Ugandans in the Diaspora in talks with congress to halt Museven’s 2011 presidential Candidancy.

As a follow up on last year’s demonstrations, Ugandans living in the United States under the umbrella of the Ugandans in Diaspora International, Inc. (UDII) are determined to continue with their advocacy strategy and for this year their goal is reaching out to the United States Congress for support. The first of the kind was the 1/22/10 Washington DC demonstration that brought together large numbers of Ugandan living in DC and the neighboring states. The demonstration started from the Ugandan Embassy where they handed a document to the Deputy Head of Mission Mr. Charles Ssentongo which detailed the demands and concerns of the diaspora voice on behalf of Ugandans as a whole; “We are not ready to see our country face another five years of human rights violations, corruption and poverty….. I think it is the time that the international community should use to take a close look on the demands of and give them a hand however little their interest might be in Uganda” Mr. Wycliffe Lule Musoke a Ugandan senior citizen and a member of the UDII said.
The demonstration later headed to the White House, IMF and World Bank where the same document was passed on to the officials. Another satellite demonstration is to take place on 1/23/10 in Boston MA which will be followed by the last one in NY 0n the 1/26/10 where UDII members are expected to meet with UN officials to present their case. “ It is our role as Ugandans in the Diaspora to spear head the liberation of our people in Uganda, we are already planning to have more meetings with the Congress in a dual effort in finding the best way we can halt Mr. Museveni’s quest for presidency come 2011” Deo Kawunde .
However, when it came to general human rights violation, the demonstrators also expressed their disappointment in the general international community. With huge posters displaying civilians being beaten up and killed by Museveni’s brutal military men, the demonstrators said that it was very surprising that the international community came in after the Anti Homosexual Bill yet as Uganda is heading towards the 2011 elections many human rights have been violated for example the recent arrest of 35 women that peacefully marched to the electoral commission in demand for the resignation of the current Electoral commission chairman, closure of media houses among others which they believe should also capture international community attention. “The future of our Nation is going to depend on the international community’s intervention in Uganda in case we are to lead a very peaceful next five years”. Pr. Peter Mugisha.

Museveni escapes facing angry Ugandan demonstrators in the US

Ugandans leaving in the United States are determined to continue with a series of demonstrations against President Yoweri Museveni’s government. This followed link from inside sources that Mr. Museveni had requested for a State official visit to the United States which he failed to secure. President Museveni was previously in Trinidad and Tobago where he had gone to represent Uganda in the 38th Common Wealth Heads Of Governments Meeting (CHOGM) from where he headed to Havana in Cuba to discuss about “Climate Change” with different governments officials from Latina America. His strongest remark while meeting the press in Havana was “climate change threatens the very existence of some countries particularly small island nations that could disappear under sea” and he was glad that it has become a global issue to solve collectively.
However, the failure of Mr.Museveni’s entry into the United States did not stop the masses of Ugandan from all over the United States East Coast states to carry out a series of demonstrations in Washington DC, New York and Massachusetts from the 3rd -5th December 2009 respectively. In a document written by Mr. Tendo Kaluma and signed upon by over 300 Ugandans, a lot of concerns that ranging from violation of Human Rights which included suppression of media houses, detention, torture and killing of innocent people in safe houses, failure to rehabilitate the northern parts of the country, changing of the Constitution from time to time, passing unpopular laws in the parliament and corruption among others were presented to UN official and a number of media houses as a contribution to awakening the world about Uganda’s unpopular political system. “We shall continue with these series of demonstrations every month because it is our duty as Ugandans in the diaspora to let world know about all the atrocities committed our government and we are looking forward to seeing President Museveni face the ICC for war crimes” said one Robert Kabuye from Boston.

Speak Out : Silence Breeds Insecurity!!

