UC:  Colonel, for nearly a quarter of a century, you have maintained a very loud silence on Ugandan politics.  What have you been up to?

Col. Ogole:  I left Uganda bare-handed to start a new life as a refugee.  Like most refugees, I had to rationalise almost every aspect of my life to create an uninterrupted period that would enable me settle down and mature into my newly acquired second exile life.  It has been very painful. This involved the very tedious processes of resettlement, integration and development; both for myself and my large African family. In short, and without sounding selfish, engaging in anything else outside these very basic demands of life would have meant an even longer period before I could fully re-engage with the politics of our country; as I knew I had to at some point.  That was never in doubt.  That said, I must add that I have been very well informed and consulted throughout this period.  So no one can lie to me or claim that I am out of touch with Uganda politics.

UC:  Are you saying it was simply unrealistic and a matter of political prudence on your part?

Col. Ogole:  Absolutely!  I did not feel that it was prudent for me to openly involve myself in the deeply convoluted Uganda political debates that in my judgment, merely give the tyrant at the helm of political power in Uganda legitimacy as well as an opportunity and reason for him to brutalise people using my name.

Secondly, I simply didn’t know who to talk to in the maze of opportunistic and perhaps even compromised Journalists seeking access to hot stories that they could then twist and distort to gain social, political and financial favours from the dictator and his cohorts. In short, it was really a question of trust between me and the Ugandan media.  I am only talking to you in the Uganda Correspondent because I know that you are still fresh and independent minded young men who are trying to make it in the harsh world of news publishing.  Because of that, there is a good chance that you are not yet fatally compromised by the tyrant.

Thirdly, there is something more important than what I have just said about opportunistic Journalists.  I considered it wise and prudent to let the Museveni dictatorship run the full course of its expensive and venomous propaganda campaign against me; a campaign that they launched during the Luwero war and escalated immediately they assumed power in 1986. 

But let me point out something extremely important to Ugandans before I move on.   Throughout this twenty four year period, it is they, the poor Ugandan taxpayers who can’t even afford Aspirin tablets for their dying children while Museveni flies his daughters abroad to give birth who have shouldered the heavy burden of paying for the propaganda campaign against me.  I have absolutely nothing against them.  Like me, they were merely victims of Museveni’s political insecurity; something that you find in most despots. 

UC:  So has your silence or “political prudence” as you call it paid off?

Col. Ogole:  I was about to come to that.  I considered it wise and prudent to let the Museveni dictatorship run the full course of its venomous propaganda campaign in the safe knowledge that come rain or shine, it will pay off.  Today, it has indeed paid dividend.  Ugandans from all walks of life have now seen the gaping holes and lies in Museveni’s propaganda claims against my record and responsibility.  In other words, my long silence has given Ugandans sufficient time to judge for themselves who the real “Butcher of Luwero” was.  They now know that it was indeed the brutal men in Museveni’s NRA rebels who did the killing; not me. 

In fact, Museveni’s own ex NRA fighters have confessed to this.  The question that Ugandans must now answer is this:  Who is the real butcher of Luwero?  On one particular occasion while I was pursuing Museveni’s rebels, I came across a horrific trail of murder and destruction in their wake.  Who else was operating in Luwero apart from the same Museveni I was pursuing on that fateful day?  So you make up your own minds.

But besides Luwero, Ugandans have over the years seen more horrific and specific brutalities that could have wiped out entire communities in Northern and Eastern Uganda.  Only the concerted resistance of MPs like Reagan Okumu [Aswa], the late Dr. Okullo Epak [Oyam] and Okello Okello [Chua] among others stopped this from happening.  The UN for example, is on record saying that up to 1,000 innocent people were dying needless in the IDP camps per week.  Now let me ask you again:  Who was it that herded those people like unwilling goats heading for the slaughterhouse into those concentration camps that Museveni’s public relations men baptised IDP camps?  Was it Ogole or Museveni?

Whose soldiers burnt alive close to 70 innocent youths in train wagons in Mukura–Teso?  Whose soldiers were responsible for the “Bur Coro” massacre in Acholi?  How many political prisoners were released by Museveni but died very soon after under very suspicious circumstances?  Dr. Suleiman Kiggundu, Dr. Besigye’s brother, Oboma, Paul Muwanga, Lt. Col. Angelo Okello, Lt. Col. John Kilama, Lt. Oryema, Lt. Stephen Odong, plus many others that I can’t name here suffered the same fate.

UC:  Apart from the “political dividend” that you talk about, has your 24yr silence achieved anything else?

Col. Ogole:  I wanted to maintain my dignity and I think I achieved that.  Secondly, I also wanted to continue upholding and preserving the love and trust many people have bestowed on me all the way from 1985 till today.  Not many Ugandans knew this, but I can tell them today that I have been quietly dealing with a colossal amount of communication traffic from a cross section of Ugandans; including friends from Western, Eastern and Central Regions of Uganda who know the real John Ogole; not the one vilified by Museveni’s propaganda machinery.  I still feel hugely indebted to these people; especially those who looked after my children and extended family members in my absence. So I did not and could never have done anything that could have injured their trust in me or exposed them to Museveni’s wrath.

UC:  Are you saying that in order to save your friends, you took the decision to withdraw from active participation in Ugandan politics for some time?

Col. Ogole:  Far from it!  I am not saying I haven’t been politically active all this time; because I have.  I think what transpired in the course of time has been a suspension of overt political participation at certain levels in order to engage in participation of a different kind; one of counselling, if you like.  For example, I have met and shared views with a few people I consider to be principled, genuine, and seriously working to mitigate and ultimately liberate Ugandans democratically from the wanton suffering meted out against them by the murderous regime in Kampala.  One such person is Dr Kizza Besigye; a brave man of unrivalled integrity whom I publically met in London and shook hands with in front of Journalists like yourself.  Not many Ugandan politicians have had the courage and humility to publicly admit that they were misled into supporting Museveni in the first place; and I respect and salute Dr. Besigye for doing exactly that. 

I have also quietly interacted with many international organisations to air my views and position on many sensitive socio-political issues affecting our motherland.  It would be wrong to name them here and now before the present democratic struggle for true liberation ends.  What I can safely say for now is that when innocent children from Aboke Girls Secondary School were abducted by Joseph Kony’s LRA rebels, my quiet voice drew a lot of attention from the international community.  Again, the key point to note here, as UPC President Dr. Olara Otunnu indeed noted, is that but for the very real possibility of vested interests from Museveni’s regime, the LRA may not have survived long enough to wreck their havoc.