State capture and the Bahima debate

Dear Nina,

I can see you have been busy putting out the fire that that Nathan started. I love self interest. If we all exercised enough of it, Ugandan would have a much better future. One thing that Nathans post has brought out is just how much resentment there is towards Bahima. A lot of it is irrational, but it has got to be defused. And that cannot happen if its simply ignored. I can therefore understand why you have been very active on that forum trying to put out fires. For you see if this particular fire does engulf us, your lovely Bahima children will be victimised for issues they had nothing to do with nor created. But even more serious is the fact that that fire like all mob justice will be irrational with indiscriminate targets who may range anywhere from every westerner to everyone below the Karuma!

I think that defusing all of that tension is a worthwhile cause. I would therefore like to redirect this debate.

I have never been one for conspiracies. For years I have heard about the Basiita clan meeting and how they control the country and have a wide agenda extending t and covering the whole region. I prefer not to believe in it. Its the same for rumours regarding Museveni not being Ugandan -I always wonder so what? As far as am concerned its diversionary to discuss whether Museveni is Ugandan or not. And whether he is a munyarwanda or not is immaterial because it does not make him any less of a Ugandan than any number of other border tribes. We do have out very own bonafide Ugandan Rwandese being both those derived from proper Rwandese migrants who migrated to uganda pre -independence as well as the Bafumbira in Kisoro.If there are Bahima who believe in their superirority, then I pity them -its their own funeral!

While I have visited Nathans discussion a few times i have only read about twenty posts. Today I checked and there are over 300. Still not sure if I wish to add to them in which case I would have to read the whole thread or just move on. Am sure many other people have already said what I would say or have already said in my own Bahima post -the Bahima conspiracy is a smokescreen the only difference between the Basiita clan meeting and any other clan meeting if it ever happened is that there are Bahima in key government positions but these meetings with clan agendas happen all of the time all over the place. Their being in key government positions makes them very visible. In addition being in control of government for 25 years means that they are perceived to own the NRM, its government as well as all of its mistakes that include the various social disasters such as thieving politicians as well as corruption and poor social services!

The reality is that these clan meetings happen all of the time all over the country. Individual clans among the Basoga, Baganda, Banyoro, Batoro, Acholi, etc, all ethnic groups and familes, clans and subclans have these sectarian meetings with the agenda of advancing family, clan or ethnic interests. Buganda has had its national conference, its annual meetings in america and various other gatherings at all levels of Ganda society. Basoga nseete have had their own international and local meetings too as well as smmaller individual clan gatherings. The Acholi have had Kachoke Madit at international level as well as in East africa. Right now the Bakiga have a major do the ICOB meeting in the UK to discuss sectarian interests and how to develop their people and region. Even the scandal that your dad was involved in Temangalo had a community service component to it in that the proceeds of Temangalo were apparently meant to “save” the “Bakiga bank” in which the Bakiga community had significant savings from foreign takeover by Nigerians!

There are even some more disturbing rumours. While everyone likes to exagerate Buganda’s potential to secede from this unhappy marriage called Uganda, there are other groups whose plans may be even more advanced. No one talks about the so called “Luo agenda”, a plan proposed by some Luo groups to secede from Uganda to form a Luo republic. I am sure you may have heard about some of these rumours. When Mao suggested that northern Uganda would secede from Uganda, the suggestion was not pulled from thin air but had a body of support behind it.

I have met some Luo radicals in other fora who actually believe seriously in this agenda. Some claim to hav even participated in the Kenyan massacres which they saw as a Luo oppotunity to rule Kenya through Odinga and use him as a springboard as well as a Luo government in Southern Sudan to take power in Uganda. While I may not take them seriously, the reality is that they believe and have convinced themselves that they are not wanted in Uganda and will need to rethink their options. The problem of course is that some have built up a case for Bunyoro being a part of their Luo republic being as far as they are concerned a Luo (Babiito) kingdom. Museveni himself buttressed that view when he was playing his divide and rule in Buganda but it appears that it may come back to bite his presidential butt for I can see a war erupting in Bunyoro if a Nile “luo” republic” were to happen and claim the oil fields in Bunyoro which happen to be in Buliisa on Bagungu land. Bagungu are probably Luo in origin too! Luo disaffection with Uganda of course is due to the fact that sevices have not reached their homelands and peace has been elusive for over two decades.

Some of these groups have got extensive political and military plans that have been going on for years. And some of them are radicals with quite dangerous and fairly advanced plans. Their plan is to ‘reunite’ the Luo empire by uniting northern Ugandan Luo as well as those in eastern Kenya, southern Sudan and western Ethiopia to create some sort of modern Luo republic. this is Plan B according to some to be activated if Otunnu is “frustrated” in Uganda by the “Buganda problem”. They intend to petition the UN to secede. from these countries. The accenscion of Barack Obama to the US presidency was viewed by some of them as a sign. They have blindly put their faith in Otunnu taking power but unfortunately he failed to connect with the masses on the ground which some have convinced themselves is because of the “Buganda problem”! And some of them have joined armies in the diaspora in deliberate anticipation!

As you can see Ugandan has major problems that cannot be blamed on the Bahima collectively. Museveni’s deliberate divide and rule policies have created a monster that threatens Ugandans future and threatens new wars. Unfortunately the so called country Uganda is really a sham. this is a country that was cobbled together by western interests rather than local interests. We are a creation of the British and do not have a national identity. Obote created his republic by uniting the rest of the country against perceived Buganda “superiority complexes”.Museveni has united a few eaters around a core of Bahima tribesmates while promoting cronism and impunity.

We claim unity but when have we ever been united as Ugandans? If anything those who claim a national identity are usually those who want to take control of the whole country for their own small ethnic group while claiming national unity! So we keep rotating eaters from one region to another who sing national unity while eating locally! At the same time we rotate violence. If anything the only thing we have in common is the rotation of violence with each change of government. First it was Baganda, then it was Acholi, then it was West Nilers and nubians, then Baganda, then Acholi -do we really want it to be Bahima this time? This cycle of violence needs to stop while we seek a national identitiy. What is Uganda? What does it mean to be Ugandan?

There are some Bahima eating of that there is no doubt. But so are many other westerners as well as NRM members from other regions albeit in probably smaller numbers. Some of them are primitive eaters who eat with impunity -the ones I called bush Bahima in my note. But they are careful to spread some of the money around so there are Banyankore enclaves, Bakiga eaters as well as others, all of which creates an impression that the whole west is eating. Some practices of course like “personalised scholarships” sourced from foreign governments and treated as personal property given out to family members and their local areas by powerful members of the NRM against the leadership code and the public service code when viewed against an incumbence of 25 years create regional imbalances in education and employment that increase resentment.

When we all went to uni, we had classmates some of them very weak students whose jobs were assured when the rest were walking the streets for years and not all of them are Bahima. In my brothers business admin class in a private university, the only one who got a government job straight from uni was the son of a prominent mukiga in Bank of Uganda. My brother got a job in one of the new dstricts after forfeiting six months of his salary -can you imagine that? He later chose to resign and go off to the UK after refusing to sign off on dodgy and illegal stuff his boss was trying to get him to sign! Another girl in the same class only got a job many years later after doing a masters degree -and that was because someone else -connected her!

Uganda is captive to vested interests, some of them tribal, but mostly regional and personal. Dr Silver Kugonza in an article, says that “In State Capture economy, powerful individuals run the government” He adds that, “by recognising the dynamics of state capture, one can get a clearer understanding of the cause of persistent corruption in Uganda”. He further adds that “State capture was faclitated by the bonanza of privatisation and divestiture of early 1990′s. The businesses that emerged then worked hard to manipulate policy formation and actual practices thus shaping the emerging rules of the game in their favour.”

He states that,

“This phenomenon of state capture comes out of efforts by business firms to shape decisions taken by the state to gain specific advantages, often through the imposition of anticompetitive barriers that generate highly concentrated gains to selected powerful firms/businesses/individuals at a significant social cost. Because such firms use their influence to block any policy reforms that might eliminate these advantages, state capture becomes not merely a symptom but also a fundamental cause of poor governance. In this view, the capture economy is trapped in a vicious circle in which the policy and institutional reforms necessary to improve governance are undermined by collusion between powerful firms/businesses/individuals and state officials who reap substantial private gains (rents) from the continuation of weak governance.”

Further manifestations may be “bribes” to parliamentarians to “buy” their votes on important pieces of legislation, bribes to government officials to enact favourable regulations or decrees/statutes, bribes to judges to influence court decisions -these are the classic examples of grand corruption through which firms/businesses can encode advantages for themselves into the basic legal and regulatory structure of the economy.”

Dr Kugonza goes on to define state captors thus;

“Although the concept of state capture naturally conjures up images of powerful oligarchs, captors come in a wide range of sizes and sectors. Often, captor firms/businesses are more likely to be new entrants to the market such foreign investors and their in-country partners who form a coalition that draws attention of the state away from reliance on the grassroots structures and popular demands.

Going back to our situation in late and early 1990s, our state was weak, unable to provide most basic public goods and with a set of a few powerful incumbent state enterprises/firms (these were predominantly state owned) dominating their respective markets without having to resort to bribery payments such as Uganda Commercial Bank. To compete in such an environment, new entrants adopted a strategy of state capture to buy greater security for their property rights from public officials and to encode, or incorporate, competitive advantages into the emerging legal and regulatory framework. State capture thus became a strategy for a few firms to create zones of relative security and advantage for themselves at the expense of all other firms/businesses or groups.

It is generally argued that once a country has fallen into the trap of a capture economy, foreign direct investment can magnify the problem. In high-capture economies, some types of foreign investors—those with local partners and domestic headquarters—are nearly twice as likely to engage in state capture as domestically owned firms. (By contrast, trans-national firms headquartered abroad that engage in foreign direct investment provide kickbacks more often than domestic firms when competing for public procurement contracts. The dangers to the long-term development of such a capture economy are that new, dynamic entrepreneurs have strong incentives to invest their talents in capturing the state rather than in developing innovative products or production methods, in order to compete successfully in a distorted environment. The capture economy rewards connections over competence, influence and innovation; it is fuelled by private investments in politics that weaken the state and undermine the provision of basic public goods. At the same time, capture systematically deters private investment in the economy, both foreign and domestic, and creates obstacles to the entry of small and medium-sized enterprises thus undermining the key sources of sustainable growth. This partly explains the cycles of rapid economic growth, stagnation and declines.”

As you can see, this conspiracy debate is centred around a powerful Hima conspiracy led by powerful Hima oligarchs in government such as Kutesa and Museveni leading a secretive Hima organisation with a “50 year plan”. The Hima community has now collectively been labelled as an exploitative tribal based mafia with an agenda to build a powerful Hima -Tutsi business empire covering the whole region with all Bahima as shareholders and Ugandans as the losers. this is a dangerous theory that i refuse to subscribe to. As Dr Kugonza argues, it is more likely individual business interests working with local partners in politics and the military who have captured the state rather than the Bahima community. The Bahima may or maynot have had a clan meeting but other communities in Uganda have had similar meetings with similar agenda’s.

Dr Kugonza concluded that,

“By recognising the dynamics of state capture, one can gain a much clearer understanding of the factors underlying the persistence of corruption in many developing countries, Uganda inclusive. Any reforms to improve the institutional framework, which might undermine these highly concentrated advantages, will be strongly and swiftly be dealt with by a coalition of captors that have the political, military and other forms of influence to derail such reforms whatever shapes, shades of colours or camouflage they assume …“

The solution to dismantling this state capture therefore is to identify those individuals who have been the agents of this state capture. While many of these may be Bahima, there are many others who are not. The Bahima as a whole are thus being labelled and face persecution for a problem they are not responsible for as a community. The focus of this debate should be redirected to identifying those individuals within the NRM and the military -business complex who have captured our state and control policy and state actions. These are the ones responsible for the malaise we find ourself in.

My suggestion is to start with those members of the NRM who have got extensive business linkages including partnersip with foreign firms controling our economy. No community should be made to pay the price fr the crimes of individuals from thsoe communities.

Opposition politics, think tanks and national conferences.

Sunday, June 12, 2011 at 11:25am

Dear Nina,

Todays letter was developed from my responses to an chat online with a concerned Ugandan Nate Muwonge who engaged me in a debate. As a member of Ugana’s younger demographic he wished to get my opinions on a number of issues regarding Ugandan politics. i explained to him that I am not a politician and are more interested in social issues. That my comments on politics come from the fact that social issues are largely determined by the prevailing politics as well as the priorities of the ruling politicians. Uganda’s social services are in a very poor state which pretty much summarises the quality of our current political leadership specifically the NRM! that if Ugandans can be more aware of the link between political leadership and social services, they will be able to vote more widely.

The discussion of course included the quality of our current political opposition! Their willingness to sacrifice their electorates hopes on the alter of self interest and allowances while Ugandans are crying about expensive government has pretty much put a spotlight on them!

Uganda’s opposition politicians come from the same stock as the ruling politicians they are just jostling for power so they too can eat or transfer the eating to their own village.

The current party’s in their present form including the NRM, all need to be shaken up from the grassroots.

The current party’s in their present form all need to be shaken up from the grassroots. New realignments and new political formations will need to be discussed and old politicians who are not flexible will need to be thrown out. this should be similar to what happened in the late 50′s resulting in the formation of UPC and the other dominant, now not so dominant political parties.

A whole generation is passing by with the NRM dominated by old politicians who have failed to deliver and who are not trained to deliver in a modern world hogging the limelight. This is demonstrated quite clearly in the lack of vision displayed by Museveni in appointing his new cabinet. That he proposed people like Sebagala and Kakooza Mutaale is the height of arrogance and contempt for Ugandans. That people withour requisite basic qualifications for the posts of minister were even proposed and appeared before the vetting committee demonstrates a lack of due diligence that is amazing! One wonders what the presidents office does with all of that money spent on it. That he failed to respond to Ugandans concerns about public expenditure and still appointed a bloated executive with redundancies and duplications pandering to personal interests is an insult to Ugandans as is appointing people with tainted histories. How about appointing as Min of Justice a man with a history of contempt for the law? Museveni is out of touch and prolonged incumbency have made him more and more arrogant and careless. it has also demonstrated his short comings and lack of preparation for leadership in a progressive and forward looking Uganda. No wonder he spends so much time trying to keep us looking at the past rather than forward to the future.

Mao’s generation of politicians risk completely missing out on leadership as Museveni persists with his plans for life presidency! When I say Mao’s generation, I include the NRM’s younger generation of politicians heading for mid life including yourself.

Mao will have to make decisions regarding his future and whether DP is the right vehicle for his political aspirations. DP appears to be destroying itself from within as is UPC. Otunnu has to go back to basics and connect with the masses or apply for another UN job. While his CV may get him another UN job, it is not going to help him connect with the masses unless he tells them what they want to hear -that he represents the change they want to see!

We are saddled with political dinosaurs who like Kajura and Kategaya demonstrate in public meetings are always sleeping at the wheel! Why would someone return Moses ali? Surely is it not an insult to West Nile that no one younger and more skilled was considered worthy of replacing him even if we all subscribed to theis regional balancing crap? Ditto the ministry of Karamoja which should not exist in my opinion that the best person for the job is the presidents wife from Nyabushoozi who does not have the slightest clue what their needs and culture is? i think that ministries like Ethics, Karamoja, national guidance, Kampala, Luwero and bunyoro should have been scrapped and demoted to departments! Ministers of state should have been scrapped and Permanent secretaries and undersecretaries strengthened with suitably trained technocrats while obvious duplications of minstries such as securit and internal affairs or defence should have been amalgamated and the number of political sycophants in these posts slashed together with the budget spent on them!

Besigye has been consistent even when he has suffered personal injury in standing up to his former boss. In many ways his anger reminds me of Gbabo who for more than a decade suffered persecution, beatings and imprisonment but when he finally got into power, acted just the same as his predecessors due to his personal enmosity for Ouatara who was a part of his predecessors government! Thats why I believe that he too would misuse power if he came into a country like ours where the president has unlimited powers and terms.

While Besigye’s quest may be too personal for some, his potential successors within the FDC like Muntu have failed to step into Besigye’s boots to take the initiative and leadership. Anne Mugisha wants the FDC slot in 2016 but all signs are that she will not get it. Things appear to have been good until she hit the ground and waded into FDC internal politics! I remembered her article castigating Betty Kamya for addressing party issues “in the wrong forum” when she too was crying “foul” in the wrong forum after getting rigged out of Nakakwa by her own party. She subsequently lost in Mbarara and admitted that her party simply was not prepared enough, something I had suggested to her before but she dismissed! Am afraid that this as well as the fact that she took on her party leadership and challenged them in a country and party that prefered behind the scenes arrangements may jeopardise her bid for party presidency in 2016. In many ways, one can see her going out like Kamya, sacrificed on the alter of self interests and a ‘twalwana’ mentality that appears to be shared by FDC and NRM. That because they have been in the trenches against Museveni, some individuals within the FDC feel “entitled”. This bars them from forming new alliances. Can you imagine where the democrats would be if they had failed to recognise the potential within Obama an outsider?

As a female politician there is again a “glass ceiling” effect and too many battles on too many fronts within the FDC and W2W may have given Nandala a boost. At the end of the day, tribal politics will unravel it all. Is it possible that Nandala may emerge ahead of Besigye, Mugisha and Muntu in 2016? Latigo ended up being a dud so Nandala is not there yet and will have to work very hard building consensus in the next few years!

Museveni has outlived his usefulness even to the NRM. While most of his men are tainted with scandal and corruption amking the succession question a hard choice. His succession plans for Muhoozi will need to be shelved unless he wishes for his son to spend all of his time fighting destructive wars. The NRM have been in power for 25 years and failed to deliver so it makes no sense to retain them. If the NRM is to survive, it will need to reorganise itself seriously over the next five years but again the recent cabinet appointments suggest that it is going to be business as usual!

They would have to achieve the feat of reorganising themselves into a new organisation with grassroot support and public confidence. This includes putting their obsolete old men out to pasture. I assume that you will be positioning yourself so you need to decide whether you are going to follow muzeyi down his slippery slope, daddy until they shaft him like they did Bukenya, or chose your own political destiny!

The problem of the opposition is that the NRM may beat them to it if they can skip Museveni’s succession plans and reorganise the NRM party while they are too busy fighting for positions. Kamya was an effective mobiliser for RA. Actually for most of the RA she was virtually the face of Reform Agenda! That she was betrayed the way she was explains her recent decisions, statements about Besigye as well as refusal to have any part in the W2W.

I think the FDC shafted her but the decisions she has made since have pretty much killed her political future. She will have to do with a posting as an ambassador for Museveni. Unfortunately Museveni uses ambassadorships as political rewards, just like he uses districts and ministeries! I think she was sacrificed at the alter of FDC’s ‘regional balancing’ politics which is much the same as that of the NRM that has sacrificed merit at the alter of short term gains and a disguised life presidency plan. n some ways one wonders just how the opposition differs from the NRM!

She does not have a political platform she made sense to people but people want to know that their vote is going to contribute to change not get wasted. Mao would have to talk to her if he wants to use her. Question is whether she will work with/under someone else. The politics of parties is that each now believes they “deserve” posts/positions because they “struggled” a very similar mentality to the NRM’s twalwana a sense of entitlement.

In many ways FDC is as much a personality cult as the NRM is as is UPC. As has been shown recently, if you remove Besigye, they appear to lose momentum. UPC is still very much beholden to Obote’s ghost despite their attempt at murdering his ghost when they removed his widow and son from the centre of their politics. They did try to build up Otunnu into a cult figure too which is why his most important asset is his CV. Unfortunately Museveni has devalued professors and highly educated men and women and reduced them to lackeys in his government so the public is no longer in awe of paper qualifications. His assocition with both Obote as well as the Okello regime as well still does not go down well in some quarters with very long collective memories! CP is dead -may they rest in peace and all of the other parties like Bibandi’s and Bwanika’s only exist in the figments of their founders imaginations! Suubi is a powerful lobby group that may be an asset depending on how it is handled.

People may have to look outside the parties and those politicians who see the light will join them rather than continuing to look at politicians for solutions they are incapable of doing. This means that men and women of goodwill who do not see a future in the current parties will have to decide if they wish to continue abusing their own intelligence and that of Ugandans or follow their conscience.

Moi lasted as long as he did by playing the divide and rule game. A fractured and directionless political opposition contributed as much to his last ten years in power as did his police. I notice that of late, Moi has become Museveni’s best friend. Could he perhaps be offering free lessons in how to hang onto power when you are finished? I would hope that he instead imparted lessons on how to retire in your own country after you have contributed to divisions and wars in your bid to stay in power for Museveni is going to need these lessons! Ugandans have long memories as Obote and UPC know very well by now!

We have the same problem with our political opposition. Museveni wins because he bribes and rigs the playing field with gerrymandering, a captive electoral commission, and politics of patronage and vote buying, but also because they are greedy and fractious and cannot seem to focus on what needs to be done!

I support the oppositions walk to work and hope that they continue it. But I also want to see them engage meaningfully in educating Ugandans. I am therefore waiting to see their policy documents starting with a response to Maria Kiwanuka’s recent budget. How the opposition manages their differences and the ego’s of their leaders will determine whether they succeed in their quest to become more relevant to Ugandans.

Lastly you have always asked before what Ugandans can do to help the country progress. As you have found out, Ugandans can articulate their problems -its just that their political leadership have no ears and do not listen.

Buganda had a national conference on the future of Buganda. South Africa and many democracies have think tank and national conferences inviting people from all strata of their society to comment upon and propose ways forward. I would suggest that Ugandans consider a national conference or series of national coferences with various themes. Health is one that would benefit from a national conference. This would draw people from various sectors of the society who are all shareholders not just medical and academic communities. this should not be a platform for political posturing and its resolutions have got to have commitment by the government to consider in their plans for the next decade or so. In other countries, development cycles are based on community needs and are planned upto 25 years ahead. We need to identify resource people in our community and set up think tanks whose resolutions do more than gather dust on shelves. Invlove Ugandans in their governance. Special interest groups are ahead of the government and are doing this yet the government thinks that a grade III teacher like Kakooza the junior Minister in Health can add value and people more qualified than he is should just obey him because he is a “leader”.

I could mention several others of your minsters who quite frankly are not cut out for their jobs but will leave it at that.

If you guys are going to talk about patriotism, you need to start putting your money where your mouth is!

Monday, July 25, 2011 at 6:13pm

Dear Nina,

Ha, nga ombuzeeko! Now that the Bakiga bank has borne the fruits of our NSSF money, you want to run away from me!!! Shiah, I shall not be very easy to shake off. I have got to eat some of that money too! Poor Jamwa, he shll continue to eat the dust as you and I drive off in our V8! I have started to shop around for gulfstreams! Do you know if Uncle Kaguta is selling his old one? I think that would be a good start for flying home every weekend to count the cows! Those poor workers who have been shouting themselves with nugu can continue to cry themselves to sleep!

Talking about NSSF, I hear its up for a fire sale. All assets to the highest bidder. Who is going to speak on behalf of the workers? Kambogerere ko katono nange! What exactly do Lyomoki and the other so called workers MP’s who have been in parliament for two and a half decades do? They are busy in bed sleeping with the NRM and getting fat while the people they are meant to speak for get robbed! One of these days the workers of this country need to wake up and remind them by booting them back to their villages who they are actually meant to be representing in the house! On the other hand, you and I can buy up plenty of assets with all of that new money brought in by the Arabs to the Bakiga bank! Am sure daddy will spring for a large soft loan now that he is all cashed up! Don’t tell him I wrote bad things about Temangalo! And that sleepy house full of thieves called parliament will do nothing to stop us! They are too busy grabbing a piece of the loot for themselves.

As it is its a free for all with everyone grabbing themselves a piece! Do you guys know something we don’t? Is the country going to burn down? This is starting to look like a real fire sale kabissa! Mututemyeeko naffe! Kasiita me I have you on my side! When the peasants and great unwashed are crying foul, we shall just roll up the windows of our airconditioned SUV’s! Better still why share the roads or what passes for roads with them -we shall just fly over their heads! Am asking the architect to add a helipad to the roof of our new house!

When I saw the headline -NSSF up fr sale, I remembered NIC and the workers of Makerere University! Their insurance company was sold with no provision for their savings and now years later they do not know who to go to for their money! I can bet that this decision is going to come back to bite the workers of this country! I thought liberalisation meant the sector was bringing in new players rather than selling off NSSF! That civil servants would continue saving with NSSF while others would be allowed to save with private funds or that workers would have a choice of which fund to place their savings in. Now you guys are playing Russian roulette with the biggest caboodle of cash in this country!

Uganda each day reminds one of the last days of the USSR where all of the biggest KGB guys got themselves a piece of the pie and overnight became multi-billionaires essentially by selling the state to themselves! These new Russian billionaires were in bed with the mafia and in most cases where the mafia. Is it any wonder that in Uganda we talk of a mafia that appears to control everything? But you know, I will not tire of warning you these paesants are going to wake up one morning and burn you in your beds! There is so much anger on the streets at the impunity displayed by this government!

I hear that ka Namusisi girl was starting to get full of herself! After evicting that light weight seya, she is now spoiling for a fight with General Tinye! Has she never had of the Bahima boys? The 27 who fought thousands of Obote’s evil hordees with their bare hands while she was hiding under the bed? Doesnt she know that she is supposed to tremble and kneel down before Tinye? How dare she evevn dream of dreaming of evicting him? Doesn’t she know that the pigs are entitled to the best apples? I have to lend her my copy of the “Animal Farm” for she seems to have missed it in her education! What ka school did she go to? Simanyi she went to a UPE school! Someone needs to remind her that the pigs are the brain workers and are entitled to the apples while they work very hard sacrificing in luxury so that the rest of us can enjoy our sleep in abject poverty! Afande Tinye very quickly put her in her place and told her he would arrest her if she dared go to evict him! What is a mere title deed in the face of such patriotism?

I think president Kaguta is challenged in mathematics! Mbu he told the teachers that an increment of 60,000 or 30% is “subversive to national development”! Oh, the fancy words that the bourgoeisie leaders of this country use to hoodwink the workers! There are 132,000 teachers. The 20 million shillings to 400 MP’s as a bribe to pass the 650 billion shillings for the presidents election slush fund and the “Kabaka muzzling bill” alone is enough to pay 133,333 Ush’s each! Being they are all so sleepy to have worked this long eating patriotism and air while the pigs roll in gold dust, am sure they could be convinced to accept less! But instead of negotiating with the teachers, the junior Education Minister Dr Kamanda Bataringaya said what the President said is final and the teachers should get back to work. “If they don’t want to work it is up to them. No one will tie them to work. I am sure not all teachers will strike. We all know that”. We all know that pigs are arrogant, but even this takes the cake! It beats Afande Kayihura’s pronouncements before W2W! See how humilated he ended up! Can I predict that Dr Bataringaya will be the tinder that sets off another conflagration! People tell you that 200,000 cannot feed them for a month something very obvious to you and all you have for them is arrogance!

Now for Uncle Kaguta, he is really on a roll with this “subversive” business. So if increasing the teachers pay by a meagre 60,000 is subversive for the economy does that mean that teachers taking industrial action are all going to be charged with economic crimes, a non bailable offence and jailed for six months in Kaguta’s Uganda? Marchiavelli said it well -men willingly change their rulers not knowing that they are merely exchanging one tyrant for another! Have you seen the state house budget?

• Special meals and drinks – Shs1.3 billion * Donations – Shs6.1 billion
• Buying Medals – Shs8.6 billion * Maintaining State House Entebbe Shs6.2b
• Welfare and Entertainment – Shs3.1 billion * Allowances – Shs10.3 billion
• Travel abroad – Shs3.8 billion * Printing and photocopying – Shs239.6m
• Newspapers – Shs89 million * Buying new vehicles – Shs5.2 billion
• Workshops and Seminars – Shs70 million * President’s inland travel – Shs14.8 billion
• Vehicle maintenance – Shs3.5 billion * Classified expenditures – Shs6.3 billion
• Hosting Cabinet meetings Shs2.3 billion * Patriotism clubs – Shs3.5 billion
• Media/mobilisation/RDCs – Shs3.9 billion * Supply of goods and services Shs3 billion
• New furniture and fixes – Shs200 million * National Patriotism Secretariat – Shs4b
• IT based economic monitoring – Shs1.5b * Consultative meetings – Shs800 million
• RDCs, CAOs & LC5s meetings – Shs500m

Now before we even analyse these items, we have to be clear that this budget does not include the budgets of the Presidents office which is separate from that of State house. It also does not include the Ministry for the presidency or the Minister for Information and National Guidance (patriotism) as well as the minister for Finance! Isnt there a Minster for Cabinet affairs too?

The reason I bring up these ministries is the degree of duplication in the State house budget for issues that should be already provided for in other areas. Who exactly makes up these budgets? Did they too attend a UPE school? WHy is economic monitoring in presidents office and not in Finance? Patriotism clubs and Medals between them almost 17 billion! Thats a salary increment of 30% for all of Uganda’s teachers for 3 years! If medals cost 8.6 billion, they should instead use the money to pay teachers. Me I will print out a certificate for each medalist for them to hang on their wall at my own cost! Why is special meals and drinks 1.3 billion separate from welfare and entertainment? Just serve the guests mwenge bigere and tell them thats the finest in the land and they will be just as happy and go home with a new experience too! You can thrown in muramba and kwete if you want to be politically correct and practice regional balancing! MAintaining state house alone costs 6.2 billion enough to pay another year of teachers salaries! Donations 6.1 billion can pay another year of teachers salaries as can classified exepnditure whatever that is! You get the point! Just cutting on the state house budget alone in this one year can give the teachers their 30% salary increment for the next 5 years! How then can Kaguta say it is impossible. That does not include the 6.5 billion already used to bribe MP’s in the 8th parliament or the other 6.5 billion used to bribe LC’s prior to the last election which can each pay a year of salaries! Not to mention the obscene amounts paid to the MP’s in the 9th parliament or the amounst to be paid like 192 million each for a vehicle! Why faced with such figures should teachers really continue to listen to the bulshit fed to them?

Now those Americans have been eavesdropping on our love letters! Mbu they just found out that Museveni’s succession is a threat to stability! And that Museveni needs to manage his retirement! That there is a project Muhoozi and that your daddy stands in his way! In addition that Uncle Kuteesa also has ideas of succeeding! I need to send them a bill for my services as all of that was clearly stolen from my letters without attribution! Did they ever hear about a little word called plagiarism?

If you guys are going to talk about patriotism, you need to start putting your money where your mouth is! I warned you that your victory would be a pyrrhic one and so far, I can claim to have been a seer for everything I prophesied has come to pass!

Never kick a man already on the ground!!!

Monday, August 15, 2011 at 11:20pm

Nina dearest,

Today I feel great love for you and I do not care who is listening! Whether its your computer whizz kids and script kiddies from the NRM “election monitoring” centre, daddy’s boys from his security minster days or Uncle Kags half brained intelligence goons, I do not care! Didnt you use to run that electronic election monitoring group? I remember Uncle Kags giving you recognition for a job well done! I hear that your bu boys had mastered the art of “monitoring” and playing with everything to do with elections! Mbu they understood Kiggundu’s electoral commission computers and software better than he himself did!!! Are you sure they didnt tamper with the data? Ye what did you do with them? Did you disband them or are they deployed elsewhere?

I predicted that your NRM guys were going to have a pyrrhic victory as they were dead set on winning but there victory would be very short lived! Having watched the last few months, I can say for sure that I am a seer, and the NRM are suckers!!! If thi were not my country, I would be laughing but the situation in Uganda is not a laughing matter!To watch your people staggering from one crisis to another like a drunkard in a drunken haze is sad and demoralising! One feels obliged to put you guys out of your misery! You know I always pitied obama for winning the American presidency when he did for he walked into a time bomb set to detonate! Can you imagine taking over after ten years of George Bush bumbling around the white house? Me if i were him, I would have givent their presidency back to them! Now the guy copes the blame for all of the blunders made by his predecessor! And the Republicans in their short sighted tea wasted brains take it out on him each day!

The beauty about Uganda though is that the guys who made the mess we are in now are still there for target practice!!! With each day, as the pile of cards over which they have presided for a quarter century begins to unravel, one gets a sense of mob justice! Please do not be shocked -like you do not live in Uganda! Mob justice is the order of the day!!! Certainly if chicken thieves are beaten to death everyday how about the political thieves in parliament, cabinet and t all levels of local government!

The economy is collapsing! But what did you guys expect when you were spending money like it was going out of fashion! President Kaguta with the connivance of those dishonourable MP’s was handing out brown envelopes to all and sundry in exchange for a vote for the man in the hat! In your economic classes at Nottngham, am sure they taught about the effects of dumping cash into the economy! They then went on a spending spree like there was no tomorrow! Bright new fancy toys the modern equivalent of the beads and mirrors the olden chiefs sold their people for were soon bought at the expense of our national reserves!!!

NAye ekuba omunaku tekya! That shortsighted stop gap thermal electricity generation scheme also fell apart. I received a scoop in my inbox of the confidential Saleh report on UMEME that makes some very interesting reading! I intend to share some of the details with you in a short while after I have digested them!!! Kale absajja babye ssente! Naye as my grandmother used to say, God bless her soul, zijja balakira!!!

This was on the back of that incompetent police force that decided to riot and destroy property and peoples lives! They were at it again a few days ago in Masaka! I wonder what the IQ cut off is for recruitment into the police! Dont they learn from their mistakes? If you confront a peaceful demonstration with force and violence, you create a riot! Do you think you can ask daddy to call that Kayihura fellow and drum it into his head?

Naye banange, mubonyabonya banUganda naye the policemen! Hah! Those one you treat like subhumans! Have you ever seen where the policemen and their broods live? Even if it were me! i would come out of those mama ingia pole very angry with the world and take it out on everyone who appears to be enjoying better than me! And trust me at 160,000 Ushs that you py them to catch the flies with their tongues or be eaten by mosquitoes while you guys are warming yourselves up inside, its a wonder they do not turn their guns on you! Talking about security officers, I hear mbu you guys steal from those other poor men in uniform dying in Somalia in a war they do not understand fighting for people who hate them and for a government without universal appeal! Its actually said that the TFG controls only a few blocks of Mogadishu. I hear, your guys mistook a tactical withdrawal for a victory! Maye obusajja mubuwe ssente zabwo!

Then there are those others in Kampala trying to make money off a bad situation! Mbu they briefed minister Muruli Mukasa that there were Ugandan terrorists on FB masquerading as activists!

The word terrorist is so devalued, any self respecting terrorist would feel insulted if he was referred to as a terrorist by a Ugandan government functionary! Quite frankly, am sure none of the members of this government from the president downwards has any idea what it really means!!!

Then they produced a nonsensical report about a poo demonstration! Quite frankly where do you guys recruit these bu guys from! i hope you do not take their intelligence reports seriously!!! But apparently you do as today significant resources have been deployed to prevent Besigye from pooing at City square!!! Mbu he woke up today surrounded and has been followed around all day! Banange ssente yomusiru!!!

Then everyone wanted to demonstrate what Museveni and his men call rioting! Do your guys have dictionaries? Could they use them to differentiate between a riot and a demonstration! Rioting is what those little spoilt brats in the UK were doing last week! Demonstrating is what Ugandans try to do until your police goons start to riot!

Naye kakati twogere ku sukali! Who exactly advises Uncle Kaguta? IS this really the best time to bring up Mabira or are they looking for more excuses to kill more Ugandans? Mabira was the first issue that Ugandans stood upto Museveni’s bullying on! Those Mehta guys are looking for something too! Am sure they will get what it is they are looking for if they continue to pursue this! The ridiculousness of trying to blame the rise in sugar prices on a lack of adequate acreage is appaling! Who do they think they are fooling?

For months its obvious this government is floundering like a fish pulled out of water! They are totally confused and in disarray! Did you see that interesting uncoordinated troop movement on sugar as well as the traders (KACITA) strike? The trade minster has no idea what is going on! Talking about communication, that woman Kabakumba, who couldnt manage one ka little ministry of information now has several more ‘fortpolios’ given to her! Talk about rewarding incompetence!

I told you daddy dear was set up! But please tell him to watch his back! If he doubts me, he should watch what is happening to his former rival and boss Bukenya! The other day those unkind journalists snapped poor Bukenya bending over and kissing daddy’s hand! Not only were they content with sacking the poor guy, but they are proceeding to destroy him and any future political prospects he may have! With a criminal conviction spent or pardoned, he will be ineligible to stand for president come 2016 even if he could marshal the numbers!!! That to me appears to be the main strategy behind this ongoing prosecution! It appears that the man was right when he alluded to a mafia out to get him! Imagine all of his brothers in crime have been declared innocent before trial and are not even being charged!

My grandmother told me that “bwomega toluma” -when you throw your opponent, its bad sportsmanship to bite them as well! Not only are they kicking poor Bukenya while he is on the ground, but they are kicking him in the nuts too!!!

As you lay your bed, so shall you sleep in it! You guys need to learn to treat others as you would have others treat you! After that humiliation and brutality against Besigye and the vindictive selective prosecution against Balibaseka, I fear for you! You should feather your nests overseas!!!

Learning to share the loot!

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=620617398)

Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 8:54pm

Dear Nina,

I am not sure what motivated your posts today but I believe that we are well on the way to speaking the same language!

This is not about Museveni! My main problem with Uganda’s immature opposition is their focus on Museveni alone as …an individual even when they have no alternate plans at all on how they will govern Uganda better! Many cannot even produce a statement on government policy such as the budget!

That said, Besigye has as much right to aspire to be president as Museveni. And so does every other member of the opposition! no man has got the right to treat a country like his private property! those who fought have us to thank for their success in their war! my own father who never handled a gun, at great risk to himself bought and sent drugs to the NRM while they were in the bush at the request of his cousins who were both fighters in the NRA. i doubt that this is recorded anywhere in the NRA records. For this he could have died and his family with him. He was only one of many Ugandans who protected Museveni and his men with their own lives even when they themselves did not handle any guns! So this business of monopolising our war and limiting it to some mythical 27 men is fraud! this was our war! We own it. it was not Museveni’s war! In many ways it was buganda’s war and he was only a mercenary!

When we criticise the government we are specifically pointing out its failures! This is called constructive criticism! It used to be a catchword of the NRM before they became decadent!

I have never called for Museveni to be killed, or even evicted in a war! I have called for him to retire and go look after his birds and goats and hand back our property! this is not his country and it should no be treated like private property for him to rule for life while setting us up for hereditary rule!

I have also cautioned about the Tsunami that is coming Museveni’s way should he refuse to step aside. The NRM itself needs to get serious and jump out of one mans dream! Other reasons aside which i will not go into today, why can’t your father lead the NRM? Why can’t Joanita’s? Or any of the other members of the NRM?

the Jasmine train has unmasked a basic human yearning for some control in their own political destiny. It has demonstrated that it is not natural for people in this modern world to continue to be ruled by the same man till his death while clearing the way for his own offspring to take over. It has demonstrated that given the option, people want tired old autocrats enlightened or not out of office and they will risk bullets if necessary to see them go!

Your people keep telling us about elections and how Museveni will win this election! Well North Africa has demonstrated that this means nothing! In some professions there is such a thing as informed consent! informed consent implies that the person making a decision has got the capacity to make that decision! its a central principle of ethics.

You and I can debate just how informed the masses in Uganda are. We could also debate the merits and demerits of people deciding who to vote on the basis of information available to them. We have demonstrated here time and time again that information provided to ugandans by this government is flawed and many times doctored and fraudulent. that the fats if explained clearly to the paesant would so enrage them that Museveni would be out tomorrow! Case in point -our Mulago debate or that on health centres the figures for which keep getting trotted out even by the president himself yet his own minister for health admitted only 38% were staffed and most didnt even have the basic drugs required!

If you keep smoking whatever it is you smoked today, we are going to get on like a house on fire! I wish you could share some of it with Alice Rubindi for she is so out of touch with the common man in Uganda its painful to read her posts!

PS -this is as close as you are going to get to a compliment!See More
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http://www.facebook.com/note.php?created&&note_id=10150093024492681

When the chickens come home to roost!

Thursday, July 7, 2011 at 9:52pm

My dearest Nina,

I know you are hiding from me! I know you were hoping that I was distracted by the Obote debate but unfortunately it doesnt really interest me! I actually find it boring! Mbu they wanted me to compare Uncle Kags and the late Obote! What a waste of time! Even baiting that Kakwenzire guy was only interesting for like two hours!

Unfortunately the comedy of events that is Uganda has conspired to make you hide yourself from me! But you know my dear, I cannot just let you go without a fight. You and I have got to talk about these things! Hiding in shame will not solve the problems that your uncles are causing us! Quite frankly if Uganda wasn’t so tragic, I would be laughing! But its hard to know whether to laugh or cry!

You remember very well how I warned you that our uncles win would be a pyrrhic victory. I remember you and your aunt Alice scoffing and saying you would be having a party and breaking out the champagne while I would be hiding my head in shame! I really hate to tell you BUT I told you so! That your uncles would “win” but will then be left holding the ashes with tears running down their faces! I wonder how daddy feels now! I told you Uncle Kaguta gave him a poisoned chalice!

If he fails, and things are not looking too good, he will become the scapegoat! Am afraid the way things look, the future does not bode well! And all those Bakiga are not helping! Like the Muhiire, Mutebile, Kanyeihamba -I wonder what they put in the muramba these days! Suddenly they are all asking hard questions! Am waiting for that Ndugu man to join the choir too! You know uncle Kaguta does not like regions that do not support him! Mbu the government will only support those regions that support him! He has been singing that song for years and has demonstrated just how vindictive he can be! Like Yahweh, he punishes the sons for the sins of their fathers! At this rate even that ka -one hospital in Kabalae you were crying about will be closed down! And then you will be eating lizards in Kanungu like those Bateso who refused to support the NRM! And Kabwegyere will be telling you that you Bakiga are all lazy and just sit around drinking muramba like he told the Bateso! Even those Acholis saw the wriing on the wall and “massively” voted for Museveni in that so called election in February!

You know I told you your people would bankrupt this nation! You people were spending money like it had gone out of fashion! 6.5 to buy LC’s, 650 billion for the presidents vote and popularity buying spree, 20 million each to MP’s for their cooperation and passing the “Kabaka muzzling bill”, 3 billion for the ka victory party at Kololo that was eclipsed by the free one on Entebbe road where not a cent was spent, 1.7 trillion for those expensive jets they don’t know what to do with -banange! And your aunt Alice said mbu Museveni had an ark only for yellow girls like yourself! And those of us who said these things would be left out to drown! Now its true everyone is drowning. Am assuming that you yellow girls are inside the ark cushioned from all of the mayhem outside!

Kampala is becoming strike city! I wonder, are you going to shoot all of them? I saw Nabakooba warning them yesterday -mbu she has intelligence they want to cause havoc! Dont these people learn anything? I can see afande Kayihura is now keeping a very low profile!

Yesterday it was traders. Ne bwemba nze! Trading certificates going up virtually overnight by 300% and being asked to pay taxes in dollars while earning in a depreciating shilling? You know people are really angry at all of that money the useless ministers and MP’s as well as RDC’s and various other political hangers on take home! Taxi drivers are joining them too! i think at this rate I may have to invest in a tear gass factory and pepper spray. It will be the only industry that is recession proof! I may need your contacts to the PM and the IGP! 78% of the population was born under Museveni and most of them are unemployed! Can you imagine a more dangerous time bomb? No wonder you guys build such high walls around your homes and some even block off whole streets!

When those kids come for their ebyaffe, me I won’t hang around to talk to them! Did you see how Uncle Onek was whipping them up? Mbu show me the foreigners so we can deal with them, he said! Mbu they are let in by corrupt people! Now I wonder who these corrupt people are! I thought you people had cadres controlling immigration! Its such a classic trick am surprised people still fall for it! When the NRM mismanages the economy, blame the muyindi! The next thing you know, they will be torching poor Indians instead of the people who are robbing them blind! Isn’t that the old Obote trick -if you are poor, its because of the Baganda and if you are lazy -agan blame the Baganda! For Idi Amin, it was even easier -blame the Indians! When things were bad for Moi, he would point the finger at Ugandans. When the Brits are suffering, they point at hard working “Paki’s” and Africans! Mbu they are taking their jobs! When the Americans are reaping the fruits of their greed, they point a finger at Mexicans! But the Baganda saw that one a long time ago! When you point a finger at someone else, you should be awar of the other fingers pointing back at you!

Now the NRM is into molesting old men! I know your guys were embarrassed by a body turning up right at Museveni’s doorstem right under their noses! Come to think of it right under daddy’s nose! Didnt he use to be the head honcho aka Security minister? I wonder what he can tell us about that! But I bet he can’t tell us much! If he couldn’t tell us much about the Kanungu massacre that killed hundreds right at his doorstep!

You know during that Global fund /GAVI circus when the government was pretending to prosecute Muhwezi, Mukula and Kamugisha, they all,led by Muhwezi got bail mbu they were very old men -at the ripe old age of fifty! And the government agreed to the bail without contest and no objection on the basis of “advanced age”!!! I wonder what they think of Grandpa Kajura then or Kivedhinda!!! But Mukaira at 83 has been detained on remand mbu for treason despite the rather dodgy details!

Now that lady who ate our money to attend Havard for a phD at the grand cost of 1.5 million USD (2.5 billion Ushs at the time), has been shooting off like a loose cannon again! Mbu only the president can sack her! Even after she is caught with her hand in the till! But I guess after one survives selling invisible dams to a nation, one can survive anything! Mbu she even said some rather unmentionable things about her unmentionables and Uncle Kags!! Me I decided to block my ears as I didnt want to go deaf! The woman can talk -mbu she was never beaten for having a big mouth, or opening it for that matter! When a woman that age starts to kuwemula in public, you know that the world has gone mad! But if we measured the sanity of the world by Ms Kazibwe’s mouth, we would all be in an assylum!

This government is a joke as is their war on corruption! Instead of starting with themsleves and arresting themselves, they continue to look elsewhere for scapegoats! 25 years in power! 25 years of “fighting corruption” without results! 25 years of looking for the thieves elsewhere but in the NRM where they have become the managers! In this assylum, the loonies rule the roost!

I hope you are stocking up on USD! At this rate, the Uganda shilling won’t be worth the paper its printed on! And those hungry and angry guys -me they are beginning to worry me!

I leave you with this video of hunger in Teso that I found very annoying! Its annoying that in a land with good soils, good climate and two rain seasons, people can live like this! But then again, define visionless!

As you lay your bed, so shall you lie in it! Give my regards to your aunt Alice and the other yellow girls! She is so having to eat her words!!!

The chickens have come home to roost!

The vermin of Africa are rising up!

Monday, August 22, 2011 at 9:25pm

Dearest Nina,

Banange ndowooza mwe kati musula mukukunadde! Like Ugandans in central Ugandan used to during Obote II -ready to take off at short notice with their muguggu on their heads!!! Are you already packed? I hope Uncle Kaguta’s household are already packed! You know you do not have to go with them! Me I will offer you refuge under my bed!!!

Today is a very special day! The king of kings, leader of the revolutionary Jamuhuriya of Libya has been spat out by his people! You know the man after whom your sister is named, and who provided the arms which your guys used to smoke Obote? The same man who has continued to provide support, visiting every year and even declaring that uncle Kaguta should never retire as revolutionaries never retire?

He he eh! Comrade leader Ghadafi has been terminated and retired in the publics best interests -by rats and cockroaches! And you should see the congratulatory messages coming from the rest of the vermin of this world! From the dregs of society in Kampala -congratulations! Ditto from the germs and lice in Syria! I wonder what kind of vermin those people of Malawi are!

One thing you can rest assured of is that this is notice to all those African “leaders” who have turned themselves into life presidents and kings!!! I am waiting eagerly by my al Jazeera TV to see him pulled out of a hole in the ground like a rat. I hope the Libyans will be more civilised than those Americans who brutally decapitated the other “Great leader” Sadam!!! I wonder whether uncle Kaguta is going to send congratulatory messages to the people of Libya who have finally had their own revolution, not the fraudulent revolution of one man and his family they have been sold for 42 years!!!

I notice that Uncle Kaguta has recently been visiting Kigali and South africa! I think your guys used to call that “recce” when you were in the bush! Is that where you guys intend to ‘retire”? But I forget, you were never in the bush! Sometimes I forget that not everyone who is eating actually slept in the bush!!! Me and my family we slept in the bush -when Obote’s soldiers were marauding! Can you imagine, it was safer to sleep out in the garden and lusuku than to sleep in ones own bed!!! Yet yesterday some idiot charged with nostalgia dared to ask me what I had against Obote!!! I hope that you will not take my side swipe at Obote to mean that I will not be throwing a party when the Jasmine train comes to Kampala! I think its time to go!!! time to kusiba mu ebyanguwa and hit the road before those peasants and rats fueled on social media and hunger come for you guys with pitchforks!

I wonder why of all countries he could exile himself to when the dregs and lumpens come to get him out of state house, he would chose countries that have actually tried to create a reasonable living environment for their people! Why does he not go to Goma? Or juba? Or maybe Somalia? Or just an IDP in Gulu -that would do!!!

You know Europeans and Americans will not take him except to the Hague! Those are fairweather friends who will be the first ones to find evidence of atrocities and crimes against humanity! And they will suddenly “find” billions they have been keeping for him in their bank accounts and real estate which they will freeze! These days its becoming very hard for a former leader to find a retirement home!!! Those days it was as easy as flying to Saudi arabia but they too have filled their quota of dictators!!! At least me I would be ok with him going back to Rwakitura even though am very sure there are others who will not be!!!

There was a group of yellow men and women who claimed Mubarak would never go! When it came to Ghadafi, they wree even more emphatic -Ghadafi was going no where! I wonder what happened to your friends Anika, Rubindi, Tracy, Mugerwa! Will they eat their wonderful words I wonder!!!

My position then and now is that if and when a leader turns his own people into cannon fodder for expressing dissent, then he too becomes a legitimate target and his people automatically get emancipated! The government loses its automatic right to have a monopoly on bearing arms and people are allowed to defend themselves! That is what happened in libya! Ghadafi turned his people into targets for target practice. They got emancipated, hired some big guns and smoked his behind! And in the process, he lost whatever legacy he could ever lay claim too as well as a few of his sons! i really wonder, do dictators really love their sons? Most peoples instinct is to protect their sons while dictators appear to send their own children to premature deaths!

Museveni once said that “… the security of the people of Uganda is their right and not a favour bestowed by any regime. No regime has the right to kill any citizen of this country, or to beat any citizen at a roadblock. We make it clear to our soldiers that if they abuse any citizen, the punishment they will receive will teach them a lesson. As for killing people – if you kill a citizen, you yourself will be killed.” I wonder why he has forgotten these words. I wonder why he did not share them with his friend Ghadafi!!

I wonder who the next African king to bite the dust is going to be! You know they are all determined to go out the same way -like Bin Ali, Mubarak, Gbabo and now Ghadafi! All cling to power in the delusional belief that they were ordained to rule forever and that they have the only vision in the country even when their eyes become rheumy and their sight dim as do their minds! All until they are pulled out of a hole in the ground? I bet when Ghadafi is pulled out of the ground, he will declare himself the King of Libya -just like Sadaam did!

The candidates for next in line have been in power for more tan two decades, may or may not have held sham election, or more, will have come to power through the gun, will have their familiestribes and cronies involved in and deeply embedded in state business, lead corrupt governments, have large numbers of disenchanted unemployed young people with access to cellphones, the internet and social media, beleieve that they and them alone hold the only vision in the land, will have their sons in their armies and cabinet and will have demonstrated no compunctions about shooting their own people to keep themselves in power!

Can you think of such a leader? I can! The jasmine train is approaching! Its weaving. Its scent is wafting ever closer across the desert! and it will dock, come rain or sunshine! it may go to Djobouti, or to Eritrea, to Malawi, or to Zimbabwe but ultimately, it is coming to town!!! Dont ask me which town! Just pack some stuff!

O

Time to activate exit strategies! And just in case your uncles think those two fghter jets will change anything, they need to know that uncle Gad had plenty more of those, plenty more and better gunships, scud missiles and all sorts of ordinance plus loads of money!

Of course the Libyans are going to have to be on the look out for the European fairweather friends out to shaft them too while ‘liberating’ them of their oil and resources!!! After Iraq, am sure the Libyans know that not everyone who comes to your aid is your friend! Some are their to shaft you too and it becomes exchanging one master for another.

The dregs of the earth salute the rats and cockroaches! The vermin of Africa are saluting themselves ! It is the era of the vermin!!! Walalala, eminya, emesse, amakonkome, ebinyira, envunza. byonna bikutte wansi ne wagulu!

Something that has always been missing from Africa has come to town -the leaders are now afraid of their people as opposed to the situation where the people have always been terrified of their leaders! Do you guys still believe in demystifying the gun?

Paesants in suits should not be allowed to sign away Ugandans future!

Sunday, September 4, 2011 at 10:23am

Dear Nina,

Things are moving really fast! I knew your guys were way out of your depth and things would spiral out of control! These days, every new day brings a new surprise! I wonder whether Uncle Kaguta sleeps at all these days as it seems like everyone is on strike against him! And the only response is the old bush responses -we shall crush them!

I told you that daddy dear was handed a poisoned chalice! How he gets out of this one will determine whether daddy has a political future or not! I am sure that he too would like to sit in the chair but all evidence suggests that by the time Uncle Kaguta is through with him, he will be made to look incompetent like Nsibambi and Bukenya before him! That is if his loyalty is not rewarded by being dragged through the courts on corruption charges in order to insure that he never makes any political comeback! You know these too have now become a political tool to be used selectively against those that the president wishes to destroy or no longer finds useful! I hope daddy has got eyes in the back of his head!

I wonder how daddy dear is getting on with those Tullow people who ‘reported’ him to the American embassy and sought to have sanctions imposed against him for according to them being corrupt! You know Wikileaks outed the sneaky Tullow weasels who sought to manipulate the American embassy and American foreign policy in their favour by claiming that daddy had been bribed by another company against their interests! One wonders is American embassy policy in Kampala run by the interests of corporate interests? Is this not a form of corruption?

Of course the corruption and hypocrisy of Tullow is revealed in the fact that they used this piece of information for blackmail and leverage in their bid to gain an advantage against another company they claimed had bribed the prime minister! If they were really genuine, they should have turned over this information to our IGG for further investigation and charges! It is a pity that your incompetent NRM government continue to be pawns manipulated by these foreign companies and embassies for their gain at the expense of Ugandans!!!

The Bunyoro oficials are squabbling over a few peanuts thrown to them by Tullow! Shouldn’t Tullow and Heritage be paying taxes instead of demeaning our people with peanuts as “charity”? Shouldnt they be paying suitable royalties when they start exploiting our oil? http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1229858/-/bjrxj4z/-/index.html

Shouldn’t Ugandans be rising up against these predatory foreign businesses here to fleece off Ugandans?

How can a foreign company after making billions off Ugandan resources decline to pay capital gain tax?

Is there any country in the world where they would be llowed to operate without paying taxes? Did they bring any oil to Uganda?

Now our poor brethren in Bunyoro are squabbling over peanuts while the thieves in Tullow and Heritage bask in the reflected glow of being “donors”!!!

The poor Omukama was recently in London hat in hand seeking audience with Tullow officials. Shouldnt it be the other way round?

While the shareholders of Tullow and Heritage are already cashing in on Uganda’s oil, Ugandans are yet to see a cent! And between them and out thieving and incompetent government, which has already spent the expected windfall on baubles and modern beads and mirrors aka fighter jets, Ugandans will never see a cent!

How does our government get away allowing foreigners to fleece Ugandans on its watch? How does Mehta get away without paying tax for 26 years while receiving government subsidy and is even offered more of our natural resources for his benefit? How did Umeme get away with the clauses in its contract that guarantee it earnings regardless of its performance while making it virtually impossible for the government to demand its compliance with the terms of its contract or terminate it of it failed to deliver as it has?

How does Tullow and Heritage even dare to suggest that they can make a profit of billions of dollars for their foreign shareholders but Ugandans whose oil and environmental health they are selling are not entitled to a cent?

And how does our government get away with allowing foreigners to get away with contracts that favour them even in something so clear as capital gains tax? Where is the ethics, the morality, the social justice in western companies coming to steal from third world people? For this type of corporate behaviour has got to be called what it is -robbery!

How will Africa ever develop when western companies continue to steal their resources in modern white collar crime?

Whoever signed up Uganda to these contracts with Tullow and Heritage that allow them to even argue over an issue like paying tax on their windfall really need to be sacked! Better still they should be sued for negligence and corruption! Politically, someone should pay for this glaring omission! Who allowed these companies to get away with including a clause that demanded that disputes would be arbitrated in London on Ugandan resources?

How do we continue to claim sovereignity when we cannot even demand taxes from foreigners exploiting us?

These kind of skewed relationships allow Europeans and Americans to continue posing as donors while failing to mention that if they did not put their corporate interests first and paid fair price for African resources as well as stopped propping up dictators who allowed them to get away with daylight robbery, Africans would be able to enjoy more benefit from their resources and depend less on their “charity”!

Tullow should continue to contribute to the Kingdom of Bunyoro as a part of its corporate and community responsibility! But their charity should be rejected if its at the price of not paying tax on capital gains made by exploiting Ugandan resources.

Ugandans need to take these issues seriously and demand that the government reveal the details of the oil contracts with these exploitative foreign raiders out to rob Ugandans. Ugandans should take a greater interest in how many foreign companies are not paying tax and name and shame them as well as sanction them!

This government has once again proven itself to be incompetent in allowing Ugandan interests to be overidden and be made subservient to those of foreigners!!!

As for the foreign western press that is itself an extension of western imperial and corporate interests, who are always warning Africans against dealing with China because it supposedly has lower ethical standards, where are they when such stories of exploitation by western companies break? Would a chinese company really be allowed to get away with refusing to pay capital gains to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars (almost 500 million dollars) without it becoming a newsworthy item on BBC, FOX news or CNN?

Experience has shown that Ugandans cannot leave it to the peasants in suits in the NRM government to sign away our future in exploitative contracts to foreign companies!

Oil contracts need to be made public!

Banange what has Nagenda been drinking?

Sunday, September 4, 2011 at 10:18pm

My dearest Nina,

It has been a while since I last wrote you two letters in one day but events are moving so fast, I couldn’t contain my love for you today!

I really need to share my excitement! You see as I have told you before I am well and truly a seer! And none other than [old man Nagenda] has crowned me one!

You see I grew up reading Nagenda’s column! Whenever my dad came home the first thing I got off him was all of the days papers!

For a while now I have been wondering what happened to the word smith I grew up reading. in his place was this sycophant writing inane things in support of every whim of the man in the hat however off the hook it maybe! A hired hack, he descended to the depths and could not be distinguished from the ‘dregs of society’! It is ironical that he chose this phrase to describe good Ugandans who disagreed with his bosses ongoing abuse of Ugandans and their goodwill!

Interestingly old man Nagenda is now speaking like a rat and a cockroach! His language in his recent interview in the monitor suggests that he has spent too much time with dregs of society! He actually sounds like he was criticising the man in the hat! Is that allowed? I thought all vision came from the man in the hat and all are just supposed to follow suit! Isnt that the meaning of autocratic?

I wonder what the cause of Nagenda’s epiphany could have been! Is it perchance his age catching up? Or is it that he has realised he is not really adding any value and no really cares about his ramblings anymore? Is this a crisis of conscience or an attemt at getting some relevance back?

I noticed that he used his five minutes of fame to criticise everyone! I loved the one about that mukiga Otafiire! When is that one going to go back to his ducks and goats! After mismanaging the Ministry for Environment, he was posted to the ministry of Justice! The man in the hat really holds Ugandans in contempt! How could he appoint a man who has previously made it clear he despises the law and the judiciary to head the Ministry of Justice?

He even threw a jab at daddy dear! Mbu daddy dear ‘sees his job as doing what the old man in the hat wants’!!! Now that is below the belt too! I could think of a few choice words to translate this but I will hold my tongue! I may have to sleep on the couch, he he he!!! Mbu no one can stand up to the man in the hat! I wish that Nagenda was telling us something we do not already know!

I wonder why Nagenda has decided to come out now! Could he be doing the man in the hats bidding once again? If the man in the hat has chosen this way to signal his retirement to his goats and ducks, then it is an interesting way! But surely he is not going to run away now like that George Bush and leave his mess to be cleaned up by someone else!

He he, I was most amused by that jab aimed at Tamale Mirundi! everyone knows the guy is a dunce but did he have to say so out loud? Now the man who brought us ‘bolo kontulo’ is going to be mouthing off for weeks! I wonder why Museveni surrounds himselef with these unmuzzled attack dogs! In the past it used to be one Kakooza Mutaale! Nagenda as good as said that Tamale is an idiot!!! And the tone with which he said that suggests that that would be an insult to idiots!!! Banange! The man does not have a kakumunta!!! Me at least when I insult a man I kubika bika ko!

Nagenda confirms one thing that the whole country knows -that the man in the hat listens to no one! And I really do believe him! If you do not wait and see who comes out to resolve mabira, Makerere, the dispute with teachers, who will contradict the KCCA Executive director on the expulsion of hawkers from the city! Anyone could tell you that this management style is old hat and innefficient!

What do the minsters do? What exactly is the role of the NRM caucus except to act as a rubber stamp to the whims of the man in the hat? Will they grow some spine this time? Will we hear someone initiate a bill to bring term limits back? I notice that Nagenda stayed away from that one! What does he know that we do not?

Naye banange let me ask! Nagenda says that he ‘put himself’ on katebe! I interprete that to mean that he withdrew his services dsite not having resigned yet still drawing a salary and using government perks. Is that not a form of corruption? For him to be drawing government emoluments while not delivering a service? Nevermind for the last few years he has not really been doing his job of “advising’ as he had no access to his boss and no one listened to him! Honourable men in this situation would resign their positions and throw their hat in! Is Nagenda a homourable man?

But seriously, I would really like to know what illegal substance Nagenda has been imbibing so I could get some for myself! I swear I may even give up being a teetotaller who imbibes no intoxicant!

I am going to get me a ringside seat and watch the catfight betwen Nagenda and Tamale Mirundi! This is bound to get interesting!

I told you before the rats are deserting the ship! http://ddembe.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/letter-to-nina-when-rats-start-to-desert-a-sinking-ship/ Anyone in the know knows what that means -Museveni’s ship is sinking!

And Nagenda is just another rat getting out while he can!

Filed under: Uganda

[old man Nagenda]: http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/ThoughtIdeas+/-/689844/1229632/-/item/3/-/6lgfas/-/index.html

The rats are burning down the house!

Monday, September 5, 2011 at 8:59am

Dear Nina,

Munange I had to wake you up to share in this cinema! My grandmother would say of the situation between Nagenda and his insubordinate subordinate, that “obukokolo bugeyaana”! The clowns are continuing to entertain and Iam buying me a whole popcorn making machine!

Tamale is quoted as saying that, “Mr Tamale says the senior spin doctor has fallen out of favour; is rarely asked to give opinion on any matter and his choice of a newspaper he once tormented to criticise the Head of State shows he is a weakened man without access to the President.”Surely this upgrades me from a seer to a prophet! As in the past, I would not be surprised if suddenly Nagenda’s bank forecloses on an outstanding loan. Standard modus operandi!

Tamale admits that he is not really a full bottle but he comes back with salvo! I need to check, is Uncle Museveni really at home? The house staff appear to be pulling the house down and I must admit we are all entertained! Like Kayihura who went on riot with less entertaining results and like the rest of the country, the State House staff appear to be on strike!

As Nagenda said, the emperor is naked -ouch! I have been saying that for a long time but boy is it good to finally see an emperor’s counselor confirm it after years of him telling the emperor that his was the finest cloth in the world? If this was Ssekabaka Mwanga, some pages would be burnt at the stake!

Only a few weeks ago, Nagenda called Museveni’s critics the scum of the earth and dregs of the earth! But now he has joined them and a glorified scum of the earth and former subordinate, Tamale is reading him the riot act for ‘being frustrated”! Mbu he was broke and was given a job to help him pay school fees! Kyokka banange! Tebagwa! Abaana abobukadde yali abazalira ani?

Tamale reveals what we already knew -that this government and president is really taking Ugandans for a ride! Quote, “Spokesman Tamale Mirundi, whom Mr Nagenda said neither had the right upbringing nor fine brain to speak for the President, called this newspaper yesterday to say Mr Nagenda’s appointment was to help him get some perks for his “welfare purpose”. “What is the seniority in advising a President? Senior or junior adviser, you are all the same. Appointment as a presidential adviser is political for welfare purposes,” he said.

According to Mr Tamale, the President in most cases appoints people his advisers when he is told of their financial difficulties, including inability to pay children’s school fees.”

Seriously, does the job description of “presidential advisor” include needing welfare? Isn’t this waste of taxpayer money on armies of ‘advisors’ who do nothing to earn their keep? Is it not an insult to Ugandans that the president hands out perks and huge salaries to cronies for “welfare purposes”? Of course the fact that Tamale Mirundi says this is proof of his inferior intellectual acumen! This is a sackable offence! Does he clear anything that he says or is he allowed to just mouth off “kigere kimbadde” like the village soccer teams? Does he even understand what he just said?

Tamale adds further of his boss that, “Coming out in the media means you are a reject. It’s like a jilted lover making noise in public about her husband’s evils but said nothing bad during good times.” Of course we know that Nagenda is frustrated. I await Nagenda’s response to this slight on his honour. I still do wonder when Nagenda started to see things the way all of us see them!

Mbu, ““That I am arrogant is true and I know it because I was not inducted into Baganda social norms. I was brought up independently and I am a liberal.” says Tamale! Now did Tamale grow up on Mars? How can he insult Baganda by implying that those “not brought up on Baganda social norms” whoever those maybe, are rude and abnoxious like himself? His use of the words independent and liberal are of course incorrect and certainly cannot be used to refer to him just like his use of the word ‘intellectual’ to refer to himself! As they say, kakyama mameera!

This exchange has just started. Am waiting for the next installment from Nagenda and various other apparatchiks!!!

Banange Mukula is really raining on Museveni’s party!

Monday, September 5, 2011 at 8:29pm

Banange Nina dear,

Kale nga ekuba omunaku tekya! Now I know why your eyelid was twitching!! Its like all the Gods are lined up against Uncle Kaguta!

Can you imagine after that duo of psycophants Nagenda and Tamale came out with a slugfest in the media that promises to be even more entertaining over the next few days, Mukula now comes in with a wikileaks “leakage” to beat all leakages!!!

First was old man Nagenda mixing up his guiness with I do not know what! Whatever it is it must be illegal and am very sure that Uncle Kaguta will soon be tabling a bill to make it illegal just like he plans to ban the right to bail and a fair trial!!! Then came in Tamale -Mirundi to prove that the aspersions cast upon his intelligence by Nagenda were actually true! I am very sure there are a few people in government wishing the man had shut his trap and not showed us what was in his brain!! But Nagenda’s ramblings did do us a public favour -they confirmed that the emperor is really naked! Not that we did not already know that! Everyone who does not need glasses has been able to see this for a while -and I do need glasses but even I have been able to see this!

You know after that man Kayihura tried to bring down the government by ordering his policement to go on riot, a lot of people have come out to talk! First were the Bakiga -Kanyeihamba and that man who runs the bank and has been giving our money to Basajjabalaba as well as releasing it for dodgy projects like buying votes Mutebile! You see Mutebile saw the pile of cards toppling down and sought to distance himself by getting the first word in! But by now we all know what he saw -the total collapse of the economy! Now Kayihura is quiet and his deputy Turyagumanawe has become the fall guy! Rwego too was sacrificed along the way!!!

I have no idea where Mukula is going to hide himself after the most recent wikileaks revelation! I can see those GAVI scandal trials that were on hold suddenly being reinstated! Could he perchance be the first victim of those anti bail laws that Uncle Kags wishes to introduce?

I really laughed when I saw the part where Mukula fancies himself president in 2016! Banange ka nesekere kko, muzukulu wa Gabunga! The man sounded like he was auditioning for the post of president -to the American embassy!

He did make some revelations that are interesting even though they are obvious! It is obvious that the prosecution of former Vice President Bukenya was a case of selective prosecution. The real question of course was why. In my opinion that I have already stated several times here, it is to ensure that Bukenya has a criminal record and can never stand for president in future -effectively eliminating a potential rival for the post of president as well as a potential challenger within the NRM! Mukula confirms this several times.

He then plays a regional gamble that is going to backfire in his face big time with his comments regarding Odinga! After this wikileak, his name for all its worth is mud on both sides of the border!

I do agree with him about the significance of the 2009 Buganda riots. If there was one sign of impending trouble, it was those riots. Who knew that Ugandans could spontaneously erupt in that way -not in Gulu but in Kampala! And events since during the walk to work have shown that the NRM is sitting on a boiling hot cauldron, ready to errupt at short notice without warning!

I can see that your daddy is stirring up just such a cauldron in threatening teachers with getting sacked if they do not report to work today! Anyone who has worked everyday for the last 25 years for less than 200,000 like teachers have is fed up and is an angry man looking for a spark! While you people in the NRM have been feeding yourselves and awarding yourselves fat salaries and perks as well as selling yourself everything that can move as well as some that cannot move, many Ugandans have been eating patriotism and hoping for a break! I think the prime minister like Kayihura did is about to find out what true peoples power means!!! http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1230474/-/bjcqliz/-/index.html

The recent strikes in all sectors are an interesting pattern. Coupled with the riots as well as the recent ‘desertions’ of the NRM ship by spooked rats like Nagenda, a pattern seems to emerge that confirms that the centre can no longer hold! The wolves are smelling blood and circling their prey soon will be attacking! do you think that it is coincidence that we are being drip fed on the wikileaks files? From your own rather interesting revelations to Mukula’s recent ones! I await the next wikileaks instalments from Muhwezi and Bukenya among others!

As I have said before, the rats are deserting the ship! At the very least, they are spooked! And the emperor is naked! And the peasants are restless!

http://www.wikileaks.org/cable/2009/09/09KAMPALA1096.html

How do you put lipstick on a pig?

Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 8:23pm 路

Nina dearest,

Nakawere oli otya?

I can see you stepped out yesterday to check out the nightlife. Or was it UMEME that chased you away from home! Munange Ugandans kati basula bweeru as it is the only way of getting some electricity unless you can afford a generator, solar panels and inverters! Considering that only 10% of Ugandans have access to electricity, one runs out of suitable expletives to describe your daddy’s government and their partners in crime UMEME! Surely UMEME cannot be doing any better than UEB was! Both provide darkness and bill you for the doubtful priviledge! But worst of all, with UEB, poor Ugandans did not have to pay overated UK expatriates hundreds of millions while exporting our hard earned cash to their shareholders in the UK for their pensions and investment funds! Talk about the rich robbing the poor!

I hear daddy cut the ribbon for an extra 50 MW but UMEME has already made them dissappear without any appreciable effect on the supply of electricity! Darkness still pervades everything! now that other man who run down the AGOA scheme was also seen in your daddy’s neighbourhood of Kanungu hobnobbing with a new electricity supplier there! Seriously cant you people just blacklist some of these people?

Saying that what is the story with Basajjabafuna! I hear thats what he is called these days! What with the billions he is forever gifted with for free as they say in Uglish! How could one man be gifted with enough money to renovate Mulago hospital, enough money to run Mulago hospital for many years, enough money to run several districts for many years, enough money to eliminate nodding disease that is the current scourge of children in the north many times over!

While the government can only find 27 million for prostate cancer research in this country and 100 million for the nodding disease, Basajjabalaba always finds billions -nay hundreds of billions thrown his way!

Interestingly despite several scandals -UBC land, BOU land titles, UMSC land titles, diverted tax rebates (illegal by the way since they are not catered for in our tax regime) KCC market scams, Mr Teflon Basajjabafuna has never so much as registered a police file let alone been dragged to court save by URA! Not even once before the corruption court even after he diverted land titles deeds he had already submitted as collateral for a soft loan that he did not pay!

A few weeks ago after his Godfather had to appear before the PACS committee to account for himself, it appeared like Mr Teflons luck like that of another now deceased businessman who built a monstrosity on Entebbe road that received state funds for no work done, had run out! I thought that the ever vigilant Kayihura who has made it a habit to harrass or undress unarmed women like Ingrid Turinawe, or beat up on Besigye whenever he runs out of punching bags would relish the opportunity to finally do some work and grab Basajjabafuna by the trousers and frog march him to CPS for questioning, take off his belt and shoes, steal his valuables as “evidence” and send him off to Nakasongola over the weekend when the courts were in recess but wapi! The ka guy is a paper tiger! Faced with a real big fish, his tongue went dry and he disappeared!

Two days later the sabalwanyi himself turned around and started to backpeddle over his statements in PACS that Basajabafuna should face the music! Oba who owns who? One would have thought that the man who fought adui while men like Basajabafuna were cowering under their beds would very quickly rough him up and sort him out naye waaah! There must be something that this ka guy has over the sabalwanyi! Ye nga tewaali amukwataako? And how comes its the sabalwanyi who has always approved this guys deals and scams?

