Edward Mulindwa
23 February 2008
opinion
Kampala — As MP Beti Kamya awaits her day in court, I beg to make some few observations regarding our leaders and their nationality.
Many a time, whenever a nation is faced with owning up to their being accomplices to crimes committed against members of their nations by once upon a time a "beloved" leader, there is often a tendency to disown them as some way of getting past their own ignominy. This to me is some sort of psychotherapy of sorts to help us not beat ourselves silly after living a life of denial for a very long time.
We have Germany that embraced Adolf Hitler "the Fuehrer". This was a man whose edict to Porche led every German to afford what we call the Volkswagon because it was cheap, and fuel efficient but had to protect his Porche engine by having it fixed in the boot section of the wagon.
Everybody enjoyed that and yet when his crime against the Jews came to be exposed, many stated Hitler was an Austrian! Austrians are actually ethnic Germans and speak the same language only that Austrians speak German like the Afro-Carribeans speak English!
Then came the case of Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda "Ngwazu" who misruled Malawi and used to feed his opponents to crocodiles. The chorus was Banda was not Malawian but an impostor that the Presbyterian Church of Scotland sent to Malawi in place of the real Kamuzu who legend states died of TB.
In Uganda, when Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada (RIP) came to power, there was a lot of jubilation in many quarters of our nation. We even nick-named him Ssalongo waffe and some people crowned him "Life President!"
When he reportedly turned and started killing these very supporters, the same chorus came up "Amin" is actually not a Ugandan but an Anyanya from Sudan!
Today we are at it again. Way back in the early 1980s, many people who cared warned a significant portion of our citizens about what Museveni and NRM/A at large stood for and who he actually is. These fore warnings fell on deaf ears because Museveni was reportedly helping them to remove the man they hated notwithstanding their equally no endearing love for Museveni.
This type of diabolic lifestyles is what we as Ugandans in particular and a people in general should stop living because it is associated with very high opportunity costs!.
Just imagine, if we had listened even with only one of our ears way back in 1980, would we today be discussing the nationality of Museveni?
If in 1980 Museveni was Ugandan, why should he have now metamorphosed into a Rwandan or Burundian? And how exactly do we define our nationality? People, let's get real.
Trying to consciously disown Museveni because of what our associations with him for all these decades has caused to our nation is not only nauseating but also disgusting. We have a national document called the constitution that clearly states who should be our country's Chief Executive.
There are people who, unlike me, are well coached in all the legalese that are found therein and yet throughout the 22 years they have been conspicuously silent about Museveni's nationality. Why must they now talk about it?
I suggest, notwithstanding all the information both of facts, fibs and fiction that we now have on Museveni, we should forever hold our peace and see how we are going to govern Uganda when he has vacated that seat. That, to me is what a wise people do. They swallow the fruits of their ignorance and never repeat the same act.
MP Kamya decided to go to the Luweero Triangle and support the NRM, a government she and her late husband served whole heartedly. If she stands today, 20 plus years later and question the tribe of the man she supported then, it makes Ugandans question her leadership ability.
For these are questions the Member of Parliament should have asked herself in Luweero before she supported a struggle that left most of us in Luweero orphans.
Mr Mulindwa is a Ugandan living in Canada
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"..For these are questions the Member of Parliament should have asked herself in Luweero before she supported a struggle that left most of us in Luweero orphans..."
This is precisely what is wrong with the socalled opposition MPs. They want to eat their cake and have it too. For example so many members of FDC followed the dictator to the bush but they are still apoligizing for what by now every right thinking true blooded Ugandan should admit was a wrong headed adventure. What exactly have the Luwero people or the rest of Ugandans gotten out of it? Some night sleep ? Who exactly was/were making Ugandans sleepless ? The best thing for these "young men and women", at the time, to do now is to make a clean break from the nonsense of the past and come out and say they were duped and abused and tell the country that they are sorry; then move on; in stead of constantly trying to rational the bush war; they are no more than apologists for the current dictatorship. And for that nobody takes them seriously. The opposition should leave the obssession to the past to NRM because that is what they got going for them. Believe me if hear some opposition MPs in the international media, they sound better (more pro-NRM) than NRM itself. On the land issue; the laws are already in the books but they are not being enforced because you cannot enforce laws against the NRM military gunmen who are of course the chief perpetrators.