Mike Mukula Was Right about the Muhoozi- Museveni ‘presidency’ and the opposition cannot stop it
16 Sep 2011 1 Comment
in Politics, Presidency, UPDF
Friends,
Muhoozi in the middle of president Museveni and Cabinet minister to Karamoja
If I’m being honest with you, there was a time I believed that Muhoozi will automatically be Uganda’s next president, but from what I have observed in the last 9 months, I think this project will prove to be disastrous for president Museveni if he goes ahead with it. I’m not saying that it is not going to happen but it will bury him if he is not careful. The world has changed so much and everyone is looking for an excuse to attack someone, and there will be no better excuse for the ‘big boys’ to kick Museveni’s butt in future if he goes ahead and promotes his son to the presidency.
Having said that, I have come to believe that one does not become a president in Uganda because of mere elections. May be, it will change in the next 10-20 years but not now. So if anyone thinks that elections will stop Muhoozi from becoming our next president, please think again.
Museveni knows that he will meet resistance within NRM, the UPDF, and parliament if he imposes Muhoozi on Ugandans but this will not stop him if he is determined to pursue this project. Of all the institutions that may resist this ‘’Muhoozi project’’, it is only the army he is afraid of. Muhoozi will not be fielded as NRM candidate if president Museveni senses that the military, and in this case UPDF, may cause huge problems. Forget about the rest and their problems. It is only the military that may internally stop it but not elections of any kind.
Elections are useless in Uganda because president Museveni can use them to get whatever he wants. Without going into the presidential rigging that is often rightly cited by the opposition, Let me give you an example of the two referendums to either stay with the Movement or Multiparties, and the vice versa.
The first one was held in June 2000 and the second was held in July 2005. Those who voted ‘‘Yes’’ to Movement system were 4,471,681 that represented a 90.7% according to the Electoral Commission. Those who ticked or voted ‘‘No’’ to Multiparty system were 442,843 which represented 09.3% of the total votes.
The second referendum was held after less than 4 years but the results again came out as President Museveni wanted them to be. Those who said ‘‘Yes’’ to Multiparty system were 3,736,367 which represented a good 92.4% of the total votes cast. Those who ticked ‘‘No’’ to Movement system were 297,865 representing 07.6% of the total votes.
So basically elections in Uganda cannot stop Museveni from being the president of Uganda even if 90% of Ugandans vote for the opposition. Similarly, they cannot stop his son or anybody he wishes, from becoming the next president.
Apart from the UPDF, international pressure or intervention would also be able to stop the Muhoozi project, because there is nothing on the ground that is capable of stopping Muhoozi from becoming the president of Uganda if Museveni wants him to. The opposition is weak, parliament can easily be twisted, the media is under his control, the old NRM historicals have accumulated a lot of wealth and have got no appetite to wage more wars, and the man with the ”hat” on his head almost controls everything in the country.
Let’s face it: Muhoozi is President Museveni’s project with a lot of money behind it, and Captain Mike Mukula was so right in his remarks to the Americans though I read somewhere that he had started backtracking for fear of the ‘big eyes’ from the big fella in state house angrily rolling all over him. Having Muhoozi in state house is like having Museveni in another form. We don’t need that anymore. We need to find a break from all this NRM, musevenism, Janet Musevenism, Muhoozi Musevenism, e.t.c
If you ask me, I would tell you that I respect poor people who join the military so much but it is not something I would recommend to anybody. It is too much sacrifice taken by the young men and women out there who join this service to serve their country. The military men are paid so poorly worldwide apart from obviously the top bosses yet they sacrifice so much.
However, the military training tends to give people some kind of discipline and routine in their life. So I think it is good for the sons of the rich, monarchies, the privileged, e.t.c. That’s why sons of royals in the UK all enlist in the military at some point but I would not recommend it to anybody from a poor background. It is not easy to become successful in the military when you are under privileged though some few people have made it and eventually became great leaders.
But obviously I cannot say the same thing for Muhoozi who joined the UPDF as soon as he graduated at university. Since then, he has been on a variety of courses abroad including in the prestigious Sandhurst in the UK. I think he is the most paper qualified UPDF soldier at the moment.
