Rating Uganda Political Parties

I have no affiliation to any political parties, but a political party personality that I most admire now in Uganda is FDC’s Dr. Besigye. Why? I believe that Courage, Truth and Execution are the bases for any successful person, organization or country—the rest are but details.

So, let us rate the major political parties based on the three tenets (or as Mr. Museveni might call “cooking stones”) of Courage, Truth and Execution.

FDC
Courage: Dr. Besigye could have pigged on the NRM kill but, in spite of all the odds decked against him, he chose to break away from the stinking NRM Yellow Bus. He was haunted into exile and was jailed on return with all kinds of calumny thrown at him. He is carrying on with rare (in Uganda politics) courage and tenacity to guide his party to victory comes 2011. Two Stars

Truth: Dr. Besigye, in his famous piece to the newspapers, exposed the rot in the NRM organization headed by a power-hungry fiend. When the party talks of democratic change, I am convinced it means it. Many of the former NRM members are men and women of strong convictions who could be comfortably pigging it with NRM. Two Stars

Execution: So far FDC has done fairly well. It is the leading opposition party in parliament. It has fought and won hard battles. There is still a lot that need to be done in organization and taking on the NRM machine. One Star

DP
Courage: The old courage that was exhibited by Northern DP parliamentarians of the 60s exists only in one or two characters. DP needs to show something spectacular to win the imagination of Ugandans. One Star

Truth: I believe DP is sincere when it says it is a party for Truth. This might be a legacy of its Catholic-leaning origin. But Truth without Courage is like Faith without Works—it is dead, according to Apostle James. Two Stars

Execution: Here is why DP has been a third-rate party. It was out-maneuvered by the Mengo cabal, with the collusion of UPC, in 1962 and could not field any candidate in Buganda thereby setting the stage for what was to befall Uganda. That was the time to raise hell instead of now crying as victims. In 1980 DP again cried: We was robbed! In 1996 Ssemogerere was tactically and successfully tied to the hated Obote and Luwero skulls. And what can DP say about the Kyadondo North by-election: We was robbed, again! ½ Star

NRM
Courage: What is going to the bush to wage war against the government if not a profile in courage? And luck favors the courageous. I have heard people beating themselves about: if we had only done this or that—or blaming the so-called illiterate Acoli generals for handing Museveni victory on the jaws of defeat. I take a different tack—Obote was already cooked—the dice was cast and there was nothing he could do about it unless he conjured up a different mindset early on—a mindset that was not difficult to achieve to have stopped Museveni on his tracks.
We may not like it, but Museveni has single-handedly lorded over the NRM and the country for twenty plus years—that is courage. Sadly, however, as a party it is full of eunuchs with no spines. 2½ Stars

Truth: What do you think of somebody who is always calling everybody a liar but him?—A liar. Museveni lied to the young idealists who joined him in the bush about the nature of the struggle—restoration of democracy. Now everything has been turned over on its head. The whole struggle was about his large ego self. The young people were his minions working for him. Blood was spilt for him. He is the alpha and the omega. 2001 poll was supposed to be his last time for the country’s presidency. We all know what transpired, and he still wants more come 2011. All manners of untruth have been massaged in his favor. ½ Star

Execution: In terms of brutality and terror on the population the Luwero war was for the books. While shoving it to the majority of the population Museveni has managed with astute guile to align him self with the powerful western countries—that is also for the books. His country’s candidacy for the Miltonian shock doctrine of disaster capitalism was also well executed. Now laissez faire’ rules, and there is a lot of money to be made even while the majority eats grass.
However, Museveni’s penchant for control spoils it all as basic infrastructures go to the dogs. Put simply: the man cannot run a government. 1 Star

UPC
Courage: UPC lieutenants have not exhibited known courage to stand up to the orthodoxy of the top dog. Some did when the party was out of power and it fell apart like a house of cards. If he lost in 1980, Obote did not have the courage, for the sake of the nation, to admit but cheat. ½ Star

Truth: Even today UPC diehards are stingy with the truths. Let them come clear about the 1980 elections. The truth will set the red party free. ½ Star

Execution: The first four years of Obote I was well executed until UPC’s first internal and KY challenges. It showed that Obote was not a negotiator of the give and take variety. It was either his way or the high road, and the country paid for it. He could not hold his forces together against the then terrorist Museveni. Oh! How times change! ½ Star

Summary:
FDC *****
DP***½
NRM****
UPC*½

Why Now?

I have always maintained that the Juba Peace thing was imposed on Museveni by the need for a successful CHOGM. He got it, and he didn’t need one anymore, and Kony gave him the excuse to go to war. However, the use of the helicopter gunships on Kony’s hideouts is not only unconscionable, but outright evil. The inhabitants of the hideouts who might have fallen to such indiscriminate strafing and mowing were women, children and abductees who were there under the control of an insane man.

In the murky Museveni-Kony world we were told that pictures of the dead would be shown in due course. And then we were told that Kony might have carried away the dead to cover his losses. This is about a man scrambling to leave “town” in a hurry to save his skin! Where is the truth? It is not beyond Museveni to get rid of the dead bodies for tactical reasons.

This is an innocent victim of a previous indiscriminate helicopter gunship campaign in the grasslands of Acoliland. Why are reporters not allowed at the scenes in Garamba?

Still the question lingers: Why now? CHOGM is one. However, it had to be planned. The recent spates of killings in Southern Sudan and DRC had Museveni’s imprints—perhaps to stir anti-LRA to the point of gaining joint military supports of the two countries.

I share the DNA of those who might have perished under the fires of Museveni’s gunships. I will pass this season in deep meditation and prayers, and wish you well in your conditions and circumstances.

Buddha Says

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.” - Buddha

Walking Through the Dark Valley

Wherever one is, whatever temporal status one has attained, chances are one has passed through these milestones in the journey—Hunger, Desperation and Surrender. 

In one way or the other we each burst into this world, hungry to conquer it in pursuit of our desires—whether by hook or crook, brawn, brain or some slick stratagem—we are hungry. We are hot, we are winning, and we are full of ourselves. 

Sooner than later we encounter bumps or some earth-shaking challenges. Sometime we don’t know what hit us, and we are confused as our cherished ego is chattered.  As we grasp for our powers we ask: what went wrong? We try, in desperation, for things like therapy, witchcraft or prayer while still subscribing to the same notion of brawn, brain or fancy stratagem to recapture the old magic. Back and forth, we try harder and harder until we are exhausted and burnt-out. Dark imageries begin to dawn on us: If we are only here for four scores and ten, and it is all a struggle, why even bother? Some soon give up, and you can see it in their eyes even if they still occupy places of eminence or are low down the totem pole.   