This Makubuya guy seems to know something about how this thing went down! A week ago, he virtually blackmailed sabalwanyi! He reminded me of those days in school -mbu nkwata kko ondaabe! Nja kwassa enyindo! Ms Syda Buba went down more meekly protesting that she was only doing the sabalwanyi’s bidding and he was responsible!

At the end of the day, sabalwanyi stared down Makubuya and Makubuya had to turn tail and flee to the back bench! I wonder how long he will stay there before being dragged out to face the anti corruption court like Bukenya! Not that the government will win anyway! Am sure he knows very well that they can be trusted to mess up their own cases and bungle the evidence! If his Havard brains are working, am sure that like Uncle Jim, he probably salted away some brown envelopes with compromising photos of big people! Don’t you see how Uncle Jim continues to thumb his nose at everyone years after he was charged with corruption? Bageze bamukwatte ko!

Now these bu children in the north who want to mess up the glossy figures in the NRM manifesto of the wonderful health that you guys ushered in! Someone suggested today that they should all be drowned -problem solved! No embarrassment to the emperor! How dare they embarrass the almighty! Do you know that in any other country that pretends to be democratic if it ever came out that the government knew about the nodding disease 3 years ago but proceeded to deceive the country with its glossy pre-election manifesto in addition to inaction heads would roll at the very highest level?

But of course we do not expect that in Uganda! which other country can boast of 10 % of the cabinet ministers resigning for corruption within one year and still remain in charge of the country?

Naye you people are so childish! I hear the other day the president was boasting about playing childish pranks on parliament! Mbu the MP’s were going to block the signing of the oil agreements at 2 pm so he ordered the Minister to sign them at 10 am!

I hope Minister Muloni is reading the tea leaves! If I were her, I would record all orders or insist on getting them in writing! Anti you see in this thing, the man is always right -and someone else will always take the fall! So when the oil documents come back flawed, you know who is going to have to bend over a barrel and get circumcised, don’t you! I do not envy Ms Muloni!

Now these greedy MP’s banange! No wonder they are all playing games with each other! pigs all of them! Mbu they need cars “befitting” their status? Are they all blind? Is it not obvious to anyone with eyes that there are no roads in Uganda to drive cars on? And even if you have a car, the congestion! They are better off being given boda bodas! At least then they can weave through the mud tracks that lead to their constituents homes to crash their funerals after their children die from nodding disease or just plain hunger!

Before, I leave, I am tickled by your daddy’s new partner, the new Irish company that is supposed to provide PR for the NRM government! LOL! Talk about putting lipstick on a pig! Just assuming this man is even qualified to do the job which is very doubtful, or his company has got the resources and logistics to as well as expertise to deliver, how could you bring an ignorant Irish briefcase company with no experience of working in a similar country to do the job of slapping lipstick on this very huge hog! The hog will pass wind on him and he will suffocate! Seriously I would be surprised if this guy even knew where Uganda was on the world map before you guys gave him a million big ones! And as usual, I can bet my money that here is a Ugandan in that pile! You know previous ones benefitted Rwabwogo, then Kutesa’s daughter or was it the father …. one wonders which sharp Ugandan well connected middleman is benefitting from this one! If I were dady, I would start digging now before the hog poo hits the fan! Those enemies who were telling tales about him to try and kick him out of parliament and office will have something more substantial to talk about this time!

Baby munsunile ku taama! You know where to find me when things get tough! As previously promised, me am ready to hide you and the little one under the bed!

Uncle Kaguta mundabire! The latest is that its time to go for the Godfather. Me I don’t think so! Am all for death by a thousand cuts -kind of masochist but okitegeera!

The man should have retired when he was still ahead!

AIP Ariongs blood is on the hands of the NRM government!

Saturday, March 24, 2012 at 10:00pm 路

Nina Dear,

I can see you are very interested in he recent death of AIP Ariong and have made numerous calls for the “civil society” to condemn his death and his “murderers”!

We do need to be clear on who or what exactly civil society is.

Civil society is you and I, not every brief case organisation that calls itself thus.

Some of these are simply taking advantage of the bumbling incompetence of the NRM and the gullibility of cash rich “donors”!

The death of Ariong should be condemned. The police in a functioning society are just like any other service personnel who wake up each morning to put their lives on the line for the community! As a person Ariong should not have died. Whoever killed him should be considered to have murdered a father and husband and have their day before the courts.

Unfortunately the government is almost certainly going to use this as a political opportunity to settle scores and misuse the law for punitive purposes rather than justice!

While we are on the subject of Ariong, the visit of the president to his home highlights a very important point. That police just like many Ugandans are victims of the incompetence of this government. That Ariong lived with his 8 children and a wife in the conditions depicted in that photo should remind the public of the plight of the police! It should also remind the police that demonstrators and protestors are many times activists for causes that would improve the lives of the police themselves.

It is important to make the point that the police itself, specifically its conduct toward members of the public who it has dubbed rioters regardless of whether they are actually rioting or trying to disperse in chaos in order to get away from tear gas and police brutality is at the root of and a major part of this problem.

Since 2009 in the so called Buganda riots during which many people were killed and some remain in prison without trial, the police have behaved with remorseless brutality. They have labelled the people they are paid to protect and deliberately brutalised them. Everyone needs to look at the videos of the police beating up and teargassing everyone within the vicinity of any sort of protest or gathering to get an understanding of how big this problem is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLE9-yF3f7g&feature=youtu.be

In any other country given this recent history there would have been a commission of inquiry by now!

All those overpaid MP’s should be calling for a commission of inquiry and inviting Kayihura and the Minister for internal affairs as well as the minister for Defence as well as victims and their families to testify. The way the police deals with the public specifically public gatherings needs to be reformed before this whole thing blows up into a fullscale war.

The recent Trayvon murder case in America is one that Ugandans should pay attention to. Ultimately the police commissioner was forced to resign following an outcry from the community after the police decided not to charge the killer of a young man citing archaic laws in a case of double standards based on race. Ugandans should be calling for the resignation of Kayihura who has really mishandled the police force, turned it into a politicised organisation and and enemy that treats the public its paid to protect like enemies! If there was ever any doubt that a soldier is not equipped or trained for policing Kayihura has demonstrated it!

The response of the government from the president to the PM and below as usual is arrogance and defiance. Being violent men who came to power through the barrel of the gun, they seem to think that everything can be solved through the barrel of the gun.

Museveni claims he has learnt governance though trial and error over 26 years in power but it is obvious he is very slow learner for he has learnt nothing!

In so much as these public gatherings have been mismanaged by the police and the government from the very beginning, the police and the government are responsible for AIP Ariongs death as well as all those other people you conveniently forget to mention who have been killed and brutalised by the police.

This was going to happen -it was only a matter of time. And if an inquiry into police methods culture and training is not done now, more deaths including those of police officers will happen until you have a more radicalised population ready to have all out war with the police rather than lie back and be raped and sodomised at whim by force that is hostile to the people it is supposed to be protecting!

I hear you guys are arresting people left right and centre -talk about slow learners! If you keep doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different result, I cannot think of what else to call you but slow! It is time to change tactics!

May AIP Ariong rest in peace and his death serve as an opportunity to save more lives of Ugandan! While the person who threw that stone should be prosecuted, ultimately, AIP Ariongs blood is on the hands of Kayihura, and the NRm government!

I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say It

Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 10:11am 路

My dear Nina,

The antics of your uncles and aunties are really funny! If the situation was not so bad, one would be tempted to laugh!

Yesterday, uncle Nyombi who apparently believes he is the first person to occupy the office of the Attorney General and just discovered some fancy new way of controlling thought, banned the A4C! One would wish to remind him of his immediate predecessor Makubuya as well as other AG’s who allowed themselves to be used as tools -and later discarded! Abu Mayanja, Binaisa are others who come to mind!

One of my mentors Prof. Mbidde once told me that 脧ts amazing with what little knowledge of science, medicine can be practiced”! Nyombi demonstrtaes that it is amazing with what little knowledge of history, law and politics can be practiced!! Else Nyombi would know a little bit about the late Ibingira who played a role in forming the KY-UPC alliance as wll as in passing the “Detention without trial” bill of Obote I and later became the first victim of it as well as watched as the intrigue targeted at the hated Buganda and its monarch engulfed and ate up his own kingdom of Ankole!

You once quoted this very historical letter written in the 60鈥瞫 by an unknown ugandan. I wonder whether you ever shared its very eloquent and wise words with your uncles and aunties! if not, now would be the time to share it with them! https://www.facebook.com/notes/nina-mbabazi/history-most-certainly-is-repeating-itself-transition-magazine-1967/10150203096154449

Before we proceed further, I would like to know from you. Who exactly advises your government? Has your daddy, uncle kuteesa, uncle ‘crocodile’ Otafiire, Uncle Muhwezi Uncle Kale, and all those others in military uniforms all forgotten whatever little law they ever learnt in law school?

You guys remind me of that confused bunch led by uncle Otunnu in 1985 after they had kicked out Obote, got themselves into power then didn’t know what to do with it -just like that confused bunch of idiots in Mali! Each night there would be troop movements and heavy artillery fire -and the next morning uncle Otunnu or Gad Wilson Toko would announce that the kids in playschool had been playing with their new toys overnight -in coded language, they called it “uncoordinated troop movements”! These days Otunnu thinks he can just wave his CV and all of his own past will be forgotten!

Yesterday Nyombi announced that A4C was an illegal group and therefore banned and today Kale Kayihura announces that it is allowed to have one last rally! LOL! I knew Kayihura was confused in his response to dissent and protest against his boss Museveni but this kind of takes confusion to lofty new heights! When Kayihura gave that first press conference before the start of W2W, I predicted pretty much how events would unfold! I can pretty much predict how these ones are going to go down and with certainty say that Kayihura, Nyombi, your daddy and their boss are all going to end up with egg on their faces no matter how many people they kill, harrass, torture, imprison or jail!

Do they really expect to get away with banning the A4C? Me when I saw the announcement, I bought myself a popcorn machine, sat back in my ‘musajja akooye’ and as they say in Kampala, placed my “maaso kulutimbe”! This is going to be one hell of a theatre -watching your fools making monkeys of themselves and in the process making A4C stronger!

One of my teachers used to say that common sense is not so common! It appears that that very basic commodity long deserted the brains of the tired old men and women of the NRM!

A knowledge of history is even more rare in your party. What else I guess would one expect from a bunch of glorified paesants, whom George Ayittey calls “fufu heads” http://www.ted.com/talks/george_ayittey_on_cheetahs_vs_hippos.html?source=facebook&fb_source=message#.T0ogaLnpq5c.facebook who cannot even remember what they said 25 years ago! Do you people still even remember the ten point programme? Uncle Kaguta cannot even remember that he was once against life presidency, that he believed that the problem of Africa was presidents who overstayed in power, that he said that the provision of services was the core business of government and any government that could not provide services had no business being in power, that he said that no government had the right to kill citizens and that any soldier or security operative who killed Ugandans would be taught a lesson they would never forget!

Even more lacking is a history of Uganda’s pre independence and post colonial struggles. That the colonial government imposed its will on Buganda and lost when it exiled the Kabaka, as well as when it imprisoned Ugandans such as Abu Mayanja in other parts of the country to stiffle their dissenting voices. That the detention act mooted by Ibingira ate him up. That the beasts fed and fatted by Obote ate him up! And that UPC goons of yesterday are now talking about freedom of association and freedom of speech as well as democracy and a right to life and freedom from harrassment by the state the same rights they denied Ugandans when they were in power!

You do know that I have a soft spot for you my dear! For this reason, I suggest that you start bracing yourself for a life in exile! Trust me its not fun! You may need that helicopter that daddy uses to fly to Kanungu to avoid the impassable roads in his constituency!

Nyombi just turned to a new phase in the struggle for individual rights. Before W2W, A4C had a few handfuls of followers on FB. During W2W, the numbers rapidly escalated to over 5,000. When W2W ended the numbers stagnated at around the mid 5000鈥瞫.

I can predict that if Kayihura moves to implement Nyombi’s new ban and the A4C remains defiant, the numbers of followers are going to go up! Talk about acting as the oppositions recruiters just like Obote’s armed and uniformed idiots were the NRA’s best recruiters! You guys never learn from history, do you? The NRM and specifically your brutality have been the best recruiters for Besigye and the opposition!

The A4c is a nebulous organisation. Most members are volunteers even though Anne Mugisha, Mary Akello and Makmot try to impose some structure and political ideology and claim ownership! Its not a card carrying organisation, something the coordinators tried to do but were robustly opposed by its followers on FB. Just like one did not have to subscribe to any creed other than hating Obote and his goons in order to join the NRA, people who chose to join or follow the A4C do not have to subscribe to their political ideology! Most of those who belong to its online FB group cannot even be called its members in the true sense and neither can those who attend its rallies!

You cannot fight an enemy you cannot see nor define. The powers of deduction of Uganda’s intelligence services are rudimentary at best and they excel in making mountains of molehills -usually for financial gain! Now here is one molehill that is about to become a mountain all thanks to Nyombi’s incompetence!

At the end of the day, Nyombi and your government are going to lose this one both in the courts as well as on the streets! And like Kayihura had to shelve that stupid piece of legislation, the Police Act where he demanded that if I was going out with 2 or more friends for a drink, that constituted a “gathering” for which I required a permit from his office, this piece of new garbage is going into the bin! Of course we know that the net result would have been a lucrative new industry in selling permits for wedding meetings and lumbe’s and graduation parties!

May I quote Voltaire for you;

“I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it”.

I do not follow A4C nor do I agree with the direction they have taken but I will defend their right to exist and say what they wish to say. Its about basic fundamental rights that the NRM claims to have fought for and brought to Uganda!

The right to Association. The right to freedom of speech! This latest announcement by Nyombi is an attack on Ugandans basic rights by the NRM! Ugandans have got to hold them to their promises even though they have proved pretty poor at remembering what they said yesterday!

May I also quote Reverend Niemoller again;

First they came for the communists,

and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Filed under: Nina, Uganda Tagged: Letter to Nina

Of paying homage to mediocrity and the lack of vision!

Thursday, June 21, 2012 at 12:47am 路

Dearest Nina,

Its has been a while since I last wrote to you.

I really hate it when I have to say, I told you so! All indicators suggest that i am a prophet! your party dear, is falling apart. These days mzee Kaguta is querulous and quarelling with everybody! His favourite punching bags are the men of god -those ingrates who spat on him after accepting his gifts and bribes! They remind me of a Dr Tamale once Headboy of St Mary’s college Kisubi, the only school in Uganda who campaigned for power in the usual manner including handing cigarettes out and then proceeded to stamp the habit out once he got the power. Having not been in Kisubi during that election, it was one of the legends we heard about him when we joined the school!

The tragedy in Uganda is that such people who would have mad good leaders of tomorrow have been forced to vote with their feet rather than pay homage to mediocrity masquerading as vision!

Watching the NRM these days, one has a sense of panic and confusion!

As for daddy dear, I always told you that he was handed a poisoned chalice! Mbabazi was given the kiss of death by the Capo di tutti capi when he annointed him PM. This is classic “The Godfather”.

Watching the NRM now gives one the impression that we are watching the last five years of KANU and Moi.

Watching the recent events in Egypt suggest the Generals need to be watched very carefully.

Surely Muhoozi was not trained and promoted on steroids just so he could sit back and watch. Thats another corner that needs to be watched.

Janet did not decide to come out of the kitchen just so that she could be sent back to the kitchen. that poll listing her as a possible presidential candidate was surely a plant! Why would anyone even be interested in asking the question! aren’t there any suitably qualified Ugandans that another Museveni? whoever ever convinced herr that she wa sa politician, needs to get lined up against a wall and shot, and then his body should be caned and cremated!

And what exactly is commander Saleh upto these days? Last he appeared in public was to claim he had been deployed to mobilise youth a farmers. where is the cooperatives and youth money?

Bukenya is coming out of his depression and just flexed some muscle by hosting the Buganda caucus meeting. Its an old trick of his -pulling a hat trick out of his behind whenever the one with a vision threatens to drop him.

The GAVI trio have just had a reprieve. Given they are all CEC members not quite friendly with the PM. What exactly is cooking in the NRM? Is one looking at a showdown with AM? Wings getting clipped? And what does one make of the 45 he was awarded in the poll?

And that fiasco in Arusha? Why am I even bothering? Never correct your enemy when they are making a mistake! May the NRM show us more Arusha’s. Maybe the sleepy ugandans will wake up and give them the boot!

And that new mini NRM of Sekikuubo? KANU-Orange anyone?

As for all the Somali terrorists suddenly all heading for Kampala? Methinks it was a figment of Kayihura’s imagination designed to get a slice of the budget cake! the timing is just a tad too perfect!

I can say for a fact that we are heading for interesting times. Certainly the end days are nigh! i for one bought myself a popcorn machine and iced coke machine -you know being a teatotaller like mzee Kaguta and all!

As for the poor opposition, those ones are even more confused than the NRM I would think. Mao’s recent misguided missiles and uncoordinated troop movements were appalling. nevertheless even in their confusion, they have managed to trounce the NRM inside court or at the polls in every contested seat and by election since the so called win by the NRM in 2011!

As usual, I will be quite happy to hide you under my bed when the chicken dung hits the fan and the paesants come for their loot! You will of course have to bring my ten percent but as you know these things, tujja kuteesa!

As usual, I write this with all my love!

Filed under: Nina, Uganda Tagged: Letter to Nina

PM Amama Mbabazi will have to hunt down and kill his own animal!

Saturday, June 23, 2012 at 8:21pm

@Johnson Karengye Mujungu says,

“Regarding the reported hussling between President M7 and PM Mbabazi and others, and the subsquent public lashing of the later by former, which appears to be tearing Uganda’s most dorminant political party apart.

What if “Sabalwanyi” is actually the one behind the reported intrigue within the party? What if? What if M7 is the one who has been building Amama’s image of corruption throughout? What if?Or may be, just may be, because M7 failed to get him off the NRM SG seat, now he want’s him off the PM seat? I actually think that in a way it is good that the two seperate.

I submit that Amama deserves and should be given second and fairer re-look by his party and Ugandans in general.”

https://www.facebook.com/jmujungu/posts/10150989690379198?comment_id=22807300¬if_t=comment_mention

@Mujungu,

This game is so predictable its not funny! Allow me to play devils advocate if just for fun -serious fun!

Time for Amama Mbabazi to chose between country and his boss. it is a choice that many in the NRM will have to make for as long as museveni refuses to set a timetable for his retirement -one that does not include imposing a family member!

And only then will he ever be his own man! for three decades he has been in the shadows of his boss. he has been the right hand man and if tales be believed the hatchet man! that in essence makes him a tool!

But does an intelligent man want to forever be the tool for others dreams and aspirations for life rulership?

Amama Mbabazi will only get respect and street credibility if and when he stands up to be seen and counted and tells this nation that he was wrong. Wrong to sell the illusion of a one man dream for so long. Wrong to sell the idea that in Uganda there is only one man and no other who can pick up the baton that we could credit Museveni with having carried for 26 years going on 30, if Museveni wants that credit rather than the ignominy of not having been any better than Gadafi or Mubarak!

The NRM just like the UPC before it is a one man dream. Museveni is NRM and NRM is Museveni and just like Obote, he will bequeath it to his own family.

PM Mbabazi like Bukenya before him are just dreamers whose job is to wait upon the royal family and the emperor. They are butlers and footmen! Butlers and footmen do not get written into wills even though they may be passed on and inherited by the new scion in exchange for a retirement package and lifelong servitude!

For 3 decades and counting, Amama Mbabazi has never ever been his own man -he has always been Museveni’s man! if he wants to seat at the table with his boss rather than at his feet he is going to have to challenge him.

Thats the way it has always been. Slaves only become kings by challenging and killing or exiling their king!

PM Mbabazi needs to chose which side of history he wishes to be written on!

This is Museveni’s animal. As the man says, he fought (and killed for it). Under the law of the jungle, that gives him fiat to do as he wishes with the kill including deciding who gets to sit at the table and who does not. Amama just accompanied him to the hunt and saddled his steed and polished his armour and weapons!

If Amama Mbabazi wants to take possession of the animal, he is going to have to wrestle it away from the Sabalwanyi!

As for Ms Kadaga, she comes from a region that gives allegiance to the emperor even when the emperor treats them with disdain and does not even bother to drop them some crumbs and they die from jiggers!

In the wider scheme of things, she was hiding under the bed when Museveni was hunting down and killing his animal. Her people are not about to revolt if he drops her -they will just support the next person on who good fortune and the benevolence of the emperor shines!

As Museveni says, “Who is Kadaga?”

Filed under: Nina, Uganda Tagged: Letter to Nina

Museveni has never had a vision for the provision of adequate healthcare services to ugandans!

Sunday, September 2, 2012 at 7:40pm

Nina says,

“Dear Drew - Transforming agriculture into a cash economy. Universal taxation policies to improve healthcare services”

We have got to begin by understanding the structure of our population.

Ugandans are essentially land rich, asset and cash poor agro based and largely formally unemployed illiterate and semi -literate and superstitious people whose main economic activities are subsistent and are largely carried out outside the formal economy whose policy and planning is carried out by a largely corrupt and incompetent government!.

Health services are retarded and have large gaps in healthcare service delivery including primary care, public health, emergency services, and specialised and subspecialty care.

Without formal employment, many people would have trouble affording managed care. While we always talk about health insurance, this is virtually impossible to manage on a large scale in a population such as Uganda’s! Managed healthcare on the other hand particularly in primary healthcare maybe feasible while formal health insurance maybe reserved for the high end.

There are institutions in Uganda that already have the infrastructure in place for managed healthcare services. These are missionary hospitals particularly Roman Catholic and Anglican church missionary hospitals. Many of these have experience in providing healthcare services in resource poor environments going back almost 100 years and are motivated by more than making a profit.If you are going to sign PPP’s to provide healthcare services to ugandans, you would have to start with the institutions that have got a track record and experience.I can however bet that if the NRM were to sign PPP’s to provide healthcare services, goatherds will be running and owning hospitals!

A medicare style system where rebates are paid per capita to these healthcare providers for services rendered with or without a gap can be implemented. right now the government just gives a lumpsum that is inadequate and not tied to performance or number of patients seen or services provided.

Managed Healthcare service Organisations are largely driven by profit. Doctors working for them are incentivised to minimise expenses and their bonuses and income maybe tied to them “saving money” which usually means witholding investigations or minimising and rationing healthcare.

Because these managed healthcare services depend on regular payments by the users, those without formal employment fall under the safety net and are left without cover in a country where the government is allowed to get away with shirking its responsibilities.

The main incentive for the construction of heath centres was the money made from awarding construction contracts. There was no plan for staffing and no funding either. Even those hospitals that are staffed are dependent on a demoralised and underpaid healthcare staff who are not even afforded the basic minimum in protective gear! A hospital is not a building even when it has state of the art technology. it has got to be staffed by adequate, well trained, motivated and incentivised medical and nursing staff as well as allied healthcare workers who are well resourced.

PPP’s require supervision because of the competing interests involved. The manager of the contract is there to make a profit. The patient or client wants the best helthcare that is available ie money is not an issue as long as they are not paying anymore than their standard premium or taxes. The government is both a client and a supervisor.

In Uganda we all know we have major governance issues including corruption, unethical conduct and incompetence. Awarding and supervising a PPP is well beyond the capacity of the current NRM government. 26 years of history with the NRM in power is more than enough evidence that given the powers to award contracts for PPP’s will mean that in another ten years even the current existing government hospitals and the land they sit on will have been sold to well connected insiders and corporate raiders and the consumer will continue to be raped in broad daylight!

We have a political elite who see themselves as not subject to the same rules as everyone else. They therefore have no problem with spendin enough money to build and run several hospitals every year on a few hundred elite while the rest of the country rely on herbs and coffin makers!

There is an emphaiss on fundraising for individual patients that has been promoted by the New Vision in particular and followed by other media organisations which I think is flawed. I have no problem with those who can afford it getting healthcare for themselves and their loved ones overseas -I have done it myself!

But fundraising for every sad case that comes along results in the haemorrhaging of large amounts of cash while not adding to the local expertise and ability to manage other cases that come along.

It is said that one who teaches you how to fish does you a much better service thatn one who gives you a fish.

For many years, it was said that the Heart institute could not perform cardiac surgery. In came a doo gooder outfit for 2 weeks and open heart surgery was done in mulago without new infrastructure. The same feat was repeated by IHK which while being OK is not a world standard high tech facility! The real trick is how to transfer this knowledge and technology instead of just clapping and saying wow everytime a blond crew jets in for 2 weeks and a lifetime achievement award for having braved Kampala for a few days and saved a handful of lives.

Uganda Cancer Institute has been opearting since 1968 and despite understaffing and multiple deficits in skills and resources has always provided a service to cancer patients. it has never once closed its doors in those over 40 years.

But these institutions are shunned by the same elite that should be ensuring that they are world class facilities they can trust with their lives and that of their children as well as other Ugandans.

Every once in a while a well connected politician dies from one of these nasty diseases and they then for a minute or two cry crocodile tears …but follow on by ensuring that their own pay and access to overseas healthcare is guaranteed!

We need a committed government, one that is committed to ensuring that no child is left behind. We are leaving too many children behind, too many of our citizens!

Uganda was once the pearl and a pioneer in providing good healthcare services with a strong primary healthcare, public health, academic and training infrastructure that led the region. Students and researchers came from all over the world to study and work at Mulago.

Now its reduced to a health centre where everyone can walk in from off the street as the last resort from the dearth of healthcare services in the rest of the country!

But then what does one expect when Uganda is a country whose president thought it reasonable that he fly his daughter to Germany for a normal delivery at a cost of 90,000 USd for fuel alone!

And yet there are those who would dance and sing for him and claim he has a vision! What is in no doubt is that he has a vision for himself, his family (see where his brothers, wife, sisters, daughters and their husbands and son have come under his vision) but anyone who has had a close and personal experience with the absence of services in uganda knows that that mans vision does not include providing healthcare services to Ugandans!

If Ugandans really voted on issues, and healthcare were turned into a voting issue, this government wouldnt last a day!

Ugandans need to turn healthcare services into a voting issue and the government should not be given a free get out of jail card by pawning off providing adequate healthcare to NGO’s the community and the churches!

And they should start by withdrawing the priviledges of their ruling political elite including overseas healthcare!

*******

https://www.facebook.com/drew.ddembe/posts/375138775887850?notif_t=share_comment

Filed under: Health

The lunatics are in charge of the asylum.

Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 1:50pm

Dear Nina,

When people are appointed to offices because of technical know who and blind loyalty to put their behind behind the president, you get incompetents who walk into traps and react with predictable consequences.

The evolution of this whole thing was very predictable. I predicted the way it would unfold and the idiots who make decisions in government exercised their neanderthal reflexes in exactly the way I predicted to produce the outcome I predicted.

Image is everything. One photo can make or break you and you guys have given your opponents so many you should shoot yourselves in the head. The difference between Mugabe and Museveni is simply marketing. One day can make a difference. Look at the buffoons that speak for this government on FB and in state house.

One day, Ghadafi’s sons were dining and wining the glitteratti of Europe, the next day, they were hunted men with each having a tomahawk missile with their name engraved on it.

The days when Museveni could control the flow of information by imposing a media blackout while panda gari was going on are over. If he is not ready to take the step of becoming a Gbabo or a Ghadafi, its in his best interest to start sorting out an exit strategy both for himself as well as his son and daughters. He really had better be ready to kill lots of people something he should have thought about before he released the dogs of war onto the street.

The world has changed. The masters of the business world are teenage and young people in jeans and laptops. Museveni would not recognise them. He is stuck in an old world where brute force is king. Where the threat of violence or actual violence decides conflicts. Where the most violent man wins. He does not have the reflexes to fight this new war. And neither does his son. You were all caught flat footed because you believed that a 68 percent majority insured you against challenge and life would go on as normal. Because you won a big victory, you guys felt invincible. Feel you could get away with anything. You will notice that I say you because you are still a card carrying and active member of the NRM as is your father and many of your family. There is no way that you are going to be able to distance yourself from this short of cutting up your party card and standing with the people.

I did say that this was going to be a pyrrhic victory, didnt I? And a pyrrhic victory it is. Yet I have a feeling we are yet to see a lot more.

I said before that Besigye and the opposition did not have the power to ignite the masses. I still remain correct. But I also said that there was an increasing radicalisation, an increasing discontent with corruption and prolonged incubence. All that the masses needed to unleash mayhem was a spark and you willfully provided that spark when you so publicly humiliated and beat up Besigye while demonstrating that you were no different to the goons you replaced. This is the sign to the populace to once again clean house.

The absolute control that Museveni and the NRM have on the state of patronage that is Uganda whose resources they use to enrich themselves or buy support enrages people who can only watch this greed and impunity.

When Besigye started these walks, he cut a lonely figure with a backpack on his back. He would have fizzled out within a week. Do you see all of those substantial ladies walking to work for any period of time Musumba, Mugisha, Maama Mabira? Or their male counterparts in their suits and paunches? I doubt that he would have been able to walk to Najjanankumbi twice a week.

But you guys had to send your goons out to rough him up like a common criminal, beat him up, humiliate him, stuff him under the seats of a pickup. You would not even accord him the respect of a political leader, one who had attracted more than 2 million votes and one who was the face of the opposition. You demonstrated absolute contempt of the significant minority that did not vote for you.

Democracy that your party president and his lackeys and footmen parrot all of the time, means that while the majority rule, they also undertake to respect and protect the rights of the minority who lost. A government rules with a shadow government from the opposition.

The opposition has a role as a critic of government to keep it on the straight and narrow. It is the role of the opposition to highlight the neglect that is leading to high food prices. It is their job to highlight the wastage of public resources as has happened in the lat few months -650 billion to finance Museveni’s re election which essentially comprised of handing out brown envelopes using state funds, 6.5 billion to bribe LC’s who have never been voted for more than ten years but guarantee the grassroot campaigns, another 6.5 billion to finance the re election of a rubber stamp parliament under the insulting “ supervising government programs”, 1.7 trillion to buy fancy new and utterly useless fighter jets unless your people are planning to start new wars -I hear one useful idiot on your board who sets himself up as a spokesman for the NRM suggested they be used to fight Al Shabaab.

There used to be an idiot in Ethiopia who presided over an arms race in the horn while his people starved and ended up needing emergency Aid from the rest of the world. WHO estimates that less than 2 percent of Ugandan farmers received seeds from the government despite parts of eastern and northern Uganda being at risk of famine. There is abundant evidence that despite warnings, this government has done nothing to cushion its citizens against the risk of starvation and high commodity prices. And then out comes a government idiot stating the obvious -that Uganda is not a welfare state. There is a story from the bible of Joseph in Egypt who having predicted a famine was put in charge of planning for and mitigating the effects of the famine on the population. Thats what governments do. They dont just decide that its not their problem and everyone should fend for themselves while continuing to tax and abuse taxpayers money. A government for the people and by the people empathises with the people. But this government is like aliens just came in from space with no kinship to the people or empathy for their cuffering.

Thats is why Walking2Work is so brilliant in its simplicity. Think about it, this was a perfect moment for the middle classes of this country to bond with and show solidarity with the people who have to tighten their belts and walk to work everyday even when their meagre pay is stretching less and less everyday. You am sure watched that stupid video of Musumba walking to work with one lone young man, past people bustling along their day to day lives and then being stopped by a police officer and literally being arrested for walking to work. she had no crowd behind her. Few were paying her any attention -until the police stopped her. Lukyamuzi played hide and seek and walked to work and the world did not end. Otunnu walked to work thanks to the quick thinking of a professional police officer -and the world did not come to an end. Contrast that with the response of the hired goons in police uniforms following orders from above and one sees clearly where to place the blame for the chaos and bloodshed -on the incompetent police and government response. The very confusion with which Kayihura dealt with Mutabazi tells its own story. First he praised him, then he suspended him, then he reinstated him but then transferred him all in the space of less than a week.

If this was not so deadly and affecting my country, I would have said pull out the popcorn and dim the lights and lets enjoy some circus baboons perform. But this is not funny. it is sad. those people who died are real people. Am sure rubber bullets cost less than mambas. Do you guys realise just how bad those photos and videos look? Of smoke on the horizon and battle ready troops arayed against an unarmed population? Am sure you would love for them to come with guns so that you could shoot them all. But tehre again is the brilliance of W2W. Guns aren’t needed except by fools. And when those fools exercise their trigger happy fingers, they create martyrs. Nothing recruits more for a cause than martyrs and brutality and bullies. All those nasty photos will be in every boardroom of every country that has business in Uganda who will have to evaluate the cost of their association with thugs. And they have already hit every news outlet. And they are being queried in the white house and int he commonwealth. And Museveni is going to have to answer questions in Perth whenhe goes to CHOGM and be compared with Mugabe and Ghadafi and Gbabo and Ben ali and Mubarak. Not exactly great company right now.

Museveni was meant to be different from the others -the ones he called swine. Unfortunately he is now one of those swine. Ghadafi deployed irregular troops to kill protesters. See how quickly that morphed into a real resistance army complete with a sopisticated airforce that destroyed his fancy hardware before it even left the ground.

You guys have already lost the battle for hearts and minds. In the very public beatings and humiliation that was meted out on Besigye, you showed yourselves for what you are. It is obvious that all of the fancy suits and fancy words such as democracy and constitution really just hide plain old thugs. The ones who believe that if they are challenged, the dissent can be settled by cracking some heads.

And the worst part is that you are losing moderate opponents as well as undecided voters. Remember of 14 million eligible voters only about 5 million voted for the NRM despite it boasting of having almost 9 million card holding party members. Essentially your own party members chose not to vote. The radical opponents will not change their views. these images have just increased their resolve and offered them even more or better ammunition than the lies and distortions some of them used to peddle before. Nothing sells like a picture of injustice meted out by a bully. Uganda is run by bullies.

The NRM just crossed aline invisible as it may seem -just like Ghadafi crossed one. The next few weeks will show us just how much damage has been done. We may even know sooner when the cancellations of Kaguta’s inauguration start to come in. Didnt you guys expect 32 heads of state.. LOL

The blood of innocents will never go unpunished. As people who came to power on the back of the blood of innocents one would have thought that you understood this very well. If your guys really have any sense, they need to call the dogs of war off and send them back to the barracks. You will never win a battle where your opponent is civilian and unarmed with guns armoured cars and live bullets. And get rid of dead wood like Kivedhinda, Kabakumba and Mirundi. They just cause you more damage. And Kayihura -send him to staff college in Siberia, he needs to hide from the public eye for a while. As for that Gilbert guy who effected Besigye’s most recent assault by state goons, you are going to have to find him another identity and another country to go to. Even Luzira maybe too dangerous for him.

Those who the Gods mean to destroy, they first run mad ….

President Museveni’s address to the nation

Monday, May 2, 2011 at 10:33pm

Nina,

My last letter to you was so popular, I have decided to write another one to you. I hope that you are going to share it with your powerful uncles and aunties and let them know that their country needs them to exercise leadership right now. I assume that you still belong to the NRM so I will address you as such.

Mao is playing your people.

They were stupid enough to accept his refusal to apply for bail instead of refusing to accept and letting him go free. The longer he stays in jail, the more his political capital goes up. Remember people love the underdog. A few years ago, Uncle Besi [do you still call him that?], was a relative unknown until your Uncle Kaguta decided to frame him for a rape he did not commit.

Granted the man was poaching his wifes ward but we will not talk about that now. I will allow the ladies in the mothers union to complain about that later. I know many men who have been in his position and others who would not complain. Given it was not the mans morality or fitness to stand for the highest office in the land that was on trial here, we have spent too much time on the issue but I couldnt restrain myself. After all the girl was of age and sound mind and Bill Clinton too got away with it -poaching you know and got forgiven by his wife and a whole nation.

But I digress, a whole president masterminded a smear campaign that read like a novel. A whole head of CID perjured herself on the basis of orders from above. I hope that she felt suitable compensated for her loss of face and reputation by that posting out of sight to Nairobi. That said given the fact that the same whole president had submitted himself to cross examination in another trial involving the same protagonists in order to prove that there is a “community diagnosis” of AIDS so as to support his accusations of Besigye having AIDS in order to block his 2001 presidentail bid, we shouldnt have been surprised.

Unlike Besigye, Mao lacked battle scars. Imprisonment and oppression has now given him bona fide freedom fighter credentials which he didnt really have before. trust me if you were to conduct a poll today dont be surprised if the NRM was forced into a run off and the longer this goes on, an outright rout.

Today a journalist who filmed Kampala MP Nabila has apparently been arrested and is being held in jail. Do you guys have morons making policy? Dont you have proper PR people? I thought that one of the first sons who was given billions for selling Uganda campaign and more during CHOGM would be useful but then I remembered that famous letter he wrote Mwenda when he was really pissed off, pardon my French. Am surprised that after he wrote that open letter he would be put in charge of any PR venture let alone selling our country but I forget technical know who beats technical know how every day in Uganda.

I did a quick check on FB for social networking sites for journalists associations and quickly found two from Uganda including one for human rights lawyers [Human Rights Network for Journalists in Uganda and Uganda Journalists Association]. I also found the International Federation of Journalists as well as the International Center for Journalists. For addictional measure, I also found a page social networking page for Amnesty International. How long do you think it will take for Ugandan journalists to find them? And how long will it be before Muzeyi Kirunda kivedhinda and Kabakumba come out to embarrass themselves and all of you? Those two really need to be muzzled. And the others like Mirundi and Nyago, need to face a firing squad or better still shoot themselves for all of the damage their arrogance has caused. As for commander Kale and Gilbert the ninja, I have no words. Their acts are short of treasonous. You see in these days of the internet, image is everything. 25 years just suddenly went down the toilet with all of the poisonous sound bites and vidoe clips these men and woman -I forgot Nabakooba, women have gratuitiously given to the world and uncle Kaguta’s enemies.

If I still supported Kaguta I would shoot them myself but since Kaguta declared himself life president by stealth, I prefer to watch his discomfiture as he undoes everything he has fought for and worked for without any help. You see I hate life presidents. Uncle Kaguta taught me well. I remember him saying that life presidents were swine and that the problems of Africa were leaders who did not know when to retire and overstayed in power. Can you imagine, he told the old fogey brained dictators at the OAU summit that when all of them were overdue retirement? I remember President Moi chastising him and calling him a young man. But President Moi did heed his advice and retired even though he needed a push to do so. As you know they say okuwangaala kulaba or something like that. I suspect I may have made that one up but who cares, it sounds good. The longer Kaguta stays around, the more he will see history remade. Unfortunately he does not listen to me -I told him to retire while he was still ahead. we and my friends would have been happy to buy him a rocking chair and invite him to our weddings and launching community pit latrines. But he thought all of that was beneath him.

I watched him chastise those poor bishops for daring to say their mind. Can you imagine, he told the men of God to go to hell? What blasphemy. Imagine he called them arrogant while acting all high handed and arrogant. But you know these days arrogant old men who have no issues with killing those who disagree with them no longer impress. Anti abaana benakuzino obamanyi. Kaguta yabakuza bubi. Can you imagine he used to call his elders swine when he was a young man of 40 odd years? Now the young men are calling him all sorts of names I will not repeat here.

I watched that other interview Museveni had in Nairobi yesterday. Oh how unconfortable being compared to Idi Amin? Did you ever think that you would see that ever happen in this life time? I didnt. Oh how hard the mighty have fallen. All at the same time that Uncle Gad is fighting for his life, Uncle Gbabo just gratutiously gave the world free photos of his indignity and Uncle Ben Ali and Uncle Mubarak are now no better than common criminals.

The world is turning upside down. That ka boy embarrassing him on TV and him taking the bait. Thats not the Kaguta I knew. The old Kaguta had international journalists eating out of his hand. He played them with finesse. He charmed them or chastised them with a benign smile. And many a time he virtually got away with murder. But not this time. He is increasingly losing it and getting snappy. I told you the man should retire but you lazy NRM guys refused to stand up to him and tell him he was tired. Now he is going to get whipped and embarrassed by meer children who were running around in diapers or born when he was a president?

Why can’t people retire when they are still ahead and avoid such indignity. Mandela is an elder statesman. Mbeki has found himself a new role -as a statesman too. But statesmanship eludes Uncle Kaguta. I know you are still on talking terms with him. Didnt he just praise you not too long ago? Could you whisper to him that the emperors cloths are invisble and his buttocks are waving in the wind and that small children are laughing at him and pointing? Me I wouldnt try after seeing the way he treats his friends. You saw how his goons roughed up Besigye and put him in hospital. And the man is so mean, none of his hospitals are fit enough to provide care for you after his goons are through with you. I hear they are death traps.

You remember that Uncle Kaguta was in charge the last time it was Mugabe’s turn to get roasted. But really, Museveni only differs from Mugabe in fancy marketing. Plus Museveni did not dispossess or beat up white people -only Ugandans. In addition Mugabe has no oil. He may hobnob with the chinese but he has no oil to give them. Plus he does not have troops in Sudan or Somalia fighting uncle Sams wars or mercenaries in Iraq allowing Uncle Sam to outsource his wars.

You know today Mao is due to appear in court and already its drama. Not even the rain and floods in Kaguta city Kampala prevented things from getting interesting. You know I use the word interesting for lack of a more suitable word. DP youth are restless. Makerere students are buzzing like bees. I know you never went to Makerere but attended the fancy Nottingham together with Muhoozi but beneath the calm exterior and petty superficiality of Makerere university students lies a violence just ready to erupt at short notice. Mbarara is on fire for walking to work while Rukungiri is on fire for refusing to walk to work and staying in their homes.

All over the internet and on youtube, I can see fire in Nakivubo, Kisekka market, Bwaise, Kasangati, Kasubi, Mulago, Wandegeya, Namasuba, Gayaza, Mbale, Masaka, Gulu, Mbarara, Rukungiri and virtually every major town in Uganda. The men with guns are all over the place. They dont sleep. I wonder how long you will continue to rely on those hungry abused nd poorly paid dogs of war? And now Osama Bin Laden has been put out of action, those other dogs of war outsourced to Iraq and Somalia are about to come home too. I wonder how you are going to keep them under control when they savagely turn upon you as that too is just a matter of time. The lawyers have already gone on strike so there will be no courts to go to I know you people are shortsighted and will use the military court martial but I can guarantee that that will backfire. But you never listen to me. I can guarantee that I will watch you making predictable mistakes and be able to say, I told you so. Not that that makes me happy when my country is being burnt by incompetents who act like they came out of Godfather movie.

Less relevant but given am on a roll here, I may also tell you that I found the Commonwealth Secretariat as well as the website for the next CHOGM in Perth. Together with this I found that Ugandan journalists have at least two social netowrking sites on facebook while the International federation of journalists and others have pages with several hundred thousand fans. together with the lawyers, do you want to bet how long it will take for them to link up with the W2W forum on facebook? I know you will try to block facebook but that too is doomed to fail. I say this because your goons just arrested a journalist who filmed the arrest of MP Nabilah today. Do your guys really follow orders from above or do they make up things in whichever way their villagers minds tell them. I hear that Kayihura has been recruiting from Kisoro and Janets village, Surely he didnt recruit goatherds who do not know the possible repercussions at this stage of arresting a photo journalist. I would have thought that whoever is giving orders from above has enough intelligece not to fall into these so obvious pitfalls.

You know, one thing Kaguta maybe thanked for is demystifying the gun but not in the way that he thought he did. Being a violent man, he believed that the gun could be demystified by people being exposed to it. But he forgot his military strategy. though shall not fight a war on your opponents territory using your opponents weapons. This Walk2Work thing completely disarmed him. If he shoots them he is smoked. If he doesnt he is smoked. And the biggest problem is legitimacy, he has been in power so long that when it comes to people dying for power, it is quite easy to see who is the greedy one for power. Bug guns don’t mean anything unless you are stupid enough to use them. And if you are stupid enough to use them, you still lose. Whichever way you look at it, he comes off looking like the bully. But the world and apparently Ugandans too are getting tired of tired blood thirsty power hungry old men which category he now finds himself in.

But I should come back to the mulamwa. I really set out to write to you about how I felt about Uncle Kaguta and Aunty Janets recent speeches on the so called riots. I think they both got it wrong. The people who they call rioters are not actually the ones who were rioting. All of the videos I have seen show clearly that Kaguta’s soldiers were on riot and terrorising the population. So much for a professional army.

I really would have loved to deconstruct these two speeches word for word but will restrain myself as I have already written quite a lot. But I will give you my overall impression.

I read the transcripts of both Uncle Kaguta and Aunty Janets. To say that I was unimpressed would be to put it mildly. As a matter of fact, I was quite dissappointed. Museveni’s interview in Nairobi as well as his outburst when addressing bishops and religious leaders clearly show that he has lost it and is no longer the old Museveni who had journalists eating out of his lap. At this rate if you guys do not muzzle him, you may find yourselves going down with him.

I instead decided to look back in history to my notes after Museveni’s visit to Kasubi last year and killing of three people. He again gave an arrogant address to the nation instead of expressing what I called at the time “humility in the face of sadness and death of Ugandan citizens.” I thought at the time that the appropriate response from our leader at the time was sadness and humility. Instead we were treated to what we have come to expect from him -arrogance and threats of crushing, killing and dealing with enemies.

I will here quote myself from the 224th March 2010 “A little humility in the presence of sadness ….. -you could say that again!

3 people are dead in one week -at the hands of the very same people who are supposed to protect them. 40 dead a few months ago again at the hands of the same people! Sadness and humility are the only appropriate response -not arrogance! Anything less is bad manners, “obukoopi”!

Note here that both Museveni and his wife express little or no remorse for the dead rioters or not. Their emphasis is on blame and revenge. There is no self introspection at all. it does not occure to them that they may in some way have something to do with all of this.

On the 23rd of March 2010, I wrote the following;

“It is stupid though to assume that everyone who died at Kasubi deserved to die or was even involved.

Obviously you have not been involved in a riotous situation if you are not aware that in the melee and confusion, standersby can and are often victims!

Museveni’s guard and intelligence detail is not well trained if they allowed the president to get himself involved in such a situation!

From a political perspective, you and Museveni can spin all you like!

As Museveni very well knows from his war with Obote, the death of civilians is a vote loser and radicalises the public!

There are no winners from last weeks Kasubi debacle, least of all Museveni and his soldiers! The battle for hearts and minds if Museveni really cares about how he is viewed was lost with a point against Museveni except in the dimmest of minds!”

If you were somehow caught in the wrong place at the wrong time or happened to die, then in the eyes of Museveni and his people you were a rioter. Even in the face of the rampant and videotaped unprofessionalism displayed by the police and army, Museveni has no doubt that everyone jailed is guilty. He goes on to demonstrate his contempt for the rule of law by proposing not for the first time laws to prevent people’s constitutional right to bail and the chance to defend themselves. Museveni seems to believe that the courts just like the police under Kayihura and the so called national army as well as the rubber stamp parliament should be his tools to use as he wishes.

On the 23rd March 2010 I again wrote this, “Any death is to be regreted. Thats the bare minimum that is expected of a president whose own guard kills his countries own citizens.

Have you ever in any of Museveni’s speeches heard him regret the death of Ugandans at the hand of his soldiers? Or ever take responsibility for anything?

Museveni always passes on the buck to someone else!”

In his most recent speech, Museveni as usual passes the buck and takes no responsibility at all even after people have died.

On the 22nd of March 2010, I wrote that;

"”During the 1966 crisis when Obote was quarreling with Mutesa, Obote’s army massacred many people. If Mutesa is having a political quarrel with Obote, what does the population have to do with it and why kill them? I do not agree with the proverb that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. If the people are rioting you can arrest them and put them in prison. The government has a lot of power to deal with rioting people and means to control crowds without killing them.”

By Y. K. Museveni. Speech to elders in Gulu at Acholi Inn, March 12 1986.

“As for rioters, I assume you speak as one who was there?

If three unarmed people were killed, thats 3 people too many!

And no intelligent person walks into an incendiary situation without advance intelligence. If Museveni’s men had done their job as they should, there is no reason the president would have walked into such a predictable situation.

Museveni set himself up as being better than Obote. Thats the standard by which he shall forever be judged and thats the standard he has to live upto!

And as you can see from his own words, he does not live upto that standard! Not once, but several times.””

Museveni’s bodyguard made the mistake of taking the president into an incendiary situation at Kasubi. He arrogantly defended that decision even after 3 people died at his mens hands. They have since shamelessly claimed that someone in the civilians must have shot and killed those people despite phot and video evidence clearly showing him, his son and their bodyguards and soldiers with guns aimed at unarmed people as well as firing.

The note that really summarises my feelings about Museveni’s speeches to the nation both after the september 2009, March 2010 as well as last weekend is this one I wrote on the 22nd March 2010. Please replace Buganda with Uganda and you will see how it applies to the current situation.

************

Kasubi March 2010 -when a president shot and killed his own people but still remained defiant!

authored by Ddembe on 22. March 2010 at 18:21

The arrogance!

People are dead at the hands of his men and the command of his son! Instead of mourning for the double tragedy, all he can think of is the tired old militant rhetoric! He seems to believe that it is him and his family who ‘fought”! Yet his victory is due to those who laid down their lives for him -many of them Baganda. Almost certainly the majority combattants and non combattants were Baganda!

It is a small thing to show respect to ones hosts for accept it or not, Museveni’s governments are guests in Kampala/Buganda! Symbols have a lot of power over men -which is why he is dishing out “medals and honours” Symbols that have stood the test of 800 years have roots in the hearts and minds of people -something the less than 50 year old central government has failed to do and he himself has failed to do in 24 years.

The mistake that Museveni and many of his predecessors make is to act like and assume that they are occupiers!

Whatever popularity that Museveni may have had in Buganda is not really due to his likeability as a person. The more Baganda suffered at the hands of obote’s troops, the more recruits and logistical support Obote’s enemies got.

The less difference people see between Museveni and his predecessor, the more radicalised the populace becomes.

This fire if arson could have been started by anyone. But Museveni can only blame himself for acting predictably. The death of innocents shall never go unnoticed!

The police and security organisations have become predictable. If they really want to have the upper hand they need to act with less predictability.

Museveni’s enemies want exactly the type of images that Museveni is giving them so gratuitiously!! Makerere, Kasubi, Rukiga -all in one week yet we still have a few months to go to the next election!

A more discerning president would have demanded that Kayihura takes one for the team and resigns, apologised for the harm done to mourners advertent or inadvertent, offered compensation to the aggrieved families and lectured the police and security organisations on how to deal with the civilians they are paid to protect!

Someone needs to remind Museveni of the man who said the following words “Therefore the security of Uganda is their right and not a favour bestowed by any regime. No regime has a right to kill any citizen of this country, or to beat any citizen at a roadblock. We make it clear to our soldiers that if they abuse any citizen, the punishment they will receive will teach them a lesson. As for killing people -if you kill a citizen, you yourself will be killed.”

That same man said the following during another speech to elders in Gulu at Acholi Inn, March 12 1986 , “During the 1966 crisis when Obote was quarreling with Mutesa, Obote’s army massacred many people. If Mutesa is having a political quarrel with Obote, what does the population have to do with it and why kill them? I do not agree with the proverb that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. If the people are rioting you can arrest them and put them in prison. The government has a lot of power to deal with rioting people and means to control crowds without killing them.

Both of these were said by Y. K. Museveni but am sure not even he himself would recognise them now!

*******************

Am sure now you understand why i think uncle Kaguta needs to stop speaking off the cuff, and employ better speech writers with a bit of grey matter between their ears rather than raw arrogance. I am very sure that you and many others in the NRM are cringeing after this speech as well as many recent pronouncements by Nabakooza, Kabakumba, Kintu Nyago, Tamale Mirundi and most of all kirunda Kivedhinda.

I do understand why you have all kept silent and left it to these outsiders to do all of the talking and of course embarrass themselves while you practice plausible deniability.

Museveni’s rioting soldiers and policemen

Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 3:27pm

Nina,

Writing you letters is becoming a habit! At this rate am about to claim that am a seer like Pastor Kayanja or that other guy (or is it a woman) that Timothy Kalyegira talks to! I need to talk about that man of God (or is he?) another day. At least my predictions do come true unlike his! Kayanja is MIA! I wonder whether he would like to give us some new fake predictions! I know that the pentecostals would like to be recognised up there side by side with the Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox and Muslims in Uganda but do they have to be ensconced so far up uncle Kags bottom just so they can be recognised? What happened to separation of the church and the state?

Now they are the recruiting agency for the government through Pastor Natasha and her mother or is it the other daughter! i hear Kayikura and Arinaitwe were recruited by the pastors and vetted by the first lady to confirm they were saved. But judging by Arinaitwe’s recent performance as well as the circumstances in which Kayihura’s saved boys with guns brigade the SRPS was wound down for torture nad humnan rights abuses including deatsh in custody as murders by security services are euphemistically called, the saved formula doesnt work. And this is before we go into those allegations of pederasty against the man of God or those of smuggling truckloads of wine!

But I digress. My prediction in my last letter to you was that it wouldn’t take very long before the lawyers and journos linked up against Uncle Kags bully boy tactics. within hours of my saying so, a magistrate decided she wasn’t going to be used any longer in the rape of the courts. Another threw out the case against Mao, and you now have the lawyers on a 3 days strike ironically in support of the people you chose to call criminals! Didnt I say that the lawyers and journalists wouldnt take long before joining the fray collectively? Now the newspapers report that they have joined the fray. See what your village idiots have done! They have united the lawyers and the journalists against your government. Am starting to suspect that your people in the police and army are working for the opposition and trying to make you guys look bad!

I wonder when those lazy workers MP’s like Lyomoki and his friends are going to come out and walk with the people they claim to represent. For twenty years they have been sitting in the rubberstamp parliament collecting allowances and getting fat! i think its time they now came out and spoke on behalf of the people they are paid to represent! At this rate I can see teachers walking in solidarity with those other teachers you tear gassed and their pupils. Taxi drivers are about to walk in protest too since you guys are now interfereing with their livelihoods. People no longer want to travel and stay in their homes. I can see all sorts of other professions joining the fray. You know my mother chose to retire from the civil service during Idi Amin because she could not stand having to go through an army check everytime she went to work. She worked in one of those sensitive government offices. I can therefore understand why Ugandans may chose to stay at home and hate you for having unleashed the dogs of war onto the streets. You know the police and army had started to shed the name “basirukaale” but the last 2 or 3 weeks are quite rapidly undoing that!

This is going to make for a very interesting swearing in! Uncle Kags or is it Sevo these days may end up getting sworn in like Kibaki -like a thief in the night! I wonder how your people will be able to account for the billions they stole from our taxes if all of those 32 heads of state stay away! You know thats a very distinct possibility! My intuition tells me that those videos of your goons in action compounded by the village idiots you chose to speak for the government are right now causing problems in many state houses around the world. For sure Uncle Bob maybe able to come. He doesnt get to get out much these days to inspect a guard of honour and stretch his very old bones. As you are aware he is very arthritic including in his extra bone -you know the one that women don’t have. I hear his missus when she is not shopping in Singapore, has been examining the funny bones of other men younger than Uncle Bob! For many other heads of state whose governments are accountable to the people and sensitive to criticism and negative publicity, those images are going to keep them away!

I gather now you guys have a new tactic -if the people wont walk2work without a permit so that your goons can exercise their neanderthal reflexes to crack some heads, they are now lobbing tear gas into their homes so that they can be forced outside and frogmatched to town! That kid of reminds me of all of those villagers your guys rounded up from their gardens in northern Uganda and frog matched them into camps for the next 20 years! I wonder where you will build the camps this time. The protests are everywhere. Gulu, Mbale, Masaka, every surburb of Kampala, Jinja, Mbarara and rukungiri. The strange thing is that you guys have always claimed to win with 90% majorities in these last two towns. Who was that guy who rounded people up in the north? Tinye? I hear he rounded up some balaalo in Buliisa as well who thought they could squat over some few million barrels of oil and claim royalties! is he also involved in this operation?

If ever there was evidence that your people are tired and don’t have any new ideas, it is this crisis. All that your goons understand is kill, beat, crush, eat like a samosa! What violence? Did your mama’s deny you breasts or what? Why can’t your people think of anything else other than fight and kill. I hear your uncle Kaguta wears his ability to kill like a badge of honour. When told he has been fighting for 25 years he gets insulted and reminds all that he has actually been killing for 45 years! I wonder what makes him think that people have got to keep dying for him so that he can continue remaining in power indefinitely.

Yesterday I had a brain wave. Must have been the excitement of writing to you -are you married? It suddenly occurred to me that Museveni is now a “life president by stealth”. Am not sure what it was that I was smoking but I sure need to try it again. Am getting confused -couldn’t have been smoking anything as I dont smoke at all. Couldn’t have been drinking anything either as the strongest drink I take is coffee just like Uncle Kags! must have been someone walking past and blowing smoke my way! boy tha was some pretty good stuff if it suddenly made me creative! You see am not creative -I remember you trying to tell me exactly how I was a nobody! this stuff could change that as I may even copyright that statement as I surely haven’t seen it before in print. Wouldn’t you agree?

That Museveni who lost an election miserably in 1980 level field or not is the one who felt aggrieved enough to wand to start a destructive war? I hear that even in his own constituency, he lost miserably! That he successfully wrestled the animal from the swine and then “reluctantly” as was his claim in 1986 agreed to be president for 5 years but has since then repeatedly kept shifting the goal posts just so that he can remain in power suggests that he has stealthily become a life president! But don’t take my word for it. I looked it up and apparently anthropologists allot a duration of 25 years to ancient an ancient kings reign or era. As a matter of fact one can roughly estimate how old Buganda is by multiplying the number of kabaka’s by 25 in this case 36 kings each ruling for 25 years makes Buganda approximately 900 years. So Museveni is a king -one who has already ruled for an era! But he wants to go on! Is that greed or what? He even thinks its worthwhile for people to get killed so he can continue to rule!

If ever one needed evidence that your NRM people are unsuited to leading our country into a modern world, it is their failure to do battle in a modern world with modern tools like keyboards, social media, and boots on the ground chanting keep walking! They have exercised all of the wrong reflexes since this started a couple of weeks ago. Mistake after mistake!

You know I have a soft spot for you even though you hate my guts! So I will give you some free advice to pass on to the strong men of the NRA. This here thing is going to end badly if they continue posturing and bullying. They are going to either have to get rid of the tired old man in a hat or to prevail on him to sit down and talk. And when I say talk, I dont mean talk in the condenscending manner he is used to. Talk with respect looking for a mutual solution to this problem and most of all looking for a way of healing our communities. But I can guarantee that the stickler is going to be term limits. And some people are going to have to commit seppuku -like kivedhinda. its time he retired anyway. And that soldier masquerading as a policeman, he will have to go back to the barracks and get redeployed. You are also going to need some people with real conflict resolution credentials and am not talking about that thug in NAirobi who was previously the spokesman for the LRA. I know that he is attractive to you guys as you love people you can buy!

You can of course ignore me but you know by now that am a seer -there I just said it! How long do you think it will take before the traders in Kampala decide they are tired of having police and soldiers rioting in the city and messing up their business.

You am sure notice that i have deliberately used the term rioters to describe the so called government security agents in the city. They have been rioting since before the 18th, making people uncomfortable in the city and disrupting business. I wonder how much money has been lost since they were released from their mama ingia pole’s in the barracks! These guys are going to bring the economy down! I wonder how you trust people who are so poor to guard you and your healthy looking wives and children. Me, I wouldn’t trust them at all!I was starting to think that I was the only one who had noticed that Museveni’s soldiers and the police were rioting and destroying the peace and people’s property in Kampala.I almost even thought of copyrighting that too -you know “Museveni’s soldiers on a riot”! But I found that Dr Ian Clark beat me to that. “Although it is the duty of the Police to keep civil order and prevent, or control rioting, one wonders, as they watch television and read newspapers, if these are anti-riot Police or rioting Police.” – Dr. Ian Clarke (Mayor-Elect, Makindye division). Prof Jjuuko also thinks that your soldiers are on riot. “What we have experienced since the start of the Walk-to-Work campaign are police riots. It’s like the police are telling the people ‘if you cannot riot then we will riot’,” says Prof. Jjuuko.

The old man in the hat is tired! I wonder how he will be when his MP’s join the walkers like some have already started doing at least in their comments, his cabinet starts splitting as you know its now blackmail season. Those he was planning to drop have suddenly received a shot of viagra and will be blackmailing him while the army may have to do a Mubarak on him.

Its time to make exit plans!

Nina -why can’t Amama lead the NRM and this country?

Saturday, May 7, 2011 at 11:55pm

Dear Nina,

Its been a few days since my last letter. You know unlike some of you who were born into the movement, some of us have to work for our keep. Big contracts do not fall our way, you know. I know you have been ignoring my letters. Is it because I was not nice to daddy dear? I hope I did not bruise him too much when I brought up Temangalo. You know Temangalo was a blot on a man who had hitherto kept his nose out of scandal. That of course does not mean that nothing was happening behind closed doors but as you know image is everything. I even got your sister Rachel distressed and have had my friend Patu unhappy with me for a while now.

I had promised I wouldn’t mention daddy dear today, but I could not restrain myself. Actually haven’t in a while. I do sometimes wonder what he thinks of his very selfish friend who has refused to share the chair with him. Binaisa said that “entebbe ewooma”. I must say that I admire him for his blind loyalty. I cannot imagine maintaining loyalty to a man who only wishes to eat alone. Didn’t he use to be considered to be second in the queue? By the time Kaguta is through and hands over to his son, I wonder where the Mbabazi’s will be in the queue. When you guys claim Museveni is the only man with a vision, do you actually believe yourselves? Do you frankly see any reason why your father Temangalo aside, cannot lead the NRM or this country? You know a true revolution is like a relay -the baton has got to be handed on for the revolution to survive.

You know your dad is not the only man who has found himself in this position. Gordon Brown over in the UK had to jostle in an unseemly manner and expose the party dirty linen when his pal Tony Blair got too intoxicated with being in the limelight. Ultimately the party faithful decided Tony had eaten enough things and needed to go. Nowadays he occupies himself advising strongmen like Kagame and now deposed dictators like Mubarak.

John Howard, the third member of the “War against Terror” trio who posed as the ‘leaders of the free world’ against Saddam and terrorism also had a lady in waiting who got tired after 13 years. Can you imagine a paltry 13 years. So Peter Costello, that was his name, -he too rocked the boat and challenged Mr Howard. The party faithful fearful of losing power if John Howard did not lead them, failed Mr Costello but the people decided that Mr Howard was being greedy and terminated him. You have watched those shows on TV where they terminate players. Interestingly Australia has no term limits and neither does the UK yet no one stays in power for 25 years. Do they know something that Ugandans do not or are Ugandan figures being massaged? Or is it just ignorance at work in Uganda? No truly democratic nation even without term limits has got one leader in power for 25 years going on thirty.

You know the above two men Gordon Brown and Peter Costello in the UK and Australia respectively alleged that there was a queue and Tony Blair and John Howard were refusing to leave the queue so others could join in and share the cake too. They both even said that there was a gentlemans agreement that the incumbent was now reneging on. The constitution says that bukenya is second in line yet the party says your daddy is second in line. The whole country knows that the real second in line is Col. Muhoozi. So tell me, how does it work? I hear the NRM had a queue. As a matter of fact I remember your father accusing Besigye of violating the code and trying to jump the queue where presumably he too was in line. At the time I thought he was protecting his own position in the queue. But as time goes by, it becomes more and more obvious that Kaguta has no intention of following the queue. Instead there is a good chance they may even skip the queue like in Eyadema land and annoint the son, Muhoozi. I hope you are on good terms having gone to Nottingham like him and being brought up in the family business. But thats not the reason why I brought this up. I have asked you before what the mechanism for retiring Museveni in the publics best interest is.

You see the man is tired but he does not seem to be able to see it. Plus this personalising of the state is quite irksome. The whole clan is in the government -is this some sort of family business? Now I hear that you too are being asked funny questions about whether you work for the family firm. It must be that Stephen. He has been trying to compete with me. He doesn’t like the fact that my letters have been so persuasive. Naye am getting lost -my real question is what is the mechanism for challenging Museveni? The only man who ever tried has been harrassed, charged with having HIV which I didnt know was a crime, charged with having committed rape with a consenting adult -that sounds like an oxymoron, been run off to exile, and been beaten and humiliated puting him ino hospital for a week! Am starting to think thats why your father is afraid of challenging Kaguta for surely he does not plan to be a lady in waiting all of his life. I hear you were counting your chickens before they hatched and the wikileaks idiots leaked the news. I would be very careful if I were you and make sure I have on some leggings underneath. You never know these people might decide to bundle you onto the back of a pick up and worse still shove you under the seat for plotting treason. The other day they were trying to undress Ingrid Turinawe in front of parliament! You see how they treated Besigye the man they spent five years with in the bush fighting mosquitos. Actually he was the one saving them from the mosquitoes with his busawo obutendeke! How do you think they would treat those of you who in their opinion were in Nairobi and Sweden eating sausages while they were suffering? You could see real nugu and kamanyiro in their actions. I think President Museveni calls it “bukyayi”!

Now there is that woman Janet Kataha. First she annoys the Rubindi’s, almost causing that woman Alice to go on strike, then she fails to show compassion to the nation and now she is questioning Besigye’s leadership skills. The things that Alice was saying after the elections were treasonous -I hope you reported her to the security boss. But I forget, you too were saying funny things at the time. What was it with Hope’s losing? Was she created in office that she was not allowed to lose? Is she one of these people who think that they were born in cabinet or parliament? I got the impression that there was some family linen being laundered in public. I have actually heard that there maybe some interesting family linen there to do with a menage a trois in cabinet but am not one to repeat rumours! You must tell me more about that some day. Surely its no longer a menage a trois when there are four people involved -thats a menage a quatre!

But I must get back to this Kataha woman and her claim that Besigye had no leadership skills. People really have very short memories and do not know how far they have come. Baganda say, that “akivaamu yakiyita ekyato”. He who has finished the crossing is the only one who can afford to call it a crap ferry. Has she really forgotten how her husband looked in 1986. In ill fitting long sleeved shirts under a kaunda suit, watch on the right hand and gum boots? He sure didn’t look presidential at all. Only those of us who were young and idealistic, some would say naive actually believed in him while the grown ups were busy fighting him! All that government by trial and error like batter trade? All the getting ripped off by petty businessmen from the streets of Mumbai and jumped up “nouveau riche” goatherds without due diligence. Even she herself was claimed to have been coached through university, with claims of her dissertation having been written by a “mu cuba”. Her getting a leg up in the family business through nepotism -isn’t that what the NRM used to call it when one in power employed all of his relatives in government? I hear Kaguta said she was the only one patriotic enough to want to go to Karamoja. Me I would be quite happy with the pajero nebigenderako considering I wouldn’t even have to live there! The problem with people who get to where they are because of family “know who” is they start to delude themselves that their positions are by virtue of their superior intelligence, acumen and leadership skills. So someone gets elevated from being a housewife to being a minster simply because she is married to a president and she suddenly can see who has and who does not have leadership skills?

Did you see those dishonourable ministers in parliament? I wonder what happened to Minister Kasaija? Such a nice man. When I watched him presenting that doctored video, I was reminded of another nice man presenting a doctored video full of lies to the UN security council, Gen Collin Powell. The poor man has since gone underground and can no longer hold his head up because he failed to resist orders from above and show leadership. This business of following orders from above is going to destroy a lot of good people. I notice you tried to spin things a different way and blame junior IT boys who doctored a video and briefed their bosses including the president falsely. But the problem with this autocratic behaviour is that people start to tell you what they think you want to hear -you know that old story about the emperor and his cloths! So you guys want to hear that Besigye is desperate because he received lots of money from abroad and has to account for it. And that he had hooligans camped in his home whom he brought out to terrorise the people. I even read the spy chief Tinyefunza repeating this! So much for security in this country! How can you depend on people who are delusional? Even President Museveni dismissed their assertions as crap! Do you guys really believe yourselves? How about all of those billions Museveni spent on getting re elected from the tax payers pocket? Is he going to account for it? At least whoever gave Besigye money knew that he could lose while Ugandans money was taken without their permission.

Now I have been following this debate of where you lie. Apparently people are not convinced you are really setting yourself up as the conscience of the NRM. They think that you are the SG’s daughter through and through and on assignment here. They cite a big corner office and a big car as evidence. I told you you were going to have to do a Buddha to attain true salvation. People cannot trust you when you have a big corner office and a big land cruiser. Jesus said it too -it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. To my simple mind he actually said it was impossible! We know all of the people who have those things -the big cars and the big corner offices and military guards are not friends of Ugandans. They all belong to la famiglia. I cannot blame you anyway as in Uganda, all of the cake is owned and eaten by one family and their house staff -the butlers, the maids, the cleaners and the enforcers etc. I do wonder sometimes, if Bukenya is the butler, where do the others fall -I won’t mention any names.

I told you before, if you had ignored Uncle Besi and company, there would have been no chaos. Your people can assert all they like but the onus is upon them to prove that their prediction was right and until then Besigye and anyone else have the right to walk anywhere even if people are bound to follow them. I hear the other day Col. Muhoozi went into a nightclub. Now that is bound to cause some commotion but does it mean you are going to curtail his movements? Instead your people sent all of these rioting soldiers and policmen to ravage the towns and everyone in it. They committed economic sabotage. I wonder how much the government lost in taxes. Remember Lukyamuzi played hide and seek and got to his office without the world coming to an end, Otunnu walked to work with Afande Mutabazi’s help and nothing happened -except Afande Kayihura sacked him, then redeployed him! Now I hear afande Muntu walked to his office and even got saluted by a policeman and Kampala is still standing while Mafabi too walked without a permit and again nothing happened. You should get a discount on all of those idle anti people machines you equipped the police with. Kayihura should really be charged with trying to bring down the government. At the very least charges of causing dissaffection among the public, “bukyayi” as president Museveni calls it, should be preferred. Am sure there is ample evidence.

In the interests of time I will end my letter here. I will of course be awaiting your response. Please do not trust that Stephen chap.

Who exactly is in charge in Kampala?

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 12:14am

Dear Nina,

This is becoming a habit but one that is bringing great dividends. You would not believe how many people are reading our letters. I keep getting inboxes and online chats from perfect strangers excited by our letters. One of these days you too may respond and then I can guarantee there is going to be a lot of excitement.

I hear that you too have been getting attention of the negative kind with various characters purporting to belong to the NRM calling on your father and President Museveni to muzzle you. Mbu they even made a presentation at Rwakitura. Banange this village chief mentality. At this rate, you may even get canonised. There is no doubt that there panic in the city. The poor bush boys just don’t know what to do in the city. They are trained to look for kony’s saucepans and kaunda suits in fancy places like Garamba and CAR. Its a wonder they are not shooting each other. these days they have graduated to looking for Al Quaeda from under the hijabs of somali women. But someone forgot to tell them what to do with unarmed civilians who had lost their fear of death. It kind of reminds me of my childhood. You see we grew up hearing the sound of bullets everyday -all because of Museveni who couldn’t be happy with being a loser but had to cause caos just so that he could be president. Interestingly, he now finds it treasonous that anyone else could have the enfrontery to dream of doing what he himself did years ago.

Today I chose to brush up on my Frantz Fanon as I haven’t read him in a long time. In “Black skin, White Masks”, Frantz Fanon stated that, “Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit in with the core belief.”

In many ways this reminds me of the confused NRM leaders and politicians. They are so confused right now they do not seem to know whether they are coming or going. For years, they have held the core belief that they are indispensable to Ugandans that they now cannot believe what is going on in the streets. No amount of intimidation appears to be making a difference. Helicopter gunsips, jet fighters, battle hardened mean looking soldiers armed to the teeth, lying ministers, incompetent policemen -nothing seems to scare Ugandans anymore these days.

In September 2009, one of Museveni’s very junior soldiers without any claim to royalty was annointed a king by Emperor Museveni. Immediately he was annointed, he started to grow wings as my late grandmother would say. According to him, the Kabaka of Buganda his overlord needed a visa to cross the line into his imaginary kingdom. Can you imagine the precendent? Should the Kabaka now demand visas from the Omukama’s of Bunyoro and Toro before they can come to Kampala? Should every chairman of a cultural institution now be declared a king regardless of whether they have a historical claim to royalty or not? How representative are cultural associations and how are these chairpersons elected? Should the clan heads of each clan in Buganda or Bunyoro each clan bigger than the whole fictitious kingdom of Kayunga now be declared kings? After all they are bona fide cultural leaders with pedigrees going back 800 years.

But I digress. I was talking about the point at which Museveni overcalled his hand and forever lost the power to cow Ugandans. Unless he is willing to use thiose guns, they really are just providing negative publicity. I now hear of 32 heads of state you previously boasted were coming to Kampala, only 7 are showing up, among those Uncle Bob and that guy from Djibouti whose people want to remove. I understand you are getting so desperate that you are asking Al Bashir to come to Kampala too. Obviously Uncle Gad will not be coming as he has a little problem with protestors whom he ordered shot dead and they refused to ide -or at least more seemed to come out of nowhere to replace them. You see for as long as no one was challenging Museveni except Kony, he could continue to pretend that he was a democrat. I did however warn you that should protestors go out into the street Tunisia style, that Museveni would respond like Ghadafi. And boy did he not? But contrary to the response he expected, people seem to be more and more fired up. Now he understands what our childhood was like. We used to call gunshots popcorn and virtually danced to them. People used to walk towards gunshots rather than away from them. Its because people lost their fear of death that he was able to get support for his war.