Abbey
No Internal Revolt Will Dislodge M7 In The Near Future Unless if it is backed by a Strong foreign nation
03 Sep 2011 10 Comments
in FDC, international, Museveni and NRM, Politics, Revolutions, UPDF
Ugandans are not capable of getting rid of Museveni on their own without foreign help. Ugandans are not capable of overcoming Museveni’s security organs that at least seem to be loyal to him- personally. A guerilla war in Uganda without any foreign backing is more like walking in a death trap. This is the reason why Dr.Besigye made a lot of noise in 2001, 2006 and 2011 but he never openly came out to declare war on Museveni despite the rigging of elections -mainly because I believe there was no foreign nation willing to sponsor such a war. The rumors about Rwanda sponsoring him were absolute nonsense than anything else. It is believed that the intelligence experts wanted to squeeze more money out of the government, and president Museveni temporarily fell for it. But he wizened up and that is why he made up with president Kagame through a presidential visit recently.
Guerilla war
Historically, all Uganda’s long serving president have been pushed out with the help of foreigners. Obote’s was ousted by Amin in 1971 with the help of the Israelites and British. Even Iddil Amin would have died a president if the Tanzanians had not come to our rescue in 1979. Museveni received help from Libyans and British to fight Obote 2 and later Tito Okellos in late 1980s.
In Angola, UNITA’S Savimbi fought the government for over a decade if I’m not mistaken but how much did the rebels achieve? In the meantime, how many lives and property were lost during that time? By the way, Even Savimbi made some progress during that conflict because of foreign backing. Everyone needs some form of foreign backing to make it. Fighting a guerilla war is not easy, from what I have observed, such that even Museveni would not have made it if the Acholis and Langis were not so divided then. Actually, Museveni is a lucky man indeed, because I cannot see anybody doing what he did in 1980s and become president in the present Africa. It is just so difficult.
Military coup
The only internal revolt president Museveni is scared of is a coup by the military guys but not ‘walk- to -work’ or a people’s revolution of any kind. Did you see how the ‘walk- to- work’ died suddenly as soon as Besigye was ‘arinaitwed’ in the eyes and ears. The protests can only dislodge Museveni if they are backed by again foreign nations as it happened in Gaddafi’s Libya recently. Protestors on their own cannot dislodge him.
Let us also remember that Museveni is USA’s main man in the sub sahara Africa, a reason we saw some Kenyan politicians with ICC problems campaigning for him during the elections yet they hate him. According to Wikileaks, Museveni asked the Americans to protect his plane after falling out with Gadaffi. So attacking Museveni is more like attacking USA interests in the region. Whoever plans to attack Museveni will need some kind of endorsement from Washington. Museveni may write as many documents as he wants against NATO bombing in Libya but he is not going to fool some of us. What he is doing is more like a man that abuses an ugly woman in public yet he is sleeping with her.
The day the Americans stop trusting Museveni is the day things will start falling apart in Kampala. Museveni has built a weid relationship with Russia, Chinese and some Arab states though Europe seems not to like him anymore. But Europe can do nothing if it is not endorsed by Washington.
Yes, Ugandans have now got a lot of options to get rid of any president but all need some kind of foreign endorsement, if you ask me. Look, Uganda is now in a bad shape; everything is so bad; people are so poor, the economy is wanting; but Museveni has not been shaken by it. He can even afford to bring in ‘’Mabira-give away’’ without being worried of the repercussions. Everybody is feeling the economic pinch in the country but there is not even some smoke coming out of the hut, what does that tell you about the people of Uganda and the opposition in general?
Syrian Revolution
Guys, let’s accept it that Ugandans aren’t Tunisians or Syrians. Assad has killed over 4000 Syrians but they are still going, but Ugandans aren’t like that. They could not even sustain ‘walk to work ‘ protests without Besigye. We are a different kind as we never walk the talk.
I believe Washington disappointed Besigye when he made that trip to America after the protests, and I guess that is why he tactically pulled out of the whole protests. If Washington had endorsed Besigye’s ideas, Museveni would be history by now but it seems they don’t trust him. No wonder Besigye made an announcement not to stand for party president again as soon as he came back from that trip.
Egyptian Revolution
The Egyptian revolution would not have been successful if Washington had not endorsed it. It seems to me that the Americans owned the Egyptian army indirectly but Mubarak was not aware of it. The Egyptian army used to receive $1b annually and may be that constituted something we don’t know. The army never helped Mubaraka at the time he needed them. Some of them joined the protestors, but I don’t see that happening in Uganda.
