Tag Archives: and

Exposing silent genocide in Uganda

Santayana reminded us that “Those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat it”. We should not forget that Uganda has been recorded as a country where genocide has already taken place (Fran Alexander et al., 1998).

Those who want to prevent genocide in Uganda must study carefully the definition of genocide and then analyze what is going on in their communities because genocide may be taking place slowly, incrementally and silently without being noticed. Ugandans know the type of genocide that took place in Rwanda – the armed killing of targeted groups that took place in 1994. Genocide that takes place silently and incrementally overtime is difficult to detect and much less to condemn. Let us revisit the definition of genocide which has the following elements:

  1. Killing members of the group
  2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
  3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
  4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
  5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another.
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Barbarian destructive invasions and lessons for the great lakes region

A combination of push and pull factors that led to barbarian invasions and destruction in Europe is developing in the great lakes region with a possibility of a repeat of that barbarian history. The signs are clear and there is no room for complacency on the part of leaders, the public and development partners. The clear signs of destruction in Kenya were ignored and caused the tragic events of December 2007.

The word ‘barbarians’ refers to persons who are primitive, uncivilized or uncultivated. The word comes from Greek barbaros which initially meant persons who spoke a foreign language or outsiders. The Romans later applied a Latin word barbarus to such people as Goths, Vandals and Huns, who lived outside the Roman Empire.

The Greeks considered people in the Mediterranean area about 750 B.C. to have inferior cultures to their own. The Greeks therefore applied the word barbarian in a disrespectful manner. Those who absorbed Greek education, culture, language and ideals graduated from barbarism. The Romans adopted Greek culture throughout their empire.

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What the next Uganda government must do

I am writing this article on the assumption, inter alia, that:

  1. the new government will muster sufficient political will, genuine and real commitment to raise the standard of living of all Ugandans
  2. Ugandans and their friends and partners will recognize and accept that Uganda is basically an agrarian country dominated by peasants
  3. Ugandans will put the highest priority on meeting the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter
  4. the empowerment of the poor through inter alia mass quality education, healthcare and appropriate technologies will be promoted
  5. external advice however sound will not deliver without support from the nationals
  6. there is a recognition that structural adjustment has been a failure in social and environmental terms and sustaining economic growth
  7. development strategies are home designed, executed and owned
  8. land is life and a basic asset for peasants
  9. the respective roles of the state and the private sector will be redefined in a mutually reinforcing manner
  10. a bottom up approach will be supported through appropriate policies, strategies and institutions
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Uganda must embrace the idea of inclusiveness and compromise

Uganda has reached a political impasse with the potential for explosion largely because of winner-take-all or zero-sum game mentality.

During the campaigns for the 1980 elections, I had the opportunity to talk to the leadership of the three parties because I had gone to school and university with them, reconnected with many of them after graduation, and made new Ugandan friends in the United States, Europe and Africa. I counseled that whoever wins the election should include Ugandans from the other two parties and stressed the need to pull together particularly given the ruinous years of Amin’s rule. The response was lukewarm and nothing came of it. The result was a destructive guerrilla war and overthrow of the Obote II government.

Let me share other experiences and hope that they will help those in present and future leadership positions.

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How peasants lose their land

From time immemorial, the rich and well connected have devised ways and means to grab peasants’ land for various motives. In this article we are going to examine what happened in the past and what is happening now or is likely to happen in the future. But first let us define peasants.

Peasants are “low-status cultivators who are trapped in a double bind of material poverty and political marginality. … Peasants labor in a subsistence economy that is typically precarious and subject to the predation of powerful elites. As a result, peasants in otherwise diverse cultural and historical contexts share a common vulnerability to natural and human made disaster that constrains peasant strategies in the direction of an emphasis on subsistence security and family survival” (Joel Krieger 1993).

There are many examples throughout the world showing how peasants have lost their land. In early 16th-century Europe, rising prices and bad harvests led landowners to squeeze peasants by raising rents, enclosing common lands and increasing feudal dues.

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Uganda politics is a mixture of religion and ethnicity

I have been involved in Uganda politics at theoretical and practical levels since 1960 when I was in high school (senior two). I participated in district and national elections as a polling officer in former Ankole and Kigezi districts. I was also involved in student politics and the political processes that culminated in the Moshi conference before Amin fell from power in 1979.