This of course brings me to those stupid little districtets that you guys have created? What exactly possessed you to pander to every whim and fanciful notion that every village should have a district? I know that in Uganda the state has all of the resources and the incumbent uses them to control support. is it any wonder that each time you extend your patronage to a new “district”, you add new seats to the NRM side of parliament? Is this not some sort of gerry mandering or could it be better called bribery? Today, I READ Afande Mugira’s response to accusations that the hammer man who broke Besigye’s car windows works with CMI and is former interahamwe. His response was quite frankly ashaming. Now I understand why Museveni does not trust or respect the security assessments of his security chiefs. Together with the interview with Tinyefunza on the same topic, one wonders who really is in charge of our security. I always thought that one had to be sharp to be put in charge of security but obviously not. Afande Mugira suggests that the hammer man was Besigye’s supporter trying to give him a hammer. Really, surrounded by a ring of five police cars, and numerous battle ready dogs of war armed to the teeth which suicidal idiot would break the cordon? And why would the police allow him to anyway? Worse still why would he break the windows of Besigye’s car in order to pass him a weapon, the hammer?

Is there some illegal stuff passed around in security circles because quite frankly the statements coming out of them are apalling. Commander Kale seems to have been muzzled as has his girfriend Nabakooba. That will not be enough though. He really needs to resign before he gets pushed. Even old man kivedinha was now shut up. Hopefully the new cabinet reshuffle will retire him for good. As for Kayihura, one wonders how he is going to redeem himself. Now I hear your boys are lined up ready to do battle with protesters at City Square and harvest meat for sumbusa to be served to the guest tomorrow. Actually am told they are already busy cracking heads. Who exactly gives the orders to your troops? One would be forgiven for thinking that the opposition are the ones giving the orders in order to ensure that the innauguration on Thursday is a shambles. You know this is going to come back to bite your collective bum, dont you? The police is under a microscope and you are going to cope plenty of flac whether you realise it or not. Human rights Watch has already done its own investigation and concluded that at least ten people killed in the recent protests need further investigation. A previous report by Human Rights Watch again found at least 13 innocent people were killed by your forces. Of course you and I know what happened at Kasubi when Museveni ill advisably arrogantly walked into a beehive causing the deaths of 3 people. Interestingly despite abundant photo evidence, the governments security forces denied having shot those people. In an insult to the intelligence of all Ugandans, they brazenly suggested that the shooter was a member of the public and not their men. The commander that day was none other than Commander Muhoozi. You do know that the buck stops with the commander? I can predict that these deaths are not going to go away. The deaths of innocents will never go unpunished. Besigye returns to Kampala via Entebbe tomorrow. Its going to be interesting watching your security forces stuff their feet into their mouths.

In 1980, people gathered along entebbe road to welcome back Prof Lule who had been rumoured to be returning that day. Instead of Lule, the minister for Defence drove through the crowds who were unhappy to see him. His guards shot in the air. Two people died that day. That Minsiter for Defence was Yoweri Museveni.

You know, the more things change, the more things remain the same. There is money to be eaten on Thursday. Did you too get a contract? IT, catering maybe? It is rumoured that those who are close to the kitty reward themselves with contracts that quite frankly are no better than air. A few years ago as a student, I came across this mafia at a conference organised throught the presidents office. I was appointed to the French desk because I do speak kifaransa. A few girls appointed tot he French desk too, did not speak a word of the language. I soon found out that they were all related to the lady who run everything. At the end of the day, I also found out that they were being paid more than me who actually spoke French. The guy who had the contract for IT services also provided registration services for several thousand delegates. His sole employee was his wife. He was the son of an NRM bigwig. His service was so slow it wasn’t funny … I know as I was the one coping the flack from delegates. I know that little has changed since. the transcipts of GAVI and CHOGM tell the story quite clearly.

I am sure if you did not get a contract to supply sumbusa to the delagates, you must be the only one. I wonder whether the taxpayer gets a refund on all of that money budgeted for 32 heads of state if only 7 turn up. I do know however that i for one will not be holding my breath.

A golden oldie; do you guys have any analysts?

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 7:29pm

Dear Nina,

A friend reminded me of this letter I sent to you after the elections. In it I predicted the exact scenario that would lead to protests in kampala. At the time you returned it to me return to sender.

At the time I said, quote;

“The question has been asked as to whether Uganda is ripe for the Jasmine revolution. I personally don’t believe it is yet but I have no doubt that it will be! Uganda has all of the hallmarks but at the moment does not have equipoise! These elections are unlikely to be the trigger! https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150092832897681 .

Something else say Somalia spilling over into Uganda, another attack on the Kabaka or Omukama, A MISJUDGED HEAVY HANDED TREATMENT OF A PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATION or just about anything could trigger one. Certainly Otunnu cannot trigger one even though am sure he would love to! Only Museveni can prevent a Jasmine revolution by learning from Egypt and Tunisia and pre emptying it by making clear and activating his retirement plan!”

http://www.facebook.com/notes/drew-ddembe/2011-elections-quick-thoughts/10150101608607681?notif_t=note_comment

Do you guys really have any analysts? Because as it is I seem to be doing better than all of your overpaid hacks.

You know that I do really have a soft spot for you. So I really hate to tell you I told you so. Butas usual you and your government always ignore good advice.

While I am saying i told you so, I will remind you that I predicted riots once Kayihura announced his strategy for combatting those who sought to walk to work -and like robots programmed to fail, the NRM machinery proceeded to self destruct.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/drew-ddembe/igps-press-conference-kayihura-needs-a-refresher-course-on-crowd-psychology-and-/10150150846997681

A victory all up in a puff of smoke.

Friday, May 13, 2011 at 12:29am

Dear Nina,

Am sure you have now left Kololo where our money has just been spent feeding tyrants like Mugabe. I know I shouldn’t be reminding you but i just cannot help telling you that i told you so. This is a pyrrhic victory. All of Museveni’s joy at winning just went up in a puff of smoke just like the billions spent at Kololo today.

I remember you and your aunt Alice assuring all and sundry that you yellow girls would rub the noses of everyone in it on this day. That all of Museveni’s critics would slink off into the sunset and that you would have the party of all parties.

Today, I actually pitied you. Most of all I pitied poor Museveni. How can you be robbed of victory in your moment of triumph. When you are powerful, have mean soldiers, have all sorts of hardware designed to cause pain and humiliation. Yet its you who ends up getting humiliated.

You are a lady so am sure you understand the feeling of a girl who gets humiliated by her fiancees ex turning up to her wedding better dressed than the bride. The enfrontery. The rudeness. The arrogance. Many a bride has jumped across the high table and tackled the offending female. Am sure that today, Museveni felt like starngling someone.But you know the monsters one creates do rise up to bite you. I did warn you that Besigye who was destined for his farm to rear ducks and goats has now been given a big shot of political viagra ironically by President Museveni himself. Thats what you get for putting a boy in charge. You do know that he sent his boy to take care of things but all just backfired. If you are going to assassinate a man do it properly -so dont send a boy who has never made his rocks to kill a man who has been to hell and back. Ugandans have been to hell and back and now they see you taking them back to hell in a basket.

The NRM and Museveni have this simplistic notion that they are the annointed keepers of the constitution. They seem to forget that no one has got a monopoly on protecting the constitution and Museveni will not be the last man to claim that he went to the bush to do so. Of course as we now know that claim hides lots of self seekers whose only goal is power for the sake of power itself. You recognise them from their inability to understand that true powr lies in being able to let it go … that a man or woman who is unable to give up power voluntarily is a slave and not the master of power.

I really wonder how long it will take those soldiers now whipping people expressing their right to fete and celebrate whoever they want, that they are being used. Used by the very same people to blame for their unfortunate circumstances. Isnt it surprising that the people protesting can actually afford the necessities of life much better than the average soldier. Could you ever contemplate living in a mama ingia pole with all of your brood? And am not talking the two and a half children. The poor who include police officers and army men have lots of children many times from lots of women. Its not unknown for two women to share one man in one mama ingia pole. I dont want to inagine the kind of sexual education their children get … unless of course their mothers choose to bite their tongues. But you do know nature .. these things sometimes overwhelm one.

Besigye is rejuvenated. Who could say what a few beatings and broken bones could do to a mans fortunes. even Mao has obtained a few kudos points as a result of getting arrested while poor Otunnu is now trying to stand up there with the big boy. He too has a headache apparently from that dye your boys were dishing out. If they can avoid tripping over their ego’s this is going to be one hell of a rocky five years for the son of Kaguta -if he last the course. There will be no shortage of politicians offering themselves to be beaten up and arrested. Unfortunately like trained Pavlovian dogs, Kayihura’s boys and Muhoozi’s boys will have little trouble granting them their wish. I must admit if I were Kaguta I would relieve those two of their duties as their activities in the last three weeks have brought him a lot of “bukyayi”. They are virtually sabotaging him.

You know bizibu come in doubles. President Museveni had to lose face in front of his invited tyrants. He showed then that he was not in charge of his household. I wonder what comrade Mugabe was thinking on the way back when stones were raining on his convoy. I understand he was so bored at Kololo he slept trough it all or was it just his age. You know at that age, the flight from Harare is no mean feat. even more worrying is the virus he inadvertently took back to Harare with him. Ugandans have been displaying to the Zimbabweas who were always doppy anyway how to do it. I have never seen people as sleepy. Even Zim robbers are polite. Not like Ugandan ones. Can you imagine Zim security men turn up to the scene of a crime with batons. Which self respecting Ugandan robber would be armed wth anything less than an AK47. Trust me if Uncle robert does not do himself a favour and have a coronary, his people are going to be picking up some cues from Kampala. As for the man in Djibouti ..talk about dead men walking. I hope your boys are not going to accuse me of sedition. You know that stupid law got struck off our legal statutes.

Am still interested in knowing if the taxpayer will get a refund on their money for that pathetic display at Kololo as less than a thrid of the invited guest actually turned up. You refused to tell me if you got yourself a little contract with good njawulo. Am not allergic to a woman of means you know. Who cares where the money comes from. As for those with nugu, wama where were they when you guys were fighting and they were hiding under the bed.

Unfortunately Ugandans have refused to hide under the bed any longer and leave the show to the guys with guns alone. The sight of those people defying your military goons and thieving police to escort Besigye back home while eclipsing what was supposed to be the biggest party in the land kind of gives one a taste of things to come. Life is not going to be easy and a wise one would start finessing their exit strategy.

Now the second part of the circus is about to begin with the blackmail, intrigue and greed. Am talking about sharing the national cake aka appointing a cabinet. I hear Old man Kaguta in addition to handing over to himself for the umpteenth time wanted to sneak in all of the old codgers without allowing them to sweat before the appointments committee in parliament. I can only imagine the bitchiness and blackmail going on behind close doors. Is daddy dear going to survive? Plus a few more useless ministries were created like that for Kampala, Bunyoro etc to add to that of Ethics and Karamoja. Why cant all of these just be departments in the same ministry if there really is any need to grant them a special status. Of course we know that one for Bunyoro was designed to distract them while their oil is carted away to enrich everybody else but Banyoro.

Poor foreign journalists were confused today. They didnt know whether to go to Entebbe or to attend the boring ceremony at Kololo. The poor local stations were barred from showing anything but the kololo events. But the world has changed. SMS, twitter and FB gave upto date minute by minute accounts together with photo and video footage. The old heads in cabinet don’t quite get it. this thing has got a life of its own. Its a medusa. If you cut one head off, it will sprout another five.

As the French would say, a tout a l’heur

We need term limits back

Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 8:22pm

Dear Nina,

I can see that you remain loyal to daddy and his master Museveni and hope that you can prempt their inevitable demise. I must say that you are on to a losing battle. The NRM has for long perfected the art of corrupting dissenters. they didnt always beat them up like they did Uncle Besi owamaaso. The bought them, gave them commissions of inquiry whose results would never be published, sent them overseas on scholarship or posted them to obscure embassies. if you doubt me wait for the cabinet list next week. As you know it is silly season with every politician begging and blackmailing to get onto that list. If you really seek change in the NRM, and are not wobbly, you are going to have to sing from outside. i told you Buddha only got real enlightenment when he left the palace and walked among real people in the city streets.

Its true that many of us from the Museveni generation had great hope in the NRM. You will be surprised to know that most of those on the internet speaking out against Museveni are his children born or brought up in the NRM be it in Kampala or Gulu. Those who saw violence under his watch in the north may express their rage but it is the same rage that abused children express towards an abusive father while those who were supposed to just be happy because daddy is in charge are not happy because they are now adults and can see that daddy was never perfect even if he may have appeared to be so when they were children. That he is slipping, he has lost his touch and is getting senile.

I formed the opinion a long time ago that it was impossible to change the NRM from within. As an organisation it took on a life of its own. Paranoid. Rejecting anything that did not fit the official narrative. The body whose only role is to serve its head Museveni.

No one has expressed a clear disagreement with the NRM and stayed. And those who have stayed have become choir members. The body is there only to feed the head. If any part of the body takes on a life of its own, like a cancer it is rejected and cut out and thrown away. The only thing that protects Nina is who she is. even then there are petitions.

Until I see a clear challenge within the NRM for the party presidency not the orchestration that we have become accustomed to, I do not see any evidence that the NRM is independent of Museveni. Museveni is the NRM and the NRM is Museveni. In its current form without internal reform, it will die once he dies and in desperation they will have to seek another of his blood in an attempt at keeping it alive.

We have been bashing the opposition but the reality is that the weaknesses within the opposition can themselves be blamed on Museveni and the NRM. On principle I believe that for the country to be governed with accountability, we have got to have a strong opposition.

Museveni cannot claim to believe in democracy when he treats his opposition like dirt. When he allows the lowliest of his minions to bash and humiliate senior members of the opposition just days before his innauguration yet claims they were invited, does he really expect them to attend?

Museveni is a true herdsman. In a kraal there can only be one alpha male. But that form of government is a monarchy. In a democracy there are other power centres. Parliament. The judiciary. The speaker. The chief justice. Civil society. Each independent of the other, all working together towards a common goal.

It is the role of the opposition to critque the government and its policies. To question them. To demand accountability. Museveni constrains that role. He has come to believe that to question him is kamanyiro. Its to cause dissent and riots. He believes in controlling the flow of information. All news is supposed to be president Museveni yagambye. That is so old hat. even when children grow up while they may respect their parents as they should, they no longer believe that their parents are the fountain of all wisdom.

There is little evidence of the much touted collective responsibility of the NRM apart from show for the cameras. What Museveni wants, Museveni gets. And no one will stand in his way.

When term limits were removed, that was the biggest mistake Ugandans made. When idots like Kakooza are allowed to even suggest that term durations will now be tampered with to prolong term limits from five to seven or even ten years, one sees the hand of Museveni. For in 25 years there has been no evidence at all that Museveni wishes to relinquish power. I am very sure that short of pressure on Museveni, come 2016, Ugandans will be going through the same problem of one old man who believes that the country is forever beholden to him and his band of 27 trouble causers.For this alone Besigye deserves to be declared a national hero but I will not hold my breath. In a way his brutal treatment has served to temporarily gloss over the big problems with our opposition that i will not go into today. But if they can avoid tripping over their ego’s its possible that we could finally have an opposition worthy of the name. Museveni has no intention of giving power to ugandans so it will have to be taken from him, just like it was this week.

NRM members with a conscience owe it to Ugandans to reinstate term limits. It should be the first duty of the 9th parliament to discuss imposing term limits and if necessary going to a referendum. We cannot rely on an unprincipled parliament such as the one that passed the Kabaka muzzling bill or accepted 20 million shillings with unclear TOR’s to make this decision for Ugandans.

It is no coincidence that in South Africa Nelson Mandela set the pace by stepping down after his first term. With his history, and the ANC dominance of South African politics, he could have easily have stayed on till he was completely senile.

In America George Washington set the tenor by refusing to stand for a thrid term. He even had to be persuaded to stand for a second. The confederate states set their term limits at 6 years. President Roosevelt served for 4 terms dying shortly after his election for a 4th term. This led to an amendment formalising the term limits to two terms.

Museveni and the NRM were given virtual carte blanche in Uganda. The constitution making exercise restored confidence in government. Until Museveni and his colleagues raped Ugandans of their rights by amending a limit imposed by the whole country by horse trading among themselves for a mere 2000 coins of silver.

The events of the last few weeks demonstrate more the weakness of Museveni and his government than the strength of the opposition. It also demonstrates the strength and resilience of Ugandans. The willingness of Besigye to be a lightning rod for Museveni’s anger at being defied and humiliated despite his military strength and monopoly on instruments of pain and death has brought Ugandans together.

It has for so long been believed that power in Uganda lies in the gun. Despite evidence to the contrary in the many displays of the traditional leaders like Kabaka Mutebi whose ability to command a crowd is unrivalled, or the child king of Toro who had adults trecking miles to bow obeissance to a baby in nappies or those who go to the Omukama of Bunyoro’s palace. This power coalesced unbid into the so called Buganda riots when at the command of President Museveni his troops rioted killing 30 people and injuring scores more. Further defiance at Kasubi caused the further death of 3 people but even then, Baganda defied him to stage a day of mourning that ground budiness down to halt declaring an unofficial public holiday. All of these are the events that have led to where we are now. from here on Museveni will have to force his will by shooting people. And shooting people will bring him closer and closer to the ignominous end of his predecessors and he will forever be a hunted man.

The only recourse is to hand power back to the people. this is the only exit plan that makes sense. Museveni may try to go back to his old tricks of buying out enemies. He will offer minsitries to members of the opposition. Maleable people who are for sale to the highest bidder like Nasser. But this will only result in a bloated innefficient government that will be a further burden on Ugandan taxpayers.

Ugandans are already fed up with the wastage of their money on fools errands they were not consulted upon. Granted security is important but so is health. Baganda say that he who does not have teeth does not buy boned meat. Why did we have to buy fighter jets with capabilities that make them expensive toys? Capabilities we are not likely to need in the near future unless we anticipate going to war and getting anihilated by South Africa or Egypt?

Do we need a man who has made his lifes work war since his students days in the 60′s to continue send our children into senseless wars we do not believe in nor benefit from? the attempt to link the purchase of fighter jets to oil is even more alarming. Is this how our oil money is going to be managed? By spending it on modern baubles and glass beads before we even get any oil out of the ground let alone sell it?

The NRM has got to stand up and be counted. Those who joined the NRM because they wanted Uganda to be a better place need to show their hands. Those within the NRM have got to show their dissent. The debate on museveni’s future is a national issue that will determine whether hand over of power to a future leader will be peaceful or will involve war. This is not something to be left to Museveni alone for he has shown himself incapable of being objective in his quest for power. Hiding behind collective responsibility will not hide the fact that thosein the NRM are cowards who have sold our country. They have got to understand that we are on the brink of war and their actions will bring it upon us.

The events of the next few weeks will be interesting. People will continue to walk to work without permits. The best way of dealing with the problem ironically is to let them walk. To call the dogs of war back to the barracks. To recall the IGP back to the barracks and send him off to some obscure staff college where hopefully they teach about crowd psychology and crowd control as well as community policing. That is of course if he really fancies himself a policeman. And please do not send him to Somalia as that will only attract more bombs to Kampala if he deals with somali dissent the same way he deals with Ugandan protestors.

Since you insist on staying inside the kintu, convey the message to the eaters within that people want term limits back and will judge them if they cannot stand up to Museveni.

Why Museveni needs to retire, the NRM needs to die to grow stronger and Besigye, Mao and Otunnu need to talk.

Sunday, May 15, 2011 at 8:34pm

Dear Nina,

Today I chose to write to you a letter that may bring you some comfort to you -not much compfort I must say because it still calls for the ouster of the NRM from power. It was written in response to a submission by one of your NRM chaps to my letter to you on the need to bring term limits back. I suspect he thought he was coming to your aid given you still havent reaponded to my letters.Kanhertum, I thank you for your submission.

I find it interesting that you read from the same script as many other NRM supporters and operatives who assume that to suggest that Museveni should go is necessarily to support the FDC or to wish for your demise amid chaos.

Paradoxically while I would love to see Museveni go and pray for that everyday -am sure thats not treason, I do not wish to see chaos. And neither do i wish to see you killed or molested or exiled because you are an NRM supporter.

I think that the NRM needs to go. Its bloated, its corrupt, and it has lost sight of whatever ideals it ever professed to have. Its main strength right now is that it controls the countries resources and can utilise them to fund its continuing stranglehold on state power. Essentially it has got enough funds to bribe everybody including those within and without the movement.In addition the independence of the army is questionable as is the continuing involvement of soldiers in parliament. The militarisation of the police has been a disaster and Museveni is out of control. Soon it is going to be annouced that the firt order of business of the 9th parliament will be to pass an unconstitutional law making several political offences non bailable. If ever there was any doubt that Museveni has lost it, this is it.

I do not believe in single party politics. Effectively a strong ruling party and a weak opposition party equals bad government for the opposition unable to perform its role of providing an alternate government is worthless. am all for a powerful duopoly with a strong opposition ready to step in if the ruling party messes up or sleeps at the wheel.Many of these small single issue me too parties such as that one of Bwanika and Betty Kamya really need to die and be absorbed into stronger parties. UPC and DP as we know it are both dying and have been for a long time and its time to bury them and their mebers be co opted into anew party.

Do I think that the opposition has got its problems? Yes. But most of those problems can be attributed to the NRM and Museveni while others are organisational and internal. Museveni has in many ways been a cannibal who has cannibalised everything in order to empower himself and undermine all institutions in Uganda. Some are related to the big egos of the principles in the main 3 parties. The recent elections have already provided enough figures for the pecking order in the opposition. Alone, each one of them is weak. together as just demonstrated in the recent W2W protests, all of them are strong. there is no doubt that at present Besigye is in the lead but there is no way that he is going to do this without the others.

I do not like marriages of convenience. Its for that reason that i do not like the idea of coalitions of the NRM and the opposition. Such a government would be hoodwinking the general public and result in a large expensive government with little dividends except temporary peace.

What is needed is a mature process like the one that formed UPC in the late 50′s. A coming together of different political parties and factions into one powerful and cohesive party. And here am not talking about coalitions and marriages of convenience. Am talking about dissolution of existing parties. The only thing standing in the way of this is the ego’s of various individuals in Uganda’s opposition. unfortunately the three leaders all happen to have big egos, Mao to a lesser extent than the other two. Besigye has demonstrated himself to be still relevant to the struggle so he cannot be simply and easily pushed aside while Otunnu has shown himself to be a lot less useful than had been anticipated given his impressive CV but this does not mean that he is useless. i will mention Kamya who unfortunately chose to distance herself from the W2W protests. She demonstrated herself to have powerful organisational abilities in the Reform Agenda but her abilities got lost in the horse trading when FDC was formed. Quite frankly apart from th e muslim vote i personally believe she was a much better asset to Besigye than was the late Kiggundu who was tainted by the Greenland scandal. it would be prudent to consider ways of bringing her back.

This unfortunately means that the current formula of regional balancing taking a back seat to merit needs to be reassessed. That is the root of corruption. The horse trading that the NRM does and the blackmain is what has lead to the balooning of government and subnational administrative units. We need to bring back merit politics. Ugandans have been si distanced from government except during elections that the only way we have confidence that some gravy may fall our way is if we have a son of the soil from our very own village in government. So each village wants its own ministry and its own district.

Besigye is in his thrid term of office. He is not eligible to stand again as party president. As a matter of fact one could say that having stood three times he should go away and get a microfinance loan and rear ducks and goats like the rest of us. Fortunately or unfortunately, Museveni just delivered him a massive shot of political viagra. He has invested blood and pain into showing Ugandans that museveni can be defied. He has contributed to demystifying the gun. All those tough soldiers that Museveni put out on the street may hold instruments of death and pain, but they are powerless in the face of a population that has lost their fear. this is true people power. So far the temptation to take up arms and fight it out has been avoided which is good but one wonders for how much longer.

The NRM is in need of serious reform if it wishes to remain relevant to the future of Uganda. It is too bloated. Too corrupt. Too accomodative of mediocrity. Too behoden to one man and his family. in its current form it is not likely to survive beyond Museveni. Furthermore should it lose power, it is likely to end up in oblivion almost like the UPC.

That too is not good for Uganda. If Besigye ever comes into power, the very problems that bedevil the NRM and Museveni and contribute to their prolonged incubence will be the very same problems he will face. As a matter of fact it should not be left upto Besigye or any other politician to decide how long he can rule. Museveni has just put an end to the experiment and flirtation with unlimited terms and proven that he was right when he said that the problem of Africa was rulers who did not want to live power. Besigye too will need term limits to control him. He may wish to stand down after his term but why should we leave it to him to decide? He is only a man and men are weak.

The point here is that we need structures that are independent of the predidency and the executive. Parties too need structures by which they can control their heads just like the ANC was able to ask Mbeki to step down. The NRM has no such structure by which to hold Museveni accountable. they effectively all become lackeys working to his whim and benefit. Thats a recipe for impunity and is a bad combination when comined with a huge ego. Besigye’s ego is an asset to the opposition now but it will be a liability when he is president. Ditto Otunnu’s ego which is even bigger than Besigye’s. So they all need to be in a party that has independent structures that have the power to limit their powers and censor them when they are out of line. So term limits are required as are an independent judiciary, legislature etc. Term durations shouldnt be tinkered with either. the electoral commisssion needs to be independent and accountable. and the opposition needs to be institutionalised and strong too. thats the only way we can have stable politics.

I know that the west likes to deal with strongmen so they dont have to go through the red tape of having to deal with a country that has laws. But the interests of the west are not necessarily our interests and they will need to adjust and accept that too.If out children are going to die in Somalia, we would like to be consulted and discuss it in parliament because Uganda is not at war with somalia so the president does not have to exercise emergency powers. If we are going to buy futuristic jets, the defence comittees should be briefed by suitably qualified experts given the commitment of the countrs resources and defences. This was not an emergency purchase that required a supplementary budget. Oil contracts should be transparent as should any waivers of capital gains tax such as Tullow and Herdsman sought to steal from the Ugandan taxpayer. We should have no obligation to honour the contracts of companies that believe that there only responsibility is to their foreign shareholders when its our resources they are exploiting. If they do not have corporate responsibility and ethics they should not be doing business in uganda.

In summary, Museveni and the NRM need an exit plan for they are in trouble. The opposition needs to take this opportunity to create a powerful new entity that is organised from the grassroots to the national level and offers more than simplistic rhetoric or capitalises on agende. To begin with they should have polciy and position statements from suitably qualified experts using verifiable figures on Museveni’s recent promouncements on the solutions to fuel and food prices. The budget is coming up so this year i expect to hear a well reasoned response to the governments budget again using verifable figures. A position statement on our air defence capabilities and needs and critique of the governments recent purchase of fighter jets is overdue as is a well reasoned our foreign affaors obligations including our involvement in Somalia as well as our relationships with Rwanda, Congo, Sudan and the East African union. A policy and startegy statement on corruption and their alternate plans for manageing it once in power is long overdue too. There is no advantage to Ugandans of having Besigye in power without an opposition or a week opposition. Destroying the NRM completely is therefore not in the best interests of Ugandans. Public confidence in the police and judiciary will need to be reinstated.

A Besigye, Mao or Otunnu with absolute power and a weak opposition will too become a dictator. So we need to work on the institutions to control the power of the presidency now both within the parties as well as within government.P.S I wouldn’t worry too much about Besigye having served three terms if I were you. He is serving his third term as party president but the FDC constitution does not actually bar him from being elected their presidential candidate again. Having done him a favour and resurrected his political career, you only have yourselves to blame.

Banange whats with the panic?

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at 12:31am

Dear Nina,

I know its that time of the year and all of you guys in the eating circles are jostling each other for a place at the eating table. Its silly season you know. All roads lead to Rwakitura. I hear President Museveni acknowledged your contribution to his success. Does that mean that a large piece of meat is likely to fall your way? Should I sharpen my knife and get ready to eat things? I am sure the usual suspects are busy selling their mothers for a piece of the pie. And this time the pie is bigger too as am told they added some extra slices.

To begin with the Banyoro were offered their very own piece of the pie marked and stamped Bunyoro not t be shared with any non munyoro. This one is ring fenced that oxymoron cined by Museveni to disguise naked tribalism. Its amazing how a government that came into power on antisectarian credentials and even created a few laws against it has so polarized our society that tribalism is worse than when they came in. And they have formalised it by balkanising every dstrict into small non finacially viable districtlets divided along ethnic lines. Do you remember that proposal for ring fencing MP positions in Bunyoro? I wouldn’t want to suggest that our president was smoking something so I will instead sugget that his advisors need to be breathalysed and also have toxicology screens for illegal substances. How in hell did they dream that one up? Monday has come upon us and true to form, Museveni’s army and police are providing comic relef. They really need to screen the IQ’s of their police recruits before inflicting them upon the unsuspecting public. I did expect a circus but this beats buffonery. Mbu they towed Besigye’s car without bothering to check the occupants and then realised it was Winnie on arriving at the station. Now one wonders why they towed the car. Is it because afande Tinyefunza suggested that thats what he would have done at Mulago? And the daft idiots took that as an order and the template for any future interactions with Besigye -attach and tow to the police station! Banange! My grandmother, bless her soul, would have said “embuzi zino” and I guarantee that would have been an insult to goats!

So whats up with that? Is Besigye now under house arrest? I can really understand why your guys pee in their pants the moment the guy steps outside his gate. Did you watch that display on Entebbe road when he humiliated and embarrassed poor YKM on the day of his own innauguration? If that was a wedding and YKM was the mugole, he would have banned Besigye from even so much as looking in his direction. Had it been me I too would have put him under house arrest. How could the man defeat the whole Museveni with battle hardened troops, nasty pain causing and death dealing hardware all the time with only one arm and no guns! Kale that is kamanyiro. and the man had only one hand the other bandaged up thanks to Museveni’s goons. But on the other hand, sevres Kaguta right. One would have thought he would have got it by now and called off the dogs.

One would have thought that your people were intelligent enough to realise that if you do the same thing again and again and always get the same result, you should not expect a different result the next time. I would have thought that if they were really bright, they would have got it by now. They are either going to have to go hammer and tongs and declare a state of emergency and panda gari or go back to the barracks. Their presence on the streets inflames the situation. The attitude of soldiers to conflict and offence is to give no quarter regrdless of the casualties the more the better. This is a perfect recruiting tool for the opposition as well as any armed insurgence that would be the inevitable result of continuing harrassment. Those youths who were ready and willing to receive kiboko last Thursday on Entebbe road would given a good reason and radicalised enough be willing to rise an army. But why am I telling you this? Didnt the NRM ride on exactly the same discontent to fight their own war?

You know I previously asked you who was in charge of Kampala? I think I should have asked who exactly is in charge of your government! Blunder after blunder, mistake after mistake. Poor understanding of communication and new social networking tools. Poor understanding of the law. Now I hear you have lost it and are going to pass a bill removing the right to bail and effectively the right to the presumption of innocence. You do realise that these are political crimes dont you? Anyone remember detention without trial? Am pretty sure Museveni said it was a bad law and one of the reasons he fought Obotes bad government. Of all the important things that parliament needs to do, you guys think this is the most important? It appears to me like you guys are on aslippery slope to nowhere. Howare you going to combat the inevitable comparisons with Amin and his economic crimes?Talking of symbolism, whats with the choice of the colour pink for the anti walkers cannons? Couldnt your fancy overpaid media and PR people tell you that that would immediately attract the gay lobby? Now you have them all over your backs. I even read one story that says that the protests were progay and the government deliberately chose that colour. Kale bano abazungu bamanyira. They were not even interested in the number of Ugandans killed by this regime.That however will not last very long. I can see moves to documents those killed in the 2009 protests and the 2010 Kasubi killings and now the many killings and the effect of rioting soldiers. These same goons were brought recently and te body count is mounting. This time each of those dead people is going to be documented. And those documents will not go away and will be added to everytime someone dies. I would really watch my step if I were your guys.

Now am not one to track in rumours but am starting to wonder whether there maybe some fire to the smoke that is buzzing around about afande Saleh. Mbu he is no longer with us. What exactly is going on there? At this rate he is going to have to show himself just to dispel the rumours.How could I go without mentioning that venerable old man Nagenda. I grew up reading newspapers. Each time my father came home I greeted him -not for the sake of greeting him but to get the paper pff him. Monitor, Topic, New Vision etc. I grew up reading Nagenda. I loved the way he used prose and played with words …until he became just another paid hack in his dottage. Granted he occasionally gets some brif flashes of consceince and writes sense but most of the time these days and for the last few years, he writes nauseating sycophantic crap and senile drivel when he is not using the column to fight his personal vendettas with everyone -Wildlife Board, Hospice Ugandan Board, talking up BAT stock, etc! Such sycophantic crap was his last piece in the New Vison. I hope he is well paid he makes me wonder what the price for a soul is for surely his couldnt cost too much.

Now I need to stop laughing and go do a rel job. Naye you people you need to stop offering comic relief.

If the Museveni of 1986 met the Museveni of 2011, he would have him shot on sight.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 9:57pm

Dear Nina,

Its becoming apparent that your family do not like me writing to you. They are getting in the way of our blossoming love for which I have had to put up a spirited defence as you can see below.

Patrick, I believe we have already discussed Ssuubi. You have distracted me from writing to your sister in law Nina today. Am sure Nina will be happy for the reprieve.

Am not quite sure what your obsession with Ssuubi is as you keep bringing it up. I see no evidence that it is a national player nor has pretensions at being so. As far as am concerned it is just a lobbying group. Lobbying groups are acceptable ways of applying political pressure to achieve the goals of single interest groups and minorities. Museveni’s government pys lobbyists in Washington for that purpose. As such Ssuubi can deal with any political group that is willing to offer a quid pro quo.

I have not seen its presence in these W2W protests and neither have I seen any recent prominent headlines or comments attributed to it.

The fact that you keep trying to associate my stance with Ssuubi is interesting as the only link between Ssuubi and me is the fact that they are Baganda. I have never read their manifesto nor really followed their activities. And during the time that you knew me, I never even attended any Ganda activities including Nkoba zambogo.

But your obsession with them does tell me more about you. It suggests to me that you may have changed and no more be the Patrick that I knew and grew up with. That you are now wont to view everything with tribal lenses and are even willing to overlook the fact that in well over 1000 notes that I have written on FB, none deals with or mentions Ssuubi and that I only discussed it when you kept repeatedly bringing it up. In many ways it detracts from whatever point you may have been trying to make.

I have several times in my posts credited Museveni with being ahead of his opposition and chided the opposition for underestimating him. However this time things are different. All evidence suggests that Museveni has underestimated the current of dissatisfaction with his leadership. He has become predictable, even petulant. Say his recent pronouncements, lecturing foreign diplomats, declaring foreign journalists enemies, bashing up his opponents in front of cameras, bribing his rented parliament to pass laws against anyone and everyone who pisses him off etc.

The more things change, the more things remain the same. As one Frenchman said, “les vainqueurs prennent les vices des vaincus”! Museveni is day by day taking on the vices of those he opposed and fought. Quite frankly if the Museveni of 1986 met the Museveni of 2011, he would have him shot on sight. Shot because the Museveni of today isa traitor to the revolution that he purportedly ushered in.

The words “fundamental change” mean nothing today. When Museveni came into power, he suggested that driving a pregnant lady on Obotes Kampala roads could cause a miscarriage. But looking at Kampala today, its no wonder the miscarriage rate is so high. Mosquitoes should go on strike against him for they are blamed for nothing for all of those miscarriages they did not cause. He also stated that he disagreed with obote on his handling of Kasubi. “there is no need to kill people because they disagree with the government”, he declared! Today he is killing people for the same crime -disagreeing with him. Things like Grace ibingira’s “detention without trial” were declared by him as signs of a bad government. Today we have him trying to remove the presumption of innocence and the right to bail. He has previously attacked these same principles including the right to habeas corpus through his safe houses, the misuses of JATT forces to attack the high court house, as well as the misuse of the military court tribunal in order to bypass the traditional court system which does not play by his rules. In an address to African leaders during his innaugural address to that now defunct body, he dclared that the problem of Africa were leaders who overstayed in power (beyond 10 years). He presided over the country during a constitution making exercise that imposed a two term limit yet despite him sneakily resetting the clock and later when it suited him again bribing a heavily biased parliement into lifting terms. Now we talk about a third term whereas he has already served the equivalent of five terms and is now serving the sixth for which he just got sworn in.

Museveni has proven time and time again that he cannot let go of power. Interestingly a mans weakness tells one a lot about that man. In examining power we come to learn who or what Museveni is. A man enslaved by power, blinded by it to the point of failing to see that what is happening in Kampala now is a repeat of what has happened elsewhwre on the continent from Egypt to Libya. He fails to see that this is one battle he is not going to win. This is a problem of when …! He has a choice of either managing his own retirement while he can still manage that or waiting for those angry kids on the street to come and drag him out of a bunker.

Uganda has a large population of young unemployed youth dissatisfied with the status quo. They are unimpressed with development in which they do not share. while you Patrick and your children are enjoying the “progress” in this country, there are many who do not see their lot changing in the next few generations. Unemployment is virtually unrecordable and unmeasurable by any standardised means. even those who may report themselves as employed are really in disguised unemployment for surely the 20 or more tax touts at Wandegeya taxi stop couldn’t possibly be employed. Nor the 40 boda bodas at each stage. We wont even talk about the hundredes of thousands of graduates walking the street looking for an opening.

Many years ago I was a private student at Makerere. I will not bother you with the details but one day I talked to the late Dr Kisekka who was the then prime minister about how much university fees were. They have actually since come down significantly even though many Ugandans believe they have gone up -I was probably the first Ugandan private student and played a role in getting the senate and government to approve the scheme. Dr Kisekka told me about his younger days as a student and how he worked in a coffee factory to get his school fees. He suggested that i too should work in a cofee factory for wages to pay my fees. Of course the guy was so out of touch he couldnt even understand that what he proposed was impractical and completely unrealistic. But Ugandan politicians are so out of touch with the people they lead, they seem to believe that we view every word that drops of their lips as wisdom.

In many ways he reminds me of you guys who are so deep in the kintu that your repsonse to ordinary Ugandans plight is to ask them to eat cake aka Marie Antoinette! But we all know what happened to Marie Antoinette. But trust me, I would never wish what happened to Marie Antoinette on you or your family and thats why am willing to be the voice of warniing -you guys are sitting on a time bomb. And its ticking … tick, tock! And one day it will go kaboom and you will be wondering why no one wrned you! Anyway I went on and did my thing -without Kisekka.

A few years later, I sat in an office with a big Health ministry official in his classy well cut suits and perfect boots (I still remember his dress for I have an eye for nice cloths especially nice expensive boots), as he ordered the minstry accountant to locate money from any account including project accounts as his children had to go back to university in India. Ironically, he was in Mulago that day because internes were on strike for their backpay and an increase on their salary of under 200,000. He arrogantly told me that Uganda had more than enough doctors and did not need the interns whom he proceeded to evict from the hospital. Recruitment of doctors was subsequently frozen for 3 years. Clearly this person despite his position had no idea what he was doing. He hadn’t the slightest clue about the manpower requirements of his minstry yet he has since even been seconded to Geneva by this government. Talk about rewarding incompetence and mediocrity. Years later it dawned on the NRM that they really didnt have enough doctors but many of that group had voted with their feet and moved on to climes where they are better valued and not subject to the whims of incompetents.

You talk about corruption. True we should talk about corruption but we should start by cleaning house. this bunch is so corrupted by impunity, they dont even know what the word means. In 2006, Salim Saleh stated exactly that -that he did not understand the meaning of the word corruption and needed someone to explain it to him. Your own father in law was embroiled in a scandal that should remain on the records and the text books on what not to do when you are in a leadership position. Temangalo was so full of conflicts of interest, it wasn’t funny. He would have been much better off selling his land on the open market but of course would have had trouble getting a suitably loaded buyer offering him a reasonable price in the time schedule in which he needed the funds.

Of course we all know that the main culprits in the major scandals that this country has seen remain free -all because they are friends of Museveni in the kintu. Museveni has either pardoned them himself or condoned their behaviour or excused it. You would be very hard pressed to identify any single successful prosecution for corruption. How could this government claim to be tough on corruption? Are they deluded or do they take all of us for fools? As for nepotism, if the sheer number of family members from the Museveni and Janet clans in this government is any measure, God save us all.

You talk about winning elections. I have no personal knowledge of ballot stuffing but one can extrapolate from the Kampala mayoral race saga in which Sematimba a full pastor involved in vote stuffing but went on to be allowed to stand again instead of getting disqualified. If it happened in Kampala, it could have happened elsewhere. Museveni’s own polling station was disqualified as apparently the number of voters there were twice the registered number of voters. One place in Gulu had more Banyakitara names than you could find in Kabale! And we are not talking about metropolitan Gulu!

But more serious is the obvious abuse of office specifically the misuse of government funds to fund the ruling party and the incumbents re election. Surely you did not fail to notice that the president awarded himself 650 billion during campaigns thanks to a corrupted actually bribed parliament (20 million a piece). Surely you dont think the bills stuffed in those brown envelopes he was handing out came from selling cows at Rwakitura! Furthermore a further 6.5 billion was spent on buying LC’s in the form of an ex -gratia payment timed perfectly just before an election. Now given you say you have been involved in many elections, you would be aware that the LC’s are the gateway to the villages and anyone wishing to do “kakuyege” has to first knock on the door of the village headman and his councillors and in turn they will knock on the doors of the residents. In some cases, some of the residents will simply vote for whoever the “chayimani” suggested in this case the man in the hat!

Regarding numbers, Uganda has over 13 million eligible voters of whom about half voted. Of the 13 million, the NRM claims to have 9 million registered as NRM members. These numbers suggest that even among NRM voters, about half did not even bother to vote, while almost half of all eligible voters did not bother to vote at all. this of course suggests that that often repeated 68% tells a more complex story than you would have us believe.

We need to be serious. A government that has presided over such incompetence and corruption for 25 years surely cannot be expected to do better in five! We could all think like paesants and vote for whoever gave us some sugar and soap or some waragi or we can discuss these issues and justify all of that money that our parents spent on our fancy education. To do less would be to dishonour our parents sacrifices!

P.S:Disclosure my parents voted NRM as they always have and went to Kololo while the rest of my siblings went to Entebbe road. Do the maths.

Those who cannot learn from history, are doomed to repeat it!

Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 12:17pm

Dear Nina,

Now you are about to be declared my muse.

Todays letter has been inspired by two quotes from your FB page. One is about an event in Uganda’s history and a letter written in 1967 about events that perfectly mirror Uganda today. Given that those events led to chaos and disaster as well as hundreds of thousands of deaths and we are yet to recover, it behooves everyone to read that letter and the events carefully.

The 1967 constitution was illegal. It was written by two people in what Binaisa boasts was one night. It was introduced to a compromised (an illegal parliament) that was detained till they passed it. It was called the famous “pigeon hole” constitution!

The KY-UPC post independence government was a constituted as a coalition in the Westminster tradition. When differences emerged in 1966, it should have been resolved and the parties should have returned to the electorate to get fresh mandate for their new ideas and a new government.

Instead, Obote staged a parliamentary coup, deposed and exiled the head of state, unilaterally declared a republic without seeking fresh mandate to do so and declared a state of emergency. He subsequently abrogated the constitution and imposed the pigeon hole constitution. He then arrested and detained dissenting citizens and politicians. In the events of 1966 when sections of the country specifically in Buganda rose up gainst him in unarmed protests, he ordered them beaten and shot. As you are ware, Museveni has already repeated these events despite declaring when he came to power that Obote was wrong in all of his brutal actions in 1966 despite provocation.

This in effect made Obote Uganda’s first dictator. He went on to rule without seeking fresh mandate until he was deposed by his pet bulldog Idi Amin in 1971.

The main highlight of the 1967 constitution was consolidation of power into one mans hands. The lead up to that event was the destruction of other power centres the biggest of whom was the social giant, the Kabaka of Buganda. Other power centres like the opposition were detained and imprisoned. Of note is that Museveni passed the “Kabaka muzzling bill” in a rushed and incompetent process soon after bribing members of parliament, recalling them after recess for elections and rushing through the debates and extending the session into the late evening until it was passed -all in one day. This bill was primarily targetd at another social giant, the present Kabaka who happens to be the son of the previous “social giant” Obote’s actions were targeted at.

The powers of the presidency were made more absolute. All checks and balances on the power of the presidency were effectively removed. This needs to be remedied to begin with by returning term limits.

The 1995 constitution retained the same principle of an over arching overiding presidency with little or no checks on his power. In the presence of a toothless parliament not immune to financial and political coercion and the winner take all politics that can doom one politician to a life of political exile from the eating table and the exercise of power for life in what are virtually one party states in all but name maintained by political patronage using the power of the states significant resources put at the disposal of one man and his interests, its no wonder that its virtually impossible to dislodge a sitting president through the ballot. Virtually all politicians are too busy jumping over their mothers to get to the table while the rest who maintain a principled stand are humiliated and beaten up when they are not busy fighting state harrassment through the courts using repressive laws like sedition laws and other laws targeting political activism.

Now the bar is being set even lower to cover nebulous economic crimes, vague definitions of rioting and terrorism and even more vague definitions of treason! Basic freedoms like the right to protest or the simple rights to habeas corpus or the right to bail as well as the right to the presumption of innocence are being attacked.

There is a need to cut down on the powers of the presidency and bring the president back to heel in the service of the people. Like Mbeki, the people and the party should have a mechanism in which a president who becomes a serious liability to the state can be relieved of his duties. Museveni has become a liability to both the NRM as well as this country.

In the case of Mbeki, his long running legal battles with Jacob Zuma were interpreted as continuing harrassment and misuse of the states resources and the powers of the presidency. He was forced to walk the plank and had to resign after a national ANC meeting. The numbers were against him so he had to comply. He is now a private citizen.

In Australia when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd threatened the future electoral chances of his party through his high handedness and alienation of their voters in their local constituencies, a hastily called meeting of the party caucus saw his deputy challenge him behind closed doors. After showing him she had the numbers to deliver him a devastating defeat in the party caucus, he resigned the same day and she resumed power, then called an election within a few months. Kevin Rudd had defeated the powerfull and long running John Howard.

In the UK, when Tony Blair grew too big for his boots, he was forced to a showdown and had to step down. He now advises third world dictators for a living but the recent overthrow of Mubarak should teach him some lessons.

The point is that these countries that do not even have term limits have got mechanisms for controlling their leaders. In our case short of a major stroke, our leaders will continue abusing our patience until we have to go through a destructive war to remove them or their children from the centre of our politics. We keep leaders long enough for their children and sometimes even grandchildren to get a foot hold and even a stranglehold on political power creating political dynasties of parasites.

In this letter to Nina a few days ago I suggested that Besigye, Mao or Otunnu as presidents in a system without a functioning opposition as well as other semi autonomous and independent institutions of government and civil bodies would be a dictator too. https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150194162237681 They would be able to rule virtually unchallenged for decades, would have the states military and police at the beck and call to beat up opposition, and virtually be able to order the central bank governor to print money so they can buy votes to maintain the semblance of elections that are just window dressing to keep their handlers in the west happy. Using the states considerable resources in a state in a system of patronage that ensures that ones fortunes depend on their allegiance to the state as well as creating a class of cronies and relatives through nepotism reliant on the state ensures that there will be enough vested interests as well as enough fear of change due to the fear of prosecution or losing the lucrative contracts to a new set of political cronies ensures tht there will be people virtually willing to commit murder to maintain the staus quo.

But there is a point when the disenfranchised achieve the numbers and enough awakening of conscience and awareness to demand their rights.

What we are seeing right now is that awakening in some way ironically stimulated by the states barbaric behaviour in the last few weeks.

What this letter shows is that we have learnt very little from the events of 1966/67 that led us to the chaos and wars that have characterised Uganda todateAs for Museveni, he is very much a product of those times. Museveni was trained by Obote. In many ways he has now converged with his teacher. This letter was written around the time that Museveni was working with UPC/GSU/Presidents office.

The second quote from your FB page is of words attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte. He apparently said that, “Never interrupt your enemy while he’s making a mistake. That’s bad manners.”

I will continue to exercise bad manners and interrupt you and your uncles while you are all making a mistake. the mistake of continuing to allow one man to continue deluding himself that he is indispensable to the stability and future of Uganda despite increasing evidence that he risks taking our country back four decades!

Sir Winston Churchil paraphrased George Santayana, a spanish philosopher, when he said, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it!”. George Santayana’s original quote was, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

The ultimate truth is penultimately always a falsehood.

Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 12:06am

Dear Nina,

You couldnt have chosen a worse day for your outpouring of love, but I will try to rise to the occasion.

“The moment of truth, the sudden emergence of a new insight, is an act of intuition. Such intuitions give the appearance of miraculous flushes, or short-circuits of reasoning. In fact they may be likened to an immersed chain, of which only the beginning and the end are visible above the surface of consciousness. The diver vanishes at one end of the chain and comes up at the other end, guided by invisible links. “ Arthur Keostler

Girl, now we are getting somewhere. Am glad to see that you have stopped playing hard to get!

Many thanks for your long awaited letter. It will be my pleasure to respond to it.

To begin with you have just demonstrated that you agree with me on lots of things. you are just too afraid of stepping out of your confort zone. Having been born into and brought up in the kintu, I can appreciate how scary it has got to be to contemplate life outside in the cold. But hey, out there in the cold is where the rest of us who happen to be the majority have always been. If you wish to be called a leader, you are going to have to step out of your confort zone and walk with real people. This is what all great world leaders have done -the ones that are still followed by millions of people. Here am talking about leaders like Moses, Jesus, Buddha and Mohamed. People who had relatively priviledged lives but only came into greatness when they stepped out of their sheltered lives and walked with the masses. The same masses that old man Nagenda that once brilliant writer now refers to denigratingly as the great unwashed -the dregs of society! He forgets that its these dregs that sweat and die so that he and his cronies can live in comfort.

You suggest that I would be pleased to see you cross over to my side -what you call being a renegade. Actually I dont consider myself to be a renegade. I am that enemy who choses to interrupt you while you are making a mistake (actually your best friend). I see you making a mistake and feel the need to save you from yourself. For you see if you continue on the course that the NRM government has embarked upon, you will be destroyed together with your children. At the very best, you will have to return to exile. Trust me exile is not a picnic for upper middle class girls brought up with house servants and mod cons. But worst of all, the course that Museveni and the NRM have set themselves upon leads to war and destruction.

How do we know this, we know this by reading our history. You see those NRM kids you mentioned of which you are one are not all the same. There are those like you who were eating sausages in Nairobi and Stockholm and those like us who were hyperventilating when the bombs and bullets were flying. Those who had access to state house scholarships distributed under the bed and those who had to amke do with mango tree university. Those who are acustomed to walking to work and those who think that its a crime to walk to work. Those who get their uncles to send them to recruiting offices with chits for choice jobs and those whose CV’s grow yellow and mouldy while their shoes develop holes looking for jobs. Those who have access to choice contracts worth hundreds of millions to billions fall their way because they “fought” while the rest just died, and those they refer to as lazy, dregs of society, scum of the earth who are poor because they are lazy! Those who are entitled and those who should be grateful for nothing! Those who have babies on the floor in Mulago and and various other unmentionable places and those who go to Paragon and kololo hospital or even those who are flown to Germany at tax payer expense!We are at a cross roads. Indeed it would be the pleasure of many to see you cross over to stand ith the people who are now accustomed to standing on the outside watching you and your uncles enjoying the feast from the animal that we all helped you kill but you insists on eating alone.

Our sacrifices and those of our parents as well as our lives have been buried in the narrative of 27 men who with no help at all fought and overthrew Obote’s hordes while the rest of us were sleeping or hiding unde the bed. But I do remember a childhood shattered by guns used by bad men. Bad men who had been stirred up by a band of what Obote called bandits but we now call heroes! Oh how narratives do change!

Acknowledging that we are all of course Museveni’s children (NRM?) is a first step. But you make the mistake of assuming that when I say that we are NRM kids, I mean we are/were all NRM supporters of children of NRM supporters. I refer specifically to children and young teenagers who grew up and came of age during Museveni’s wars and his regime.

Many of these are under the age of 40 -45 and they now form the majority in this country. They constitute a mindset that differs from those in the NRMO or those who fought in the NRA. They also differ in mindset from those of their parents and grandparents generations who were adults in the 60′s, 70′s and early 80′s. As children, we knew what war and fear meant. We knew the sound of bullets and saw death at an age when children should not know death. We knew that adults were not fearless having watched them hyperventilate many a time.

In 1986, we listened to the fine words of hope for a better society that Museveni said on the steps of parliament and for the next few years learnt to chant the patriotic songs. In school and at university we went for muchaka muchaka. We marveled at this man who declined the trappings of power and espoused small and accountable government as well as people friendly security forces. He preached against backwardsness and a lack of development and was enthusiastic about helpng our country develop. He was apalled by the state of the infrastructure such as roads and observed that the potholes in Kampala could make a pregnant woman miscarry. This man who said things that we all agreed with like the problems of Africa is leaders who do not want to step down from power to people like Moi, Nyerere, Kaunda, Mobutu, Mugabe etc. A new breed of leaders had been born and the future appeared rosy and bright.We were the first generation to go out in the night dancing and walk back home from Ange and Silk at 4 am without fear of being molested. Some went for muchaka muchaka and handled guns. Talked back to soldiers and policemen and challenged unfair laws and regulations. Watched as our elders gave their views as the nation discussed a new constitution.

In between some of us had a our first beer. I am yet to have my first one but who knows. Others had their first girl or boy, got married and had children. all the while we cheered the fighters on even though we took very little actual interest in politics. We were too busy compensating for our deprived and bullet ridden childhoods. You see we grew up taking cover from all sorts of deadly missiles, jumping over dead bodies watching our elders hyperventilate. Many of us voted for the first time for we came of age during Museveni’s regime even though most of us simply couldnt be bothered. We left the voting to the elders. Ditto the talk about politics in which we had every little interest.

In between we occasionally heard of a conflict hidden away and often not mentioned for months. I first heard of this conflict in high school when a friend whose home was right next door to Layibi college, could not go home for his hollidays. He stayed in Kampala with his elder brother and we caught up during the school holidays. His elderly retired father had refused to leave his home. Later I saw him off when he went to America where he went on to college and University. He has never returned to Kampala and his home has never had peace since. Many years later, it occured to me that our society had really failed the people of Gulu. That our parliament was really useless for a campaign like W2W with people insisting on sleeping on parliamentary avenue would have ended the IDP camps years earlier.

Doctors are taught never to make the treatment worse than the disease they are treating. In trying to deny Kony a space in which to grow, the NRM government adopted a scotched earth policy of emptying the villages and detaining everyone into camps. My own grandmother who lived in eastern Uganda has never been buried by her family because she refused to move when Lakwena’s hordes came around. While the government argues that it saved lives by incarcerating its people, other sources of evidence incldung a paper written by Dr Olive Kobusingye on excess mortality in IDP’s suggest that the policy of IDP’s was responsible for increasing the mortality of residents significantly in comparison to all other parts of Uganda. There is no doubt that IDP’s caused death to the residents of Gulu and around. We may have had little conflict around Kampala over the last 25 years but conflict has never been far from us. Even when we try to ignore it it refuses to go away. It is becoming more and more obvious that unless something changes we are headed for the dreaded conflict of our childhood. Over 25 years, we have come to know Museveni and his men very well. We have followed their every word, their every contradiction, their every metamorphosis from men of apparent principle to men who are simply men -and now to men who are afraid of change. None better demonstrates this than Eriya Kategaya, about face when life on the outside proved to hard. Men who are greedy for the trappings of material wealth even when they did not earn it.

“Politics can be relatively fair in the breathing spaces of history; at its critical turning points there is no other rule possible than the old one, that the end justifies the means. “ Artur Koestler

You chose to differentaite between Museveni and the NRM. I dont. Museveni is the NRM and the NRM is Museveni. All of the rest including your dear daddy are just along for the ride to give Museveni the semblance of legitimacy. They are choir singers to be trotted out when it suits Museveni to legitimise his disguised life presidency. I see men and women who are weak. People who have grown soft. I no longer see any of the young men who fought for what they believed in even when the odds were clearly against them. Like in the old fable of the emperor and his invisible clothes, the courtiers of Museveni including daddy dear continue to alow him to delude himself that he is indispensable to this country. For allowing one man to hijack the dreams of 33 million people of this country, the members of the NRM are traitors to this country. indeed, the band of young men be it in 1980 or in 1986 who were willing to lay their lives down for what they believed in would have had them lined up and shot trough their fat tummies. But bullets were scarce in that war so the ‘kakumbi” would be even better. This was the penalty for traitors in the bush no? No bullets were wasted on them. Your fabled collective responsibility is only collective responsibility for the failures of the NRM which are many while the King Museveni takes all of the credit for the presumed victories.

People like my parents may vote NRM but they are not really NRM. Like many people, they have lived through all of the disastrous governments of Uganda. Each time change has brought death and more suffering to them and their families. Like many Ugandans, they are afraid of change. They have never been within the eating circles. They just want peace and to be left alone to do their own thing. It took me years to recognise that my mother has got undiagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) suffered during Obote II. At the end of the day they vote for the devil they know even though this does not blind them to his weaknesses. Of course they are outnumbered. You see they have seven children all “Museveni children” and none of them would vote for the NRM.

I have no doubt that the 1980 elections were rigged. I also have no doubt that that election was designed purely for window dressing. Stories are told of upcountry opposition MP’s who were detained at road blocks until nomination was over and their opponents returned unopposed. You see the weakness of a man tells one a lot about that man. Power was Obote’s weakness. He exalted in wielding it. Everything about his history suggests that he had to win at all costs and would never have allowed himself to lose. The presence of a client army led by partisan Oyite Ojok and the client caretaker government of Paul Muwanga was never going to allow for a free and fair election.

“The ultimate truth is penultimately always a falsehood. He who will be proved right in the end appears to be wrong and harmful before it. “ Arthur Koestler

I can see you attempt to separate the LC system from the so called NRM grassroot structures. The reality is that the two are one and the same. The LC system came with a stamp on it -NRM. It till exists despite its tenuous legality and controls access to the grassroots. Quite frankly it should have been dissolved in 2006 after the legal dissolution of the NRM and transition to multiparties. Its a system that the NRM built using state resources that no other party can duplicate. During the last election, the NRM paid an ex gratia payment amounting to 6.5 billion just before the campaigns for elections. If this was not a bribe, tell me what else it could be. So essentially money from the public purse was paid to what you admit is an illegal structure important for campaigning at the grassroot level just prior to the presidential election and you do not see a problem with that?

“Space-ships and time machines are no escape from the human condition. Let Othello subject Desdemona to a lie-detector test; his jealousy will still blind him to the evidence. Let Oedipus triumph over gravity; he won’t triumph over his fate. “ Arthur Koestler

Elections can yield democracy. But elections organised in an undemocratic way by an undemocratic government cannot yield anything else but chaos. They certainly cannot yield democracy. The principle of informed consent is a basic tenet of medical ethics. As a matter of fact autonomy is central to the practice of medical ethics. A person is autonomous in their decisions if they understand the pros and cons of their decisions and have the means to carry out or exercise that autonomy independently. A democratic government ensures that the voters are informed and empowered to make informed decisions. The NRM preys on an uninformed population. As such one has to question the so called democracy in Uganda. Just how informed is the average paesant in Uganda who constitutes the majority?Is it any wonder that the enemies of the NRM in the last few years are those who offer information to the general public. Those who offer alternate sources to “President museveni yagambye …”. Those who offer an alternate narrative to that fed to us for over 25 years? People like Nambozo, whose FM radio campaign was one of the most effective before FB took over. Journalists like Mwenda before he became mellow with vested interests. Journalists like Kalyegira who depite his often wild imagination presents alternate opinions to the official narrative. People like Obbo before he was kicked upstairs. People like the Mengo government or Suubi and now the internet and FB. This government went after all of them including going as far as holding Namboozo beyond the courts and closing down CBS on trumped up charges. Unlike all of the first sources, the internet is out of the reach of Museveni and his government which is why they are now squirming. And squirm they will for the winds of change are upon them and they have to adapt or die!

Do I support Besigye? No. Do I support Besigye’s right to protest and exercise his right to oppose this government? Yes. Do I believe that his party the FDC is the best thing since sliced bread? No! Do I have reservations about Besigye? Yes, lots. In many ways his personality and that of Museveni are similar. I would only trust him in the presence of structures to control the power of his presidency. But then there are very few people I would trust with virtually absolute power particularly people who seek power. I am more comfortable with those who do not seek power than with those who seek and believe that the only way to control them and their. But at the end of the day, Besigye has stood up to be counted and that should count for something.

“If conquerors be regarded as the engine-drivers of History, then the conquerors of thought are perhaps the pointsmen who, less conspicuous to the traveller’s eye, determine the direction of the journey. “ Arthur Koestler

At the end of the day, the era of Museveni and your father is over even though they do not seem to know it yet. Like all regimes that have come to their end, they wait until they have to be dragged out from a hole in the ground before they realise the end is here. I have come to accept that power creates a delusional state that makes those in power lose touch with their surroundings.

“God seems to have left the receiver off the hook, and time is running out. “ Arthur Koestler

It is time for an exit plan. If your father and his generation cannot save themselves, then you have to save yourself and your children. If you insist on continuing to stay on in one mans delusion, then you have only yourself to blame. At the end of the day Ugandans will blame all of ou in the NRM for failing to stand up and be counted on the sied of the people of Uganda. For failing to recognise that Museveni has lost his way and his quest for power too personal, too individualistic. Thay you have all become “useful idiots”! If you guys do not find a way of removing him, and handing power back to the people, the people will find ways of removing you all.Change is here. The winds of change that blew away the Pahraoh of egypt Mubarak as well as Ben ali of Tunisia have changed course and blown the Jasmine train into Kampala. And nothing will stop that train forom docking for that multitude of unemployed youth, the impunity that your uncles have enjoyed, the cronism and corruption in this government, and the longevity and obvious dynastic plans are the fuel on which the Jasmine train feeds. You can only delay it but you will not stop it from docking.

The death of the vegetable seller and all of those innocents who were killed in Kampala shall not go unpunished.I leave you with this photocollection documenting this governments brutality. Surely no one who has got a conscience can continue to support the men and women who did this.

“The most persistent sound which reverberates through man’s history is the beating of war drums. “ Arthur Koestler

At the end of the day, Ugandans may have to resort to warfor sometimes avoiding a war that needs to be fought simply delays the inevitable. God knows we do not need any more wars but if war does come, the NRM and Museveni will be to blame for they alone have got the power to stop it from happening.

Impatient young men … are tempted to turn to revolt because no notice is taken of their questions.

Sunday, May 22, 2011 at 2:56am

Dear Nina,

Am glad you have not kept me waiting. Now i know that you are really ready to return the love. Today I remembered this letter I wrote you when you were really playing hard to get. I wondered who Nina really was or wanted to be. It was returned “return to sender”. https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150116462577681 .

In that letter I wondered whether you were really just going to cruise along on family credentials or whether you were going to really put yourself out there. I think we are now well on to the way to finding out whether you will continue to play it safe or whether you are going to step out of the comfort zone of being a princess of the ruling elite. Of course I will not mention the one where you tried to give a dressing down for being so forward!!!

But now you are talking to me so we must move this forward. I hope you are aware that there is an immense amount of interest out there in this exchange between you and me. Its not just DWR and ST who want to get in on the conversation. Am getting friendship requests every day at a very high rate. I say, the more the merrier. What say you.

Of course we are on the same side in so far as you profess an interest in Ugandans and their interest and not the interests of daddy, party and president. For while I accept the fact that you are a loyal daughter, this course you have embarked upon goes far beyond your personal loyalties.

You are aware that I am not a politician, have no interest in politics and for the most part despise politics and politicians. That of course sounds like a paradox given that many of my opinions are about politics. That however is primarily because my primary interest is services and the delivery of services to the people. Museveni in 1986 stated that politics is about the delivery of services to the people. Judged purely on the basis of the provision of services to Ugandans, it can be comfortably said that Museveni and the NRM are failures. Here I refer to basic things like roads, health, community policing and justice, housing, transport, schools. By that criterion as well as the management of corruption, in my opinion one would have to ask whether Ugandans are morons for voting NRM again after two and half decades of abuse.

Yesterday I picked up a new word, “Oprahfication”. It is apparently an affliction of the upper middle classes and elite who have apparently become accustomed to letting it all hang out on Oprah. They treat her show as a confessional and she has taken on the role of a confessor, a pseudoconsellor handing out banal absolutions that allow the rich to let go of their own responsibility and blame someone else. So there is always someone else to blame. Never the individual. So over the years I have formed an opinion of many of Oprahs clients -if they are successful its in spite of their parents, while if they are failures its because of their parents! It seems to me that you are one of those oprah fans. Female, priviledged, MTV generation, westernised. Am sure you have watched your share of oprah.

But in this case I have got to agree with you. In this case as Museveni’s children, we can blame our father for ruining our lives. While he was running around playing guerillas with uncle Obote and Amin, tearing up the countryside because of disagreements with Uncle Obote that quite frankly we as children did not give a damn about, while conscripting some of us into his army and teaching us to kill before we could drink a beer or chase after a woman, let alone wipe our bottoms properly, our childhood was ruined. I find it interesting therefore that we are supposed to be greatful almost three decades later to the man who ruined our childhood. I believe this calls for an Oprah moment. Get up there, lay it all out, tell daddy we hate him for ruining our lives and walking off the set freed of our childhood demons. Unfortuantely he doesnt wish to go. Not only do we have to carry the scars of an abusive parent, but he insists on staying in our lives and even demands the right to mess up that of our children. But we must protect our children from him, else they too will acccuse us of ruining their lives.

We Museveni children did not graduate into political beings. We never ever had a choice. Politics was forced upon us. Its why we spent most of our adolescence and early adulthood ignoring everything to do with politics and playing catch up to compensate for a lost childhood. We are political beings from when we were little. We know the difference between good and bad governments. In a bad government, your good law abiding tax paying parents live in fear. Fear of death and torture from the government and its agents. The same government that takes your taxes. think about this -at the age of ten or eleven, I went to and from school in Nakasero through 16 roadblocks every day.

In 25 years you learn a lot about a man. You learn his strengths and his weaknesses. We grew up on the sound of bullets. We listened to news and birango everyday. People were afraid that if they missed the birango, they would miss the death of a relative from a sudden encounter with armed men. We therefore know a lot about Museveni and his men. And we now know that their so called revolution was all about young men whose elders would not listen to them wrestling the ‘animal’ from their elders with us paying the price for their foolishness. Now they are old men, they wish to prevent other young men impatient with them, from doing the same thing that they did to their own elders! So now we know that the band of 27 is no different from those they deposed.at the end of the day, they view the people they lead as a means to an end. Their word means nothing and is not binding upon their actions. Its this very fact that you attempt to hide behind the excuse of hindsight. We too do have the benefit of hindsight and this hindsight tells us that the emperor is naked.

Museveni and his band of rebels were not the first Ugandans to rebel against their elders. And neither was the generation of the Obote’s before them. Before that there were Baganda nationalists who rebelled against the colonial government and in many ways set the stage for the Ugandan nationalist struggles that followed. There were also other earlier struggles like the Bataka rebellion. The Walk2Work organisers probably believe that they pioneered unarmed resistance or rebellion in Uganda. Bu as you point out Uganda did not have a history of armed war for independence. ths does not mean that there were no struggles. The tools and weapons used then are no different from those used today. What you call lies were called “subversive rumours” and “radical rudeness” used by Ganda activists to disrupt social relationships between colonial government and local elites.

I find most interesting this paper regarding the activities of Ganda radicals in the 1940′s that clearly demonstrate an orchestrated campaign of unarmed activism. This paper talks about the ruling elite of that time and their attitude towards the demands of young men. Quote, “As ministers, Nsibirwa, Kulubya and Kawalya Kaggwa showed little interest in modifying their rule to make room for young men’s demands for public participation, democracy and change. They saw such innovations as disorderly, disruptive, and fundamentally inappropriate. As prime minister, Kawalya Kaggwa dismissed the radicals by calling them lazy, and saying “What have they done … so far? Have they improved their country in any way? Have they cultivated and kept good farms? No!!”. Kawalya Kagwa lacked understanding of young men’s discontent, to the point that the former missionary HM Grace chided him for his rigor, arguing in the aftermath of the 1945 strike, “impatient young men … are tempted to turn to revolt because no notice is taken of their questions. And a few become revolutionaries such as those you have in prison now…. Now you can’t repress this movement–it will grow even more as your soldiers return, and the more who are educated the more this movement will grow. This urge for some voice in government comes from reading the history book, the overseas press, protestant theology, and even the Bible. This young Africa is an explosive force and though the numbers may be small, it will have growing power and it all depends how it is treated now whether it becomes a curse or a blessing. I beg you and the other chiefs will deal wisely with it….” Kawalya Kagwa rejected such recommendations, perhaps provoked by the regular abusive telegrams he received from Mulumba and other Bataka party members. The radicals had more success with British officials and missionaries than they did with the leaders of the kingdom’s government.”

I would recommend that you read the paper as clearly demonstrates that as the young men of the 40′s rebelled against the Buganda kingdom officials and the colonial government and those of the 50′s rebelled against the colonial government leading to independence, those of the 80′s rebelled agains Obote and wrestled him for power at great cost to all of us, its now the turn of Museveni and the NRM. The young men are circling him. He may shoot them and kill them but ultimately he will lose.

I first got introduced to debate when I was about ten or eleven. I relished in debating any side and any point and demolishing my opponents. In high school I lost interest until a teacher, a Kenyan introduced political debate as an extacurricular activity. How he fired up the boys! He was such an orator. He so fired up the boys that they rebelled against the school food. The brothers were so incensed they invited a platoon of soldiers who were camped close by. That was the first time we were exposed to indiscipline by an NRM soldier. One of the older boys in A level was singled out for rough treatment and canes by one soldier who apparently had some sort of vendetta against his parents. We were all quite apalled. This was within a few months of takeover by the NRM. All the fancy words of discipline among their troops suddenly felt empty. The Kenyan teacher was blamed by the brothers for the strike and disappeared. He reappeared a few weeks later in full military uniform and it turned out he was an NRM political Commissar. The story was that he was a Kenyan dissident who had been involved in an attempted coup against Moi. The Kenyan government apparently expressed their dissatisfaction with his presence ad he ended up in Sweden as a refugee.

My debate was informal and consisted of mainly baiting savdees. You see in those days I could quote the bible backwards and confuse most savdees. You see i had little interest in politics and preferred other pursuits.

You feign ignorance of the power of the president. You also misquote me when you say I said the “only way” … Actually I said that one of the things we need to do towards curbing the powers of the presidency is term limits. There are other things that need to be discussed -separation of powers, independent institutions and checks and balances on the powers of the presidency. Today the presdient can misuse the powers of the state to persecute a political opponent without censorship. In a true democracy, he should have resigned after the Besigye rape trial or the recent police and army riots causing loss of life. To begin with term limits would curb the ability of the presdent to use his incumbency and state funds to subborn the process of democracy. You see democracy as you said is not delivered by elections particularly flawed ones. In Uganda we have a president who acts like a village chief. He is everywhere and into everything. He settles disputes between boda bodas and market vendors, receives small time conmen from Mumbai posing as investors, gives away government land, meets small fictitious kings like the Sabanyala, creates small non viable districts and constitutencies, settles pay disputes with Makerere lecturers or disputes for allowances with Makerere students etc. In doing all of this he undermines everyone including his own ministers. He takes over the role of the technocrats and as such has had a few scandals coming back to him like AGOA, the Aya brothers land giveaway or the Shimoni land giveaway or the various taxpayer funded rescues from bankruptcy for Basajjabalaba. He has taken us into more than one war without involving our legislators or having any form of national debate about whether we wanted to die in foreign wars.

But most disturbing of all is that there is virtually no curb on what he can and cannot do. There appears to be no mechanism for relieving him of office even if he maybe destructive. His persecution of Besigye for example using state resources is less than what lost Mbeki his presidency for using the state prosecutors to hound Zuma. Its even less than the ills that saw the prime minster of Australia kicked out of power. Neither the legislature nor the party appear to have any power or mechanisms for controlling the power of the presidency or for dealing with an incompetent president. He has undermined virtually every institution and usurped their powers. Institutions like the legislature, and the judiciary have all been turned into client structures without discernible independence from the presidency. If the presiend fights with the Kabaka, he instructs parliament to provide him with a Kabaka muzzling bill -for a fee! If the new enemy is walk to work activists, again parliament obliges him with another law. if he wishes to rule till he drops dead, for 2000 dollars (how cheap), parliament again tampers with the constitution. Now he wishes to extend term durations so he doesnt have to go back to the electorate for fresh mandate -no taking chances on a fickle public controlled by the dregs of society so parliament will be happy am sure for a fee to provide him with one!