The mood of fear has once again reasserted itself in Ugandan society. When I wrote the long article last month explaining the fact --- and it is a fact --- that the 1994 Rwandan genocide was masterminded by the RPF, and not by the Habyarimana government, I got many SMS from frightened people either saying "We are praying for you" or "Thanks for your brave article, but these boys (the RPF, that is) are dangerous. They will come for you." Most of the feedback coming in this week in response to the articles on Maj. Gen. James Kazini's murder bears that tone. It is either "Please don't quote me", "My prayers are with you" or "Are you safe?" It is interesting that the public, both in Uganda and in Rwanda, view the "new breed" of African leaders like Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni in that light. They don't warn that Kagame or Museveni will out-reason or out-think a person who challenges them, but rather, they express their fears that these two democratically elected leaders will murder. Where does this general impression of them come from, that to challenge these two men will or can lead to certain death? What does the public know about them that it is too afraid to say? This, in itself, is a clue to the true history of the NRA and the RPF and their leaders. Before I can reply to those questions, I would like to turn the question back to you in the general public: "Are you safe, yourselves?" Why do people have this belief that, somehow, by keeping quiet and being afraid of the state, they are any more safe than the loud mouths who openly take Museveni on? When the Kampala lawyer Robinah Kiyingi was murdered (not by her husband), how many of us had ever heard of her? She probably had never bothered to vote in her entire life and was very much the civil society type. That did not prevent her being cruelly gunned down by You-Know-Who. This belief that one is safe by keeping one's mouth shut, never challenging the state, never speaking out against the abuse of office and the murders, is one of the false beliefs that most people have. Journalist Andrew Mwenda, earlier this year, published in his Independent magazine a cover story titled "First Family rule in Uganda." That Friday, a boiling hot and angry Museveni, in a meeting with his family at State House, vowed that he was going to arrest Mwenda. It has been several months now and Mwenda has still not been arrested. On the occasion that Mwenda was arrested in 2005, he came out of jail after a week and life went on, and still goes on. In Oct. 2006, Andrew Mwenda and I had a shoot-out with Museveni's son-in-law Odrek Mugisha Rwabwogo, when Rwabwogo wrote an article in the Daily Monitor angrily hitting back at Mwenda for his Aug. 31, 2006 article in the Sunday Monitor titled "Is the First Family Fleecing Uganda?" I joined in that exchange of fire and said I agreed with Mwenda that this family is, indeed, fleecing Uganda. I got a phone call from the then Daily Monitor Managing Director Conrad Nkutu who told me that my rejoinder to Mwenda, after Rwabwogo had attacked us, had caused "upheaval" at State House and State House was threatening to sue the Daily Monitor. We have never been sued and the Daily Monitor was not shut down. Nkutu told us at a meeting at the Daily Monitor of how he would get phone calls threatening to kidnap his children from their school, because of the courageous stand he was taking as the newspaper's chief executive. Those children were never kidnapped. The day my rejoinder was published, a Daily Monitor journalist Simon Kasyate was coming from the Sheraton Kampala Hotel when he met Museveni's son, Major Muhoozi Kainerugaba driving a pickup truck and coming from State House. Kainerugaba looked at Kasyate and in exasperation exclaimed: "Simon!" Kasyate, who is sympathetic to the First Family and who sensed that Kainerugaba wanted action taken against me, explained that these were the views of nut cases like me at the Daily Monitor. Later, Museveni was airborne and flying to China when he got a call from his daughter Patience Rwabwogo, upset at the way I had humiliated her husband Odrek by telling Daily Monitor readers that for all his corporate and privileged image, shame on him for he does not pay his employees at his media agency TERP. Patience Rwabwogo, accustomed to the First Family having their way in everything, must still be wondering why her father was unable to respond to her demand for the Daily Monitor