*Please Mr Tabaire, * *Thank you very much for the analysis in this article. *
When Museveni was for ICC, new districts, until he was not In Summary The other assertion that stands up there in thin air is that he referred Kony to the ICC because the rebel chief was operating outside Uganda. Not really. By December 2003 Kony was still very active in Uganda. He “permanently” fled sometime in 2005, as the President himself has frequently reminded us. He was for the International Criminal Court before he was against. He was for Naads before he was against. He was for unending district-creation before he was against. That is one person, not three. We have heard him on all these issues in the last few weeks. A supple human mind, even a presidential one, is allowed to “evolve” on issues, as the Americans say. We must, however, raise hackles when that evolution is all expediency. In December 2003, President Museveni quietly referred Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army commanders to the ICC, leading to the court issuing its first indictments. The LRA commanders are wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. For giving the ICC this start-up life, the court’s supporters praised Mr Museveni through and through. According to a report by this newspaper, President Museveni, at a State House press conference in August 2008, said of Sudanese counterpart al-Bashir, an ICC indictee the African Union in typical style was trying to shield: “We could not say that Bashir has no case because that would be prejudicing the case … Suppose he made those mistakes [for which the ICC wants him for trial]? If you take that position, you will be ignoring the rights of the victims, the ones who suffered.” He continued: “I advised our delegation to, first of all, not condemn the indictment of Bashir because we do not know whether it is justified or not … The correct position of the AU should be to investigate ourselves.” Then ICC indictee Uhuru Kenyatta’s inauguration as Kenya’s President came this month.The Ugandan was on hand to deliver the main speech on behalf of the foreign delegations. He said in part: “I was one of those that supported the ICC because I abhor impunity. However, the usual opinionated and arrogant actors using their careless analysis have distorted the purpose of that institution. “They are now using it to install leaders of their choice in Africa and eliminate the ones they do not like. What happened here in 2007 was regrettable and must be condemned. “A legalistic process, especially an external one, however, cannot address those events … “We only referred Joseph Kony of LRA to ICC because he was operating outside Uganda. Otherwise, we would have handled him ourselves.” So much happens in five years. We must, however, back up first and state the obvious point that Uganda (under President Museveni) and Kenya, of their own volition, signed the Rome Statute that formed the ICC. I suspect they did so because they “abhor impunity”. And I thought abhorring impunity is a matter of high principle. If President Museveni feels for the Darfur victims, he should equally feel for the Kenyan victims, some of whom fled and live in Uganda to this day. By the time the Rome Statute entered into force on July 1, 2002, President Museveni had been in power 16 years. (Uganda signed on March 17, 1999, and ratified on June 14, 2002, becoming the 68th State Party.) I presume by then he had already encountered the unnamed “usual opinionated and arrogant actors” but he joined with them anyway. The phrase“usual opinionated and arrogant actors”, by the way, is a catchall that could mean anything or nothing. It is a disingenuous cop-out. The other assertion that stands up there in thin air is that he referred Kony to the ICC because the rebel chief was operating outside Uganda. Not really. By December 2003 Kony was still very active in Uganda. He “permanently” fled sometime in 2005, as the President himself has frequently reminded us. Kony aside, Ugandans have repeatedly complained about Naads. The potent critique, in all its hilarity, still remains that Naads signposts on the main roads are larger than the gardens they flag. Even after ever so reluctantly conceding failure of the scheme, he still cannot take a firm decision to damp it. If only this government were minimally responsive and accountable, we would have avoided the creation over the years of so many districts that have delivered corruption and incompetence – and presidential votes. Oh, finally, the President now accepts the whole thing was harebrained. This eureka moment was nevertheless forced. Donors closed the cash spigots because of naked theft of their money within the government. Broke, Mr Museveni, the revolutionary, panicked and declared the unrelenting creation of districts unwise and ordered a stop. But read my lips: The moment donor dollars start to fly in again or, barring that, petrodollars, new districts will be created. Welcome to government without scruples. *Mr Tabaire is a media consultant with the African Centre for Media Excellence.* [email protected]
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