George Okello
“If Luwum said he knew Acholis were planning a coup (actually rebellion or
uprising), who else in Uganda did not know this? Even me as a 5 year old child
knew that many Acholi and Langi men and women were secretly being recruited to
go to Sudan or Tanzania to fight against the regime. I know this because one
night, 28 young men from Dokolo were recruited by Commanders Mary Ogwal and
Aol, in my father's bedroom and we were sworn to total secrecy never to tell
anyone about it.” -George Okello 11/2/2014 in UAH
Thank you for standing up and rightly support the argument I have struggled to
push into Ugandans that Idid Amin never targeted Acholis and Langis they
targeted him. Thank you for being a best witness on the stand. Slowly but
surely the series will make us get the facts out there in public.
This might be the very first recorded acceptance of violence by an Acholi and a
God damn lawyer in London.
EM
On the 49th Parallel
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika
machafuko"
From: George Okello [mailto:opal...@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2014 9:36 PM
To: Robert Atuhairwe; richard.muk...@rocketmail.com; Fardson; akim odong;
Hannah Ogwapiti; fnshemerei...@yahoo.com; Aroma Patrick; Human Rights Centre
Uganda; Ahmed Kateregga Musaazi; WB Kyijomanyi; Eric Kashambuzi; Rajab Ali;
bobbymusoke; Frank Mujabi; <congokin-trib...@yahoogroupes.fr>; Dr.Edward
Kayondo; epojim; jn_hea...@yahoo.co.uk; Jonny Rubin; Billie Kadameri; eun
Nyaronyango; Joseph Kamugisha; Owor Kipenji; jim muwanga; owanat...@gmail.com;
Rehema Uganda; Hussein Amin; Robukui .; Dan Bwanika; Rose Birungi; joseph
ochieno; beti kamya; Gwokto La'Kitgum; Gook Akanga; ghkkolok...@yahoo.fr;
Benson Obua-Ogwal; Betti Amongi; allan barigye; Kale Kayihura; MAYIMUNA KENYI;
P'loreng'a Neko-yat; Moses Nekyon; Nelson Umah Tete; Omar Kalinge-Nnyago;
yowaana nyamutale
Cc: Monsieur Edward Mulindwa
Subject: Fwd: {UAH} JANANI LUWUM KNEW OF A COUP PLOT BY ACHOLIS
My friends,
For all those who doubted my constant claims that Edward Mulindwa is a moron
and total idiot, here is your concrete proof and in his own words. Read his
introduction to this very moving and factual account of the events leading to
the murder of the Archbishop.
Where is the evidence in Margaret Ford's account that Archbishop was planning a
coup against the murderous dictatorship? Does not her account confirm what we
always knew, that Luwum was a compassionate and extremely courageous leader of
his flock who used
his position to try to protect his people from a progrom of murder and
violence that was engulfing the country? Where is the evidence that Luwum
smuggled in guns?
If Luwum said he knew Acholis were planning a coup (actually rebellion or
uprising), who else in Uganda did not know this? Even me as a 5 year old child
knew that many Acholi and Langi men and women were secretly being recruited to
go to Sudan or Tanzania to fight against the regime. I know this because one
night, 28 young men from Dokolo were recruited by Commanders Mary Ogwal and
Aol, in my father's bedroom and we were sworn to total secrecy never to tell
anyone about it.
I know there are many people in the world who are born retarded or plain
stupid, but I have never met a nutter as stupid as Edward Mulindwa. It
completely baffles me why a man should post a piece that totally demolishes the
nonsense that he has been parrotting here for almost a year now. Having read
this moving account by Margaret Ford, would Snatcher Mulindwa and his side-kick
Hussein Juruga Idi Amin Dada and Abbey Semuwamba now accept that indeed
Archbishop Jannan Luwum was in deed a martyr and that he sacrificed his life so
that all of us Ugandans can regain our freedom from the clutches of murderous
and evil regime?
George Okello
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Herrn Edward Mulindwa <mulin...@look.ca <mailto:mulin...@look.ca> >
Date: Sun, Nov 23, 2014 at 1:46 AM
Subject: {UAH} JANANI LUWUM KNEW OF A COUP PLOT BY ACHOLIS
To: ugandans-at-he...@googlegroups.com
<mailto:ugandans-at-he...@googlegroups.com> , ugandanet@kym.net
<mailto:ugandanet@kym.net> , uganda...@yahoogroups.com
<mailto:uganda...@yahoogroups.com>
Friends
I have stated that this series is intending to go after the massive lies that
have been chocked into our throats by Acholis and Langis since 1979. I have
also written a piece about Jonan Luwum which has been attacked as a piece from
a very bad man going after a very religious leader we need to praise. Well
guess what? It is not only myself that knew how conniving Jonan Luwum was, here
is a foreigner that knew how Luwum knew about Acholis try to over throw our
government. This is in tomorrow’s Uganda main paper. And I simply fail to
understand why Acholis have a problem understanding/registering that their time
to lie is simply up.
