Bitterness of betrayal: 34 years after Maj. Kimumwe’s death

...his gratuity was paid to us last year, all of Shs2.1 million ($840) for an officer who served in the army for 14 years.

Dear Tingasiga:
“From the womb comes a warrior, a king, a rich man, a criminal and a killer.” Powerful words by a Kikuyu woman, named Muthoni wa Kirima, one of the last of the Mau Mau fighters who survived the great rebellion that expedited the formal end of British colonial rule in Kenya.

Field Marshal Muthoni wa Kirima, 83, who uttered those words when asked by The Economist what she thought of Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, Kenya’s president-elect, still wears her very long dreadlocks, a Mau Mau trade mark that she will not trim “until she receives the benefits of independence.”

Her story, accompanied by her beautiful portrait, reminds us of the unresolved bitterness of betrayal that haunts not only the forgotten warriors, but many widows and orphans of men and women who risked life and limb for the liberation of their people from oppressive regimes.

One example of a forgotten family of a great freedom fighter and Ugandan hero is that of Major Patrick Balati Kimumwe, a professional soldier and fine gentleman who joined the Uganda Army in 1965. He shot to fame after he led a coup attempt against Idi Amin’s regime on June 18, 1977.

Maj. Kimumwe and fellow plotters were betrayed, arrested and incarcerated in the State Research Bureau’s maximum-security prison at Nakasero. In one of the most daring and successful exploits by Ugandan military men, Maj. Kimumwe and his colleagues escaped from jail, hours before they were set to “confess” their crime.

Barely a year after his escape to Kenya, where he was living with his very young wife and two toddlers, Maj. Kimumwe was recruited to join the fighting forces that tagged along the Tanzanian Army in the war against Amin.

According to Ms Lillian Kimumwe, who is my younger sister, her late husband was recruited by, among others, Ephraim Kamuntu, then a lecturer at Nairobi University. “I still see Kamuntu walking into our house in late 1978, giving Patrick an envelope, after which my husband told me he was going to Tanzania but would be back soon,” she says. “He left the following day and never returned.”

Maj. Kimumwe, died in February 1979, as his company of heavily armed men attempted to cross Lake Nnalubaale and capture Entebbe from Amin’s soldiers. The circumstances of his death remain unclear, but the great suffering that his widow and children have endured in the 34 years since his heroic death gives meaning to Malcolm X’s memorable statement: “To me, the thing that is worse than death is betrayal.”

“I have a bitterness that has never gone away,” Ms Kimumwe says. “Patrick was totally committed to Uganda’s liberation. He had offers to settle either in Sweden, UK or USA. He refused and said he had to return to Uganda. He never did. Of course some of those who recruited him or whom he fought alongside returned to Uganda. They forgot him. They forgot us.”
“I think Museveni mentioned him in his book,” Ms Kimumwe says. “Unfortunately, he did not tell us how Patrick died. Meanwhile, his gratuity was paid to us last year, all of Shs2.1 million ($840) for an officer who served in the army for 14 years. However, I still wonder why he has never received a medal of honor?”
“More than that,” she continues, “I am bitter because I have been let down by President Museveni. For years I believed that he would fulfill, what my husband believed in. But now, like many people, I feel betrayed.”

For his part, Mr Kamuntu, who was a minister in Obote II, is now minister for Water and Environment in the Museveni government.
When asked whether she has ever met Kamuntu since 1978, Ms Kimumwe said: “No, I have never met him. Not for lack of trying though.”
Years ago, she visited Kamuntu’s office in Kampala but was denied access to him by his staff. “Perhaps they thought I wanted financial help from him, which was not the case”, She says. “All I wanted from him and what I still want from him is to know what happened to my husband. Perhaps he or Museveni knows exactly how my Patrick died. It might bring me closure after all these painful years.”

“I would also like to ask him why he never bothered to look us up?” she adds. “Were we only worth his visit because he was looking for someone to fight for power on his behalf? Does he ever wonder what happened to those little children that he saw when he came calling for my husband?”

Kimumwe’s widow and her sons have literally struggled to survive for over 30 years. A high school teacher and administrator by profession, she spent seven years in England working as a personal support worker before returning to Uganda two years ago. Her sons, Phillip, 36, and Robert, 35, have never found reliable employment in Uganda, where they both live.
Yet her struggle with the bitterness is eased by her deep Christian faith. “If I met Kamuntu today, I would give him a hug if he let me,” she says. “It would be a hug for peace and forgiveness.”

Dr Mulera is a Daily Monitor columnist based in Canada.
muniinikmulera@aol.com