Anyway, what do I know? May be UPDF is also waiting for someone to sustain the protests for a long time and they join, but I highly doubt that. UPDF is a micro-managed institution unlike the Egyptian’s army.
By the way, I believe that Mubaraka, is very bitter with President Obama as he ( Mubaraka) used to do everything the Americans wanted( just like Museveni) but they abandoned him for reasons I’m yet to know up to now.
Abbey
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
Political Murders And Commissions of Inquiry
23 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Corruption, history, Legal issues, Politics, Presidency, UPDF
Political murders happen all over the world, including Uganda, and in most cases such decisions are made by a few high profile people in the government. Obviously, those of the NRM cadre will keep telling you otherwise. Compared to Uganda, Kenya has got more stable military institutions such that even the murders of Tom Mboya in 1969 and J. M. Kariuki in 1975 did not lead to political instability.
Kenya’s political stability rests on several things: a balance within the military system, on the centralization of power within the state structure and on the neutralization of potential organized opposition. The way Kenyatta set up Kenya after independence has contributed to its long-term stability. Moi weakened the government institutions but Kibaki strengthened the principle of respect for institutions–despite his problems with corruption. If he had not done this, probably the Kikuyu and Luo would have fought each other indefinitely after the recently disputed presidential elections.
On the other hand, in Uganda, just losing a UPDF General has got a lot of tongues wagging. If a person like Salim Saleh or the president himself is murdered or assassinated it could destabilise the whole country, because of the way the UPDF is set up. Most of the institutions in Uganda are personalised around the person of president Museveni. Without him, we are in trouble!
Nevertheless, we can categorize all murders that happen between now and the 2011 elections as political murders because the NRM and Museveni have lost popularity among the wanaichi but wish to stay in power at all costs. Many Ugandans agree with Timothy Kalyegira’s version of Kazini’s death on the Uganda Record website because they have lost trust in the regime in power. That’s why we need an independent commission of inquiry to investigate into both Byran (Dr.Bukenya’s son) and Kazini’s death regardless of those who cheer brutality and murder of these NRM Generals.
Again I would like to say that all murders are about hate at some level. Even the guy who kills the cop trying to escape from a crime scene or riots- has hate in his heart. There must be a good reason why Mukyala Atim Draru decided to bat Kazini’s head to death. At what point did she decide to kill him?
As part of the murder probe, police must investigate the friends of lady Atim to see if she had premeditated thoughts to murder the General. Her mobile phone must be in police safe custody by now to establish the people she has been in contact with for the last 6 months. MTN and other communication companies can help on this one. The only problem is that the government does not set commissions of inquiry for purposes of getting to the bottom of the matter. That’s why Kazini’s family and friends should do their own investigations. Most African governments are corrupt. Anybody can murder anybody and get away with it. When governments agree to set up official investigations, they usually hope to divert public criticism of human rights abuses. They hope either that public interest will have waned by the time the inquiry is complete or, better still, that the investigation will find in the government’s favour.
For instance, in 1986, the Museveni Government set up a Commission of Inquiry headed by Joseph Mulenga, to investigate human rights violations from the country’s independence in 1962 until it seized power. Up to now, we don’t know the conclusions and recommendations of the report. Yet if they had made everything public, probably some Ugandans, like some UPC supporters, would not have continued to accuse the NRA rebels of murdering people in Luwero and blame it on the Obote two government. Mulenga later became our Attorney General in the same year. I wonder why he was given this post after heading such a sensitive inquiry.
Another example is when in June 1974, President Idi Amin Dada established a Commission of Inquiry chaired by an expatriate Pakistani judge, Justice Mohammed Saied, to look into the ‘disappearance’ of large numbers of Ugandans since his government came to power on 25 January 1971. But the report never came into public domain though the Commission concluded that the Public Safety Unit and the State Research Bureau, special security bodies set up by Amin, bore the main responsibility for the ‘disappearances’. It also criticized army officers for abuse of powers, as well as the activities of the military police and intelligence.
The bottom line here is that the current government should facilitate murder investigations into the country and reports from these inquiries should be made public. This builds public trust in the government. There is no point in the president ordering a probe into Bryan and Kazini’s death if the public never gets to see it.
