By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
Some of you think that I criticise Bobi because I hate him, but it’s not true. I see him for what he’s, i.e. self-serving. My comments are truthful, perhaps a tad propaganda but truthful.
Yesterday, somebody from Uganda called me asking me how I knew earlier in 2019 that Bobi was against the Buganda kingdom.
I told him that I study people, in the same way Churchill studied Hitler. Churchill was one of the few European statesmen who had troubled to read “Mein Kampf,” and he took its rantings seriously as a blueprint for Hitler’s ambitions. For six long years, at great political and personal cost, he took it upon himself to sound the warning.
Churchill had warned of his rearming as well as intent to overrun large parts of Europe. Hitler knew that Churchill was the very last Brit that he wanted in as PM. If negotiated peace were the goal, someone else would need to be PM.
Similarly, Bobi’s decision to visit Obote grave in the middle of an election was definitely a political blunder, and I’m sure the Kyagulanyi advisors have silently acknowledged it.
Once you start setting your sights on historical injustices, you trap yourself in struggles that can never be fixed because the same river can never flow twice. You also divert your attention from things right in front of you that are pretty easy to fix.
A lot of people assume that it won’t affect him since the majority of Ugandans are below 30 years old, and I kind of thought in a similar way when i first saw the video of the visit.
I thought to myself, “You know what; Uganda has the second youngest population in the world. None of them know anything about Obote. They have only known Museveni as president. So, it won’t affect Bobi. “
But then I realised that I have also known only one president all my life. So, how come Obote’s name has always been a thorn in my brain?
I remembered that I started reading about Obote around 2009 on the Ugandans At Heart(UAH) forum through our interactions with the elders. I also started borrowing books from the university library to teach myself the history of my country – that’s the time i was doing my postgraduate studies here in the UK. That’s why I’m now in a better position to assess the gravity of Bobi’s visit to Obote’s grave than some people.
My point is that you can’t keep people under ignorance (obutamanya) for a long time in the name of politics or the struggle. I’m sure that those Ugandans in their 20s have also started opening up books, consulting elders,like I did, to research about Obote and what he did while he was president.
And people shouldn’t bet on a few crowds following kyagulanyi here and there, and think that all will be forgotten.
In any case, crowds don’t necessarily mean votes in any election. Besigye had serious crowds, but he’s now sadly in prison, and he never became president. Huge rallies are a completely useless metric.
RECONCILIATION
Reconciliation is the process of restoring a relationship, system, or account to a state of agreement, consistency, or harmony after divergence, error, or conflict.
I honestly believe that Bobi visited Obote’s grave on a whim without consulting anybody. That explains why he appeared with mostly a few ” foot soldiers ” (instead of VIPs) while on the grave.
RECONCILIATION isn’t bad, but i think it is a word his people had to throw around to cover up the “embarrassment.” I would have done the same if I was a Bobi supporter, wouldn’t you?
Reconciliations aren’t really done during campaigns. When you do it during campaigns, it smells of opportunism.
Yes, killing other human beings or commissioning and encouraging others to kill(as Obote did in 1966, Museveni did in Kayunga saga, Museveni did after the 2016 elections in Kasese,e.t.c), is one of the most heinous acts.
If you decide to visit Obote’s grave for purposes of reconciliation, then you have to go all the way. You can’t limit it to the dead and past. You should reconcile with Museveni and others, too.
The word RECONCILIATION in normal life refers to the removal of any mistakes that happened between two persons. It means the restoration of friendly relations or the action of making one view or belief compatible with another.
So, if Kyagulanyi means what he says, he has to stretch during these elections and reach out to Mathias Mpuuga, Asuman Basalirwa, and several others that are his ” enemies.”
The fact is that truth and reconciliation have never been NUP’s policy. They attack anyone who disagrees with them. Ad hominem attacks are their main weapon in all their debates.
The 1966 attack on kabaka’s palace is still painful, especially in the hearts of elders. Similarly, an estimated 21–25 million people met their untimely demise in WW2. And that’s only the military deaths. About 5 – 8 million Jews died in concentration camps. And what started this killing on a scale never before seen in human history? Ambition, speculation, bad decision.
But nobody is interested in finding out exactly where the graves of Hitler’s buddies are. Nobody is interested in the graves of Hitler’s family.
Hitler himself does not have a grave, and therefore, no one can bring flowers to his grave. The graves of his parents were removed a few years ago. People can forgive, but they don’t want to be reminded of what they’ve forgiven.
The Germans haven’t forgiven Hitler yet despite the fact that he literally made German what it is today. The same way some Baganda haven’t forgotten and forgiven Obote for what he did to their kingdom. The Basoga aren’t also happy – King Nadiope was also in prison after 1966.
My prediction is that Bobi will get fewer votes and MPs in Buganda compared to the 2020-21 elections. What he has done is likely to haunt him forever. Not even Museveni can make such a blunder knowing our history. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
