Scary Uganda

Over time I learned the hard way that there should be authority in any association of people if anything for the common good is to be accomplished or to allow individuals to carry out their self-interests in a state of relative peace. My lessons were early on when in schools I wanted to walk to my own drumbeats. Those Catholic Brothers (monks) and British expatriate teachers would have none of that. When I faced off with a dormitory prefect I was hauled off in front of the disciplinary council, headed by a Mr. Kiwanuka. Mr. Kiwanuka was a short, stocky set of a man who could look scary if he wanted to, and he scared me in line.

By the same token a government worth its salt should be able to stop anarchic elements in their tracks for the common good of all. But, with all its coercive powers, a government can go overboard where it ostensibly acts for security reasons when it is actually out of its own perceived fears to reign in the opposition.

Arbitrary arrests and disappearances have all been the hallmarks of Uganda regimes of various shades. The article below on the arrest of a Buganda minister is a déjà vu for many who are familiar with Uganda’s sad history. His arrest comes in the wake of Mengo’s (the seat of Buganda’s ‘tribal’ government”) spirited opposition to King Museveni’s determination to enact his Land Bill. He effectively wants to re-distribute land in Buganda that is controlled by powerful Baganda with connections to the Kingdom—thanks to the British colonial manipulations.

The question is: should the minister be arrested in such a cavalier manner by “unknown” characters? This is what is scary and should outrage Ugandans from every corners of the miserable country. But will they? Not on your bottom dollar. Baganda may whisper about it in bars and private conversations, but the rest of the country hardly notices. As the say in Acoli: odo ma ogoyo nyeki bi goyi bene—the cane for your co-wife will also turn on you.

Not long ago Acoliland was the hot bed of such arbitrary arrests and disappearances. The rest of the country yawned at the mention of such news. Some cynics even opined then that they were sleeping—allusion to the governments that terrorized their regions--and the Anyanya (a derogatory reference to the Acoli people) deserved their comeuppance. Even to these days the military does police work in Acoliland. Just last Tuesday, word is that a sweep was carried out by the Uganda army, harkening the dark days of the eighties and nineties for Acoli people. But the story never comes out in the news media.

And the beat goes on. If you see no change in sight to this culture of citizen abuse by the high and mighty, it is a scary Uganda indeed.

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By Steven Candia and Josephine Maseruka

BUGANDA'S Kingdom’s deputy minister for information, Medard Lubega, was yesterday picked in the city by unknown people suspected to be security operatives. He was whisked off to an unknown destination.
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/639868