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
Yes, We Still Need An Army in Uganda but A Professional One is better
29 Jun 2010 30 Comments
in 2010-2011 elections, Obote and UPC, UPDF
Dear friends,
In reference to an article written by Mr.Acemah in the Daily Monitor recently, I think we still need a national army in Uganda but it shouldn’t be in the current form the UPDF is in right now if what was written in the Observer newspaper by Ssemujju Nganda last week is true. What we need to work on is the unity and professionalising our army in Uganda. UPDF is so fragmented into special units and this is a classic exercise of divide and rule by the powers be.The end result in this is that one unit can easily be played by the leader in power against the other and this is not good for everybody in the long run.For example, Jordan and Yogoslavia have got a united army and they seem to be doing better than states like Saudi Arabia and Palestine, which have got several security factions. No wonder the Isrealis have always done well against the Arab armies.
President Museveni has learnt from the recurrent coups and elite infighting that characterized the previous regimes in Uganda and therefore, he has institutionalized the internal ‘divide and rule’ structures within the security forces to make sure that coups are history in Uganda.Obote and Amin had these same structures in place but they were not properly institutionalised and that is why they had to lose power sooner compared to president Museveni. It is a model that has been adopted by all ‘modern’ dictators of this 21st century from late Sadama Hussein(Iraq), Robert Mugabe(Zimbabwe), Hussain Mubaraka(Egypt) and Gadaffi(Libya), and it is very effective in keeping the anemies more disorganised and fearful of one another.
Most of the dictators rule on the basis of tribe or regional solidarity or a combination of both, and president Museveni is certainly no different from the others. As a former Dutch ambassador and scholar of Syrian politics put it, ‘it takes a village to rule Syria’. Yet a village or a tribe cannot possibly provide the manpower needed to control the population of the whole country but it can sometimes be effective if a leader plays it well to his advantage. In Syria, for example, the Alawites make up 12 per cent of the population. Even supposing that all Alawites are loyal to the regime, and that all in the relevant age groups would join the security forces, they could still provide less than 14 security personnel per thousand population – a ratio between security personnel and general population that is less than half the ratio that presently exists in Syria. The president of Syria, Bashar Asad, comes from the Allawite tribe and they are the one dominating the ‘juicy’ positions of leadership in the army and public service despite their small numbers. Under Sadam Hussein, the al-Bu Nasir tribe and the Suunis used to dominate the ‘juicy’ positions in the army and public service.
Similarly,the same dynamics have characterised all the long serving leaders Uganda has ever had, from Obote in 1960s to now Museveni. They have all created factions in the security forces being led by their cronies with a primary objective being to protect the regime in power by policing and monitoring society. This is not good because it prolongs the whole idea of having a proper national or professional army in Uganda, since the army tends to be mainly equipped to defend the regime in power rather than doing anything else. For instance, Iraq almost lost the war against Iran in 1980s because Saddam Hussein had fragmented the Republican army into different factions though he later corrected this in 1984 after he gave in to army commanders and strengthened and made the Republican Guard forces more professional,a factor that helped him to push Iran a little bit.
No wonder, then, that most of the ‘life presidents’ don’t allow combined army operations or training to become routine because this could easily lead to unity in the army. Incidentally, the fragmentation principle is even reflected in ensuring that the various security forces receive different weapon systems. I’m not privy to UPDF operations but I’m sure that you gonna find that some of these characteristics are there. Perhaps, the UPDF was more united and effective when they used to fight external wars and Kony in 1990s than right now where almost all eyes are telling them to protect the regime in power. For example, the Vietnamese army was effective against the US army because the communist government never interfered with the internal operations of the army. They gave their commanders some bits of independence.
Basically, the argument here is that an army is very important to matters of national security and we should all support its existance, but at the same time it needs to be professionalized on a regular basis. The French army was arguably professional enough but still former president, Jacques Chirac, had to announce more reforms in the French army in 1996 to make sure it is at per with the dynaics of the world. UPDF can also be similarly be turned around to become an army we are all proud of if those in power put their ‘executive’ minds to it.If Obote had not messed up the army in the 1960s and 1980s, we probably would be a better step forward right now. We should find a way of stopping this business of rendering the existing army absolete every time the regime in power changes in Uganda. Please It’s not too late to turn the UPDF around into something we are all proud of.
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
Blogs:
http://ugandansatheart.wordpress.com/
http://semuwemba.wordpress.com/
http://ekitibwakyabuganda.wordpress.com/
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
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