You have issues with what you call insulting members of parliament. I do not insult them. To call a corrupt fool a corrupt fool is not to insult them and neither is pointing out the fact that both the seventh as well as the eight parliament were traitors to this country. Both parliaments took bribes from the executive in exchange for their vote on bills introduced by the presidency for the bnefit of the incumbent. For those crimes history shall judge them harshly. But so will the ninth parliament if they extend the term durations for the benfit of the incumbent or fail to return term limits back into the constitution. They will also be judged harshly if they bend to Museveni’s will and interfere with the constitution to take away the right to bail and the presumption of innocence as well as the right to afair trial. These are things that they need to know. We need to set the bar for our legislators higher, demand more from them and make it clear to them that they are elected to serve the interests of the people and not those of the ruling party of the incumbent. In Uganda we set the bar for MP’s and politicians so low that people believe all they need to do is say they are ‘honourable’ and we are supposed to believe they are honourable. They dont actually have to act with honour or even serve our interests except to come back every five years to buy us some waragi in exchange for a vote. And tribalism demands that we bask in their glory even when we benefit nothing from it. Did you notice the Basoga jubilating because Kadaga was the speaker? Seriously, could you go to Busoga and see the jiggers and poeverty and still take pride in electing this government? As my grandmother would say, “eyalooga bano yali tanaaba”!!!

Tamale Mirundi is a fool. I think you give him too much credit. I have heard things more nasty than me calling him a fool said about him by the people you suggest he speaks for. The last time I checked, Tamale Mirundi is the simpleton that you NRM elite use to say the stupid things you cannot say yourself. Its a bit like hiring the village drunkard and buying him a few so that he can insult your rival. he does not speak for the “dregs” of scoiety who you admit are the majority. He is actually a hired gun who speaks for the ruling minority elite just like Nagenda even though he sounds more coarse and crude. today i read Kabushenga’s interview with BBC in which he preapeats the very same lies that form the official government narrative. Mbu the videos of Besigye’s arrest were edited. One wonders what the chances of a conspiracy involving all of the journalsist from various services could be. And where is the missing footage anyway?

In looking up the NRM and Museveni’s innauguration speech, I came across events in South africa from the same time. It occured to me then that it was impossible to get something from someone who does not want to give it to you if you are playing on his field using his own rules. In Uganda, the NRM owns the field grace to the virtual carte blanche our parents gave them. They had twenty years in which they suppressed other political party’s activity while they used state resources to consolidate their hold on power. USing state resources they built the LC system and other grassroot structures which became an extension of the NRMO. This grasroot system has access to every villager. To get any formal papers such as a passport one needs an introduction from the LC’s. In the absence of a formal address, its the LC’s that vouch for ones identity. These structures are stamped NRM and controlled by the NRM. It is therefore misleading to try and claim they are not grassroot NRM structures. We saw how they were manipulated finacially just before the last election. We do know however that the NRM was dissolved so these NRM structures should have been dissolved too. But hey still ecist even though all of them are as corrupt as the NRM government.

The preindependence politics was not the problem. The problem was politicians who refused to play by the rules that brought them to power and sought to change and rewrite the rules and change the venue to one they control. Thats exactly the same politcs that Museveni and the NRM plays. But it wishes to be lauded for playing fair when we all know there is no fairness to this game nor the venue. the opposition in Uganda is there only to legitimise the NRM -exactly the same role that Museveni accused DP of serving. They are supposed to be good and play nice even when they are being hamstrung. To go back to my question regarding how to get something from someone determined not to give it to you at all cost, the ANC would never have won power by fighting the aprtheid government on its terms. To succeed they had to change the rules, chose their own weapons. Thats the brilliance behind walk to work. It doesnt matter how many tanks and guns you have, you will still lose. Walking is a simple everyday affair for many people. It is natural and an inalienable right. You cannot stop people from walking without making yourself look like a fool. Many governments spend millions of dollars to enourage their people to walk. But walk to work is only one of many strategies

Ugandans do not connect their rights directly with the provision of services. If they did, why would they vote for Museveni and the NRM after 25 years? Museveni indulged in a subterfuge during the last election. Everywhere he went, he displaced responsibility from himself and the government onto anyone else he could grab. Who in Uganda would dare to contradict the president in public? Health centre has no drugs, blame the doctors. Kampala has potholes, not his governments fault. IDP’s suffering and dying in neglect, blame Kony even though Kony was not in charge of the IDP’s. IDP camps were established by the NRM which displaced paesants from their land. It therefore had a duty of care for the residents of those camps. The well documented excess mortality in those camps for more than a ecade has got to be placed directly at the foot of the NRM government. The social costs of those camps cannot be blamed on anyone else too. In any other society, the residents of those camps should have been suing this government for opportunities lost and for lives lost as the government failed in its duty of care.

What the last 25 years under Museveni and the NRM represent are opportunities lost. Instead of building for the future we have spent most of our time entrenching one man and his family into our politics. Instead of fighting corruption even with all of the goodwill this government has had, it has instead entrenched it. Instead of fighting nepotism and tribalism, it has become a way of life. Instead of fighting impunity, it has been promoted to an art. Instead of promoting security, it has now built a police state. Instead of revamping our infrastructure, we boast the ‘best’ potholes in the world! And instead of at last having the chance of handing over power peacefully, we are risking another war because another set of old men do not recognise when their time has come to go!

I am who and what i am because of what my parents did for me not because of who they are. While I never really valued school while I was there, and took it for granted, I still knew it was the best school in the country. In many ways my failures are mine while my successes are the successes of my parents. I would never go as far as saying that the first half of my life was ruined by my parents. And if there is anything good in the second half of my life its because of my parents. When I was a teenager, I resented the control that my mother had over every minute of my life. In retrospect, it occurs to me that controlling the movements of their children was the best way of keeping them safe in a country where death was always close by. Sometimes i wonder how we ever even became normal adults and for that I can say thanks to my parents. So no my parents didnt ruin the first half of my life and neither did they ruin the second.

You make the mistake of settling for second best -setting the bar too low. Me i still want that ferrari, children or no. Today a perfect stranger looked at my car and said single mans car. No its not a single mans car. Its my car. children or no children. Yes they have or will have great education, the best that my money can buy. They certainly aren’t going anywhere near Museveni’s bonna basruwale schools. They will become their own person and make their own choices -and move out of my home. And I will go off fishing or buy a rocking chair when the time is right. I will not keep them beholden to me because I believe they owe me. You see thats what a parent who loves their children does. He or she allows them to grow up and make their own decisions and respects those decisions but does not seek to continue controlling them well into their adulthood. Such a parent would be called a controlling parent. In mny ways Museveni is controlling. With an ego and a degree of narcisism to match, his ego will not allow him to step off the treadmill he has set himself upon. Museveni is a narcissist. Narcissists thrive on power and control. Thats why he cannot contemplate retirement. To a man like him retirement is like death.

I know that most Ugandans do not wish for a ferrari. I also know that for many, the simpler things in life would be enough. But we are not talking bout luxuries here. We are talking about basic things. Not to be killed by the state that is meant to protect you. Not to be harrassed by the police that are supposed to be your friends. Not to die from preventable diseases because the government has misplaced its priorities and prefers to buy ultramodern fighter jets instead. Not to die from hunger in a country gifted by nature. Not to have a miscarriage due to Museveni’s terrible roads. Not to have your house flooded because the government cannot maintain simple things like storm drains and urban planning. Not to die an early death due to simple treatable diseases. Not to have my car damaged on top of all of the taxes i have already paid. Not to have to put up with corruption by the people who are meant to pevent it. To live under an accountable government. All of thse are simple things. They do not require a genius. Neither are they rocket science. Its called provision of services -the core business of government according to Museveni in 1986. Do you want to tell me that with hindsight Museveni and the NRM do not find any of these things reasonable any longer? That their foresight was based on naivety? Why then do they not tell the people to stop aspiring for these simple things?

When you put rats in a jar and starve them, they will start to eat each other. Thats the story of the NRM primaries. Politics is the best paying job in this country. And you dont even have to have any specific qualifications or job experience. If you are gifted with the gab and have little scrupples, then you will have a job in politics. and you dont even have to turn up for debates, dont have to read the bills, dont even have to make your maiden speech. You get to be called honourable, have a choice of maidens, get a taxpayer funded car and a salary that professionals with decades of training and decades of experience can only dream about, get to gate crash every funeral on the village as well as every wedding whle getting applauded regardless of whether what you say makes sense or not! The NRM has created a system pf patronage where all of the resources in this country are hoarded by the state and used to maintain the incumbent in power! Do the rural folk really fight for their rights or do they fight for individual politicians? As I stated in my last letter, true autonomy implies that the person making that choice is well informed. The NRM deliberately keeps its people uninformed of their rights. Many even believe that the government is only doing them a favour when it delivers a service.

LOL at predefined rules. there are no predefined rules here. There are rules that the people tried to set up in 1995 that the NRM and Museveni have since demonstrated mean nothing to them. Museveni makes the rules to suit himself but expects everyone esle to play by those same rules. No reasonable person expects to play a game on anothers turf using anothers rules and hope to win unless they are deluded. the rules that Ugandans agreed upon have been tampered with or are not enforced. The only way to win or have a fighting chance is to change the rules. who says that Museveni’s rules have got to be the rules by whic the game is played anyway? So welcome to the new world where Museveni and the NRM do not set the rules. Actually they themselves are playing catchup. Interestingly the opposition itself are not the originators of thiese rules. Others not even interestsed in politcs have been setting the rules. In Egypt when the Jasmine train docked, El Baradei was pushed aside. He had assumed that when the people overthrew Mubarak, they would automatically look to him. You are aware that Marchiavelli states that people wilfully change their rulers if those rulers show themselves to be unjust.

If the evidence of the last few weeks counts, lying is very much a preserve of the NRM and its cadres. We have seen the president telling lies about the so called riots -events that were captured on camera. We have seen a minster present the same lies in parliament -accompanied by a doctored video. We have seen Kabushenga present those lies to the BBC. Nabakooba and Opolot as well as Kayihura have outdone themselves. Talk about uncoordinated troop movements!

The referendum in 2005 was a sham because the question had already been decided in parliament by a compromised parliaement. It now goes down in the annals as a failed experiment in trusting our leaders to self regulate. Its why I would not trust Besigye or any of the others to regulate themselves in a system where the winner takes all, the opposition is toothless, and the government is allowed to use public resources to maintain an individual in power.

As for what am doing about reimposing term limits, we are talking about them arent we? He who can change thoughts has the power to change history. You would be very surprised how many people are following this debate.

There is a fable that Ugandans have been told for many years. Its the story of economic growth. The way this story is told, economic growth is everything and tells the whole story. But something keeps bothering me. Why if the economy is growing steadily, are people complaining of extreme poverty? Is economic growth as quoted enough t maintain stability? How much of our economic growth is true growth and how much is just simple ‘recovery economics’? You see post conflict countries have very little trouble achieving a growth rate of 10%. Democracy and elections in particular in africa do not guarantee stability. Economic growth matters to conflict probably through its effect on employment. Unemployment particularly of young men increases the risk of further war. Collier, Hoffler and Rohner in 2007 demnstrated that if the proportion of young men in a society with thrid world characteristics is doubled, the risk of conflict goes up from 4.1% to 30%. In another paper by Collier and Hoeffler in 2007, they found that increased military spending by a thrid world post conflict nation rather than decrease the risk of conflict actually significantly increases the risk of conflict. The most obvious infrastructure needs in a post conflict economy are power, ports and roads. The offer the best returns on post conflict development. Without reliable power, the formal sector cannot develop. Uganda is cited as a country where the biggest impendiment to investment was power. The failure to plan for power is a major policy failure. I have always wondered how Museveni hoped to drive his so called industrialisation and investment without relaible power.

Technically Uganda shouldnt be a post conflict country 25 years after the takeover of the NRM. Nevertheless we reamin a fragile country. In many ways our economic recovery has been mismanaged with over reliance on the raw figures of economic growth without telling Ugandans that in recovery economics, it is not unusual for post conflict economies to maintain a 10% or higher growth rate. Unemployment and the distribution of wealth as well as the large population of young men are factors likely to increase conflict. Increased government spending on military hardware is a factor that has been shown to increase the risk of conflict too. The ability to attract skilled manpower back is also useful in speeding up recovery. In Uganda’s case, we are more efficient at haemorrhaging skilled manpower!You stated that you believe that we are not at risk of war -I would say you are wrong. everything suggests that we are. The gap between the haves and the have nots, the impunity and corruption, the nepotism and cronism are features we share with all of the noth African countrie recently visited by the jasmine train. An oppressive and abusive government is a very effcient catalyst for conflict and a recruiting agent for the enemy.

Impatient young men … are tempted to turn to revolt because no notice is taken of their questions.

Mahogany, Kalyogs and your people who are never going to get it?

Dear Nina,

I had decided to give you a break while you were celebrating daddy being given the kisambi to hold while Museveni and his family are enjoying the kintu, but your uncles have conspired to make me break my silence! It is obvious that they learn very little -‘abaana tebakwaata’!

This government came out of the elections determined to demonstrate to all detractors that they were strong and very popular. The fact that they claimed a significant majority of the vote with a wide margin was of course designed to leave no doubt. One has to wonder though what they have really done to deserve staying in power any longer. And one has to look at the state of services to understand just how many problems Ugana has. For if the people who gave Museveni his majority are the same people who have to travel on his roads or attend his hospitals to die, then God save this country!

After keeping everyone guessing, Museveni finally came out with his new cabinet, a significant number of whom are really recycled old has beens who really need to be put out to pasture. We are well on the way to becoming a laughing stock of the world. What with Ssebagala being proposed as a minister and a minister of Justice who has a string of legal and social problems behind him! Not to mention certified buffons and incompetents as well as thieves! You father really has got his work cut out for him. I really think he has been set up the more I think about this! Quite frankly he no longer has the cojonnes for this. He is compromised.

If Museveni thought that the appointment of some new faces with impressive CV’s may be useful, he negated all of that by pandering to opportunism and expedience, blackmail and tribalism as well as that Ugandlish term -arrivalism. Am told reliably that arrivalism is the condition that afflicts those who supposedly fought in a war no one asked them to fight and continue to believe that we are forever beholden to them even when they are corrupt!

Quite frankly after 25 years, no one cares. if they want a medal or a trophy, they should just be given one to hang on their walls. If they wish we could even give them their own military parade together with a brass band to exercise their arthritic legs and vague faculties when they are 100. For 25 years they have had a public holiday all their own as well as the best of this land to use as their personal fiefdom. What else do they want -our grand daughters virginity too?

I laugh when I watch the short sightedness and incompetenece on show. Kayihura tried his bully boy tactics and got cut down to size. Now he is carefull to stay in the background and when he shows his face he is sure to ensure he is smiling and not saying anything he can be quoted on! The last time he tried his bully boy tactics, he ended up embarrassing himself and his boss and the whole government and nearly caused a civil war! The grapevine even has it that an elite police training academy in the UK does not wish to be associated with his new found notoriety. After the experience of the LSE in the fallout from having granted a pHD to a Ghaddafi, no school wants that kind of publicity -who knows Kale may end up in the Hague!

Old man Kivedhinda proved that there is such a thing as leaving when you are still ahead -the longer you stay, the more likely it is that you will finally stick your own foot in your mouth! Unfortunately, he all but pooed in his nappies on TV egged on by that Kabajungu woman!

A few years ago, Andrew Mwenda with the help of the high court finally put the last nail in the coffin of the stupid anti sedition law that the government has used for years to bully errant journalists with big mouths! Given the number of times the government invoked it and the number of times the government lost, I would have thought that you guys would be tired of humiliating yourselves and continuing to lose over and over. But now you have invoked an even older and even more stupid law to continue your harrassment -the ‘criminal libel’ law.

I dont know who is advising government but in my humble opinion, he or she should be sacked. The road that you have taken is the road to further humiliation for as usual, you are going to lose. this is one that is made for the high court and one that you are going to lose. If you do doubt me, it would behoove you to read up on the demise of the very same law in the UK after 700 years. One of the reasons it was repealed is just so backward repressive governments like the NRM that cannot use them while blaming the UK for it. For you see this law is based on criminal code inherited from the UK but you guys just dont know when to throw out the bad and stick with the good. This law is useless. It just brings ridicule onto your government. It paints you out as a bully out to dominate every little mosquito with a tank!

On the abolition of sedition Geoffrey Robertson QC said while defending Salman Rushdie in the last sedition case in the UK “This law is still used throughout the Commonwealth by repressive governments to jail their opponents. Its abolition here ensures that those governments can no longer use the excuse that they are merely following British law.”

Of the chllenge and repeal of criminal defamation and libel laws on the UK’s statutes since 1275 albeit seldom enforced, Agnes Callamard said, “This will send a very strong and clear signal globally that democracies do not have criminal defamation laws.” while a Min of Justice spokesman said, “These common law offences are anachronistic and their continuing existence, albeit seldom used, has been cited by other countries as justification for the retention of similar laws, which have been actively used to restrict media freedom” http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/25/house-of-lords-libel-laws

The bottomline is once again, you are going to have lots of foreign governments and journalists trying to peep under your skirts for the simple reason that you keep forgetting your panties at home! http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/25/house-of-lords-libel-laws

Your chosen target is even more interesting. Poor Timothy is a little bit confused. Who else believes in a seer in this day and age. When he first started writing about his seer I thought it was aliterary gimmick just like this love affair of ours in cyberspace! But then I realised, that the poor guy had lost it and actually did believe himself! It is cruel to beat up on a poor confused man who has lost touch with reality and no longer knows that seers dont exist. That no one can see the future!

I hear mbu it was his story on the bomb blasts that was remembered. I wonder what the trigger was. Did he touch a nerve with his story on the late Col. Muzoora? How else does one understand the timing of his arrest! While we are on the subject, how do you intend to hold him on bail for a charge filed under a law that is already under challenge in a higher court? Quite frankly if you really wished to neutralise his story there are better ways of doing so that leave him looking silly without all of the over reaction that is going to make him come out looking the victim! If you dont know how to do it, you should have asked me. https://ddembe.wordpress.com/2010/07/21/in-timothys-world-everyone-else-is-gullible-and-timothy-is-not/ You will be surprised to know that you are not the only ones that found his story diffiult to believe. But I must say, the more your uncles over react and show themselves up to be bullies, the more his story now starts to ring true!

Lets look at this. You have the mans passport. He does not have the capacity to interfere with any so called investigations that maybe ongoing. The case will not be able to proceed until the courts sort out whether this law should go the same way as the dnosaurs and the anti sedition monstrosity! Even to those who know him, he at times sounds a bit shrill particularly when he declares himself to be the only thinker in Uganda and everyone else an idiot -just like Uncle Kaguta! In that respect they are similar. You have frustrated th man and ensured that in this state of political patronage, his publication is starved of advertising revenue!

Which reminds me, you guys have the carrot but you dont even know how to use it! Museveni said before that in order to create a stable country, Ugandans have got to be pulled up into the middle class. I agree with him but it is obvious he does not really know how to do that -pull Ugandans into the middle class. Its almost two decades since he started saying this but see where we are! Paesants. Unemployed. Charlatans and political tricksters using thier positions to fleece the rest! Reality is that people who have something to lose ie vested interests are not likely to burn the country down. What you saw in the recent riots is people who have very little to lose if it all burns down and unfortuantel in Kaguta’s Uganda they are the majority! You guys need to learn to share that animal -the kintu that you want to hypnotise us into believing we belong to whereas we dont! But Ugandans are not so sleepy after all. They can see when they are being sold ‘byoya bya nswa’!

If you really want to see an example of how eating and owning a piece of the pie can change what tune a man sings, you dont need to look any further than your own people who have fallen out of things. Once on the street, they sing different tune. Some are still singing -like in the FDC. Your problem is that they are now joining up with the other majority who have never been a part of the kintu! The best example though is Andrew Mwenda to take an example from the journalists world. As they say, a man cannotafford to poo where he eats. When Mwenda was a columnist working for a paycheque, he could afford to be as shrill as he wanted. That was as long as his editor allowed him to. The Monitor editors allowed him to until the Agha Khan took over. And then they were told clearly that his tone hurt the Agha Khans business interests in Uganda. Mwenda was cut lose -and he wrote a bitter resignation. He however managed to pick himself up and now owns a part of the pie -5 billion shillings worth a year! if it burns down, he loses, He will be just another Ugandan who was onec promising. Starting all over again is tough particularly when middle age is approaching. Most men are at their most productive in their mid thirties and by their mid forties opportunity costs are quite high and hungrier young men are snapping at their heels. Mwenda is in the kintu and cannot afford to lose it. He is now one of Fannons compradir bourgeoisie. If one wants him to regain his critical edge, he would have to lose everything and start all over again! Can you believe what would happen if all Ugandans were in the kintu? You guys would be unassailable. People would be living in bliss oblivious of your thieving for things would work. Who cares if you are skimming off if everyone is doing good? everytime you read Mwenda’s increasingly convergent opinions, just remember what could have been and all of the missed opportunities therein!

I cannot go without saying something about Muzeyi Doctor porofessa Mahogany! Am sure you now know that I am a seer -there I said it! now you cannot use the criminal libel laws against me without looking like a bully beating up on a gentle soul with a feeble mind! Didnt I tell you that all of your NRM bigwogs including Mahogany and daddy dear were puppets on a string? And that when things started to get tough, they would all be thrown before the oncoming train -just like Ben Ali and the paharoh of Egypt attempted to do with their own cabinets? That this was a family business and Mahogany was the butler with the rest as house staff!

Mahogany is the first one to be thrown before the oncoming train. Not only has he been used and discarded, but he has also been charged in the anti corruption court to ensure that his political future is definitely finished! That last bit clearly points at the moivation here. Unlike Kazibwe who was given our money for a useless pHD at Havard (did she even finish it?), muzeyi Mahogany will not get free money for a pHD. Actually he already has one! And he will not be posted to Paris or London either nor to the UN! He will be humiliated and dragged through the streets like a common thief. I wonder why we distingusih between common thieves and thieves -is there a difference? Muzeyi Mahogany now knows why sheep should never run with wolves!

Interestingly, Mahogany may have presided over the comittees that caused financial loss to Ugandans but am more intrigued by the man who set up the vehicle though which the tax payer got fleeced getting off scott free! Not only does Kuteesa get a free pass and a new portfolio, but he has already been “cleared” by the IGG! I think we may have to re evaluate his role a bit more. As you know from Temangalo, it doesnt really matter to us what the IGG says. There are matters of ethics, propriety and impropriety that need to be probed. For example I am still at a loss as to why Kuteesa would set up and sell a company dealing in cars whose only major contract was supplying cars in a fraudulent contract to the government. I also find it interesting that this company won a bid on dodgy grounds against an established BMW agent in Uganda! Pardon me if I see influence peddling somewhere in here by someone who speculated on the fact that CHOGM would need suppliers for luxury cars -et voila, one can see the “smartness” of the move!

P.S: I hope muzeyi Mahogany does not go the way of Behakanira!

Overgovernance; we can conclude that the NRM government is useless to Ugandans

Friday, June 3, 2011 at 11:32pm

Dearest Nina,

I can understand why you do not want to talk to me right now. That loser ST misread my last letter and thought I was plotting to beat him to peeping under your skirts. I sear to God that was not my intention! What a creep! Wamma, I was refering to the NRM’s skirts!!! As for daddy holding a kithambi, that was a figure of speech! I hear dirty minds and dirty tongues have been wagging!

I still want to discuss daddy’s cabinet! As I have mentioned before, I am concerned with the inclusion of all of those greedy eaters! There will be very little left over for the rest of us after they are through with the kintu! you see the rest of us, all 33 million of us have been waiting 25 years to get to the table. Uncle Kaguta when he was handing out brown envelopes the other day bying our votes said that we would have first class roads within 3 months! He ordered the engineers in the Ministry of works to start work immediately. They even used this excuse to immediately flout all of the PPDA rules claiming they did not have the time to deliver in three months if they had to go through red tape!

But we know from experience that when they do that, we end up with air while the money ahs all been spent. More than three months later, there are no roads to be seen. Could you ask dady to check and make sure they have not ripped us off again! In Japan when a corrupt constructor builds a road and skims off some money to build his house, everyone wins. The corrupt contractor gets a house, while the public get a wel constructed road guaranteed to provide service for decades. But in Uncle Kaguta’s Uganda, the contractor builds his house but the public see no roads!!! Why can’t Ugandan corrupt people be like corrupt Japanese? Instead in Uganda, they remind us how they were fighting while we were hiding under the bed! What kamanyiro! Like they were fighting in their own backyard without disturbing the rest of us!!! You know as they say you break it, you’ve got to fix it!

Before the elections we watched the daylight robbery in that talk house called parliament where the so called honourables were stealing rom the people. Mbu they each got 20 million to “supervise” development programmes in their constituencies! Whoever thought up that lie must have been smoking something illegal. You would think that for that kind of money they would be able to afford a good liar! Less than 6 weeks before that particular house was dissolved each member was handed enough money to pay the salary of a Ugandan teacher for 20 years with no guarantee that they would deliver, no TOR, no mechanism for audit to ensure value for money! Whoever heard of a major nationwide government programme without an inbuilt programme for monitoring and supervision? Could you tell me if in the original NAADS programme proposals it was proposed that MP’s would be the supervisors? If MP’s are meant to supervise programmes in their constitutencies, what exactly are all of those government flunkies with fancy titles paid to do? People like CAO’s, RDC’s, LC chairpersons at all sorts of levels -five, three, one etc. All of those councillors! What does the supervising minstry do and what are the project managers roles? It goes to just how useless and parasitic this political class is.

As you may see, I make no distinction between the opposition and the government. They are all in bed together when it comes to fleecing the taxpayer! If you doubt me just look at the recent shenanigans in that talk shop where they decided to discuss their own obscene allowances in camera! Like Ugandans have no right to know what they get for their money! You see in Uganda leaders appear to believe that Ugandans are there for their own self gratification! Mbu the dishonourable idiots want expensive cars for themselves and tax free allowances! This disease of ‘arrivalism’ you guys brought with you from the bush has infected the whole country! No wonder the NRM primaries were so chaotic with adults fighting each other like their very lives depended on it!

Whats with all of those MP’s anyway! Oh, I had forgotten its all a result of you guys gerrymandering! Creating numerous non viable districtlets dependent on the state titty with greedy jumped up pompous politicians falling all over themselves to provide support to the NRM in exchange for a small slice of their very own pie to eat closer to home!

Interestingly those pompous busybodies rejected Ssebagala’s nmination! I would have thought that he would have fit quite well with them! They seem to imagine that because they have a few more certficates than he does, they are better than he is. At least with Ssebagala, you know quite squarely where his allegiance is -in his bottom which he is quite happy to put at the service of the highest bidder! I hear poor Hajji was on “bedi resti” after you guys ripped him off by offering him a minsterial post you never intended to deliver!

Prof Nuwagaba suggested that Uganda is one of the most overgoverned countries in the world! You guys have creted a state of patronage where the provision of services takes a backseat to appeasing greedy politicians! These idiots wouldnt recognise development if it fell into their own laps! I think you should read that article. It is brilliant! http://www.reevconsult.co.ug/articles/35-articles/22-can-ugandas-over-governance-transform-the-economy.html As a matter of fact, you need to pass it on to the PM if he has never read it. Am sure if he had he would not have agreed to be the leader of government business presiding over such an obese and innefficient cabinet. Daddy’s cabinet is one of the largets in the world! If it were a reality show, it would be the biggest loser! The Biggest loser at least does offer free entertainment. In this case it is painfull to watch all of those posturing peacocks who believe that being elected by Ugandans gives them the right to rip off Ugandans without their consent!

Nuwagaba says that _“We have 45,000 Local Councils (LC1s); 5500 parishes (LC IIs),1026 sub-counties (LCIIIs) including Town Councils and Municipal Divisions; 151 Counties (LC4); 18 Municipalities including 5 Divisions of Kampala City; and 80 districts (LCVs) including Kampala City. All theses structures have councils with 10 people as executive officials implying for instance 450,000 chairpersons and LCI executive officials, 55,000 chairpersons and LCII executive officials etc. There are also a host of councilors and chiefs (most of whom are now actually redundant because their main pre occupation was collection of graduated tax that has been recently abolished). Don’t forget that there are 304 Members of Parliament and 69 Ministers! Going by conservative figures, I have estimated that we have a Leadership to Population Ratio of 1:6. This compares with the national Doctor to population Ratio of 1:30,000!! with district variations eg. Kitgum has 1:33,000 (Ministry of Health Sector Strategic Plan 1999/2000).”
_
What exactly do you people think you are doing? Do you really believe that by paying off every greedy little local politician with a large mouth services will come to the people? Haven’t you learnt from 25 years of making the same mistakes? Look at Kampala city, one of the most over governed cities in the world. It is a smelly dump with un collected garbage, no roads for those pits you call roads can’t really be called roads without insulting roads! Even the potholes in Kampala are an insult to potholes!!! Yet the pompous little busybodies waltz around demanding respect like they have done a good job! Mbu Seya said he deserved to be rewarded! One wonders what for. For making us the laughing stock of the world? I cringe when people tell me they have visited Kampala! Don’t you? What do you tell your friends from Nottingham or Sweden when they visit? That daddy is the kingpin of this ant heap? Have yu ever seen those pitiful women sweeping mud filled potholes with grass brooms in the morning? That too is another scam perpetrated on the people of Kampala!

Now Kampala has like five mayors! A city you can walk the length of from one end to the other in an hour or even less!And a lord mayor. Plus loads of councillors half of them semi literate with no idea at all what a modern city should look like! All combined with one of the most corrupt bureucracies in the southern hemisphere! Now there is a whole minstry too on top as well as another authority headed by a CEO! I did listen to that woman talk and I must say that I may come to like her! She speaks well and with authority. and am not talking about posturing. She has clearly identified the problems. I would like to compare her knowledge of Kampala and its problems with that of the outgoing mayor and _“minister for fortpolio’s” _Seya Ssebagala! Unfortunately, with all of those posturing self important peacocks at all levels, she is going to spend a lot of time placating idiots instead of doing her job.

You guys had the opportunity to overhaul the local government act and instead of fixing the problem, you handicapped her with hundreds of puffed up councillors and self important mayors all in the name of political expedience! This was the time to close down city hall, get rid of all of the councils while appointing a new authority with a CEP on a performance based contract and no political affiliations with the powers to hire and fire her own team! But that goes to show just how little you get it and need to retire an leave these things to people with the training to do them. You see the limitations of peasant Generals are kind of catching up with the NRM! Paesant Generls are only usefull in the early parts of a revolution -to mobilise paesants but they have no place in a modern state as their skills just cannot keep up with the times!

Haggai Matsiko in his article of 9 November 2010, “A Sleeping Giant of Too Many Leaders, Laws, Policies, And No Implementation” stated that “The country has 327 Members of Parliament, 69 Ministers, 278 political appointees who include 80 Resident District Commissioners and 80 deputies, 75 presidential advisors and 43 presidential private secretaries and their deputies. And this is just a sample of the real picture of Uganda’s amorphous public administration.” http://allafrica.com/stories/201011100994.html

The new cabinet introduces more useless ministries like the Ministry for Bunyor, Teso, Kampala in addition to those useless one for Karamoja and Luwero not to mention Ethics. Quite frankly have you ever visited Luwero? They are so close to Kampala and have had a ministry all of their own for almost 25 years. I can assure you that if you visit Luwero, you will agree that having a minstry does not benefit a district! Karamoja too is one of those places that has had a minsitry for decades. It remains arguably the most underdeveloped part of Uganda. Workers have had MP’s in government and am sure they feel un represented. Ditto the army! Do you think those privates in tattered uniform and mama ingia poles feel represented?

While we are on the subject, given everyone has got to be represented, how comes the police is not reprepsented in parliament? The other day, I hear an association was formed for the_ “abataasoma”,_ the illiterates of this country! They too promptly asked to be represented! Mbu they wanted an MP too! And even more seriously, how comes our tribes and kingdoms too do not get an MP in parliament? Given the argument for the army getting ten representatives is that they have potential to destabilise this country, shouldnt tribes be represented in parliament? I cannot think of anything that has potential to destabilise Uganda like tribes!! If you do extend the subject you will of course realise why this obsession with representation in its most simplistic form is so ridiculous! Ugandans are so disenchanted with the ability of the NRM government to deliver services and development that they will only accept that they are represented if one of their own, from their tribe, their village or county is eating!!!

Matsiko helps us understand the figures even better, quote,_ “Numbers aside, the expenditure on these administrators is enormous. Each presidential advisor and presidential assistant earns a salary of slightly more than Shs 2 million a month, gratuity of Shs 9.9 million every year, Shs 150,000 fuel allowance and Shs 150,000 imprest every month. This alone translates into Shs 908.5 million in a year, enough to pay for 378 primary school teachers for whole year at a salary of Shs200, 000 per month and Shs 2,400,000 a year. The overall total of the government expenditure on advisors, presidential assistants, RDCs, deputy RDCs, presidential private secretaries and their deputies alone is about Shs 7.5 billion a year. This money would support 2,077 UPE schools of 800-pupil enrollment or buy drugs for 890 Health Centre IVs, construct 935 classrooms, or pay for 37,500 primary teachers, half of the additional 72,000 teachers required to lift the quality of UPE.”_

Now it becomes easy to understand where out money goes and why we have got potholes, rubbish is not collected, the health system is a shambles and we are addicted to debt and foreign aid!

Matsiko adds further that , “Despite the expenditure, observers say that these advisors are doing nothing at all apart from draining government coffers,….”. There it is in black and white. All of these people are useless. As you can see I can do a better job for a fraction of the price. Am sure there are plenty of young well trained Ugandans ready to step in and relieve all of the old foggy brains of the burden of mismanaging our country!

This Mastiko guy doesnt let go! He may end up joining Kalyegira for this article even though its old. But then Kalyegira’s is old too. He states further,

“Advisors aside, each MP earns 14.5million, which means altogether they earn over Shs 57bn annually, devoid of allowances. Moreover, there are 69 Ministers who have all sorts of allowances including government vehicles. Government expenditure on fuel, oils and maintenance of the vehicles increased from Shs 36.7billion in 2004/05 to Shs 92 billion in 2006/07. These ministers prosper at the expense of the public even though Article 114 of the constitution states that “the total number of Ministers appointed under this article shall not exceed twenty-one except with the approval of Parliament.”

We know of course that MP’s have since increased their pay to 19 million a small fortune to a Ugandan!

The other day Janet was in parliament talking about patriotism. One wonder whether the eaters in the NRM really know what patriotism means! Nuwagaba says that “as long as a receptionist in National Drug Authority (NDA) earns Shs 944, 541 per month, while a medical doctor who spent seven year in medical school earns a paltry Shs 705,621, implementation will remain a nightmare. Even a driver at the Bank of Uganda earns Shs 1,135347 per month. Such disparities defeat logic and directly affect public service provision. Consequently, skilled and experienced personnel required in central government service quit.”

This looks like simple logic to me but obviously its too difficult for the NRM to grasp even after presiding over this country for 25 years. Think about this -any high school drop out can be a receptionist while a medical doctor has got to excel at all levels of Uganda’s dog eat dog education, spend five years at university, spend another in slave labour otherwise called internship, be posted to counties and places other Ugandans dont even know exist for anywhere between 3 and 10 years then return to Mulago for a Masters degree that includes working free for uncivil hours for Mulago -and still earn less than the receptionist! Rwanda does get it, and thats why Ugandans are manning their hospitals!

Old man Gureme as far back as 2003, in “Over-governed and over-taxed, Uganda should restore federo”,  said that,

“The federo costs: Let’s assume that Uganda had 100 counties, with an average of six sub-counties, each with six milukas, each muluka with say two batongole.

That would make about 4,600 chiefs. Add say 50 big chiefs at their headquarters, plus say 20 DCs and Buganda residents, making about 4,670 district administrators/dispensers of justice.

With today’s basic educational requirements and shortages of judges and magistrates, it would be advantageous if chiefs initially trained at the Law __

Development Centre (LDC) as magistrates, some rising to be judges in due course.

Today we have in excess of 79,900 councillors at all levels, some receiving stipends and/or sitting allowances, the rest spoiling for payment. Apart from __

the embittered northerners, they are mainly vote-entrappers for the Movement in the guise of LCs (nine at each stratum) taking services closer to the people, in practice taking terror closer to the oppressed (under Amin); and embezzlement closer to the victims today.

With 56 RDCs, earning princely salaries, parades of well-remunerated assistant RDCs, plus 56 rather insecure CAOs, and packs of assistants (we received __

relatively tamer wages for combining the two jobs), plus a mammoth taxpayer-financed asylum accommodating superannuated loyal discards in the Movement

Secretariat. An enormous “ethnically balanced” council of ministers; and a parliament too large for its House! Clearly this country is over-governed, for

which it is correspondingly over-taxed (never mind the non-prosecutable tax evaders); all building up a very strong case for restoring federalism.”

The NRM introduced this monster of political patronage. They believe that by paying off everyone who criticises them, they will be left alone to eat in peace. Unfortunately, Museveni forgets his own words. In 1986, he stated that government is useless if it cannot deliver services to the people”. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FedsNet/message/4201_
_
Today we can declare the NRM government useless with no shortage of abundant evidence!

Random answers on health in UG.

Monday, January 10, 2011 at 7:26pm

Nina says,

“I think Mugerwa was getting into this. I know for a fact that in California, US. All doctor’s sit exams for their licenses each year before it is renewed. Do we do the same here? Who is responsible for that? I know docto…rs put in some pro bono hours a year and it serves as community service. Do we do the same here? I know doctors are easily sued for negligence abroad, is that the case here? What about medical arbitration? Inspection of hospital facilities? Investigation of medical misconduct? monitoring of drug distribution? Reporting systems to the police on certain patients that are treated? Are these all not part of the solution that Mugerwa is offering except he is calling them pressure groups? What do you want us to call such overseeing bodies that keep Ugandan doctors that work abroad in check? Should Museveni lead this or should we ask him to set it up if it is not there, hence educate him?”

I will attempt to answer some of these questions for the sake of other participants even though I believe they were irrelevant.

Recertification is not universal even in the US. Very few other places in the world practice recertification.

Most rely on good training in medical schools, formal and structured postgraduate service and specialty/subspecialty training as well as good post spcialisation continuous education which is structured with GP’s and specialists being required to submit evidence of continuing education including attending workshops, conferences, journal clubs and formal post graduate/graduate courses in relevant subjects.

There are arguments as to which system is the best but the rest of the world is not rushing to emulate California. Uganda has no system for recertification.

Pro bono is a legal term more specific to law than to medicine. There is no requirement for voluntary work but many doctors do so. Some will offer treatment to disadvantaged populations others will go off to third world destinations to offer their services.

In Uganda the relevant paediatrics, surgical and physicians professional associations do organise upcountry ‘clinics’. These are collegial activities where colleagues go along for the fun and also render a service to a community such as free surgery or free checkups and treatment.

Quite frankly virtually every doctor in Uganda working in a public hospital or clinic who does not demand money from his patients illegally is subsidising the public health system as they are poorly remunerated, put in unpaid overtime all of the time and sometimes even contribute financially to the care of a patient or fuelling their cars or private phones used for official work.

There is nothing barring doctors getting sued in uganda save a relatively ignorant population that does not know its own rights as well as what constitutes quality care. Even those who believe they know probably have no clue what they are talking about. For example your example of prostate cancer in your grandpa that was allegedly missed until five years later when it was seen in retrospect may not be as clear cut as you think it is.

I doubt that many of our lawyers are competent at pursuing medical negligence lawsuits and neither can their patients afford them. Quite frankly our lawyers are too confortable making ten percent off drawing up easy papers. However the advent of mango tree universities churning out lawyers by the hundreds may change that as many will end up redundant and have to find new niches. There are however no amulances to chase so we will have to find another name for ‘ambulance chasers” as these lawyers are called.

If you ask me Ugandan patients should sue. But I would advise them to go for the hospitals and the government. these are government hospitals. If a patient dies, the doctor and the system have to be sued. if the doctor failed to provide care due to the negligence of his employer, then the hospital has to pay. There is a case for numerous class action suits by Ugandan patients against the government hospitals and the government. And trust me the dotors if this were tested in court will get out of it as many of the so called negligence is really a systemic problem due to them not being facilitated to practice their profession fully.

As for medical arbitration I beleive this is a completely undeveloped area. Patient liaison and support may be easier to set up. Specifically someone needs to speak for all those patients on Mulago’s floor. Someone with enough knowledge to advocate for them for many really have no idea that they are being shafted. I doubt that some of the managers know that either!!!

Medical facilities are inspected and “certified” as compliant with specific set out criteria. So a hospital can be certified as fit to take on interns for training if they have a certain number of consultants in place to supervise them, have certain facilities of a preset standard, have a certain staffing level at predetermined grades, does a certain number of procedures, provides a certain level of training etc. There is no such formal certification system in Uganda. The closest is the project christine worked in.

Medical misconduct can be pursued in uganda. All doctors are licences by the Uganda Medical Board. Having a medical degree is not a license to practice medicine.

It is possible for you to look up cases brought by the board against the proprietor of Case clinic for example a few years ago. in your circles every second or third person probably has been to Case clinic or know the proprietor and may have heard about this case. the board can withdraw licenses, suspend doctors from practice or limit their practice or demand practice under supervision. It can also recommend criminal charges for criminal negligence. The offices are in Wandegeya the last time I checked.See More

Criminal charges can also be brought if the problem falls under criminal law say abortion, sexual assault, homicide etc.

Monitoring of drug distribution is the job of the Ministry of Health and the government medical stores. If you google them, you wiii find that they have spent obscene amount of money on computerised warehousing software for the National Medical Stores. The deal for upgrading a software system that was working well and was less than five years old a few years ago cost a ridiculous amount of money. Personally I thought that there was a problem with the whole deal.

Local drug distribution, and dispensing within a hospital is controlled by the pharmacy. Nurses administer against a prescription signed by a doctor and have to maintain records for the pharmacy to ensure accountability. Doctors have no contact at all with drugs within this system except to prescribe them. In a tertiary hospital like Mulago that is the case. In upcountry stations it is a little bit more complicated as many times the only doctor is also the medical superintendant who has to travel all of the way to entebbe to do inane things like sign for drugs and transport them from Entebbe to kotido in the only ‘ambulance’ the hospital owns!

In the British system, doctors report deaths to a coroner if there is a problem or evidence of malpractice. Mandatory reporting of certain cases following preset guidelines has to be put in place. All other straight forward cases where the cause of death is clear receive a death certficate by a member of the team that looked after the patient. if the case is unclear then a post mortem is done particularly if there is suspicion of foul play.

Where systems work all cases where a patient dies within a certain number of days after a major operation or procedure is considered as reportable and the doctor cannot issue a death certificate without discussing the case with the coroner first. I think the equivalent in Uganda is the police surgeon!

Unfortunately in Uganda upcountry the local medical officer also acts as the police surgeon when required to so am not sure how you are going to get him to review himself when he is the only doctor in the county.

The police only gets involved in cases that fall under criminal law. Cases of malpractice, professional misconduct and negligence unless they cause bodily harm or death are cases for civil litigation or referral to the medical board.

Doctors abroad are not kept in check by “pressure groups”. Primarily the first check is training and specialist certfication in certfied units that are well supervised and perform a minimum number and range of procedures. Hospitals have their code of conduct and Health authorities have their codes too. Ethics is a part of medical training specifically medical ethics and professional conduct. licesnsing Boards oversea licensing and hear professional misconduct. hospitals have patient liaison and patient advocates who hear patient grievances and liaise with the teams. And insurance companies organise additional training in risk management to their client (doctors) to avoid law suits. Most of all the system in which doctors work has got to provide a framework in which they can practice safe medicine else the instituion gets sued. Certfication boards will not certify a hospital unless it comlies with minimum regulations else it will be shut down. Patient advocacy groups may advocate but they are an additional layer not the primary controllers of quality. Most of all hospitals know they will get sued if their doctors kill a patient and it is found that the system contibuted to the death. The primary role of setting up and supervising these syetms is the government and it cannot pass on this responsibility to anyone else.

In any functioning organisation or government the buck stops with the boss. thats how they justify their huge pay and bonuses. it all means that when things go wrong, again they take the fall!

Thats why in many democracies an investigation revealing excess deaths in a government hospital due to systemic failures and the negligence calls for the resignation of the Health Minister for failing in their dupervisory roles.

Now if people tell me that we have such a big problem and we cannot and should not place the blame on the people who have been running the government not for one but for 25 years, then i remain flabbergasted!

Even after a catalogue of incompetence and corruption in the GAVI scandals and numerous other flawed deals let alone all of the excess mortality and shortages!

If a president believes that giving each MP 20 million for the nebulous and ill defined ‘NDAADS” activities is better than making a grant to say Uganda Cancer Institute then we really are in trouble!!! Now the president is frantically making plans to offer new markets to upcountry areas as a part of his campaign donations!!!

The people to educate Museveni have always been there but he believes in teaching them! Many years ago museveni said doctors will get a living wage when they become “productive”. That he preferred to pay lawyers and tax collectors because they were productive!!! So junior lawyers and junior tax collectors made and syill make more than a medical consultant with more than a decade of training and several decades of experience! That said it all. If an economist cannot see a link between an unhealthy workforce and production one wonders. Who guarantees your workforce?

And if they believe the solution is to jail a few doctors as “an example” and place ignorant cadres with half their IQ’s to “supervise them” (read bully them), then I pity poor Ugandans!

Its time for politicians to grow ears and listen to the people who guarantee their “success”! No solution to health that bypasses doctors is going to work! And certainly one that bullies them will fail!

God save this country!

Health -Using figures to tell lies!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 at 10:35pm

@ Mbabazi,

When brevity is required, i use it. When the subject requires more, my posts which are really notes to myself that i have been writing for years will be longer.

You are right, I am not impressed by Kaganzi! Obviously he does not know much about health services and neither does he know much about Ugandans! He is making up “government policy” on the run to make up for the deficiencies of the NRM!

Official Ugandan government policy is to provide free “health for all”! unfortunately they set the bar so low, but hope that Ugandans are so stupid, they cannopt see when they are being sold air!

IHK, Paragon, Nakasero, Gulu Independent are all purely private hospitals. They each have weaknesses that we shall not go into! All of these facilities are so expensive that their effective coverage of the Ugandan population is in single digits! you cannot base the healthcare system of a whole country of 33 million people on these hospitals.

Ishaka Teaching hospital is a beneficiary of government patronage both because of who the owner is -an NRM party member who is a party donor who receives government patronage and “launders” it before returning it to the NRM as “donations”. There are numerous other cases where he has received loans and outright grants from government in exchange for very little back to the taxpayer! During the construction of Ishaka, he received extraordinary tax concessions on building materials ordered by the president in the hundreds of millions of shillings! Lecturers in the teaching hospital, a private facility receive payments and salaries from the government again in special arrangements orderd by state house while this hospital receives government money. It cannot therefore be compared to any of the other hospitals. Paragon which looked very good on paper, practically went broke in less than two years!

God forbid you ever get admitted to one of these “hospitals” some of which are really not fit to carry the name except to Kampala’s ignorant glitteratti! the cost per day is in the hundreds of thousands to the millions of shillings per day! More than 90% -I would daresay well over 95% of ugandans would not be able to go anywhere near these facilities!

How then does a government cater for the over 90% of Ugandans who need healthcare but would never be able to pay for care in any of these facilities when it has virtually completely disengaged itself from providing healthcare services to them and left it to an underfunded private sector that quite frankly caters only to the top 2 to 5 %?

Even in developed nations equipment like CT scanners (there is more than CT you know in terms of medical diagnostic technologies), requires government expenditure. Even private facilities receive government capitation grants in order to access new technologies in public-private partnerships!

No country in the world can afford to pass the responsibility for providing medical services to the private sector! In a very poor country like Uganda, only by abdicating its responsibility to provide health services to its citizens can the government sit back and pass the buck to the private sector!

As for Ms Tracy’s spirited defence -again one has to ask a simple question! When did you people last ever visit any of these facilities you spout wonderful figures about? Half of the nation is under the age of 15. Real unemployment is virtually unrecordable. even those who claim to be employed can’t really be said to be employed -the more correct term being disguised unemployment! Count the number of taxi touts at a Wandegeya stop all calling for passengers to Kampala (there is no other destination for taxis that stop there), add the drivers and the conductors then tell me that those people really all need to be there? Ditto the number of boda bodas at one stage most really just chewing mairungi all day! How many of them are really emplyed and how many are pretending to be employed? Add the retirees and the paesants -who exactly is meant to guarantee that these people get a reasonable healthcare if not the government?

And before you tell me about the health centres, please read my earlier post on healthcentres!

Why bundibugyo and Kabale should sack their politicians and recruit more doctors instead.

Monday, June 6, 2011 at 12:36am

Dear Nina,

Today I feel great love for you! So I promise I will not mention the prime minster or that annoyance Twino! It will be just you and me, with the moon and the stars!

I am glad you went beyond the rhetoric and propaganda in the NRM manifesto and actually looked at what is happening on the ground. Ever since I started debating the issue of health services in Uganda on FB, none of the NRM debaters sent here by the government to “counteract opposition propaganda” has ever taken up the challenge! The challenge has always been that they visit a real hospital or health centre, speak to real patients or medical and nursing personnel and report their experience back here preferably with a comment as to how their findings compare with the official rhetoric! As you can see, things on the ground are not the same as the glossy reports by the government or the presidents rosy speeches! All of those challenged usually disappear and never come back or come back to a different topic while attempting to dismiss the challenge! The fact that it has stood for now almost a year tells one a lot about how un seriosly this government really takes the priorities of ordinary Ugandans!

I still remember that very brusing first round you and I first had when you challenged my views on Mulago and Ugandan’s health services. That we have now moved to the library and down to the ground is progress.

The NRM has forgotten one thing -all politics is local. Your choice of Kabale demonstrates this. But the very fact that all politics is loval is why the delivery of services is important. Its why it makes very little sense that the NRM ‘won’ the last election with “a large majority” which in their opinion proves their “popularity”! But we all know that this election was won on money and blackmail but not real issues for the issues that are closest to the hearts of Ugandans are the very issues at which it sucks most!

Your choice of Kabale reminds me of a girl who left Uganda about ten years ago. She has never come back and has no intention of ever doing so. I knew her at university. She was a very hard working student. She came from a middle class family, had grown up in an urban area and went to one of Uganda’s elite girls schools. Following her internship (you see she is a doctor), she was posted to Kabale. There she endured hardship for the next 2 or 3 years in virtual servitude and says she did things she never ever thought she would ever have to do to survive. By the time she left, the local rural men who fancied themselves wealthy and sophisticated wanted to marry her as an extra wife or keep her as a mistress! She felt humiliated for the reason that these mocal village idiots thought she was within their reach was because they knew she was broke. That some of them had control over whether she got remunerated or not did not make things easier. For as you know, the MoH divested itself of responsibility for docotors and decentralised recruitment and salaries to districts. At some point her pay was 12 months in arrears. She believed that the local politicians and admininstrators deliberately manipulated her salary to keep her broke and dependent.

Off the top of my head, I can give you a story from Fort Portal invloving a savedee who left after a year without a salary and having been forced to do things heis conscience could not live with, another who told me horror stories of operating in stone age conditions in Hoima -he left. And another who left Gulu after ten years having lived there at a time when most southerners would never ever consider crossing the Karuma. I can introduce you to people on FB who left Ugandan being owed wages for several months to a year or longer or others who were never delployed for months to years -they left and will not come back. They all have horror stories of working in primitive conditions, unpaid and unsupported. And when they hear you politicians trying to blame them for the inadequacies in a health system you do not even use, they just pack their bags and leave while the politicians continue to strut and posture for the cameras while shunning the same dilapidated health structures.

I can see that Apollo has problems with discussing what he prefers to believe is NRM internal business. I have news for him -the emperor is naked. Health services are used by everybody and they are public business. Specifically the failure of the NRM to deliver even basic minimum care for 25 years is in the public domain and has got to be discussed. Refusal of the NRM to discuss these problems is like the proverbial ostrich burying its head in the sand -does not prevent it from getting eaten by predators!

An Alice chimes in with her usual insensitivity! Why should doctors be bonded when no one else is being bonded? If we are going to bond doctors, then everyone else should be bonded to. Why is it OK for Alice to go off to the UK with her state funded degree and not for a doctor? As it is doctors in addition to spending more time on their training, working longer and more unfriendly hours, are one of few professionals who get posted to all sorts of places in Uganda without even relocation costs.

Migration is an individual right for everyone regardless of profession. It is the role of the government to provide reasonable remuneration and employment not the role of doctors to subsidise government incompetence and politician ineptitude. https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=469636102680 The invocation of selective patriotism is just simply blackmail!

We have already demonstrated how the huge political administration at all levels is a drain on public resources while being unproductive. Simply halving the size of political leadership at all levels from the executive, parlaiment to districts through counties and down to the village would free enough resources to employ new medical and nursing staff.

The question has been asked regarding what role RDC’s, assistant RDC’s, CAO’s and the armies of local politicians do to justify their allowances. If you followed Stephen Twinoburyo’s page in the last few days you will notice that the topic has been the cost of so called leaders and politicians and the opportunity cost in terms of service delivery. Today Ms Ssuuna posted an article showing that Kampala’s politicians cost the rate payers 18 billion a year. Methinks Kampala City could save a lot of money by getting rid of all its local politicians and using that 18 billion to provide services!

But the same could be said of lots of other places. Districts should get rid of the bulk of their semi literate councillors and self important chairmen and dliver services instead CAO’s RDC’s, assisteant RDC’s in addition to LC V district chairmenand councillors, various other politicians at county and subcounty levels as well as villagers should be got rid of. Specificall the village LC’s outlived their usefulness for they have no utility in terms of delivering services. All they do is to entrench the NRM in power being vehicles for patronage rather than vehicles for service delivery!

Today someone introduced me to the concept of a captive economy. Essentially Uganda is an economy captive to vested interests including those of politicians and cronies of Museveni. This results in gross distortions, corruption and innefficiency that stunt development. Essentially Ugandans will have to liberate their economy from these vested interests if we wish to develop at all.

Many years ago as a student I spent a lot of my time volunteering with cancer patients. I met a man who was a village teacher in Bundibugyo. His 8 year old son had cancer. Every two weeks this man travelled all the way from Bundibugyo with his son, in buses and taxis. He slept on the hospital floor while his son was in hospital and faithfully returned for the next treatment. He told me about the horrible journey through horrible roads. He told me aboyt the fact that his whole district had no doctors and how he wished that one could go and work there. His son survived as far as I know thanks to his fathers diligence.

The following links connect to a story about a Dr Ssessanga who in 2008 was the only doctor in Bundibugyo even after the Ebola outbreak in 2007. In Feb 2011, it was reported that “Dr Steven Ssesanga, the lone doctor, who also serves as the medical superintendent, lost his father last week and left behind hordes of patients writhing in pain, some needing emergency care.”

Please note the sanctimonious tone of the article like it was Dr Ssessanga’s fault that he was the only person willing to work in Bundibudgyo. In another article in April Dr Ssessanga states, “I am alone and I cannot attend to everyone at the same time,”

“Sesanga, also the hospital superintendent, is the only doctor in the district. Apart from treating patients, he has to carry out administrative work.

“I have very little time to rest. If I do, people will die,” he says.

Sesanga says Bundibugyo Hospital is the district’s referral health facility, serving over 280,000 people from as far as the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

However, the hospital is understaffed, operating at slightly above 50% of the required human resource.
Ronald Mutegeki, the administrator, says of the 126 staff employed at the hospital, only 71 are qualified.”

Further in the same article it becomes obvious the government is not doing its job. “The hospital receives sh276m annually from the primary health care fund under the Ministry of Health. He says the hospital needs about sh5b annually to meet at least half of its costs. “

I think that doctors like Ssessanga need a standing ovation as do many doctors who chose to work in Uganda despite the abuse, the poor remuneration, the poor facilites and job satisfaction.

Now could anyone tell me why the number of councillors and overpaid political appointees in Bundibgyo shouldnt be halved to make way for more doctors and better pay for Ssessanga?

Lastly this whole problem starts right from the top. In the early years of the NRM, Museveni stated that doctors will be paid a living wage when they become productive. He stated that he preferred to pay layers and revenue collection agents a living wage rather than doctors because “they were productive”. I remember thinking at the time that the president didn’t understand even basic high school commerce. My high school commerce taught me that the basic pillars of the productivity were land, labour and capital. My understanding is that a healthy workforce needs healthcare. if the president was not willing to pay the people who guaranteed the health of his workforce, how did he hope to boost productivity?

More than twenty years later, he still doesnt get it! And all of the choir singers in the NRM like Apollo do not want to contradict him because that would be “airing the government dirty linen in the wrong forum”!!!

P.S. You can find more of my thoughts on Ugandan health services on my blog.

http://ddembe.wordpress.com/category/health/

We all have big mouths! How comes only Banyankole get shut up with fat brown envelopes?

Dear Nina,

Today I have decided to breach a topic I normally stay away from. That of tribalism and nepotism practiced by the NRM government as well as the perceptions of Bahima and westerners that could cause major problems for us in future.

I know that this topic is taboo and that there is even a law that makes it illegal to call a muhima a muhima or something to that effect. That the so called anti sectarian law was created to prevent people from discussing this topic! That it is sectarian to say that Bahima are eating and the rest of us get to watch them! But that mad man Nathan decided to let the genie out of the bottle now everyone is talking about it. And that it is the closest equivalent to a tribal cyber stone throwing that we could have on facebook!

I also wish to complain because ever since I started writing on facebook and becoming a major pain in your governments backside, no one has approached me with a brown envelope while other people who happen to come from the right part of the country are all telling me they are receiving offers from as far up as the presidents office that include private audience with his excellence! Even that rat Twino got invited to eat things!!! Is it because he is from Kiruhuura and speaks she and I am not? I hear people have been calling him to say he should not discuss “family business” and that they will sort him out with a big brown envelope to keep his big mouth shut! Shia! Even me I have a big mouth! How comes no one is shutting me up with a fat brown envelope? Even corruption and bribery is tribalised in Museveni’s Uganda!

I have not peeped at Nathans Bahima board for two days and have never read it in full. It’s going to be my next project. I did see a few quite primitive statements from both sides including some very typical bush Bahima. I will demonstrate what I mean by bush Bahima!

I will be writing my views on Bahima my fathers family having employed them for generations as some members of my fathers family have more cows than many Bahima could ever dream of.

My first meeting with a muhima/bahima was at the age of seven while on holiday on a relatives ranch in Luwero. I was amazed at this creature, obviously poor and ill mannered, who addressed his employer’s wife who had just offered him free food as “omwiru ogu”. He refused to dig up the food he was offered free at his request (cassava) as “ngu nti mwiru”. He had claimed his family had nothing to eat! This was after he he had turned down free potatoes “ngu, narya ebitakuri, ng’omwiru?” Even more amazing to me was the fact that his boss offered him free alcohol and actually went down to the garden and dug up the food for him which he carried off at the end of the day. This simple woman had hundreds of cows in her own right!

Over the course of that holiday, I came to meet many of these “bush bahima” and their arrogance. I still remember them till today and in many ways understand how the Bairu of Ankole feel about them from that interaction and many future ones. I even learnt runyankole which unfortunately I later forgot. Children are very fast learners.

With the advent of the NRM, many bush bahima suddenly fell into things. I use the term bush bahima losely to refer to those ignorant ones like the ones I have referred to above who treat people even those who feed and employ them as dirt. They suddenly fell into things with many hillarious stories told about them which I shall not repeat. Some of those very funny characters have now evolved to become the movers of our society but unfortunately their manners have not -they brought them with them intact into national offices. If one wants to get a clear idea of their evolution, one just has to look at serial photos of Museveni’s suits from the short sleeved kaunda suit over long sleeved shirts, watch on the right arm, and gum boots in 1986 to saville row suits today.

I found out that they spat and “kunyampad” in public. The fought after getting drunk on their hosts free booze. And they were arrogant and abusive and looked down upon everyone including their boss! And the men and women squatted leaving very little to a vivid childhood imagination. Neither men nor women wore underwear! I also found out that they married their cousins, practiced a form of wife swapping and many were paedophiles and harrassed young girls who the wanted to “kusweera”!

I did then and later when I was older ask my aunt about her interactions with the bahima. My uncle took me around to the kraals where they lived with his and my fathers cattle. Their homes were pathetic and in many cases lean to’s with the children sleeping outside on a “katandaro” or in a small hut with their parents who I was assured by older teenage cousins had some fairly noisy sexual habits! I found that these bahima showed me how to milk a cow. They knew all of my fathers cows by name including which one was the mother or father of which one. They knew when they were sick. My uncle and aunt just laughed at what they called ignorance but maintained that some of these men and women were actually good men and women. Both of them spoke fluent runyankole.

From my aunt and uncle i also found out that many of these people were good men and women. The women would come around for free food and chat with their boss. And they had the same problems athat other women had. They talked about family and children. That the men could be very good and generous friends with friendships lasting for decades. My uncle did say however that he could never trust them with his cows except to look after them for if he blinked, the cows would disappear.

I learn the meaning of the word “nyabuzaare”. The joke around as I found out later was that if you married a muhima woman and a vistor came who she referred to a nyabuzare, do not leave them together! For the sexual taboos that Baganda had towards blood relatives differed from those of Bahima so this nyabuzaare some of whom visit for months or longer maybe the reason yur children look like Bahima!

Some girlfriends later taught me more about this nyabuzaare thing. One was amazed at Baganda. “Abaganda nze sibategyeera”! In her opinion, the way Baganda behaved could never happen among her people. She believed that a muhima could never discriminate against a fellow muhima and offer a job to another, regardless of merit. Actually she believed that in the matter of jobs, a nyabuzaare and tribesmate came first! That if a muhima headed a department, it was expected that he or she would offer jobs to all villagemates and relatives first. That it was impossible for them to head a department full of foreigners.

I got to know one girl and her “bush family” very well. She was hima/ tutsi from the lukoola’s of Buganda in Sembabule and very well connected to kuteesa, jet mwebaaze, Kazini, joviah, Kagame, Guma and Salim Saleh. Actually she introduced me to some of them’ Through her i got to hear some interesting stories behind the street parking deal and the Entebbe enhas deal. I learnt to recognise these peoples private and public dealing with the spla and bashirs hostility. i heard about congo years before we fought there. and i knew stories from behind the lines in rwanda. I even met spla officers at a private function introduced to me at a day after museveni had publicly disavowed any connection between spla and uganda. i understood then that to many of these men the war in the north and southern sudan was simply business -they provided goods and protection. i met coltan dealers when most ugandans were unaware we exported coltan or even had it. and i learnt that there was indeed gold in karamoja and it just wasn’t stories. In person many of these people were very nice and generous if they were your friends. at uni i knew three more girls, one of whom was very close to jim muhwezi while another was close to salim saleh. at one point salim gave this 20 year old girl 30 000 dollars to “keep” for him. those days this was a fortune!

Over the years, i have seen and heard the stories of sudden wealth, arrogance, whole departments staffed by one tribe, lucrative postings and jobs reserved for one tribe. i have seen reports and queries about ura and high ranking army officers. i have seen people who have risen from little more than herdsmen to significant wealth by any and all standards. I have seen young people, some relatives who will not bother to apply for jobs because its now accepted that you have got to come from one part of the country or have a nose of a certain length to qualify.

But I have also been back to Luwero as well as Mbarara and realised that there are still many Bahima there who still leave much the same way that I first saw them as a child. I have had them beg me to buy milk off them in Luwero because it will go bad and they have to feed their children. I have realised that this kintu is just a gimmick. That even among Bahima, some are closer to the table than me without connections or with the background that enables me to go around this entrenched system of patronage!

The average muganda is still better off in many respects than some of these people. That while there has been an unofficial affirmative program involving choice postings, lucrative positions and free money from supplying air in contracts known only to some as well as scholarships distributed under the presidents bed under very vague circumstances, this system of patronage does not benefit all westerners or even Bahima many of whom are still as poor and ignorant as ever despite the arrogance.

I have a two brothers with Bahima girlfriends/wives and children and have never seen much evidence of things falling their way. The only time that one seemed to benefit from a large contract negotiated in lunyankole to what appeared to be a private business that its since become common knowledge was the beneficiary of billions in public and CHOGM money, he got ripped off and lost hundreds of millions! Having a muhima wife and child did not help him from becoming a victim of thieving and impunity!

I have also learnt that Banyankole are not the same. That if you put Bahima and Bairu in the same country together and we all withdrew, they would massacre each other! That the only thing that prevents them from doing so is being part of greater Uganda!

Travel allows one to meet all sorts of Ugandans in foreign capitals some of whom are frozen in time. I have learnt that there are Ugandans many of whom are from the past who would love nothing other than a good old fashioned massacre of anyone with a long nose or suspected to be a muhima or munyarwanda. The only problem is that many of these people would not recognise one if he or she fell on their head. To them every one with a nose of a certain length is an enemy and an eater. To them I would be a candidate for massacre and s would lots of Baganda, Banyoro or anyone from the west!

I have also seen the emergence of a fortress mentality with many people from western Uganda believing that Museveni is their only bulwark and protection from getting massacred. The reality in my opinion is the opposite. That Museveni’s continued stay in power will instead increase the chances of us having a good old massacre! That in propagating this cycle of tribal eating, he has increased the risk of resentment against his people. That the primitive accumulation of wealth and primitive consumption amidst poverty and deprivation is rapidly creating the conditions for a “correction”.

The problem with such corrections of real or perceived historical injustice is that they are often irrational and follow no logic. They are based on fear. Our history is full of such ‘corrections. A granduncle of mine who was close to a nubian family was mistaken for a nubian. In 1979, he was driven to exile and his house destroyed. He was exiled in Juba and Kenya and his children scattered. He returned later a poor man despite his having previously been a very wealthy man. By the time of his death, he was a bit loopy!

In Rwanda, men and women turned on each other with no logic. In Kenya a massacre came out of virtually no where. In Mabira, some Asians were killed in violence that came out of virtually no where. Someone who knew nothing about how Asians interact with native Ugandans would say that this came out of nowhere as did the expulsion in 1973. Reality is that both were on the back of long standing resentment and inequality.

Uganda is hostage to vested interests of a small minority many of whom happen to be Bahima related to the first family. Ugandans particularly other Banyankole and Bahima need to recognise that they are captives to fear. But they also have to be aware that if they do not embrace change, they will be forced to accept the change that we all do not want. That they need to be seen to be standing up against the abuse of this government together with other Ugandans if they are to protect their own interests.

Change will come but it needs to be a change we want. Change that involves further bloodshed of innocent Ugandans is not the cnahge that we want. I am yet to go through this discussion but I have heard from inboxes that it is a public stone throwing fest. This is not necessarily a bad thing as discussing a problem is half way to solving it. This resentment has been going on a long time and the arrogance of this government does not help.

When asked to comment upon the composition of the so called national army particularly the high command, the army commanders invited before a comittee in parliament arrogantly refused and claimed it was a matter of national security! this is a rpime example of embedding sectarian interests and claiming them to be national interests. In another similar request involving URA, they dodged the question which referred to the name rank and tribe of its employees starting with the chief a muhima woman who takes home more than 10, 000 dollars a month. They submitted stats for drivers, askaris and sweepers! I may have exagerated there but the reality is they refused. A rumour in the past shed some light on how some of these units are staffed. The Special Revenue Police Service that Kayihura headed before it was disbanded for torture and murder was apparently vetted in person by Janet Museveni from so called “savedees” known to her or her son. He was not then a member of the armed forces! There have been other stories about her involvement in recruiting! Anyone who has grown up under Museveni has heard about or seen evidence of interesting recruiting practices in the URA! And anyone who has met Bahima kids on government scholarship in overseas capitals knows that there is more than meets the eye!

A well connected muhima girl sent me a worried inbox message after Nathan put up his topic. She narrated some rather chilling episode her poor children went through during the so called Buganda riots that Museveni used to kill over thirty unarmed people. She believes that her children almost became victims but for her driver who drove away from an angry crowd at Bunamwaya. That her children were targeted because they have her long nose even though her husband is from another part of the country. She cites as evidence the fact that the same mob was in the process of overturning and burning down a MOVIT car owned by a mukiga. What she doesn’t know is that I have a cousin who has worked at MOVIT for years and his employment practices are exploitative and primitive and its more than likely that the resentment had little to do with tribe and more about how he treats his employees. Evidence for this is that the MOVIT employees have since gone on strike that required riot police intervention. That too may just be evidence of impunity that prefers to use the police rather than communicate with ones employees. Nevertheless I feel pity for her and her children for having been put through this horrible expeirence.

The reality is that Ugandans need to learn to share. That inequality will always lead to conflict and war. That if the rest of the country does not see evidence of equality, we are sitting on a ticking time bomb. That this has got to be taken very seriously by those in the kintu in particular westerners and Bahima. They will need to distinguish themselves from those who have turned this country into a personal fiefdom! When I get phone calls from relatives who believe that I can get them jobs because I “know these people” I feel sad! People seriously believe that without connections to the west or Bahima, its not possible to get a job in Uganda and everything this government is doing suggests so. The arrogance and twarire mentality buttressed by an arrogant president who proclaims in public that “he will only reward those areas of the country that support him” does not help at all in dispelling this true or false!

The issue of tribalism, sectarianism and nepotism under the NRM needs to be brought out in the open. This is the only way that resentment and future problems can be prevented.

But I know how this government will respond to Nathans topic. They are going to claim sectarianism and invoke their anti sectarian law which has always been used to witch hunt those who point out the governments sectarianism instead of punishing those guilty of sectarianism.

Museveni employs his wife, his son, his daughter, his adopted daughter, his brothers and sister as well as various other relatives both his and Janets in government business in jobs we know they were never interviewed for. his military high command, embassies, lucrative posts and businesses doing business with government are filled with bahima out of proportion to their numbers or qualifications.

If you doubt that a certain region has benefitted disproportionately from government patronage, it send your research team to count the number of cars with government plates heading for the village on a weekend along gulu road and that to Mbarara and report back here.

And then tell us whether you think that Museveni is not sectarian.

Another thing I have found out in interacting with people on FB is that those singled out for bribery to stop voicing their dissent are from Ankole! I have people who send me inboxes who have been active on FB. Interestingly only those from Ankole have been apporached with offers of lucrative positions and money to stop their activities against the government on facebook.

The approaches have played on sentiments of Us versus them! If there is anything that has taught me how this government works its this. I too would have loved to see a big brown envelope come my way! Surely I have been more noisy than some of those others!!!

I hope that at the end of the day, this Bahima discussion leads to an understanding that we are all being taken for a ride by the tribal and family interests of a very small clique but we shall all pay the price if good people both Bahima and non Bahima do not take a stand against the NRM government on tribalism and sectarianism!

This letter can also be found on facebook

Of scholarships kept under the bed and distributed on the bed!

Dear Nina,

Since wading into the murky waters of the tribal debate, I have had lots of inboxes. One of them will be the subject of my letter today. Its about the issue of “personalised scholarships” that appear to favour students from one region. The most famous of these of course is the presidential scholarships that have no known public criteria and nobody appears to know where the queue is!

Among my inboxes was this from a lady who is an insider and well connected to your government. You may even know her but I will withold her name given she did not allow me to use it.

Essentially she said of one lady, a cabinet member that, “the scholarships to India were given to her by Indian government when she visited once. They gave her scholarships of 4 girls a year so that is her program.” This reference was to a minster receiving 4 scholarships from a foreign government and handing them out as personal property in this case to a daughter in law. The son was a beneficiary of a previous scholarship. No wonder there are so many kids from western Ugandan studying India, China and Malaysia. I always thought they were paying for themselves kumbe they are using their public offices for personal gain! as you can see the implication here is that a serving cabinet member or government official can receive scholarships from a foreign government and treat them as personal property to be dished out at his or her personal whim without conflict of interest. You know I have said in the past that this government would not recognise a conflict of interest if it fell on their heads. I always thought the Ministry for Ethics was useless but now I have got even more proof.

This lady went on to inform me that “I also do scholarships but because I went out and looked for them. As a matter of fact, because of working with China a lot, they first suggested to me that they would give me a scholarship and I asked if my brother would take it, then I asked for more and they gave me 5 a year which my mum took over and totally threw me out. ……Those are individually sourced. I am talking about government sourcing scholarships on their own and putting in a pool.”

Now am starting to get relly worried! Seriously don’t you see a conlict of interest here? That some one who like you is very well connected to one of the most powerful men in the land receives scholarships as personal gifts from a foreign government we are well aware is very interested in influencing powerful people in Africa? Does the NRM have a code of conduct for public officials? Doesnt the leadership code cover gifts to serving officials of government?I will of course relate this to the recent debate about nepotism and tribalism in Uganda. I know that debate is on fire but we shall stay away from the more controversial elements and deal with this issue.

