Bobi Wine should apologise to ADF victims

The National Unity Platform (NUP) president Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, has come out publicly to sympathise with Jamil Mukulu, the former leader of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which is well known for terrorising innocent civilians in the region.

It’s surprising that a man who is trying to gain support and lead this country can call Mukulu a political prisoner knowing the heinous crimes ADF under his leadership has committed against Ugandans and continues to commit against the people of DRC.

Mr Kyagulanyi should know that before his arrest in Tanzania in 2014, Mukulu had for years been put on the list of wanted terrorists by different international security agencies, and on December 7, 2001, the  US declared ADF a terrorist organisation and still appears on its terror list.

To quote his exact words at the Duwa prayers for the late father of Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago in Kalungu District, Mr Kyagulanyi said: “There is my brother who you all fear to talk about. He is called Jamil Alilabakki Kyagulanyi. Commonly known as Jamil Mukulu….. he was arrested because of politics.”

It would be interesting to know what kind of “brotherhood” the two have! Is it political? Is it blood relations?

Anyway, tMr Kyagulanyi should have labored to read that in 2011 Interpol issued an arrest warrant for Mukulu and added him to a list of international fugitives wanted over terrorism.

Let’s assume Mukulu had a political disagreement with the government of Uganda, why then is ADF killing the innocent people of DR Congo?

If Mr Kyagulanyi’s political rhetoric was intended to conjure up certain religious emotions for political capital, he is mistaken because Ugandans know how much pain Mukulu has caused to the defenseless citizens in the various regions.

It’s a fact that Mukulu commanded and provided material support to the ADF that killed 80 and abducted another 100 students of Kichwamba Technical Institute in Kabarole on June 8, 1998.

It’s also true that the US Department of State, which according to sources had previously been reluctant to list ADF as a terror group, eventually listed it among the foreign terrorist groups.

I don’t think that the United Nations Security Council resolution 1857 in 2008 which described the brutal and systematic attacks against innocent civilians as war crimes was influenced by the government of Uganda.

Kyagulanyi’s political duplicity made him think that by making such statements he would whip up emotions and cause anger among the paltry Mukulu’s sympathizers.

But it has exposed his dishonesty and I think even his national and international backers must be disappointed which is good for Ugandans because you cannot be deceitful forever.

It’s healthy to have political disagreements but it’s disheartening to try to sugarcoat crime in order to get political capital.

There is a need to have maturity in our Ugandan politics because some politicians think when you are on opposing sides, you must never tell the truth about your opponent.

For Kyagulanyi, he should come out and apologise to both Ugandans and Congolese who have suffered the pain caused by the ADF which had been under the command and control of Mukulu until 2014.

Many people see public apology as a sign of weakness especially in underdeveloped politics but it’s a sign of strength to accept your mistake and move on with a clean conscience.

It’s not only Mr Kyagulanyi doing this. Many politicians at even lower levels than his want to skew facts in order to confuse voters to vote for them. Such politicians are not different from fraudsters who loom around defrauding people of their money.

If our society is to mature in all spheres of life whether politically, socially, or economically, such people will be isolated and sent to the gutters.

The writer, Israel Nyesiga is a Scholar of International law and human rights.

[email protected]