Uhuru: 59 years on and we’re still blind

I was part of a television panel earlier in the week to discuss 26 years of the 1995 (NRA/M) Constitution and the 59 years of independence, asking if we are making any progress.

A robust debate with distinguished panellists, but one thing struck me; 60 years this week since the Lancaster House Agreement in London that resolved for Uganda’s independence a year later, yet the extent of divergence of opinion and lack of national consensus is shocking.

A fellow panellist, for instance, did not know that Sir Edward Muteesa was elected by Parliament in 1963 in order to become Uganda’s first post-independence president, of course, titular. Yet, immediately next on table was whether or not the election of Muteesa was political opportunism by the then governing UPC/KY administration or indeed, it was the continuation of consensus-building that marked our independence agreement.

While this discussion was merely part of the broader and wider discussion, I was at pains to discover how difficult it is for Ugandans to appreciate our own major political challenges and once in a while, give credit where it is due. I suggest that in seeking for a government of national unity at independence, UPC and Obote portrayed selfless leadership that have thus far been absent from any other administrations since.

Further, that the refusal of DP and its leader Benedicto Kiwanuka to join that government of national unity simply because they could not sit on the same Cabinet table with KY/Muteesa (historical Buganda and Catholics-Protestant disputes) must be highlighted and, in context, correctly presented as part of the problems we have faced as a nation since the 1892 defeat of Catholics by Protestants in Buganda.

That the refusal of DP and Kiwanuka to support the candidature of Muteesa for president in 1963 must also be noted. Instead, they met in Mbarara to support rival candidate William Nadiope.

The rationale for UPC supporting Muteesa was not that they were in alliance in government nor necessarily needed KY or Buganda but rather, a recognition that for a rotational-titular-presidency, since UPC was already in government (Nadiope was vice president of the party) it was only fair that someone from another political party served in the role and in particular, that Muteesa who did not only represent the largest kingdom but also with it the most emotive. 

Indeed, as part of an on-and-off air conversation on that day, we emphasized the need for national consensus, especially around the ‘identity question’ that continues to bleed this country with the ruling clique and national elites pretending to play deaf.

Knowing that this is the real elephant in the room, I suggest three compulsory ‘Independence’ readings: First, the Desecration of my Kingdom by Sir Edward Muteesa. Second, the several editions of the Mustard Seed by Yoweri Museveni. Finally, Notes on Concealment of Genocide in Uganda by AM Obote.

The latter, (online https://www.upcparty.net/obote/genocide.htm), published in April 1990 and suppressed by NRA/NRM then, is a master piece for every journalist, lawyer, clergy, historian, politician, academic, political scientist and any other Ugandan or persons that claim to have an interest in this country. 

Talking about which you know; I was at an event at the former Kampala Apollo Hotel, now Sheraton Kampala Hotel, to attend an event hosted by German foundation Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. Imagine, 60 years of independence and we are still discussing the roles and contradictions of RDCs in Uganda, moreover funded and facilitated by Germany.

RDCs, offshoots of Special District Administrators, are NRA extensions for enforcements of their monolithic one-party cum-military dictatorship - just like the ‘aims and objectives’ of the NRA ‘revolution’ suggested. Wake up Ugandans; not yet Uhuru. Only you decide.

The writer is a pan-Africanist and former columnist with New African Magazine 

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