Enlightenment also known as the age of reason or the age of rationalism was a period in history when thinkers emphasized the use of reason (justification) through observations to arrive at the truth – five plus five is ten. The period began in the 1600s and lasted about one hundred years. The thinkers included John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire. Their ideas have lived on.
Brilliant thinkers in Europe rejected uncritical acceptance of long-accepted dogmas or views about society, politics and religion including the divine right of kings, primacy of aristocrats and prelates (church leaders) and a class society that dictated one’s destiny. For instance, if you were born a ruler or peasant you would stay that way. Thinkers developed the freedom and boldness to inquire and to doubt. Consequently, people in authority and church leaders were blamed for keeping others poor and ignorant in order to keep power for themselves. The outcomes of this freedom included major changes in governing and ecclesiastical institutions. American and French revolutions borrowed a lot from the work of enlightenment thinkers. What is the relevance of enlightenment to Uganda’s situation?
Obsessed with European race theories with a white man at the top and a black man at the bottom of the pyramid, John Hanning Speke and his aristocratic colonial and missionary followers from England, Germany and Belgium created the Hamitic Myth that Bahima, Batutsi and Bahororo (Batutsi from Rwanda), were white people, superior, intelligent and born rulers. The rest in Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi were inferior, unintelligent and born to serve the higher class of white Batutsi, Bahima and Bahororo. They were dubbed Bairu and Bahutu (slaves).
In Uganda, as time passed, the term Bairu got confined to southwest Uganda in Ankole and Rujumbura county of Rukungiri district. Bantu-speaking Bairu and Bahutu were reduced to agriculture mainly to produce for the ruling class of Batutsi, Bahima and Bahororo. Through a system of colonial indirect rule in Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, the so-called pastoralists became colonial agents and continued to oppress Bairu and Bahutu. In southwest Uganda it is common to this day in November 2010 to hear Bahororo boasting that one Muhororo is worth a thousand Bairu even when it is clear that so-called Bairu are more intelligent than Bahororo. School and university records are there for everyone to see the truth. That is why Bahororo under Museveni leadership have resorted to military force or democracy at gun point because they cannot win in free and fair elections!
Independence in Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi in 1962 upset this aristocratic and commoner relationship. Museveni and Kagame realized that because of their numerical inferiority democracy through the ballot box would never return them to power, hence the military option. Ugandans who were disgruntled about Obote mostly Baganda and Catholics joined Museveni in a destructive guerrilla war. Okello took advantage and removed Obote in 1985 and Museveni in turn removed Okello six months later.
Museveni and his Bahima and Batutsi relatives whom he identified in Buganda, northern and eastern Uganda (they may use local names and local language but at heart they are not what you think) came to power with a pre-enlightenment mentality in the sense that nobody would question his background, his ancestry and his ability to rule. He thought he would turn Uganda into a Tutsi dynasty, build a Tutsi Empire in the Great Lakes region including DRC through military might failing which he would use the East African Community and political federation options which are still on the table. Museveni had hoped that Ugandans would not question his intellect and his so-called god-given power to rule others as divine president, getting instructions or advice from god only. As is well known Museveni does not take advice from Ugandans. It is rumored that some presidential advisers have never met with him since they were appointed!
After a period of honey moon, Ugandans entered the age of reason and began to question Museveni’s background and where his ancestors came from. They came from southern Sudan and not Ethiopia as Speke had reported. They are black and not white people. Museveni’s ancestors are Nilotic Luo-speaking cattle herders. In Ankole, they became Bahima and adopted Lunyankole Bantu language. In Burundi and Rwanda they became Batutsi and adopted Kinyarwanda Bantu language. A group of Batutsi moved from Rwanda in mid 1600 and settled in southwest Ankole and adopted the name of Bahororo. When the kingdom of Mpororo disintegrated, Bahororo scattered into Rujumbura, other parts of Uganda and others returned to Rwanda but have tenaciously clung together. In eastern DRC Batutsi people are called Banyamulenge. Thus, Bahima, Batutsi, Bahororo and Banyamulenge are cousins.
The one common characteristic among these cousins is that males do not marry outside their Nilotic ethnic group. Therefore although they adopt local languages and local names wherever they settle, they have retained their Nilotic identity. They never thought that this would be discovered. As you probably know Obote belongs to Bahima ethnic group, hence Oyima clan. With this knowledge, it may not come as a surprise that Obote’s uncle has joined Museveni’s NRM and Langi voters may support NRM and not UPC! The award to Obote (RIP) on independence anniversary may symbolize a lot.
The struggle for power since independence has been between Nilotic cousins – between Ibingira (RIP) and Obote; Obote and Museveni; and Museveni and Kony. Another finding from enlightened thinkers is that all presidents that have served long – Obote, Amin (RIP) and Museveni – have their roots in southern Sudan, Amin being a Nubian. Bantu people who entered Uganda from the Congo basin therefore have not produced a head of state since independence.
Because Uganda is a melting pot that has attracted many people who arrived and have stayed as early as the 1920s especially from Burundi and Rwanda, it has become necessary for Ugandans to want to know who is governing or is likely to govern Uganda. Hence recent debates about who is who in Uganda. The disappearance of files on vital registration (births, deaths, marriages and migrants) at a time when Ugandans are keen to know who is who has raised fundamental questions about what is being hidden. It has been reported that those who stole the files are known but no arrests have been made and no files have been retrieved! Further the writing of Uganda’s State of Population report in 2010 without information on migrants and refugees has forced thinkers to wonder what is going on and to want to know what is being hidden from the public. The messages on the internet about the regime of Museveni, the human atrocities committed before and since he came to power in 1986 leave no doubt that Ugandans have entered the age of reason and will stop at nothing but the truth.
Through empirical work since 1986, it has been demonstrated that Museveni and his relatives are not born leaders. The political, economic, social and environmental crisis has betrayed them. Museveni has been classified in international media as a dictator presiding over a failed state. The donor community that supported Museveni and his regime to the hilt is now distancing itself and pushing Museveni to punish those who embezzled Commonwealth and GAVI public money. Being anti-terrorist does not qualify Museveni to remain Uganda’s president. He is using anti-terrorism as a tool to win him western support for another five years.
Like European thinkers of 17th century, Uganda thinkers of the 21st century have formed associations and are compiling empirical observations in books and on the internet (see www.kashambuzi.com). The media at home and increasingly abroad is exposing the weakness of Museveni regime as based on destructive corruption, sectarianism, skewed economic distribution and spreading diseases of poverty among impoverished citizens, jiggers being the most common external manifestation that cannot be hidden in cooked statistics of economic growth, per capita income, low inflation rates and export of foodstuffs to earn foreign currency to meet the needs of the rich while the majority starve some of them to death.
The truth being exposed about Museveni’s regime is a clear indication that major changes are on the way in Uganda. There is no turning back. It is a matter of time. That’s for sure! Those around the world who believe in truth, social justice and equality should extend a helping hand.