Icadon
JF-Expert Member
- Mar 21, 2007
- 3,581
- 193
David Kintu
SAVE UGANDA FROM COLLAPSE
Ugandas Yoweri Kaguta Museveni remains the single most enigmatic leader in the East African region today, a man whose single minded focus and burning ambition for power has very profoundly impacted the great lakes region. The impact of that grandiose ambition is so profound, that millions have died in its wake in Rwanda, Uganda, and Congo/Zaire. Like Otto Von Bismarck, the famous 19th century Iron Chancellor of Germany, Museveni has often eschewed the soft power of democracy and elections, for the blood and iron of war and militarism in his attempts to achieve a grand vision of himself as master of the region stretching from the Kenyan and Tanzanians coasts on the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean in the Congo.
Catalyst for societal breakdowns
In his forays into Rwanda and the Congo, Museveni has either been the catalyst for violent societal breakdowns, or the sponsor of militias and proxies, in whose wake millions of lives have been lost. His attempt to repackage himself as an East Africanist intent on creating a strong federation should be understood in the context of a history of violence, anti-democratic practices and nepotism and sectarianism that would make Saddam Hussein blush.
Musvenis initial success came from leading a successful rebellion of Ugandas southern Bantu ethnic groups against the northern Luo-Nilotic/Hamitic order that began with the ascension of Milton Obote to power in 1962. Southern Ugandans put up with a quasi-military regime and Musevenis one-man show because they regarded him as a liberator who had returned peace, and their cultural traditions back to them. Museveni has never been able to cross that ethnic divide to co-opt the non Bantu peoples of northern and Eastern Uganda. More recently southern Ugandans have begun to chafe as he has concentrated power within his Bahima sub-ethnic clan thus frittering away his traditional power base. Uganda is ripe for change; it is now Museveni and his myriad armies that stand in the way of that change.
The recent arrest of opposition leader Kizza Besigye on trumped up charges, as well as the unveiling of paramilitary units with infantile names such as Black Mambas to terrorize the judiciary and the population at large, are the latest indicia of the extent to which Museveni is willing to go to remain Emperor of Uganda. Museveni has continued to ride roughshod over the judiciary and the legislature, micromanaging everything from privatization, to who gets a passport renewed. Institutions and civil society are weak or non-existent. This one man charade has been going on while the donors watch in silence.
Most ominously, Museveni has been consolidating military control under himself by creating paramilitaries under the command of his brother Salim Saleh and his son Muhoozi. The entire military high command is composed of his fellow Bahima Generals in a country of over 50 tribes. Parliament is stocked with NRM Members of Parliament, and just for good measure, the military also has Members of Parliament who also toe the government line. Nowhere in East Africa has political and military power been so dominated by one family and one tribe as in present day Uganda.
Watershed for Ugandan politics
The return from exile of Ugandas opposition leader, Mr. Kizza Besigye, to contest the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2006 has been a watershed event for Ugandan politics forcing the Ugandan dictatorship to reveal its true nature. Besigyes triumphant return and strong demonstration of political muscle as evidenced by the huge crowds he drew in a meet the people tour, demonstrated such widespread support all across Uganda that the Kampala dictatorship is now forced to show the world who they really and truly are; a bunch of crude political players intent on clinging to power at all costs.
His support in Buganda is in doubt, and he is certainly in trouble in his native Ankole, where ethnic tensions between his minority Bahima and the majority Bairu (roughly analogous to the Tutsi-Hutu situation in Rwanda/Burundi) are coming to a head. Elsewhere in Uganda, he has little or no support, which is why all eyes are now on the military with its Bahima top heavy structure. The arrest and humiliation of Kizza Besigye was meant to convey absolute power and control but instead, it has concentrated attention on the nature of the despotic, tribal, nepotistic regime.
So, as we approach political seasons in East Africa that are meant to usher in a new era of realizing the long elusive East African federation, the Big Man in Kampala is focused with laser like intensity on the job that will make him the most powerful man in East and Central Africa. For Ugandans this is a do or die period for the dictator must go, but he controls all the means of coercion and the donors are on his side. We need our East African brothers to stand side by side with us so that together we can create a beacon of hope in Africa by successfully creating an African economic powerhouse to lift our 110 million people out of poverty. We need Kenyans and Tanzanians to send an unmistakable message to the Ugandan dictator that no matter what happens in Uganda Yoweri Museveni will not be allowed to become president of the East African federation come 2013.
