to my original article about sports in Uganda and I hope that the government listens to us and sort out the sports problems which are mainly caused by inadequate funding. Politicians only remember sports when it is putting them in the lime light. For instance, president Museveni ‘stole the show’ when he hosted a function for the successful 2006 Commonwealth Games team in April 2006.
The government has remained detached from sports as far as I can remember. NCS is inadequately funded. The UOC is independent of government funds because it is funded by the Olympic solidarity. Only five athletic clubs are recognised in the country of almost 31 million people. Some Athletes decide not to return to Uganda when they go for training or conferences abroad because they see no future of sports in the country( as was the case in 1998 when two of them decided to remain in USA and sought asylum).
Organisations like The uganda Amateur Athletic Foundation(UAAF) are totally reliant on the poorly funded NCS though they sometimes get help from big compnaies such as MTN.
Football is the best sport in the world. For me, it’s my best entertainment at the moment and i’m happy that my team(Chelsea FC) are doing well in the premiership.
Back in Uganda, the Federation Uganda Football Association (FUFA) where my former headmaster, Hajji Abbasi Kawase Mukasa in an influence, is one of the most illequipped and corrupt organisations in the country. Football and other sports is a big force in schools like Kibuli S.S because the admnistration there has got a budget for sports and they put too much effort in it. Sadly,I hear that sports in Kibuli S.S have declined ever since Hajji Kawase Mukasa was replaced as Headmaster.
Big national clubs such as Villa, Express and KCC are mainly funded by their companies and not the government or NCS. For instance, KCC is funded by Kampala City Council while Maji FC is funded by National Water Company.
Some people have tried to ‘clean’ FUFA by forming pressure groups such as ‘Save Our Soccer’ but they have had little impact. Some time in 2005, FUFA had to be suspended by FIFA till when Elections were held and Lawrence Mulindwa was elected as the new FUFA boss. FUFA has not been able to maintain good coaches such that the national coach had to be sacked in 2006 and compesated to the tune of $3500. Sports minister then, Charles Bakkabulindi, oversaw everything.
The truth is that there is no adequate funds to pay professional footballers, referees, and sports workers. Sport is almost dead in Uganda and few people are bothered with it. As for Boxing, I think it is one of the least funded sport in Uganda at the moment. The Uganda Amateur Boxing Federation had to withdraw from the Kings Cup organized by the International Boxing Association because there was no money to fund the whole thing.
Let’s hope that the next government, probably Besigye’s FDC, will look into this issue and galvanize sports again in Uganda.
Byebyo ebyange
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
Land wont be developed under corruption
07 Feb 2009 Leave a Comment
1. We all agree that land is such a special resource anywhere in the world but if you read the proposals suggested by some people on how to maximise output on land(getting rid of peasant landlords) in Uganda , they are good but not realistic. By realistic, I mean, no politician including can genuinely start what they propose without losing the political battle. It is like a politician cutting down on public expenditure now because of recession. It will be suicide. Most of the African leaders depend on peasants for their votes. So they cannot risk upsetting them by offering their lands to big investors. That is why even Museveni has taken the softer option of only giving away public land instead of going for the peasants land. The moment he starts interfering in peasants land as a state policy, then even the likes of Ahmed Katerega will turn against him, because they have also got land inherited somewhere and they are doing nothing big on it.
2.Secondly there is no way one can start pushing the country from peasantry to large scale production when the political system in place is still corrupt and the economy is not in position to give the peasants a strong alternative. The peasants will try to fight such a policy as much as possible. With corruption, even the investors given the land will either be fake or they will fail to operate in the end. All these will summarily breed land conflicts which the state may even fail to contain. For instance, according to Oxfam (2006), between 100 and 150 people were killed in Southern Ethiopia when land formerly belonging to Borenas(peasants) was warded Gulus(rich investors) by the government. Also in many parts of Latin America , small farmers fear to lose their farms to big farmers. This fear can only be removed if there is a viable alternative other than the wages which will be provided to peasants by the big farmers. Compensation of small farmers is normally done in very small amounts in most developing countries. Small Farmers or peasants are not compensated on the basis of the market value of their properties. The government only does it to ‘kutukiliza mukolo’.
3. some people also say that they oppose anything that makes land difficult to buy and sell but they are forgetting that most valuables tend to fall into this situation. People who make such statements are in most cases accused of arrogance because they think that everything in this world has got a price. Probably the Arabs who wanted to buy Kaka from AC Milan were thinking like you, but the truth is some things are not for sale. Land is supposed to be such a very valuable thing in Buganda and people take it very seriously. That is why president Museveni has got to be very careful with the land issue in Buganda and Northern Uganda because it is capable of burying any politician in Africa if not handled very carefully.
