Confrontation and intransigence is the way forward
By Lawrence Kasozi
9th May 2011: If I could, I would have loved to hurl some stinking four letter swear words at The New Vision now. I felt terribly insulted by their editorial of 5th May 2011. The editorial, which said “We are all Ugandans and this is our country”, is really the view of the government’s Spin Doctors who I suspect are led by Robert Kabushenga; a well known NRM cadre.
Their beleaguered government has been indecently exposed by its own brutality against unarmed ‘walk-to-work’ protesters. Their strategy is therefore to try and spin the “un-spinnable” facts in order to turn the masses against the ‘walk-to-work’ protesters.
To achieve that, The New Vision says, “…What was ostensibly supposed to be a demonstration against the soaring cost of living has degenerated into riots and running battles with security agencies that has alienated a sizeable number of law abiding Ugandans”. Where is the evidence to prove that the ‘walk-to-work’ protests have alienated law abiding Ugandans? There is none; zero!
They also claim that the cost of the ‘walk-to-work’ protests to Ugandan businesses could run into “billions of shillings”. That may well be true. But Ugandans are not fools. They know, or at least ought to know that, without the brutal intervention of Generals Kayihura and Aronda’s officers, the ‘walk-to-work’ protests would have gone on peacefully and no single shop or business would have closed.
Just hear this for typical NRM arrogance and contempt against our poverty stricken brothers and sister: The New Vision says, “…the promoters of the walk-to-work seem to base their strategy on riling unemployed Ugandans, who have nothing to lose and are the van guard of the stone throwing, tyre burning minority that have the rest of us living in terror on Mondays and Thursdays”.
“Unemployed Ugandans who have nothing to lose”! What an insult? First of all, isn’t Museveni the very man who denied them the opportunity to have something to lose? Secondly, Ugandans have everything to lose from Museveni’s atrocious rule and they have a legitimate right to challenge it using every means at their disposal. It is that serious!
“The the stone throwing, tyre burning minority that have the rest of us living in terror”! I have news for you New Vision editors. Yes, you should live in terror; day in, day out in fact! After all, you are the same corrupt NRM elite who have stolen from the people you now condescendingly call the “…unemployed Ugandans who have nothing to lose and are the van guard of the stone throwing [and] tyre burning”.
The New Vision editors then said, “…the possibility of dialogue between the Government and the opposition should be taken seriously. There is no place for intransigence when ordinary Ugandans are at risk of seeing the prospects of progress fading away. We are all Ugandans and this is our country”. This is the paragraph that has offended me the most. So let me tackle each component separately.
Why there is no need for dialogue with government now
A mere four or five weeks ago, a chest thumping Museveni dismissed the possibility of having dialogue with Dr. Kizza Besigye and other opposition leaders while addressing Journalists at his luxurious country home in Rwakitura. “…Talk what with Besigye? We have nothing to discuss with Besigye”, Museveni told Ugandans and the world.
Why the hell does he now want to have dialogue with the same opposition leaders that he arrogantly despised a few weeks ago? What has changed? Well, let me tell you what has changed. Museveni is definitely feeling the local and international pressure that has been generated by the ‘walk-to-work’ protests and he is desperate for it to stop.
Secondly, the ‘walk-to-work’ protests have caused Museveni to finally realise that his power base is not as strong as he thought it was. He has seen the audacity of Ugandans who have simply had enough of his 25year rule and concluded, quite rightly in my view, that they are capable of emulating him by taking up arms to fight him. Even policemen, we understand, are quietly urging the protesters to turn up the heat.
Why I think intransigence is the only way forward
When The New Vision editors said there is no place for intransigence, it was another clear indication to me that Museveni’s government, which has been naturally intransigent, is now desperate. And my answer to them is this: Of course there is plenty of room for intransigence; it’s just that it’s now the opposition’s turn.
Have The New Vision editors already forgotten how Museveni dismissed all opposition proposals for political reforms before the elections? Who was it that re-appointed the incompetent Kiggundu Electoral Commission amidst protests from the opposition, the Supreme Court, civil society, and the international community? Isn’t that intransigence? Give us a break!
In fact, in his book in which he went on and on about Africa’s problems, Museveni himself had said: “…If a government does not bother to solve the problems of its people, what does it expect? Does it expect peace”? Of course not! Museveni must now reap what he sawed. Intransigence is the only way forward.
Why is Uganda suddenly ‘our country’ and for all Ugandans?
The New Vision editors also said, “…we are all Ugandans and this is our country”. Their memory is obviously no better than that of the Tilapia fish they feast on. Have The New Vision editors already forgotten how, during the removal of presidential term limits, Museveni told Ugandans who disagreed with the NRM to sell their ancestral land and leave Uganda?
Wasn’t it the same Robert Kabushenga who was the biggest and loudest advocate of the obnoxious proposal to remove term limits? Let him now tell Museveni that we heeded his call, sold our ancestral land, left Uganda, but we now want our country back without him. END. Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
