Beatrice Anywar: Maama Mabira

Maama Mabira may not exactly mean that Beatrice Anywar gave birth to the forest, but it could as well mean that she gave it a second lease on life, writes John K. Abimanyi

It is not yet clear what the long-term fate of Mabira forest is. For all we know, reading from the very short history of the past five years suggests that any sort of a semblance of quiet from this country’s executive does not necessarily mean they have taken their eyes off the prize one moment.
But regardless of how the future of Mabira forest turns out, it will be noted that some people made it count in their attempts to save the forest. One of those people is Beatrice Atim Anywar, Woman Member of Parliament for Kitgum District. For her actions, she was even christened Mama Mabira, by which she is fondly known today.

Before 2007, when the New Vision reported of the state’s plans to give away part of the forest to Sugar Corporation Uganda Limited (Scoul), Anywar was a freshman Member of Parliament (MP). But then the plan to give Mabira away suddenly came about and it presented the woman who had earlier been destined to spend a lifetime in the convent with a fight, which will now forever be associated with her name. She was the shadow minister for environment then. Prof F.C Oweyegha-Afunaduula, an environmentalist and academician, says at that time, the environmental lobby in Uganda needed some form of political leadership, and Hon Anywar conveniently stepped into those shoes.

She walked out on that sunny Thursday morning of April 12, 2007 to lead a protest against the planned giveaway of the forest. She was dressed in a blue kitenge, handkerchief in hand, a watch on her left wrist and her hair in a puff. But the protest went horribly wrong. It turned violent, with the targeting of Ugandans of Asian origin. Police arrested her. She spent a night in jail. On her time in jail, Anywar spoke of sleeping in cells that were like toilets, of spending the entire night without food, without bathing and of male inmates who peep at female detainees as they bathe.

Anywar’s riots
Whenever President Yoweri Museveni has had a chance to lash out at what he calls “economic saboteurs” since then, he has pointed at “Beatrice Anywar’s riots/protests”. And yes, that is what she has come to be called by some, especially the president – an economic saboteur. But Prof Oweyegha-Afunaduula regards the president’s references with contempt. “That’s nonsense,” he says. “He has always said that. He does not appreciate that development is dependent on environment integrity,” he adds.

Frank Muramuzi, the executive director of the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (Nape), speaks in praise of her contribution to the environment in Uganda, and for her efforts to save Mabira. “She was very instrumental in the fight against the giveaway of Mabira. She did her work of politically organising her colleagues within parliament. She worked very well with the rest of us and civil society as well,” Mr Muramuzi says.

The environmentalist praised her organisation and mobilisation skills and for being consistent. The president could have and probably still harbours intentions of giving away the forest. But the sheer strength of national ire manifest in the Beatrice Anywar-led protests, was a message to the state that Ugandans would not let their forest go with ease.

Nodding disease and the millions on MPs bank accounts
And yet Anywar has not only been a Mabira woman. The mysterious nodding disease has particularly ravaged her constituency. She transported 25 affected children and their 30 caretakers from Kitgum to Mulago hospital in Kampala for treatment. Some politicians from Acholi accused her of using money provided to transport the children to Kampala for her use. She however, denied this.

Anywar was one of the members of parliament who returned the famous Shs20m during the 2011 election period, and, made a very public show of it. Her critics accused her of seeking publicity, wondering why if she was as honest as she sought to show, she did not just wire the money back, than invite journalists to witness her do it.

She has been accused of being an NRM spy. And quite conveniently, those who say so have that well publicised moment of the president by her bedside as proof, as she lay in hospital recovering from a road accident. John Ken Lukyamuzi, MP Rubaga South, though recognising her efforts, said she had recently slackened in her fights. She has however always laughed off these accusations when pressed about them. And even if she crossed over though, would that rub away her contribution to save Mabira from history? Unless, of course, she changed her mind on that too.

Prof Oweyegha-Afunaduula views Anywar’s contribution in the wider context of women involvement in governance. “The real managers of the environment are women,” he says. He says many politicians fail to have an understanding on how politics and the environment should support each other. “Environment is broad and complex with many dimensions. There must be leadership in each dimension and across all dimensions. If environment collapses, everything does. (There would be) no political stability. And I think Beatrice Anywar is one politician who knows this.”