At this time of desperation some see the light. They discover something greater than the brute force of their efforts. It is a force that they have had all along, but never fully and consciously utilized—it is the magic of the mind—how it can be manipulated to achieve wonders with such ease to bring peace and harmony with the whole universe. It is a surrender which empowers. Why did it take so long? One must be grateful for the wanderings as they were lessons that led to the discovery of Truth.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Chickens come from eggs, but eggs come from chickens. So, what originally gave rise to the other? This is a question that dogged ancient philosophers as they wrestled with the questions of the universe and life. By now we know that evolution might have played a part in bringing about the domesticated chicken, and thereby making it to come first and lay eggs for self perpetuation. 

By the same token, in this day and age, as Uganda and similar countries desire to be developed, it is appropriate to ask: Which should come first, political freedom or economic freedom? 

Looking at contemporary history, what do the experiences of the Soviet Union, China and others tell us or not tell us? 

 Mikhail Gorbachev embarked on a political reform as he was cheered by the West but, because economic reform lagged behind, he became the architect of the collapse of the Soviet Union.  Now Putin has taken an iron grip of Russia, the father of the Soviet Union, and with a wealth lifeline of oil and gas it is flexing its chest in a renewed sense of national confidence. Putin is a god and the Russian people are economically appreciative even as political freedom gets the boot.  

Deng Xiaoping, the survivor of Mao’s repressive years, approached his reform differently. He will probably be noted as the father of globalization as he helped catapult the American free-market idea to new heights and made China a formidable powerhouse. And the Chinese are happy with themselves even as they lack political freedom. 

Many of the Asian Tigers seem to have developed along the Chinese model of economic freedom first and, may be, political freedom later—Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia are examples. 

Even many western countries did not start off as the practitioners of political freedom before heralding in economic freedom. Kings, potentates and robber barons lorded over labor of the masses to build great wealth that formed the groundwork from which present-day developed economies metamorphosed.  

While modern Japan’s political freedom and economic freedom seem to have grown simultaneously, it is likely that the economic groundwork was laid under pre-war dictatorship of Imperial Japan.

Even India had its own native potentates, in addition to the British who may have laid the basics from which present-day democracy and liberal economy grew simultaneously. 

Historically then it seems that economic freedom preceded political freedom for most peoples. On the surface it would seem that Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is falling in lockstep. Does it then follow that developing countries have to go through repressive regimes via liberal economies before the political space is liberalized? 

It is possible that, if authoritarian regimes embarked on massive infrastructure build up, they could lay the groundwork for economic takeoff. The few like Obote and Nkrumah continued where the colonial dictatorships left off but never survived to see their handy work come to fruition.  Many of the potentates who followed were and are more concerned with their personal aggrandizement and survival than any genuine commitment for up-lifting the lot of their peoples. And, in the world of instant news and universality of liberal thoughts, the dictators are a dying breed, surviving only by the grace of their benefactors who will discard them like condoms when their use date passes. 

What does this leave us with? We don’t need to re-invent the wheel. Liberalization of both the economy and the political space can go hand-in-hand to bring progress, peace, and harmony in society. Isn’t that what the end result should be about?

Come Ye Investors for Free Land

Once upon a time there were “free” lands in the Americas, Africa, the Far East and Australia. Brave whities of all tribes scrambled and tore chunks for themselves and their progenies. They left the natives caged in reservations, homelands or caves to perish in alcohol, drugs, various delinquencies and confusions. While in most of these places the thefts have been grudgingly settled, in Africa the matters are still in flux. In Zimbabwe grandpa Mugabe grabbed back the stolen land and re-distributed it to favored black-faced robber barons. He, however, forgot it is still a white world and you don’t do that to massa and get away with it. Zimbabwe’s economic, social and political make-up has gone to the dogs as Mugabe insanely fights a battle he cannot win.

Here at home we have this Museveni guy wailing to those who care to hear him. He has free land to give away to investors who should come and turn his impoverished fiefdom into an economic jewel.

For all I know, the only places in the world where investors are attracted by land availability are some of the former Soviet Republics. While this may change in the future, for now these Republics have huge infrastructures of collective farmlands of the former Soviet Union which they are leasing to the efficient western agro-investors with impressive results.

The dynamics are different for Uganda. The majority of land is in the hands of various forms of small holdings. Any large-scale farming that will attract investors' avaricious appetite will, therefore, necessitate the consolidation of these small holdings by displacements. Which sane investor will accept the possible political and legal risk ramifications that may follow if Museveni were to carry out his rhetoric of “free land?” And by the way, land is not the only requirement that attracts investors. Investors abhor uncertainties since they already have so much at stake on whether or not they will turn a profit. Mr. Museveni needs to settle once and for all if he is an unapologetic dictator or a full-fledged democrat. Either way it works to turn profit—but there must be certainty. Other requirements include viable infrastructures and predictable legal environment unencumbered by the whims of the executive.

A workable alternative could be model villages which, I understand, are being tried out. This idea may require villages to come closer together, leaving swaths of land they could cultivate for larger output. This might also involve smaller forms of co-operatives for processing and marketing purposes. If this idea is carefully thought out, communities can be preserved while at the same time increasing the national productivity without undue social and political disorientations.

Living Not to Survive

When going to school and doing odd jobs to pay the bills, two work-related incidents stand out.

The first was a night job that, at first, I could go to at any time as long as I got it done. It was a perfect job that I could schedule my homework around. Soon, however, the boss changed his mind. Now, I had to call him when I arrived and when I completed the job. There was no problem with the quality of my work—it was just an attempt to control the numbers of hours he paid me. I was disturbed, to say the least. I had to survive. But the thought of merely surviving wasn’t tenable with my personality—I quit with no promise of the next job. Surprisingly, when I came across him one day, he offered to give me a good reference for my next gig, which I got soon after.

Another incident was at one discount grocery store chain. One way of keeping costs down was hiring part-timers with no benefits. At training the personnel manager instilled the evils of unionization. One middle-aged fellow male employee falsely reasoned in our conversations that, since he got the job himself, why would he pay a union to represent him? Funny enough, he lost the job before three months. One woman stayed for only a week and quit to sue the store chain for illegal hours and the right to associate. She was awarded an undisclosed amount, and the rest of us got nice chunks of checks in the settlement.

You see where I am going with this. Living merely to survive is unnatural. Besides hindering your ability to manifest your true spirit, you soon pay for it. Look around in the office how people suffocate under the fear of not surviving. Most learn small and timid ways to survive thereby robbing themselves of creative and bold fulfilling lives.

This fear of not surviving is what robs Uganda Parliament of its manhood. Museveni has cracked the balls of the men into eunuchs and cowed the women into submission to do his biddings for an absolute monarch. Look at the country, as a result.

Somebody said: “Living boldly and well is not derived from linear logic [of playing safe]; it is a truism experienced by befriending death.” I will add that only then will you open up to creativity in meeting the challenge of the day like a man—or woman for that matter.

