In response to David mafabi's article ( see THE MONITOR article entitled " The Neo-Secessionists Can Still Be Redeemed") below, of November 11, 2006, many political observers would tend to agree with Hon. Akbar Godi and Hon. Fungaro moves as out lined below!
Ugandans , the fact is that Our fellow citizens in Northern and Eastern Uganda have suffered a lot for twenty years under NRM Military dictatorship.
The NRM has abused the people of Northern and Eastern Uganda ... The NRM called them names like Anyanya, Banmuwanga, Badokolo, Animals , stupid, backward , primitive etc.
Moreover, while the people of Northern and Eastern Uganda
were suffering under the NRM Military dictatorship for 20 years, the NRM Military dictatorship even refused to easy our suffering by declaring Northern and Eastern Uganda as disaster areas..
and as such entitled to International direct foreign assistance.
This being the case, it is only prudent that some politicians in Northern and Eastern Uganda would call for a complete and total secession of Northern Uganda from the South!\
Matek
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The Monitor (Kampala)
OPINION
November 11, 2006
Posted to the web November 13, 2006
November 11, 2006
Posted to the web November 13, 2006
K. David Mafabi
I am terribly worried about some our most brilliant and charismatic members of Parliament who now excel in marketing the secession of northern Uganda as a major option in the country's forward movement. I speak, of course, of my good friends of the FDC, the Hon. Fungaro Kaps Hassan, and the Hon. Akbar Godi.
We crossed political swords at last week's Ekimeeza at Club Obligatto. What bothered me most was that besides a lot of passion and feeling fed by those who have made it a favourite pastime to heckle at the Ekimeeza, there was very little by way of sober identification and analysis of issues, and quite clearly, a good amount of confusion.
The Ekimeeza order paper indicated that Fungaro intends to move a motion in Parliament, calling for a referendum on autonomy for northern Uganda. Through the afternoon, neither of the legislators refuted that position. Instead, we were treated to a bewildering onslaught of conflicting positions in favour now of self-determination, then of independence - all this bundled together with autonomy!
I suggested to my friends that they needed to get back to the drawing board for several reasons, including for purposes of internal conceptual clarity on the purpose of
their project. Compounding their misery would the fact that independence for northern Uganda runs slap bang into the FDC slogan of One Uganda, One People!
For my exertions, I was treated to a swift and dismissive rejoinder. Godi observed that I had supported the late African revolutionary and leader Dr John Garang de Mabior in his quest for "secession of Southern Sudan". For the record, I was greatly privileged and honoured to have known and worked with Lt. Gen. Garang.
The Garang I knew was no separatist. He was a leading and enthusiastic Pan Africanist who worked for the unity of the Sudan, up to his death. His life long mission was to transform the Southern movement for separation, into a national liberation movement for the entire Sudan. If the Fungaro-Godi duo wishes to uphold him as a positive point of reference for their crusade, they need to go the whole hog - and learn how to unite, rather than
divide.
The other reason my friends need to get back to the drawing table is the rationale or justification for their crusade. I have heard talk of "marginalisation". How do we define it? What are its main features?
When the forerunners to Mr Kony's outfit started their war, was the issue "marginalisation"? When elements in West Nile launched theirs in diverse circumstances, was the issue "marginalisation"? Isn't it more accurate to detect a knee jerk reaction by some of these groups in reaction to regime change?That life in the IDP camps for wananchi has been terrible cannot be denied. That the areas of insurgency have been witness to severe disruption and dislocation of life for wananchi cannot be denied.
By the same token, why do we not recognise that this unhappy situation has emerged and thrived as an exigency of war? A major and primary plank for dealing with the situation
therefore must be to bring the war to a decisive end by any means possible. The answer cannot be to run away from Uganda.
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In other words, besides an understanding of the nature of the low intensity conflict that has characterised the region over the last two decades, moreover factoring in Khartoum's support over the years to Kony, there is no way anybody can come remotely close to sustaining a charge of marginalisation of northern Uganda, by the NRM government.
Ultimately, "the problem of northern Uganda" is the problem of making Uganda as a state created by colonialism, work. It is irresponsible of our leaders to whip up emotions that could contribute to a new conflagration. Existing imbalances can only be dealt with in the context of overall national structural transformation.
To the extent that our leaders have genuine fears and concerns, they should redeem themselves by offering sober alternatives - possibly including an appropriately modified regional tier, but still in the context of national
transformation!
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