This revelation explains a lot. All those young Bahima and other kids from the west who appear to have an inexhaustible supply of scholarships that no one else has ever had of or knows where to queue for! Do we really live in the same country?

Imagine one group has the opportunity to use their offices to solicit favours and benefits from foreign governments which they can then channel to their relatives as they wish! Multiply that by 25 years and you can see where the inbalances come from. Extend that to skewed and flawed recruitment practices fraught with graft and nepotism and you will understand why we now have such a big problem with all of the resentment against westerners and Bahima. Jobs that are not advertised and scholarships that are not advertised or available to all. Can you imagine some girl from Buwekula (don;t even know where that is but it sounds interesting) ever accessing such state patronage? For some of us who had to pay for our degrees both undergrad and post grad because we didnt know where the queue was, it is galling and annoying! No wonder there is so much resentment among Ugandans. And then I wonder where some of you in this government get the chutzpah to claim that some of us are not “patriotic” when it is obvious you guys are eating alone -for 25 years!

Below is my detaieled response to her;

Ee are going to have to discuss the issue of scholarships further. I think that its innappropriate for a foreign government to “give” scholarships to an individual. It is also innappropriate for the individual working in an official capacity representing their employer to “receive” personal gifts from a foreign government. It is a well recognised form of corruption where foreign governments and companies attempt to influence government officials. Obviously this government does not train its officials regarding corruption and how to deal with foreign governments! This is one form of corruption.

An example of say a government operative who is likely to influence decisions involving a foreign government or foreign company accepting gifts from the foreign government or company of a material nature does influence their integrity. This can only happen in a third world country.

I can tell you that where I work, all gifts that come to one during their employ, belong to the employer and have to be declared. So I cannot receive a gift from a client or a company particularly if it supplies goods to my employer or if I am in a position to influence the decisions of my employer in procurement. This is a blanket rule!

A colleague of mine received a lottery ticket from a client. It won 3 million dollars. He could not claim it and had to turn it over to the hospital. Both the clients family and his own family were of course unhappy!

Internal codes of conduct if they do exist need to be reviewed with regards to these scholarships. Cretainly the leadership code needs to be re examined if it says noting about this issue for its a matter of national security as well as important in the fight against corruption.

These “gifts” are not innocious and are given out with ulterior motives to officials in a position to influence strategic and business dealings with a foreign government or company. In your case your closeness to the seat of power, your future potential makes you a target of foreign governments. I can bet that the Chinese have got a dossier on you and are actively interested in influencing you now and in the future.

The correct way to do so would be to “receive” the scholarships on behalf of government and hand them over to the central scholarships committee to be advertised and distributed on merit.

That law should be within the leadership code. I have never read it in full but if it was well drafted there should be some limitation or control on what kind of relationship government officials can have with foreign governments.

We have a whole ministry for ethics that again should have already dealt with this as should have the government itself given that it has for 25 years claimed to have a war against corruption.

While you can give the scholarships to your youth group again that is not in the spirit of equitable access. Its in part why we are having this debate about the national cake and how its distributed.

If we accept the conventional wisdom that western Uganda has got the bulk of government positions and managers in key government companies and organisations, then that means that western Uganda has the largest number of people with access to these kinds of unconventional gifts.

If like yourself they give them to their mothers who advertise within their clan and send all of the kids who have failed their high school, abroad on these scholarships, you can see how the rest of the country can see a pattern. Multiply that by 25 years and you will then understand why others will be fighting to dislodge you from power. Because after 25 years priviledge starts to make the government look like your family. I know what my mother would do with such a scholarship if I gave them to her. If your mother is anything like my mother who has educated tens to hundreds of her relatives with her own money, you can bet they will have all won the lottery. She looks out for her nieces and nephews as well as many in her community. I doubt that she will be inviting those in Arua unrelated to her to partake. After all she is not the government.

Extend this argument further and say these governments or companies come into the country to do business which is the Chinese and Indians primary motive. They understand graft very well these chinese and Indians. They will offer you directorships, shares as well as ask you to “assist” them find suitable employees. They know you are going to bring your relatives but that is a cost they have already factored into their maths. They want you to favour them. To use your influence and connections in their favour. To get access to contracts and resources or simply leverage to be used at some future date.

In 25 years, all business public and private starts to look like an extension of your clan and village!

These are the things that westerners are accused of but because they all consider such “gifts” given to them as personal gifts, they shrug it off.

These are not personal gifts as long as they are given to one in office or because they are close to someone in office. In many countries that take these things seriously, the employee of a lottery company or their close relatives cannot be allowed to cash in on a lottery. Everyone with any sort of potential to influence the outcome has got to distance themselves from any form of dealing that could be construed or misconstrued to heve been influenced by these gifts. And government officials cannot accept material gifts from officials of foreign governments particularly if they are in a position to influence policy and decisions!

The other problem of course with these gifts is that they threaten national security. Government officials pass on official secrets and insider information when they have extensive and close potentially exploitable relationships with foreign governments or businesses.

I hope that you will bring this issue to the powers who have declared that useless war against corruption. They actually need to read their laws and enforce them or close loopholes where they exist. Surely 25 years is enough to do that!

P.S I too have some young relatives who would benefit from some free scholarships! Could you direct me to the queue?

Patriotism and national guidance preached by dishonourble women!

Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 12:16am

Dear Nina,

Akabulilililo!

I can understand why you have decided to hide from me but you know you can run but you cannot hide. I will still get you particularly given your people are making it so easy!!!

There are times when a man does not know whether to laugh or cry! The NRM government has brought us to one of those times! At times like these I wonder what makes you guys in the NRM believe that you are better than Ssebagala. Or the lumpens, the dregs of society that your praise singer Nagenda was talking about!

Talking about praise singers, today we have got to talk about that other praise singer Mary Karoro Okurut and her friend in crime Margaret Muhanga! Who said that women are to be outdone when it comes to misusing thei offices to steal public resources to enrich themselves? I have heard some say that the appointment of women to this cabinet would be a blessing as coruption maybe less! These two women have proven that that simplistic argument simply will not get ri of corruption!

This word coruption is so misused as to become useless. I am starting to believe that it must have been coined by a paid wordsmith like Karoro! Surely isn’t thief a better word? For that one has no ambiguity at all! If one takes what does not belong to them under false pretences, thief is one of a few choice words that come to mind!

Mbu I hear Margaret Muhanga told people on the airwaves that the land they stole from UBC under false pretences was aquired “legally”!! Surely the very fact that the same land was put on themarket 4day after it was acquired has got to be a false pretence that should invalidate the whole transaction! The fact that the purchase fee of over 900 million was not paid as well should have invalidated the deal as it was meant to be paid upfront! I wonder what her brother Mwenda is going to say!!! Me I would stay out of that one if I were him!

I do remember another similar scandal many years ago where public land has been stolen through false pretences with some middle man who obtained it free walking out with millions. it is the latest NRM scam! Actually many scandals ome to mind. Did you know about Shimoni? The school was “allocated” free to “build a CHOGM hotel that never ever happened. The recipient went off laughing to the bank -with millions in the bank! UBC too lost land again to another CHOGM hotel that never happened. In that scam a firm contracted to move the archives also got freemoney with valuable archives destroyed. In yet another land scam, Butabika hospital lost acres of its land -for “industrialisation”! But this land ended up in the portfolios of individual NRM politicians and members of the first family instead! Please do tell me you never got a piece of that scam too! You would be the only one it appears who did not partake of that daylight robbery!

More recently that NRM bigwig Basajabalaba, who has turned scandalous controversy into an art has also been caught for the umpteenth time with his hand in the till -again land! The fact that he is a chairman of one of the NRM party organs and a major donor to the NRM party does raise issues of money laundering. Could it perchance be that you guys siphon off state funds to collaborators in these shady deals who then return the “gratitude” in donations to the party? This is one of those times when I despair at those men and women of the opposition! That something as obvious as the source of the NRM party and election funding is not the subject of court action to reveal its source is a surprise! But then again they have failed to react to the budget!

Speaking about the budget, Emmanuel tumusiime-Mutebile finally rediscovered his Kiga roots and grew some cojonnes. He had some home truths to say to his boss through the Financial Times. Methinks he should have stood up to be counted a long time ago! I was starting to believe that he was not a mukiga!!! Quite frankly I was not surprised for it has always been obvious that this government does not have a clue what they are doing! Can you imagine that after going to the UK begging hat in hand and receiving 0 million pounds, Museveni went on a shopping spree? He spent 30 million on a new state of the art plane that same year! Didnt help poor Mayombo though even though he was offered its services as an ambulance to airlift him to Israel! this year we are hoping to see some oil come out of the ground. But before weeven see a cent, this government spent our money on planes we cannot afford for reasons that are too vague! Earlier in the year, the presidents re election campaign was funded with state funds to the point of driving inflation up a few points and causing a crisis! While Mutebile is still talking I would like to hear him tell us that Basajabalaba paid back all of the free money that was gifted to him!

I ont get this government! For 25 years they have presided over a dark nation without electricity yet they sing industrialisation! One wonders how they are going to deliver! What exactly do they think powers factories? I am yet to go through the budget with a fine tooth comb but save for a mention of a mega dam which Mutebile objects to, I se no strategy for power generation that is sustainable and environmentally friendly! there is no strategy for energy saving, none for alternative energy sources and little education of the public on energy saving devices and strategies. There is litle involvement of local communities in using new technologies at small scale and community level!

I know that Ugandan men love to have schools of children but what is this obsession with a large, poor, and unemployed population with no skills and no education! What passes for an education in UPE schools is quite frankly pathetic! President Museveni keeps telling people that a big population is good as they will create markets! I know you went to Nottingham and studied Economics! Could you please whisper to him that a poor people cannot create a market as they do not have purchasing power! While you are on the subject, please tell him too that factories need people with skills not glorified degrees from amngo tree university not worth the paper they are printed on! Have you ever built a house in Uganda? Quite frankly the idiots who pass themselves off as tradesmen should be shot. Most are hustlers who cannot recognise a straight line if it were right in front of them! No wonder all those monstrocities built with stolen money look crooked! How many vocational schools and technical colleges have been built in this government? When the EA free market opens up, Kenyans will be best placed to take advantage of the larger markets. Ditto for industrialisation. Not only is their work ethic different but they also have the requiste certificates and diplomas while Ugandans have degrees not matched by commensurate skills!

A young man reminded me today in his Letter to Drew, that many of our well poken and qualified leaders are no better than Sebagala. He was not impressed by the condemnation of Sebagala for his pidgin English! He believes that his skills at “eating on behalf” of Nagenda’s lumpens, rats and cockroaches and dregs of society should have been the criteria and not his English! http://weeklytouch.webnode.com/news/letter-to-drew/

Personally I wouldnt give a a stuffing if he did not speak a word of English but was a fine gentleman of good morals and standing! Furthermore his non performance if one could even use that word performance in the same sentence as Sebagala to describe his wasted years as mayor of Kampala, should disqualify him from ever having the word leader and Sebagala in the same sentence! Even the seya’s gave up on him and he had to sell his tired behind to the highest and most desperate bidder! Bottomline is Sebagala is not fit to be a minster een if his English were impeccable. But Karoro the word smith with the impeccable English is not fit either following this recent scandal and should resign or get pushed! Am not holding my breath though!

Could you explain to me what a poltical statement is? Your people went to a lot of trouble using our money of course bribing the MP’s to pass the fault ridden kabaka muzzling bill! Mbu cultural leaders should not make political statements at the risk of imprisonment and being derobed! But in thelast few months we have had the Queen mothe of Toro go around openly making political statements in favour of the king of kings Ghadafi! This week he was joined by the Omukama of Bunyoro! That Makubuya fellow will have to come back and tell us more about this political statement thing!

When one is starting to forget those chaps in the opposition, you guy conpire to raise their profile again! The guyshad slowed down an started to fight among themselves. Now lightning rod Besigye is back and waving the red flag and your are responding so predictably! Mbu he cannot walk back from the court to his home!!! I was going to use the word retard to describe your people in government and the police, then I remembered its not so politically correct! No wonder after 25 years, it obvious that it is too hard to teach people with learning disabilities anything! These guys simply do not get it -that they have failed and a few more years can only prove just how incompetent they are! Why can’t people retire when they are ahead?

Can anyone in the NRM recgnise a conflict of interest if it fell on their heads? Now this Karoro woman of the “mbwa zirime” fame! You know my grandmothr used to say that small lies became big lies and soon one became a ‘kondo’, robbing people before ending up in jail or killed by a mob!

But Karoro and Muhanga will not end up in jail! Having lost out in the election, I wouldnt be surprised if Margaret was proposed by this government for an ambassadorship. Irent those reserved for political rejects after they have ost elections? As for Karoro, me am still waiting for her to apologise for that lie she told about Mbwa zirume which was meant to incite sectarianism and hatred. You see while this government sings sectarianism, some people are allowed to get away with it. And while it preaches a war against corruption, for 25 years that has remained invisible!

For Karoro and Muhanga to receive government land for investment but then pass it on for a profit without paying the government is fraudulent. Other words come to mind -influence peddling being one! Impunity being another! The ladies did not receive tha land “legally”! They breached the terms within 4 days of reciving it when they put it on the marked and failed to pay for it as per thir contract!

Now who is going to collect our money? And will Museveni disown these two women and sack the second one from the “national guidance ministry”? You can imagine the irony with which I say national guidance!!! I assume “patriotism” falls under that ministry too -LOL!

https://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&&note_id=10150219911037681

When rats start to desert a sinking ship!

Monday, June 20, 2011 at 11:49pm

Dearest Nina,

Hope you are fine.

I can see you have been tying yourself up in knots trying to understand Uncle Kaguta’s economics! Me I gave up on trying to understand him a long time ago! The more he stands before a board and tries to explain it, the less I understand!

Have you ever had an older person who was important in your life when you were growing up? Someone who you looked up to and thought he was brilliant? Maybe a parent, maybe an uncle? Or just maybe a teacher or elder around the neighbourhood? It could even have been that older guy in the neighbourhood who used to make your heart sing in the hope he would notice you!

And then you grew up! And realised that it was all hot air! That they were really a dissappointment and that in your young mind you had built them up inot more than they really were! that they really were quite ordinary! And as they grow pot bellied and the hairline recedes, you start to wonder what it is exactly that used to make your heart pound!!

Thats the way that many of Museveni’s children feel about uncle Kaguta but the poor man does not get it! Instead of retiring while he is still ahead, he continues to hang on until the little children will start to laugh at him! Why exactly people put themselves through that, I have no idea! The other day, Ghadafi’s son was proposing an election in Libya with his father as a candidate! After 42 years, dont these people get it? Ghadafi overthrew a king and declared a republic! Yet he continues to rule like a king -for life! Museveni overthrew what he called dictators! Now he looks more and more like those he overthrew!

Talking of Ghadafi, I read that speech to the UN by uncle Ndugu Rugunda! today is going to be a Bakiga fest! The other day it was a Bahima fest! But these Bahima individuals, they do not eat alone! The clan and tribe should not be blamed. And it should be recognised that they have apologists and do not eat alone! uncle Ndugus speech got full marks for pulling all of the right strings! Pan Africanism whatever that is! Colonialism and neocolonialism and even racism the convenient clubs of the african autocrat when he is caught with his zippers down! Make the white man feel guilty that he is bombing Africans. Never mind the Africans are always bombing each other! i never heard ndugu make any wonderful speeches during the walk to work when all those innocent people were shot down and killed by Kaguta and Kayihura’s boys! Nor during the so called Buganda riots or Kasubi. Or when all those people in the north were in camps for more than a decade! Have you ever seen those camps? They make one ashamed to be Ugandan, that all of those people with their kids were wards of the state, yet they were in such poverty and misery! How do you guys sleep at night? Not for one night but every night for thirty years and counting? Do you ever sit up at night and think about all of those people who have been killed or have died so that you could eat?

At the end of the day, I was unimpressed by Rugunda’s speech! I firmly believe that when a government turns its guns against its civilians, it loses lefgitimacy and with it its monopoly on the carriage of guns! Every citizen automatically gains the right to take up arms in their self defence! Ghadafi is not exactly known for his magnanimity towrds his enemies! All of those people who protested against him knew what was coming to them -that they would be slaughtered! Better to die fighting if one has to die! As it is, they have not been very easy to slaughter! Me I gave Ghadafi gabwerere. He needs to get himself a Pimochet solution while locking out the Europeans while he still has some bargaining power!

Thats not to say that the Europeans are there for altruistic motives. of course they are not! We all know what they re after -oil! But that is Africans and Arabs weakness. How that really wide UN resolution was allowed to pass without any comment or challenge, I have no idea! Where were the Rugunda’s? Where was the arab league? The UN itself loses legitimacy for having allowed such a resolution to pass. And the lethargic African despots heading the AU, whoever said that a monkey can ever be the arbiter in a case involving the forest? They are saving their behinds! they know that the west has finessed the art of politicising everything, fitting it into neat labels like “weapons of mass destruction”, genocide, “rape as a weapon of war” and even potential genocide! Of course the presence of Somalia, and Congo immediately show the lie in their actions in Libya!

Back to uganda and Bakiga! Totya, am not going to mention daddy dear or Temangalo! Today he is safe. After being defanged and saddled with a bloated incompetetnt cabinet and a greedy bloated parliament, I pitty him! You remember I predicted Bukenya downfall last year? And that others like daddy dear needed to make sure they keep a black book just in case they are stabbed in the back? What happened to Bukenya can happen to anyone. That he alone ends up before the corruption court when others like Kutesa who actually set up the vehicle through which the government was fleeced is declared clean beats my understanding! That a company in which Kutesa had shares and sold to Kabonero was the main bidder outside normal procurement rules in a deal that was flawed and fraudulent beats my understanding. I would love to know the value of Kutesa’s shareholdng and what exactly it is he was selling? Daddy dear as leader of government business just became the ultimate fall guy! After the wikileaks scandal in which you were mentioned by that ka Australian man with women issues, the elevation of daddy, or is it the demotion of daddy kind of reminds me of the Godfathers kiss! You remember that kiss meant certain death!!!

Another mukiga has been on the rampage. Again he is a mukiga who has served to entrench this government for 25 years! This is another one who has been talking through “unofficial channels”! HAsn’t he ever heard of a man called Besigye? If I could talk to him, I would refer him to videos on the net of Besigye being beaten black and bule and being shoved under a seat on a pickup like “ebiwaata byente”! When that man Kakwenzire threatened that mad man Nathan who brought up the Bahima debate with taking him to Nyabushoozi and making him look after cattle for a year in bare feet, I saw the kind of mentality that drove the heinous acts against Besigye. But I digress -if you speak to Mutebile and I know you speak to all of the important Bakiga, tell him to make sure he has got a parachute as they will be sending Arinaitwe and other such thugs to get him!!! You think these things ended with idi Amin?

But I like what Mutebile is saying. For the first time in 25 years he has decided to say the truth. Better late than never. I think all of that fiscal indiscipline accompanying the elections nust have got to his head! What with money being collected left right and centre! Who would not lose their sanity of they were required to balance the books in that situation!!! I wonder what jolted him? Are they replacing him with a cadre from Janets village? You can tell me -I wont tell! I hear all of those under the bed scholarships have started bearing fruit! Seriously, Museveni has been preaching industrialisation for 25 years? What does he think factories run on? No dam built and when they tried to build one, the design was faulty! No one paid for that one! Now we are belatedly trying to catch up on lost time!

Mutebile talks about vocational training. Now he is singing my tune! I personally have never been impressed by the mango tree degrees they are churning out in Uganda! it is a perfect scam -a rip off! Passing out half baked graduates who are essentially unemployable but now have an inflated sense of self! Banage we are dead if these half baked UPE graduates ever get into office! But what can you expect in a country where Sebagala can not only be a mayor but a ‘minister without fortpolio’ as well! Just because he put his behind before the president! I wonder what daddy dear is going to do with that one! Dump him in the dumping ground of the foreign office where political rejects end up? No wonder one cannot get service from a Ugandan embassy abroad! Back to vocational training a country talking about industrialisation should relly be talking vocationl training schools not glorified universities not worth the paper their degrees are printed on!

That other mukiga in Canada who run away 30 years ago also wrote a letter today. it was a heartwarming one. Inportantly he told the story of how he supported Museveni during the war but soon realised that what he thought they were figting for is not what Museveni had in mind! We all have that feeliing!

Bakiga are coming out of the woodworks every day. First it was that Nathan! Now its Kanyeihamba! Retirement and old age are wondeful things! One can tell people the truth and pretend they didnt mean to insult them! If challenged, one can always claim to have dementia! Kanyeihamba is enjoying himself and I say, whatever he is smoking is good stuff! Bamwongere! He is saying it like it is! At least me, I kubikabikka ko! For him, he just unleashes with full force! I need me a head of white hair and sme retirement and I will find me some weed and tell them what they need to hear!

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Nienmoller

This family project is going to take everyone with it starting with its most faithful house staff! Bukenya the butler was the frst one to be sarificed! I wonder who is next!!! The Bakiga seem to be waking up and want to jump out of this ‘westerners’ boat!

When rats start deserting a ship, you know things are not good! better look for a dunny! Me I will hide you under my bed tofaayo!

IGP’s press conference -Kayihura needs a refresher course on crowd psychology and crowd control!

Monday, April 4, 2011 at 10:55pm

This is a very interesting letter. Interesting in its naivety and ignorance. If Kayihura were just any other person, one would think incompetence but this looks more like a priori justification of police brutality by setting up a self fulfilling prophesy. it also demonstrates an ignorance of crowd psychology that is appalling in a police commander!

If one really wants to be cynical then one could say that Kayihura is deliberately setting up a situation that will predictably -predictably because he and his officers will provoke it starting with this letter, decline into a riot and police on demonstrator violence.

Kayihura sets the stage by defining demonstrators as the enemy and imputing evil plans and emotions onto them. He goes further by declaring that intelligence received by him clearly shows that the motive of the demonstrators is violence and disruption of the peace. He even throws in just for good measure that oft misused word terrorism making one wonder whether he even understands its meaning. It is often misused by repressive governments to justify cracking down on dissenters and using extrajudicial means!

The relationship between the egyptian army and the demonstrating public is a clear demonstration of community policing at its best. For days and nights, demonstrators peacefully stood their ground and the army maintained their positions without seeking to attack or mete violence on the crowds. If anything they sought to engage with the crowd in a non violent manner and reassure them that they were not going to hurt them.

It is the kiboko squads on camels that finally caused chaos and threatened to turn the peaceful demonstrators into rioters! In Libya, it was Ghadafi’s goons who shot live rounds into demonstrators killing them that created the headless monster now causing problems -an armed insurrection!

Kayihura’s police has a major image problem -one that does not help during such situations. They are known to be corrupt, incompetent and brutal. they are also known to be partisan in their interactions with the public particularly gatherings unfriendly to the government. They have been known to use deadly force even in situations that did not warrant it after they themselves have deliberately or out of incompetence and ignorance of crowd control provoked violence!

This kind of image means that Kayihura has got to work much harder to control crowds and prevent the situation from getting out of control. Unfortunately he and his men do not view it as a failure when a member of the public rioter or not gets hurt. They actually view it as a victory and reinforcement of their manhood -they are not weak!

A “self-fulfilling prophecy” (SFP) was coined in 1948 by Robert Merton to describe “a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the originally false conception come true” (Merton 1968: 477)

Kayihura defines demonstrators as a threat to public order. In doing so, he “locates the cause of violence as lying entirely with the crowd as opposed to arising out of the interaction between crowds and the police, it neglects the possibility that police actions may contribute to the production of conflict and hence provides no basis for developing strategies, tactics and technologies that might minimise such a possibility.” (Reicher et al 2007: 403)

In their paper on the principles and Practice of Public Order policing published oline by the Oxford Journal of Law, Reichar and his colleagues see two major problems with this approach.

“The first is that it runs the risk of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy: if you define people as hostile and if you then act towards them in ways that make it obvious, you think of them as being hostile, then they are very likely to become hostile in response. The first time the chairman of Manchester United described his fans as ‘animals’, the fans responded by chanting ‘we hate humans’ at the next game (Robins, 1984).

The second problem is that this approach misses out on a major opportunity. If the police can interact with crowd members in ways that lead to a deteriorating relationship and increase conflict, they can equally interact in other ways that lead to improving relationships and reduce conflict.”

Either the IGP is cynical and is deliberately trying to create an incendiary situation, or he needs to go back to school and study crowd control and crowd psychology!

Demonstrators are not a threat to public order. They are expressing grievances in a manner they consider lawful and constitutional -and indeed it is. If there are political actors whose primary goal is to create violence then those actors should be isolated but it should not take away peoples right to demonstrate! The theory of crowd psychology however demonstrates to us that when met with violence a peaceful crowd can very easily turn violent. This is the kind of incompetence that led to the death of 30 people during the so called Bugandan riots as well as a further 3 after the fires at Kasubi. Its also the same incompetence that led to the shooting and death of 2 students at Makerere university when Mao was guild president. The recent fracas in Wandegeya just two weeks ago being a case in point as are other sitiuations in the past that have been mishandled in the past by the police which instead of taking responsibility has sought to hide behind imprecise terms like “terrorism”! The use of direct police brutality as well as proxies such as the kiboko squad will predictably result in the chaos that the IGP now “predicts”!

I would like to recommend this excellent paper to Kayihura and other readers.

Knowledge-Based Public Order Policing: Principles and Practice
Stephen Reicher*, Clifford Stott†, John Drury‡, Otto Adang§, Patrick Cronin¶ and Andrew Livingstone**
http://policing.oxfordjournals.org/content/1/4/403.full

What does the state of the economy say about public confidence in the current government?

Monday, April 4, 2011 at 10:11pm

Nina Mbabazi says,

“on 2nd July, 2007 The Norwegian Council for Africa warned that Uganda’s 2007/2008 increase in fuel taxes would double food prices. A story covered by New Vision that day. What was the increase that sparked off this upward turn of food prices?”_

[](https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150150814942681)

I think the problem is not fuel prices but elsewhere in a more simple reason -consumer confidence in the stability of the country and the government of the day.

In many organised soscieties that hold frequent elections, one can track economic performance and financial market behaviour and match it to investor and consumer confidence.

At times of uncertainty including elections, markets, interest rates, commodity prices, mortgage rates, employee recruitment and consumer confidence tend to decline. These pick up once the political situation stabilises or consumers start to consume again.

The real or perceived stability of a government or its performance can affect markets and consumer confidence in negative ways.

In Uganda, there is always uncertainty around elections. Fuel prices, comodity prices, transport prices increase while buyer behaviour changes with hoarding of essential comodities and reduction of non essential expenditure. I vividly remember my parents stocking up on such comodities -and US dollars.

Normally there is a quick recovery and business returns to normal but this is not happening this time around. it may have something to do with the heightened state of anxiety caused by the visible military presence on the streets as well as the fear caused by all of that military hardware, or it may just simply reflect the fundamentals -that people do not have confidence in Museveni anymore despite his “win”!

Since the last election, there has been negative economic news each day. Uncontrolled and irresponsible government expenditure -bribing LC’s -6.5 billion, bribing MP’s -6.5 billion, bribing the electorate -600 billion, buying new fighter jets -trillions, swearing in ‘new’ old president -30 billion, pension arrears 65 billion, salary arrears for civil servants, announcements that government is broke, rising fuel prices, rising inflation, lower tax revenue collection, rising USD rate etc!

If one were to make predictions from the state of the economy right now, one would say that Museveni’s government is on the way down!

MTN, FDC, cyber freedoms and politics in Uganda

Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 9:21pm

http://www.facebook.com/muhiire.nathan/posts/199665066723289

Nina Mbabazi, Bainomugisha has some good arguments that cannot just be thrown out because he does not have evidentiary proof.

There is such a thing as circumstantial evidence and the circumstantial evidence against MTN is fairly strong.

-The FDC was raided.
-Soon after the raid, their power went off.
-Prior to the elections, they were harrassed and intimidated about having their own independent tallying centre which is exactly the same thing that you had and any newspaper or serious media outlet could have within their own offices.
-While your arguments regarding contigency planning maybe valid, I doubt that the FDC could activate such plans if they had them when their centre was under occupation

MTN is not a Ugandan voter. it is a welcome guest in Uganda as long as they play by the rules which includes not getting involved in local politics.

If they got involved on one side beyond acquiescing to a legal order signed by a duly qualified authority quoting relevant laws (which order they should have a copy of and should be able to show the press in exoneration of themselves), then they should get what was coming to them!

The politics of foreign investors believing that their financial interests overide those of millions of victims is the very same politics playing itself out in the middle east and north Africa. Its the same politics that draws out all sorts of players and their governments to try and justify bombing whole societies back to the stone age for their interests while using the trojan horses of democracy and freedom. Its the same politics that saw your father accused by an invested investor who requested his government the USA to impose sanctions and travel bans on him instead of turning over what alleged evidence of corruption and bribery they may have had to the Ugandan authorities for investigation!

Your father presented and promoted and even probably drafted the bill that seeks to control certain internet and communications freedoms under which any action against FDC would have fallen. This includes phone tapping, internet eavesdropping and censorship as well as controlling providers of internet and telecommunications services. I gather that the powers were eavesdropping on Ugandans and looking for certain words!

BUT MTN would be duty bound due to a duty of care to its customers to only respond to a legally valid order and they have got the lawyers to enforce that. Instead its possible they simply folded to intimidation or even colluded with an order they knew to be illegal! if they did, they crossed a line for which they should be penalised. If it can be proven that MTN cut off service to the FDC without a legally valid order, am afraid FDC has a case for punitive damages against them. Needless to say, the current on going publicity while it may not be enough to lose MTN its customers loses it a lot of credibility as it was believed that in the past they have always withstood pressure from the government to control them!

The temporal relationship between a raid on the FDC centre and commandeering their IT equipment as well as the cut off of Internet and cellphone services is suspect i must admit!

People like Museveni and probably most of our leaders have never lived in a democratic nation during an election. There are all sorts of independent tallying centres. While its true and i have defended this before that only a legally constituted EC has got the right to declare the winner, virtually every party as well as every media outlet has got its own independent tally.

The NRM exercised this right but they interfered with the FDC’s right to exercise the same right as well and I wonder why!

And the MTN may have been the NRM’s accomplices which opens them to civil action both in the courts as well as on the streets!

Companies like MTN need to understand that if they get involved in local politics they will get burned. They dont get a vote and should stop trying to buy one!

Museveni’s rioting soldiers and policemen; time to make exit plans

Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 3:27pm

Dear Nina,

Writing you letters is becoming a habit! At this rate am about to claim that am a seer like Pastor Kayanja or that other guy (or is it a woman) that Timothy Kalyegira talks to! I need to talk about that man of God (or is he?) another day. At least my predictions do come true unlike his! Kayanja is MIA! I wonder whether he would like to give us some new fake predictions! I know that the pentecostals would like to be recognised up there side by side with the Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox and Muslims in Uganda but do they have to be ensconced so far up uncle Kags bottom just so they can be recognised? What happened to separation of the church and the state?

Now they are the recruiting agency for the government through Pastor Natasha and her mother or is it the other daughter! i hear Kayikura and Arinaitwe were recruited by the pastors and vetted by the first lady to confirm they were saved. But judging by Arinaitwe’s recent performance as well as the circumstances in which Kayihura’s saved boys with guns brigade the SRPS was wound down for torture nad humnan rights abuses including deatsh in custody as murders by security services are euphemistically called, the saved formula doesnt work. And this is before we go into those allegations of pederasty against the man of God or those of smuggling truckloads of wine!

But I digress. My prediction in my last letter to you was that it wouldn’t take very long before the lawyers and journos linked up against Uncle Kags bully boy tactics. within hours of my saying so, a magistrate decided she wasn’t going to be used any longer in the rape of the courts. Another threw out the case against Mao, and you now have the lawyers on a 3 days strike ironically in support of the people you chose to call criminals! Didnt I say that the lawyers and journalists wouldnt take long before joining the fray collectively? Now the newspapers report that they have joined the fray. See what your village idiots have done! They have united the lawyers and the journalists against your government. Am starting to suspect that your people in the police and army are working for the opposition and trying to make you guys look bad!

I wonder when those lazy workers MP’s like Lyomoki and his friends are going to come out and walk with the people they claim to represent. For twenty years they have been sitting in the rubberstamp parliament collecting allowances and getting fat! i think its time they now came out and spoke on behalf of the people they are paid to represent! At this rate I can see teachers walking in solidarity with those other teachers you tear gassed and their pupils. Taxi drivers are about to walk in protest too since you guys are now interfereing with their livelihoods. People no longer want to travel and stay in their homes. I can see all sorts of other professions joining the fray. You know my mother chose to retire from the civil service during Idi Amin because she could not stand having to go through an army check everytime she went to work. She worked in one of those sensitive government offices. I can therefore understand why Ugandans may chose to stay at home and hate you for having unleashed the dogs of war onto the streets. You know the police and army had started to shed the name “basirukaale” but the last 2 or 3 weeks are quite rapidly undoing that!

This is going to make for a very interesting swearing in! Uncle Kags or is it Sevo these days may end up getting sworn in like Kibaki -like a thief in the night! I wonder how your people will be able to account for the billions they stole from our taxes if all of those 32 heads of state stay away! You know thats a very distinct possibility! My intuition tells me that those videos of your goons in action compounded by the village idiots you chose to speak for the government are right now causing problems in many state houses around the world. For sure Uncle Bob maybe able to come. He doesnt get to get out much these days to inspect a guard of honour and stretch his very old bones. As you are aware he is very arthritic including in his extra bone -you know the one that women don’t have. I hear his missus when she is not shopping in Singapore, has been examining the funny bones of other men younger than Uncle Bob! For many other heads of state whose governments are accountable to the people and sensitive to criticism and negative publicity, those images are going to keep them away!

I gather now you guys have a new tactic -if the people wont walk2work without a permit so that your goons can exercise their neanderthal reflexes to crack some heads, they are now lobbing tear gas into their homes so that they can be forced outside and frogmatched to town! That kid of reminds me of all of those villagers your guys rounded up from their gardens in northern Uganda and frog matched them into camps for the next 20 years! I wonder where you will build the camps this time. The protests are everywhere. Gulu, Mbale, Masaka, every surburb of Kampala, Jinja, Mbarara and rukungiri. The strange thing is that you guys have always claimed to win with 90% majorities in these last two towns. Who was that guy who rounded people up in the north? Tinye? I hear he rounded up some balaalo in Buliisa as well who thought they could squat over some few million barrels of oil and claim royalties! is he also involved in this operation?

If ever there was evidence that your people are tired and don’t have any new ideas, it is this crisis. All that your goons understand is kill, beat, crush, eat like a samosa! What violence? Did your mama’s deny you breasts or what? Why can’t your people think of anything else other than fight and kill. I hear your uncle Kaguta wears his ability to kill like a badge of honour. When told he has been fighting for 25 years he gets insulted and reminds all that he has actually been killing for 45 years! I wonder what makes him think that people have got to keep dying for him so that he can continue remaining in power indefinitely.

Yesterday I had a brain wave. Must have been the excitement of writing to you -are you married? It suddenly occurred to me that Museveni is now a “life president by stealth”. Am not sure what it was that I was smoking but I sure need to try it again. Am getting confused -couldn’t have been smoking anything as I dont smoke at all. Couldn’t have been drinking anything either as the strongest drink I take is coffee just like Uncle Kags! must have been someone walking past and blowing smoke my way! boy tha was some pretty good stuff if it suddenly made me creative! You see am not creative -I remember you trying to tell me exactly how I was a nobody! this stuff could change that as I may even copyright that statement as I surely haven’t seen it before in print. Wouldn’t you agree?

That Museveni who lost an election miserably in 1980 level field or not is the one who felt aggrieved enough to wand to start a destructive war? I hear that even in his own constituency, he lost miserably! That he successfully wrestled the animal from the swine and then “reluctantly” as was his claim in 1986 agreed to be president for 5 years but has since then repeatedly kept shifting the goal posts just so that he can remain in power suggests that he has stealthily become a life president! But don’t take my word for it. I looked it up and apparently anthropologists allot a duration of 25 years to ancient an ancient kings reign or era. As a matter of fact one can roughly estimate how old Buganda is by multiplying the number of kabaka’s by 25 in this case 36 kings each ruling for 25 years makes Buganda approximately 900 years. So Museveni is a king -one who has already ruled for an era! But he wants to go on! Is that greed or what? He even thinks its worthwhile for people to get killed so he can continue to rule!

If ever one needed evidence that your NRM people are unsuited to leading our country into a modern world, it is their failure to do battle in a modern world with modern tools like keyboards, social media, and boots on the ground chanting keep walking! They have exercised all of the wrong reflexes since this started a couple of weeks ago. Mistake after mistake!

You know I have a soft spot for you even though you hate my guts! So I will give you some free advice to pass on to the strong men of the NRA. This here thing is going to end badly if they continue posturing and bullying. They are going to either have to get rid of the tired old man in a hat or to prevail on him to sit down and talk. And when I say talk, I dont mean talk in the condenscending manner he is used to. Talk with respect looking for a mutual solution to this problem and most of all looking for a way of healing our communities. But I can guarantee that the stickler is going to be term limits. And some people are going to have to commit seppuku -like kivedhinda. its time he retired anyway. And that soldier masquerading as a policeman, he will have to go back to the barracks and get redeployed. You are also going to need some people with real conflict resolution credentials and am not talking about that thug in NAirobi who was previously the spokesman for the LRA. I know that he is attractive to you guys as you love people you can buy!

You can of course ignore me but you know by now that am a seer -there I just said it! How long do you think it will take before the traders in Kampala decide they are tired of having police and soldiers rioting in the city and messing up their business.

You am sure notice that i have deliberately used the term rioters to describe the so called government security agents in the city. They have been rioting since before the 18th, making people uncomfortable in the city and disrupting business. I wonder how much money has been lost since they were released from their mama ingia pole’s in the barracks! These guys are going to bring the economy down! I wonder how you trust people who are so poor to guard you and your healthy looking wives and children. Me, I wouldn’t trust them at all!I was starting to think that I was the only one who had noticed that Museveni’s soldiers and the police were rioting and destroying the peace and people’s property in Kampala.I almost even thought of copyrighting that too -you know “Museveni’s soldiers on a riot”!

But I found that Dr Ian Clark beat me to that;

“Although it is the duty of the Police to keep civil order and prevent, or control rioting, one wonders, as they watch television and read newspapers, if these are anti-riot Police or rioting Police.” – Dr. Ian Clarke (Mayor-Elect, Makindye division).

Prof Jjuuko also thinks that your soldiers are on riot. “What we have experienced since the start of the Walk-to-Work campaign are police riots. It’s like the police are telling the people ‘if you cannot riot then we will riot’,” says Prof. Jjuuko.

The old man in the hat is tired! I wonder how he will be when his MP’s join the walkers like some have already started doing at least in their comments, his cabinet starts splitting as you know its now blackmail season. Those he was planning to drop have suddenly received a shot of viagra and will be blackmailing him while the army may have to do a Mubarak on him.

Its time to make exit plans!

Predictions -Museveni will be removed by his own people not the opposition

Monday, March 7, 2011 at 11:00pm

Today someone asked me what my prediction for the next few years was. i hjave made similar predictions in the past some of which were accurate.

Museveni will become more paranoid over the next few years. Certainly if he has no plans of retiring, he is going to have to become more oppressive for things will get tougher and people more radical! Ambitious NRM insiders will become more and more agitated as they too are approaching 75 years particularly if the terms are extended to 7 or 10 years! Chances are that Museveni is going to be removed by his own people. I do not see the opposition being able to remove him now but his own party as well as army if they are reading the signs and mood of the country as well as that on the continent must be getting restless!

Those on the inside who wish to remove him will be using the very same arguments that we as well as the opposition have made. Lack of democracy, removal of term limits, prolonged incumbency, succession issues, shifting goal posts. those who are still true to the ideals of the movement or those who get a crisis of confidence as they get older will be questioning the status quo!

those who have promoted the claim of only one man holding the vision to Ugandan’s future are starting to look foolish and may wish to make remedies while those who suspect that Museveni has dynastic plans may now become galvanised.

Whether the move to retire Museveni is political or military is going to be the issue. Its is possible that Museveni would chose to resist a political removal and treat it as treason! one wishes that the NRM was the ANC and the party had institutions that transcended the individual! The least bloodless would be political but his control of the party is too absolute. But when you see his own men like Mbabazi cracking, then you can see that there’s going to be trouble.

If museveni has succession plans for Muhoozi which I believe he does, the next few years are going to be for building a powerbase for Muhoozi both within the army and outside the army. That means selected and handpicked young and mid career recruits as well as sidelining those opposed to project Muhoozi! Muhoozi took his own friends with him when he joined the army and there were previous rumours of him recruiting his friends to ISO. He also has his own army within the army having control of all of the crack troops and mechanised troops. Plus he has access to the main business cash cow soon to come online which is oil as part of his brief is protecting the oil fields. this of course will lead to options, partnerships and chairs on oil company and supporting infrastructure boards once he has been civilianised after promotion to General and likely being granted a medal for his action against kony in Garamba even though it was a failure!

There is also Salim saleh who has control and command of the reserve forces -if there is anyone South of the Sahara, who can russle up and create an army very fast from scratch, fast its got to be him. Between his reserve forces, his veterans association and his Saracen security/mercenary outfit, his Rwandese, Sudanese/SPLA, Congolese and Somali/Putland connections, I doubt that there is anyone south of the Sahara who can build an army from scratch as fast! He is another person to watch as if the army decided to get rid of Museveni he would be backup if the sons troops got overwhelmed.

The real question is going to be whether when the time comes, the son is intelligent enough to read the signs or whether he is going to tough it out and fight! this of course could become anywhere from a congo to a Libya!

The next few years could see a purge of people previously considered to be loyalists simply because for those who are ambitious, time is running out. The longer Museveni remains president, the less likely it is that they will have their chance too! People like Mbabazi stand a risk of getting replaced by people like Nsibambi or Atubo who are not really threats! Amelia Kyambadde is a new comer and loyalist who could potentially replace people like Bukenya!

The next few years are going to be interesting to watch!

2011 elections -Quick thoughts!

Saturday, February 19, 2011 at 8:35pm

David is right.

May I add some quick notes. Analysing this is going to take days to months and is going to be very interesting!

While my sympathies lie with the opposition, none of them particularly tickles my fancy. My comments should therefore be viewed as constructive criticism!

The ‘massacre’ at presidential level maybe a reflection of the real and perceived weaknesses of the presidential candidates themselves. There is no doubt though that the power of incumbency particularly the resources at the disposal of Museveni thrown at this election may also have their own [story to tell][1]. Obviously other pragmatic things like “twebaka ku tulo” may have played their role too[^1](https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=488948312680)!. At the end of the day, out history remains relevant and continues to be manipulated quite deftly I must admit by the incumbent. https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150094334267681. We are going to have to find out where we went wrong! https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=483879117680

Underestimating the son of Kaguta has always been the downfall of his opposition! The over reliance on ‘agende’ and he has been in power too long rather than articulating what makes them better qualified to take over has always been their weakness! https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=500786022680 Paying the LC’s was a coup that they couldn’t have foreseen! LC’s are the doorway to each village and its inhabitants. They know everyone and are indispensable in doing a house to house ‘kakuyege’! I wrote this about Museveni’s grassroots campaign machine in 2004 using the LC’s! https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=499939492680

The ‘massacre’ of Museveni’s cabinet that appears to be emerging itself tells another story. I doubt that that could have been an accident! clearly Ugandans believe that their politicians are like diapers -and need to be changed regularly. Why they don’t believe in changing their president needs further study. Could it be that the campaign of “the president is a good man surrounded by bad people” actually worked? At least we are closer to getting away from the Kenyan disease. https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=486232492680 The real question though is going to be whether there is enough change in parliament to act as an effective check and balance on Museveni! Of course Museveni will resort to his best tool -just buy all of them! With oil, he is armed and dangerous! One would hope that we have not exchanged one bunch of peasants in suits for another bunch of peasants in suits who will be busy making deals for themselves with the devil instead of advocating for their voters!

The leader of the opposition has been a casualty of this election. Personally i think he was not very effective and needs to find another job too! I wouldn’t be surprised if Kaguta offered him one too! His involvement in the death of a young lady also left too many unanswered questions! https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=488954117680 I would love to believe that his electorate are punishing him for this!

Buganda is also going to be interesting. I have seen some claiming that its a referendum on Kabaka versus Museveni which I doubt. I suspect this is an example of voter sophistication. Certainly the fact that the Kabaka remains probably the biggest crowd puller in Uganda without spending any money and can beat any of the presidential candidates who have to spend massive amounts of money is interesting.

The sources of Museveni’s funding will need to become subject to debate. Am not sure what Uganda’s laws regarding disclosure of funding sources for political parties is but if they exist, am hoping that someone will visit the constitutional court and demand that they all declare their funding sources! Certainly in these days of oil, it is imperative that the public know which candidate was owned by which oil company!

The recent constitutional ruling on independents will be the second level. this is not yet over until all of the injunctions are dealt with! this is going to be lawyer season for the next few months!!!

There is no doubt that the field is not level at the level of presidential elections. Certainly none of the opposition can match the use of state resources that Kaguta has access to. I suspect that a return trip to the supreme court claiming rigged will have the same outcome as in 2006. https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=486600427680.

As I have said before, there is incompetence and there is rigging! How much of this election is rigging and how much is incompetence is unclear! What is clear is that the best that the opposition could ever hope for was a run off and even that was a long stretch! https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=293997787680 . https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=381085707680 . I wrote some predictions in the past that remain relevant even though they were written before the 2006 election! https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=433787272680

I think that after a decent time has elapsed, and the dust has settled down, Kiggundu needs to get sacked for this EC is incompetent! https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150095148497681 An electoral commission that people have confidence in needs to be created and resourced!

Elections and the talk of war makes Ugandans very nervous. There has been a significant amount of talk about war. I have written about this before and why it could backfire. Certainly it works for the incumbent to talk about the prospect of war and drum up sentiments but it does the opposite for his opposition! https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=293571052680

The Otunnu factor fizzed out very early! He underestimate the ‘collective memory’ factor with which he came face to face when he visited Kasubi! He too is going to have to look for another UN job unless he comes down to earth and goes back to basics -or find himself a wife https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=280423437680. Time will tell if he has got the staying power! The messianic complex he brought into the fray did not materialise and he soon realised that while many would like to get rid of Museveni, they do not view him as their messiah.He thought he could just waltz in, kiss the ground and leadership would be his even if he hadn’t worked for it for a single day! this time around Kaguta’s security idiots unlike in the past when they arrested Besigye had enough brains not to do his job for him by arresting him!

I can predict here and now that his 5 million man march is going to be a non starter! At the end he even failed to vote for himself while showing contempt for his followers! I wouldn’t be surprised if UPC disbanded and individuals found new homes -NRM perhaps! Otunnu learnt nothing from the past and brought a naivety to this election that was surprising given his experience!! https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=389531617680

He has now given a press conference to ‘explain’ why he did not vote -mbu he did not want to waste his time since it was not free and fair! I consider this to be contempt of his followers. Why did he waste their time and vote? Is he going to refund taxpayer money given to him for campaigns?

As for Besigye, am afraid he will have to find another job! like many ministers he is going to have to go and look after his goats and ducks! I am waiting to see whether he will graciously turn up in kololo for the hand over or whether he will shun it. I can bet that otunu will not go while Mao and Betty Kamya will. https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=488899497680

Kamya needs to find a vehicle to hitch her carriage too. On her own, she is just going to be another Bidandi! Saying that bidandi really needs to hang his boots up! Bwanika also needs to find a new vehicle. Mao will have to decide whether DP on its own is an adequate vehicle. The rest need to retire.

If Mao ever mentions the Nile Republic again, I will delete him from my list of potential future presidential aspirants to watch! I have been watching Mao for many years and have several notes on him. However i did not believe that he was ready for this election. I think that 2016 is his year -kind of make or break!On the other hand his ambition makes him vulnerable to doing a ‘Kagimu’ or an ‘Atubo’ if he sees time running out increasing his risk of becoming a ssemogerere! Museveni is quite good at killing off his opposition by keeping their mouths full!

A year ago I wondered whether Mao was a fresh breath on Uganda’s politics -I am still not too sure! https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=342439367680 . In making his declarations on the Mao republic, expressing his “solidarity” with kony during the peace jokes, his handling of DP dissenters and his handling of Suubi, I am not sure that he has really learnt much from his own past! https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=340019517680

The return of Museveni leaves us with the same problems we had before -corruption, prolonged incumbency https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=281916497680, the lack of a succession plan and the risk of his rule becoming a dynastic one, Somalia https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=438045762680, the problems of the oil curse, potholes, poor infrastructure and mismanagement https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=414346822680, increased tribalism to fill the gap left by Museveni undermining all institutions https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=499182852680, a personal army that cannot be called a national army, and lies, lies and broken promises https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=280601647680!

The question has been asked as to whether Uganda is ripe for the Jasmine revolution. I personally don’t believe it is yet but I have no doubt that it will be! Uganda has all of the hallmarks but at the moment does not have equipoise! these elections are unlikely to be the trigger! https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150092832897681 . Something else say Somalia spilling over into Uganda, another attack on the Kabaka or Omukama, a misjudged heavy handed treatment of a peaceful demonstration or just about anything could trigger one. Certainly Otunnu cannot trigger one even though am sure he would love to! Only Museveni can prevent a Jasmine revolution by learning from Egypt and Tunisia and pre emptying it by making clear and activating his retirement plan!

In the meantime we will continue to ask whether Uganda really is a democracy! https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=433811377680 . We shall have to ask ourselves how to best empower Ugandans to advocate for their own interests rather than be swayed by brown envelopes and salt and sugar!https://www.Facebook.com/note.php?note_id=490312807680 . We shall continue to look at others such as the Chinese and Singapore and how they did it https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=489380857680 . And we shall need to ponder how to best develop our country https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=489384952680 .

Most of all we shall have to think about how to prevent Museveni from passing on his power to his son in hereditary rulership!

[1]: https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=499894547680

Of illusions -post 2011 election

Monday, February 21, 2011 at 10:39am

I had no illusions at all that Museveni was going to ‘win’ this election. I agree with the commonwealth report and have already pointed out the same points in my own note yesterday.

In my post yesterday, I pointed out the heavy use of incumbence, state patronage and state resources and that this will need to be examined further if necessary in the constitutional court. The laws regarding party funding will need to be examined as this is a loophole Museveni has used. The use of money in this election will need serious debate.

Again in my post election post I mentioned the payment of LC’s as a major factor in this election. I posted a note I wrote in 2004 regarding Museveni’s grassroot campaign machine (LC’s). No other party can duplicate this structure. I personally think that the opposition should have pushed for he dissolution of LC’s an NRM party structure, when the NRM one party government ended and multiparty politics started in 2006, but Museveni is quite good at diverting them for months on useless debates like the anti homosexuality bill that am sure he never intended to pass in the first place but kept parliament from debating issues that affect Ugandans!

Unequal access to the media -I believe something like 9 FM stations in the north denied access to opposition politicians. This should be illegal and needs to be addressed! there should be laws guaranteeing access to all political parties during campaigns.

The use of technology. While FB has emerged as a factor that has put the NRM on their toes and the effects of this forum on this election and future debate and elections will need to be analysed for sometime, the opposition failed to use it for leverage. In this respect, Museveni was ahead of them. As you can see they at least sent their agents provocateurs like Nina, Ochola, Okello, Maria, Jimmex and Mugerwa to monitor and at times attempt to disrupt and derail debate in these forums! The opposition spokesmen failed to engage in these debates or use technology as leverage.

The opposition still remains weak and immature, even though it has made great strides since 2006. Their main campaign strategy is still based around antipathy to Museveni the man but many fail to articulate a clear position on what they have to offer Ugandans that is different to what the NRM and Museveni have to offer! The presence of old guards who themselves are tainted either by association with previous governments or by association with the NRM does not help either! FDC has taken on more of the character of a political party rather than a coalition of desperados with personal grudges against the incubent. Thay also managed to field more candidates this time in most constituents. DP has thrown off the old guard while UPC has thrown off the Obote family that controlled and virtually owned the party for 49 years but is still controlled by old reflexes! The beginnings of single issue lobby groups and parties campaigning on a single issue such as Kamya and Ssuubi have emerged.

KB is going to have to move aside for either Muntu or his wife or whoever else his party choses to elect as their leader. Mao is still immature and it is not clear whether he will be able to build DP back into a strong party with a young base and a national representation or whether he will go for short term gains and jump ship. One hopes that he will be ready for 2016. Otunnu was still born and his petulance and childishness in this election has exposed him as just another egoistic politician seeking power for himself. He hoped that ugandans would view him as a saviour and that their hate of Museveni would act in his favour. Unfortunately like many politicians from previous governments who have lived outside the country for a long time he continues in the delusion that Ugandans hate Museveni. Its true some do but many don’t. To many he was a necessary evil -against people like Otunnu and his previous friends many of whom remain his current friends. While many are tired of Museveni and would like to see him go, in a direct contest between otunnu and Museveni, Otunnu Museveni would win hands down! the only way that Otunnu will be able to change that is actually getting down on the ground and doing ‘kakuyege’ -do the hearts and minds thing and not the ‘shock and awe’ thing which obviously does not seem to have traction with the masses! He needs to actually build a base if he wishes to have a future as a Ugandan politician else he should just return to New York and look for a job! Intellectuals maybe impressed by his resume but paesants don’t care -and paesants have the power here! Paesants are more interested in “twebaka ku tulo” and their next meal and he needs to articulate how he is going to guarantee that!

The NRM was more mature in not giving him free publicity by making him a martyr which is what he wanted. Am sure he was itching to be arrested! Like Awori, such people fade away when ignored but like Besigye gain traction when persecuted.

The heavy deployment of the army in this election needs to be discussed. Policing is the job of the police and not the army. During an election, emphasis should be on the use of police which should be resourced and trained to maintain the peace. Instead resources were diverted to the army! I just received a message from my mother while writing this. I will quote her sms verbatim; “Museveni again! We pray that there will be peace. We are OK, but still in houses! Greetings and God bless.

My parents are not aware of my writings or activities on this forum as I do not discuss them with them. For years they supported and in some way helped maintain the NRM in the early days. They were very active in civil education campaigns of the CA and early LC’s but lost interest when it became clear Museveni had no intention of stepping down and corruption was not going anywhere. I am very sure that they do not feel the same way about Museveni since about 1999-2006 and am sure they are not the only ones. If they voted any other party, it would be a protest vote. Again I have never asked them who they voted but I wouldnt be surprised if they voted against Museveni. Traditionally they were DP, by I would be surprised if they voted DP either. I suspect that their vote would go to one of the smaller new candidates like Kamya even though they would be well aware she had no chance. On the other hand I would not be surprised if they chose to vote for “stability” and voted for Museveni!

It is interesting that in many places, people decided to vote out Museveni’s minsters but voted to keep him! This probably boils down to ‘stability’ and twebaka ku tulo’ as Museveni and his Generals have made it very clear that they will shoot anyone who threatens their hold on power and they are not about to salute anyone else! Surely it is not because they think that they are doing a wonderful job otherwise why sack a performing team? And we know that on corruption, on poverty, on infrastructure etc, the NRM and Museveni score a big zero!

The fact that 3 days after the election, they still haven’t ventured outside their homes is telling and explains why there really hasn’t been much celebration even if the NRM should be celebrating! The intimidating presence of the army given the circumstances and our history may therefore have played a role in peoples choices. It is the same ridiculous choice that Egyptians had to make in entrusting the stability and security of their country to the frailty of an 80-something year old man until they got the courage to overcome their fear!! All this military presence is designed to heighten anxiety and stampede people into voting for stability just like Tony Blair stampeded his parliament into rubber stamping his war in Iraq by stationing tanks at Heathrow even though there is no conceivable role for tanks in a fight against a suicide bomber with a backpack or even stolen plane! This is psychological manipulation of the population as is all the talk of terrorism and intimidation of anyone who talks about demonstrating against the NRM by labelling them a war monger or terrorist!

The opposition is going to have to become more sophisticated. The funding of the NRM in this campaign has got to be questioned including in courts. If there are laws that require parties to declare their funding, they should be used to force the NRM to declare their funding sources. If they used state resources as we all know they did, then that should become subject to legal and constitutional interpretation. The use of state funds will need to be explored and queried including the supplementary budgets passed during campaigns and the funds given to the presidency as well as MP’s. The passing of the unconstitutional “Traditional Leaders Bill” should be reversed and discussed and redrafted properly if it is really deemed to be necessary! One hopes that the new strength of opposition politicians in parliament will be used to force debate on all of these issues including cutting the powers of the presidency as well as bringing back term limits!

If there has been oil company money in this election, this needs to be declared. The WikiLeaks documents clearly demonstrate that Tullow oil sought to exert influence through possibly blackmail on our politicians. If they have made any major payments to the NRM or any other party, this should be explored including using the US governments laws on private companies payments to and links to foreign governments!

Lastly one has got to mention the obvious incompetence of the electoral commission under Kiggundu. The credibility of the EC really needs to be improved. Certainly Kiggundu needs to take one for the team and go back to whatever it is he used to do before! https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150095148497681

I pointed out to Nina in this forum before that there is such a thing as a pyrrhic victory. Like for Ben Ali and Mubarak, this may turn out to be one.

The Jasmine train is not yet derailed. This debate must continue!

Of ticks and fatted bulls!

Monday, February 28, 2011 at 8:01am

Mbabazi,

Nice try (Mbabazi thinks I should join the NRM and change from within). I promised myself many years ago never to work in an organisation where I became a part of the problem -if I cannot hire and fire, count me out! Everyone who joins the NRM becomes poisoned! in so much as you all continue to allow Museveni to continue to live his dreams at the expense of the country, you are all now a part of the dream!

You know that am not coming over. Your chalice is poisoned! Everyone in your yellow bus is a pawn! Its a wonder you don’t feel soiled!

It is obvious to everyone by now that Museveni’s wish to stay in power has got nothing to do with this country! Its got a lot more to do with his ego, and his fear of becoming irrelevant!

And having fattened on the best that our country has got to offer for 25 years, the fatted cow has attracted a lot of ticks! And those ticks have vested interests in keeping the cow around!

But what those ticks do not know is that they are all dispensable and disposable! if one of those ticks so much as becomes annoying, they will be swatted away like the nuisance they are! We all know these ticks -Mbabazi, Nsibambi, bukenya, the tinyefunza’s, Muhwezi, Mukula etc! Like Ben Ali and mubarak sacrificed their cabinets before them, they will be the first ones to be thrown in front of the mob when it comes for retribution! As you can see he has already been sending around a whispering campaign -he is clean -blame the ticks around him!

That the tick imagines that they for one instance have some sort of influence on the bull on which they feed is laughable! The bull laughs at them! The indulges and tolerates them! You see with Uganda at his mercy, he has a lot of blood at his disposal -more than the ticks can drain! His immune system is adapted to their presence. They cannot kill him but he can kill them or just swat them off to starve -like he did Kategaya!

There was however one tick, Besigye that became really annoying and got swatted off. He continues to survive even when separated from the host. But thats only because there was some anaemic and thin cow called opposition onto which he managed to cling and continues to hold onto literally by his teeth! A couple of weeks ago, opposition lost a few more liters of blood to big fat bull!

What Mr Big Fat Bull does not reckon on is the resilience of the downtrodden Uganda on which he has fed for all of these years. You see, Uganda has seen other Greedy Fat Bulls before. They all thought they would be around forever -Amin, Obote etc!At the end Uganda had the last laugh! The more of Uganda’s blood they drain the more erratic and mad they get! you see thats one property of Uganda’s blood they did not know -it has the power to make them run mad and destroy themselves!

In one swoop, Uganda will rise and Mr Big Fat Bull and all of his ticks will be gone!

The paesant Generals are only fit or bulungi bwansi not to run a modern country!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 11:27pm

Dear Nina,

Today I decided to read all 350 comments on that mad mukiga Nathans page. One man Apollo Kakwenzire, stood out! Not just for his insulting comments about Baganda but also about his blind sycophancy towards the NRM and its policies!

LOL, I often wonder how people mortgage their brains in support of a government that is past its due by date! Poor Apollo Kakwenzire is still at it! Denying, bullying, browbeating all in an attempt at proving that white is black and that Museveni and the NRM have the skills and the will to take this country forward! How shallow can a man be?Ugandans were quite happy to give him some tough love though!!!

What happened to Mwenda is simple stuff. Ask any teacher and they will tell you that this is basic psychology. If you have a disruptive child in class, you single them out and make them the class prefect and soon you will have thm trying to maintain calm in the class.

Franz Fanon had a name for people like Mwenda -comprador bourgeoisie. The become a part of the system once they have got something to protect. When Mwenda was drawing a salary, he was siding with the man on the street. Now that Mwenda runs a 5 billion shilling company, his concerns are the same as those of the oppressors -protecting his bottom line! He has got something to lose!

Thats why Franz Fanon advocated for dispossessing the cmprador bourgeoisie for until they know what it is to be hungry, what it is to be jobless or what it is to be opressed, they will continue to act to protect their own interests! I can bet that Mwenda’s companies get a significant amount of their business from the state like most media houses in Uganda! When Mwenda left the Monitor, he was railing against his being gagged to protect the business interests of the Agha Khan who had then purchased the newspaper! As an owner, his interests and those of the state converge and he gets more and more distant from the ideals of the common man. For him to get his critical edge back, you would have to burn his company down and reduce him back to a level where he understands the aspirations of the average Ugandan!

Museveni finessed the art of buying off loud mouths! When he first came to power, a commission of inquiry was the most common way of buying off loud mouths. So every Makerere lecturer who made too much noise against government policy, got a commission of inquiry the result of which would never get published! Soon he graduated to politicians -so vocal anti corruption critics like Nsadhu got co opted into the machine -and became a part of the machine!

He graduated to offering ministries as bribes, then ambassadorships t the point where there is only one serving career diplomat at the rank of ambassador the rest being political appointees -essentially political rejects some of whom sold out their constituents!

You can extend this patronage and political bribery to layers of politicians and political appointees like RDC’s and their deputies, LC council chairpersons at all levels down to the village level! This creates a system of graft and corruption as well as an unproductive layer of overpaid political sycophants milking the public purse as long as they sing “the man in the hat is the only man with a vision”!

Virtually every member of the NRM is tainted. The longer their incumbency, the higher the likelihood! They have perfected the art of lying to the tax paying public!

The truth is that Museveni’s government is incompetent and lacks the skills to carry this country forward. This is reflected in the recent cabinet appointments as well as the budget which offers nothing new or radical!

Musveveni’s continuing rule is a private project. It is a family mafia! At its core, is a family esconced into government like its a private company. There is a wife who is a full minister and MP, a son whose accelerated rise in the army could not possibly have been on merit but nepotism, a presidents office that cannot run without a first daughter as the presidential secretary an another as the chaplain, a brother to the president whose fingers are in business, in private armies and secretive government projects siphoning off large amounts of money ostensibly for poverty alleviation, yet no one seems to know where the queue is or who belongs to his farmers associations, an anti corruption unit in health set up in state house run by an adopted daughter, sons in law, brothers in law, sisters in law, sisters etc, all in government without going through any known or advertised interviews! And we wont even go into the rumours of people recruited from some peoples villages to government departments or in the first ladies kitchen!

You people must believe that Ugandans are stupid! That tired line about people in the diaspora not knowing what goes on in Uganda is overused! Who do you think finances the failure of Museveni’s government to provide social services? When people go to hospital and need money for drugs, they call their relatives in the diapora and line up outside western union not any government office for they know the government abdicated its responsibility a long time ago! If Ugandans in the diapora were to stop sending money to relatives to create jobs and pay for social services, your government would not last a day for the paesants would rise up and kick you out! By the time one drives from Entebbe to Kampala one has seen dust, uncollected garbage, potholes, poverty, chaos, bribery and corruption name it unless they are blind. All eveidence of poor government! A week will aquiant one with all sorts of social problems from health to edication to housing all through the long lines of supplicants for ones help. Yet you preside over tis heap of refuse and garbage and try to pass it off as a miracle!

For five years maybe! For ten, really!! For 25 years, quite frankly you should all be lined up against a wall and shot! Shot for trying to pass off a not so convincing counterfeit as success and development!

Seriously after 25 years of “development” one of the most important items in the budget is the price of hoes!!! There is no strategy for employment. We talk about tourism without any evidence that we even know what the word means and we are obsessed with increasing a jobless semi literate population with no skills and hoping that consumption without production will be the main driver of an internal market! Industrialisation without reliable or adequate power? Goodness! Power should be one of the first priorities of recovery economies! That 25 years later we are still doing stuff that should have been done in the first decade of NRM rule suggests gross incompetence and negligence. Certainly it suggests that Museveni and his paesant Generals need to return to the barracks or better still their farms and hand over to a more competent generation! Which schools of economics did our so called leaders attend?

In any dveloped economy for the Governor of the central bank to make the kind of statements that Mutebile made, would demand his resignation or the collapse of the government! Certainly it would be an ominous event that could precipitate runs on the banks, a collapse of markets, a drop in investor confidence, a flight of foreign capital, an increase in inflation and an increse in interest rates and consumer prices. All indicators suggest that all of this is already happening in Uganda!

All of that irresponsible spending was bound to catch up with us. All the money stolen to finance an election at all costs was bound to contribute to inflation while drawing on our reserves to fund fighter jets we do not need was bound to cause problems too!

AS for Apollo’s story about his brother from the UK who run an incompetent campaign seriously all the story proves is that the possession of a university degree is not proof of intelligence!

The Jasmine revolution in north Africa was triggered by food prices. This government is in trouble!

Lunacy is when you keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result!

Response to where did we go wrong?

Saturday, December 18, 2010 at 1:17am

So far I have stayed out of this discussion because of work commitments but mostly because any discussion of our past leaders is almost always divisive and ends acrimoniously with personal attacks and insults. Our leaders both past and present have almost all been divisive. Any discussion of their contributions to our acrimonious and conflict ridden history is always ridden by subjectivity and anecdotal evidence.

I can see some have been directed towards Godfrey whose sentiments and opinions on many fronts both regarding revisionists of our history as well as the role of the economy I agree with.

I will however wade in with my own opinions and hopefully balanced opinion despite the fact that I will draw from my own personal experiences as well as those of my family.

For the purposes of this discussion, I will ignore Lule, Muwanga, Binaisa and Muteesa except to say that virtually all of Uganda’s leaders except Muteesa came to power through the gun either directly or indirectly.

I do not believe in regime change as an end in and of itself. However i still maintain that Museveni has outlived his usefulness and should go. If the NRM does not have the internal structures to replace him then they too should be confined to the dust bins of our history. The NRM will only ever come of age when they can prove that the party is more than Museveni and can survive beyond Museveni. Beyond the test of whether they are all pawns in one mans dream for self aggrandisement and power is the test of succession and party structures. Are they strong enough? Do they have strong enough party structures to prevent Museveni annointing his son as his successor? So far there is very little evidence that the NRM is strong enough to replace Museveni or the he is subject to party structures.

DP has demonstrated maturity in being able to move beyond the Ganda catholic clique that had become synonymous with DP. Obviously in the short term, thay have paid a price but in the long term there can only be benefit. Neither Ssebaana’s, Kiwanuka’s nor Ssemogerere’s children have monopolised the party’s future in the way that Obote’s family controlled UPC until recently when they were booted out, or the way the Odinga’s, Moi’s and Kenyatta’s princelings control Kenya’s destiny.

UPC was a party with a history that got eclipsed in one mans dream and megalomania. To hear the story told, one could believe that there were no others that came before Obote and that he founded the party from scratch. I believe that Obote excelled at manipulation and manipulated all of those around him with the sole aim of keeping himself in power.

It has been said that Museveni is the longest serving ruler that Uganda has had followed by Amin. I wish to correct that impressionas obote ruled uganda initially as prime minister in 1962 until Uganda’s first coup in 1966 when he abrogated the constitution, single handedly rewrote it (with binaisa who boasted they wrote it overnight), used the army to overthrow Uganda’s first constitutional head of state thus introducing us to the militarisation of our politics, unilaterally declared a republic without recourse to parliament or referendum, declared a state of emergency, systematically undermined parliament, introduced detention without trial and introduced the nation to the politics of state oppression by their leaders through the security services. The only time that Obote was ever directly subjected to elections in his 16 year rule of Uganda was in the disputed 1980 election that led to the NRM war.

He subsequently ruled Uganda till 1971 when he was booted out by his mastiff Idi Amin whom he had promoted against all advice and common sense in the hope that being illiterate, he would be a pawn in his power game. Thats until Idi Amin decided to go into business for himself and overthrew him with the help of British and Israeli intelligence. Both the Israeli’s and the British later turned against Idi Amin after he expelled Britains non landed citizens (Ugandan Asians who held British passports) from Uganda, a plan that was actually not his but was already a part of Obote’s indigenisation and nationalisation policy of the late 60′s

He subsequently ruled for another 5 years following the overthrow of Idi Amin in what is in my opinion one of the darkest periods of Uganda even eclipsing that of Idi Amin before being booted out by yet another of his mastiffs -the Okellos (and Otunnu) who were themselves booted out by Museveni!

Obote’s personality and lack of democratic credentials is further characterised by the hold he had on his party the UPC which he run virtually like personal property and even bequeathed to his widow with the plan of passing on to his son Jimmy. This plan was finally thwarted by the same people who booted him from power in 1985 ie Otunnu. All in all his control of the party and its structures spanned 51 years a full half century during which time he was not exposed to elections. He also continues to posthumously control the only property the party owned Ugandan house (though I believe that state funds were used in its construction) through the Apollo Milton Obote foundation controlled by his cousin Sam Odaka and his widow.

This problem of parties built around personalities rather than party structures continues to dog us todate. So Museveni, his wife and almost certainly his son and brother as well as various inlaws such as Kutesa control the NRM, the Obote family until recently controlled UPC, DP was for almost 3 decades synonymous with Ssemogerere, CP equals Lukyamuzi and FDC equals Besigye! While these various personalities indulge in dangerous power plays we all pay the price for their personal aspirations for themselves and their offspring.

In a recent conversation a friend of mine who came across the stranglehold (and arrogance) that Asians have over the economies of our neighbours in the East african community said to me that much as Amin was a stain on Uganda, he may have done Uganda a favour in getting rid of Asians and breaking their control over our economy. The surprise is that his father was one of the prominent Ugandans killed by Idi Amin. This is something I have come across before and certainly have been reminded of by the arrogance of Kenyan Asian shopkeepers and attitude towards black people, my interaction with Kenyan members of a rotaract club (membership of rotary clubs is by personal sponsorship by a club member so this club in a black African country can only be pure Asian if the Asian members do not sponsor any Black Kenyans for club sponsorship) from Mombasa that was all asian or encounters with clearly racist white Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe as well as south Africa who clearly control the economy where only 7% of listed cmpanies in the Jo’burg stock exchange are owned by black south Africans. In that respect, Amin empowered Ugandans and broke them from the stereotype of being Asians ‘boyees’ and servants! I must admit that I do not entirely subscribe to the method even though I fully understand what informs these sentiments about a minority that despises you yet controls your economy!

Another example about Idi Amin that i got from my parents is the effect that Idi Amin had on the self image and pride of Ugandan muslims. Apparently Al Hajji Abdul Nsereko who was a newsreader for most of the years we grew up first started reading news in Amins time after Amin demanded that Radio Uganda and the TV had to employ a muslim. At the time we grew up, he had an affected American accent but in the early seventies he spoke like ‘seya’! Apparently his English was atrocious. This was apparently Amins own form of affirmative action. It cannot be said today that muslims who were synonymous with illiteracy lag far behind other Ugandans in education or wealth.

I have also quoted from my own childhood the episode when as a kindegarten pupil, I abused Idi Amin to his face and he simply smiled and waved at me! I know for a fact that had a child done that during Obote II, both the child and his family would have been massacred! I also do not remember seeing armed soldiers on the street until 1979. In Amins Uganda uniformed sldiers were confined to the barracks and my only memory of uniformed soldiers were those in military landrovers. this is not to say that Amins soldiers did not kill people. While Amin controlled his mastiffs, Obote had very little control over his own who were his nevertheless! One of his famous quotes in parliament to Ssemogerere then leader of the opposition was “Where are your Generals?”, in reference to the personal allegiance his army held to him!

Furthermore, my family’s escape from Kampala during the fall of Kampala in 1979 was in a bus commandeered by an army commander in Amins army to transport him and his wounded men to Arua. My father paid them to transport us to Luwero wehere we stayed on a ranch owned by relatives until Kampala was safe and my father came for us. Despite the fact that our group comprised of women and children, they were perfect gentlemen and did not molest any of the women or teenage girls. On the way they even picked up a young girl and boy who were walking home several hundred miles and dropped them off without demanding any money. Many months later, my mother met the bus driver in Kampala. The soldiers once they got to Arua, paid him and released him to return to his family in Kampala!

