Uganda in the next 50 years

As we finalize preparations for Uganda’s 50th birthday anniversary as an independent nation, we need to take stock of what we have achieved as a nation and where we have fallen short in order to pave a clear, equitable and sustainable path for the next 50 years.

Most Ugandans today were born after 1970 – a period dominated by political instability, economic and social hardship – and don’t have the benefit of comparing the civilian regime of Obote I and the military regimes of Amin and Museveni. What has been written about UPC and Obote I of the 1960s found mostly in NRM documents picked and emphasized deficit areas and ignored the achievements. To a certain extent Obote, subsequent leaders and supporters are to blame for not writing their stories to provide a basis for comparison. We hope that between now and October 9, UPC leadership will arrange to fill the gap.

How Bahororo captured and have sustained power in Uganda

Many Ugandans and non-Ugandans alike still wrongly believe that Museveni and his Bahororo people led a guerrilla war starting in 1981 because of the so-called rigged elections of December 1980. The truth of the matter is that Bahororo have harbored the idea of dominating Uganda politics in order to restore Mpororo kingdom which was absorbed into the Ankole kingdom – hence the complications surrounding the restoration of Ankole kingdom.

Museveni and his very close advisers are Bahororo. Bahororo are Batutsi from Rwanda whose ancestors were Nilotic Luo-speaking people who moved into the great lakes region from Bahr el Ghazal of southern Sudan some 600 years ago. Under the leadership of Kahaya Rutindangyezi the Batutsi from Rwanda founded Mpororo kingdom in mid-17th century. The kingdom covered northern Rwanda and parts of southwest Ankole (Ntungamo district). The kingdom disintegrated within 100 years due to internal family feuds. Although they lost the kingdom (and many Bahororo returned to Rwanda while others moved to other parts of Uganda), Bahororo never lost the idea of restoring the kingdom, perhaps on a larger scale – hence the idea of creating the East African Federation or Tutsi Empire.

Disintegration of DRC and birth of Tutsi Empire

I have just completed a thirty day mission (January/February 2010) to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Burundi and Rwanda. The buzz phrase was “Anglo-saxon neo-colonialism, possible disintegration of DRC and the birth of a Tutsi Empire”. The following report represents stories heard and interviews conducted formally and informally.

There is a strong feeling especially among Congolese that since the 1980s (Peter Phillips 2006) Anglo-saxons and allies have been trying to take over DRC and other countries in the Great Lakes region through Tutsi surrogates (who also coincidentally harbor the idea of establishing a Tutsi Empire in the region and possibly beyond) because of the region’s vast natural and human wealth and strategic advantages.

Congolese and others reasoned that the overthrow of the second Obote government in Uganda in 1985 and the eventual coming to power of Batutsi-led government in 1986 with Yoweri Museveni as leader (Museveni is considered a Tutsi {Jeffrey Herbst 2000}); the overthrow of the Habyarimana regime in Rwanda in 1994 and the coming to power of Batutsi-led government with Paul Kagame, a Mututsi, as leader; the second coming to power of Pierre Buyoya, a Mututsi, in Burundi in 1996 through a Batutsi military coup and; the overthrow in 1997 of the government of Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire led by Batutsi from Rwanda, Eastern Zaire (now DRC), Burundi and Uganda was a prelude to the establishment of a Tutsi Empire by military means with foreign backing.

President Museveni endorses the institution of intermarriages

I was very pleased to learn that while attending a wedding function in Uganda the President endorsed the institution of intermarriages which I have been promoting in my writings and speaking engagements for quite sometime now.

In societies – in time and space – that are relatively stable there have been intermarriages both ways – both ways in the sense that men from different ethnic groups marry women from different ethnic groups thereby ending ethnic exclusieness. It has been reported that societies in northern and eastern Uganda, Buganda, Bunyoro, Toro and northwest Tanzania are relatively stable because two way inter-ethnic or inter-tribal intermarriages have taken place there.

In Southwest Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Eastern DRC where intermarriages have been one way (Bahutu and Bairu men marrying Batutsi, Bahima, Banyamulenge and Bahororo women whereas Batutsi, Bahima, Bahororo and Banyamulenge men are not marrying Bairu and Bahutu women) there has been constant conflict that contributed to the tragic events of 1972 and 1994 in Burundi and Rwanda respectively.

Bahororo-led NRM government has failed Uganda

When individuals, parties or nations assume leadership responsibilities, they should expect and accept scrutiny provided it is objective and constructive.

The rise to power of Bahororo people from obscurity to national and international prominence has raised questions about who Bahororo are and how they emerged. Until they came to power in 1986, Bahororo were unknown because they registered or introduced themselves as Bahima. So who are Bahororo?

Bahororo are Batutsi people from Rwanda who founded the short-lived Mpororo kingdom (from about 1650 to about 1750 or earlier) which stretched from parts of present day northern Rwanda to parts of present day southwest Uganda.