to be closed because of my article. Answer to Patience Rwabwogo: your father may be great, but he is not God and the fact that he is not God makes all the difference in the world. Incidentally, when I visited the Independent magazine in June, Andrew Mwenda told us of how Museveni now spends much of his time surrounded by fortune tellers, soothsayers, and medicine men. These people, Mwenda said, are taking Museveni through rituals, chantings, and other activities. Mwenda said that while in the past, these rituals were done secretly, today they are done in full view of Museveni's PGB bodyguards. He is made to crawl on the ground, a soothsayer sits on his lap, and so on. It sounds like a scene from a Nigerian movie, but this is happening right here, right now, at State House. You can imagine the amount of fear that Museveni lives with. He knows. He knows what is coming. The Seer I often write and talk about says that Kagame also asks his aides to consult for information on the future and the unknown. So, just as we are all afraid of our leaders, they too are terrified of the unknown. Meanwhile, as our civic society continues to believe that silence will secure their lives, thousands of innocent civilians, most of whom had never voted in their lives and had nothing whatsoever to do with politics, perished in gruesome massacres masterminded by Yoweri Museveni in Luwero, Teso, and Acholi in Uganda, and by Paul Kagame in Rwanda between 1990 and 1994 in Congo from 1996 to 1999. If the argument that one is safe or safer by keeping quiet, how come these innocent and helpless civilians died and yet I have never been arrested? I notice that nobody writes to contest the facts or claims in these reports. Most readers seem to know that we are dealing with mass murderers for heads of state. That they generally do not contest. All they do is urge caution, express their fears for my life, or say their prayers are with me. So, to reply to this Frequently Asked Question "Are you safe?", yes I am safe. As I wrote on Wednesday and as I wrote many times in my former Saturday column in the Daily Monitor, the people we are most afraid of, mainly Yoweri Museveni, his brother Caleb Akandwanaho, and Museveni's wife Janet Museveni actually live in incredible fear. They live haunted, nightmarish lives. Fear stalks them daily, in whatever they do and wherever they go. This you should know, completely, as Idi Amin used to say. If you watched the wedding on live TV in Aug. 1999 of Buganda's Kabaka Ronald Mutebi and Sylvia Nagginda, you might have noticed something unusual. The bride delayed in her arrival at St. Paul's Cathedral Namirembe and so hundreds of dignitaries and other invited guests waited, among whom were President Museveni and the First Lady Janet Museveni. At some point, as they sat, waiting, a soldier of the Presidential Guard Brigade (PGB) walked over to Museveni with a message which he delivered in a whisper to his ear. As soon as the soldier got near Museveni, the president almost fell off his chair and onto the ground, before he glanced behind him and realized it was one of his own guards. That is how much fear stalks Uganda's head of state, that even when he is seated in the quiet pews of a church, next to his wife, his instincts are always to fear. During last month's 47th Independence Day anniversary celebrations at Kololo Airstrip in Kampala, as Museveni was inspecting the military guard of honour, at one point, at 11:40a.m., the ceremonial police Landrover came to a stop. Museveni seemed uncertain about why it had stopped and clearly visible and written all over his face, at that moment at 11:40a.m., live on national television, was the look of great fear. Museveni lives in extreme fear, this you should know, completely. That is why he has one of the largest personal bodyguards of any leader in the world. I wrote in a news story on Nov. 11 in the Uganda Record that after the murder of Lt. Col. Jet Mwebaze, the hand behind the murder, Salim Saleh, was haunted almost to the point of mental breakdown by nightmares and what he said was the spirit of Mwebaze tormenting him. He tried to get a soothsayer or medium to perform some rituals at the graveside of Mwebaze in Nakaseke, to appease this spirit that was tormenting him. A man who visited Saleh's home near Entebbe in 2008 said he saw Saleh seated all alone, by the lakeside, deep in thought, appearing to be troubled. These are tormented, haunted, deeply