April 2012
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