Tag Archives: short

Crickets and locusts do not fly together

In my culture we have a proverb “ekiharara noruzigye tibiguruka kumwe” which means that a cricket and locust do not fly together. Why? Because crickets fly a short distance and take a break. They also fly at a low altitude. On the other hand, locusts fly a long distance without a break and fly at a high altitude. When the two try to fly together in a long distance race at a high altitude, crickets drop out of the race. Locusts continue to the finishing line and win prizes.

In Uganda, relations between Bahororo and the rest of Ugandans are similar to relations between locusts and crickets. Bahororo (locusts) under the leadership of Museveni started the guerrilla war with a long term plan: to dominate Uganda politics indefinitely. On the other hand, the rest of Ugandans (crickets) especially Baganda and Catholics joined Museveni with a short term plan: to defeat Obote and his Protestant ruling UPC party. They joined Museveni’s guerrilla war and brought Obote down through Acholis in the army in July 1985. The Acholis who had a short term vision: to throw Obote and his Langi tribesmen out of power had no long term plan of holding onto power. Consequently, they were overthrown six months later and Museveni came to power in January 1986.

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History has been unkind to Bahutu people

Until 1994 Rwanda – and its Bahutu and Batutsi people – was relatively unknown in international relations. The country is small, not endowed with resources, and until 1994, had no strategic value. It was first colonized briefly by Germany and after World War I and until 1962 – when it became independent – by Belgium under the United Nations trusteeship mandate. The ‘social revolution’ of 1959 resulted in Bahutu replacing Batutsi that had ruled the country since the 16th century. Batutsi went into exile in neighboring countries and immediately started an armed struggle – which intensified from 1990 with external support – to reestablish their hegemony over Bahutu who constitute up to 90 percent of the total population with 9 percent Batutsi and 1 percent Batwa.

In 1994 the shooting down of the presidential plane and the death of Bahutu presidents of Rwanda and Burundi set off the killing – by Bahutu extremists who feared losing power – of moderate Bahutu and Batutsi who opposed Habyarimana government in Rwanda. After hesitation the international community decided that these killings constituted genocide. The Bahutu government was replaced by Batutsi-led regime thereby restoring Batutsi minority hegemony over Bahutu majority in Rwanda.

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President Museveni must have been tired

After reading President Museveni’s two-part interview with Daniel Kalinaki, Monitor Managing Editor which was posted on the website on April 11 and 12, 2010, I contacted Monitor readers – Ugandans and non-Ugandans – for their assessment. They all agreed that the president’s performance fell short of expectations especially as he prepares for 2011 presidential elections. Two main reasons were given – either he was tired or he is no longer on top of developments in Uganda. They even wondered why he did not praise his government for controlling inflation, maintaining a high level of economic growth and per capita income, reducing poverty and providing universal primary education which has been extended to secondary education because these have been areas of NRM’s strength. Let me make some observations selectively because Uganda newspapers restrict my articles to around 700 words.

First, on the issue of democracy, President Museveni has allowed presidential and parliamentary elections to take place every five years because development partners have made them a condition for foreign aid and technical assistance. Since 1996, President Museveni’s popularity has declined with each election. This is not the kind of information the President would want to share with Ugandans much less with the outside world which has given him much support particularly for macroeconomic stability.

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