frightened people, bordering on insanity. I would like to ask my own Frequently Asked Question to the tens of thousands of Ugandans and other people who read this website: "Why are you so afraid of your leaders?" Official statistics show that the vast majority of people in Uganda are Christians, both traditional Anglican and Roman Catholic as well as the new Evangelical or "born again" churches, and Muslims. If then we are a nation full of people who follow the great historic faiths of Christianity and Islam, the faiths, along with Judaism, that Islam refers to as the "people of the book", the people of the faiths that descended from the patriarch Abraham, if we claim to be followers of the one true and eternal God, why do we live in such fear? The Evangelical Christians take it one step further and insist that theirs is not simply ritualistic, church-going religion like that of the Anglicans and Catholics, but a powerful experience of a personal relationship with the Messiah Christ Jesus in which they are infused with the Holy Spirit. These Evangelical churches have sprung up all over Uganda since 1984 when Kampala Pentecostal Church was founded. "Born again" Christians are to be found in almost every segment of Ugandan society, from the media to the civil service, the armed forces, the diplomatic services, education, the corporate world, entertainment, and business. Many, including Janet Museveni and her daughter Patience Rwabwogo, Gen. Elly Tumwine, and others are prominent at the national political level. So, with all these "balokole" in high and low places, why do we not feel their impact as the nation sinks deeper into a spiral of corruption, abuse of public office and public funds, and these political murders such as that of Maj. Gen. James Kazini on Tuesday Nov. 10? Why are the "born again" Christians so afraid to speak out as all these dark events are taking place? Why is Uganda's effective head of state a military officer called "General Fear"? And why is the superstitious person, an irrational person, one who visited a Seer rather than tune in to the BBC for news analysis, the one that seems to be unafraid of Museveni? While many Ugandans went about their daily business, chasing after money, "further studies", shopping, watching English Premiership football matches, and going to church religiously, I decided that I had to investigate the evil that has cast a shadow of death over the Great Lakes region. The fact that so many people, with MBAs from prestigious business schools in the western world, with PhDs, with military cadet training, with a good family upbringing, regular churchgoers, members of civil society and academia, despite all their academic qualifications, secure financial balance sheets, respectable social status, frequent-flier privilege, and solid property can still live their lives in daily fear of the Museveni types, means then that money, elite education, connections, financial security and all the other trappings of a modern, successful, middle class life are not sufficient. We need something more. Something deeper. A deeper, much, much deeper understanding of God, life, time, and truth that your standard KPC, All Saints Cathedral, Miracle Centre Cathedral, or Christ the King Church seem unable to provide. If there is any investment we must all make or try to make, it is not in our RAV 4s or plots of land, or the so-called "further studies" that leave us as ignorant upon our return from London or New York as we went there, or in electronic consumer goods, if there is any investment worth our time and money, it surely must be in information. We must get to know. We must find out what is going on, both in the area of political developments, but also in the high spiritual realm. That higher understanding of the spiritual basis of life is the true Universal Primary Education that will start us along the path to freedom. We need to get back to the Garden of Eden and to the Tree of the knowledge of good an evil. We must understand the nature of evil, its power, its limitations, and where it will all end. I had to investigate the nature of this evil itself, where it comes from, the spiritual forces behind it, is any, and what countermeasures can be taken against it. So, do I fear? Yes I “fear”...for Museveni.[hahahahahha] This article is attributed to Mr.Timothy Kalyegira whose contribution to putting our national pressing issues in the lime light can’t be under estimated.

