
Philip Matogo
A group of youth from Makerere University staged a demonstration to express their displeasure with the arrest of Dr Kizza Besigye's lawyer, Eron Kiiza, who was sentenced to nine months in prison by the General Court Martial (GCM) for contempt of court, the Daily Monitor reported recently.I must confess, I have two proverbial dogs in this joust between GCM and Mr Kiiza. It all boils down to personal interactions.Mr Kiiza is a friend. He is not only a fellow bibliophile who reads a book a week. He has always encouraged my writing.
Mr Kiiza was even Master of Ceremonies at the launch of my book, A Licence To Phil. He did splendidly. During the lockdown, I joined him in helping to hide Kakwenza Rukirabashaija’s book, The Greedy Barbarian. It was a risk, but our shared love of books made us less risk-averse. We both believe that a society without books, however incendiary, is a society bereft of its soul.
Now, when it comes to the GCM, I do not know the man who sentenced him to jail, Judge Advocate Col Richard Tukacungurwa.
However, I do know Brig Gen Robert Freeman Mugabe, the officer serving a third term as Chairman of the GCM. He and I spent a considerable amount of time in each other’s company when I worked at Nakasongola Barracks for 15 years and 23 days.I am not sure he is a lover of books, but his character is similar to Mr Kiiza’s. He is likeable and everybody’s friend. He often gave us lifts in his car and was always on hand with a kind remark. I consider him a friend, despite having not met him in over six years.Gen Mugabe and Mr Kiiza are two men caught in the crosswinds of a dislocated polity. As both fight their corners, their sunnier dispositions are clouded by political contests.I agree. Mr Kiiza was disruptive and rather histrionic in court.
The man surely has a flair for the dramatic. However, as a man who has a front-row seat to the freak show that is otherwise known as the Ugandan government, I cannot fault him for his behaviour.Like many of us, he is fed up with being born free but being everywhere in chains. As a young Marxist, President Museveni will probably recall cheering when the shoe-banging incident occurred during the 902nd Plenary Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly held in New York City on 12 October 1960.Nikita Khrushchev, the then First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, took off his government-issue shoe and pounded his delegate desk in protest at a speech by Philippine delegate Lorenzo Sumulong.
So Mr Kiiza claims good company in his rather outrageous conduct. Although, it must be said, Mr Kiiza’s conduct was far less unrestrained.It is hard to believe that there is not a future Ugandan president, possibly a young man, regarding Kiiza’s actions with admiration. Just like President Museveni must have applauded Premier Khrushchev’s unruliness when he, Museveni, was but a young lad.
Thus, Gen Mugabe and Mr Kiiza’s shared sanguine personalities outside of the political arena, alongside Mr Museveni’s purported appreciation of premier Khrushchev’s fractiousness à la Mr Kiiza’s seeming unruliness remind us that we have more in common with our political adversaries than we care to admit. Wasn’t Dr Kizza Besigye once Mr Museveni’s personal doctor?
It is these commonalities that must be in the dock, not Mr Kiiza or his client. For their absence in the heat of political battle is criminal and must be challenged by freedom lovers across Uganda.
Mr Matogo is a professional copywriter
[email protected]