K Ssemogerere, the Colonial Visitor from the South

Mr. Ssemogeree’s narration of his “safari” through the Eastern and Northern frontiers is not unlike that of a colonial adventurer of the 1800s. True to form, a colonial traveler worth his salt must be carried by native guides to negotiate the dangerous primitive terrains. And so Ssemogerere’s guide—and he never fails to get one as in “I always find one”—showed him businesses affiliated with the dangerous terrorist, lest he be kidnapped and made to carry sacks of potatoes. Believe it or not, there have been kids from Kawempe, Entebbe and what-have-you who “escaped” Kony and sought asylum in desirable locales.

Of course, a “civilized” colonialist must dispense unsolicited advice to the natives to save themselves against themselves: “There is no reason to prolong this funeral” and follow the young who are free from past memories. But one must ask: If the dethroning of a tribal king could engender orgies of revenge killings twenty plus years later, don’t other have the right to mourn their murdered kin as long as they wish?

And speaking of murder, we have just celebrated the act of a macabre mass murderer at the dawn of a concept, called Uganda. Vacuous, grand standing speeches were made. Even the President threw in a few banal biblical quotes he does not believe in and, if he does, he is far too gone in the service of the devil to help himself.

For those of us who subscribe and believe in the Newtonian law of action and reaction—cause and effect—, could the karmic fruition of that single dastardly act not be the one haunting the Pearl? If we cannot talk and face truth in order to exorcise the past, the funeral must go on lest we forget and be caught flat-footed and be victimized once again in the next round of orgasmic violence.