Entebbe ’11 .. Who Is Leading The Polls?

The bells are ringing , the town talk is on, hearts anxious  and the political chorus with a “Change” word is  bubbling from all sides. However, it’s so a worrying that the masses of Ugandans are uncertain of who is going to be the next President. It has been 22 years ever since the National Resistance Army rebels  under their National Resistance Movement Umbrella in what could be described most successful rebel movement that left ten of thousands lives dead with no tangible reparations to the victims families took over the once acclaimed pearl of Africa. Though some people may claim that this is the best   political rein that they have witnessed in their lives and since the world judges us on what we destroy not that which we build, I would say there is also a big percentage in dissatisfaction and damage that this particular system  sew, watered and now harvesting that cannot be under estimated.

However,  as the race gets closer, it is still unpredictable which names shall we have on this ballot. The political ballot looks just the same as that for the Pearl Of Africa Music Awards where the nominees for the artist of the year ballot has forever seen these three names; Chameleon, Bebe Cool and Bobi Wine. The difference between the two races is that sometimes the awards get more predictable as the year goes by unlike in the political race where by even up to now  the incumbent Mr. Museveni  Kaguta  Yoweri is still leading the polls despite  the fact that he has worked so hard with “careerists” team to see the country go down in flames.

The root cause of the above can be directed to the inconsistency within the opposition block. The opposition block has failed to find someone strong enough with a nationwide credibility. Though insiders from different political parties would claim that their failure is due to insufficient funds to carry out successful political, social and economic awareness as regards to the national status quo, I would like to point out that another failure to the opposition block can be traced deeply within greed and sectarianism within different political parties and this has made it hard for them settle inner differences and the consequence is failure to find a unified opposition voice.

If we are to take a look at Forum for Democratic  Change (FDC) the most sounding opposition political party as of now, it  hasn’t announced or elected a potential  candidate as it is still having their eyes on Mr.Kiiza Besigye who has lost two times to Mr. Museveni. However, as far as  I know, the FDC constitution states that a candidate would stand for only two terms but the question  is; what happens in the case that the candidate loses in those two attempts?  I think that one can’t lead the quest for national democracy if one still has inner party issues as regards to succession and with this I would like to move that it’s high time Mr. Besigye endorsed someone else from his party before it splits.

The second potential political party would be the Democratic Party which has also for so long nursed a long sectarian feud based on religious beliefs and ethnicity. This has also halted their process to come up with someone to stand on its ticket come 2011. Where as the Baganda have a popular saying that goes “Edini teyajja kutwawula naye kutugatta”, which can be directly translated as “the coming of religion was solely to unite us not separate”  and if this is the case for religion, I guess there is need for such another popular rhetoric to deter  ethnical stereotyping  within political parties.

In conclusion, Uganda at such a time needs an “Obama”  like kind of person to rescue it come 2011, someone who is ready to give the country a new vision and not only sing “Change” but also portray in within his/her works. Ugandans might risk another five years of an opportunist or careerist in case the ballot doesn’t change faces like it happens in the PAM Awards as I said earlier. I also believe that there are a number of political parties and independent candidates that might  see such a time as an opportunity for their visibility but  I suppose this is not what the people need this time. It’s about time someone came with a national reconciliation strategy. And where as we have been having a long time tribal, economic and political differences, in times like this when the country is getting ragged, it should be a collective effort based on a common national cause that we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, iron out major issues and move on!!!!

Please let me know if you have any good names that might appear on the ballot so that we can discuss about them next time.

The Most Successful Rebel Leader is Identical to the Longstanding Rebel Leader!!!!

I am afraid that I don't have the courage to say Happy 47th Independence day to all Ugandan. Was my country ready for independence in 1962 or not? I ask myself this question  time and again but I think our Independence still leaves us with so much to be demanded. My heart bleeds every time I remember songs of peace on my Speech and Parents'  Day in primary school. We used to chant peace, love and unity that we assumed had been given to us by the NRM government established by the NRA Rebels. Terror begets Terror, our hearts as Ugandans were disparate and we entrusted the beloved nation in the hands of a Movement built with Resentment as a value. 
I would justify my former statement by on major indicator in the two cases; the National Resistance Movement has to the largest extent failed to hear the cries of the people that defended its cause and embarked on pleasing a few that see this particular regime as a career, there is no link between the civil patriots and the national cake. The NRM extremist have created "pot holes" in every social services and this implies that they lead a system that doesn't care about tomorrow. 

On the other hand the Longstanding rebel leader Joseph Kony has no difference because you can't not have a vision of a great nation yet you are killing its citizens, I just don't know where Kony sees Uganda in 20 years from now.

What makes these two people identical is that they have not concentrated on building the nation but damaging  it. I hope they got Obama's messege clear," They will be judged on what they build not what the destroy". I speak with inspiration from one African God Father, His Majesty Emperor Haile Sellasie who once said that [in times like this], Let us act as befits the dignity which we claim for ourselves as Africans, proud of our own special qualities, distinctions, and abilities. We must speak out on major issues, courageously, openly and honestly, and in blunt terms of right and wrong.
This generation will always remember these two terrorist wondering where the international community has been for over two decades. 

Voices From UNAA 2009.