4. they also say that tradition and culture are tying us down to peasantry and let me hope that you have assessed this very well. In Uganda, the main tradition that valued land so much were the Baganda until recently because most of us have sold our parents lands. The question is: how come there is not much development in those regions that did not historically treat land as a traditional obligation. We should also remember that before the Roman law on land came into place in 1926, the local testimony or traditions managed to keep lands together and safer from intruders. That is why Uganda has not got a lot of white settlers unlike Kenya because Buganda kings could not allow it. Even the sharia law which all Muslims are supposed to follow, places emphasis upon local testimony. The locals have got to be satisfied with whatever you are planning to do as a leader before you make any plans on their land.
Abbey.K.Semuwemba
PRESS HARASSMENT DID NOT START WITH NRM
21 Dec 2008 Leave a Comment
In response to several opinions in the newspapers about the sedition charges for both journalists and Members ofParliament in Uganda, I would like to say that sedition did not start with President Museveni as he learnt that from oneof his predecessors, Dr Milton Obote.
Journalists and the media were some of the biggest casualties of the Uganda Peoples Congress government’ssensitivity to criticism during Obote and today during Museveni’s NRM leadership. Pro-Baganda newspapers such asthe Economy had a breather after the fall of President Idi Amin but things started getting tougher afterwards.
Obote also got tougher on foreign journalists who had had freedom under short-lived Yusuf Lule and GodfreyBinaisa’s regimes.
Many newspapers like the Weekly Topic were closed down by government officials under Obote II regime. AnthonySekweyama (RIP), the editor of a Luganda newspaper, Munnansi, and two other employees of the newspaper were arrested in March (can’t remember the year) and held for three weeks on sedition charges.
They were released in mid-April, but the paper which was the voice of the oppositionDemocratic Party did not reappearon the street until the middle of May. Even the Chief Editor of the new Sunday edition of the government Uganda Timeswas detained after only editing two issues.
The Obote government was apparently annoyed by an article criticising the US boycott of Libyan oil. Obote had turned his previous socialist policies on their head and had been hard at work courting Western investors.
No doubt he did not wish them annoyed by a government paper. Surprisingly, Museveni’s paper: Resistance News of the NRM was left on the streets for a while, a point which strengthens the argument of those who say that Obote alwaysdid not undermine the strengths of Museveni from day one.
Museveni’s idea of the Media Centre headed by Robert Kabushenga did not come from the moon. Obote was the manwho first introduced Newspaper and Publications Act to lay down conditions for starting a newspaper or magazine inUganda.
President Museveni’s Media Centre is an equivalent of Obote’s Press Accreditation Committee (PAC) which hadrepresentatives from the Ministries of Information, Internal Affairs and Foreign Affairs. Ugandan journalists wishing tosend material to foreign countries or agencies had to be approved by the same body.
In addition, the throwing out of foreign journalists from Uganda did not start with Museveni as some people think.Four Western journalists who included: Christabel King, Nick Worrall, June Dechter and Bob Dietz, had theiraccreditation withdrawn before the December 1980 elections which brought Obote to power, mainly because they wereconsidered unsympathetic to Obote.
Then four other journalists resident in Kampala also had their press credentials withdrawn. They were: Cameron Morton(September 1981), Mark Lee (December 1981), Tom Lansner (November 1981) and Trent O’Keefe (January 1982).
Visiting correspondents, including representatives of the Daily Telegraph and British Independent Television News,were also thrown out of Uganda. The Minister of Information at that time, Dr David Anyoti, said that only qualified and bona fide journalists were permitted to work in the country. He condemned freelance journalists as bent on’sensational and subjective journalism’ and condemned the foreign news media for using ‘second-rateyellow journalists’.
Cameron Morton for example, was put under house arrest and expelled immediately after reporting army massacres in theWest Nile and Trent O’Keefe had his accreditation withdrawn a few days after a BBC report of the murder of fivechurchgoers by Ugandan troops during a Sunday service in Katiti village in Luweero District.
Actually, anybody saying that the killing of Ugandans like bees in Luweero started with NRM is just kicking himselfin the teeth.
The writer is a Ugandan resident in UK
Will Greenland Bank ever ressurect from the dead?
29 Nov 2008 Leave a Comment
in Corruption, Economics, Legal issues, Politics, Religion, Uncategorized
Late Dr.Sulaiman Kiggundu
Dr. Sulaiman Kiggundu died but there is still hope in some Islamic quarters for the revival of the Greenland bank one day in one way or the other- if what we read in the newspapers is true. I’m among the few Ugandans and muslims who are still confused as to why Greenland was closed abruptly like that.