But I also do know that in Amins Uganda, a parent was stuffed into a car boot in front of his children at my school Nakasero. I used to walk past State Research Bureau every day. I was classmates with Idi Amins children one of whom cried for a friends toy, a birthday present. The teacher returned it to the rightful owner and was later that day taken away in the boot of a car when Idi Amins daughter in an upper class ordered the bodyguards to do so!!! Can you imagine a primary school child having that much power?

We were later to be exposed to the power of mere children during Obote II when children could get one killed, carried weapons to school and even boasted of having killed people! Teachers were terrified of these children who were considered above school rules and untouchable.

Despite being a child I was aware of the fact that particularly in the latter part of amins reign, the shops were empty, that Kampala last had a proper ‘supermarket’ in the early part of my childhood (at Drapers building above the Taxi park), that we grew up virtually not knowing what sausages, apples or chocolate was save when a parent came back from overseas. That sugar and salt were ‘magendo’ commodities that your parents bought from the backdoor of hajji’s shop and so was petrol! Its therefore illusionary for people to claim that the economy was good during Amins time. I do however remember that whenever I needed medical care, I was a VIP and received private treatment in Mulago’s private wing because I was ‘entitled’ by virtue of both my parents having been civil servants. The only ‘supermarket’ in Obote II’s time was Hajji “Seeya’ Nasser Ssebagala’s shop on UCB arcade that was no better than a grocery store but was really a front for illegal currency dealings. I know this for a fact because I was sold illegal travellers cheques there in the 90′s!

Despite the fact that I can see this good side to Idi Amin and his soldiers, I cannot bring myeslf to see anything good about Obote or his rule. The truth be said Obote introduced us to the mess we are in. A classmate who was the younger brother of an army commander regaled us with stories of how he killed people, threw a grenade at a group, commandeered cars and got them past roadblocks manned by his village mates who just waved him on once he introduced himself. Needless to say, he was the only one of my classmates who actually owned a car in O-level. The same guy once threatened us that if the “wayekera came, he would ‘soot’ all of ‘zeez’ waganda”. When the wayekera did finally come, we are the same poeple that shielded him together with other children of high ranking army commanders some of whom were notoriour for their barbarity. I remember having trouble reconciling a schoolmate, a son of Bazilio Olara Okello with the man who reputedly commanded platoons of marauding soldiers that raided homes around Kampala at night! While the son was reputed to own a gun, he was one of the most gentle and cool headed students in school. Obviously because of the schools I attended, I rubbed shoulders with the children of all sorts of people who were notorious at the time. None of the stories I can tell though compare with those of students in day usually mixed schools like Kitante, Kampala or Kololo high that brought guns to school and scared teachers, raped girls or disrupted football matches with rival schools!

My real introduction to true state terror was during Obote II. I have already written about my childhood which is one we all share. I do not subscribe to the claim that the war in the 80′s was urban warfare as opposed to guerilla warfare. There was only one group that subscribed to urban warfare and that was Nkwanga’s group that specialised in car jackings and they were really not effective and not much more than bandits. Kayira’s group attacked Lubiri barracks on a couple of occasions in the early 80′s leading to Obote’s soldiers laying waste to Rubaga, Ndeeba, Mutundwe and surrounding areas. Houses in these areas were deserted and looted beyond recognition! Most of the rest of the time these guerilla groups including the NRM were in the villages and bushes and no one that I know of around Kampala had ever seen one! Sometimes people even argued that they did not exist! Evidence however of their existence and the war that was ongoing in the countryside was abundant in the form of family members and rural -urban migrants who were refugees from Luwero and other theatres of war!

But everyone in Kampala knew that the state was a terrorist. Everyone knew about Makindye barracks and Lubiri barracks and the many people who dissappeared into these places never to return. everyone even children knew about NASA as well as the special forces and various other paramilitary forces. And everyone who lived in Kampala knew not to be outside their house after dark not because there were guerillas lurking about but because there were government soldiers about at night. Everyone knew that having money was dangerous and so was having a beautiful wife or girlfriend. That every idiot with a gun was next to God. That you did not argue with an idiot in a government army uniform and a tax payer funded gun. That everytime you got past a roadbloack was one more day you stayed alive. As children we learnt to recognise fear in adults all around us.

The argument that Museveni was the major architect of the terror in luwero does not wash either because testimony from the residents of Luwero that is well documented in the Human Rights tribunal clearly points the finger at Obote’s troops and names names. Furthermore recruits to the NRM were from the residents of this area. Personally having witnessed the behaviour of Obote’s troops towards civilians in Kampala that was not a theatre of war, it is not too much of a stretch of my imagination to imagine how they would behave towards civilians when under attack! By the same token the behaviour of Kony and his troops in the north when viewed in light of Obote’s troops in Kampala then is not really too surprising as the only difference was their targets. Kony’s troops primarily targeted civilians, engaged in hit and run with little attempt to engage the army in head on battles. They practiced a scorched earth policy primarily targeted at causing disaffection among the local population rather than attack military targets. Their various massacres are well documented as well with attribution for various atrocities clearly alloted to Kony’s troops by local civilians. Many internally displaced people in the north themselves preferred to move to government controlled areas rather than seek protection from Kony and his troops which does somewhat tell you a little bit about who they considered to be the lesser enemy! There is no doubt however that many army commanders were guilty of profiting from the war as well as being negligent.

My home 5 km from the city centre was 8 roadblocks and at each of those roadblocks one could die, get tortured, get raped or get robbed! I went through 16 roadblocks a day to and from school until my parents decided I was safer in a boarding school and never ever saw a guerilla! These roadblocks were manned by government soldiers. Around this time of the year, going into the city was dangerous as at any time it could get shut down by soldiers looking to steal meat milk, or goods for christmas. A classmate who had six sisters told us how his mother, a widow and all of his sisters got raped in front of him while they were forced to watch. Their home was in Makindye next to the barracks! An uncle of mine dissappeared into Makindye barracks and has never been seen again! Another got shot and killed in our own home and my family had to watch him hold his guts for hours till he died because no one dared drive a car till morning to take him to hospital. Hospitals had embedded intelligence officers who arrested anyone who brought in a gunshot victim on suspicion of being a guerilla. My father got arrested in panda gari cordons several times and I witnessed day light robbery more than once. I know people who were killed for no reason and heard gunshots almost every night! While I continue to marvel at how much our parents shielded us from the mayhem around us we were still exposed to quite a lot! Its a wonder we ever did turn out to be normal adults or are we?

The International conference centre where Obote had offices was also the main detention centre and torture centre for lots of people. You cannot tell me that he did not know what went on right next to and under his own offices!

It is often claimed that Obote built an infrastructure. But its also often neglected to say that Obote inherited a functioning bureaucracy and civil service. This bureaucracy crumbled under his rule in particular in Obote II when salaries meant little. My fathers salary could not pay his transport to work for a week let alone feed us or pay school fees. Finally my parents had to decide that one of them had to leave the civil service and move into private entreprise in order to survive and make ends meet. My mum could not put up any longer with the presence of military guards in the government installation in which she worked so she resigned. I lose track of the number of times that her businesses were robbed by government soldiers and she had to stsart all over again! Finally she just could not stand going to work in the city again and run her businesses by remote from home while minimising excursions into the city centre as she developed panic attacks, something that I now recognise as ‘post traumatic stress syndrome’! Its also claimed that he built schools without many specifics as to which schools he built. It has also been stated that each school had a truck and school children were fed. I know for a fact that in Obote II there were tata trucks given out to people that paid bribes for schools that did not exist except on paper. Supplying “air” to government was finessed in Obote II and is not the invention of the NRM government! “Ghosts on the payroll, poor pay or no pay were characteristics of Obote II! The economy too was not rosy with basic commodities always being in short supply and the rural economy was decimated. Tripple digit inflation figures were normal and people needed millions of shillings to buy a loaf of bread. Businessmen and women did not open up shop before checking the US dollar rate on the street as this changed every day! Mugabe did not invent runaway inflation as this was the reality of Obote’s Uganda of the 80′s!

Its forgotten that many public schools were actually nationalised schools rather than schools actually built by the government. An example is Nakasero which I attended which was an “European school” nationalised and became a public school. So was St Mary’s college Kisubi which was a catholic funded and founded school on private property donated by an aristocrat of Buganda that was nationalised! These schools already had their own infrastructure that was not bequeathed upon them by the government. In Obote II many of these schools also adopted PTA’s in order to survive. The official school fees was a pittance and teachers salaries were a joke so parents formed these PTA ‘s that levied extra fees to run the schools! When I attended kisubi, Kisubi and similar schools were not cheap. Many of the best schools in Uganda have their history in the vision of colonial government and local governments such as the Buganda government and were not government founded schools!

As for roads and hospitals, Musevenis roads and hospitals maybe crap, but Obote’s roads were no better! Kampala’s main roads were one big pothole! And the hospitals were a cesspool! Services were non existent and parastatals were money draining loads on the public coffers and inefficient! Farmers sold their produce to government marketing boards for peanuts and got little back in exchange paid in arrears upto years later subject to runaway inflation!

I can see the role of cooperatives and believe they should have been saved. I however believe that parastatals were just vehicles through which public money was stolen by government officials and their cronies. Certainly that was the case during Obote II. Those who claim that parastatals should have been saved certainly never listened to Obote’s budget speeches. Many parastatals in Obote II were losing money and subsidised by the government. This trend continued in Museveni’s regime when he transferred many under NEC industries an army corporation. Many were sold to government officials including Kategaya, Kuteesa. Salim Saleh, Bidandi Ssali, Francis Guma, Tumwiine and others. Government owned houses where run down shells. Many were sold for a pittance and are now multi million dollar residences. th government has divested itself of all of our “family jewels” including major parastatals, cooperatives, foreign embassies, local residential properties etc. The problem is that the funds are nowhere to be seen! UCB was sold while it was still profitable. Local banks were run into the ground. Politicians took loans they never paid back to government banks and cooperatives.

It has been stated that farmers were rich and had access to funds from their produce. That may have been the case in the colonial period and early years of the 60′s but it was less so in the seventies and by the 80′s was no longer the case. In Obote’s Uganda, the marketing boards became the vehicle through which farmers were robbed of their produce. Collected from them in exchange for “chits”, many went unpaid for a very long time. By the time they were paid at fixed government prices subject to inflation, the money meant nothing! At the time we had runaway inflation. my mother owned several businesses in the city and it was common to see people walk down the street with sacks of cash that really couldnt buy much! Until the market was liberalised in Museveni’s 80′s and farmers could sell their produce to private companies in exchange for cash, the government was the only buyer! Coffee Marketing Board was the main vehicle through which farmers were robbed and farmers responded by cutting down their coffee trees! Now the rural economy has been decimated creating a dependent population!

We have been discussing our roads and infrastructure which is chaotic. Our so called development which follows whim rather than a template. Policy is made up on the fly and our village chief walks around dispensing wisdom and favours. Unity is at its lowest with different groups ready to turn on each other at short notice. The big village chief mentality and the colonial governor mentality all got fused into one in our current and past leaders!

Museveni was a beacon of hope in his early years probably because Ugandas so wanted to see some hope and change. We were all hopeful that things were finally going to change. He talked the talk and to some extent walked the talk. He co opted many who were ormer enemies into the movement and in some ways tried to build a coalition of national interests. I agree however that his best years ended in 1996 and he has since become more and more of a liability. He is obviously setting us up for dynastic rule. Like Saddam and Mobutu, his refusal to retire from the centre of our politics has potential to wipe whatever legacy he believes he may have created. He has hung around long enough to make all of the mistakes his predecessors made.

A major blight on Museveni’s rule is corruption. While he has always talked the talk against corruption, Museveni has failed to walk the talk. In many ways corruption makes Uganda look like a cartel run by mafia warlords! impunity a major catchword of his early days is a major problem in his government. Many of his so called cadres have been accused of corruption and have gone unpunished. Museveni will go down in history as having presided over a corrupt cabal of thieves!

Security in the north is also a major blight on Museveni’s regime. A major problem is the as yet unresolved Mukura Kyaligonza wagon case. While I would not go so far as blaming Museveni for the war in the north, as Uganda’s head of state he is responsible for failing to protect civilians against the attacks of Kony and Lakwena. Not only was he and his government culpable by virtue of their failure to protect civilians, they for ten years presided over the IDP’s with their attendant casualties in terms of poverty, disease, malnutrition and social destruction. this was gross negligence for which no one ever paid the price. The tendency of his idiots to react with deadly force such as during the so called Buganda rots a security disaster the responsibility for which should be laid squarely at Museveni’s feet is also a cause for major concern! Museveni is personally culpable for the people shot during the Buganda riots as he personally ordered a shoot to kill even though his government have so far failed to prove that any of the people they shot were armed or even rioters!

What disturbs me most is the selective justice that demands that Kony be exonerated while Museveni be tried for the war in the north. The same people would like to see Obote celebrated for presiding over chaos and the terrorisation of citizens but wish to see Museveni vilified. its at that point that we all lose the plot and start fighting each other leaving only Museveni as the winner! If we have exonerated everyone else, could contemplate granting the animal Kony amnesty, gave Obote a state funeral as well as a medal in recognition, then it is not too much a price to pay to grant Museveni amnesty and immunity and start all over again with new rules. We need to create he cuture of former heads of state retiring in the country! the same people who sit with kony and call him Jal, are the same people who would like to apply selective justice! the same people who have selective amnesia for the ills of the past are the very same people who wish to place Museveni’s real or perceived crimes at the centre of our politics.

I must admit am biased. I did not live in an IDP camp. if I had I would not even countenance Museveni being let off Scot free. Neither can I ever forgive obote. But I accept his burial in Uganda or whatever honours (that I do not believe he deserves) he may have been given posthumously because I believe it is important for Uganda’s future. We do need to find things we can agree upon rather than forever emphasising things we shall never agree upon! I know that in Obote’s uganda, I was an endangered species. I know that for most of Museveni’s regime, I can walk around at night including on foot except in some parts of the country. While am not a direct beneficiary of Museveni’s government kleptocracy and the crappy infrastructure and obvious lack of urban planning irks me continuously, I can do my own thing, fly in and out, carry US dollars or any currency, drive whatever car I can afford, or build whatever ugly structure I wish to without getting killed for it! And I can walk down the street with my kyana without being afraid that some idiot with half a brain could take a fancy to her and kill me or rape her!

I would not give my vote to Museveni. But I cannot convince myself that I could give it to any of his opposers either. In many ways our opposition is disappointing. I actualy believe that the best they can do is force him to a rerun which would force them to unite under one leader. While that maybe a good thing for our opposition it would not be a good thing for Uganda. Kenya, Ivory coast, Congo and Zimbabwe are perfect testimony to the fact that our so called democracies are not ready for close indecisive elections which increase the chances of use degenerating into more chaos.

UPC,DP, FDC and the NRM all had chaotic elections that revealed their own internal weaknesses, absence of internal structures as well as hypocrisy and lack of internal democracy. DP, UPC as well as the FDC and the NRM have all failed in the way they have dealt with internal dissent. A perfect example is how the FDC dealt with Ms Kamya. When you review their elections all of which have been marred by dissent, chaos and cries of foul, one wonders whether any of these clowns should be allowed anywhere near the presidency. What it demonstrates most clearly is that the power of the presidency needs to be cut down! This overarching winner take all democracy needs to be rewritten. Term limits also need to be rewritten into our constitution. The basic premise was that we could not leave it to the incumbent to leave while they were still ahead. Museveni is a perfect example of why term limits were written into the 1995 constitution in the first place! It is evident that he has no intention of retiring until he is pushed which is not really in his own or his family’s interests and neither is it in ours as a country! It is also increasingly evident that we are going to be saddled with his family and dynastic politics should he pass on!

I would love to see a well articulated response to the governments budget speech for example presenting an alternate budget and campaign promises based on realistic and verifiable figures rather than rhetoric. I would like to see lists of people allegedly killed by this regime rather than blanket statements of the government has killed people. To begin with how about a facebook page of all of the people killed during the Buganda riots and the Kasubi riots? Museveni and his government may increasingly act like the thought police but they cannot control facebook! I would love to see verifiable documentation of corruption rather than simply claims designed for news conferences. The PAC committee was on facebook but how about a “wikileaks” site on facebook for each of the various corruption scandals? I would love to see less posturing and more facts. If you are going to take us to the moon how are you ging to do it and where is the money ging to come from. If you are going to give Buganda federo, how are you going to do it? The claim that the opposition cannot say what they can do because they have not been given a chance simply doesnt wash. These are verifiable figures in the public domain. The leader of the opposition is entitled to access these figures anyway! I would really love to see the opposition raise their game. I would really love to see a new leader challenging Museveni within or without the NRM with more than he has ruled too long and its time someone else ate too? I would love to believe that in changing Museveni we will not be simply exchanging one bunch of “paesants in suits” for another bunch of “paesants in suits” but how do you seriously expect me to take a party that sits down with Hajji Ssebagala and considers him to be one of their leaders seriously? Or someone who refers to Kony as an elder or Jal and thinks he should have a role in government?

Lastly of the economy. While we can blame the World Bank and Structural adjustment programmes from the IMF from a lot of the disengagement from the provision of social services such as health and training, the IMF are not our rulers and we did not elect them. Our government has got to accept responsibility for acting on bad advice.

I have stated before that every Ugandan should be given a bill. In essence I was saying that every Ugandan should be dragged up into the middle class. Middle class people have jobs and create jobs. They consume. They have mortgages. They pay taxes. They buy shares and have investment. Essentially they have a stake in the economy. people who have a stake in the economy make decisions based on their best interest. As it is poor Ugandans have only one stake in government -peace and security. there is no expectation of anything else from the government. People who have a stake in the economy are interested in how government policy affects their jobs, their mortgage interest rates, their retirement funds, their investments. They are interested in the excesses of their government. in essence thats the main difference between our so called democracies and many western democracies. We can afford idiots because as long as they do not molest us at road blocks we can wander around doing our own thing -surviving while those in many western democracies cannot allow imbeciles to lead them to ruin as they all get ruined if they mismanage the country or economy! People who pay taxes and whose fortunes are bound to the economy and government policies take a much closer interest in the workings of governemt and its effects on their personal fortunes. Our parents who were graduates in the 60′s had very bright futures that were affected greatly by Uganda’s politics so we should not underestimate the potential for politicians to mess up even the best economies and gains of private entreprise.

My take is that we need both private entreprise and strong government with a vision and policy. The market is not self regulating and you cannot subject citizens to the goodwill of companies whose only motive is profit just like you cannot subject citizens to the goodwill of a leader and expect them to retire of their own free will. There are simply not that many Mandelas and certainly Museveni is not one!

Lunacy is when you keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result! We Ugandans are lunatices and we do need our heads examined!

Lots of things!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 11:49pm

Amos and Stephen, thanks.

It is possible that Museveni did really believe what he said at the beginning. But as Binaisa said, “Entebbe ewooma” or in English, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely!

When he stated in 1986 that the problem of Africa was leaders who overstayed in power, it was easy to believe him. Along with other statements such as the role of politics is to provide services in reference to the poor infrastructure. He ridiculed the potholed roads and said that a woman could give birth just sitting in a car going over those potholes! His roads are no better and in many places a lot worse! Furthermore when he said that there was no need for a government to kill its people if there is a disagreement between the people and itself in reference to the 1966 Kasubi incident, it was easy to hope that at last we had a government that was going to make the bad old days history!

Fast forward 24 years and we have had a second Kasubi, his soldiers repeatedly fire upon with live bullets and kill people in almost all major demonstrations since Makerere University in the days when Mao was Guild president!

At the time it was hope that made people believe him. I myself had hope that our country was going to get better and you could not have convinced me then that 24 years later we would have roads and hospitals in their current state while corruption and nepotism run the country!

Museveni has always played the reluctant president but anyone who has watched him the last 24 years as well as read his history prior to that back to the 60 would have no doubt that he loves being in power! Its now obvious that he has no intention of ever leaving power except to his son and this whole pretence of party nomination is a sham! When Besigye tried to stand against him in the NRM, citing individual merit and his right to stand for party bearer, you and i know what happened. He was hounded from the party, harassed with threats of court martial accused of having HIV with a sitting president going to court to be cross examined on the question of whether there is such a thing as a community diagnosis of HIV which really was an extreme thing for a president to do!

He subsequently again charged Besigye with rape after keeping the main witness in state house for a year almost a decade after the purported crime was committed! one wonders whether it was for blackmail reasons! What is not obvious and should have been obvious to his strategists then is that the false charges against Besigye were more publicity than money could buy and if Besigye became a formidable opponent instead of fizzling out its because he presented him with an opportunity to be a martyr!

The first admission that he never ever had an intention of leaving power was during some Jamahiriya celebrations where he stated that “if he believed that his revolution would not last 50 years, he would not have started it”. Soon after that the constitution was changed.

Multipartism was forced upon Museveni. In the beginning, the only contract with the people of Uganda was to ‘suspend” party activities. There was never any contract to create a one party system. When the time came for them to go, he created the unnecessary subterfuge of a referendum that had the poor turnout of 51% but served to remove the multiparty ban. By that time it had been obvious for many years that the movement really did operate like a party and that there was no opportunity for individuals to progress if they nurtured their own ambitions!

It is true that there were lots of fighting groups that had to be pacified with or without war. However the main one the LRA last raided a village in 2002 but the villages were not disbanded till 2006 again after pressure and having been sent a clear message in the elections when the whole northern region affected by war voted against his government. To me this was the first time that Ugandans ever voted for an issue -the north for the peace they had been denied for years even if it meant allying with a westerner, and the rest of the country to maintain the relative peace they had what is derisively referred to as ‘twebaka ku tulo”! In my estimation it was an act of negligence for the camps to remain for as long as they did particularly given the well documented excess mortality associated with them!! this was clearly demonstrated in a research paper by Dr Kobusingye Dr Besigye’s sister in a paper published in an epidemiology journal in Canada.

It is obvious that Museveni is becoming more and more autocratic. Incidents like the war against the Kabaka, the stupid sedition law that the courts removed from our statutes, the use of the military to control the police services, the stranglehold on FM stations -the Nambooze incident, the CBS affair, the shoot to kill orders on unarmed demonstrators, the recent anti Kabaka bill etc. In this week alone in unrelated incidents, activists have been arrested and charged with stupid charges like inciting violence and attempting to incite treason because of passing around pamphlets against the 20 million paid to MP’s in what was an obvious gaffe! statements such as I will only hand over to the right people suggest he does not respect elections and will only accept their results if they give him the answer he wishes to hear!

The Nairobi Peace jokes were a waste of time! I have no doubt that if he had joined them in a coalition government he would have ended up dead. To me, I have no regrets at all that he refused to respect them. That particular bunch of idiots simply had to be got out of our politics!

For the first ten years there was concerted efforts at improvements. We all understood we had to tighten our belts. It was no different from many peasant general revolutions. Slogans, politicisation but most of all an air and feeling of inclusion in the political process. every man and woman in every village felt that they were a part of the revolution. There was a honesty engendered in having to stand behind a man -no secret ballot. if the whole village didn’t like you, everyone including you knew it. There was hope -hope for a better infrastructure, better governance and pride in our country! All of this is no more as it gets more and more clear that this is just about one man!

the time for resistance councils was gone by the early 90′s. Many people by that time had lost enthusiasm for them. They had been left to unemployed people around the villages and suburbs by then. People would rather pay a fine than attend meetings. it had also become obvious by then that the cadres themselves were corrupt. Fortunes were being made by people who were goat herds just a few years before and had no businesses and manufactured nothing if they were connected to the right people or came from the right village!

There comes a time when peasant generals are no longer useful as a society modernises. A point where there has got to be a shift from loyalty to expertise. Museveni still values loyalty over expertise. He keeps the same deadwood in his cabinet for decades despite years of incompetence and non performance! He only trusts that which he can control. So his wife has got to join parliament. And she has got to be a minister for Karamoja because no one else could do it. His office cannot run unless his daughter works there. And neither can the army be professional without Muhoozi his son in the army. His bodyguard can only be entrusted to his son! His extended family have so many tentacles embedded in this government its more like a family thing than a national government!

Oil is going to create its own problems. Museveni already created problems with his sectarian bafuruki letter. All this of course was meant to appease the Banyoro while their oil is being stolen right under their eyes. As a matter of fact the anti Kabaka bill will probably claim as its first victims the royal family of Bunyoro for when the oil starts to flow and they realise they have been sold air, they may revolt. that’s when the Ogoni solution maybe invoked covered of course by this unconstitutional bill!

My sister was in the first batch of students required to report to Kyankwanzi. All students admitted to Makerere were that year required to go for 3 months. This was in the early 90′s. She asked Museveni during the pass out why his cadres were so corrupt! he glossed over the question and countered by suggesting her parents had to be ‘petit bourgeois’ and that’s why she was asking such a question!! By the second batch, many students refuse to report to Kyankwanzi. I believe they substituted with a few weeks of training in Makerere. My father was in a batch of civil servants who went to Kyankwanzi for 3 months. it was a waste of time as the sloganeering by high school drop outs was amateurish! All he did manage to do was lose a few kilos!

The first and second parliaments were good. Most people were there on individual merit. They had a connection to the masses. it was largely independent of the executive. when Wapa left the CA to join the NRM secretariat, I personally thought that that was a big mistake!

Museveni will have to adapt to the new Uganda. Even if he wins the elections, that will be the beginning of his troubles. If he is not ready to put up with more demanding and aggressive Ugandans he should resign now. Unfortunately unlike the jungle, fighting your own unarmed people is fraught with a lot of problems. its easier when there is a frontline.

Ugandans want services. And they need jobs. And they need an end to nepotism which is so obvious starting with the presidents own family who are all employed by this government. We need an end to cronyism. Everyone whether they live in Uganda or not wants the best because they have family and investments in Uganda. Plus most Ugandans in the diaspora wish to retire at home. unfortunately simple things like traffic and roads, poor quality housing and practically non existent health care services keep older people abroad!

When the time comes for the Jasmine express to dock, Museveni will have to go whether he wants to or not!

Museveni’s children -taking our country back!

Monday, March 7, 2011 at 1:24pm

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=196331557052152

And I hate to admit that you were right!

My mother admitted when I finally asked that “We voted him. Ate what could we do!” But she was at the same time fearful of what the future held under Museveni! my brother -he will never vote again for as long as there is a Museveni on the ballot ticket!

You see we are a very apolitical family and never even discussed our political opinions and voting plans before the election.

My parents know nothing about my activities on Facebook! If they did, am sure they would be horrified and dissuade me from expressing myself!

You see they became adults in the 60′s and lived under Idi Amin and Obote II! To them this is as good as it gets! They have lived under repression for so long that a gilded cage represents home and freedom is scary! They are not the only ones going by the recent elections!

The uninspiring opposition does not help much either! And neither does the aggressive rhetoric for it reminds this generation of war!! Unfortunately the impression and opinion that the guys in opposition are just another bunch of politicians who are making noise just so that they may get closer to the national cake and divvy it up among their kith and kin, just does not give them an appetite for change.

My parents need to see change they can believe in! they need an Obama. Someone who comes along and somehow makes people believe that there is a good reason to change! you see having watched mad monkeys tear the country apart, they are afraid of letting monkeys mess them up again just for the sake of change. But they are old, and one can forgive them. Unfortunately there is no amount of stalling that’s going to allow us to get past the fact that Museveni is now the single largest roadblock to democracy as well as stability in Uganda! for the longer he stays in power, the more likely it is that we shall have to fight a war to dislodge him or his son from our politics!

Today I read a story by Nina Mbabazi of her family’s experiences in Obote II. http://www.facebook.com/notes/nina-mbabazi/my-experience-of-house-arrest-under-president-obote/10150124597924449. I am not her Facebook friend and am sure not her offline friend either given I recently aimed a few choice barbs written a long time ago in the direction of a dearly beloved one in her family! But that does not matter! Point is I couldn’t leave my opinion behind! Her family left Uganda in the early 80′s and she describes life in exile in Kenya and Sweden. Quite frankly hers is quite tame in comparison to those of us whose parents stayed behind!

I think more people need to write these stories including those within the NRM! I say this even though i believe that Nina’s story is tame in comparison to those of us whose parents stayed behind! But I will not detract from her story because it is an important part of the narrative of our chequered history of conflict! Nina was born in the 70′s just like all of us other “children of Museveni born in the 70′s 80′s, 90′s as well as this millennium! She has for so long been an insider that her view of the narrative has become warped! But now like all of us having tired of parties she is starting to open her eyes and starting to see and hopefully question the veracity of the narrative in which she has been brought up! But Nina’s story is useful in demonstrating that even within the NRM there is more than one story -that of one man!

You see like the proverbial blind men, we Ugandans all have our own idea of what Uganda is and what it means to be a Ugandan! So those who touch the trunk describe it as thick and long, while those who touch the ears describe it as flat and wide -like a leaf! those who grab the tail have their own version-thin and long, while those who grab a leg think its like a tree trunk! While we did not have to fight for our independence, we have spent the last 50 years fighting each other! Its the only thing that remains constant! Conflict and pain rotates from one region to another -as does the cake. the ideas of who the oppressors are also change!

But I digress. I was talking about Nina and her new found awakening. Her most recent postings remind me of another NRM chick before she took the big jump. You see, Nina and her friends have for so long been buried in the NRM narrative that they ignore the most obvious truth. That we have all, Museveni’s children excepting those in the IDP camps and those in Sweden, been NRM children passively or actively! Even when we had zero interest in politics and getting laid or going to a club was the foremost thing on our minds, we in some way contributed to the NRM narrative through our apathy!

We did not vote, we did not make any political statements but just let the grown ups to do all of the talking and play big peoples politics -abusing one another and framing each other for rape! We didn’t care as long as no one was shooting at us! That other NRM chick who for a while confused everyone with the question of whether she was coming or going was the very brainy and beautiful Byanyima now wife to Besigye the leader of the opposition! Interestingly while she was an active and vocal opposer from within, she strangely went silent once she was on the outside and allowed her hubby to hog the limelight!

There is such a thing as the enemy within. What Frantz Fanon called the “comprador Bourgeoisie”! The well educated, middle classes that in one way or other are confortable with the status quo. They are politically inactive even when they see things happen to others. They see the poverty. They see the corruption. They see the miscarriages of justice! But they do nothing. they even buy into the narrative of the dominant powers -that anyone who opposes them or their stranglehold on power is a dissident, an enemy to be crushed, an anarchist, a ‘kipinga’ just like those idiots in the LRA and more recently a terrorist -just like those idiots in Al Shabaab! Being in the opposition becomes a dirty word -synonymous with all of the above! the idea that a government needs an opposition as a check and balance to keep them honest just does not have any traction with them! So anyone who fails to toe the line is an enemy! Nina is about to find out that she is an enemy unless she runs back to daddy and uncle Kaguta! That the nice uncles and granddads can turn nasty and vicious!

You see our country has become hijacked by one man and his family. All of those in the NRM are working for him, or pawns in his personal narrative. In his version of events, everyone else was just a support person! That real people died and suffered for his dream is immaterial -he actually forgot those people! That many of those people who died for him to win his war would not approve of the way things have turned out, again eludes him! Like many people who are placed on a pedestal, megalomaniacs start to believe in themselves to the point of delusion! You can see this in Libya where Col. Gadhafi seems to believe that when he says he has no title we should all believe him!

The extreme narcissism that makes one man declare himself to be the one and only man with a vision in a country with 33 million people is mind boggling! That one man could be so arrogant is amazing! That other intelligent people could let him get away with it is even more amazing! But to a narcissist its only natural that he be the only one with a vision. That everyone else is there only and only for their own self gratification! There is no doubt that narcissists can be very driven and become very successful people but they are also shallow and vain as well as potentially very nasty if other people do not recognise their prowess and success! Museveni is a narcissist! And all of his men are patsies there only for his own glorification!

It is time that Ugandans decided if they can afford Museveni any longer. It is time that all intelligent men and women evaluated whether he adds value to the future of the NRM and the country or whether its time to put him out to pasture. Its obvious that the opposition is not upto the job yet. For as Museveni has pointed out, they are incompetent by virtue of the fact that they do not have access to the national coffers to bribe the voters and legislators, but they also do not have willing patsies in the army willing to kill to keep one man in power! for unlike those professional Generals in Egypt who refused to go out and shoot their own people, our own personal army still has the mark of Museveni and is yet to become a national army. Certainly one cannot trust our Generals to stand down when ordered to shoot upon Ugandans! for again theirs is the narrative that anyone who opposes Museveni is an enemy of the state -to be killed if necessary and their body labelled as terrorists in retrospect as were those of civilians shot and killed in the so called Buganda riots of Sept 2009!

Museveni and Gadhafi have for so long been the only men with a vision that (everyone else in their governments is dumb) they believe that everybody else owe them. Their children and the children of those in the ‘kintu” have for so long lived in the official narrative that they believe that a government was taken over after five years of fighting by one man and 27 accomplices!

Buddha did not become great until he left the palace gardens and walked among the people on the street! The children of those in the ‘kintu’ will have to come out and join their hands with real people if they wish to have any relevance in the future of Uganda! the idea that like Gadhafi’s sons they are entitled to a good life because their fathers fought is one they need to disabuse themselves of!

We all fought for and paid for their victory and have all worked hard for the last 25 years to achieve whatever victories they may claim for themselves!

Even when as children we cowered under the bed with bullets raining on the roof everyday, or while soldiers ransacked our homes looking for our fathers, we were making our contribution -in childhoods lost! When we jumped over dead bodies as children ,we lost our innocence!

The NRM like Uganda is ours, whether we are card carrying members or not, for we paid the price for it! It does not belong to one man and neither does it belong to his family! He is not a king and therefore should not be allowed to rule forever! And neither should his son who was safe in Sweden when we were being terrorised be succeeding him!

Every right thinking member of Uganda whether pro NRM or anti NRM has got to be thinking -no resetting the clock, no further extensions, and no succession! And having now learnt the lesson that one man can never be trusted to decide for how long he is allowed to dominate our politics, let term limits be written back into the constitution!

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Selective justice -when young men die for old men! The story of Chandi Jamwa

Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 11:58pm

As usual Philip, you lay it out quite clearly.

There is no problem at all with the way you feel about this. Its what friends and family do. It is said, that a mother will cry for her son even if he is a thief. And families visit their loved ones in jail even though they maybe guilty.

While I read most of the details in the papers, I long ago arrived at the same conclusion as Justice Katutsi -that there was something suspect about the short selling of the bonds to Crane bank. Some of them simply could not be explained -and I do not have to be financially savvy or a genius to say so! I do not see how Justice Katutsi could have arrived at any other decision except guilty. It is good that he pointed out the issue of selective prosecution.

That short selling a bond a few days to maturity when not under duress causing a loss of billions (and a profit of billions to the buyer) to your employer is really suspect. I really would have loved for this trial to go beyond this and look at any financial dealings between Crane Bank and Chandi! It would also be interesting to use this to explore other such dealings between NSSF and other banks. I remain intrigued by the motivation for Jamwa’s decisions to sell bonds when he did not need to causing so much financial loss!

There is also the matter of gambling in a Las Vegas casino and buying expensive jewellery using a company credit card.

Furthermore, there was the abuse of office and extending of credit to himself and Kagonyera his deputy to the tune of hundreds of millions of shillings without board approval!

There is also the little matter of a real estate transaction with Nzeyi at the same time as they were negotiating the Temangalo affair. The details of this remain fuzzy but this would constitute a clear conflict of interest! None of these last three was the subject of his recent trial.

What I find amazing is that a guy who had everything going for him and had such a good track record allowed himself to get into the situation he is in right now! This guy was headed for good things!!!

The only conclusion I can reach is that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That he was suddenly elevated to this position where because he was sitting on the largest caboodle of cash in the country, powerful people who wanted to access it had to be nice to him and be “friends”! The ‘confessions’ of Jamwa show clearly that powerful men were courting him! In his testimony, he claimed that Amos Nzeyi was in his office practically everyday. That he was always trying to impress upon him how powerful and well connected he was. He was name dropping all of the time including mentioning his connections to the highest office in the land -the president!

He also mentioned that Suruma his then supervising minster sought him out at a social event to pressure him and impress upon him the importance of investing NSSF money in this deal. Can you imagine, a young 36 year old man suddenly becoming one of the movers and shakers and having powerful people wanting to be his friends and actually asking him for favours? Which young man would not let that go to his head?

In “No Longer At Ease”, Chinua Achebe, deals with the transformation of Obi Okonkwo from an idealistic and educated young man with the world at his feet, to a corrupt and depressed individual taking bribes for services. He demonstrates that once the idealistic young man drunk from the chalice of corruption, there was no turning back. He was on a slippery downward slope henceforth! From the first bribe he became a far cry from the young man who turned down an offer for a quid pro quo -sex from a young girl who was willing to bare all and give all for the chance to travel to the white mans land on scholarship!

The presence of powerful “Godfathers” must have made Chandi feel invincible and untouchable -and allowed him to act with seeming impunity!

But it all got unravelled when the proverbial “chicken dung” hit the fan and he panicked -trying to get out of Temangalo. He “confessed” forcing powerful men to fight for their political lives! Being a soft middle class kid, he had never heard of “kuffa ki offiisa”, “kuffa kisiri” or “cowboys never tell”! Essentially for those hardened boys who grew up in hard boarding schools like Matale, if you are caught stealing or cheating, you “died” like “an officer” and took the punishment alone without outing your colleagues. Your social capital went up immensely if you protected your mates! But woe betide you if you refused to die alone! Jamwa refused to die alone -BUT at the end of the day ended up dying alone!

While his powerful partners in crime got off with the loot and still have not even handed over the land at the centre of the scandal, 3 years after receiving payment, he ended up coming under the spotlight in what is seeming revenge for having outed his bosses and partners in crime! You see they knew that in exchange for him allowing them to use workers money as a playground, he too had played around with some loose change! It is this loose change that got him!

Unfortunately for him, a lamb does not play with wolves without getting eaten! It so happens that Museveni badly needs a ‘pin up boy’ to send to jail right now on corruption charges! If that boy happens to be an outsider so much the better! Chandi was an outsider who deluded himself he was an insider -and got burned! In the recently concluded elections Museveni was running against a candidate called “corruption”! He was his most powerful opponent! All of the rest were trailing far behind. And even after winning, museveni knows that this man corruption is going to eat him up if he doesn’t fix him soon!

There are a few other outsiders who thought themselves insiders and got burnt too. The most recent one being Teddy Sseezi Cheeye. Cheeye wrote a sycophantic article devoid of morality in his capacity as “advisor to the president on economic affairs”, one of those many useless people that cost the taxpayer money, arguing the retrospective merits of the Temangalo affair and trying to sweep all of the improprieties under the carpet on the grounds that it was still a viable and profitable deal for NSSF essentially, the means justifies the ends! I wonder how profitable a transaction you cannot take possession of three years later could be! The reality remains that the whole Temangalo deal was corrupt with all of the elements of corruption, insider trading, conflict of interest, cronyism, coercion, abuse of power/office, name it! It was powerful men leaning on a subordinate and coercing him to allow them to dip their hands into the caboodle of cash he was meant to be the guardian of! But they got away with no consequences!

Cheeye a ‘mulebeesi’ who pretended to be an insider ended up in jail for eating GAVI funds making him one of a very small minority! Interestingly there were never any charges of causing financial loss to his employer against the boss of GAVI! An unknown woman also went to jail! If she is not out she would be the only one that has gone to jail on corruption charges and stayed there in the 25 years of Museveni’s rule! The other outsiders who have gone to jail include Ekemu who ended his career by going to jail on corruption charges. He received a presidential ‘pardon’ at the request of his tribesmates who made delegations to Rwakitura asking that their son be released after all he was not the only one, nor the biggest. While Ekemu was a minister, he was one of those beneficiaries of ‘regional balancing’ in the movement government but not an NRM cadre!

Cheeye somehow ended up back on the street after a few short weeks and remains free! All of the other thieves who belong to the right party remain on the street with president Museveni claiming they are innocent! Kiggundu of Greenland bank who together with Salim Saleh, brother to president Museveni, virtually ended up bringing down the whole banking industry in Kampala, ended up facing the music alone and actually went to jail for a few months but still ended up on the street! He later joined the opposition! Leonard Mpuuma, Chandi’s predecessor received what really was a slap on the wrist and paid a hundred million shilling fine in place of a custodial sentence and walked off with a hefty profit as he got to keep the proceeds of his crime! Katto a scion of the now defunct Katto banking family, who brokered the junk helicopter scandal and paid a bribe of 800k USD to again Salim Saleh, was charged alone with irony of ironies, Salim Saleh as a witness against him!!! Saleh was ‘forgiven’ by his brother without being subjected to the courts!

Chandi stays alone to face the music! He goes off to jail like a common thief. But who am I to complain. I would have been the first to complain if he hadn’t! Am one of those who have always found it unfair that a common chicken thief gets killed by a mob or sent off to jail for several years while big thieves who steal billions get away scott free! I should be happy but instead am sad that such a promising young man has while taking his own punishment as he should, has also taken the punishment of powerful and vengeful old men!

As you can see Chandi joins a very small list of people who have faced corruption charges in the 25 years of the NRM, and part of an even smaller number who have actually been been convicted. If he manages to stay in jail for 12 years or any significant part of that, he would have broken a record for probably being the first person to whom the charges stuck and he actually served out a custodial sentence. If he does manage to stay in jail, it will only be because this government so badly needs someone to stay in jail so they can claim to have ever convicted someone on corruption charges!

Without wishing to influence events, I pray that Chandi in future rejoins society and contributes to the development of our society! But then I forgot -his conviction means he cannot hold a public job for another 10 years! What a waste! As for those who sacrificed a young man, while they went scott free, shame on them!

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For how long are we supposed to be beholden to those who fought?

Amos,

For how long are we supposed to be beholden to those who fought?

I have two uncles who fought. One died -in Ugandan parlance, he sat on a bomb after the take over of Kampala. He was one of th young boys who joined up early but wont be mentioned in the 27! He took his younger brother with him who must have been around 16 or 17. He left as soon as the war ended. they were never soldiers. They took up arms to fight for a cause and went back to their lives when the war ended. They had intimate stories of all of the high command! An uncle who did not go to the bush was witch hunted for most of Obote II and lost most of his wealth, his family while spending most of his time in and out of jail. While he was Museveni’s comrade, and stood on a UPM ticket, Museveni did not know him when he returned even though he was one of the casualties of his war. He died in poverty while his children got scattered among various relatives and friends.

Many people died in the cross fire and lost their livelihoods and homes as well as their lives. They are not war heroes -not even post humous.

This war was fought and won by many people who never made it to Kampala or requested voluntary demobilisation as soon as the war ended. They were not interested in Museveni’s rhetoric.

Museveni came to power wih pseudomarxist rhetoric that gave a traumatised population the hope that he was going to be different. That his was a fundamental change from the demagogues and illiterate killers who had preceded him. he of course gave traction to the rumour that he was a reluctant leader. He cobbled together a union of people including former opponents save for the most rabid and extreme. After one termof the inclusive democracy of the CA under Whapakabulo, he received an extension as people thought that it was required for stability in order to build institutions and rebuild infrastructure.

He subsequently unmasked himself when he demanded and got a third term (now called his first term in a semantic coup), followed by a second term. At this point he came up against the road block of term limits that had been though to be necessary in the first parliament after an all inclusive nationwide constitution building process. The “people representatives” in parliament voted to remove term limits!

Museveni promised that this was going to be his last term. He claimed that he still had a job to finish -to create a truly national army.

There are however signs that Museveni has instead been constructing a personal institution constructed around his own person. He has systematically undermined parliament and the judiciary. Instead of training police officers, he has infiltrated its highest ranks with military men. His son graduated from his uncles businesses to the army and has seen a meteoric rise through the ranks punctuated by stints at both fort leavenworth and Sandhurst -a significant achievement for one career officer! As a cadet officer, he embarrassed senior army officers by commissioning a review of the army by his as yet un commissioned son! He went on to put him in charge of his own bodyguard in a ove reminiscent of Mobutu. His brother has continued to enjoy a priviledged life despite his checkered lifestyle and flirtation with scandal and corruption. Yet he has never ever been charged and even went on to become a minister and is now a presidential adviser. His wife has since joined the parliament. His sons in law have been involved in business deals with government worth millions of dollars which smirks of nepotism. His in law Kuteesa has been named in other seriously flawed corruption scandals. his biggest NRM bush war comrades such a Mbabazi, Muhwezi have been mentioned some more than once in corruption scandals involving millions in public funds. His daughter works in his office while other relatives can be demonstrated to be employed withing high levels of government as well as doing business with government.

By lining up his family and cronies, Museveni defeats democracy. By actively undermining the growth of independent institutions and promoting the culture where all ideas and decisions are made by one man, he has built a government where everything is centred around his person. By maintaining a stranglehold over all resources and prolonged incubency, he effectively limits the democratic space. By using the police to actively prevent public discourse against his government instead of them being non partisan providers of security, he again controls nd retards our democratic organisation. His argument was that Ugandans were politically not mature enough to handle democracy so there was a need to suspend political activities and spend more time on national unity. After 24 years in power, we are exactly were we were with a despot albeit one with more control over his army whom a significant part of the population are increasingly hoping to get rid of.

With prolonged incubency and a narrowing of political space, there are signs of an increasing adicalisation of Ugandans. That cannot be good. Those who are watching the situation and watched the almost spontaneous conflagration that followed his stupid decision to curtail the movements of the kabaka within his own kingdom should expect problems in the next election. Museveni of course blamed the opposition but the truth be said, Uganda’s opposition does not have that much power within Uganda and Buganda! While they got regions that were desperate to dislodge Museveni to vote against him in the last election, there is little evidence that the opposition parties themselves actually control those votes! Thats why a “spoiler” like Otunu entering the fray on a UPC ticket has potential to take votes away from the FDC after splitting UPC giving the vistory again to Museveni!

Ours is a brittle “democracy”. One that can break down overnight just lke happened in Kenya. am afraid that an election is going to be the required catalyst. A look at recent elections that ended in widespread civil unrest suggests that there maybe a link between close elections and civil unrest in countries that do not have a mechanism for coalition governments. an increasingly vocal and not insignificant minority of 49% in our country that has a winner take all democracy has potential to break down overnight into street fights.

A look at Museveni’s record suggests that he loses about 10 % of the vote at each subsequent election. This suggests that this is the year when his votes may drop close to the critical 50/50% mark. A close win will trigger the usual calls of “rigged” except that with increased numbers in opposition as well as increasing radicalisation, the populace is more likely to end up in the streets. Coupled with the idiotic response of Uganda’s security forces who will “break skulls”, a demonstration would almost certainly turn into a riot! it is so predictable, one wonders why they always keep making the same mistake. The “bimeeza’s” allowed people to vent and gave them the impression of at least being able to voice their opposition. A demonstration has similar effect and the role of the police should be to provide security rather than go in to break it up violently which almost always leads to a riot and deaths such as happened when the forces shot and killed almost 30 people in the Buganda riots.

Surely 30 million people can produce alternate leadership. And surely a party of 8.5 million people should be able to produce an alternate leader in a period of a quarter of a century! the fact that the NRM itself cannot produce new leaders from within itself tells you the magnitude of our problem. the fact that Museveni could not find anyone willing in his own party or even independents and other parties (Atubo came from UPC) and claimed he had to appoin his own wife minister for Karamoja suggests the problem!

Museveni is setting us up for an “Eyadema” where on the death of the incubent, his son bypassed constitutional protocol and became t

Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 11:20pm

Dear Nina,

I was going to write a very poisonous one as Sherurah calls them but thought better of it. So I have decided that I will not rain on your party and I will stay away from Temangalo! You know if we talk about Temangalo today those people planning to walk to parliament on Monday will be even more angry!!!

I know am not exactly the best friend of the Mbabazi family naye am still waiting for my share of the new loot! The way things are now it appears like if you cannot beat them, join them! I really pity Ugandans who waste their time electing so called members of parliament!

Every five years we are treated to this display of greed by the dishonourable “honourables”! The first order of business in each new parliament is their remuneration. This is in complete disregard of the needs and actual plight of other Ugandans! Can you believe that Kayihura’s policemen were out in the sun all day catching flies with their tongues very likely with no lunch for less than 200,000 a month? Money that am sure you have put in your phone as airtime and blown in one day? I know I have been guilty of doing the same – and did feel guilty! I don’t know about you but the idea that I had blown more money on phone calls in a day than a teacher, policeman or soldier, with families that have way more wives and children than I will ever get in this lifetime, takes home a month ….does make me feel guilty? The only consolation is that at least my money does not come from anywhere near the public purse!!!

But I digress. I was talking about these eaters sent by poor Ugandans to parliament to eat on their behalf believing that austerity measures were for ordinary Ugandans but not for them. That applying for a mortgage at 20% interest rate was for ordinary Ugandans but they were too special for that. No, they have to have 50 million upfront interest free and significant tax breaks when everyone else is complaining about hunger and food prices. While people complain about fuel, they have to have theirs free and drive expensive tax payer funded free 4WD’s to boot! That they are entitled to brand new cars of a certain value in a country where 90% will never own a car in their lifetime and those others who do will never buy anything other than a “brand new” 1999 model japanese car that should have been headed for destruction. That Ugandans owed them defray costs of their campaigns like anyone asked them to stand! All of this after the country has been in upheaval with many dying as a result! Did these not so honourable men and women go to parliament to represent themselves or to represent their poor suffering voters on whose backs they ride?

At no time is it more obvious than during this daylight robbery carried out in the house of parliament that there is a ruling class in Uganda that appears to believe that they are above the rules to which other Ugandans are subject. And that this ruling classes sense of entitlement is not restricted to the NRM but cuts across the floor of parliament. That this whole charade of elections and so called democracy is just a bunch of selfish people struggling for the national cake while all of the poor suffering Ugandans are mere spectators. At no time is parliament most united than when they are discussing their emoluments! Interestingly the only person who has ever come out to say something sensible about all of this is Museveni himself. In 2006 after similar shenanigans when the dishonourable MP’s had him over a barrel for they would not discuss a bill before them until they had disposed of the matter of awarding themselves more obscene allowances, he suggested that it was unethical for parliament to discuss its own remuneration. That a separate committee on needed to deal with the issue separately. I actually agree with that view even though I find little else to agree with him on in his recent appointments.

The ninth parliament has taken off where the eight parliament left off when it comes to fleecing Ugandans! You remember the daylight robbery of awarding themselves 20 million each at the end of the parliament ostensibly to ‘monitor government programmes’ soon after granting the president 650 billion to finance his own campaign and just before passing that incompetent ‘kabaka muzzling bill’? Now they want to award themselves all sorts of allowances even before doing any work at all! Sekandi of course already got his share and is busy clutching his kikapu under his armpit all the way to the bank. That he is going to be another muganda catholic toothless Vice President like his predecessor with little real power who is not really in the succession queue is not without doubt!

Am still not too sure whether daddy’s new post is a promotion or a demotion! I dont know how you see it. Its going to be interesting to see how he navigates the minefield that Museveni has set him up with! Trust me I wouldn’t want to be the head of government business with such a cabinet! This post requires a no nonsense man or woman with real power and no skeletons and no apologies for being hard nosed. It requires one who is not interested in appeasing parochial interests or covering their own arse pardon my French! One who is beholden to no one and feels no need to be so. One who has the ear and confidence of the big man and is able to carry out his job without interference or undermining! It used to be said that AM was such a man but I doubt he still is. Longevity and prolonged incumbency my dear have a way of undermining a man. Along the way, one becomes fat and soft. More fearful of change. He or she loses the recklessness of youth and tends to be more careful to ensure their own legacy and retirement benefits. Slowly by slowly they become compromised and make more compromises with the devil. Am afraid that daddy has changed from a ruthlessly efficient bureaucrat which is what this job needs to an ageing politician who has to deal with too many compromises over which he does not have real power or control! This is the job he should have been doing 20 years ago when he didn’t care what people thought of him, didn’t want to be president because the succession question wasn’t relevant then, didn’t want to ensure his legacy and had a lot less to lose! plus then the future was more sure. These days anything could happen and he must think about the safety of his children and grandchildren too in a new Ugandan if the worst were to happen!

How do you guys think you are going to get Ssebagala through the appointments committee? I know those guys are most blind when greed becomes part of the equation but really! Nothing surprises me though anymore I guess. All previous parliaments have all acted as rubber stamps for Museveni’s appointments and have only ever knocked back two appointments for ambassador! So I guess Ugandans need to get used to the fact that Ssebagala is going to be a minister! You really can’t know how much that annoys me! You know for some of us who have for years been going around trying to kick off the association with Idi Amin, it is galling. 30 years after Idi amin, people still ask you where you come from and when you say Uganda -they immediately associate you with Idi amin! Its like some word association game! And you can guess the next question! Did you watch the “Last King of Scotland”, they ask! Like I should have! Hate the movie that panders to more stereotypes and the usual “white messiah crap” here to save poor Africans from themselves! Now we are going to have to go through another traumatised 30 years trying to shake off the association with Nasser -and of course his new master to whom he put the service of “his bottom”!

I know you guys thought that Ssebagala was an asset. But that goes to show just how out of touch you are! By the time he came to the NRM to put his “behind” in front or was it in the back of Museveni, he was finished. The street seyas view him as a traitor -one who sold them out. One who promised and failed to deliver -and ultimately sold them out to the highest bidder. He promised them a better city, more jobs and even promised to send them to Japan to clean toilets for dollars! None of that ever happened -not that it was ever going to. Instead he was lining his pockets including getting a free house from this government. If Seya was really so useful, why didn’t he go down to the streets and speak to the so called “dregs” of the earth and lumpens and stop the riots? Kale Nagenda can kumanyiira! How could he call Ugandan voters and tax payers names? In any other country he would have been forced to resign for his stupid comments!

The irony in all of this is that when Seya was admitted to Uncle Sams jail over in the big apple for re-education -he even waved a certificate earned during his stay there, his gullible American lawyers argued successfully before a judge that he was an asset to the Ugandan opposition fighting for multipartism against the Ugandan dictator Museveni! This is the one time I would hope that Museveni would use his famed duplicity to offer him a ministerial position while at the same time undermining him behind the scenes to ensure he is not approved! I would sure hope that the fallback position as with all other political rejects will not be a posting to Paris or New York as our ambassador that much maligned and misused position filled with failed politicians rather than career foreign service officers!

Then some bright spark came up with old man Kajura? Seriously, kajura should have been retired in the public interest ten years ago. Five years ago it was a surprise he was kept in cabinet. Now its a crime for him to be retained. The man is always sleeping! He is too old, too tired! I know that there is oil in Bunyoro and they have to be placated with some window dressing appointments, but do you really have to insult them with has beens who have been around Uganda’s political scene for as long as a fossil record? While we are on the subject of Bunyoro, did you guys tell them that the “kabaka muzzling bill” was really targeted at the Omukama of Bunyoro? Anyone remember Ken Saro Wiwa? Is it a coincidence that Kaguta now wants unconstitutional laws barring bail for a raft of political and economic crimes? I think it would be in the Kingdom of Bunyoro’s best interests to read up on Ken Saro Wiwa and understand how such laws could easily be misused by a desparate government willing to stay in power at all costs!

Now I know you needed someone with little regard for the rules to pass your new unconstitutional laws but couldn’t you do better than Otafiire? The man is crude and arrogant. Worse still he has had a number of problems in the past that put him in very low standing for such a portfolio. He pulled a gun on an unarmed woman, was involved in a scandal involving coltan or was it copper rivets and timber? He has been known to beat up the offending journalist who attempted to cover him while misbehaving under the influence! But what should really be of note to the women of this country, at least the ones who are not just posturing as feminists, is the fact that he was dragged before the human rights tribunal for being a dead beat dad! And even then he was defiant and contemptuous of the court! Now that makes him a good hatchet man for Museveni but that’s not good for the country! Quite frankly I dont see why Makubuya would be replaced by Otafiire!

Now Kategaya -what can I say? Aren’t people allowed to retire and just draw a pension? Ditto Moses Ali! Am glad to see that Namirembe Bitamazire was retired and so was Kivedhinda! Can you believe that Namirembe was my mothers teacher!!! That makes her practically old enough to be my grandmother! I even have trouble getting my head around that.

Seriously this stupidity of regional balancing and placating former fighters is something we should leave behind. Its 25 years -whatever you guys believe we owe you, we have paid many times over. In any case those who paid the ultimate sacrifice are the real heroes and they have never been paid. You don’t even remember their names! Where is Uganda’s wall of heroes who have died in the service of their country? By refusing to retire, you lay yourself open to blackmail. You cannot insist on staying in power while laying off everyone else! Any wonder that no one gets charged and convicted for corruption! I read the names of the people who paid Jim Muhwezi’s bail when he was in Luzira -explains why that case died as they say in Ugandan parlance! How do you go after the small fish when you cannot do anything about the big fish? But then how can an illegitimate government prevent itself from getting blackmailed for Museveni is being blackmailed! Why esle does your daddy have to put up with such a large cabinet, larger than the one before which was definitely already bloated.

I have been avoiding reading the new cabinet line up but I finally had to look. Had to take a lot of deep breaths to psyche myself up for what I knew was going to be a great disappointment! And what a disappointment it is! The other day I suggested a very good exit plan for the son of kaguta but you guys never listen to good advice! In my note I proposed as below ;

• -Avoid duplication like defence and Security
• -Get rid of state ministers and emphasize technocrats in PS positions while demphasizing political appointees.
• -Give the Deputy PRIME MINISTERS SOME REAL jobs or scrap the positions.
• -Get rid of useless ministries like Ethics, Presidency, Karamoja, Bunyoro, Kampala and demote them to departments within local government or other relevant ministry.
• -Combinie affiliated ministries like Petroleum and Energy
• -As a matter of fact if Museveni really wanted to get support for his fifth term, he would announce that this is his last term, take charge of reintroducing a bill to parliament to reinstate term limits while writing himself out of any future elections.
• -Announce smaller government emphasizing efficiency rather than political expedience. The above would give him the political capital and support needed to stand upto disgruntled members of the NRM.
• -Reform the NRM internally, retire old hats, appoint younger dynamic less sycophantic members.
• -emphasize skills training for future leaders and here am not talking about the secret cadres mainly from one part of the country who have been the beneficiaries of under the bed presidential scholarships on the basis of unclear criteria.

https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150194053467681

Today I found that I had written an almost identical post following the reshuffle in 2009 when afande Saleh was dropped. https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150205731177681 . Come to think of it, I wonder what happened to Salim Saleh. I hear that theres something going down! What with former military officers who are supposed to be in South Africa turning up at their homes in Uganda dead as doornails and the presidents brother failing to turn up for his brothers moment of triumph and laying low for weeks afterward!

Kabakumba bounced back!!! I guess it must be payment for all of that for that deplorable performance she put up in defence of the indefensible! Janet, and Amelia in the same cabinet now I reserve my comments! Am sure Hope is feeling very slighted. But a posting to Paris should be able to solve that! Isnt that where political rejects get posted? Muruuli Mukasa rewarded for shafting the Buganda government in Buruuli. Malinga, Kuteesa, Nasassira -banange!

Nepotism by any name is still nepotism. Museveni employs his relatives in state business -thats called nepotism! Some of them do business with his government without even bothering to go through any established procedure to ensure the left arm is not doing business with the right arm -thats cronyism and nepotism. Some of his tribesmen are over represented in his government and key positions -thats tribalism. Sometimes one wonders which on of the original ten point programme you guys still believe in!

The only joy in this cabinet is that you sacked that toady Atubo. I guess he is now going to discover he is UPC again! And that other Havard graduate of the invisible helicopter fame, Awori too! Talk about blackmail! So much for new fair weather friends! You know just going through this ministers list gives me a migraine! So many ministers of state! All I can think of is how much all of those sycophants are going to cost the taxpayer -and of course the carbon layer! All that bloated gas they are going to be blowing around! As for Abed Bwanika and mukyala Kamya -hi hi!!!

This cabinet really does nothing for me. It is huge and bloated. It panders to tribalism and religious sectarianism! It is inefficient with lots of duplication of duties and ministries. And it rewards sycophancy rather than merit and efficiency! It’s just going to be a drain on tax payers while its likely to offer nothing in terms of what Ugandans really want to see -services delivery and an end to corruption. Its full of corrupt people with tainted histories as well as dinosaurs past their use by date! Why do we need all of those Ministers of state instead of investing in technocrats and permanent secretaries? Its testimony to the state of patronage in which Museveni has now become hostage to vested interests!

The biggest crime of all is to try and sneak Ssebagala into cabinet! When John McCain presented Sarah Palin as his running mate and she opened her mouth, I knew there and then that his judgement was impaired! Nothing proves how impaired Museveni’s judgement is more than the appointment of Ssebagala as well as his failure to recognise that people really need to see change they can believe in and if he does not give it to them, they will push him aside, violently if necessary and get someone who will!

While I think I can get past Temangalo there are quite a few appointments in this new cabinet that qualify for crimes against citizens of Uganda. After seeing the cabinet that your daddy is going to be presiding over, I kind of pity him! For there is no doubt that he has been set up by Museveni! Am waiting to see how he extricates himself and how much honour he will have left when he is through!

The pity is that after that display and scramble for allowances in parliament, there is nothing to stop these people from continuing to rape this country! Even all of the opposition MP’s all have their eye on numero uno, their stomach! Our parliament is a rubber stamp for the executive rather than a check and balance on the excesses of the executive!

Lastly, I know that in your last letter you feigned ignorance of the true meaning of kintu. A friend sent me an inbox after reading your letter. I will post his response verbatim.

“Nina, your definition of “kintu” is just that – yours. Frankly, I have never heard anyone equate “kintu” to Uganda. This is the first time. I am left to wonder whether you were in denial about your privileged position or whether you were being deliberately naive.

Regardless, to most folks, being in “kintu” means being “in things”. It means “eating”. It means being at the dinner table, feasting, while the overwhelming majority are expected to be content with the morsels that are thrown their way. The “kintu” is NOT Uganda, rather, it’s IN Uganda. It’s the bottomless honey pot in which those with the right connections (sometimes tribal and familial) get to dip their paws in.

Most Ugandans do not consider themselves to be in that group, whether you want to believe it or not. Matter of fact, they’d probably laugh at you or even be a little peeved and insulted for even suggesting that they are in the “kintu”.

Maybe the Honorable Amama Mbabazi would hope that all those who voted for the party for which he is the Secretary General, fell into things. I can tell you that my parents, who voted for President Museveni, would tell you that they are not in the “kintu”. Or better yet, my old grandmother who lives in a little village called Budhatemwa in Kamuli District, a place that seems to be forever stuck in time. She will tell you she’s very, much in Uganda, but she’s definitely not “in things’. So would all my jigger-infested people in other parts of Busoga.

Let’s not kid or delude ourselves, and please spare us the niceties. Whereas there are people without ‘connections’ who have worked hard and thrived over the course of the last quarter-century, there are many more who have gamed the system and benefited by virtue of their proximity to the centers of power within the NRM government. Abo nyabo, be bali mu kintu. Those are the folks who are in things.

Actually some of them would have done just fine without the extra help of being well-connected, but it doesn’t hurt that they are well-connected within the “kintu”. I certainly believe that the Hon. Amama Mbabazi (who is smirk in the middle of the “kintu”) and who by all accounts is a fine, decent man, would have done just fine by himself and his family without his position of power and influence. He may even make a fine president. But being in ‘things’ gives you guys more leverage to get things done your way.

So, once again, being in Uganda is not synonymous with being in the “kintu””

P.S: If the Museveni of 1980 had been presented with this new cabinet, he would have had all of them lined up against a wall and shot! So much for a revolution! Museveni was just a change of guards!

Poking a beehive -to see what comes out!

Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 7:46pm

http://www.facebook.com/muhiire.nathan/posts/10150159027961259?ref=notif¬if_t=like

He he.

Nathan, you want something from Nina? This looks like poking a stick down a hole in an ant hill to see what comes out! In politics, no comment maybe your answer. I notice that Nina very quickly withdrew herself from making comment! I personally would be interested in Nina’s comments, so I am going to be provocative.

There is no doubt that Nina has put herself out there. She reminds me of a few other women on Uganda’s political scene -Byanyima, Anne Mugisha. Both of them incidentally jumped out of the NRM.

Winnie Byanyima went quiet probably because as a UN employee, she is constrained in her ability to make political statements on domestic politics. Anne Mugisha soon found out that politics is very much still a mans world and the boys don’t take too kindly to girls who are too ambitious!

Before Byanyima jumped from the NRM, she went through a period where it was difficult to know whether she was coming or going! She did however contribute to some of the most exciting days in parliament! Things are more staid and boring theses days with no ministers being censored since she left!!! Between her and Basoga Nsadhu -before he was emasculated with an eating position in cabinet, corruption seemed to be on the agenda in parliament. These days the honourables just ask the party SG which way to vote, sleep through the debates and wake up to vote and collect their allowances and bribes!

Sleepy MP’s

Byanyima went through a similar thing to what Nina appears to be going through right now -breaking ranks and sharing bread with other people across the divide when they say the emperor has no cloths and his buttocks are peeping! But being conflicted, she also takes the time to assert that she is NRM, through and through!

Anne Mugisha landed in Kampala 5 months before the elections. Prior to landing, she sung the official FDC anthem and disagreed vehemently with any comments that appeared to suggest that FDC had internal problems and was as yet not quite ready for prime time! Since landing and being faced with internal intrigue, am sure she now understands the realities of being on the ground better. I disagreed with her on a few things which she must have interpreted as me attacking the FDC, but she was gracious enough to inbox me and say she liked what I was saying and hoped I would continue writing! Am sure she agrees more with my comments now that she has spent some time on the ground.

There is no doubt that Nina is building her own constituency, “consulting” “branding” herself and projecting her persona. The question remains to be answered -is she her own woman? Or is she daddy’s girl? Or is she Museveni’s girl? Only Nina will be able to answer this question!

Buddha only became his own person (and a saint) when he stepped out of his confort zone in the palace gardens and walked with real people. Jesus had to come all the way down to earth from heaven -to connect with real people! Moses had to mix with slaves and commit a crime, before he could become one of the Jews -and their leader.

Is this thing that Nina is doing about Nina, about daddy, or about party and president? Nina is going to have to be clear on where she stands before she can be trusted. She will need to decide whether she wants to stand with the people of Uganda or whether she wishes to stand for the vested interests of individuals in the ruling party including her own father as well as Museveni and his family.

Is Nina satisfied with being a priviledged girl brought up in the movement addressing all of the most powerful party figures as aunty and uncle, using the influence of daddy to launch her own career, or will she step outside the rarefied atmosphere of being an NRM young Turk brought up in the party and headed for big things i.e take some risks?

Will she be able to resist and head off other powerful interests within the party that are hell bent on leading us to self destruction -including dynastic rule? Or will she like Otunnu end up dissappointing the followers who will have put all of their faith in her?

The NRM is headed for deep waters. Only those who love the party and are strong enough to do the needful will be able to save it. This includes standing up to president Museveni and telling him where to get off -Kisozi or Rwakitura (Kigali, Jo’burg or Jeddah are other options if he is uncooperative but why should it come to that)?

Me I have added her to my list of people to watch -as they soar or crash!

Footsoldiers questioning their seniors

Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 11:36pm

http://www.facebook.com/notes/mugerwa-james/nina-mbabazi-officially-against-nrmmuseveni-the-oppositions-big-fish-or-should-i/216921605001221

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=206299396070011

Classified military expenditure has always been a trojan horse for channeling funds to intelligence organs.

The war against terror is one such beast that many intelligence organs around the world have used to appropriate and sometimes misappropriate funds from their governments and justify their huge budgets.

In Uganda, the word terrorist is so misused by intelligence organs as to almost lose meaning. It is such a catch all phrase it raises the question of whether the security organs really are being honest or whether they are lying. It also raises the question of whom they are lying to their boss Museveni or the general public. Either way it comes down to funding. By fighting some nebulous organisation representing some unquantified threat, they can request unlimited funds with very little accountability since everything is swept under the convenient umbrella of security.

The question of whether the attack on Kampala was staged by Kampala’s security organs was already discussed and dealt with. Am one of those who disagreed with conspiracy theorists who blamed the government for staging an attack that killed so many Ugandans.

It does not invalidate the assertion atttributed to Nina if correct that the recent claim that Al Shabaab planned to attack Kampala over Easter maybe false. Everyone knows that Uganda’s security services are overated that some people making assessments of threat are not too bright and exagerate them. This is no more demonstrated by the recent assessment of threat posed by walkers claiming they were planning to topple the government thus justifying the heavy handed approach that has resulted in embarrassing the government. One wonders who has hurt the government more Nina who raises the probability that there maybe incompetent or self serving individuals within the services providinbg wrong intel for profit or those services that provided wrong intel resulting in the government paining themselves into a corner and embarrassing their boss.

Is it inconceivable that the security agencies have over called the threat in order to justify their funding? Is there not precedent in the war on the LRA in the north which dragged on for more than two decades primarily because it became a cash cow for individuals within the army who were benefitting financially?Museveni himself states his opinion of the assessments by his own security organisations.

“I always read this rubbish in the intelligence reports – that Besigye is planning this, Besigye is planning that. He is planning nothing, nothing, bure, bure bure (Kiswahili word for nothing). It is not possible, there is idiocy. “http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1150334/-/c27ffmz/-/index.html

The very same question has been asked of western security organisations regarding their assessment of the threat level posed by Al Quaeda. In Uganda, our Al Quaeda is Al Shabaab. While Al Shabaab has demonstrated its reach by once bombing Kampala and while it is conceivable that they would want to bomb Kampala during the festive season, isn’t it more likely that the government would like to divert attention from the walkers. It would also allow it to justify its heavy handed approach to walkers. It has already done so by labelling them terrorists and treating them as such and deploying troops on the streets against civilians. They also use the excuse of terrorism to explain their abuse of their own citizens to their allies in western governments. This apparently justifies all sorts of evils where anything goes including torture and murder.

One has got to question what Mugerwa’s interest in all of this is. To all intents and purposes, he is just a foot soldier while Nina is a party cadre well known personally to the greatest in the land. For all he knows, Nina is on a mission sanctioned by the greatest man in the land or the second greatest her father. He, a foot soldier is essentially questioning the wisdom of his bosses a sin punishable by things worse than death.

It does raise the question again as to who Mugerwa is. He has tried very hard to hide his identity. He claims to be a lawyer but acts like a state agent. His posts are sometimes coherent and support his claim to being a lawyer while at other times, they are incoherent and disjointed suggesting either an inconsistent individual or more than two or three people. The fact that he admits to using drugs and medications in a pattern that may suggest prescription drug abuse may explain the various persona though posts by more than one person using the same name maybe the other explanation.

It is common knowledge that the NRM has little internal democracy and does not tolerate individual thought. Is it possible then that Nina is immune to this party policy? Do her family ties inure her to attack from her fathers and his bosses minions? Or is she working for the party by giving the semblance of internal democracy. How does one inteprete this apparent liberalism that is unexpected and unprecedented in the years of the party?

But is Mugerwa free of all personal interest in challenging Nina? Is he acting for himself or is he acting as an agent for others? Is he an overzealous minion hoping to get noticed? It is obvious by now that Mugerwa is some sort of intelligence agent probably military intelligence. Is he still active or is he a deserter trying to get back into the fold thus the overzealousness? Whenever the question is asked as to his name, rank and number, Mugerwa disappears or claims persecution. Who does Mugerwa work for and why does he think that he a minion has the right to question a princess of the party?

Les vainqueurs prennent immédiatement les vices des vaincus

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 8:57pm

[https://www.facebook.com/rachel.mbabazi,

Les vainqueurs prennent immédiatement les vices des vaincus

I agree,

Familiarity breeds contempt. though this goes well beyond familiarity.

The truth remains that there are major gaps in service delivery but not only that definite stagnation and manytimes retrogression!

Economic growth that does not translate into meaningful changes that people can identify with is just figures in glossy brochures shared over capucchinos and fancy wines in air conditioned conference rooms in fancy hotels owned by the authors of the same reports!

Term limits need to be returned. Ugandans will trust a president who they know will have to retire in a few years but will not trust one who keeps moving the goal posts every five years.

In 1986, he claimed he did not want to be president -but the political wing had appointed him for five years. Ugandans gave him a blank cheque. After five years, he said, there would be elections.

Five years later, he moved the goal posts -Ugandans needed time to draft a new constitution. Again Ugandans understood -after all we have a very nasty history. No man should be expected to do everything in just one term! So his term was extended to 10 years.

In 1996, under the new constitution, he stood for “the first of a possible 2 terms”. The new constitution needed to be test driven and who better to do so than Museveni! And you know there was the small matter of pacifying the north -which of course no one else could do as no one else owned an army and Generals! You see Semogerere was just a civilian!

In 2001, the man ‘deserved’ a second term -and you know that war still had to be fought. And there were other wars to fight in Congo and such places with Timber, coltan, Gold and diamonds. You see the diamonds needed to be liberated! Plus there was some annoying jumped up colonel who needed to be put in his place! After taking the bosses spare woman, he imagined he could now replace him in state house! The weak doctor who ‘never fought’ in the bush dared to suggest that the movement had lost its way and the emperor was naked!