Kyadondo's Poll was DP's to Lose

The candidate was right. There were plenty of exploitable chances against the establishment party. The clouds that were hanging over the region were easy tools. Even if the NRM chicanery were factored in, DP should have won in Kyadondo in spite of FDC’s flirtation. Its loss speaks more about DP’s passion, or lack thereof, organizational skill pool, and the curse that has bedeviled its losing streak for two generations. How can we trust its prospective wanabe presidential candidates if the party couldn’t bag this baby?

There we go again with the quintessential Uganda blame game: FDC took it from us by fielding in a newbie.
Dah! What happened to participating in the opposition united-front overture that DP honchos scoffed at? Now when you lose, you cry foul. Don’t confuse tactics for strategy. I applaud FDC’s tactical move. Maybe DP can now see the light: the opposition can only triumph by constantly keeping a jaundice eye on the sly fox. That is a survival default mode in the lion’s den—or rather the foxhole, if you prefer.

Can the Lion Co-exist with the Sheep?

Can the lion co-exist with the sheep in peace and harmony? Not as long as there exists in the human realm the FAG factors of Toxic Motivators--Fear, Anger and Greed. The FAGs transmute into jealousy, hatred, revenge and superstition creating amalgam brews whose stenches prevent human progress, individually and/or collectively. We find ourselves spinning our wheels, roaming the desolate desert and never reaching the Promised Land.

Replace the FAGs with positive Desire, Faith, Love and Hope, and a whole new vista of abundance and light ensues to the individual and/or to the collective. Isn't that what it is all about?

A Point of View on Child Sacrifice

Business is a tough affair akin to war. In fact some business schools offer war games in their strategies and tactics classes. If you ever ran even a roasted-groundnut stall, you would know what I mean.

Today the groundnuts are burned, and yet your esteemed customers expect you to be at that corner with the kind of quality products that bring hoards of office workers at break time to your door. The next day your supplier didn’t deliver and, again, your customers expect you to be there otherwise you begin seeing fewer and fewer of the regulars that you crack jokes with. Ad infinitum—you get knocked down, kicked below the belt, or even, literally, spat on by customers. All the while people are thinking you are a success, when you are roiling inside as your cash is tied up and soon URA might shut you down for late payment.

It is tough running a business. It requires mental toughness and a Jujitsu agility to succeed. Yet some people seemingly do it effortlessly, having discovered the Midas touch. Many seek exotic aids to acquire that rare quality. This is where child sacrifice meets business.

Holding a decapitated head and severed genitals would make most of us retch and quake with horror. However, when the Kajubis of Uganda take the decapitated heads and genitals and do with it what the witch doctor prescribes, they achieve the mental edge, hence the Midas touch in business. From then on they fear nothing—nothing fazes them. Note Mr. Kajubi is relaxed and smiling—even with hand calves on. Now he is armed with the daring and quantum thinking that brings great rewards in war, business and, even winning the hearts of goddesses. Did somebody not proclaimed in his thesis paper at the University of Dar-Es-Salaam that the path to power is to hold the severed head of an enemy?

It is sick. All this could be achieved with techniques other than the horrors of war or macabre rituals.

“Qu'ils mangent de la brioche.”: “Let them eat cake,”

Both the man and his missus, accompanied by a bevy of courtiers of the baddest yellow girls in town, descended on Kyadondo. They warned, especially the youths, to vote “wisely” lest they plunge the country into the “bad old days.”
These people are really out of touch. Which 25-year old can emotionally remember the “bad old days?” Does this hearken to the last days of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette before they were guillotined? “Qu'ils mangent de la brioche,” (Let them eat cake) so unfeelingly uttered Marie Antoinette as the French peasantry starved—thus was born the French Revolution.

Using fear as a weapon worked in the past in the region. Will it work this time around? We are at a serious crossroad, and the voters should think about the future of Uganda which is at peril. But will the voters take control, or will they be led like sheep to the slaughterhouse of more of the same NRM? Let us see what transpires.

The Snake Made Me Do It

I hear it all the time:
“I’m fat because you put me under stress.” Or I am this or did that because you did this or that.
The fact is: You are fat because you put too much calories in your system and/or can’t take your ass from in front of the TV. Any system will expand if it has excess energy that is not expended.

Let us face it; those who blame others for their failures can get under the skin. Yuck! What is wrong with these people? What ever happened to personal responsibility?. It probably had its death knell since Adam and Eve were caught with their pants (or maybe leaves) down in Paradise.

When asked by God whether he ate the forbidden fruit, Adam replied, "The woman you gave me, to be with me, she made me do it," implicating both God and woman in a single breath.

And when God asked Eve what happened, she said, "The snake made me do it."

This brings us to our favorite subject: General (Retired but Not Retired) His Excellency, His Eminency Yoweri Museveni Kaguta, President-cum-Revolutionary-cum-Military Dictator-cum Blamer-of-All-Blamers of the Republic of Uganda. Since when have you heard him take responsibility for:

1. The poor roads?
2. The miserable public health care systems?
3. The dysfunctional schools turning semi-illiterates?
4. The erratic energy supply?
5. The rampant corruption in high places?
6. The massive youth unemployment?
7. The blood that has soaked the land since 1981?

Own up, dude. You can't just cherry pick the good, which most seem by accident, au contraire to what you and your court jesters crow about.
Look at the mirror Mr. President, and you will see the cause of all that hails Uganda. That’s right; it is you, Mr. Museveni Kaguta—a control freak who, though a dreamer (which is good), can’t help but interfere in the details of running a government best left to technocrats. All is a failure of misplaced resources and inept execution.

Yes, Laissez Faire, but with Heart

Illinois Family Business Thanks Employees with Huge Bonuses

CHICAGO – Even though employees at the Peer Bearing Co. no longer work for the Spungen family that recently sold the Waukegan-based ball bearings maker, they still received a turkey each this Thanksgiving in keeping with tradition.
But even better was the gift that came in mid-September, when the Spungens threw a party to celebrate the company's acquisition by a Swedish company.
They gave away $6.6 million in year-end bonuses to Peer's 230 employees, decided by a formula based on each worker's years of service.

Dia Broda Baraks

Dia Broda Baraks,

Congrats on your assumption to the throne of US. We your Nigerian famili are very happy for you and for ourselves. It is our turn now to chop we US national cake and our enemies can do notting about dat.I was to come to see you personally at Wite aus but I was not allowed at the airport because of say no fisa. I told them I am Obama kosin bet they refuse me.Your new elesion is a very good news for the Obama clan in Kenya and de famili in Nigeria . When I fest went to de family aus in Kenya to tell dem we are one famili they did not agree but me pastor from me church make 3 days dry fast and give me a special sponge to baf in barbitch after this they accept me. Becos they don't remember the sister of your granfada mother dat went to Nigeria and mari a shief live near Lagos in 1956 which is also my own personal great
grandfada.

