The people of Uganda are resenting Museveni because of his increasing use of violence which he studied in Tanzania and has been encouraged to apply at home by some donors to maintain ‘stability’; his implementation of the philosophy of metamorphosis designed to transform beyond recognition Uganda’s ecological and demographic landscape (having more cattle than crops and more foreigners than indigenous people and another Ivory Coast in Uganda); and his consolidation of feudalism of lords (Bahororo) and serfs (the rest of Uganda) and Tutsi empire disguised as East African political federation with western encouragement.
Through the application of harsh anti-sectarian and anti-terrorism Acts and with tacit donor support, Museveni has violently silenced dissent apparently in the name of political and economic stability. Meanwhile suppressed dissent built into frustration and anger and then into enlightenment and dialectics. Ugandans thus no longer regard Museveni as a leader with divine right whose word is taken at face value. Instead, Ugandans are asking questions and demanding satisfactory answers (enlightenment) and are spending more time in archives and libraries and on the internet unearthing what was hidden (dialectics). Supporters of Museveni at home and abroad should not be surprised at what has hit them.
Surrogates of the leader have used intimidating language of sectarianism, tribal hatred, terrorism and genocide hoping that dissenting voices would be scared and recoil into their shells. But they are discovering that the strategy isn’t working. In any case, ‘killing’ messengers at this late hour would be counterproductive because the message is already out there and has been institutionalized for others to carry forward with even more determination to effect change. Leaders that refused to listen to the voice of the enlightened citizens ended up in violent revolutions including the one in France with very nasty outcomes.
The best thing to do in Uganda is to begin to listen to one another as equals – putting aside symbols of beauty, superiority complex and racial differences – and dialogue in a substantive and civil manner to find a common platform from which to develop Uganda for the benefit of all citizens and above all to create equal opportunities for all. Short of this anger will explode and no amount of violence will stop it – it may be delayed a bit from engulfing the state but it won’t be stopped. The soldiers may also come to their senses and decide to stop harassing and killing their own brothers and sisters – and Museveni should keep this possibility in mind because it happened in Ethiopia in 1974 and in Tunisia in 2011.
So, leaders with foresight at home and abroad should heed this warning including those MPs that have decided to retain 20 million shillings each that would be used to purchase medicines and buy food for primary school children whose performance has plummeted in large part for lack of lunch which was recommended by NEPAD but Museveni has refused to comply. A person that does not care about the welfare of children should not occupy a leadership position. For the balance of this article let us focus on violence in elections with reference to what happened in 1996 and 2001 in Ntungamo and Rukungiri districts respectively.
Regarding 2001 election campaign in Rukungiri district, “Museveni … reacted to opposition by unleashing the worst of the military.
“When a constituency in which Museveni got 99.9 percent of the vote in the 1996 elections was perceived to have switched to home-boy Besigye, Museveni’s elite guard, which included his son, stepped in to wreak terror and grab voters’ cards in a house-to-house operation. One man was killed and several injured. Museveni got the vote” (Business in Africa April 2001).
Museveni’s home district of Ntungamo has also witnessed the use of violence. “In the Ntungamo district of Ankole, Museveni’s birth place, the government was forced by a growing political revolt of the Bairu ethnic majority in the district to send in the military to ‘keep law and order’ – that is, enforce the vote for Museveni’s chosen candidate, a Hima Tutsi like Museveni himself. This also failed, with the Bairu candidate, Patrick Buriiku, winning. But no sooner were those results announced, than Museveni deployed more troops to the scene, and by the end of the week, the local election commission reported that Museveni’s candidate John Karazarwe had won by a measly 0.6% of the vote.
“The result of this ruse was rioting throughout the district. By April 29, Museveni himself was forced to intervene, calling Karazarwe and all the candidates to his home. Winners of all the lower posts all went to Buriiku’s men, who had vowed not to work with Karazarwe. The fight in the district, Museveni stated, was destroying the entire National Resistance Movement, which has its strongest base in Ankole. Although the violence ended, the rift in the Movement has not abated”(EIR May 22, 1998). We are told that for 2011 elections many foreigners (subject to confirmation) have been registered to tilt the vote in favor of Bahororo candidates in Ntungamo.
It is important to note that Ntungamo and Rukungiri districts that have been most politically unstable in Uganda are occupied by majority Bairu and minority Bahororo. It is the latter (Bahororo) that have prevailed in politics, business and civil service even though Bairu are by far more qualified and experienced than Bahororo. Museveni does not see, much less recognize existence of these educated and experienced Bairu men and women except a few he uses to intimidate, frustrate and dispossess their fellow Bairu people.
Museveni’s galloping unpopularity springs from his blatant practice of sectarianism, cover up of wrong doers and broken promises. Regarding the latter, here is what he said in 1986. “Point number one on our program is the restoration of democracy. … The people should be able to hire and fire any government. The sovereign people in the land must be the population not the government. The government should not be the masters but the servants of the population.
“… The soldiers [guerrillars] you see are freedom fighters. … They were people who went into the army [guerrilla camp] to fight for freedom”(Africa Events March 1986).
It is these same people who went to the bush in 1981-85 to fight for freedom that were unleashed by Museveni and crushed Bairu freedom to vote for a candidate of their choice in Ntungamo in 1996 and in Rukungiri in 2001 as illustrated above leaving some people dead and others wounded. For all intents and purposes these are police districts where on several occasions as in Rukungiri live bullets have been fired at unarmed citizens seeking to exercise their rights including the right to elect their own representatives. In Ntungamo and Rukungiri districts key representatives from minority Bahororo people are imposed on majority Bairu people.
These two examples demonstrate how violent Museveni has become. For these and many other reasons including Museveni’s facilitation of Uganda’s re-colonization by Britain and his relentless efforts in collaboration with Kenya {witness campaign for Museveni} and some western states and corporations to push Uganda into the East African political federation that will disadvantage Uganda through inter alia loss of land, labor and industries, Museveni should not be re-elected because he will intensify violence against mounting dissent over his leadership. Ugandans must muster courage and vote against Museveni. That will be the best gift to the children of Uganda that are currently starving and dying in hospitals that have turned into hospices for lack of medicines, supplies and staff.