Speaker Ssekandi deserves to be executed in public
By Bernard Ddumba
9th May 2011: Edward Ssekandi! What a nasty piece of work he has been for our schizophrenic march towards full democracy. Ssekandi, as Speaker of the 8th Parliament, thoroughly distinguished himself, through his dubious, unpatriotic, and partisan rulings, as the worst Speaker of Parliament Uganda has ever had.
I have lost count of the number of times Ssekandi threw his weight and ugly face on the side of evil. Luckily for us, and unlikely for him, we have the Parliamentary Hansard with records of all his dubious rulings. His latest ruling that literally killed a motion condemning Dr. Besigye’s violent arrest by security operatives is another one.
Opposition MPs have, quite rightly, accused Ssekandi of bias when he hurriedly passed the motion without allowing opposition MPs enough time to contribute to the debate on David Bahati’s motion. The opposition had wanted to call for the immediate arrest of Dr. Besigye’s tormenters Gilbert Arinaitwe, [who smashed Besigye’s vehicle with his pistol] and the unidentified security operative who smashed Besigye’s vehicle with a hammer.
Other than that, the opposition also wanted to call for the unconditional release of all the walk-to-work detainees and compensate those who were affected during the demonstrations. Ssekandi however denied the opposition, and parliament as a whole, the opportunity to debate the two video footages of Besigye’s brutal arrest by ruling that the debate on the matter had ended two days ago and called for the passing of the motion.
Ssekandi can do what he likes. The raw and unedited pictures of Dr. Besigye’s brutal arrest are already in the public domain and there is absolutely nothing he, or his boss Museveni can do to erase those pictures from the internet and people’s minds. The common saying is that justice delayed is justice denied. I beg to differ on this occasion. Even if it takes 10 years, people like Ssekandi must face revolutionary justice in future.
That, in view, will teach our leaders a powerful lesson. That when you are in a position of authority like Ssenkandi, where your decisions affect the wellbeing of an entire country, you must, as a matter of routine, always put the interests of the country above the short term partisan interests of your own political party.
Ghana is a shining democracy in Africa today because Jerry Rawlings taught Ghanians a lesson by executing the selfish and unpatriotic leaders of the establishment that he overthrew. That was a powerful deterrent that has remained firm and constant in the minds of all present and aspiring Ghanian politicians.
Call me radical, I accept. But it’s Museveni’s terrible actions over a whole 25years that have radicalised me. Today, I would happily, without blinking in fact, advocate the execution of people like Ssekandi. Watch out Ssekandi! END. Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