Moses Wilson takes over UNAA Presidential seat despite the questions that had been raised about his identity. Mr. Wilson's success was due to the increasing number of liberal Ugandans who still believe in the principles of the founders of the Uganda North Atlantic Association which envisioned UNAA as platform for all Ugandans in the living in North Atlantic. In his acceptance speech Mr. Wilson asked Ugandans to look at the big picture and avoid looking at UNAA as a route for those who would wish to promote their selfish political interests but rather a step forward for our national reconciliation. On the other had, Lt.Frank Musis who was the incumbent disagreed with the results and claimed that there were a lot of incompetences within the electoral commission and also added that the weaknesses within the UNAA EC started way back from the registration process which passed the deadline twice. He added that his team was very disappointed with the results and did not approve of some Electoral Commission members. From Flex Kabuye's camp, his die hard supporters too never believed that their candidate had lost the election and though Mr. Flex Kabuye had agreed to work with anyone after the elections, pressure from his voters is indicating that there might not be any possibility of working with Mr. Wilson's new team. The UNAA website has been shut down which was a contribution to the organisation by one Mr.Flex's fan.

However, the current President Moses Wilson urged all UNAA members not to let rumours divide them but to seek for the truth as thats what he stands for. In his acceptancy speech, Mr.Wilson appreciated the contributions of all former UNAA presidents and proposed that there should a Steering committe composed of former UNAA Presidents and senior members of this organisation whose role would be to monitor, review and evaluate the works of any new UNAA governacy.

Watch out for next time The Snitch will bring to you reasons for Mr. Wilson's victory as well as tips on my the incumbent Musisi and Flex Kabuye lost the elections.
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Whats Your Position On National Reconciliation?

Our country needs more than a pay cheque can solve, in the civil society, we call it "Intermediate Action". On the 9th October 2009 Uganda will be celebrating the 47th Independence but to according to me our independence still leaves us with too much to demand. From the out look one may easily convince you about the brutality of for President Idi Amin R.I.P, how so many people were innocently killed which to some extend I

would agree to because I believe authority makes history.

However, we have put too much focus on Idi Amin and for some reason forgotten our own responsibilities. Since I was little, I used to like it when we all gathered around the TV and sometimes go to Kololo Airstrip for it was always on the 26 January of every year that the current government of Uganda would be celebrating the acclaimed "Victory Day" for taking over Milton Obote in a very bloody war that saw thousands of Ugandans killed especially in Luweero district and else where in across the country. On the other hand, would be watching TV and see images of children of my age with guns, ears and lips cut off and the question that would stay and is still lingering in my head is "which kind of "victory" did we achieve?" We live in a world ruled by rhetoric not reality and we need to face it as all Ugandans.

Its so sad that after nearly three decades, the way forward for both the Eastern and Northern Uganda

crisis has for the biggest percentage been left in the hands of the civil society. Despite, their (Civil Society) positive contributions, it should also be noted that there are some incedents where of the civil societies recources have landed in the hands of the wrong ones. I am talking about currupt officials that have put their personal interests before the needs of the people. To me this sounds like another a nation going against itself. Whats wrong with us? We tend to put so much effort reflecting and

talking about where we have come from and for some reason this is blocking us to see where we are going? Aren't we just static? I find it so sad when a Ugandan tells that I misrepresent my country by posting pictures of very malnourished kids whenever I write; "Kharim come on Uganda has moved passed that" He Says.. "Look we have these beautiful places and resorts and at least the government has given us some peace" My answer is always "thats not the Uganda where I was born and supposed to be nurtured, there is no close link between the Malnourished kids and these good places you want me to proclaim". Some of these places have been put into existance at the expense of others. The percentage of Ugandans that have access to enjoying these specific places and services don't even know what an average Uganda feels about his/her country.

Our country can only be brought back together in case there is a unified effort that cross cuts social, cultural, political and economic mutual interest. We should work together to fight a "sectarian" on how we choose to lead our nation. I believe that we all have different cultural and political thoughts, but I think these can only be used positively towards national reconciliation rather than division.

Watch my take on UNAA next time.