Now de famili has choose me to diskus some important matas with you. You know you have been long in Amrica and have forget our traditions but tank God we, your famili are hia to guide you to be rill African man. As a president, you must have a male son in office who will take over after you die and since ya wife Minchell has not able to do dat, we have find a wife for you from your fada village. The famili have already chose a good girl from de village not like Amerika or lagos gals who are too stubborn to obey the famili. She is a humble well behave and edicated gal who study sewing and fasion disine so she can helpwith sewing your suit wen e tia and also unifom for ami and soja.

I hope ya waif will assept famili shoice becos we have fogif her for her winchcraft wich dont allow her to have a male son but if not, she can go back to her fada. Even my pastor has say your younger thoter may need a deliverance becos her granmoda want to give her winsh and ogbanje spirit to chop. Please don't wori about what dis will cost becos I will do it with my own pusonal moni becos we are one famili.

I also want to tell you that I want to set up NGO for hades unfans in Kenya and I can be the leader of the NGO. I have a good standard six degree and also studied computa at Iyana Ipaja so am well qualify for dis.Please I need your help for this.I hope you will consider my request. I will also like your personal mobile so I can call you. Please greet Auntie Minchel and the shindren for us. God bless you and may all your enemies fall down and die, in Jesus' name!

Til I hear you,
I amYours amiable cousin
Festus Obama

Debunking the Myth of Museveni's Invincibility

A successful life is or should be premised on balance. Excesses tend to create disruptions, change and/or collapse in a life system. For example, for those who drink, alcohol is said to be good for the heart—as in the physical in addition to the sudden rambunctious sense of heart-warming euphoria. However, excesses corrode the liver and bring the brain to mush, insanity and/or premature death.

Lately some Uganda journalists, known for their lack of depth and research, have been in the habits of pronouncing Mr. Museveni presidency untouchable in the near future. And, since in the long run we are all dead, they have crowned him a life president, who will probably be succeeded by his son or any of his family members. These journalists see only Museveni’s guns, his Kiboko goons, his now-quiet-ugly Mutale, the spineless MPs, and an opposition short on proactive strategies and tactics but more on individual sick ambitions. However, seen in a larger context of balance, all indications are that Mr. Museveni has already lost, and he is now on a downhill slope. That is not where a good General should be—he should be victorious before the battle.

A “century” ago as he galloped to the bush, Museveni was already victorious before the first shot was fired. All the mathematics was in his favor. The excesses of Obote weren’t sustainable. And the pathetic amateurish action of the so-called Acoli-backed generals could but only shorten the timeframe to Museveni’s triumph. No wonder if you are a son of these generals and stayed home, you may have been rewarded with an undeserving ministerial post and a lucrative contract with one of the premier company in the country and become filthy rich.

He was the real McCoy come to restore balance. And did the general population welcome him? Yes, they did. As it is with all humans, we bring to the table what our mamas and upbringing weaned us on. You can put a pig in a clean nice place, but come the next day, you will find it has defecated and urinated where it sleeps.

In twenty years and counting Mr Museveni has adopted an imperial presidency no different from Obote and Idi Amin.

1. The general population is now experiencing what the North has known all along for the last twenty three years—a police state. Shoving leaders into jail is not new to the North. The Kiboko squad is not new to the North. With human sacrifices going around Kampala the suspected cooking of humans might, in fact be the rumored activities Kakooza Mutale’s goons instead of the vicious LRA.
If Museveni gets more than 20% in 2011, it will be more to the stupidity in the North rather than anything else.

2. Tell me if you can understand these actions on the Kabaka and his kingdom other than humiliation:
a. Floating the nasty rumor that the Kabaka was sired by one Daudi Oceng—a Mucoli moreover—of the degenerate biological substance lot. I wonder why Dr. Aliker, the brother took the bait and raised some noise. No wonder he is now a mere presidential adviser, and not a whole minister—that is if he cares for the prestige and not access to the loots since he is “a man of substance.”
b. Linking the Buganda Kingdom to the Luo, ostensibly again, to bring down to the level of a people he most despise and hate.
c. The Land Bill designed to weaken the ssabasajja and the abataka since the advent of the gain they got from our colonial masters

Whether one likes it or not the Buganda Kingdom still has a hold on many Baganda, and Mr. Museveni has already lost a large chunk of the lucrative Buganda vote.

3. Corruption. This needs no elaboration. Among the small middle class Mr. Museveni has lost all credibility and will get only a small fraction of the votes from his home turf from this group.

4. Infrastructures and social services. The roads and healthcare system are what his loyal banakyaalo see as evidence of Museveni’s failure in the last twenty plus years. Only Kiboko squads and rigging will force voting Museveni among this lot.

5. Laissez Faire Economics. The World Bank induced free market maybe heaven for the quick and the informed. There are plenty of resources to build successful enterprises in spite of the miserable infrastructures or lack. What do you do with the teaming millions who don’t know the ropes when there are no credible mechanisms, other than slogans, to bring them into the feast? Only a small percentage of the jobless young will vote for Museveni in 2011.

These are extremes that have to be corrected by a change. In the minds of many Ugandans Museveni has already lost the love he so much desires. It is just a matter of time. He can install his wife, his son or his brother, then what? Nature abhors excesses and cherishes balance, and the outcome will surprise us— just as the fall of the Soviet Union did—just as the fall of Apartheid did—and many other surprises in our time. Stay tuned.

Ah! Ah! Ah! What a Laughing Stock

Ah, sista, what are you all in stitches about?

Hi! Hi! Hi! You kiro me ma brotha. It is ma preciden--he is a piece ofo worki! Look at this loado to Kitigumi that looki like kalo porridge thati ma preciden enjoys very muchi! And minista Oryemi, apologazi, calli another minista, and theni assurred usi dat the loadi willi bi repaired sooni. Are these peopoli nincompoops or something, or we the citizens are?


Unfortunately, Mr. President a laughing stock is what you have turned the country into. Ah! Ah! Ah! What a country—roads that look like cattle trails, hospitals that are worse than American animal shelters, a regime that rules by violence and not reason, a regime that is corrupt from top to bottom, ad infinitum. Tell me, Mr. President: What is there not to laugh at? Ah! Ah! Ah! Your guns instead of hoes? Your bloated parliament? Your bloated number of districts? Your gazillion redundant ministers?

Ah! Ah! Ah! Mr. Museveni, threats won’t cut the mustard. You changed the country through violence in which a lot of blood was shed. You are good at it because nothing speaks like success. Management of the country, however, is another matter. You clearly don’t know. And you have succeeded in failing. It is time to accept that fact at let go. Genda eri! We are tired of your games and manipulations!