Jonan Luwum was a killer let us kindly move on. Ge’ez
Janani Luwum knew of a coup plot by Acholis - Ford
Ms Margaret Ford during the interview in Kampala last week. PHOTO BY RACHEL
MABALA
By Henry Lubega
Posted Sunday, November 23 2014 at 02:00
Calling. She came as a secretary from the Church Missionary Society, but little
did she know that she was walking onto the chess board of Uganda’s politics as
a pawn. Margaret Ford was Archbishop Janani Luwum’s secretary up to the time of
his death in 1977. She spoke with Sunday Monitor’s Henry Lubega.
I am a farmer’s daughter who grew up in a typical village in Nottinghamshire
[in the UK] overlooking Lincoln Cathedral. I come from a Christian family but
was dismissive of the Billy Graham sort of evangelism, until when I attended a
youth rally in Sheffield in 1970, then I was a secretary with the Church
Missionary Society (CMS) youth department in London. When the Church of Uganda
wrote to the CMS requesting for a missionary secretary to work with the new
Bishop of Gulu, I was posted to Uganda where I arrived in January 1972. When he
left Gulu after being appointed archbishop in 1974, I stayed there working with
the new Bishop Benon Ogwal. Two years later when Janani’s secretary, also a
missionary secretary from the CMS in London, went on leave and got engaged,
Janani asked me to come and work with him in Kampala. I recall one Saturday
morning Bishop Ogwal called me to his office and said, “I have received a
letter from the Archbishop asking you to go and work with him in Kampala.” By
May 1976 I was a resident of Namirembe hill, residing just below the provincial
office. On Namirembe hill we lived as a family, food and water were in short
supply. Kampala turned into a city of rumours. No venturing out after sunset
and at night we kept awake, fearful of midnight knocks on the door.
Things fall apart
A number of events started happening that grabbed the Archbishop’s concern.
First was the death in June 1976 of Teresa Nanziri-Bukenya. The
eight-months-pregnant then warden of Africa Hall [Makerere University] paid
with her life when she refused to sign a false statement about the
disappearance of a Kenyan girl. When Janani heard of her death, he wept.
When students learnt of Teresa’s death at the beginning of a new academic year,
they wanted to stage a strike to register their protest, but the vice
chancellor prevailed over them.
However, on August 3 when the army had surrounded the university because
students had opposed the way Amin’s son who was flashing his gun around the
university and the way his security detail was treating them Janani went to the
university where he found all offices closed.
The following day he returned to the university with Cardinal Emmanuel Nsubuga
to meet the vice-chancellor, who did not tell the two religious leaders what
exactly was happening at the university. He painted a calm picture at the
campus only to hear later that students had been herded into trucks and taken
to Makindye Military Police Barracks. It took the intervention of the vice
president to have the students released.
Outside the university fiasco was the raid at Entebbe airport by the Israeli
commandos to rescue their nationals in a hijacked plane. Amin reacted by
accusing the Kenyan president Jomo Kenyatta of supporting his enemies. In
response, Kenyatta reminded him of Uganda’s trade debts to Kenya, and ordered
no more goods to come into Uganda through Kenya until all the debts were
settled. This caused a fuel crisis; public transport came to a standstill
making the already bad situation worse. Church officials and government
institutions were given a small allocation of petrol, for instance Mengo
hospital was allowed to keep one ambulance on the road.
These events forced both the Anglican and Catholic churches to make political
criticism, a thing they had desisted from doing for some time. The first of the
joint religious efforts to bring government to account for its actions was when
Janani and Cardinal Nsubuga agreed to call the bishops of both churches to a
joint meeting at Lweza. Also invited was the Mufti of Uganda.
I drove to Lweza with Janani on the morning of August 26, it was Thursday.
Janani was asked to chair the meeting and I was one of the three secretaries
appointed to take minutes of that meeting, one from each religious group
present. Those in the meeting were convinced that it would be wrong to keep
quiet about what was happening in the country. They discussed the killings,
harassment, looting and the excessive power given to the intelligence officers.
The meeting ended having agreed to have a meeting with the president to talk
things over and to share their concern, but it was never granted. Instead, Amin
sent a warning to Janani reprimanding him for having held a meeting without
permission, and demanded minutes of the meeting, which were also sent to him.