My understanding is that General.Saleh secretly purchased UCB through Greenland bank. General Saleh himself announced that he took over the bid from the Malaysian investors to keep the bank under local hands and this was in December 1998.Immediately after General Saleh’s announcement, Greeenland bank was placed under state management. Greenland bank had subsidiaries in Tanzania and Kenya (commercial Bank and foreign exchange in Kenya respectively) which were also later closed. Nobody in the government has come out to give us a detailed explanation of why the Greenland Empire was closed. It is the kind of pain we have been carrying for ages and it became so much when the death of Dr.Kiggundu struck us.
Secondly, Greenland was closed when the country’s savings were improving. Before the emergency of Greenland, the savings stood at 3% of the GDP compared to 6% of GDP in 1998. At that time, Kenya had a savings rate of 22% compared to the now ill-managed Zimbabwe which had a savings rate of 32% by then. When the savings rate is higher it means there are more funds that can be borrowed for development. Ugandans can borrow money in great number to their things. All this went into decline after the closure of Greenland Bank because so many people were relying on that bank. Was the closure of Greenland an act of a president who loves rapid development in the country?
The only major management error I blame Dr. Kiggundu is the principle of disclosure in the banking sector and he was jailed for 6 months because of some of these errors. Disclosure is about providing information to the outsiders about the organization. This includes corporate social disclosure. This is where the society wants to know what it gets from the business for supporting it. It is when the society and other third parties see such benefits that they see the organization as legitimate. Whereas developed countries have disclosure measures, the developing countries like Uganda don’t have the culture of disclosure. No ends of year accounts are shown! Even banks that should display their financial statements don’t do so! That is why in 1998, Greenland Bank Ltd, and Cooperative Bank Ltd were closed by Bank of Uganda, without any sign of financial weakness being known by the customers. So this was wrong on the side of Dr. Kiggundu but still the state should not have closed the bank. The Gordon Brown government used all the means at its disposal to save the Northern Rock Bank despite the problems they were having because Gordon loves his country and he loves the common man on the ground in the UK.
Other reasons which were given by the economists in the country for the closure are all considered just schools of thought including: failure to meet the minimum capital requirements, insider lending, corruption and mismanagement as the causes. This is all nothing when you are a politician who loves your people.The root cause of commercial banks’ problems lies in their desire to increase profits by rapidly expanding their asset portfolio (by extending loans) for which there are no adequate provisions in the form of a capital buffer. Greenland bank did this by investing in a variety of businesses and lending to people without security, and it would have worked if they had been given a chance with time to rectify their mistakes. Remember, these were long term investments NOT short term investments. Yes, Dr.Kiggundu was running the risk of the inadequacy of minimum capital standards in accounting for the risk in banks’ asset portfolio but so many international banks run this risk. In the UK here, people access credit without any security and there was nothing weid that Greenland was doing in the banking sector. I also heard that a Saudi investor offered to fix the capital problems Greenland was experiencing at the time but still the government declined the offer. All they wanted was to close the damn Greenland Bank.
Lastly, Bank of Uganda (BoU) introduced new banking rules after the closure of Greenland to justify their act but why didn’t they give Greenland more time to operate under the new rules. According to the BoU new policy, all banks will be required to maintain sufficient capital, while those under-capitalised will not be bailed out. Under the revised minimum deposit requirements, all commercial banks – both local and foreign-owned – are required to maintain at least a minimum balance of USh1bn (US$750m). All banks are required to comply with all the provisions of the Financial Institutions Statute (FIS) of 1993. According to the BoU, they will only intervene in banks that either fail to meet the capital requirements or comply with the laws and regulations as stipulated in the FIS Act. ´Where a bank is intervened and closed, the BoU´s commitment to the depositors will be limited to USh3m per depositor, covered under the Deposit Insurance Scheme´, the bank stated. My question is how is a Ugandan in USA going to recover her money now if she wakes up one morning when one of the banks in Uganda is closed particularly if her savings exceed USh3m? Can anybody also convince voters in Uganda that Kiggundu’s Greenland had failed to raise the capital of USh1bn to keep itself in business? Can you also tell voters in Uganda of what the judicial inquiry commission found and recommended after the closure of different banks in Uganda that year? This was a commission set up by Finance Minister Gerald Sendaula. Why isn’t all this information made public up to now?
Abbey Semuwemba
Hello world!
19 Nov 2008 1 Comment
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