It is the Mind, Stupid

Ex-president Clinton, once said he would focus on the economy like a laser beam, because “It is the economy, stupid.” I say, Afrikans have to focus on the state of their minds, stupid. It is from where they were/are manipulated by kings, chiefs, missionaries, colonials, prime ministers, presidents, Arab slave traders, and what have you.

Whatever your reason is for visiting here a few times it is because you convinced yourself that I have one or two nuggets of ideas, or that I am real—not a fake, or maybe interestingly stupid to warrant another visit. It is all in your mind.

Take the Christian religion; it says you should eat the body of Christ and drink his blood. If we had any sense, why didn’t we tell the missionaries that we were not cannibals to eat somebody and drink his blood? Of course, by then they had already convinced our minds they knew better, and we should just obediently follow.

37 times in the Bible Joshua, (aka Jesus) says he is a man—the son of man, just like the rest of us. The only difference from the average Joe was that he had an exceptional use of his mind to connect to the Truth—the Truth that is the universal all-goodness.

So, all these preachers living large on your money do so because you have surrendered your mind to them to enter your pocket. The really successful leaders of all sorts do so because they have learned to use their minds at an elevated frequency that connects to the ordinary Joe, or scares opponents, or both.

We often hear the refrain: You can be what you want to be. I will add: You can be what you have convinced your mind you want to be.

Afrika is Open for Business

Rather than just a place noted for strives and pestilence, there are opportunities for substantial return on investments in Afrika like nowhere in the world. For the bold, they are the pioneers of what will be the next frontier. These are their stories in Africa Open For Business. Check it out for yourself, and think about whether or not you and I are just do-nothing cry-babbies.

Obviously, there are challlenges. If one has gotten used to the comfort of the west, then stay put where you are. If one has gotten into the easy money of affirmative action government jobs in the west, please keep your job until retirement and then wait to die. Afrika needs creativity and thinking outside the box.

If Wishes Were Horses, Beggars Would Ride

Who am I kidding? None of this, of course, will reach your president-elect's eyes or ears—no pun intended. If it can reach the minds of one or two people, I am a happy camper.

First, congratulations on your historical win. While you are now involved in putting up a cabinet and mulling over the state of the economy and the other many challenges the world over, here are the wishes of some of us, Afrikans.

America’s contradictory policies have contributed in many ways to repressions and despotisms that have stunted the political, economical and social developments of Africa.

-Once and for all exorcise King Leopold’s Ghost so that the people of Congo can take a breather and prosper.
-Coddling the handful of Afrikan despots props them and makes them appear legitimate. Call these despots for what they are, isolate them and leave the rest for us to finish them off with our votes.
-Somali is something else. While we have some romance with that high-sea piracy, we subscribe to fair play. If you can pull your weight around in the Muslim world, let them work with Somalis to sort the failed-country mess. Maybe as a Somali elder, you will succeed here.

Obama, the Somali Elder

-Darfur, Darfur, Darfur. Sort out that Bashir man so that the Black Afrikans can have a life.

We are tired of the religious missionaries. Bring us business missionaries for joint ventures and venture capital. The aid thing is old, and usually just benefits the mean big daddies. Do one or two trips with the intent of letting your countrymen and the world see Afrika’s potentials for good business returns rather than a place of strives and pestilence.

Yes, Afrika can. Sing your winning refrain to Afrika. If one or two believes in it, you never know the limits. Yes, we can.

What Would You Do?

If you were in the rabbit's shoe, what would you do? The rabbit, obviously has given up, and is quaking with fear. If you kept your wit and thought of grabbing the pelican's neck, you are a true survivor! You are going to die anyway—you might as well go for broke—God helps those who help themselves!

When a Drunk "Lieutenant" Bob Hit a Drunk Munyankole

This story would be comical if it weren’t serious. It is a true story that involved some people I know.

My friend called me up telling me about her brother having hit a pedestrian and was now in police custody. She said that the previous night her brother, the dark horse of the family and a good-for-nothing unemployed young man, took her car without authorization and went out on the town. On his drunken way back he hit another young man. He bundled the victim up, shoved him into the car, and took him to the police station accusing him of having hit his windshield with a large object. At the police station he (my friend’s brother) said he was a lieutenant from Makindye. An alert police officer, however, sensed something was not right. So, he called up Makindye telling them that he had a named “officer” in an accident. Makindye did not know of an officer called Bob for purpose of this story. The police officer then traced up the car to my friend and called her up. This is when hell broke loose for Lieutenant Bob. He was soon bundled up and put in police custody, and the hit victim released.

My friend is a hardcore survivor in the dog-eat-dog Uganda. By the time we got to the station she had already come to some tentative terms—Uganda style— with the police. She tagged me along because money was going to be involved, and she calculated I would be an asset.

The police station was a ramshackle affair in one of the populated outskirts of Kampala. We sat under a tree. Soon a police officer came and greeted us, and said he was expecting the victim soon. Since he was not in uniform I assumed he was a detective. He sounded intelligent, and I wondered why he would resort to such a shady deal.

In about thirty minutes the victim arrived. He looked forlorn and a far cry from many of the people from his part of the country who dominate the news. The police officer pressured him to accept a certain amount of dough which, after about an hour of haggling, he finally accepted. He signed a prepared document, effectively forfeiting any future claims of damage, got his money and left.

Matters were not complete yet. The handler of the case, besides the officer we were dealing with, supposedly needed something for his efforts. Once everyone was taken care of, my friend’s brother emerged from the station. I did not even hear him say “thank you” to his sister.

There is a line from a notorious white headmaster that was handed to us from seniors: Uganda is corrupt from top to bottom. The headmaster reigned in the 60s, and some of those making major decisions in Uganda now were his students. Did they learn anything? And what example are they giving to the police officer who earns pittance? He eateth where he worketh--a saying I heard from someone. Buturo is just wasting space and time since he has no power to rein in his errand colleagues who set bad examples.

Why He Did Not Cut Down The Plum Tree

An ancient Chinese stratagem talks of cutting the plum tree to save the peach tree. It is now common knowledge that Mr. Museveni—our own version of a maverick—turned the Chinese aphorism on its head. He saved the blight infested plum trees to save the peach tree—supposedly.

One could hear him urge his NRM parliamentary caucus: Let us act as one. Let us unite for the sake of the mighty NRM. We are a revolutionary movement. We are scientific. We are unemotional. All these, of course, are equivalent of raising corpses from the dead. Then add to that a few threats from security apparatus and challenges from a well-oiled machine in the next election. Soon all the rank-and-file NRM MPs are in line.

Are you confounded yet? What do you think mavericks do? They confound. They take calculated risks.

Do you conceivably believe that Mama Janet actually acted of her own accord to the orchestrated leaked crusade for cutting down the blighted plum trees? I don’t.
Mr. Museveni wanted the plum trees to be beholden to him—he saved them even at the cost of his own marital bliss—supposedly. How more benevolent can you get? Take that to the bank—it is bankable, it is strategic, and it is Musevenian.