At the height of political activities during the 1970s I worked in Brussels (Belgium), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Lusaka (Zambia), where Ugandans lived as refugees (Lusaka), workers at ECA and OAU (Addis Ababa) and delegates to international conferences (Addis Ababa and Brussels). I moved to New York in the mid-1980s when politics among Ugandans was hot before the fall of Obote II government.

The conditions of my job in these places and my own neutral orientation offered me a unique opportunity to interact with many Ugandans. Throughout these interactions I did more listening than talking and got a feel of Uganda’s political pulse and the forces involved. My literary work about Uganda politics and economics has benefited from these interactions and the knowledge accumulated since 1960.

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Is Uganda’s national unity idea dead?

When the National Resistance Movement (NRM) came to power in 1986, it had a clear domestic and external policy message which was compressed into the ten-point program. It was a program that had been based on compromise with national unity in mind which became a cornerstone in Uganda’s development discourse in the early years of the NRM administration.

Earlier, the late Grace Ibingira had written about the absence of national consciousness in Uganda brought about by the retention or intensification of ethnic differences during the colonial period. He observed that “Since the colonial system kept them alive through indirect rule and the policy of minimal inter-ethnic contact, the idea of Britain bequeathing a new state uniting all the divergent groups with a government of nationalist politicians from different groups, some historically enemies, generated intense fear in the country, most especially among the group that had more to lose, the Baganda” (G. S. Ibingira 1980).

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Rural electrification in Rukungiri raises questions

Ronald Kalyango reported in New Vision on June 17, 2010 that government plans to provide rural electricity to Bushenyi and Rukungiri districts to boost agriculture and eradicate poverty. The reporter added that the electricity will cost money and users will be trained on how to use it efficiently. He added that installation will destroy land, crops and trees. The announcement was made by candidates running for re-election in Rukungiri district. The areas to be covered include Kyatoko, Kagunga and Kyaruyenje. These are areas that parliament voted to include in Rukungiri municipality two or so weeks ago.

In conversation with a senior official in Rukungiri Town Council a year or so ago, I was informed very clearly that once the area is incorporated into the municipality, the authority will divide it up into plots for sale to the highest bidder to generate resources with which to develop the area, meaning that peasants will have to be dispossessed.

The decision by Rukungiri district council to upgrade Rukungiri town into a municipality was taken in an emergency session without consulting the people involved. The entire Kagunga sub-county where some of the poorest people in Rukungiri district live has been incorporated into the municipality. The moment the municipality comes into force land will automatically be owned by the Municipal Council and former owners will become tenants on terms and conditions set by the municipality.

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Open letter to Rukungiri District Councilors

Dear Councilors

When people are elected they enter into a contract or understanding to protect, defend, promote the interests of the people they represent and improve their standard of living. One of the terms of the contract is that consultations between representatives and constituents should take place regularly particularly on issues like land on which the majority depend for their livelihood.

Converting Rukungiri Township into a Municipality by incorporating rural areas has serious adverse implications. Once the municipality law enters into force in January 2011 the land affected will be owned by municipal authority and owners will automatically become tenants subject to terms and conditions set by the municipal authority.

Because most peasants are poor, they will not be able to pay land taxes and other charges or meet standards such as construction using bricks. Failure to meet municipality terms and conditions will result in tenants either selling their land at giveaway prices or their land will be confiscated for failure to meet the terms and conditions. The dispossessed families will automatically become landless. Since most peasants are totally or functionally illiterate, they will not find work elsewhere. They will become penniless as well.

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The creation of Rukungiri Municipality has genocidal implications

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1948 and came into force on January 12, 1951.

Article II of the Convention states that “In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to the members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing means intended to prevent births within the group”, (Human rights. A

compilation of International Instruments, Volume I {Second Part} Unites Nations 2002)

The deliberate demarcation of the area that has been incorporated into Rukungiri Municipality targeted the ethnic group of Bairu people who form the largest group in the area. Their ancestors arrived in the area 3000 years ago. They were joined by Bahororo (Batutsi from Rwanda via the short-lived Mpororo kingdom) around 1800. The latter were militarily strong, crushed indigenous resistance and have dominated them politically, economically and socially since then against increasing resistance as Bairu begin to understand their human rights.

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