In 2006, the constitution that Ugandans had spent so much time drafting and passing was defiled by the same man who had once said that the problem of Africa was leaders who did not want to leave power. He kept reminding Ugandans that he came to fight dictatorship and life presidents! the irony is that the man had become that which he claimed he had spent most of his adult life fighting! For good measure after bribing the ‘paesants in suits’ that pass for legislators in the talk shop otherwise called parliament to scrap term limits, he even wasted more of our money on a referendum that was so poorly attended its results should be struck off the record. Apparently many Ugandans didn’t see the point and I dont either. The limits had already been scrapped anyway and the question of transitioning to multipartioes should never have been asked because Ugandans always assumed and had been promised that the movement system was transitional and no permanent!

A few other things were thrown in in random order -professionalising the army, getting rid of kony, UPE bonna basiluwaale, microfinance -bonna baavuwaale, USE -bonna basiluwaalile ddaala ddaala and ‘due to popular demand’. Finally he threw aside all pretence and went for the tired and rather insulting line of ‘he being the only one with a vision’ and no one else can govern Uganda’ and only he can ‘look after the newly found oil’ read preside over its theft if one were to go by the record of theft of public entreprises in the last 25 years!

Am sure you now get the point -the man doesn’t and in retrospect never ever had any intention of stepping down or handing over power! Now he will only hand over to the ‘right people’ presumably his son! I lose track of the reasons that Museveni now uses to keep himself in power! The cynics even suggest that he staged the ‘Al Shabab bombings” in order to keep himself relevant through fear in the locals and vested interests of the US which has no problem supporting dictator if it keeps war away from their shores! I disagreed on the Kampala bombings being the work of Museveni https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=424513927680 just like I do on his troops being in Libya https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150103956052681&id=620617398

It is ironical that “Les vainqueurs prennent immédiatement les vices des vaincus. (Victors immediately take on the vices of the vanquished)” Jean Barois. Museveni has taken on the vices of the people he vanquished. From being considered to be part of a ‘new breed of rulers in Africa”, it is not uncommon for him to be referred to as a dictator, a despot, a tyrant and even a murderer. This last one I always had trouble accepting until the killing of 30 or more Ugandans during the so called Buganda riots last year! if there was ever any doubt in my mind that Museveni had no problem with killing Ugandans in order to keep himself in power if they disagreed with him, they were dispelled. i have no doubt that had Ugandans gone to the streets, we would be making bigger headlines than Libya. Unfortunately the blood of innocents will always be avenged. the more innocents die, the more likely it is that the man who ordered their deaths will himself suffer a similar fate!

Is Uganda ready for another people’s revolution -my answer is yes. Is it going to happen now -maybe. Is this election going to be the trigger -no. Is it possible that something else could be the trigger -yes. Is facebook going to be the catalyst -probably though this was already started by FM stations which is why Nambooze and CBS became public enemy number one! With FM stations and so called ‘bimeeza’ the government did not control the flow of information -the the media centre and the crackdown on CBS and control of the content of FM stations! Of course the official reason is different -mbu inciting genocide! The ubiquity of cheap mobile phones, mobile broadband internet and FB and twitter on phones will be a possible catalyst.

Should what i previously called the ‘iphone generation’ now called the FB generation https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=433157782680play a role in this debate -the answer is yes. Do they have the power to bring down the government -probably not but they do have a right to participate and many actually have useful opinions and skills honed by exposure!

So if I were in the NRM, I would grow eyes in the back of my head! And I would not trust those hungry soldiers to protect me against the angry masses when they come banging on the door! I would concentrate on fixing the problem before it is too late and whether you like it or not, Museveni is a part of the problem if not the problem!

All members of the NRM should be saying to Museveni “No extension, no resetting the clock, no inheritance” if they want their party to survive into the future! This video of an eight year old Egyptian girl should also be required viewing for all those in the movement. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EnxQ5FJozE

The teachers of this country are very angry!

September 6, 2011 at 11:42pm 路

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10150358357086259&id=712431258卢if_t=feed_comment_reply

I agree Nina Mbabazi.

Salary increases shouldnt be for a specific group at the exclusion of everyone else. That would be logical to everyone except of course the NRM.

More than 20 years ago, the starting salary of a junior lawyer in the MoJ was a million shillings. Museveni later claimed that this was because of “misinformation” he received presumably from the late Abu Mayanja who was then Attorney General and Minister of Justice.

Asked at the time why he did not increase the pay for Medical Consultants, his response was that doctors were unproductive and that he would pay doctors a living wage when they became “productive” whatever that means! 25 years later a doctor with 15 years post graduate experience is lucky to make a million shillings!

When URA was started, it was rumoured that some people went to their villages and collected all of their boys and girls for jobs. the salary of many high school drop outs in URA top those of a doctor and that of Kagina would make many well paid professionals in the diaspora drool as they wouldn’t even have to leave home! Doctors are still waiting for the promised living wage!

Teachers are even worse paid albeit their numbers are significantly more than doctors and they are easier and cheaper to train and replace. At 200,000 a month, the 20 million shilling bribe paid to MP’s to pass the Kabaka muzzling bill can pay 100 of them for a month or one of them for 8 years! and four months.

As for those ba sirukale in uniform, his government has treated them like basiru ddala ddala! The 160,000 they earn before PAYE, was given in lumpsum to each MP for the equivalent of 12 years and 5 months salary. For that they are required to abuse their fellow citizens so as to keep those who are exploiting them in power!

Now when we start adding up people who are allowed to chose their own salaries of 43 million, others making tens of millions each month, MP’s and ministers with perks costing billions, LC’s at all levels, RDC’s, presidential advisors and all manner of political appointees who Tamale has clearly stated were given jobs as welfare just so they could get a share of the gravy train the rest of Ugandans are locked out of, the billions and trillions wasted on fanciful re elections and expensive toys as well as the billions wasted in corruption with the most high profile cases in the last few years being GAVI, NSSF/Temangalo, CHOGM, Greenland Bank/UCB, AGOA, various public properties and companies sold to well connected politicians and individuals, you have a right mess!

Couple that with the fact that nothing appear s to work. Umeme is a disappointment, roads are crap and expensive to build, mortgages are expensive, people are jobless, and you are really in trouble with a really angry population. Spray them with coloured water and teargas as well as bullets and you have a revolution waiting to happen!

This government has never had a coherent policy on the provision of services including providing a living wage to workers such as teachers.

And all of these nice arguments are not going to make sense to them as they have 25 years of proof that you really do not care about them!

So its teachers today but wait till the others all join in! Tell daddy that ordering angry hungry people around really pisses them off and is likely to backfire! Much better to talk to them!

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Letters to Nina, Nina

Too little too late -government by crisis

Tuesday, September 6, 2011 at 10:04pm 路

Nina Mbabazi says,

Teachers! Should government increase salary by 100% now which is equal to 1 trillion? Doctors, Civil Servants, Police are also threatening strike so we hear. If the army joins them, that will mean 4 trillion. Budget was 9.8 trillion. MPs cut 60 bn in wasteful expenditure and fail to cut more. What can be done without collapsing the economy? Or must it collapse before being rebuilt?

Its all a question of timing. The government missed the boat! They are going to have to negotiate with a very hostile and fed up workforce!

THe government has missed the boat! For 25 years it was obvious that teachers (as well as many other key professionals) were under remunerated!

But like with everything else in this country, public polic is made up on the run!

This day was due to come at some point. Teachers were never going to wait forever. In the 80鈥瞫 when Museveni told Ugandans that everyone had to tighten their belts, people listened.

But now everyone knows that belt tightening was just for the rest of us. Not the Museveni’s, not for the Mbabazi’s or Kutesa’s or Muhwezi’s! In partnership with cronies like the Basajjabalaba’s and various others large sums of taxpayer money finds its way into private pockets.

This government can no longer convince people that they should tighten their belts while waiting for the economy to get better! At this rate they will wait till the afterlife!

Of course there are good reasons to tighten fiscal policy including freezing wages, increasing interest rates and reducing the amount of cash in circulation. Which of course is going to cause a riot among increasingly frustrated and angry workers!

The obvious consumption an fiscal indiscipline of this government and its cronies does not mark them as partners with workers. money in the billions thrown at an election to ensure the re election of a tired old man who has run out of ideas and should be stepping down and handing over the baton to another person. Trillions wasted on fighter jets to keep up with the joneses. Billions wasted on a top heavy political leadership with no dscernible value added. Billions spent on bribes to legislators to pass stupid laws that Ugandans do not need like muzzling the Kabaka all because of the ego of one man!

Prime Minster Mbabazi may not realise this but if he takes on the long suffering workers of this country at this point in time instead of dialoguing with them, it is going to be his waterloo -just like Kayihura met his!

Defending my sweetheart!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 9:54pm 路

A4C does not cease to amaze!

A few weeks ago there was an attack on the 3 admins of A4C in what appeared to be a coordinated “decapitation attack” that ould only have been meant to paralyse A4C!

Interestingly it came from what at first sight would appear to be friendly quarters! the author of that attack has since lost credibility and his allegiance in this fight is now questionable!

I periodically write pieces that make a point at Nina’s expense. Those pieces have become very popular! By mixing fact and satire, a message can be conveyed. it is now common knowledge that Nina is my sweetheart! So today I will do what seethearts do -defend their loved ones!

This late attack on my sweetheart is what can be called below the belt. it relies on speculation, rumour and innuendo and possibly falsehood packaged and presented as “news”! Truthful news at that! It was published on a blog that passes itself off as a news blog http://256news.com/?p=1701 Interestingly the style is in the “scoop” style associated with the author of the recent attacks on A4C!

Unfortunately while the style of this story would do a tabloid proud, it is not particularly useful on A4C and neither is it really informative! I personally do not believe that I come away with any knowledge as to why Nina “attacks”, I would say criticises the government her father serves!

Quite frankly, I do not consider it newsworthy that Nina has got marital problems as alleged. To say the truth, it is to put it mildly insulting to expect readers to believe that Nina criticises the government of which her father is the leader of government business because she is unhappy with her marriage!!! As for the attempts at using the first lady to explain all sorts of intrigue, puhlease, with all due respect, the woman has never been that influential!

This attack is based on the fallacy of “Abusive ad hominem” (also called personal abuse or personal attacks). According to Wikipedia, this “usually involves insulting or belittling one’s opponent in order to attack his claim or invalidate his argument, but can also involve pointing out factual but apparent character flaws or actions that are irrelevant to the opponent’s argument. This tactic is logically fallacious because insults and negative facts about the opponent’s personal character have nothing to do with the logical merits of the opponent’s arguments or assertions.”

The author of this piece of trash would have us believe that certain failings in Nina’s personal life are relevant to understanding why she criticises the government without in anyway informing us whether Nina’s arguments are factual or logical!

By reducing Nina’s motivation to a personal attack on the government for personal revenge, the author is implying that Nina Mbabazi, does not have a good or logical arguments against this government! He does not invite us to examine Nina’s arguments or criticism! Instead he invites us to examine her bedroom and look under her bed like that is relevant!

This post should be deleted from A4C. If A4C is happy to host such posts, then they should have no problem with posts about Anne Mugisha ‘s, Charles Makmots or Mary Kelly’s private life which quite frankly are not relevant to their crriticism of the NRM! Just like the intrusion into Charles life was resisted by A4C members, this intrusion in Nina’s offline life using the A4C wall should be resisted!

We all grew up under the NRM and many of us have conflicted relationships with it. Many come from homes where the parents may have supported or still support the NRM. It is even harder for the children of core insiders to come out and criticise the system their parents created and serve. I would however like to believe that they too find the dust, the chaos, the corruption, the darkness of Kampala as irksome as I do even though their dads and mums may preside over it! Actually it may explain why many children of NRM bigwigs do not reside in Uganda and are residents of other nations!

It takes a very brave person to criticise the system under which they grew up particularly when they happen to be insiders of and direct beneficiaries of that system like Nina is! Of course Nina could be playing a game, but the author of this article really has not proven that! In the meantime, let Nina’s words be allowed to stand for themselves. Of course if she is being cynical, she will ultimately pay the price!

P.S: Facebook needs a dislike button!

Letter to Nina -who exactly is running state house right now?

Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 12:17am 路

Nina dearest,

I think that we are living in the end times! Ii told you that your daddy was set up and a number of reports today have bolstered that opinion! How does your daddy manage to work with so many idiots with over inflated egos?

To begin with Tamale Mirundi started off with an interview that quite frankly he should be sacked for! I will not repeat my thoughts about it except to direct you to them! Mbu increasing sugar prices mean Ugandans can afford sugar! What sort of economics is that?

What is with boasting about shooting people dead? Banange amaalo! You know there was a one Odoi and Opondo, both in Presidents office who shot people too and never saw so much as an inquest! And they were both mouthing off at the time for the man in the hat! Can we assume that the man in the hat condones this violence?

The man admitted he was employed by President Museveni for welfare purposes so he could pay school fees. Nagenda already informed us that he was struggling prior to that and had to borrow money to pay his sons fees at uni but did not pay back! Tamale too admits that the former VP Bukenya was donating 1 million shillings to him per month because he was broke! No wonder the man changes his tune the way Baganda say, “yakyukira mukitti nge embazzi”!!! Am told he used to sing a totally different story before his good fortune -a tune decidedly anti Museveni before he started brown nosing him and becoming more Jewish than the Jews!

Then that other man who once tried to bring down the government Kayihura also joined in! Quite frankly whatever stuff he is smoking this time is more potent than whatever he was smoking the last time he ordered his troops to beat up on and kill unarmed Ugandans protesting against the government! Do you people think you can still afford Kayihura? Not even Tamale’s bong can beat this new drug!

The announcements these men make are so childish, its not funny especially considering that they will use them to harrass, arrest and kill people! Mbu A4C is a terrorist organisation training terrorists in Afghanistan! It must be the Americans training them then as they are in charge of that country! Kyokka Kale!!! Not even the malwa boys down in Kisenyi could make this stuff up after downing a whole pot!

This foot and mouth disease that your men are afflicted with will surely bring your government down! Some adolescent over in the media centre is also at it! It must be because the president is away!

The most embarrassing press release aka presidential order has just been let loose on the unsuspecting public! You may believe that I am making this up but it really is for real! To say that it was drafted and written by an adolescent would be an insult to adolescents! I know for certain when I was an adolescent I could never have written anything so embarrassing! That it is issued in the name of the president to me suggests that someone should hang! How dare they bring this country and the office of the president into disrepute?

You my wish to know that in this presidential order, your father is issued orders to bar politicians from being sold sugar by the “NRM” companies! You know it is kind of an oxymoron to talk about NRM companies doing anything in the publics best interests! You am sure have heard about Danze entreprises that NRM company that evaded taxes worth hundreds of billions but still managed to go broke? How about NEC that took over several parastatals years ago? Or better still have you heard about this scam where NRM businessmen are granted licences to operate markets them sacked and rewarded with hundreds of billions from the public coffers -no work done? One man has received more “compensation” for no work done than the money they plan to spend on Mulago hospital 203 billion!

I am sure that some NRM businessmen are already being lined up to sell the public air mbu they will build two hospitals in Kawempe and Makindye by next year to take up the overflow from Mulago which is going to be closed! He he, kanesekere kko muzukulu wa Gabunga! Anyone who knows anything about your government knows that they would be lucky to construct a kiosk and complete it by next year without running into budget overuns, maldesigns, numerous delays etc let alone a hospital! I can bet you any amount you like that those hospitals will not be finished in time! Now while we are talking about hospitals whats with stealing Entebbe hospital from the public?

Now where were we? Ooh! We were talking about your daddy dear being ordered around not even in person but over the internet! The language used and the large case throughout reminds one of troops being shouted at during a military parade! Now using all capitals in a presidential release or order is a no no! Even I knew that as a preteen! Writing in all capitals is the equivalent of shouting! Oh how we are embarrassed by ill bred and ill educated fools everyday given more power than their little brains can cope with!

Mbu your daddy, if the Vice President and Minister of Trade are not at their stations yet as in if the Vice president oversleeps, then your daddy should take over and follow the orders given from Mumbai drafted by an adolescent in the mediacentre!

If I were your daddy, I would sack whoever released that ‘presidential order’ before the president returns to Kampala!

Before I go, hear the president is having his prostate checked out in India! Isnt’t that what 67 year old men do when they go for medical? Why has a two day “private” visit become a week long visit and counting? Is that why he is not going to attend the CHOGM meeting in Perth? Or was he afraid of the pickets and the embarrassment of being called a dictator? You know these events attract all sorts of dissidents! I wouldn’t be surprised if some A4C terrorists were there too!

Kati wamma gwe banno katubaveeko! I need to join the army naye, I need a fast track to those major/colonel/Brigadier ranks being given out like the world is going to end!

May I ask why Nalweyiso is still in the army? Shouldn’t she have been promoted and retired with full honours for historical reasons as should all of the Bush War Bahima Generals? May I ask why their children are also now becoming Brigadiers while the rest of the country is being left out?

Naye kambuuzeko! Why is it that all of the Generals speak the same language? Surely these 35 year old Brigadiers didn’t also fight in the bush! You guys are confusing us and stealing from us while our eyes are open! Is this a Banyankore kweterana army or a Ugandan army or is one not allowed to ask such things?

When is Museveni going to actually build a national army that actually looks like a national army and not a tribal one? http://www.ugandacorrespondent.com/articles/2011/09/the-%E2%80%98ethnic-army%E2%80%99-keeping-museveni-in-power-2/

Could this perchance be Muhoozi’s army?

Does anyone listen to FB debates?

Monday, September 19, 2011 at 8:03pm 路

Johnson Karengye Mujungu says, “wondering what becomes of some of the rather very serious conversations that frequently take place on facebook. is facebook only an intellectual/emotional therapy of sorts?”

https://www.facebook.com/jmujungu/posts/10150322771489198?cmntid=10150322803429198

Johnson Karengye Mujungu, thanks.

I think it is true that a lot of the time, FB is used for venting.

But its also true that facebook reflects what a section of Ugandans insidie and outside the country are thinking which is very different from the official line fed to the media by the government.

Quite frankly if there is someone in government who is responsive to the mood of the people, they should be paying attention to FB. Its a great resource for government research and policy development. One can formulate which questions to ask and which areas to pay attention to by following the main topics on FB.

There is no doubt that politics, tribalism, corruption, and poor delivery of services are hot topics to be ignored by the government at their own peril. There is also no doubt that patience with foreign companies that fleece Ugandans is wearing thin -Umeme, Tullow, Mehta. Impunity and government brutality are also questioned as have the powers of the presidency.

The benefits of privatisation have been queried as is the myth of economic growth! Term limits and a redundant and overpaid political administration are being queried.

Opposition parties have not been given a free ride too and many of them have been found as wanting as the government they wish to replace.

Overall Ugandans seem to be formulating the questions they wish to see answered by the government but it appears to continue floundering making mistake after mistake!

The shine wore off the NRM a long time ago! Museveni and the NRM were and have been demystified by FB.

TAlk about open source politics!

I know for a fact that many of these talks continue behind the scenes. I personally write more off line (inbox) than I do online if you think at all that thats possible. And I know that some of the stuff I write has been read in some of the highest offices in the land -NOT with joy! But some of the feedback i have had suggests they do understand that they ignore what we write here at their own peril. I know that some facebook discussions have been incorporated into government policy and decision making and that they have had to check the sources of some of their own figures.

Many government apologists faced with real facts and opinions from real people have had to retreat from FB save for those with really tiny brains who cannot see when they are making fools of themselves!

The glossy figures on economic growth fall flat in the face of evidence of widesprea poverty. Either someone is making up the figures or the distribution of wealth is poor and the so called economic growth is not trickling down or improving peoples lives.

The same can be said of health! All I need to do to shut up any government functionary on health is to ask them to visit a ward in Mulago or their local health centre and report back! Only Nina Mbabazi ever took up the challenge and when she came back from Kabale hospital, she was singing my tune as was yellow girl Alice!!! Most of the others faced with the same challenge disappeared or changed their names.

SO no I do not think that everything we say just gets lost in the ether. Self interest is an interesting thing and a powerful motivator. FB is free research for the government and unless they employ analysts, researchers and policy makers instead of spies in responding to the real issues raised in FB debates, they will end up like Gbabo, Mubarak, Ben Ali and Gaddafi -of that I am very sure!

Bwindi hospital -why are strangers doing our governments job?

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 10:07pm 路

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10150365667046259&id=712431258卢if_t=feed_comment_reply

@deo mugema, Nina understood my question and answered part of it! I am satisfied with the part she responded to.

The distribution of foreign funded projects in this country can and is sometimes influenced by powerful people in government leading to a skewed access to projects and services. I already knew who the MP for Kinkizi was and Nina knows that this question is derived from another previous discussion about the receipt of scholarships from foreign governments as “gifts” by members of government and their close family members who then distribute them to their relatives and constitutencies. there are laws in the leadership code as well as the civil service code of conduct against that sort of behaviour.

You on the other hand appear to be completely lost! Pray elaborate on the “dangerously close to insanity!” Or better still do not bother!

The Batwa people are not just a tourist curiosity. They are citizens of this country. And like other citizens of this country are entitled to social services from their government including health services. That it took a couple of strangers in the country to see gorillas -and pygmies to recognise their actually well documented plight and actually do something about it while our government are neglecting them should be a cause for shame for all of us.

We should no doubt commend the Kellermans but we should also condemn our government which has divested itself of all of its responsibilities and passed them off to the private sector and private individuals while they indulge themselves!Certainly if individuals can do this, our government should be able to do better!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bwindi-Community-Hospital/133285766709569

Nina, Ssegawa is so off point and is selfish, arrogant, lacks empathy and sensitivity to teachers!!!

Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 11:05am 路

_Nina Mbabazi says,

“And Mike Ssegawa is so on point. Enjoyed reading this”

PM Mbabazi went out on a limb when he started ordering teachers around. Nina is protecting her father. This row with teachers can easily expand into a countrywide workers rebellion and general strike! We know how those end up. In tear gas and water cannons and even tomahawks and dictators arses being hauled out of holes in the ground! And bottomline is the economy will get worse rather than better!

The attitude of this government to workers and their grievances is that because government has no choice, then they should just shut up and put out!

But the government has not done anything about all of its other problems that have contributed to this crisis. Like the boated government. The bloated parliament. The huge number of useless districts that cannot deliver services but are just a vehicle for delivering government patronage to cronies as are the presidential advisors which according to the government spokesman is just a vehicle for welfare payments to the presidents cronies!

The government needs to put its mouth where its money is and demonstrate to workers that its taking steps to rein in government expenditure and practicing fiscal responsibility!

All of these problems have been caused by this government. Teachers and other workers have been waiting for a living wage while NRM cronies continue living in largesse and running the economy into the ground!

Just imagine what effect 1.7 trillion would have made on the local economy if the government had its priorities right and used it to stimulate the domestic economy instead of buying useless baubles aka fighter jets!

So why should they listen to Mbabazi now when he has nothing tangible to offer demonstrating that the government is going to tighten government expenditure and reallocate government expenditure to responsible areas while trimming on wastage? Sack all RDC’s and duplicate structures at all levels of adminstration, Trim districts and parliament to a quarter their current size, reallocate money for health and agriculture from workshops and perdiems to service delivery, improve service delivery efficiency, reduce taxpayer paid politician travel including the presidents, freeze the purchase of new gas guzzlers to all manner of political hangers on etc etc!!!

Our donors and development partners are also spooked by our governments irresponsibility as well as corruption. it would send out the right signals to all of them if the government could make the above areas a priority. As it is we have an incompetent government that takes workers for granted and is now in a panic hoping that threats and guns and teargas will help them instead of applying their brains and getting the confidence of workers and our development partners!!! This government has dug itself in a hole by ignoring the workers of this country and now the chooks are coming home to roost! time to pack those bags for exile and concede it has been a visionless soujourn!!!

God save Uganda!

P.S: I know this was about Ssegawa’s smartarse article but am afraid its all BS and he is talking out of his backside! He is selfish, arrogant, lacks empathy and is insensitive to teachers and other workers of this country!

The first and only question to be answered is whether teachers earn a living wage. And if the answer is no, then the rest of the arguments which are insulting are moot!

You really need to let Ingrid turinawe go free!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011 at 8:50pm 路

Dear Nina,

I was thinking today about what my grandmother would say about your daddy’s and Uncle Kaguta’s and all you NRM’s predicament! She would probably have said that “Kale mwe eyabalooga yafaa tanaaba!” But a friend suggested that whoever bewitched you guys is still stocking the flames of your downfall and that the more correct expression would be, “eyabaloga tannassa mbugo”!!!

When I read and listen to the news coming out of Pot hole city the capital of Kagutaland everyday, I see people bewitched by their own hubris to believe that they will be in power forever! Unfortunately as recently demonstrated by the Gaddafi clan who are now all dead, captives or fugitives, unless your kingly bloodlines go back to antiquity, new modern day dynasties have lost favour even among the ignorant masses of Africa! You know first the ignorant paesants are convinced that their kings must be Gods -but then they see blood! And realise that kings bleed too! And then they are all clamouring to draw some royal blood!

The curse of prolonged incumbency is catching up with Uncle Kaguta and all of you guys! And like Gaddafi, Mubarak, Ben Ali and Gbabo, you are making mistake after mistake, day after day! Ultimately of course, you will be hightailing it to Kigali and Johanesbourg looking for asylum! I hope you have stocked up on property there! You know these things of being a refugee when you were accustomed to a certain lifestyle paid for by tax payers are not cool! You will have to learn new tricks like balancing a budget, driving tiny little cars, living in a box that passes for a house about the size of your dog kennel, using a washing machine and living without servants!!! Oh, and you will find that people have to work real jobs beating the broom to make ends meet without the advantages of having been born a well connected NRM princess for whom multimillion dollar contracts fall from the sky!

That man commander Kale Kayihura who tried to bring down the NRM government was given another term of office! Didnt I say you guys were bewitched? Doomed and irresistably drawn to your fate like blind mice! the man started a riot almost bringing the city and the government down! He should be cooling his heels in Luzira! Instead, you put him back in charge and see what he is doing! The other day he was shooting people in Luwero! He has littered the city with his idle looking mutineers riding tanks and menacing people with water cannon and tear gas launchers! Mbu I hear they are all gay! Anti they love the colour pink! They have been caught prancing around in heels and bras spraying people with pink coloured dye to make them gay! Quite frankly, the ‘kill the gays’ bill should be targeting Kayihura’s men! They are turning unsuspecting people into gays!

I came across this status update by a one @ortega “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.”. It reminded me of several useless nuisance prosecutions that the NRM is indulging in against several people! To begin with there are all those prosecutions against all those arrested for exercising their right to use their legs to walk to work! Quite frankly, you guys are funny! Everyone to whom I have tried to explain the concept of the state arresting an individual for chosing to leave their car at home and walk to work, is either baffled at such absurdity and stupidity or just simply rolls all over the floor at the sheer buffoonery! And to add insult to injury, the act of repeatedly arresting the same people again to produce them in court on charges that have already been dismissed and which the arresting and prosecuting officer knows are going to be thrown out by the judge beats comedy! Quite frankly, you guys are a boon to comedians! You just keep giving! One simply cannot make up half of the stuff that your guys have done in the last few months since that election you lost so badly despite declaring yourselves winners! You see I warned you even before the election that that yours was going to be a pyrrhic victory and a pyrrhic victory it was! Need I mention that day of humiliation when Museveni’s visitors to witness him handing over power to himself for the umpteenth time rode the gauntlet of the mammoth crowd that braved Kayihura’s murderous idiots to put on a show that eclipsed the multibillion shillings one at Kololo! Kale you could see the busungu and the nugu with which they beat up and tortured unarmed people!

You guys are amusing! You have a knack for creating heroes and heroines from scratch! Of course I will not repeat the story of Besigye whose publicity the NRM undertook to do free of charge! For every time that you harrass or prosecute him needlessly, his star goes up! Following the election in February, he was down and out until that Kayihura man decided to elevate him to a peoples candidate! For days, you tried to destroy the city and its inhabitants and instead resurrected his waning political credentials! Now you do not even dare arrest him for whatever reason! Even when you do, you do not dare say that you have arrested him and cannot even produce him in court! It was interesting watching you guys try to come up with pseudolegal terms to describe the illegal act of detaining him during Walk to work 2! Mbu simanyi preventive arrest! Mbu ate he has committed no crime. Mbu ate he is under house arrest ate bambi he is not! Which legal schools did your guys go to? No wonder the Auditor General Muwanga found in his report yesterday that the government prosecution is weak and corrupt! i have for years been saying that they were incompetent to prosecute any cases involving more than a chicken thief! But even those fail them repeatedly leading to villagers taking the law into their own hands with mob justice!

Naye kale bantu mwe temuswaala! Even after losing case after case, you continue doing the same things hoping for a different result! Isn’t that the height of lunacy! I forget that it is the full moon at present!

A few months ago, you arrested a little old man from Bushenyi and charged him with the murder of colonel Muzoora! Now you have spirited away a little woman called Turinawe mbu for treason! Under your rule, the word terrorism has lost all meaning! It is used for all sorts of stupid things suggesting that you and your security people are incompetent and have no understanding at all of the meaning of the word terrorism nor that of treason! I would love to eavesdrop on the conversations between your security people and foreign spies like say those from the CIA or MOSSAD! I can bet they can barely suppress their laughter! As usual, you are going to lose all of these cases because they are based on lies and incompetence, your investigative capacity as well as prosecutorial capacity and integrity are weak! i can imagine those goatherds trying to outdo each other to see which one of them can come up with the biggest words!

Now back to Ingrid Turinawe! One year ago, no one had ever heard about her until Kayihura’s people tried to molest and undress her on the steps of parliament! Kale your guys are greedy! In broad daylight right in front of cameras, they molested the poor woman whose only crime was to hold a peaceful protest! So much for the so called democracy that you supposedly ushered in though I hear some of you were eating sausages in Nairobi and Stockholm when some of us were witnessing fireworks and living through hell! So this Ingrid woman has a ka small small meeting to organise how she and her friends will walk to work and your goons arrest her and hold her in jail without bail on the trumped up charge of treason!

I wonder which dimwit came up with that charge of treason! You guys need to let this ka woman go. The longer you detain her, the more popular she will be and trust me when she comes out, her victory parade will make Bad Blacks look like Biweero!

Banange, akivaamu yakiyita ekyaato! You guys were traitors and rebels just yesterday robbing banks and blowing up buses! Many of you have eaten our money and committed economic sabotage! Need I list the many financial scandals from GAVI to Temangalo to KCC markets to oil? Now you know who is a rebel and who is a traitor! Kanesekereko banange! Banange omubbi nga bamubye!!! You guys wouldn’t recognise the rule of law if it were staring you in the face!

Naye banange isn’t your daddy tired of fighting people? In luganda they call that okwepatiika ku batakuliiko! Those friends of his set him up to fail and am sure are the ones engineering his downfall. He needs to be one up from that spineless being Mahogany who almost peed his pants until Museveni abused the courts -twice! First for the selective prosecution, and then for making subjudice comments on a matter before the courts then ‘withdrawing’ the case! If he (daddy dear) really wants to be president of this country, he is going to have to jump out of the queue and form his own! if he is ever brave enough to actually stand up like a man and step out of Kaguta’s shadow, then, just maybe people will respect him. Until then he is Museveni’s lackey and pawn and continues to be seen as such! I agree with him that there is little or no proof of his having been in the pockets of ENI but you know people, “omubi yapaama mu lumbe”! That ka Temangalo thing will not go away and kind of hangs around like a bad smell! But of course you and I know that his attempted censorship from parliament has nothing to do with eating oil money and more to do with toppling him from the queue! First Bukenya is toppled, then Mbabazi is teetering! Do you start to see a pattern emerging? someone is interfering with the queue!

You know me I do not sugar coat! So I tend to piss off many people pardon my french including yourself dear! I hear your daddy too has that knack of rubbing people up the wrong way! Ngu he is arroganti! Daddy dear is getting shafted and he can do little about it! Of course we know who will “save him” thus clearly demonstrating who is the boss! He could of course resign as the current charges are making it difficult for him to perform his duties and head of government business! That would mark him as a man of honour! Or he could fight just like he did on Temangalo and “win” while losing just like he did with Temangalo! Its all unfair but as you know if you hang out with a condemned man, you are likely to be lynched too!

Interesting things are happening. Some ka girl from DP has just whipped all of the NRM bush Generals in Luwero! If I were you I would see that as an omen! That the ‘saviours’ and ‘liberators’ of Luwero have now been toppled in favour of someone who was not there when they were being bitten by mosquitoes or as they claim “fighting”!! Do you see what I see in this? Not even Museveni going to Luwero to campaign on behalf of the NRM candidate made any difference!

P.S: If you wish to buy a ka property in kyeyo land me I have some contacts! For 10% we can work out something! Given when the chips come down, they will be looking for all properties in your name, I could lend you mine for another 10%! You know how those Europeans and American hypocrites who are your friends today will be falling all over themselves to “discover” all of the money, you guys salted away overseas! After the Tony Blairs and the British and American banks got their cuts of the Gaddafi money, they were the first ones to freeze it when he suddenly became a pariah! Just talk to me small small and we shall work out an arrangement! Me you can trust!

I will say this again! Your regime has come to an end! you just have no idea when! Kaguta is tired and he is going. Either you guys retire him or Ugandans will retire him! The options are boundless but Gadafi, Mubarak, Gbabo and Ben Ali have just demonstrated a few. Personally I would prefer the Mbeki way or even the Moi way but a man has got to chose how he would like to die and how he wishes to be remembered! Its not too late for Museveni to negotiate his exit!

While I have your attention, could you please tell the prime minister that akabuga ke kaswaaza! I think that there is merit in the Chinese way of lining up corrupt technocrats against a wall and giving them one bullet each! Could someone please tell them that there is a difference between urban planning and running a cattle kraal! Quite frankly the people who have presided over Kampala’s “development” over the last 25 years merit the chinese way!

As for those UMEME people, I think its time to discuss re-nationalisation! Am sure Ugandans with their knack for mismanaging things can do a much better job of mismanaging our electricity sector! At least then the money will stay at home instead of being repatriated to the UK!

Someone is reshuffling the succession queue!

Friday, October 7, 2011 at 9:27am 路

Someone is reshuffling the queue!

Muhoozi takes a sudden interest in soccer. He donates 5000 USD to the Cranes.

Mbabazi also takes a sudden interest in soccer. He too donates to the Cranes -10,000 USD!

Neither man is known for their interest in soccer!

Bukenya is removed from the succession queue -in a rather abrupt and nasty manner. He is dragged off in chains to luzira!

The power centres around the succession queue are the Museveni’s (Janet Kataaha Museveni, Ainerugaba Muhoozi Museveni, and Akandanwaho Salim Saleh), Sam Kutesa an inlaw to the Museveni’s, and Amama Mbabazi who first declared the existence of a queue many years ago when Besigye tried to jump it!

The Museveni’s are at the head of the Bahororo brigade, Kutesa at the head of the Bahima/Banyarwanda brigade and Mbabazi heads the Bakiga brigade! Bukenya previously headed the progressive brigade as well as the catholic and Buganda brigades but he squandered all of his capital and remained with the Wakiso paesant brigade! It is questionable just how much more command he retains there!

Bukenya is sacked and in jail. Kutesa with Nasasira and Rukutana are also threatened with jail. Museveni is sending mixed messages feebly saying Bukenya is innocent!

But one man seemingly remains outside all of this despite he too having been mentioned in CHOGM as well as Temangalo. Recently there have been several rulings both political and legal declaring Mr “clean” Amama Mbabazi to be clean of both CHOGM and Temangalo!

Why all of a sudden this whitewshing exercise and why is the queue getting shorter? Why is there remaining only one candidate? Could it be perchance that that candidate or his boss are pulling the ropes and pruning the succession queue?

And then one looks at the instrument -IGG Baku. And one asks to who does the instrument of execution belong?

Does the fact that the instrument of execution belong to Mr “Clean” Amama Mbabazi now become relevant?

Is there a palace coup going on or is Museveni pruning his succession queue! Does any of this really have anything to do with corruption or is it plain old power politics? And which way will the Bahima Generals jump or the newly minted ethnically unbalanced Muhoozi compatriots given new ranks of najor, Colonel and Brigadier?

If I were any of the above men, I would grow eyes in the back of my head!!

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Mbabazi, Succession

With you guys in power, Ugandans need to count their knives and forks!

Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 3:52pm 路

Dearest Nina,

Ombuzze ko!

Since they mentioned you in parliament mbu you had your fingers dug deeply into the oil pie, you have been hiding from me!

Naye kati given MASTko has taken the heat away and diverted the attention of the chattering masses, you are free to come out of ‘kava’!

LOL!

You know that man Apollo Kakwenzire from Kiruhura made me laugh with his staus update! He must have some lingering nugu for your daddy! Mbu;

“Mbabazi is fighting Bukenya, Kahinda Otafiire is fighting Mbabazi & Kutesa, Jim Muhwezi is fighting Mbabazi, Sekikubo is Fighting Kutesa & Mbabazi, Baryomunsi is fighting Hope Mwesigye, and the cycle continues! The only pillar, anchor, reed that is holding this group together is President Museveni. How’s NRM insured against collapse after president Museveni leaves the political scene?”

Museveni is a classical narcissist!

As long as this rat pack are tearing at each other, his own position as the only ‘man with a vision’ and the only one who can keep things together and the NRM in power remains intact!

He plays all of them like the master that he is! They all fight each other hoping to be noticed by the master and have some crumbs drop their way! Like kids one moment jostling to have their head patted and vicious dogs the next fighting to lead the pack as second lieutinants they fight for the position of favourite child!

The reality is that all of these men except Bukenya are historicals! As historicals, they all have legitimate reasons to believe themselves to be in the queue! But Museveni has held up the queue so they while the time away by turning on each other jostling for the closest position to the door!

In the 25 years that Museveni has been in power, 3 or more of these men could have been top dog! But no, Museveni has to be the top dog!

These men are frustrated! Ambitious men whose progress has been stymied, they watch time go by and their own chances of ever being president of this country passing by!

The reality is that if it were not so important to play benevolent dictator, these men would have long been executed in the name of the Ugandan revolution that never was! Thats what revolutions do. From England in Oliver Cromwells times to Paris when the dauphin and his queen Marie Antoinette became careless with their heads and lost them to Russia in the times of Lenin and Stalin when revolutionaries whose own ambitions became excess baggage to the revolution and they were carted off to the gulags and Siberia to China where various ‘cleansings’ of the revolution resulted in purges of previously powerful men, these too would have long been eaten up by the revolution!

But to call what happened in Uganda a revolution is a misnomer! What happened in Uganda was a change of guards! A rotation of the cake for while to be from north of the Karuma was once the mark of priviledge or the right to bear arms, those rights now moved to the west! With those rights of course came the right to loot the national coffers with impunity! Furthermore, those who cried for their victims murdered in cold blood, their women raped, their children made orphans also changed! The wheel moved to a different part of the country!

Uganda is cursed! Cursed with the devil of tribalism. So much blood has been spilt in Uganda. So many dead people whose ghosts remain to haunt this country! One wonders how people like museveni sleep at night with the hundreds of thousands of people who are dead in their name!

When one looks at these men, squabbling, fighting each other, one gets a feeling of karma! Truth be said, most of them will never ever get to be president of Uganda! Not to mention the fact that they will have to ride over Janet Kataaha and her son as well as Gen Saleh and a host of other Generals who have a vested interest and have taken out mortgages on this country!

You see Ugandans are a captive nation! People continue in their delusion of freedom! The reality is that the country is captured and owned by a few people. It is called the phenomenon of ‘state capture’! They have of course camouflaged themselves so well that most Ugandans believe that they are being held hostage by the presidents tribe, the Banyankole! That of course raises the sceptre of future massacres and reprisals! But the last time I ventured those sides of Rushere and beyond, I did not see any difference compared to other parts of the country! Paesants are paesants and paesants all over Uganda look the same be it from Ankole or elsewhere! Quite frankly while there are plenty of well off Banyankole, I know more Baganda and people from other regions who are as well off if not more well off!

But then this week it was announced in the papers that the state was not captured by Banyankole! No it was owned by Indians who own 80% of the economy! But I have heard it said that the real story behind the wealth of many Indians in Kampala is that they are really ‘beards”! Frontmen for the real captors of our state who remain powerful in this state, dismantling it bit by bit and selling it to themselves!!!

These demons have caused so much chaos that the whole country is now in an uproar. All parties are disorganised! While many in the opposition will be happy to watch these men tear at each other, their own huts are burning! In ths week alone, it has become obvious that A4C on FB is just not the vehicle that will led Ugandans to heaven! The old demon of tribalism is thriving there too! Ugandans are their own enemies! UPC are tearing each other apart in a battle that is likely to see Otunnu looking for another job while poor DP appears to have gone to sleep! It has been months since I last saw any comment of any relevance to Uganda’s predicament come from president Mao of DP! As for FDC, one wonders these days who runs that place! Not quite sure when i last heard Muntu say anything? Does he still belong to the party?

Now for more interesting news closer to home! i hear that princess from Bunyoro who heckles like a market woman finally fell on her sword, under duress of course! Am sure daddy Museveni will be there to soothe her with a new posting to Paris! After all her only crime was to get caught being that she was an amateur thief among pros! If she were a man caught stealing a chicken, she would have been burnt to death by the mob! And if she were a woman caught stealing matooke from a neighbours garden, she would have been paraded naked through the village with the matooke tied around her neck! But given she is an NRM thief, all sorts of words other than thief are used to try and make it appear right! Some even want to make her out to be a heroine forgetting she really had no choice and resigned through no choice of her own!

Or maybe some oil job or microfinance bank like Muky Kazibwe will be her solace! The news on twitter is so interesting. Some of it is so wild, its hard to believe what they are saying! Mbu she has so many names! Nsomba byuma, Kabasuma, Kabakumpanya , banange! Meanwhile the village boys from her home wrote a petition to the ‘fountain of honour’ to annoint her once again with a baptism like he did Bukenya, so she can be cleansed and retake her place at the table eating on their behalf! Somethimes I think that we are not ready for democracy! Shouldnt people making decisions have the intellect to understand the dcisions they make? Should the Ugandans who keep revoting this motley crew back into power really be allowed to vote? Thats not elitist -its just a fact!

I keep wondering. Are we now going to see that IGG of your daddy, Baku move to charge Ms Kabakumba with something? Surely, there must be a charge in there that attracts a generous holiday in Luzira or Nakasongola! Now is the time to see how independent Baku is!

Mbu the woman carted a 75 metre mulongooti from UBC to Masindi! There are even some cartoons claiming they were true likenesses of her dragging the mast along!

But one wonders whether giving Kabakumba to the crowd is not like a robber throwing some dollar bills to the crowd to obstruct the chase by the police as people squabble for the bills! How about those other people who have been named in other UBC deals resulting in the loss of all of its assets? Land worth billions handed free to Basajja he of the contract, cancel, compensate scandals? You know its the latest NRM scam in Kampala not to mention the UBC land allocate, sale pocket scandals! Or that woman of mbwa zirume now minister for information and LOL, ‘national guidance’! who comes up with these titles!

But I digress! She of the mbwa zirume fame who made up a story to vilify a whole tribe and serve her masters interests also partook of the UBC feast and together with another Muhanga made off with several billion shillings worth of land. All of the other people who received land worth billions free from UBC transferred their interest to thrid parties within days in exchange for billions of shillings! How is this not a scam? Shouldn’t all of these people be resigning?

How about those other oil ministers who resigned without resigning? Daddy dear confirmed yesterday that Kutesa is on “leave” and did not resign! Talk about playing the public!

Those young turks are really making noise in parliament! If your daddy and uncle Kaguta do not throw them a bone soon, they are going to eat someone! Right now your daddy dear and two other minsiters are on the menu save for the reprieve of a high court order staying proceedings! I get the feeling that your daddy was the target here as the evidence against him in the oil scandals is the weakest! You kow its an old truism that whe the old bull hangs around too long, the young bulls start to get impatient! Watching the NRM young turks in parliament is like watching a herd of buffalo with the young bulls challenging the alpha male who is now ageing and arthritic!

I had a chat with uncle Kagame yesterday on twitter! He was not very pleased with me! Anti i asked him about the third term project which he said was a matter for Rwandans! If he knew how many battles I have fought for him against some really naive and ignorant western journalists, he would be more polite! Mbu he didnt like me suggesting that he was spoilt like his daddy Uncle Kagu! So touchy! Seriously if he is taking this third term talk seriously, me am giving up on him! Shouldn’t it be obvious to everyone by now that this third term talk is destabilising rather than promotes stability? But i must give it to him for confidence! Now when is Uncle Kaguta going to learn how to use modern technology?

Today there were a number of stories in the papers. One shows that Uganda is leading from the bottom in literacy and numeracy on the continent -so much for UPE! The others were photos from red pepper different from their usual trash showing various UPE schools! Quite frankly all NRM party leaders should be forced to take their children an grandchildren to these schools just like they should be forced to get treatment in our hospitals! Seriously those photos were not in the glossy NRM pre election manifesto!

Uganda needs a major reboot! You guys need to work out your gratuities and pack up! Ugandans need to get their country back! But as usual, if you are looking for a hiding place from the angry peasants with pitchforks, you can forever count on me to hide you under my bed!!

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Letter to Nina

When winners lose by winning!

Friday, January 20, 2012 at 11:20pm 路

Dear Nina,

Its been a while since I last wrote you a love note. I had planned to allow you to pop that bab in peace but your people are getting so annoying they have inspired me once again!

What exactly is wrong with you people? Do you have any political analysts or are you so inured against the reality in Uganda that you do not see whats going on? I told you the peasants will come for you with pitchforks. The masses are getting stirred up and not by external forces as you would like to believe! You guys are your own worst enemies!

Did you see the photo of Besigye in his cell as a guest of Kaguta? I am sure the presidents cows and dogs have better abodes! The utter contempt in which you people hold Ugandans is interesting. I wonder when its your turn which prisons you believe you are going to be held in? Given you have set the standards, do you expect that new spanky prisons will be built just for you? This man in Malawi who just won an elction not too long ago was in Besigye’s position for many years – in opposition. But there came a time when people asked Banda to leave and go back to his farm or whatever it is that presidents are supposed to do when they retire! I think I know what president Museveni’s problem is -never having done any other work save shooting people and being president, he is afraid he will become irrelevant if he ever retires! But he needs to take a cue from Gaddafi whose people fired him when he refused to read the writing on the wall!

A few months ago, uncle Kaguta was offended that the men of God instead of begging him for 4WD’s pointed out that the last election was bought with massive voter bribery! You and many members of the NRM have vehemently denied that you used state funds to buy votes. You have also denied having triggered the current inflation pointing out that it is a global phenomenon. I of course disagree. In Uganda the fundamentals are flawed and you cannot blame global factors. And fiscal indiscipline by your government triggered this inflation. The CBR used as the main instrument by BOU to mop up liquidity and reduce inflation is not likely to achieve that goal and will more than likely just slow down economic growth.

A blogger who has read the BOU reports using intuition and logic like myself has pointed out a very interesting graph! http://mugumya.com/2012/01/12/why-does-bou-insist-on-high-cbr-when-they-know-itll-do-more-harm/inflation-4/ You really need to see it and read the blogger, proudugandan’s take on the whole CBR thing! All of this shows that you guys in the NRM are economic saboteurs and triggered this inflation and have caused untold damage to many mums and dads just struggling to survive! First you flooded the larket with money. BOU says they didnt print any new money but this graph says otherwise! Then you depleted the reserves to buy some baubles aka fighter jets just for the bragging rights so you could compare ‘nankani’ with the regional big boys! You cannot even fly the machines and therefore continue to deplete the country of 800 million shillings each month to pay the Russian pilots while Ugandans starve and teachers remain unpaid!

I wonder whats with those military fatigues in Kyankwanzi! You guys really look ridiculous in military fatigues and paunches testifying to all of the good food and beer you have eaten at the expense of our citizens! What message exactly are you trying to convey anyway? All of you look soft and too well fed to do any fighting! Who do you believe you are kidding anyway? If a real war broke out, you guys would be flying off to South America and Kigali while Kayihura’s bully boys would be discarding their uniforms and running off to the villages. You think they would stand arouund and get killed for you? If you think so, you haven’t seen where and how policemen live! If you think that Besigye’s cell looks fit for a pig, then you really need to see where policemen live!

I laughed when I read that the overfed NRM politicians probably after smoking too much of an illegal substance at Kyankwanzi proposed the firing squad for economic saboteurs! I wonder whether they realise that the gun is pointing right at them!

Do you guys listen to the streets? Like really have your ars to the ground? You are so out of touch with the sentiment on the streets its not funny!

Think about this. There was a time when you guys didnt need to showforce at every corner and every 200 metres to rule the country. Now you are practically pooping your pants and think that guns will protect you from angry Ugandans whereas before it was goodwill and HUMINT voluntarily given by the population!

Methinks the level of security speaks for itself! Did you watch those videos of the new heroine created by your dumb goons exercising their neanderthal instincts? Ingrid Turinawe is fast becoming the face of resistance against NRM idiocy! You guys never learn. Besigye would have been an unknown if you guys hadnt decided to beat him to a pulp. The more you beat him up and the more stories you made up about him, the higher his star arose. I hear that woman Kutesa who you rewarded with secondment to Interpol was just offered a lucrative post. But I also hear that she may not enjoy it for very long if Ugandan activists have their way!

Now this Ingrid woman. Did you see how she led Kayihura’s boys on a wild goose chase all over the city? The idiots are so slow its painful to watch them! But what is even more interesting to watch is the publics response to her antics. if that does not tell you something then you must be very slow. But I can break it down for you gently -abantu babakoowa! Mubesibila ko bweerere! Dont Kale’s boys have anything useful to do?

If thats not convincing enough just evaluate the last year since you ‘won’ the elections. I told you it would be a pyrrhic victory and pyrrhic it has been. Am sure uncle Kaguta wishes he had retired while he was still ahead! The man who once said that the problem with africa was leaders who did not know when to retire, the one who claims to have fought against life president, is now a life president. Afraid of his own shadow. Scared that some small woman without an army is going to topple him from his confort!

Naye kale bantu mwe mulina ababbi! Even uncle Kaguta told uncle Paul the other day when he was in Kigali that his government was full of thieves. And as soon as he came back to Kampala, they proved him right.

How can a cabinet function with so many ministers accused of stealing? Now I hear 35 ministers were also stealing from UBC -35 out of 79 ministers is virtually half the cabinet!

You guys are tripping all over yourselves everyday. Mistakeafter mistake after mistake. I love it when you delude yourselves that you are under attack. People are questioning you -your running of this country and if you cannot take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Stop telling lies about terrorists. There are no terroristsout to get you! You are only victims of your own incompetence and intolerance! And jumping at your own shadows!

At this rate if you cannot see that you need to start planning your exit, then you are in plenty of trouble! I told you before that you will lose when you win! You have been checkmated and you can only go down. As a party, the NRM will like UPC need to be destroyed before you can build a new party!

P.S: Good luck with the bab.

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Elections, Letter to Nina

The NRM is corrupt -no amount of spin is going to change that!

Friday, December 23, 2011 at 1:28pm 路

Apollo Kakwenzire,

Normally I write to my sweetheart Nina but today I will respond directly to you as some of the things I say today may distress her!

The NRM has been in power for more than 25 years. The only reason we are at this point is NRM incompetence in fighting corruption primarily because it is the key cadres of the NRM who are corrupt.

That corruption is abetted by the highest office in the land, President Museveni as evidenced by the claims of his ministers and Attorney General as well as the case study of Basajjabalaba. Of course other cases such as the junk helicopter scandal involving his brother Saleh, the collapse of UCB-Greenland due to its fradulent purchase of a state bank through Westmont, the defence of Mbabazi and other cadres even before investigations are out, making sub judice statements that prejudice such investigations and the courts, as well as inactivity and empirical evidence of the lack of successful prosecutions and convictions in part due to executive interference in the judicial process increase the perception that the whole party and leadership are corrupt.

Of course as one would expect, Museveni threw all of his men and women before the advancing crowd. He continues to maintain that he is clean while its the people around him who are not! if I were an NRM politician, I would be wary!

I have more than once stated clearly that i have not seen the evidence for Mbabazi’s involvement save for the claims of ambassador Lanier in his leaked cables to the US government. In those cables, he claimed no evidence other than the claims of one of the oil companies that was interested in the outcome of the negotiations with ENI. The claim that ENI a competitor had bribed Ugandan officials specifically Mbabazi was never presented with proof. the request that the US embassy imposes travel bans on Ugandan officials with the capacity to influence oil negotiations was blackmail and coercion by one of the beneficiaries to those oil negotiations.

Such interference by foreign oil companies leaning on and coercing or blackmailing Ugandan government officials should be taken seriously as they are as bad as if not worse than bribery! Either way whether using bribery or blackmail and coercion the goal is for the company to get advantage in oil negotiations. I have therefore personally stated that i have not seen the evidence for Mbabazi’s involvement in oil corruption which of course is not the same as saying that he is not corrupt.

As you may already be aware, despite him being “cleared” by the IGG etc, I disagree that Temangalo was above board -it was not! NSSF was robbed of its money by politicians! There was conflict of interest and all sorts of isms in that transaction. W also know that at the time, buying land was not part of the NSSF’s investment policy having been burnt in a previous land deal!

Mbabazi would have been a lot better off if he had sold his land on the open market. But we do know that he had a deadline to beat and needed a certain amount of money in a fixed timeframe, an amount no single body or individual could have raised. We know how hard it would have been to do so because Akright which later aborted the purchase of Jim Muhwezi’s land in the same area failed to pay even when the payments were stretched out over time. This is relevant because it is this figure offered to Muhwezi by Akwright that was usued to bolster the claim that NSSF received value for money.

That says that the market at the time simply could not pay the figures they claim to have been the market value. For them to get anywhere near the prices they claim, they would have had to parcel the land into plots and sell one by one over months to years! They simply did not have that time so they raided the single largest cache of cash in Uganda -NSSF by coercing and leaning on the boss, an impressionable young man who later ended up in jail on unrelated charges for not shutting his mouth up when the dung hit the fan!!

Remember its the market that determines the price of a property, not the seller. if the property is overpriced, buyers will not buy at that price. Furthermore, the urgency of the sellers need for money and the relative scarcity of finance would mean that a bulk seller would attract a lower price if he does not have time and resources to redevelop their holding into smaller parcels! The method an argument used by Mbabazi and his supporters including Andrew Mwenda was therefore flawed because it did not take into account the fact that they needed large amounts of cash at short notice in a country where there are few people with that kind of cash lying around. If they existed anyway, they would dictate the price and would have paid much less for the land than NSSF did!

There is of course the defence that what they did “was not illegal”. Am sure its the very same defence that Karooro Okurut is going to use to dismiss the charges of enriching herself at the states expense when she and Mwenda’s sister Muhanga got a multi billion shilling property free from the state on fraudulent grounds -fraudulent because the purpose of the allocation was for them to build a shoe factory but they just transferred their interest in the lease for cash within months! If they were genuine why didnt they return the land if it was unsuitable and demand another more suited to their purpose? If they failed to raise funding for their venture, how does the Ugandan tax payer benefit? As far as one can see UBC, the tax payer and the state lost a multi billion dollar asset which asset could have been sold competitively by auction and the proceeds used for other infrastructure development for UBC or the country! As it is an indiviudal who is connected essentially a crony ends up becoming a billionaire for free!

The request for Mbabazi to step aside can be justified as he is the head of government business in a corrupt government and has been a key minister for a long time. As a matter of fact he is and has always been one of the most powerful minsters in the NRM. If a government fails, someone has got to take responsibility. The head of the government actually happens to be the prime minister, Mbabazi! The use of oil charges without reasonable verifiable evidence instead of stating this simple fact maybe a criticism of the framers of the charges in parliament. of course it should not be forgotten that in Uganda we have an executive president ven though the PM is the leader of government business an ultimately it comes back to Museveni. If the country demands that someones head should be given up to them on a platter and that person happens to be Mbabazi and Museveni dcsides to stand by Mbabazi, depending on the countrys mood, it is then Museveni’s head on a platter that will be demanded in recompense!

You oversimplify Mpirirwe’s opinion. He essentially stated the steps taken in verifying that documents claimed to be proof or forged are indeed forged. WHat he did was raise questions but not prove that they were forged. He systematically demonstrates that the documents were very close to authentic and could only have originated from true originals or the work of a perfect forgery. He acknowledged that he did not have access to the work of the Malta police and that the presence of the mentioned bank accounts needed to be confirmed by a competent authority. As a matter of fact he as careful to state that his comments were based on the information available in the public domain. If I remember correctly the previous investigations did not actually say that none of those entities existed. All they said was that they could not ascertain the veracity of those claims! This does not close the case.

Neither do the denials of the oil companies close the case. The proof of bribery payments to government officials is now a prosecutable offence in the UK and other parts of the world and would also prejudice their current tax arbitration proceedings in London as well as future dealings with the government and people of Uganda. It will subject them to a lot of future scrutiny in addition to ensuring that they have a hostile PM in Kampala who they will have to deal with not to mention a minster for energy! These companies try to put themselves above the law in Uganda which so far is what they have tried to do at the expense of Ugandans and their resources! This story is as a much a story of the greed and corruption of Ugandan officials as that of oil companies!

Of course there are internal wrangles and political schemes esigned to bring down presidnt Museveni and his most powerful minster Mbabazi. Thast politics and when you refuse to retire, opposition mounts as well as resolve against you. Baganda say that “ensi egula milambo” -nations are built on top of corpses. Museveni and Mababzi have detroyed a lot of people in their rise to and continued hold on power. In addition they block the advance and ambitions of many young politicians. None of the young turks is going to go anywhere while Mbabazi, Museveni and their children are involved in Uganda’s politics and security. You are a cattle keeper, so you are well aware what happens to the alpha male when the young bull grows up. It will be a fight until one gives up or dies. Humans are not very different from animals and none of this should surprise you. It will only get worse and the only way for it to end is for the selfish old men who have hogged our politics and positions of power to signal their own retirement. That way they can control the process. The alternative is chaos and will be bloody! this is an irreversible process!

The fact that Uganda and the NRM were just a change of guards as they have proven over the years rather than a revolution means that you will not have the power to stem the tide. You have to adapt with the flow. Make concessions. Negotiate. Or fight it out to death -like Gaddafi!

As for Rugunda, he was at his zenith after the Juba “peace jokes”! True to form, Museveni moved him aside and out of sight to New York guaranteeing that by the time he came home, everyone had forgotten about him! Of course the little known fact that he is one of the major shareholders in the Temangalo bank will be brought out at the right and opportune moment if he dares to raise his head. You of course know what happened to Mahogany polofessa bukenya when he over reached himself! He was taught a lesson he is not going to forget in a hurry!

Mbabazi declared the presence of a queue many years ago. Most Ugandans didn’t even know one existed. They thought it was “individual merit” whatever that means until Mbabazi let the cat out of the bag! Baganda say, that when a co wife sees the stick that beat their co wife, they would be stupid to return that stick to the house as it will sooner or later be used to beat them too! Mbabazi is the stick that Museveni has used for many years to bet his opponents inside and outside the movement. Mbabazi too has used his authority to maintain him at the end of the queue!

But again Baganda say that “awakula ennume, tewakula emu”. Thats a proverb you as a cattle keeper should understand well. The kraal that raised one alpha bull can not fail to raise another! Sooner or later with the passage of time, the bull is faced with younger bulls ready to take up their mantle whether he wants it or not! Thats the reality facing Museveni and his right hand man Mbabazi -the young bulls are not going to wait for them to die off of old age. Unless they have an old trick up their sleeve to defeat the young bulls both within and without the NRM, they are going down! only a matter of time! Change is coming and neither you, Mbabazi nor Museveni will be able to stop it! All they can do is to ensure that that change is as orderly as it can be!

There are still a lot of unanswered questions about the oil bribery scandal and Jasper Mpirirwe just articulated some of them!

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Kakwenzire, Nina

Does the NRM really need new laws to fight corruption?

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 9:46pm 路

Nina Mbabazi,

We have discussed this and similar issues before.

Each time you demonstrate that you can see the problems but evade allocating blame using the subterfuge that we do not have enabling laws.

I have previously demonstrated to you that both the Civil servants code of conduct as well as the Leadership code have laws which if applied can control corruption and conflict of interest which are rife in the NRM circles of power!

I today will add something I came across from the Anti corruption act:

Section 9(1) & (2) of the Anti-Corruption Act, 2009 which provides that;

(1) An employee, or a member of a public Body, public company or public undertaking who, in course of his or her official duties, deals with a matter in which he or she or his or her immediate family has a direct or indirect interest or is in a position to influence the matter directly or indirectly and he or she knowingly, fails to disclose the nature of that interest and votes or participates in the proceedings of that body, company or undertaking, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding ten years or a fine not exceeding two hundred and forty currency points or both.

(2) Conflict of interest shall arise where the person referred to in subsection (1)-

(a) deals with a matter in which he or she has personal interest and where he or she is in a position to influence the matter directly or indirectly, in the course of his or her official duties;

(c) participates in the deliberations of a public body, board, council, commission or committee, of which he or she is a member at any meeting at which any matter in which he or she has personal interest is to be discussed.

“Public undertaking”would cover political appointees and overlaps with the Leadership code which also refers to close family members doing business with government and receiving gifts from parties and governments doing business with government.

Today you bring up the issue of taxation. This issue was confused by the NRM government and Museveni. Since the earliest days of the colonial government it was well established that as soon as one ws an adult, they had to pay taxes. Graduated tax, hut tax etc are taxes that were levied and collected by local chiefs and helped run local governments.” If you had no job, the local chiefs gave you one and you earned the money for your taxes. It became part of the culture that one was not a man if they did not pay taxes.

Museveni for short term political reasons scrapped graduated tax without replacing it with any other revenue source making local government even more dependent on central government. Ironically this coincided with so called decentralisation”!

Cost sharing in health was scrapped again for short term political gains. As I remember it, he made the announcement during a presidential campaign. While our people are poor, the reality is that they already pay a lot of money for very poor healthcare. Improving the formal healthcare services with a simple, basic means tested service fee would have helped local units generate extra money. As someone who has been on the coal face I can tell you that even very poor people try to bribe doctors. The same people are already paying for quack medical services and witch doctors. Amudoi Sabina, can tell you that health insurance is possible in poor developing nations if there is accountability. Now Rwanda is leading the way and we shall be followers!

THE URA is already mandated to collect taxes from Ugandans. The law gives Kagina a lot of leeway as has been seen in the cases against Sudhir, Heritage and Tullow and Basajjabalaba.

What we have not seen is the URA going after Amama Mbabazi for our cut of the capital gains on Temangalo, after Salim Salehs daughter for her tax returns against the 250,000 USD that was stolen from under her pillow, against her father for his taxes for the last 25 years and making sure they are commensurate with his income and against all those pastors driving fancy cars that do not tally with their stated incomes.

Using available laws anyone whose lifestyle does not tally with their stated income is in essence inviting a tax audit and you do not need a new law for this. If cannot substantiate their income then the URA can use an estimate and issue a demand note together with a fine for undeclared income and tax dodging. Together with heavy fines with or without custodial sentences, all of the nouveau riche NRM billionaires can be brought back under control. People like Ezra. If they are flashing around 1 million dollars in cash, URA should just issue a bill for their 30 % and its upto Ezra to prove that he paid taxes! I would like to know how much tax Basajjabalaba pays.

This idea that we need new laws is a dodge you have used before. We do not. Its the same thing that Museveni does by coming up with new laws when the old ones are notbeing enforced as in the land bill or they are being undermined by his own people! Its powerful NRM connected people with guns who evict people including some high profile cases involving people from the presidents office!

THat talk shop called government is just a den of thieves. Do we need 400 of them with all of their perks? Do they really add any vlue to the process of governance? How about the many political appointees at all levels of government including those useless presidential advisors who do no advising. TAmale Mirundi said it was some sort of pension club for people the president wishes to gve welfare. Certainly when one looks at appointments like that of Rwakasisi afellon previously on death row for 25 years one can believe this! The semi literate administrators at distric level aka CAO’s and DISO’s all useless sycophants who only serve to embed a party’s political machinery into state business just like the RC’s do!

The NRM is tired. They just keep recycling old twerp but quite frankly are really lost! They flounder each time demonstrating they do not even read their wn laws gathering dust in their expensively bound reports!

WE need fresh thinkers, fresh minds!

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Corruption, Letter to Nina

When are you guys going to go home?

Friday, August 17, 2012 at 10:09pm 路

My Dear Nina,

Today is my birthday -the birthday i was not supposed to have, but here I am all fine save for some mending broken bones! All of course thanks to the country that your uncle Kaguta, daddy PM and all the cult worshippers of the one and only visionary have created! A country where security of person is just a word, a myth and a lullaby to lull the people into keeping him in power in perpetuity!

i have had the most wonderful messages wishing me a happy birthday and probably for the first time ever in my life, i am glad to be celebrating it. Normally I do not really care and I have been known to forget my own birthday!

But just like that time a few weeks ago when some idiot tried to snuff my life out with a crowbar, you my dear sweetheart seem to be the last person to notice that i have a birthday to celebrate and a reason to be happy that am alive.

Even 2 and a half year old Sanyu was happy for me. In the morning she sang Happy birthday dear daddy, and she helped me cut a mouth watering chocolate cake not to mention handing me a nice birthday present. nevermind her little eyes were virtually popping out at the very prospect of eating birthday cake! But this time you will not be able to say, you did not know!

In a few weeks Ugandans in uganda and all over the world will be celebrating Uganda at 50! I have been wracking my brains for days and weeks trying to find a reason to celebrate! i am afraid i just cannot find a good reason to celebrate Uganda at 50!

You know for more than half of that 50 years your daddy and his friend have been dragging us to hell in a basket. We are a laughing stock -to be pitied and ridiculed! the other day a Prime Minister who dragged his country to the brink of disaster said that spain was not Uganda. never mind he was at the same time holding his hand out for handouts -like Uganda but of course not from Uganda!

Quite frankly it was only a few days ago at the end of the olympics that ugandans finally found some reason to be happy in their 50 year old existence as a country but not a nation! kiprotich hereto virtually unknown pushed past the Kenyans powered no doubt by posho and beans and pipped them for the marathon!

this of course was no thanks to the ugandan government which in addition to denying him facilitation and training facilities found the money to fly pot bellied officials and a half sleepy vice President to london but not to facilitate the athletes!

i can bet that no one in the NRM cabinet knew his name least of all the sports minister who claimed that the athletes were very well facilitated nevermind being contracdicted by the athletes themselves! just a paltry 4 athletes and we couldnt even look after them.

But as one would predict, the malindirizzi were ready to benefit from the success of Kiprotich! when i talk about he malindirizi am not referring the the karooli’s and sekanyolya’s around the cities garbage dumps! Am referring to the NRM leadership. i will not even mention the corporate vultures like tullow who donated a paltry 10,000 USD despite receiving the country’s oil resources virtually free! did they even pay our taxes yet? as far as i remeber they owed us a lot more than 10k!

Poor Kiprotich was waylaid at entebbe, kidnapped and driven to state house so that the visonary could bask in his glory and get rejuvenated! i hear he initially thought that kiprotich was one of these opposition politicians who have made a habit of thumping his party at each and every by election! poor guy kati assula akukunadde anti buli akakuba wabweru! i wonder why people torture themselves so! one would have thought that he would have learned from his friend Gaddafi the most recent victim of his own hubris! Banange kale mwesiba kubatabagaala! abantu babkoowa dda! siba munno nyo, i would not be able to tell you what others are afraid of telling you! Abantu mwesibye my governmenent like you were born there! Mudeeyo ewamwe!

If i were kiprotich, i would have got off the plane in Nairobi and gone to my village via Busia! Ndabbe nyabula bwemunoonyaayo through the non existent roads! but the poor guy was forced to endure a breakfast and a lengthy speech -the same one ugandans have heard for the last 26 years of we have not done anything apart from enrich ourselves because we fought! no roads, no sports facilities, no schools apart from bufumbo college and bonna bakoone bagende bakube amatafali oba bateme empuuta -oba obutayimbwa! All i could think of was ‘laba bwebamwesipaata nga gyobela nti bali balya naye!

The most nauseating and mindless of gestures of course was the ‘promotion’! And then the paltry 80,000 dollars to a man who in one instant brought more free publicity for the country than the million dollars given to Glenevin for “PR”, nor the other million given to uncle Kaguta’s son in law rwabwogo for the fated “gifted by nature” campaign! the name of the campaign should have been “Gifted by nature but jinxed by the NRM”. At the very least, he is worth 2 million dollars from this government! 80,000 is less than the cost of that merc your daddy bought the minute he became PM nevermind he has feasted on the best this land can offer for almost 3 decades! and i don’[t remember him ever garnering equal support and goodwill not to mention publicity for this country!

Now about those junk helicopters that continue to haunt the country! I would really love to know if they were fitted with appropriate navigation and communication equipment or whether whoever signed the contract left them out!

just when we had a ka little goo news to celebrate you guys spoilt it for us! 3 helicopter gunships ( an millions of dollars down) as well as 10 men so far and no one is taking the fall. instead afande saleh has been appointed to look into the issue! 4 gunchips, one crashlanded, 3 destroyed and men killed -what shame. The Kenyans are having an absolute ball! i could direct you to a few websites where they are wondering what kind of imbeciles we are to be downed even before Al Shabaab fire one rocket! is there any wonder that Kony continues to mock us? with enemies like ourselves, Al Shabaab can rejoice as we are kiloing ourselves with incompetence even before getting to the battlefield!

With all due respect, his brother having forgiven him or not, didnt he take 800,000 USD in enjawulo from the original helicopter gunship deal? And shouldnt that disqualify him from having any part to play in the inquiry if only to give it some modicum of respectability? I can guarantee that with afande Saleh in charge, any report will be ignored by the public as a cover up however professional it maybe! but then again, judging by 26 years of the NRM in power, we can assume there will be no report! And if there is, we can trust the NRM to undermine it themselves using the constitutional court etc! as they have done several times in the past! need i mention the GAVI scandal or the oil corruption scandal where the culprits never even got to have their day in court having invalidated the very instrument that supposedly had proof of malfaesance!

Now you my love i can see are getting more and more frustrated. Anti daddy dear appears to be in the line of sight of the Capo! I undertsand that daddy dear thought that the cosa nostra was a democratic institution where the boss got to retire and someone else from a different family got to take over! munange hate to break it to you naye uncle kaguta tayina gyalaga! the man owns the state, its resources and its army. he has a Queen and a Prince in waiting all trained for the express purpose of offering an alternate king. and now the noose is tightening on the PM for daring to do what besigye and bukenya did before him -covet the throne! this is high treason in a kingdom my friend! Kakati daddy is going to be rendered useless in both the NRM secretariat his refusal to step down from the position of SG notwithstanding! with a deputy who reports directly to the oracle, in both the SG’s office as well as the OPM, it is going to be fun watching this new game! Nasasira of course is not going to play second fiddle -I can see Bahima/Bairu/Bakiga politics playing itself out here! slowly by slowly, like Bukenya before him, the PM is being encircled and being made redundant not to mention being blamed in public by the visionary himself for not being efficient!

On another note, old man bidandi now wants the taxpayer to pay for his self initiated referral to Taiwan for medical treatment without even bothering to go through the queue. he is appealing direct to the oracle! Banange the politics of patronage! the man who has been in government for decades and served to entrench the movement and its leader now thinks that Ugandans owe him after maintaining him in luxury for decades! this sense of entitlement among Ugandan politicians is annoying! you guys neglect Uganda’s health system at your own peril no matter how much money you make nor power you have!

Kakati nno munange when the Kaguta’s kick you out before the paesants come along with pitchforks you could end up like Mzee bidandi begging to be let back into the tent of resources and patronage!

I have prepared for that day munange -as I have sid before nze nja kukweeka wansi w’omufaliiso!

Beera bulungi!

Drew

P.S: I think I just may hang around a long while just so that i can piss you guys off a little more till you retire from the countries politics and go back to look after your cows and goats!

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Letter to Nina

Now you think you can teach me about patriotism?

Thursday, August 9, 2012 at 11:55pm 路

https://www.facebook.com/notes/nina-mbabazi/drew-and-his-katayimbwa-goons/10151089035384449?notif_t=comment_mention

Nina, dearest,

You are now acknowledging what has been common knowledge for many weeks and feigning ignorance? Ekyo bambi ekigali nkibuusse mu togya kumalilla budde. Those who really wanted to know or express their concern did so a very long time ago while the details are all online for those interested in them.

Am not quite sure whats wrong with the Mbabazi household as one of your relatives Patrick has been asking similar annoying questions like he didn’t know how to read! Dude was so confused that if I didnt know he was not a recipient of the crappy UPE education of bonna bakone, I would have thought that he too was a UPE graduate. My grandmother would have put it best by saying, “bambi musassire. anti yakoona!”! “Enoo simanyi UPE yaMuseveni bambi ebabugumyako bubugumya!”