Despite the country’s negative image for corruption, why did he do it? Even if high-level corruption may stagnate the country, it is a boon to the Visionary’s survival. With the Temangalo saga conquered in his favor, Mr. Museveni is now set for his final act of life presidency. The flea-infested cats around him can do his biddings—even fall on swords for him lest he pulls the rugs from under them.

So, what does all this portend for the rest of us who are allergic to all that filth? Some may vote with their feet and take their talents elsewhere at the first available opportunity—just as they did some three decades ago. Some will tough it out amidst the increasing misery indices, but will sabotage the systems whenever and wherever they can. Those outside will stay put, and not entertain any notion of taking themselves and their accumulated assets back home. Those who dare will step up their smarts for the final showdown. In the end it will all come crushing down before it gets better—for that is the natural law of the Universe because evil is unsustainable.

The Fine Art of Management by Conflicts

Of the series of girlfriends—too many for my own good—,two stand out for their abilities at creating conflicts. Just when I am feeling comfortable and considering the ultimate possibilities, boom! Where did that come from? I am hit by a crisis. I am accused of this and that. As I become defensive we sink down to our lowest selves as we shout at one another. This is followed by the silent treatment. Sooner or later we are buddies again and in paradise—till next time! With time, however, the cycle becomes old and we drift apart and are only friends with benefits—if you know what I mean.

The story of confrontational relationship management may well mirror the story of Museveni’s NRM vis-à-vis the Uganda population. This year alone we can count a series of deliberately created conflicts meant to put the population on edge.

1. As his CHGOM intoxication was wearing down, he needed something to stir the water. He thus derided the Juba talks to the extent of dissociating himself from his own representative, Rugunda. What was that all about?
2. If you can understand the near fanaticism in floating the conflict-loaded land legislation, give me call. Now we will see how he will manage the practical implications of the said law in the Temangalo land saga.
3. Denying a tribal king the right to visit his subjects
4. Tribal ministers being roughed up for no apparent credible reason but to show who is the boss of all bosses.
5. Handling the Temangalo land issue by bending laws to achieve desired self-serving outcomes.

As if these were not tiring enough, this week Mr. Museveni went back to his old conflict grazing ground of Acoliland by releasing information on his design for taking land by using the government’s power of eminent domain.

Yes, in a democracy, a government can take land from owners based on certain constitutional and legal framework. The law of eminent domain is, however, fraught with controversies which his international agencies might have to contend with as they help in financing the Madhivani sugar scheme.

Acoli is not new to land appropriation by the government. However, even in the totalitarian colonial British rule, the government had to negotiate with the Acoli in taking large swaths of land for the Paraa Game Park. Incidentally, the terms of that settlement need to be revisited because the government maybe owing Acoli billions in back royalties on paid usage by visitors to the park.

What then is the power of eminent domain? This assumes that Uganda is not China, and the government is accountable to generally accepted legal principles based on the democratic world model. In this model eminent domain refers to the power possessed by the state over all property within the state, specifically its power to appropriate property for a public use. However, in most jurisdictions this power is weighed against the equally valid claim of private ownership and the right to do with it whatever manner one legally wants. And so to effect eminent domain there must be just compensations or some court hearings on alternative uses.

In the case of the said Acoli land, community property is a recognized private property to which the residents have asked to get settled down first after a virulent conflict before it can negotiate directly with the Madhvani Group. Is this too much to ask? Or is the present overture the equivalent of looting a house on fire?

In a twisted version of public use, the government now defines economic use as public use. That is partly why it tactically injects a percentage of government ownership in the deal as a public usage ruse.

If the Acoli MPs were astute tacticians, they should have long been prepared for this because Mr. Museveni will try every avenue to get his way. We live in interesting times. Let us be prepared for long legal battles ahead.

Tribute to Miriam Makeba-Mama Afrika

Daughter Bongi

Husband #2 Black Panther, Stokely Carmichael

Husband numero uno, Trumpeter Hugh Masekela

My father was good at hoarding old magazines and newspapers in neat piles— testimony to his affectation to erudition. Going through these piles in my own early ravenous quest for knowledge, I vaguely remember the pictures of this beautiful African woman with hair closely cropped and the heart-thawing smiles. She was my adolescent definition of beauty. She was the African singer from South Africa. She was Miriam Makeba, later dubbed Mama Afrika.

It was the dawn of post-independent Africa. While I was just learning English and could not grasp the nuances of what were being said in the magazines, I sensed the air of Pan-Africanism. So, when I heard Miriam Makeba on the radio I cocked my ears more keenly. One record that still rings very clearly even as I write now is that praising Mzee Jomo Kenyatta—Pole Mze. With the onset of teen age, Congolese, Swahili and our local Luganda pop music took over my attention. The folk song variety of Makeba soon disappeared from my consciousness as she herself disappeared from the lives of the ordinary Afrikan.

Her passing away last week-end brought floods of emotions, and I sought to connect to my adolescent pin-up girl—the emblem of the quintessential African beauty and grace. I immersed myself in connecting to her to understand her essence.

A lot has been said about Miriam Makeba—the stripping of her citizenship by the South African Boers to which the world responded by giving her nine different passports, the triumph of love over career in her marriage to Black Panther Stockely Carmichael, and the association with murderous African dictators. Would a political person marry a Black Panther at that time? She did and RCA yanked her record contract. What has love got to do with it?, she might have asked. Would a sensible artist associate with Togo’s Eyadéma, Guinea’s Sékou Touré and Cote d’Ivoire’s Houphouët-Boigny ? This was the time of the big-man Africa and Miriam Makeba played at the rallies of these dictators. To her it was giving—her music to the African people even in the midst of Afrikan predatory big cats.

Above all Miriam Makeba was just a little Afrikan girl who wanted to go home to her Mama in Sophia town and sing to her people. She curtseyed as if she was kneeling to her audience—that was and still is the practice in many Afrikan households. Politics was forced on her and she handled it with grace and equanimity. Thank you, Mama Afrika for adding your elixir of beauty and songs to my cup of joy and Afrikan pride.

Mayibuye

MM at the UN

Does Tribe Matter?

At the dawn of Uganda’s Independence a suave electrifying Prime Minister from the North wedded a Southerner. Was it a love bite? Was it political? Or was it both? Nevertheless, soon the educated, the soldiers, the prison warders and the policemen hailing from the North followed in the prime minister’s—later the president’s—footsteps.
Today the products of those marriages have come of age, and some of them are playing front-row seats in the country’s conversations.