Email: DKintu@aol.com
Mr Kintu is a Ugandan living in the diaspora
SAVE UGANDA FROM COLLAPSE
Ugandas Yoweri Kaguta Museveni remains the single most enigmatic leader in the East African region today, a man whose single minded focus and burning ambition for power has very profoundly impacted the great lakes region. The impact of that grandiose ambition is so profound, that millions have died in its wake in Rwanda, Uganda, and Congo/Zaire. Like Otto Von Bismarck, the famous 19th century Iron Chancellor of Germany, Museveni has often eschewed the soft power of democracy and elections, for the blood and iron of war and militarism in his attempts to achieve a grand vision of himself as master of the region stretching from the Kenyan and Tanzanians coasts on the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean in the Congo.
Catalyst for societal breakdowns
In his forays into Rwanda and the Congo, Museveni has either been the catalyst for violent societal breakdowns, or the sponsor of militias and proxies, in whose wake millions of lives have been lost. His attempt to repackage himself as an East Africanist intent on creating a strong federation should be understood in the context of a history of violence, anti-democratic practices and nepotism and sectarianism that would make Saddam Hussein blush.
Musvenis initial success came from leading a successful rebellion of Ugandas southern Bantu ethnic groups against the northern Luo-Nilotic/Hamitic order that began with the ascension of Milton Obote to power in 1962. Southern Ugandans put up with a quasi-military regime and Musevenis one-man show because they regarded him as a liberator who had returned peace, and their cultural traditions back to them. Museveni has never been able to cross that ethnic divide to co-opt the non Bantu peoples of northern and Eastern Uganda. More recently southern Ugandans have begun to chafe as he has concentrated power within his Bahima sub-ethnic clan thus frittering away his traditional power base. Uganda is ripe for change; it is now Museveni and his myriad armies that stand in the way of that change.
The recent arrest of opposition leader Kizza Besigye on trumped up charges, as well as the unveiling of paramilitary units with infantile names such as Black Mambas to terrorize the judiciary and the population at large, are the latest indicia of the extent to which Museveni is willing to go to remain Emperor of Uganda. Museveni has continued to ride roughshod over the judiciary and the legislature, micromanaging everything from privatization, to who gets a passport renewed. Institutions and civil society are weak or non-existent. This one man charade has been going on while the donors watch in silence.
Most ominously, Museveni has been consolidating military control under himself by creating paramilitaries under the command of his brother Salim Saleh and his son Muhoozi. The entire military high command is composed of his fellow Bahima Generals in a country of over 50 tribes. Parliament is stocked with NRM Members of Parliament, and just for good measure, the military also has Members of Parliament who also toe the government line. Nowhere in East Africa has political and military power been so dominated by one family and one tribe as in present day Uganda.
Watershed for Ugandan politics
The return from exile of Ugandas opposition leader, Mr. Kizza Besigye, to contest the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2006 has been a watershed event for Ugandan politics forcing the Ugandan dictatorship to reveal its true nature. Besigyes triumphant return and strong demonstration of political muscle as evidenced by the huge crowds he drew in a meet the people tour, demonstrated such widespread support all across Uganda that the Kampala dictatorship is now forced to show the world who they really and truly are; a bunch of crude political players intent on clinging to power at all costs.
His support in Buganda is in doubt, and he is certainly in trouble in his native Ankole, where ethnic tensions between his minority Bahima and the majority Bairu (roughly analogous to the Tutsi-Hutu situation in Rwanda/Burundi) are coming to a head. Elsewhere in Uganda, he has little or no support, which is why all eyes are now on the military with its Bahima top heavy structure. The arrest and humiliation of Kizza Besigye was meant to convey absolute power and control but instead, it has concentrated attention on the nature of the despotic, tribal, nepotistic regime.
So, as we approach political seasons in East Africa that are meant to usher in a new era of realizing the long elusive East African federation, the Big Man in Kampala is focused with laser like intensity on the job that will make him the most powerful man in East and Central Africa. For Ugandans this is a do or die period for the dictator must go, but he controls all the means of coercion and the donors are on his side. We need our East African brothers to stand side by side with us so that together we can create a beacon of hope in Africa by successfully creating an African economic powerhouse to lift our 110 million people out of poverty. We need Kenyans and Tanzanians to send an unmistakable message to the Ugandan dictator that no matter what happens in Uganda Yoweri Museveni will not be allowed to become president of the East African federation come 2013.
Email: DKintu@aol.com
Mr Kintu is a Ugandan living in the diaspora