From this time on, Janani was seen by the authorities as the leader of those
opposed to the government.
After the daily office prayers at 8 O’clock, people would walk in the office
saying “My husband has not come back,” or “my son has been taken” and Janani
would jump into his car and go to the various places where people were often
taken and ask why a particular individual had been arrested.
Initially, the security men would apologise saying “Oh your Grace, we are very
sorry, we did it by mistake” and release the person. But this was short lived
as the killing and disappearance continued in bigger numbers. During the annual
coup anniversary in 1977, Amin declared a number of days public holidays to
celebrate the anniversary, with the main celebrations at Nakivub stadium.
Janani attended. When he returned, I asked him who else was there.
“I, the cardinal, Amin, and the soldiers were [at Nakivubo], but there were no
people. This upset Amin very much,” Janani said.
The following weekend was the consecration of the new Bishop of Ankole at
Bweranyangi grounds where close to 30,000 people attended.
In his sermon that day, Bishop Festo [Kivengere] said to the new bishop: “You
have now been given a position of leadership, are you going to use it to uphold
people or to push their faces into the dust.” People knew that Festo was saying
this to Amin; his leadership was not upholding people but putting them down. On
the way back to Kampala I recall Bishop Okoth saying to Janani, “If you and
Festo are not careful you will get us all killed.”
Journey to martyrdom
Janani’s official residence was raided by security operatives who searched for
weapons and accused him of being part of a group plotting a coup against the
government. When this happened, everybody was disgusted and this led to the
calling of a meeting for all Anglican bishops. After the meeting, a small team
was set up to draft a response to the raid at Janani’s home.
Festo and I were part of the draft committee, his choice of words was very
critical of the government. I typed the letter that was to be presented to
Amin, but I can tell you there is always a Judas in every situation. This
letter was leaked from the provincial office because Amin got wind of the
letter before it got to him.
However, Janani had told me earlier that there are some Acholis planning a
coup. He knew something was afoot, he knew his people and they confided in him.
But I know he was not involved in the coup plans, his idea of forgiveness was
against that of the Acholis of kill your enemies. Amin knew the best way to get
Janani was to accuse him of plotting against his government.
I had plans of travelling to Kisumu [in Kenya] to sort out tuition related
issues of one of the girls I was supporting before the events at Namirembe
happened. Following these events, I decided to postpone my travel but Bishop
Festo insisted that I leave and take the letter to Bishop Henry Okullu of
Kisumu.
Bishop Festo told me, “Tell Henry time has come for the world to know what is
happening in Uganda.” Bishop Okullu had contacts in foreign media having been a
journalist earlier. I confirm that it’s me who took that letter out of Uganda
and it found its way to London before Amin received his copy.
With that letter in London, Amin could no longer hide what he was doing.
Thereafter, he was determined to get rid of Janani. He called together a big
meeting which was like a trial of Jesus where they separated him from the rest
and later killed him.
I returned from Kenya on a Thursday just after the death of Janani and on
Saturday the bishops decided that I should not stay in the country and must
leave immediately. I was taken over the border by a fellow called John; he had
been involved in smuggling bibles in the country, pretending to be two
expatriates going to Kenya for a weekend break.
Along the way, I tore the minutes of the last bishops meeting and scattered the
pieces along the road. Also before departure, I and the provincial secretary
then, Canon Wesonga, burnt all church records showing how much foreign aid it
was receiving, thus creating a gap in the church archives.
When I got to Kisumu, Bishop Henry asked me to write what had happened in
Uganda. And in May 1977, I went back to England and I did some research and
wrote the manuscript for the book Janani, the making of a martyr published in
1978.
Missionary refuge
While in London, the CMS got a request from the archbishop of Juba asking for a
secretary missionary. That was how I ended up in Juba in late 1978 where I
stayed until 1983. My leaving Juba was caused by a book The Uganda Holocaust in
which the author mentioned me by name as the person who had taken the Bishop’s
letter out of Uganda.
When my identity was made public, it was no longer safe for me to stay in Juba.
The authorities in Sudan learnt that I had been living in Juba and they sent
police to pick me up, fortunately I was in London on leave, my neighbour
alerted the CMS in Nairobi of the situation and they stopped me from coming
back.
I stayed in London until 1984, until another request a missionary secretary
from the Bishop of Egypt came and I was assigned to Egypt where I stayed for 10
years, and eventually I retired in Lincoln in 1995 because by that time I was
65 and at that age I could not be hired. I had reached the retirement age. But
I kept my links with the Anglican Church in Uganda, Sudan and Egypt.
EM
On the 49th Parallel
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika
machafuko"
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