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The Weekly Observer (Kampala)

Uganda: Comrades Didn't Stand for Nothing

James Magode Ikuya

27 August 2008

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opinion

There is an African saying, "If you do not stand for something, you stand for nothing."

The gist of the above quoted broadside is that human life must at all times be driven by social ideals without which one's life would cease to be meaningful. People do not aspire only for their individual existence; they want their times on earth to be of joy and happiness to the others in society even after their departure from the scene.

The glory of history is flecked with the ideals which our ancestors set for themselves and transcended the short span of their own individual lives to embody the entire past of mankind.

I recall the heart - throbbing days we had to endure to evade the momentous throes of death in 1973. Idi Amin's forces had stumbled upon our preparations for a guerrilla struggle, resulting in an unexpected shoot-out incident at the house of Maumbe Mukwana in Mbale's Maluku housing estate in which Yoweri Museveni narrowly escaped, but two of our comrades were killed.

That fateful evening, the Idi Amin forces went berserk. Mbale became a scene of death on sight for many people. There was a merciless and ruthless hunt for any person of prominence or suspected political background.

I was one of those picked up, but by some ruse, whose narration requires a separate treatment, I succeeded to evade being marched for slaughter. I was still marveling over my brush with death when a grim message was delivered to me. A number of my comrades lay wounded at Mbale Hospital requiring urgent rescue from the hands of the soldiers.

It was difficult to know if this was not an additional trap against me. But still, I dashed to the casualty ward. I found three heavily bandaged comrades lying in a row of beds hooked to drip bottles. There was Joseph Othieno from Tororo, my longest political associate since we abandoned the UPC in 1964, Zadok Nadaga from Bufumbo, who had just joined guerrilla training after his A-level exams, and another one from Acholi known to us only by his nom de guerre.

They had been arrested with others by soldiers at Nabumali corner. They were cruelly tortured and driven along Budaka road where they were off-loaded and their throats cut. A military jeep was then used to crush their bodies to death. Somehow, the three retained their jugular veins. They were discovered by villagers still alive the next morning. They narrated to these Samaritans that they had been attacked by unknown bandits. Hence, the unsuspecting helpers transported them to hospital where doctors were trying to save their lives.

I asked Joseph Othieno whether they could have been forced to reveal or implicate anyone else. His whispered words were resolute. He said they had decided to die with dignity, without crying or begging for mercy from their assailants. He told me to convey to all who may survive this wave of onslaught to carry on courageously to the end.

I was scarcely a few feet on my way from the ward in deep contemplation on how to transfer the savaged bodies to a secure place when the vicious soldiers arrived and surrounded the ward, almost catching me in their net, once again. The comrades were taken away. We have never known their graves.

The words of Joseph Othieno continue to ring a stinging rebuke of injustice from the heart to this day. The example was later replicated during the NRM struggle in the bushes of Luwero and the long struggles across the country where the people made unforgettable sacrifices to oppose brutal oppression.

There were some people I never shared the same organization with. Odoi Chwale (RIP) was one of them. The few times I met him during his clandestine activities, he was exuding undying love for this country and its wellbeing. When he perished in an ambush in Tororo, his death was celebrated by the Obotes as the deserved end of a bandit. Yet, Odoi Chwale had never stolen any goat from anyone nor demanded any public office or loot from the national coffers.

We have witnessed a long list of fallen patriots, like Raiti Omongin of Tororo, Ouma Musoni from Busia who left teaching to die in the struggle, Malibo Abwoli newly returned from London who faced a firing squad in Fort Portal smiling, and the numerous freedom lovers hailing from Sebei, Buganda, West Nile and elsewhere. These were people who always stood for something, even though the detractors of our people are trying hard to sandwich and erase their names out of our country's history.

Today, we watch our present batch of leaders and ask ourselves what morality they stand for and which motives drive them. In all our political parties, the main discussions are centered dreadfully on positions to be shared. The catchword is the glamour of office and the easy money to be made by the supermen. There is no place for the ordinary people in the debates. It is a consuming race for the self, of barbarism and cannibalism; a total abdication of social ideals and the adoration of standing for nothing.

James Magode Ikuya, The author is a member of NEC (NRM) representing historicals.

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