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At a personal level, Professor Ado Tiberondwa's departure very early on 22nd December, shattered my Christmas and that of his beloved wife Mary, family and millions of friends. I will spend the season singing the one hymn he loved: "Nearer my God to thee, nearer to thee"
At a national level, on December 20, 2002, Mrs Mary Karooro Okurut, or "Amucala Okurut" as she might be called in her Ngora marital home, wrote a curious article in The Monitor under the title "Repent Sins All Ye Hate-Mongers This Christmas".
For those who did not read the article and therefore missed its relevance then and now, it is necessary to reproduce the salient extracts of what the then Press Secretary to President Museveni said:
"Christmas has come to mean different things to different people. For the rural folk who have children and
relatives in Kampala, they will be looking forward to the fact that "the Kampala people are coming".
She went on and unwittingly made three brutally frank statements, which illustrate the reality of life under the Movement government, when she said:
"This is the one time in the year that many a rural man will grab a bottle of beer or two and sip slowly, savouring every bit of it, because he knows he may not have one again until the following year - at Christmas."
"The little people will be happy because that is probably the one time soda will be in the house, flowing all over the place and yes, you got it right - till next year."
"The women are excited because for many of them this is the one time in the year they are assured of a new gomesi. Some will make their annual visit to the salon."
If these revealing statements cannot make a bad man laugh and a good
one cry at the tragedy that has befallen Uganda, then I do not know what will.
At once demolishing the contemptible claim that the Uganda economy has been maintaining a steady average growth rate of 7% a year, the then Press Secretary to the President publicly conceded that after 16 years of Movement rule, poverty had become so rampant that "rural folk" had been reduced to living one day in a year. And this is strictly for those having "children and relatives" who work in Kampala.
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| NRM PUBLICIST : Opondo |
God alone knows what Christmas must be like for the unknown numbers, probably millions of "rural folks" without children or relatives working in Kampala, or the 1.8 million who are trapped in the "eternally" Displaced Persons camps scattered in the north and east.
Be it as it may, the sum total of the tragedy is that what Amucala Okurut casually referred to as the "rural folk" are, indeed, the overwhelming majority of men, women and children who make up more than 90% of the total population of the country, or at least 20 million Ugandans who live in the rural areas.
By contrast, while 20 million men, women and children have to wait for a whole year before they can have a beer or two; a new gomesi or visit to the salon; and for children to taste a soda; Amucala Okurut and a small clique of people connected to the
NRM, have been celebrating Christmas every day of the past 18 years, thanks to institutional theft at home and abroad.
Lest anyone forgets how Amucala Okurut and her colleagues manage to afford their all-year-round Christmas celebrations, readers must recall the recent kisanja bribe scandal, Justice Ssebutinde's judicial report into the junk helicopter purchase, which reportedly "criticised Museveni for advising Saleh to go ahead and accept the $800,000" bribe; and the UN report, which implicated senior army officers and officials close to the president in the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Still on Christmas, Amucala Okurut who once lamented the fact that her computer spell-check repeatedly gave her the word "Besieger" when she wanted to find out more about Dr Kizza "Besigye", went further and wrote:
"What comes to
my mind most is the issue of the political spectrum that some people are bent on disturbing and destabilising with intent to destroy the country…We know them all. They are going around all over the globe asking donors to cut aid to Uganda…We have heard of the plans to wage war on the country in a bid to oust the government."
The key phrase, which may not have attracted the special attention it deserved, was "We know them all".
Today, millions of Ugandans and the international community also know exactly who these people are, thanks to Amucala Okurut and her colleagues in the Movement.
In the last two years, particularly since November 2004, they have been announcing a series of arrests, the discovery of hidden weapons and the detention on treason charges of scores of people who are reportedly linked to the People's Redemption Army (PRA), a group "bent on disturbing and
destabilising with intent to destroy" Amucala Okurut's world of Christmas every day of the year.
Curiously, every one of these "treason" suspects is politically connected to Dr Kizza Besigye and, by implication, to the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). Consider the following reports of arrests as samples:
"Security personnel have arrested a prominent member of Reform Agenda for alleged treason and terrorism. Ms Esther Mugarura was arrested on Tuesday morning from her residence near Roofings Ltd on Entebbe Road. Mugarura was a member of the national executive of the Elect Besigye Task Force, a team that campaigned for former presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye in 2001. (See. "Reform Agenda Woman arrested over treason", The Monitor, 6 September 2003).
"Justus Ssemakadde Katabazi, a key campaign agent for former presidential candidate, Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye has fled
the country after he was allegedly arrested on charges of recruiting people into the People's Redemption Army (PRA) rebel group. Katabazi was a member of Uganda Young Democrats and key agent for Besigye in Buganda Region in the 2001 elections. (See. Besigye agent escapes. The Monitor, 31 August 2003).
"Acting CMI Chief Lt. Col. James Mugira said, "regional PRA coordinator Rodxen Zedriga was in charge of their activities in West Nile. Zedriga was Col. Kizza Besigye's regional campaign manager during the 2001 presidential campaigns. (See. "PRA Chiefs nabbed" The New Vision, 26 November 2004).
"The Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) yesterday arrested Rukungiri LC5 Speaker, George Owakukiroru, for alleged subversion. Owakukiroru was the chairman of Elect Besigye Taskforce for Rukungiri district during the 2001 presidential elections. He is also the Rukungiri district
chairman for the opposition Forum for Democratic Change, headed by exiled former presidential candidate Col. Dr Kizza Besigye. (See. FDC Leader arrested at border", The Monitor, 15 December 2004).
To cap it all, the usually informed Andrew Mwenda has suggested that Dr Kizza Besigye will probably be arrested for treason should he return.
If, as these arrests obviously show, by "We know them all", Amucala Okurut meant the Ugandans who supported Kizza Besigye's presidential bid in 2001, then up to three million people are potential treason suspects.
Considering our culture of extended family by birth and marriage, perhaps over 20 million Ugandans will be spending an agonising Christmas season looking over their shoulders for anyone who looks like an operative of the dreaded Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) and a host of paramilitary security organisations
including the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force (JATF) and Kakooza Mutale's Kalangala Action Plan (KAP). They should as well. After all, these organisations operate a shoot-to-kill policy as the Movement Communication Director, Mr. Ofwono-Opondo, graphically demonstrated recently when he publicly executed one Geoffrey Lubega, a suspected car robber.
Tragically, many of these victims are totally innocent. According to a recent police statement, one Humphrey Rugambanengwe, a Kampala advocate, "has been framing Reform Agenda activists as People's Redemption Army (PRA) suspects and extorting huge amounts of money from RA supporters (See. "Rugambanengwe cited in PRA scam", The Monitor, 18 December 2004).
Patrick Mamenero Owomugisha who died in CMI custody in July 2002 was such an innocent victim, "According to the death certificate, Patrick died in custody of injuries inflicted
by a blunt instrument. The CMI interrogators questioned Patrick's father about a Col. Samson Mande, a former UPDF officer alleged by Ugandan authorities to be involved in forming the PRA" (See. Uganda. State of Pain" Human Rights Watch report, 2004).
I shudder to imagine what sermons our preachers will devote their services on during this very unhappy Treason season. One thing is almost certain; around the country they will pray for Ado and sing "Nearer my God to thee, nearer to thee"
The writer is the Interim Chairman, FDC UK |