First, let us jump across the pond to the US of A where the product of a brief union between an African tribesman and a European tribeswoman has suddenly become a world’s superstar. His mixed-tribe background, coupled with a keen intellect, helped him build a successful coalition to win an election, uplift the spirits of his nation and the world. As he jokingly referred to himself as a mutt, can our local mongrels equally bring together the North-South divide to work towards a common goal? Put another way; are these mutts the answer to the vexing downsides of tribe/race? Or is the Obama phenomenon just a coincidental random occurrence leaving us still with the question: does tribe matter?

Tribe should matter in culture as it adds to the tapestry of music, language, beauty and other qualities that makes the world richer. Imagine a world where most Acoli have become mongrels having had Bagisu or Banyarwanda mothers who have not encouraged the finer art of Larakaraka dance. The world would be cheated of a vibrant seductive music and dance that has pulsated the hearts of many of our fellow homo sapiens.

To say that tribe should not matter is to say that family, community or nation should not matter. The problems that arise from tribe are the same problems that are emblematic of conflicts between families, communities and nations—greed, hate, bad faith, chauvinism—just plain evil. And so, while pretenders speak of and use laws against what they call sectarianism, they stack key positions of government with their own tribe. A good faith effort would have been to recognize tribal tendencies—even from revolutionary liberators—and work towards practical solutions.


Well packaged, this Acoli Lukeme music and dance could contribute to World Peace through aerobic exercise from Beijing to San Francisco!

Can This Nation Be Saved?

It is now out that Mama Janet supposedly wanted Mbabazi & Co to face the guillotine on account of their involvement in the NSSF saga. Why her control freak husband would allow such information from the NRM caucus to leak out in the public domain has me scratching my head. What message was he sending if it were true that his wife, of her own accord and in a moral outrage, disagreed with him? Or was it just a staged up act that had been rehashed in pillow talks to fool the masses? After all, Mr. Museveni prevailed, and his wayward ministers have another lease on life as they know it, while a nation sinks lower. Where is the beef? Can this nation be saved by the premier savadee?

Are you Wo/Man Enough to do the Vomaseve?

Even the NRM (aka Museveni) verdict on the NSSF shame cannot dim the Obama high--Yes, we can! Why not do the Vomaseve as testimony to being down but not out?!

The Devil is the Elephant in the Room

My friend and I often wondered why a mutual friend was at times erratic and unpredictable. Just when you thought you were having a good time and that your friendship was the best thing in this journey, then, kaboom!, you have to look behind you in dealing with him.

Similarly each of us imagines we have some form of relationship with those in authority over us. But what puzzles many is: Why do some of these people sometimes behave in bizarre ways that send us scratching our heads?

I think I have discovered the keys to this phenomenon, and I hope that I might be a candidate for the next Nobel Prize. Imagine a prize named after a guy who invented something to blow up things! Don’t even get me on this line of thinking. Look at the white supremacist Cecil Rhodes who coined his name to Rhodesia. While both Rhodesia are no more the Rhodes scholarship, largesse from Black exploitation, still benefits mainly the young white scholars of which Bill Clinton was a beneficiary. Enough of that—I had to vent my spleen.

Anyway, my discovery—Love and Fear are the chief behavior determinants for the low and the mighty. While love is ennobling in many ways, fear is debilitating in many ways. We seek and give love from the beginning of our short stay in this space. For some reason, if we missed getting that nurturing love early on, it messes us up. Some people sleep around with any creature to get it. For some people the quest to get it is fraught with fear—the elephant in their living room. Sometimes the fear shows up as possessiveness and jealousy.

So, while we see outward manifestations of power and bravery, the bizarre behaviors might be a function of fear. In the political realm, two dudes come to mind—Museveni and Mugabe. These are tough, seemingly fearless guys who run ram shod over their opponents.

We see Museveni dishing out brown envelops full of cash and four-wheeled vehicles left and right. This is the act of a needy person—desperate to be loved. Having done all these, he thinks the peasants just must love him, and don’t you dare attempt to take that away from him. And so, when Besigye, after a triumphant tour up country, marches on Kampala like Jesus coming to Nazareth, fear engulfs Museveni and he goes rogue and ballistics. He saw a threat of somebody taking away the affection of the Ugandans he perceived he has given so much. Word is that he was right there in the chaos directing the arrest of Besigye.
One could also say that the bizarre arrest of some loony tribal kingdom ministers was motivated by similar fear. Here is a guy, armed to the teeth and regularly insults whoever he hates, suddenly can’t handle innocuous bad language from these so-called ministers. Many leaders I know would have just ignored and gone about doing their business—not our man.

And so we find ourselves in a Kafkaesque dilemma of sorts, where the fearful fears the fearful—the population is fearful of a leadership that is fearful. If only we knew! What if a bunch of NRM legislatures with balls had chosen to go for broke, stood up to the bully and made Mbabazi & Co to pay their dues in the NSSF saga. They might have surprised themselves with their power. But that was not to be and, as a nation, we sunk lower.

The Coolest Man Alive Wins the Presidency

Do you think you are Cool?

Looking around here is a short list of what I found cool dudes dig or have done:
1. Know how to tie a bow tie
2. Make a woman scream and thereafter to remain in bliss and she is well with his world
3. Unimpressed with nothing save Quantum Physics and the coolest of all dudes, Barack Obama
4. Drive Mini Morris, Jetta or Porche'
5. Run for life, ride a bike and go to the gym at least once a week
6. May not dance Salsa, Lambada, or Tango but, for God's sake, can do Dikakapa or Vomeseve
7. Has a signature drink he mixes. If you don't, try Tequila, Tonic Water and a dash of lime. If you don't do alcohol, try green tea and honey with lime
8. Know how to cook something that makes her give it up unreservedly
9. Loyalty is for real men. This is not about complete agreement, but is about a shared past and present
10. God is Mind because what gets in makes reality. You put in garbage, you get out garbage as in GIGO. You put in fear, you manifest fear. That is what free will is all about.
11. Has a joke or two in his quiver
12. Can explain in simple language such concepts as sampling & quantization in digital signal processing

You may add more of what you think cool dudes dig

Okay, You Won

So, where do we go from here? You went to the bush because you were revolutionaries. You soaked the land with blood and you won. You are in control now—at least physically. You claimed a movement. What movement? For a fundamental change, I am told. Then I am told of a 10-point program I have never read.

Now, Buganda, the locus of your revolutionary operation, says it sleeps, but one wonders whether the banakyaalo of Luwero have reaped the rewards for their sadaaka. I am told your own region of birth (maybe), having not had major trauma in generations, is prospering. Good. We all want to shine by our own sweats.

As a pre-requisite, we want a government that can do its part so that we do our part. We want an efficient transportation system. We know that Rome was not built in a day, but let us agree on the old proverbial 5-year plan to modernize the system—none of the one-man vision that bores me to tears.