I will however respond to one question as it raises serious public health and law abiding ramifications. I would never sit on a boda boda if it were the last transport available! those things kill and maim people. Under the NRM, they have flourished and are everywhere like flies on poo! Nothing demonstrates the lawlessness over which Kayihura presides than watching boda bodas ride through the city breaking all the rules right in front of police officers!

Of course the other people who demonstrate just how mucu the NRM has lost control of the city is butayimbwa. I can see that you demonstrate your ignorance by assuming that its only boda bodas who are targeted! i assume that you are trying to imply that they would never be able to get to you in your big fuel guzzling 4WD and that if i was mugged, i must have been using my God given 2WD or a boda boda! i am afraid i will have to disabuse you of that ignorance of the security situation in Kampala! contrary to what you believe, all sorts of people and all sorts of surburbs have been besieged by butayimbwa wielders!

Am sorry if you were under the impression that i accused you of hiring thugs to finish me off. When i say you, i mean your as representing the NRM, the party you personally helped to grab power last year and received a public acknowledgement by president Museveni. i know that you now want to forget just like your dad would like us to forget that he is one of the architects of the chaos over which the NRM has presided! if the NRM and Museveni have brought chaos and corruption to Uganda, his bossom buddy, hatchetman and chief strategist Amama Mbabazi has got to be condmned together with him. This shall not be the time to say, “mbu silya nyama ndyamu supu!” i nowhere implied that you had gone out and hired goons to finish me off but that YOU (you, AM, NRM, Pres Kaguta) have created the conditions for the lawlessness that now characterises Kampala and almost resulted in my death!

i notice that all of you, yourself, daddy and uncle Kaguta use the same strategy! Blame the lowest common denominator, the guy at the bottom! so in the PM’s office blame Kazinda but let the PS OPM as well as that of finance get away scott free for presiding over a fraud that now spans 3 decades.You use the same disingenuous excuse in Mulago! you mention the video from abim hospital. i wonder whether you really bothered to watch that video. if you had, you would have listened to the voices of frontline staff -the people who work everyday in the mud and muck upto their elbows and eyeballs in human refuse and virus infected blood minus protective gear! instead, you chose to be jingoistic just like the PM and the president have been -focus on the little man and woman who often times are helpless!

Mulago has a computer -God save us all! Now that mulago has a computer I assume we do not need doctors. I find it interesting listening to your account of doctors or the lack of in Mulago casualty and contrasting it with my personal experience as well as my recent chats with interns in Mulago. Are you aware that an intern in Mulago may work a longer than 12 hour shift for 7 days a week, several weeks in a row without any breaks? That they have got to pay for their own hepatitis vaccine jabs to protect themselves from hepatitis which is endemic in uganda? That protective equipment may often be in short supply? Are you awrae that at least one study shows that the mortality rate of a ugandan doctor exceeds greatly that of international averages?

That Ugandan midwives often abused and maligned may have an HIV rate far exceeding that of nurses, the only difference being that midwives are exposed to more patients blood? and what these midwives and junior doctors get paid a month you blow on a meal in a restaurant or just airtime! its all nice and good for you to sit on your high chairs pontificating about the hippocratic oath of which you wouldnt even have the slightest clue without even bothering to look at them as human beings like yourself. human beings who have needs, pay rent, have school fees etc. Ever wondered how they survive on the pitiful salaries you pay them? the other day, your thieving members of parliament increased their own salaries. just a year ago, they robbed the tax payer to pay themselves and help your daddy and uncle Kaguta buy and steal an election! The practice of medicine is both a vocation and a profession. Being a vocation does not grant you the right to exploit and abuse doctors who like yourself want the conforts of life as well as the luxuries! As a profession they are entitled just like you to demand to be paid for their professional services for as a profession, many of them devote decades to training to acquire the skills you wish them to give away free while you guys live it up!

I read with amusement a MoH official describe an MRI scanner as an more advanced CT scan! What ignorance! The story of the dysfunctional MRI, actually never functioned reminds me of some anecdotes from my days in mulago! If you gave me a day, i could go on non stop and still would not run out of stories non of them amusing!

During my intern days, the labour suite received a donation of a fancy looking and very modern delivery bed. The kind that you no doubt have seen in the fancy private labour suites you have been to. trust me it was out of bed in mulago. white and shiny, it was electric. To function properly, it required a power source -you know those outlets in the wall? but the plug it came with didnt fit a ugandan socket. having travelled you would be aware that the british plug used in uganda is not really universal.

A fancy do was put on with ministers posing for photo ops and the New vision wasted some trees on a front page spread! For the next few months, that bed was stuck in the corner, unused. i asked the sister in charge why, and she said it was because they couldnt plug it in the wall. i pointed out that it was just a matter of changing the plug, something i could do myself in five minutes and all they needed to do was to get someone from engineering to do it. a few months later, the bed disappeared presumably to engineering never to return. Having been covered in a layer of dust, it could very easily be passed off as scrap!

in the same unit at another fancy photo op for the politicians and administrators, a batch of fancy new vacuum delivery kits with soft cups that are more kind to little tots brains were delivered. Sister in charge locked them up for fear of them getting stolen and they never saw the light of day. we continued to use old and rusty metal cups.

in another department the casualty I was involved with a project funded by the french government. A young french medical attache was all gung ho about creating an efficient emergency unit. Equipment was installed, theatres, x-ray units, monitors, anaesthesia machines, ECG etc!

These things always require consumables like ECG paper on which to print. once the paper the French had provided got finished, the ECG machines became mueseum pieces. Soon they too found their way to the equipment morgue and never got back!

there are a lot of things wrong with the health system and most of them are leadership and administration. Specifically the lack of leadership at all levels of the NRM government and the corruption that is now firmly embedded in our culture!

I find it amusing that you deign to lecture me on my duties to my country and people! i know my duties and responsibilities. and these start with my civic duty to speak out on issues that affect me and mine. My parents and siblings have got to attend the crappy health care system that you guys have run down. for them to get even a minimum of care, i have to subsidise the crap all that you provide. So dont tell me about patriotism. I contribute to the Ugandan economy including charity! on my last visit, i contributed a significant amount of dollars to your flagging economy as i have done over the years. I even pay taxes! So i have all the right in the world to question the way that you have run this country for 26 years!

As for ‘decampaigning’ the country, I am very sure you have a misunderstanding there. I was injured in uganda. Te injuries are visible as are the prostheses i have to wear. i have both trauma and surgical scars. of course people who see them ask and given I interface with tens to hundreds of people face to face everyday, i get asked a lot how i got injured. Do you want me to say that i was mugged in Nigeria which by the way has a murder rate less than one sixth of uganda? My comment was that people ask. i respond with the truth while inwardly angry. angry that i know that by telling them the truth i am confirming and reinforcing already established biases and prejudices. but ten or fifteen years ago, i would confidently tell them whene they asked me patronising questions that uganda was getting better under a focused bunch of new politicians who had fought their way to power pushing out murderous dinosaurs.

Now i cannot with confidence say the same thing for truth be told, uganda is now an occupied state. Security everywhere which unfortunately does not prevent people from getting killed. Makes one wonder if the security are the ones knocking off people. actually a shoot out last week netted escurity men who had been robbing people.All i can now say is that the country has gone to the dogs and the sooner we get some change to reignite some hope, the better!

And yes the donors and westerners are biased and prejudiced but who can blame them after watching our buffoons in power who forget to go home?

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Letter to Nina

Katayimbwa murders and the elusive NRM peace and security!

Tuesday, July 31, 2012 at 2:02am 路

Nina dear,

Obulamu.

These days you have gone quiet! Must be those naughty Chinese people who wanted to jail you! Kale obuChina bumanyiira! mbu you stole their motorbikes and refused to pay even after receiving the goods and disposing of them! naye kale mwana wabayisaawo! Am surprised uncle Kaguta has not as yet reprimanded you for mistreating investors!

Tomorrow am having an operation to fix the effects of your regimes little boys 3 weeks ago! Kale mwaali mumazzewo! Am sure you are going to feign ignorance of what am talking about but you would have to be the only person in the Ugandan blogosphere who does not know what am talking about! you may deny that there are your little boys but given they phenomenon of katayimbwa is one that has been nurtured and grown under the NRM, you cannot deny ownership! Your bu boys must have figured that I needed some re education about the “peace and security” ushered in by the NRM! And they did really re educate me and trust me, I can see the irony even more clearly than i ever did before!

Naye kale mwana gwe oli musezi olya n’abafu, as my grandmother would have said! Kale nali simanyi nti olina akatima akabi bwekatyo! If I ever doubted it before, now I know that among those who wish me dead, you have got a front seat. But knowledge is power!

You see in her village in Masaka, Rakai as in all civilised Buganda, if someone fell gravely ill or died, everyone on the village was expected to drop what they were doing and commiserate with the bereaved or the sick. Failure to do so would mark one as being a person of ill will and if there was a question as to whether there was witchcraft or poison involved or other mercenary motive, would identify them as the culprit! In my grandmothers village, your behavior would qualify you and identify you as the museezi or mulogo and you would be very lucky to escape with your life! Bandi pisse gwe emizingonyo …I shudder to state where they would shove them! But as you know i have a soft spot for you so i will tell them to “beat you gently”!!!

You know I have always thought that if you guys were stupid enough to want to bump me off you would have to try and make it look like a random attack! People keep telling me i should not go to Uganda but I have always rubbished them! I did not believe that your regime are stupid enough to bump people off for disagreeing with the way you run the country -like village bumpkins!On a serious note I still do not believe that you are stupid enough to try to bump me off nevermind I shouldn’t be so sure given the actions of your fathers regime! The reality remains that someone did seriously try to bump me off! I still have the bump on my head and a fracture to prove it!

Which does raise the issue of security in Uganda! You know security is the one thing that you guys have always claimed you brought! Its the opium by which you continue to drug the masses! Mbu ‘twebaka ku tullo!”

Assuming this was a random act of violence which I prefer to believe it was despite what everyone else appears to believe, my immediate interest of course was how common was it! Imagine my surprise to find that this kind of assault is a very common occurence in virtually all surburbs of Kampala! there is even a name for it -katayimbwa. Some random comments I can quote include that of a neurosurgeon who testified that katayimbwa is the most common cause of head injuries on his unit in Mulago!

A pathologist in Mulago cites it as the most common cause of violent death in the morgue! At least two people showed me their injuries while two others told me their brothers had been attacked in similar circumstances and barely escaped with their lives following prolonged hospitalisation. Several people testified to knowing people killed with katayimbwa to the head within the last few days from places as diverse as Mukono, a surburb on Entebbe road, Kawempe etc!

A radio programme debated the phenomenon of katayimbwa and several newspaper reports on deaths appeared in the two weeks I was in Kampala! Several businessmen were shot and killed or butchered with many of these murders remaining unsolved. An article quoted a murder report that suggested at least 10 people were killed in Kampala each night in such similar incidents!

You know I was attacked very early in the evening at 8:30 right next to a police barracks in a spot that. It also happened to be on a night that commemorated the first anniversary of the 7/11 Rugby club bombings. Kayihura’s men had a show of power out that day -enough for everyone to feel safe if they really had any faith in the police! But Ugandans have learnt not to have any faith in a politicised police! The role of Kayihura’s police is to keep the government in power not to protect the community! Thats why despite the heavy presence of policemen and women everywhere, people continue to be murdered everyday! Thats why places the community considers to be red spots are not monitored by the police! Do you know that many people are convinced that the police themselves are a part of these attacks on innocent people?

In the two weeks i spent in kampala, i got to get an intimate knowledge of at least 5 hospitals in kampala, 3 in one night! my experiences which i will write further about go on to reinforce my previous opinions about the health system in Uganda under the NRM! Am not quite sure that there any words that can really describe the mess that you guys have presided over and produced in the last 26 years and counting! Its no wonder you steal 350 million USD of taxpayer money a year to have yourself treated overseas while the hospitals at home are rotting!

i was amused when a few days ago your father the Prime minister listed on twitter the so called health achievements of the NRM government! Munange daddy wo mugambe he should not embarrass himself again without getting proper briefing! As a matter of fact as a leader of government business and an aspiring president of this country who has been one of the longest serving ministers and architect of the movement, he really needs to acquaint himself with the mess over which he presides!

One does not have to be a specialist to know that the health system in Uganda is a mess! you probably know by now that he was robustly rebutted and retreated never to return after he cited the uganda Heart Institute and the uganda Cancer institute among the ‘achievements of the NRM! Quite frankly if you guys do not know what you are doing you really need to step down and go back to rearing ducks and goats!Uganda does not have a functioning emergency care, primary care, critical care as well as many recognised specialties and subspecialties! And this is not because i am being elitist or comparing Ugandan with western countries!

Ugandans die everyday from simple things for which no one should die in this day and age! And for the PM to cite cardiac care and cancer care as “achievements” is at beast ignorant and at the worst mendacious! if he really wishes to become president he needs to start setting himself aside and informing himself rather than parroting what is written in the NRM manifesto which quite frankly is lies! the mortality rate of a Ugandan woman with breast cancer is 200% the international average! that figure lone should give you some idea just how bad the situation is! I wouldnt even wish to hazard a guess what the cardiac mortality rate is compared to international and even regional standards unless you are comparing Uganda with Somalia and Congo!

Kampala is insecure! The myth of the NRM having brought peace and security is just a myth. People are dying everyday in preventable homicides with the police looking on! the people consider the police to be useless and actually the enemy!

Within days of my assault 2 other people reported being assaulted on twitter and one notified your father in a tweet! His very laughable response was -go tell the police! I think you guys must be deluded! The police is useless and to report yet another assault when they have done nothing about the previous ones nor taken any steps to prevent future assaults and homicides is a waste of time! Me I refused to waste my time! The police have got enough statistics and do not need any new ones. they just need to act and to be seen to be acting!

When i arrived in Uganda 2 days earlier, it was as usual to see what new changes there were in Kampala. Among those changes is personal security! As a member of the Ugandan diaspora who also happens to hold a foreign passport, security is important. One assault almost left me dead, almost left my children orphaned and given my head and my dominant hand were involved almost left me unable to work! As it is while i am back to work, my driving is limited and i will need to take off extra time for another operation. So two weeks in Uganda have ended up having lasting impact that of course also determines how i view Uganda!

Can you imagine i had only spent two days in Uganda and my 2 and a half year old daughter was visiting Uganda for the first time! It would be a day she would forever remember as she had just been baptised the day before and for the rest of her life, thats all she would ever remember of Uganda! my sons experience of lawlessness has always been on visits to Uganda with at least three robberies, and this attempted murder! That 2 days before we had paid 200 dollars for visas to Uganda expecting to have a holiday and instead experiencing a nightmare!

It is interesting that your NRM talks about investment, mining and tourism without paying any attention to personal security and primary and acute healthcare services! it makes one wonder whether you guys really understand the fundamentals! That for businessmen and tourists to visit Uganda and spend money as well as invest, they have to be assured of security. And security is not about the vulgarised visible but inneffective security in Kampala that is pervasive but basically run by ignorant people who would miss a bomb if it were right in front of their eyes! Security can be very effective even when invisible and unintimidating!

i found it interesting that your brother in law, Patrick, who i used to consider to be a friend put my assault down to a mere statistic! He even suggested that i made up the whole thing to make your government look bad! Quite frankly one does not need to make up anything to make you look bad -you do a good enough job of that already!

I have been asked to give a talk about health in Uganda in a forum that will include members of the diaspora as well as investors with mining interests and potential tourists!

I remain conflicted! Do I promote my country while covering up incompetence or do i lay out the whole naked and bare truth? Given that i do not like telling lies, you know exactly what i am going to say! It would actually be unethical to cover up the truth -that the NRM has been lying to people about having brought peace and security and that it is common and quite possible for one to be killed in a random event for simple things like pocket change, a watch or a phone! The NRM also needs to know that if it wishes to attract investors and tourists, many of whom are retirees with chronic illnesses, they need to pay attention to the healthcare system! When i called my travel insurance company, I was told verbatim, that i was calling from the middle of nowhere in Africa! As you can see the millions of dollars given the first son to “sell” the country went the way of those wasted on the police!

I wonder what you guys see when you travel to other countries to study, to do business or even to have babies at our tax payer expense! Or are you so blind you cannot see that your so called development falls far short of the mark?

Munange yadde you wished me dead, me i will hide you under my bed when the peasants come for you with pitchforks as they certainly shall! Don’t think that those idiots with katayimbwa will not one day come knocking at your gate! for as long as the NRM continues to create these problems, you and your children shall never be safe in Kampala just like the rest of us are not now!

So much for the NRM peace and security! Needless to say while I have no choice and will be visiting Uganda again in future, none of my acquaintances and friends are likely to be visiting Uganda as tourists or investors at any time in the near future!

***************

P.S: I wish to make it clear that despite many suggestions that the attack on me was politically motivated i believe it was a random attack reflective of the lack of peace and poor personal security in Uganda under the NRM government! While i am aware that my articles upset some people in the NRM, i have got no evidence that this was a politically motivated attack. I also wish to state that I am not and have never been a politician!

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Katayimbwa, Letter to Nina, Security

Will the children of NRM politicians help Ugandans escort their fathers back to their villages?

Friday, June 29, 2012 at 8:51pm ·

@Muhiire says,

- Robert Kabushenga

- Kwame Rugunda

- Rugaba Hussein Kashillingi

- Eva Rukikaire Mwine

- Annette Mirembe Kategaya

- Nina Mbabazi

Give them more mash and add concentrates, Mukene, Spinach, & cabbages and let the fattened birds remain in their deep slumber for the rest of their useful time. A brilliant Idea! Talk of fattened, castrated bulls! well kept in an electric enclosure. no worries about tomorrow as long as there is enough grass and piped water in their paddocks and you can even rap and get away with it as you prolong their slumber!

TALK OF WASTED INTELLECT!

Give the broilers ten years in the same state, they will be as good as local crude waragi drinkers in terms of ‘nationalism’ achievements. ‘mbu’ they also have five sense! The old generation in power today, might be on a mission to render the young generation useless. The broilers are enemies of themselves! There is a big diffence between a man & manhood. I can see a wasted generation in making!”

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=433728849983575&set=a.100120663344397.48.100000393901179&type=1&ref=notif¬if_t=photo_comment_tagged

Barbra Natifu,

I believe these six were chosen because they are the children of prominent politicians who have at some point or other had some prominence or involvement in public life -or not.

I believe the targeting presupposes that being born into priviledge and recipients of the benefits of being the children of politicians who have benefited financially and otherwise from the longevity of the NRM, they are somehow obliged to make a contribution to society.

In fact the post insinuates that they are disappointments for having taken the ‘wrong side” in or not taking any side at all!

To some extent its true despite protestations to the contrary that all of the above have been priviledged whether they acknowledge it or not. It is normal for all of us to assume that we have our headstart in life because we are uniquely talented and those less fortunate souls who fall off the treadmill of life or live close to the bottom are just plain lazy!

Reality however is that our backgrounds are very much dictated by the station in life that our parents hold and if those parents have greater access to public goods which they can leverage to get us a better education and lifestyle, seats on company boards, contracts from foreign companies that are simply interested in the real or imagined patronage that our family name brings to them even when we bring little in the way of real skills we have to be really stupid to fail. So the above people can protest all they like but reality is that they were given a head start regardless of whether they acknowledge it or not.

Those of us who have been priviledged could be said to have some sort of obligation to return something to the society that has been so kind to us. But is this really an obligation or a personal choice?

The NRM and Museveni as well as his wife have made it obligatory for Ugandans to “be patriotic”. As a matter of fact some of the above have tried to use the patriotic argument to counter any accusations by those who believe that their fathers have mismanaged our country and economy. If we all have to be patriotic then one would have to demand that those who have had most priviledge be the first ones to put their words where their mouths are! Certainly if these people who are clearly benfiting from the animal their fathers killed are not ready to step up and defend it, what business do I have defending it for them?

But again one has got to ask -do these people have an obligation to fight for and defend what their fathers fought and killed for?

That presupposes that they are happy that our society is well managed and their fathers and mothers are doing a very good job and should not be retired in the publics best interest!

I happen to believe that the countries top managers, the parents of the above six have done their job and have reached the limits of their own skills and need to hand over.

However I believe in merit and not inheritance. The above six even if they viewed public life as their obligation have no more right than any other suitably qualified person to take on as leaders of the next generation.

In my humble opinion if they wish to take part in future leadership, it should not be from a position of priviledge and right of inheritance but because they actually have got something to donate back to society. They have to chose the side of the people. This is true whether they chose to stay in the run down and increasingly decadent NRM or chose to break with their parents.

The NRM is in need of reform to come back in line with peoples aspirations. In its current form and leadership, it is going to die whether the owners accept it or not! It is where KANU and UPC were in the past! Whether these young people want to die with it or not is upto them!

As an aside, I note the comments of Hussein and Nina with regard to their childhood sacrifices.

There is a tendency for some children of NRM bigwigs to play the poor little rich me card ie the Marie Antoinette card. Poor me had to live in a flat in Sweden on sausages kind and endure house arrest kind of thing.

With all due respect, there are many Ugandans who lost more in a war that was not theirs. Unlike Kabushenga and Hussein, the rest here did not lose their parents and they went on to become the most priviledged members of our society for more than half of Ugandan’s post independence life. Parents pass on their priviledges to their children and while one can fail even with a priviledged background, one is less likely to if they have priviledge. Do not take the difference with which people treat you for granted -it does confer certain priviledges and advantages.

Reality is that there are those of us whose grandparents and parents were well on their way to comfort and priviledge who have been direct or indirect victims of the chaos and wars the parents of the above were involved in. Its always assumed that the grass is not important but in reality it is. Actually it should always be about the grass! but is it ever? The people who ride to power and stay in power on the blood and livelihoods of others somehow always believe that its their right rather than a priviledge that confers greater responsibility upon them!

Lives were lost and dreams destroyed and were it not for the wars, those families that were already ahead by the 60′s would have been much farther ahead if their fathers were not killed, their property looted, their mothers raped or their childhood traumatised. And unlike those who were connected they did not have access to state house scholarships to help them out even if they were bright enough and neither have they completed masters degrees abroad on state scholarship ahead of their brighter peers nor got accelerated promotions or choice appointments as a result of their connections.

I have the advantage of having relatives who gave up everything to join the NRM and UPM but got nothing out of it but death, jail, lost dreams and destroyed livelihoods so those who believe they “sacrificed’ need to have more humility!

So I would submit that while the comments above may not apply individually, humility is important. I also submit that the use of the word broiler is unwarranted and kind of stiffles the debate as to whether the above men and women who may have something to give to the country need to step up and take a more active role and use their priviledge and good education as well as financial ‘biens’ to advance our society.

And this will of course include shaping the future of this country and will more than likely include taking the side of Ugandans in escorting their parents back home to their villages and ranches and asking them to learn other skills like rocking grandchildren and counting cows and goats!

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Nina

Sugar is going to topple your regime!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 12:01am 路

Nina dear,

Sukali akutte wansi ne wagulu! At this rate it appears that the nemesis of Uncle Kaguta will be sugar!

You know these things bitandika nga ebyokusaaga but then they get serious! In Tunisia, it all started with a pathetic man who couldnt find himself a job. So he in entreprising fashion or was it in deperation tried his hand at selling vegetables on the street. But the police would have none of that. You see in Ben Ali’s Tunisia, people like him did not exist! The lived under the radar and the state would rather convince themselves they were just lazy! Poor man in desperation took his own life!

But in that one act of self imolation, he set into movement a great force -the wind of change. Some know it as the Jasmine revolution or the jasmine train. It flowed and wafted and caused seismic waves all over north Africa and the middle east. In an act of powerlessness and desperation, a great power was born! The power Ben ali of Tunisia was brought down by vegetables and had to hop from one country to another looking for asylum!

The catalyst in neighbouring Egypt was not vegetables. It was the price of bread. You see, Egypt is one of the worlds biggest importers of wheat! For as long as people had their daily bread, the Mubaraks could go about their daily stealing with impunity! But once the price of bread was tampered with, Mubarak had to go! Now he is a wizened little octogenarian in a cage -a pitiful sight! Very far from the man who dubbed himself “father of the nation” and presided over a state of emergency for 30 years. Pundits opined that without him Egypt would collapse, in much the same way that they opine about Uncle Kaguta! But you see Egypt has been around for millions of years. Pharaohs come and go but the country and the people remain! The last pharaoh of Egypt is no more -brought down by bread!

For a brief while, it looked like fuel would be the downfall of Kaguta but you know, the price of fuel simply does not have as much power in a country like Uganda where only a handful will ever even dream of owning a car! So to most Ugandan’s it is an abstract concept. Few even relate it directly to the price they have to pay for transport!

But sugar, thats another story! Thats something all Ugandans understand. You see Ugandans have a sweet tooth. If you doubt it, look around you at the tummies and generous behinds! Ugandans do not care about the price of fuel and neither do they care for the price of wheat and bread. Most Ugandans do not eat bread anyway save for the wannabee middle classes in the city!

I first found out the power of sugar a long time ago on a visit to the village. My parents never took us much to the village save for this one time -actually the second time they ever allowed us out of their sight for a month! We went to grandma’s place in Masaka for the holiday! As part of the gifts, we carried sugar, salt, soap and of course omupunga! Such were the deprivations of Amins Uganda that people had to carry essential foodstuffs hundreds of kilometres to the villages. these days one can buy most of these thigs locally if they have the money -money of course being the key word.

I find it interesting when people wax lyrical about the economy during Amins regime! I was a child but I know for a fact that there was only one “supermarket” at drapers building near the taxi park and that towards the end of his regime, it was empty. I know for a fact that sugar had to be bought from the back of Hajjis shop in Nakasero -you see Hajji was a hoarder who hoarded sugar for economic gain and sold it on the black market then called magendo! A neighbour Peter, whose son I went to high school with was in and out of jail for economic crimes -essentially hoarding petrol and paraffin and selling it under the cover of darkness, while another neighbour was a dealer in “kasse” or blackmarket coffee which was exported at great profit to a neighbouring country. You see the only buyer of farmers coffee produce in those days was the state through the coffee marketing board -daylight robbery if you asked me!

Grandma was a hoarder -of sugar! While it was common knowledge that sugar was scarce in those days, she always managed to have some sugar hoarded away for the visitors from Kampala! Villagers had learnt the art of surviving without sugar. Omupunga was a treat att christmas while salt was a luxury that made one friends on the village!

In came Obote in 1980! And with him came insecurity and runaway inflation. Sugar was once again a rare and valued comodity! Manufacturing broke down completely with the major producers relocating their manufacturing to Kenya. If the Kenyans sneezed, ugandans caught a cold!

Ugandans also got a new disease -chits! There was a whole industry built around the buying a selling of chits from ministers and well connected people. These chits could get you sugar, beer, cement at prices that others would kill for. You paid someone to get you an “allocation” of a scarce commodity. This allocation came in the form of a chit from the minster which you presented to the manager. It even served as an IOU and was tradeable goods against which one could borrow money! Fortunes were built around the business of chits! Even getting your half brained son into an elite school could be achieved using a chit! At a certain time of the year, this was the main business in the Min of Education!

Zimbabweans think they invented runaway inflation! They should have been in Uganda in the early 80鈥瞫! If a shopkeeper opened shop in the morning and sold his goods before checking the going rate for the USD on the street, they could very easily go bankrupt! One literally needed a kikapu and millions of shillings to buy bread -and of course the valuable crystals of sugar! Owning USD was an economic crime! The state had this thing they called window one and window two and made it illegal to trade foreign currency outside those two! But entreprising Ugandans traded forex on the street at exchange rates tens to hundreds of times the official rate! And woe betide you if you were caught with “adui” or the enemy which is what Obote’s soldiers dubbed forex!

But back to this thing of sugar! In those days only the lucky ones had sugar everyday. My mother became just like her mother an expert hoarder of sugar! The best friends were the local traders. People lined up to buy sugar but my parents made friends with the traders and got theirs delivered at the back door! My mum always had sugar stored awaty somewhere under lock and key!When Museveni came into power, he rubbished the need for people to line up for sugar! In the initial days of 1986, one of the main functions of the LC’s was to distribute sugar at a government price. No budget was complete without the price of beans and sugar! Being friends with LC’s allowed one to get a bigger allocation of sugar! Every family had to have their name ticked off a list and their allocation given to them!

Ugandans soon moved on from this basic economics. For 25 years, Museveni has presented rosy economic figures demonstrating how Uganda was developing significantly! For most people the economics of sugar and salt were no longer an issue and people had moved on to other things!

For the last few months however, Ugandans are consumed with the price of sugar! Its on the lips of everyone including in the rarefied spaces of the internet and facebook! it is testimony to the air or in Ugaspeak “kiwani” or the smoke and mirrors that Ugandans hae been sold for the last two and a half decades. Following the arrogant speeches prior to and after the last election claiming the fundamentals of the economy were sound, despite evidence to the contrary while spending money on getting re elected like money was going out of fashion, it is interesting to watch the chickens come home to roost! After 25 years, we are right back were we were in 1986 with the price of sugar being the dominant question on everyones lips! One wonders what happened to the funamental change and all of that economic growth!A look at other countries has shown that the spark that saw the demise of the sitting government has been something that most people can identify with!

Ugandans can identify with the price of sugar. Nothing brings home to them the fact that things are bad like the inability to afford sugar! Right now if I were this government I would not be sleeping easy! But see what they managed to think up -Kyambadde wants traders to line up in her office for chits! Chits you say? Isnt that what they used to do in 1980? Exactly! Thats how far back we have gone or did we ever move on from there! Has it all been an illusion? And poor old Kaguta could only think of two things to say -that his father does not eat imported foodstuffs and that traders were economic saboteurs! Banange did this man ever hear of supply and demand?

Kale mwe mbasassidde! Me I learnt how to hoard from my mother and grandmother! the moment I say you guys spending 650 billions on buying votes and another 1.7 trillion you dont own on jets you cannot afford to fly, I knew inflation was coming! You scoffed at me!

He who laughs last, laughs best! Sugar is going to be the nemesis of Kaguta, just like vegetables toppled Ben Ali and bread toppled Mubarak!

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Letter to Nina

Nina -the confirmation hearings are a sham!

Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 10:32pm 路

Nina Mbabazi says,

“It seems this 9th parliament may just not be as bad as we expect. By rejecting Kajura for Public service docket, rejecting Seya outright and querying the academic qualifications of two others, they are showing the executive that they will do things their way. This is going to be very interesting five years.”

Nina, I disagree.

The ninth parliament defined itself by kicking journalists out so they could discuss their obscene allowances even before they had done anything at all.

These so called confirmation hearings aren’t worth the time spent on them. Twelve minutes per candidate is a joke.

Furthermore the people kicked out so far are so obvious, the real question should be why they were included in the first place.

Ssebagala is a no brainer. Quite frankly if your dad agreed to serve in the same cabinet with Ssebagala, even you should doubt him. Kajura too is a no brainer -but he had to be played along with in order to avoid upsetting Banyoro. So they are given byoya byanswa to hoodwink them.

The other two rejections are really evidence of lack of due diligence. No one who is obviously unfit by virtue of such an obvious and challengeable problem as academic qualifications should even make it to the hearing. Someone in the presidents and prime ministers office failed to do due diligence! Who draws up these lists and what are their criteria? Do they draw up the lists over a pot of malwa? i think that someone should be fired for these names having ever appeared on the list at all!

I have not caught up yet but quite frankly if Otafiire is passed by the committee for Justice, the committee should be considered a joke. Ssebagala should not be the criteria by which the quality of the committee is assessed!

The way i see it, the committee has done exactly what the executive wanted them to do -unless the executive are incompetent. The ninth parliament is yet to prove itself and so far they have started off really badly!

Ugandans need lean efficient government with the training and capacity to deliver. Listen to the new CEO of the Kampala authority speak. Now thats a woman who speaks with confidence -like she knows what she is talking about and is clear regarding her plans. The only problem is that Kampala city like the rest of Uganda is top heavy with politicians interested in posturing while being maintained at public expense and they are not likely to let her do her job. Personally I do not care for Lord Mayors and all of that sort of crap. What Kampala needed was a CEO appointed on a performance based contract with full powers and authority who does not have to waste her time placating and playing games with politicians and semi literate councillors! She also needs to have the powers to hire and fire and build her own team without interference and has got to be facilitated in doing her job.

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Letter to Nina

Hospital beds and NRM incompetence in health.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 12:30am ·

Dear Nina,

Its a few days since I last wrote to you.

I did write you a letter which I started off as a letter to Patrick then realised I was duplicating the same things you raised in your letter. An accident with my power cable put paid to that letter for now but you will get it in due course. Half of it has already been published on FB inadvertently -its the changes to Patricks letter that got lost.

You do however ask a question below that I will try to answer.

_“Illustration to Drew from World Bank Report (Health Sector) by Nina Mbabazi on Monday, May 23, 2011 at 7:55pm

Mr Ddembe,

Can you explain if this drop in government expenditure in health is because we are having more babies or there is a policy flaw? I think the second chart shows the impact of the failed IMF/World bank Structural reforms in the Health sector 1994″_

The answer to your question is BOTH.While your question refers to health expenditure, your illustration actually shows a decline in the number of hospital beds per capita.

We are far behind the expected and agreed upon 15% of GDP that our governments pledged for Health expenditure (Christine Lalobo has the figures on that). We are over reliant on NGO and donor support and the bulk of expenditure on health is shifted to the consumer in addition to paying taxes. this of course has the effect of freeing our resources for wars we dont need and fighter jets we cannot really afford! This is one of the reasons that AID does not work!

The number of beds per capita in a third world country is a direct reflection of expenditure on health rather than efficiency because we are short of beds rather than oversupplied. In the west there is a trend towards decreasing the number of beds per capita by using them more efficiently, reducing lengths of stay, spending on primary and preventive care and funding General practitioners and community based health services. In a country like Uganda, there are virtually no state funded community based healthcare services, admission, diagnostics, treatment and discharge are inneficient thus long lengths of stay, General practice is 100% private funded, and medications and health personnel in short supply. Other bottlenecks to the management and discharge of patients from public hospitals are lack of medications, lack of theatre space and trained personnel and lack of social services.

For example a patient who comes to Mulago with a treatable condition for which there is a shortage of drugs will occupy a bed until the relatives can sell a goat or call their daughter in Boston to send money by Western Union. Sometimes the time between getting admitted, diagnosed and actually accessing treatment maybe days. I have seen doctors in Mulago pay for a patients medications from their own meagre salaries just to get the patient out of hospital! There are also many patients from upcountry who refuse to go home until they complete their treatment. This maybe many months for example say cancer patients. Other patients may again refuse to go home for months because socially their conditions have made them outcasts like say vaginal fistulae. But the operations for these conditions due to shortages in trained specialists may take months to organise. If a patient needs say a CT in Mulago which they have to fund because it is not a part of the NRM’s “free healthcare”, they or their relatives have to go back to the village and fundraise or sell a cow while the patient is occupying a bed!

The NRM claims to have built new health centres. MoH reports show that many of these health centres are non functional, that staffing levels are only 34% and that they do not have drugs. The benefits in building these facilities went only to the people who got contracts to build them with substandard materials at inflated price (there is evidence for this), as well as those who signed the contracts for a kickback but not the community.

I have previously on FB challenged every NRM supporter who quoted the NRM’s official line on having built new hospitals to give me the names of those hospitals. All have dissappeared and not returned. I have also challenged them to visit a ward, any ward in Mulago and speak to real patients then come back and report their findings. None has ever come back. This challenge has been here for months.

I would like to challenge you now that you have taken up researching what I write seriously to go to Ugandan Cancer Institute and just speak to patients on the wards. One day, one visit will give you a very clear picture of what a real Ugandan patient goes through and trust me it is not reflected in the NRM’s fancy manifesto or the fancy figures in President Museveni’s speeches. You will realise that Museveni and all your official spokespersons havent the slightest clue what they are really talking about when they regurgitate those figure!

You guys capitalise on Ugandans ignorance for if elections were really based on issues, there is no way you would be in government!

Uganda’s population has gone up almost 4 times since 1980 and ten times since independence. Most if not all of Uganda’s hospital except Rusherwe which of course is near Rwakitura and was started at Museveni’s insistence, were built in the 60′s and earlier. Essentially while the population has gone up several times, the number of beds has shrunk as has the number of beds per capita but the efficiency has gone down too due to the longer length of stay resulting from the diagnostic, management and discharge bottlenecks.

I wrote the note below in 2006 in response to an annoying Ugandan Kony supporter. The langage I used of course was appropriate for him so I will not edit it. It discusses similar issues.

****************************

To Mr holding my nose!

authored by Ddembe on 19. January 2006 at 06:22

Mulindwa says, “ Think about it my fellow Ugandan, and you know I refused to respond to your comments due to your very un acceptable language in a public forum but this time I will hold my nose and respond to you for you are misleading the populace..”

Lets get a few things straight!

1. Your language is patronising, rude and unnacceptable. It is for this reason that I do not waste my time debating anything with you! If you care to do so you can roll back here and see your first response to my first very polite question to you!
2. Your posts are full of junk much of which is innaccurate! You indulge in circular logic and long winded posts in an effort to fatigue other discussants while losing the point of the discussion! You indulge in a flight of ideas and jump from one topic to another which makes a discussion with you pointless!
3. You did not refuse to respond to my questions! You attempted to respond to my questions but failed because you did not know the answers so lets not delude ourselves! You failed to stick to the point of the questions and meandered all over the place!
4. You indulge in made up “facts” and drop pseudofacts and technical jargon in an effort to impress and confuse the gullible! Unfortunately it not so impressive! You mix a few facts, string them together with a few misinterpretations and come up with erroneous opinions that lack objectivity that you peddle as fact -that you do not wish to be questioned!!

As for the rest of your post, I believe I made more than one point! When you stop holding your nose and address them, then we can have a “discussion”!

If you know the 22 hospitals list them -Miria Kalule Obote your preferred presidential hopefull does not! Better still let her know about them so that she does not embarrass herself again in future!

I cannot say that Uganda’s hospitals are good and upto the required standard! I cannot however say that they were any better during Obote II -because I know for a fact that they were not!! You may if you wish comment on the 1960′s -I was not there but I can comment on the 80′s -I was there! In many ways while the blame for the slow recovery needs to be placed squarely at Museveni’s governments root, we are still recovering from the rot of Obote and his henchman Amin’s misrule!

A Ugandan doctor or other health practitioner is paid crap now in Museveni’s government! But in Obote’s government they were paid even more crap with even less purchasing power moreover several months in arrears!! And they were not facilitated any better than they are now!

My understanding of healthcare is more sophisticated than your simplistic “number of hospitals”!

By clinical health indicators, Uganda’s population particularly Buganda’s was more healthy in the 1950′s than it is now with more hospitals! There was better prevention, better health education, better grassroots involvement and better primary care!

In contrast we now have poor prevention with more overloading at the top in the tertiary hospitals of cases that should never have got to hospital in the first place!! That my friend is a sign of a failed healthcare system!

If and whenever your friend Miria wins an election which is not in this life, I can bet that those hospitals you wish them to build will never be built!

For one Uganda is a sovereign nation in name alone! Donors determine what gets built and what does not! Medicine underwent a paradigm shift in the 80′s with a greater emphasis on downsizing hospitals, upgrading systems and transferring the emphasis to the community! You will find that this is the case even in Cananda if you check out your very own Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI)!

Coincident with the NRA governments rule, our supervisors in WHO, IMF and the World Bank decided that we needed to move from building larger amd more hospitals to laying more emphasis on primary healthcare and public health! A healthcare restructuring exercise was then embarked upon with the goal of a district hospital in every district, as well as a healthcare centre with a medical officer in every county! A major health centre restructuring and upgrading project was embarked upon in Museveni’s 80′s and 90′s to achieve the very same goal you claim was Obote’s governments goal with some new units being built, others expanded or upgraded with theatres and investigative facilities!! My problems with Uganda’s healthcare facilities have less to do with numbers of healthcare facilities and more to do with the appropriately skilled and motivated manpower to run those facilities which problem Obote’s insecurity, lack of consumables and inflated shilling would not have fixed!

Funding for specialist medical training shifted from the traditional specialties to public health while local specialist training was scrapped from the governments “burden”! Specialists in training have since the mid 1990′s had to pay for their own training while being forced to resign their jobs and work for Mulago as unpaid supernumeraries with full workload and oncall -essentially unpaid doctors for a minimum of four years! This after a minimum of 3 years in a peripheral/rural hospital! This is the root of the recent Senior house Officer strike (Attending Residents in your Canada) in Mulago where they downed their tools until the government agrees to pay them 400,000 “allowance!

Other options like freezing recruitment of doctors in a country with a shortage, capping recruitment, deliberately downgrading the training and training are strategies that have documentation in International NGO fora! Keep them barefoot and hungry (and preganant) is a strategy that works as well for the village woman as for the third world doctor! the wife becomes the husbands slave while the doctor becomes the governments slave to provide “free” health care -except if those same doctors happen to be your brightest students from an old medical school with a good record of passing exams in other countres and a curriculum that is modelled on that of the external world!!

Most if not all scholarships from western governments in the same time for medical training abroad are for public health or related fields!

Bottomline is that the current model like the various economic experiments the World Bank and IMF have had in Africa is a prescribed model -as was the previous model of building large undersubscribed (check Iganga and I believe it is Rukungiri hospitals with more beds than patients!)! So too is the Cost shifting to the private sector to encourage the private sector to take on more of the public hospital burden! The same general principles are the current shift in much of the western world!!

Whenever UPC comes into power (God forbid) there will be a bright new pHD at the Worldbank with a new prescription for our health system and believe me it will not be the one you or the UPC promote unless Miria has the money in her Obote foundation through which she controls her late husbands party!

As for the good and bad in each government, I do not expect anyone in the camps to feel well disposed towards Museveni -I would not if I lived in a camp while the rest of the country was moving on! By the same token do not expect me to say anything good about Obote’s government -particularly as there is little good to say about it anyway!! My enduring view of Obote’s government is wanton violence and lawlessness, runaway inflation and shortages, gunshots and terrorism by the state and state agents, fear and death daily!

I have no doubt that Obote’s election was rigged and while I do not see how Museveni who lost an election miserably could have been the most qualified person to go to the bush save for his own personal aspirations, the subsequent behaviour of Obote’s goons convinced me then and now that they needed to go -permanently! So my friend it does not matter who started the fire, I will continue to blame he who stoked that fire which decimated my childhood!

As for idiots, any person who denies and abuses his origins surely is befitting of the name -n’est ce pas? You must be breathless by now after holding your nose for so long! May it drop off!

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Health, Hospitals, Letter to Nina

Ugandan roads. When potholes are an insult to potholes!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 1:11am 路

Dear Nina,

While trying to answer your question on policy gaps in health, I came across this note written a few years ago on Kampala’s roads.

I would be grateful if you could share it with uncle Nasasira. I think he is the one who has been in charge of mimanaging our roads for now over two decades!

****************

Intellectual dishonesty!

February 2008 at 12:44

NRM cadre says,

_“This argument can keep winding around and around until Jesus comes back without any of us seeing sense in the other’s points! Let us just cut the long story short.

You have now acknowledged that indeed there are roads! Now, do you know how long a road can last without maintenance? If there was no work being done on those fabled roads for the last 21 years, would you have roads or even cattle trucks to talk about?”_

My friend,

You remain an inverterate spin master!!!

Where exactly did I say that there were zero roads?

I awarded marks for performance on roads and on the basis of the current statu of roads in Uganda and the NRM’s record on road maintenance I awarded a mark of zero!

There is no evidence of ongoing road maintenance in Uganda! Even after the money spent /mispent onn the recent CHOGM, our roads are still crap and out road maintenance even more so!

I have lived in a number of coutries that actually have road maintenance. If what you see in kampal is evidence of road maintenance, then i do not know what the word means! you may have to redefine it!

There have been a number of donor funded road reconstruction projects over the last twenty two years with no maintenance in between! We do not have a maintenance culture in Uganda -there is more money in kickbacks to be made from reconstruction projects than from maintenance. We are a bit like those beggars on the street -the more miserable we look, the more we are likely to get millions of dollars to spend on building mansions with no access roads in the name of reconstruction! As for servicing the debts from those “grants” and reconstruction loans, “abazukulu balilabileeyo”!!!

A nine year old who was visiting Uganda for the first time since he was three after driving down Wakaliga road which has the worlds highest number of humps, (not sure where the engineer who designed it got his degree from) asked me why Ugandan roads needed humps!!! In his nine year old wisdom, he failed to see why roads with so many potholes needed humps for peed control for the way he saw it, there were more potholes than road surface! i must say i couldn’t fault him and i now wonder why you cannot ee something that is so obvious to a nine year old!!!

Trust me unless you are comparing yourself with Congo or Somalia, Uganda even in Africa has some of the worst roads!

You are free to comment or not to comment on the subject! I do know that you ae being dishonest. i know for a fact that you have been to Asia and europe but I will not insist on those. I know that you have been to Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe and probably South Africa! As far as roads and road maintenance goes, Uganda is in a very bad place! When you are in Europe, Australia or America on could think that Zimbabwe has the worst roads in Africa! Before I travelled to Zimbabwe, many white people told me the roads were really bad and full of potholes! After travelling to Zimbabwe,and driving on their roads and those of Kampala, am now embarrassed to compare their roads to our own! If Harare has potholes, then calling Uganda’s roads pot holed is an insult to potholes! we should find another word to describe them!

Anyone who has driven on Kampala’s roads particularly someone who has travelled to other countries has got to be dishonest to award any marks for road maintenance!

P.S ;I have driven on Namugongo road and i really pity you if thats what you call a good and well maintained road!!!

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Letter to Nina, Potholes

Ugandan health services -why does Uganda lose doctors to Rwanda!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 9:31pm 路

Dear Nina,

I hear that you guys fell into bigger things!!! When is the party? Enjoy your five minutes of reprieve. Its not going to last for very long.

Hope you haven’t abandoned your research yet. I just found this note I wrote about a year ago on physician migration in Uganda and some of the condidtions that may contribute to it. Given your new found interest in the subject, I will make your research easier.

You know that your people have no strategy at all for health services which continue to hamorrahage trained personeel not to western countries but to poor third world countries like Rwanda where they are better paid and have better job satisfaction!

In the late 90鈥瞫 the government of Uganda sacked all junior doctors from Mulago following a strike for a living wage. It subsequently froze further recruitment for the next three years. The official line was that Uganda had more than enough doctors!

When did Ugandan ever have more than enough doctors? Whiy does the oldest medical school in Africa outside Alexandria have such problems keeping Uganda supplied with doctors? Are you aware that Makerere graduates started the medical schools in both Kenya and Tanzania?

How do you explain that other than serious policy deficits?

**********************

You are right about migrating being a personal lifestyle choice and an individual lifestyle right. You maybe aware that i did a small study in med sch (reviewed by and selected best student project by Prof. Bukenya) on the plans and choices of final year medical students.

Uganda is not the only country affected by drain. Even developed countries are always losing doctors. In Africa South Africa is one of the most developed but it also has one of the most acute brain drain problems. The UK continuously loses doctors to other anglo countries in the developed world. Canada continuously loses doctors to the US. Australia and New Zealand continuously lose doctors to the UK, Canada and the US. In general they expect that the majority of those professionals who migrate will return at some point in their career but more than 10 % are lost permanently. India and south east Asia continuously lose doctors to the west.

It is upto the states to ensure that they make their countries an attractive destination not only to their own doctors but also to those who have graduated elsewhere

It is true brain drain contributes but as Dr Lubega says, its contribution is over rated. He is wrong when he says there are less than 10 Ugandan doctors outside Uganda between 1997 and 2002. I am aware of at least 25 Ugandan doctors who graduated between 1995 and 2002 on facebook alone!

Thats because there is little guarantee that those who migrate out of Uganda would be gainfully employed in providing health services or as paediatricians. it is also important to find efficient ways of benefiting from those who have migrated and stayed within the profession. While we think about those professionasl who have migrated out of Uganda, we never talk about those resident in Uganda who have migrated out of the ranks into politics, public health and administration as well as business and private entreprise.

We never think of providing health services as a business and are trained to think of it as a vocation! Medicine as a business is not taught in medical school. But basic business skills and billable hours are part and parcel of legal training as well as engineering! Most doctors will end up providing private fee for service services as GP’s or specialists. While Ugandans think of specialist only as those employed by the public hospitals are view specialists in private practice as moonlighting in areas left to nurses, medical assistants and sweepers, that is not the model elsewhere!

If you think of medical services provded by a doctor in economic terms, you will understand why a country like Uganda is short of doctors in absolute terms but not short of doctors in economic terms. Every locality or community has as many doctors as it can afford to employ. this applies to every village, township, state or country. Apart from places like Alaska and desert towns where other factors may explain why doctors chose not to live there, most other place will only employ as many doctors as the local populace can afford to provide with reasonably remunerated employment. It does not matter what the population is or the “needs”, if you cannot pay doctors, you will not get doctors. So you will never get a surplus of doctors in a place like Karamoja. In places where there is a need, but the local population cannot sustain private medical services, the state has got to subsidise. In other coutries, rural and remote services are subsidised by the state even in private clinics. The medicare system where it exists pays the doctors fees but the state may top this up with bonuses to provide incentive to doctors who chose to practice in these “areas of need”. The NHS or equivalent state funding pays those employed in the local hopitals.

Frequently it is the same people providing services in both systems but their employment terms allow for this unlike Uganda where it is criminalised even though it is very clear that the state cannot or will not pay a living wage to doctors it employs! What happens to “surplus doctors” -they move on to places that do not have a surplus. In the market the supply of doctors is controlled by economic “surplus and demand forces” -so Karamoja has a high demand but a low ability to pay -therefore less doctors, while Kampala has a higher but limited ability to pay so has more doctors. it also has more public hospitals so again more doctors. Plus the lifestyle choices are better than those on offer in Nakapiririt!

While there is a vocational side to being a doctor, we need to be pragmatic. In many medical schools around the world, doctors are drawn from middle class, competitive and usually not cheap schools. Education costs money. In medicine, it also costs time as training takes a very long time. In addition to a quite lengthy undergraduate degree, many doctors undergo lengthy graduate/postgraduate training costing themselves or their families a lot of money. People get to medical school because their parents invested time and money in them. Along the way, they also impart similar values to them so they too want to send their children to good scholls (read expensive in Uganda as their is no cheap school worth going to as their pass rates are abysmal and admissions to university let alone medical school zero). Individuals travelling overseas to study go through horrors unimaginable to those who stay in UG. I know doctors who have swallowed their pride to work as carers in nursing homes, cleaners, labourers, taxi drivers in foreign countries to continue their training. Of course when they specialise and do well, Ugandan politcians point at them and say -brain drain!!!

I once worked out that on my salary as a doctor in Uganda, having been the first private medical student, it would take me 20 years if I remitted all of my salary to my parents in repayment! My first admission letter from Makerere quoted fees in USD and the fees were on par with those paid by foreign students! When I first applied to a bank for a mortgage -as an intern, I was knocked back -because i was a doctor. The loan officer could not see how a doctor was going to be able to afford the repayments on a paltry 20 milion! The bank manager later because i had the chutzpah to walk into his office and demand an audience approved my loan on faith alone! He was never dissappointed -but there was no way I would have been able to repay the bank if i worked in Mulago!

There are of course other factors that make Makerere a doctor exporter medical school and Uganda a doctor exporter country. Medical programs that are more suitable to host than donor countrie mean that a Ugandan doctor is probably more confortable working in a London hospital than one in Karamoja, being of English speaking background and having completed an undergraduate course modelled on the British system makes him potentially employable and easy to intergrate into many commonwealth countries health systems! A long pedigree and long history of migration helps -my first job interview was offered me by a white Kenyan who knew all about Makerere and had worked in several Arican countries before migrating to the west. Another was arranged by a South African who had worked in Uganda for 17 years before migrating after Idi Amin kicked him out in 1972. A recent MUK graduate got his first interview after talking to me 2 weeks before his visa expired and a few phone calls and was interviewed by someone I worked with as a colleague which probably smoothed his entry into the system.

If you told me that the 120 paediatricians we have are well paid and confortable, I would think that our government considers them to be a valuable resource. Of course, Museveni will say that they cannot afford to pay you a better wage. That would be acceptable if there wasn’t evidence of rampant corruption even within the ministry of health and countries like Rwanda without better resources than we do were not offering our specialists better employment terms! To me it means that someone either does not understand or does not care.

Filed under: Nina Tagged: brain drain, doctors, Health, Letter to Nina

Temangalo -response from the people

Sunday, March 6, 2011 at 6:50am 路

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1880182644958&set=a.1385608760920.55855.1253045398&theater

@Your honour Twinoburyo,

I am wondering why this trial was convened in camera and my name taken in vain as I do not remember being party to the proceedings recorded here! Counsel may have mistaken me for another or tampered with the court record! Your honour, I move that any comments on the court record fraudulently attributed to me be struck from the court record and that opposing counsel be cautioned!

Am also wondering why the defence introduced new evidence during the trial that they did not avail to the prosecution prior to the case. Am also wondering why this “new evidence” was not tabled during previous trials. Does the defendent have something to hide?

I move therefore that evidence introduced during the trial be struck off the public record and that court be reconvened in an open court as these matters are of interest to the general public!

There is a public interest to defend here. The public as stakeholders in government as well as in the NSSF have a right to know and court has the duty to allow them access to this court session. On the 19th Oct 2008, the Monitor Newspaper reported that “Security Minister Amama Mbabazi peddled political influence and had a conflict of interest in the controversial Shs11 billion National Social Security Fund-Temangalo land deal, the parliamentary committee investigating this matter concluded on Saturday.” the same opinion was carried by the “Legal Brief Africa’ a newsletter of Legal Brief international, the “global voice of the legal profession”.

It is true that Power of Attorney is a legal instrument designed to distance one actor with a potential conflict of interest from the proceedings. It is not however an instrument designed to avoid responsibility. The donor in this case Hon. Mbabazi, retains responsibility for the activities of Amos Nzeyi, his POA! Counsel attempts to use this instrument as a subterfuge to suggest that Hon. Mbabazi had no knowledge of and played no part in the proceedings of the land sale. Most importantly, he attempts to infer that the donor of a POA in this case Hon Mbabazi is not responsible for the actions of the donee, in this case Mr Amos Nzeyi! I wish to respectfully say, your honour, that this is not true! Hon Mbabazi is bound by any actions that his attorney enters into on his behalf in completing the transaction that is the subject of that POA.

The prosecution will present confessions from Mr Chandi Jamwa widely published in the newspapers and now a matter of public record, demonstrating that this deal was characterised by corrupt behaviour including influence peddling, conflict of interest, misrepresentation, political pressure, impunity and cronism. That undue political pressure and influence were imposed upon the Manager of NSSF by Hon Mbabazi’s attorney for whose actions Mbabazi himself remains responsible, Suruuma, the supervising Minister for NSSF, Mbabaazi’s tribesmate, business partner and compatriot. That the NSSF board was compromised in that at least two members, Edward Gaamuwa and Ms Joyce Acigwa, not including the manager and the deputy manager another crony of Mbabazi and Suruuma as well as a tribesmate of both Mbabazi and Nzeyi and all four shareholders in the “Bakiga bank”, were partners of Suruuma in a microfinance institution! Suruuma as shown in evidence tabled before you in this court had in interest in this matter that went beyond his role as the supervising minsietr for the NSSF. As Jamwa’s confession demonstrated, he also played an active part in pressuring his subordinate to approve this deal!

This your honour, was a “loaded” board that should have disqualified themselves from having anything to do with the proceedings of the purchase of this land as should have Suruuma and Kagonyera!

Your honour, the defence at this stage attempt to introduce “new evidence” disputing the number and authenticity of “bona fide” squatters! Evidence that they did not produce in the parliamentary inquiry where Mbabazi, Suruma, Kagonyera and Nzeyi were all interviewed about this matter! I submit that this evidence be struck from the public record too as counsel is trying to be creative with the law! Under the new land law brought in by among others Hon Mbabazi, ‘bona fide’ squatters do not have to have a historical. Furthermore the fact that Hon. Mbabazi and his partners knowingly sold land to the NSSF without acknowledging the presence of squatters is fraudulent as they should have compensated them first. Your honour no evidence has been presented to this court by opposing counsel to demonstrate that those squatters that he now acknowledges, were catered for in the contract of sale! (Correction -the contract of sale stipulated that the vendors had to compensate the existing squatters. The vendors breached this term as squatters were not compensated and are still claiming compensation)

At least 5 led by one Mpagi as late as dec 2010 contacted parliament seeking compensation. this was reported by the Monitor

“Reported By Turyatemba David

Five Tenants led by Mzee Paul Mpagi today stormed proceedings of the parliamentary committee on Statutory and State Enterprises that was meeting officials from NSSF led by the Acting Managing Director Grace Isabirye.

The Committee Chairperson Regan Okumu asked NSSF to deal with the complaining tenants to avoid damaging their image before the public.

Grace Isabirye has promised to handle the matter with parties that sold the land to the Fund.

Mpagi said they have tried in vain to meet the Security minister ever since the controversial transaction in vain.

The testimony of this article contradicts counsels claim that there were only two squatters who were both compensated on the purchase of the land long before the sale to NSSF! It also demonstrates the lie in counsels implication that the Temangalo was sold to the NSSF without encumbraces!

On the 15th oct 2010, Mr Byarugaba, the new MD of the NSSF informed the parliamentary committee on commissions, that while the titles for Temangalo had been availed to the NSSF, 3 years after paying for Temangalo, the NSSF had failed to take possession due to encumbrances including squatters that the vendors have not paid contrary to agreements they signed that required the vendor to clear them. http://allafrica.com/stories/201010150047.html With impunity, Mr Nzeyi continues to occupy the house he sold to the NSSF and received payment for! The seller should therefore be compelled to pay interest on all monies advanced to them due to this breach of contract!

In this story reported in the Observer in 2009 (Temangalo squatters say ‘no’ to Mbabazi, Written by Edris Kiggundu Sunday, 12 July 2009), 2 of 5 squatters accepted agreements to accept smaller acreage in exchange for titles. 3 others refused and are still contesting for compensation. They is also an allegation of pressure and coercion in trying to get bona fide tenants to accept the contracts drawn up by hon Mbabazi and his partners!

Under the new land law to which Hon. Mbabazi was a party, the sale of squatters and their interest in land is a felony punished by upto 14 years in prison. I submit therefore that hon Mbabazi and his partners in addition to flouting all of the above laws, are guilty of abusing the new land laws of this land.

Opposing counsel tables as defence that many other big men in this government continue to deal with government and are guilty of influence peddling too! She also attempts in mitigation to claim the absence of a law sanctioning such deals. This apparently should be taken to mean that powerful governemtn ministers should be a llowed to do as they wish with public money because there is no law sanctioning it! Your honour, that is anarchy. It belies the confidence that ugandans place in their leaders which includes the duty to maintain ethics and basic morality in their transactions involving public money!

As a senior minister in this government that has for the last 25 years presided over unprecedented corruption, Hon Mbabazi should inform this court whether it was official policy for his government to leave such obvious loopholes that allow him and his cronies to profit from the absence of conflict of interest laws. It would also be of interest to know whether this is the reason we do not have proceeds of crime laws under which the proceeds of crime as well as any assets used in the commission of a crime should be seized by the state! The public has got a right to know if he and his colleagues in this government have deliberately stunted our anti corruption laws in order to continue enriching themselves with impunity!

The NSSF is a cash cow that holds workers money to the tune of trillions of shillings. It is the largest single deposit of cash in the country. In the past money has been lost in shady transactions some involving ministers and government cronies. It is in the interests of the public that this case be treated with utmost seriousness. Consider the message that this court will send out to the general public if your conclusion is that the most powerful minister in this government together with his cronies maybe allowed to raid workers money whenever it suits them and be allowed to get away with impunity without even so much as a slap on the wrist! that the people who are supposed to protect our money are the same people leaving windows open so they and their cronies can sneak in at night without consequences!

It is also relevant too given that counsel for the defence will attempt to ‘prove’ to this court that Mr Mbabazi has already been tried in parliament and found to be innocent of all charges. He was also declared ‘innocent’ by his boss, the president of this government with whom they have presided over corruption in this country for 25 years citing ‘political persecution’!

Your honour, recent events in this country have clearly demonstrated that we cannot take the word of this government as well as that of the parliament which is so biased in numbers towards the ruling party as to be a rubberstamp for the ruling party and the executive of which Mr Mbabazi is a member!

The people therefore need to have their own trial which they were denied in the political circus that passed for a parliamentary inquiry! Could you believe that Mr Mbabazi was allowed to access and influence MP’s and members of the committee during their inquiry outside of formal hearings and that the government machinery was lent to his defence through paid hacks like Karooro, Nagenda, Opondo and Cheeye and that the speaker of parliament was himself partisan!

Could this be all of these big wigs defending themselves from the effects of retruning a guilty verdict as they all as opposing counsel demonstrates do business with this government? Your honour, this is an example of the left hand doing business with the right hand and the brain pretending it does not know what is going on!

The people have already passed their verdict in the court of public opinion and have stated clearly that much as the politicians may continue to claim that Mr Mbabazi and his mates were not guilty of influence peddling and conflict of interest in addition to flouting numerous rules in the Temangalo affair all of which amount to corruption for which he should have resigned his post, the people do not believe them!

That all of the legalese and fancy terms thrown around so glibly by my learned colleague will not convince them that this government is serious on corruption as long as powerful people like Hon Mbabazi clearly and with impunity manipulate the system without any consequences for themselves or their political careers and reputation!

Lastly your honour, for having accepted comments that were clearly fraudulently attributed to me to remain a part of the court record, I submit that you have allowed yourself to be unduly influenced just like is everyone else in this country! I respectfully submit that you have demonstrated a conflict of interest and move that you should disqualify yourself from further proceedings in this matter and a new court reconvened to deal with this matter in the publics best interest!

Your honour, I hearby rest my case!

http://www.independent.co.ug/reports/special-report/585-nssf-jamwa-exposes-suruma-nzeyi-trickery

http://ugandanpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/10/nssf-scandal-jamwa-spills-more-beans.html

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Mbabazi, Nina, Temangalo

Stories of war

Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 9:10pm 路

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150124597924449&comments

I like the fact that people are writing about their personal experiences. So I have to thank Nina for her story.

Like Philip, my personal experiences of Obote II justify even in retrospect any war to oust him! Nothing that happened after will make me change that opinion! The Obote II government was a bad government full stop!

As to whether or not Nina’s dad and others were justified in going to war, the jury is still out. But the response of the Obote government and army turned what may have initially been an illegitimate war into a legitimate war! unfortunately the NRM does not seem to have internalised the lessons of that war -for every man, woman, or child killed, tortured, maimed or raped by Obote’s goons, more recruits fixed in their resolve to see it end volunteered!

it is important to recognise that nina’s is only one perspective -and story. Everyone else here has a story.

Nina talks about children of the revolution. Am not sure if she refers to herself and fellow children of the 27 who were lucky enough to be put under house arrest in Nairobi or flown off to Sweden for I can guarantee that if there are any children of the revolution, its those children who stayed behind. Whose parents did not run away. whether they were fighter or not, the children suffered the effects of war.

I and Philip are such children. Killings, massacres, rapes, tortures -name it we saw or heard of it however much our parents tried to protect us. We saw things that children should never see! My uncles were involved in the war -as fighters and before that at least one in UPM. My father bought drugs for the fighters in the bush at the request of my uncle who was a fighter since 1981. He had taken his 15 year old brother with him and they practically grew up in the army. Those people are never mentioned, never received any medals, and neither did they ‘benefit” financially. At least one paid the final sacrifice -on a land mine in Gulu! Another paid the final sacrifice -in a destroyed family and finances. But none of them would ever regret having fought Obote!

They did not get to ‘eat”! But this is not their story! Point is that their perspective on the narrative of the war as to who sacrificed and who didnt am sure would be very different from that of Nina or myself!

For so long we have been fed the narrative of 27 men fighting a war while the rest of us were hiding under the bed! No the rest of us were not hiding under the bed! We were out there surviving, dying, sacrificing so that Museveni and his 27 men could share the spoils of the hunt while the rest of us get to watch them!

This war belongs to all of us. It represents the childhood that we lost! The innocence that we lost! the country that we lost! Before this war, everyone in my school did not have a tribe! During and after this war, suddenly everyone had a tribe -and there were good tribes and bad tribes, eating tribes and non eating tribes, killing tribes and victimised tribes! today we think local -in tribes! from kingdoms to small non viable tribal districtlets to balancing the eaters in cabinet to tribe in just about everything!

The narrative of this war has got to be changed. And this will only be when everyone tells their story! the reason that the heroes proclaimed at kololo mean nothing to the rest of ugandans is that this story does not have a narrative the rest of us can relate to! Its a story of 27 men who went out one day to hunt, chased down their animal and killed it and will not share the spoils because according to them, they brought down the animal alone! So they do not have to share!

Until most Ugandans can identify in some way personally with this war, it cannot be compared with the european wars or the fervopur with which Europeans respect and worship their war dead a century later!

If this war is every to be considered as a liberation war, so that we can give our dead all around the country the respect that they should have, its got to be more than the stories of one man and his family and his cronies! Then the medals stuck on peoples chests in a selective fashion Kabalega but not Mwanga, Mugisha Muntu but not Besigye) will mean something! Until then its those in the kintu congratulating themselves on having hunted and killed the animal alone -thus eating alone or deciding who gets to eat!

Let everybody tell their story. And for Nina, trust me, those who got away were the lucky ones!

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Nina, War

What does it profit a man, to gain the world, and lose his soul?

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:36pm 路

Nina Mbabazi -What does it profit a man, to gain the world, and lose his soul?

It profits a man very little to gain the world but lose his soul.

• It profits Museveni very little to rule forever but lose his credibility
• It profits the NRM very little to lead a revolution and be buried in the narrative of one man
• A man is only as good as his word, without which he is doomed
• A politician whose word is meaningless can never claim to be a statesman
• For each time that Museveni goes back on his word, and moves the goal posts yet again ahead, he will forever be stuck in the soulless limbo of political purgatory
• Of what benefit is it to build a country and watch it destroyed before your eyes -like Ghadaffi
• Of what benefit is it to raise your sons to follow in your steps and have them be killed before your eyes -like Saddam
• Of what benefit is it to be declared a hero yet become a villain in your lifetime -like Mugabe
• Of what use is it to attain the lofty limits of wealth and power, yet have it all come crashing down -like Mobutu, Obote, Amin
• Why is it so hard for a man to retire and hand over intact to future generations his lifes work and bask in the glory of being a statesman -like Mandela
  
  

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10150174637456259&id=712431258卢if_t=like

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Letter to Nina

How a man could regain his soul

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 9:27pm 路

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10150174637456259&id=712431258&ref=notif卢if_t=feed_comment_reply

Nina, in 1986, it looked like we were on our way to regaining our soul.

In 2011, its clear that w are on our way to losing it.

But there’s one man who could make the difference between us losing our soul and regaining it -by making the ultimate sacrifice and giving up that which he obviously holds most dear -power!

Mandela set the standard for SA when he unlike other ‘revolutionary” leaders like Mugabe, Museveni, Aferwaki, etc, gave up power voluntarily and took up his place as a statesman.

In this we are not talking about giving up power to the son, wife, brother, in -law or crony.

Museveni has got the unique opportunity to create history in Uganda -giving up power without waiting for his arse to be kicked and retiring within his own country. Its only then that he will have regained his soul which he lost a long time ago. Power appears to be his only drive and motivation. But of course he has the option of following in the footsteps of other life presidents who didnt quite realise their dream of ruling for their natural life and watched their lifes work crumble around them.

It is not illegal or immoral for sons and daughters to play a part in their fathers government. But its a mistake to mistake priviledge for ability or acumen, opportunity for a right or entitlement.

While equality and equal opportunity are dreams largely unattainable for most, the ideal is a meritocracy in which ability is rewarded and put to work in the service of the nation not nepotism determining who are the leaders and who are the led!

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Nina

First they came for the communists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist…..

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 3:33pm 路

Nina Mbabazi sitting in the road has never been annoyance. I sat on the sides of the road on sunday when I could no longer walk from exhaustion. IS that arrestable?

Nina, thats arrestable behaviour going by Kulayigye’s orders!

You are well known, an NRM cadre, the daughter of the super minister and married into a well known family.

For you to walk or sit by the road side may attract the attention of other people going by their own business and even incite them to join you causing a traffic jam and chaos! Even the boda boda boys would be concerned and falling all over themselves to give you a lift!

That kind of behaviour could be called terrorism and could incite people to bring the government down!

By your own admission, Kayihura’s boys should be paying you a visit! You should be charged with incitement and causing chaos as well as sitting by the roadside -idel and disorderliness! Misinforming and confusing the public possibly with the intention of embarrassing the government and plotting to topple the government!

It would be good if people like Banda really listened to themselves and realised how stupid they sound when they blindly try to justify every stupidity the NRM indulges in!

_First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me_

By Nienmoller

Filed under: Nina

Bad manners fighting over food

Monday, April 25, 2011 at 11:05am 路

http://www.facebook.com/notes/mugerwa-james/nina-mbabazi-officially-against-nrmmuseveni-the-oppositions-big-fish-or-should-i/216921605001221?ref=notif卢if_t=like

Christine, this Mugerwa man has got some really bad manners. He starts a fight whenever there is food. Interestingly its always with people he wishes to wrest food from.

In the past he started a fight with Muhiire. He hoped to divert Muhire’s forum to his own devices and present it to his handlers as a trophy. When he was rebuffed he became peevish. You remember those peeved teenage wannabee boyfriends who would never accept no for an answer and continued harrassing the object of their desire, stalking them, picking fights and otherwise becoming a nuisance. Nathan had to put out a virtual restraining order but the man kept inviting himself, climbing in through the window, peeping into bathrooms etc. He even formed upto 6 online personas just to get a peep into Muhire’s forum after each of them was blocked. He became angry and obnoxious and even obscene and invited ex girlfriends to vouch for him too. Sometimes he hired people to write letters for him when his own English just couldn’t do the trick.

At all times he tries to portray himself as an insider which he obviously is not. At the very best he is a lackey, a minion, paid to do a job, hoping to get a leg up. That he or one of his handlers knows a bit of the NRA’s military history especially the Congo and South sudanese conflicts is not in doubt. Actually he has at times said more than he should have said and more than likely put his handlers in a difficult position. the problem with talking too much is one needs a brain to keep track of the lies and contradictions. Being under the influence sometimes does not really help.

When Nina first came here and took me on, a bad idea, Mugerwa tried to ingratiate himself. Identify himself with the princess. Present his loyal arms. Unfortunately toadies are not impressive and neither do they get respect. they are simply paid to do a job and when they fail to know their position, they are put in their place. Mugerwa now acts like the houseboy who was hoping to score with the lady of the house and got angry when he was reminded he was just the house help. Now he is getting even.

Now this fight with Nina is to portray him as a loyal cadre more loyal than those and brought up in the movement. In effect he is saying that his boss Amama cannot maintain his own household so its upto him a minion to discipline the bosses daughter. Not only to do so but to make the humiliation as public as possible. One then starts to get a feel for who the real target maybe.

Did the NRm suddenly become democratic overnight, unlikely. I take Chwezi’s point about other parties including the FDC. I will point him to one of my notes on the issue. Interestingly the same people who criticised Kamya such as Anne Mugisha are the ones who have come out recently to complain about the same. But this here is not about FDC. This is about whether it is an expression of disloyalty for a daughter brought up in priviledge which priviledge depends on the party has got the right to question the party structures and masters. Whether a son or daughter is allowed to have an independent mind or whether they have got to be assumed to have to toe the party line or remain silent. Whether for them to express an independent mind is supposed to make them fair targets for anyone who wishes to do so. I had a chat with my father just yesterday. Without going into details while my father has nowhere near the party pedigree that Nina’s father has, he and I are in opposite camps when we discuss Museveni and his government. That does not make me disloyal to him when I make it clear that I would be very happy when Museveni returns to his farm in kisozi or Rwakitura to count his cows and Uganda has a peaceful handover of power. I know he is proud that i have an independent mind even though I do not agree with him but then again he and I have very different experiences of living in Uganda having been born at different times.

I would like to believe that the next few years are going to be years of realignment of interests not blind political party ideology. Its the only way that the NRM will survive if they so wish. In embracing a more liberal and questioning youth the NRM may be able to survive. if they leave party policy to be dictated by autocratic and mindless cadres such as Mugerwa, they will sure as hell be washed down the dust bin of history. this same process is happening in the other parties. DP is realigning as is UPC. In FDC questions are being asked. Mamdani put it best when he suggested that the W2W campaign was the beginning of a reform in both the NRM and in other parties and the victor would be the one who started a reform first.

Nina could be independent. She could be a priviledged girl having her eureka moment and like an adolescent girl being recklessly dangerous. Or she maybe a well trained party cadre playing a game to win, skillfully playing everyone in a game people of average intelligence like Mugerwa cannot begin to fathom.

If Mugerwa is out on a lone campaign, I can guarantee him his paycheck is about to end and he is about to lose his head. If he is being paid, again its because he is dispensable and he will still lose his head. This fight is way above Mugerwa’s pay grade.

Filed under: Nina Tagged: Nina