We know that there are things the free market just doesn’t do well. Government can participate by well-thought out regulations and maybe injection of capital and control. But none of the farcical arbitrary one-man control that necessitates that one has to talk to Mr. Visionary about importation of exotic cattle sperm.

So, you fought and we admire your sacrifice. We also understand that those less advanced in the spiritual plane use violence to get their way. In their delusional quest the give-and-take of negotiated settlements are not options lest they be mistaken for weaklings.

Okay, you won. But does that mean a police state, kanyama and Black Mamba? Does that mean the public coffer is some people’s piggy bank? Is that what you fought for?

Peace has come to the region of the primitive biological substances. Now the whole nation sleeps. Let us get on with the program of building a nation we all can be proud of. Yes, we can, as in the battle cry of my brother to his people across the pond. We are all waiting with our fingers crossed—cautiously optimistic that we will bear witness to the miraculous workings of the Universal Mind that will also manifest itself in our tortured country.

Here is an apropos nuance with Bila pa Lokwiya (Lokwiya Sounds the Horn)

Loyalty to the Team versus Loyalty to the Truth

Mr. Museveni’s standing by his man, Super Minister Amama Mbabazi, comes as no surprise. All the splitting of hairs about the NSSF theft as being an investment rather than a procurement is a shameless attempt to cover a king caught naked with his pants down. Another president across the pond once claimed that being cheeky with a cigar on an intern was not sexual intercourse! Only the naïve doubts that the minority opinion was staged managed as a tactical maneuver to help counter the pending parliamentary censorship.

Now UPC has been whitewashed and becomes the standard of modus operandi. This is a party that has been the butt of the man’s ridicule. A party that to me is as dirty as they come. You don’t defend fellow members on theft and divergent philosophy you feel strongly about if you really love your country. This will be a test case that will define Uganda for a long time just as we still reel to this day from the 1966 Pigeon-Hole constitutional change. When a party becomes over-bearing it will soon exist only in name and only in the minds of those who have nothing better to think about but wallow in nostalgia. We, the people are not stupid.

Are our legislators and ministers mere glorified clerks who serve the selfish interests of Museveni and Mbabazi? Don’t hold any hope, my brothas and sistas. If you can, just enjoy some Cuban Salsa below with Papa or Mama!

Back to the Future with Kampala Sound

Did Mr. Kiwanuka chase you from a bar at Mile 15? Do Peugeot taxis and UTC buses mean anything? If so, may be you were ahead, and now you guys are ministers, permanent secretaries, judges, etc. You are quietly serving as glorified clerks. What does the NSSF saga mean to you? We used to look up to you when you were dormitory prefects at Lourdel or Mugwanya. Now when you speak you utter oppression. Now, I can understand when a Munyankole came on campus and shook things up before we could have eggs for breakfast. You are just trained to follow; not to bring change and lead.

Enjoy the music and the week-end.

Winning Symbolism, Losing Symbolism

A symbol is something that may be an object, picture, written word, a sound or mark used to represent something else by association, resemblance or convention. Hence, symbolism is thus the practice of using symbols. It is a tool of communication that can often be very powerful in the hands of those who are adept at using it to win hearts and minds.

I have long been fascinated by the use of symbolism by politicians to laud themselves or to bury their oponents. And so I have compiled a list of contemporary and not so contemporary symbols which have packed punches or were duds. I have also been interested in social symbols of individuals as each navigates the wonders of living.

1. Obama & Grandparents


I believe him when he said his grandmother was so sick that he had to leave the campaign trail to visit her in case she passed away without a recent contact. I hope she lives to see and visit him in the White House.

For a couple of days TV networks showed this photograph several times as they mentioned his unprecedented decision to leave for Hawaii. Being a political junkie I could see his poll numbers ticking up day by day as the picture was flushed on the screens. Without saying anything the picture reminded skeptics and the ignorant Americans that the dude wasn't an Arab, but part of their white blood. Was that powerful or what?

2. Prosperity-for-all or Bonagagawale. This is the coinage of Mr Museveni and it is the current battle cry of the NRM government of Uganda. This is an overstatement--a kind of hyperbolic nonsense that even a rustic village kook laughs at. The Man said in John 12:8, in effect, that the poor will always be with us. Rather than this silly slogan what Uganda needs are good infrastructures and exorcising the nation of the politics of fear and corruptions. This is a loser.

3. Mao, to the right in an NRM militia cadre training. What?!

Mao is the current Chairman of Gulu district, and is slated to be the standard bearer of the Democratic Party (DP) come 2011. Tell me if you can understand this: an opposition leader of a party goes to attend his opponent's militia course--a course, the symbol of which brings viscerial dislike or even hate in some. What message is this guy trying to send? It is, at best bizarre and calls attention to the quality of his judgement. This is an F.

4. Carrera 911 Porche'

Get behind the wheel of this baby, spin it on to the freeway and feel its power. It is the ultimate statement that you have arrived with style and power. Those Huns in Deutschland know something or two we don't. Winner.

5. Super Minister Amama Mbabazi


US of A Sen. Ted Stevens going to jail

The man on top is furious and angry and is ready to strangle someone. Why? People with no power are questioning his sweetheart deal of easy money which he obtained by dint of his position in government. He will not go to jail. Might even become the next president! Compare that to the man below who is now wishing he had not taken those gifts from a "generous"citizen who was effectively buying support for his business in Congress. The man on top should invite the guy below to Uganda for a speedy citizenship to escape the jaws of civilized law. Losers

6. The White Man's Burden


To the left, British businessmen are carrying Idi Amin through the streets of Kampala. To the right the same are kneeling before Idi to pledge their allegiance. Were those crude images? But what about the images of Africans carrying these people in the jungle or being hanged for asserting their rights to freedom? Hate him, but here he showed them. Winner or Loser?

7. Obama braves the rain while Museveni is dry under a tent while wanainchi soak

A tale of two different people. One shows care of people; the other doesn't give a hoot. Winner v Loser

8. Others. Make your own readings of these symbols

Did this make the point anticipated?





Check the body languages in these pictures. For a cool £9M in aid even a hardened turn-coat Marxist can, unlike Sarah Blair, curtsey to royalty! Why is the guy always in military fatigue whenever he goes to my hood?

Idi, the Chancellor of Makerere University gets a doctorate!


Hair dos that say volumes. If you remember hot iron combs, then you must be really old. Now chemical technology does the trick. It has made fortunes for quick-footed entrepreneurs. One Asian guy has driven out all the small Black mom-and-pop operations in my hood. He has just completed building a spanky new office complex with his profits. Michelle Obama, give me some Afro do, and I won't turn off the TV whenever you appear. Mama Janet and Sista Beti your dos rock even if your politics stink.
Word is that some Nigerian girls applied the hair chemicals to the plumage under the skirt--thanks God for the British national Healthcare!

MP Beti Kamya Michelle Obama MP Janet Museveni