By Norman S. Miwambo

12^th March 2012:

FILE PHOTO: President Museveni in 1986

Jason Russell has made a mark on the world.  In the last few days, his Kony2012 documentary has been discussed everywhere.  By Saturday more than 48 million viewers had watched it on youtube. It highlights the atrocities committed by the elusive and vicious rebel leader Joseph Kony as well as offer support to the dictatorship in Uganda.

Many young men and women around the world confessed they didn’t know who this vicious Kony was until the Invisible Children documentary found its way onto the social networks.

The man wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity has been given fame. However, or surprisingly, the naive teenagers who have fallen for Invisible Children’s scam don’t know Kony’s partner in the commission of crimes against humanity.

What could be the motive of Invisible Children? Most of the clips for the documentary were shot or are older than 3 years. It is now over 5 years since LRA rebel leader Kony left Uganda.  People in the area are starting to rebuild their shuttered lives.

Not long ago, there was a peace initiative that started in 2006, but hit a dead-end when Kony refused to sign a Peace Accord in Juba – the capital of Southern Sudan.  At the time, there were some allegations that Museveni’s young brother Gen. Salim Saleh had ferried some LRA members to Mombasa and bribed them to convince Kony not to sign the Peace Agreement.

If he did, then why did he bribe the LRA team?  First of all, accountability was a major factor.  This is theory could have seen many UPDF generals served with ICC indictments.  Joseph Kony is evil, but he is not the only evil that has tormented children and their parents in northern Uganda.

Professor Todd David Whitmore’s memo gives a clue and the genesis of northern Uganda problem.  This can also lead to an understanding of the motive of Invisible Children. Another credible source is Fr. Carlos Rodríguez, a Spaniard who wrote several reports including a book ‘Tall Grass’ with stories about the suffering of children in northern Uganda.

Fr. Carlos’s vast knowledge about northern Uganda surpasses Jason Russell’s.  The Father had been in northern Uganda since the early 90s. In one of his pieces he wrote that: “Few people seem to recall when and how displaced people’s camps were started in Acholi.”

A documentary which doesn’t mention the well documented atrocities committed by the government’s forces the NRA/UPDF is a discredited one – and it’s not the first time Invisible Children’s credibility has been questioned.  An NGO watchdog Charity Navigator has previously questioned their accountability.

The impression one gets from the Invisible Children documentary is that some western organisations and individuals do not mind benefiting from the plight of innocent children of northern Uganda.  Even “gap year students” want to be experts on African issues – something they know little about but want to make money from.

The result is that they end up disseminating information that is harmful. How can a 30 minute documentary fail to highlight what the situation was when nearly 2million people were herded into the concentration refugee camps?

Invisible Children want to claim that they know more about God than Jesus.   Why didn’t Invisible Children also tell the world that Museveni also recruited children into his armed rebellion and took them to the frontline?

The situation has been bad in northern Uganda for over 20 years.  Right now, the LRA are in the jangles of DR Congo – thousands of miles from Uganda. They are no longer a threat to children of northern Uganda.  But let us look at the current situation and problem facing the children of northern Uganda.

#NoddingDisease2012

There is a neglected disease killing children between 5 and 15 years. It has no cure.  While it was discovered in 2003, nodding disease still has no cure or even treatment.  This requires urgent support, attention, care – not this Kony2012 business.

The disease has not only remained a mystery, it has also puzzled several medical professionals, both local and international.  END.  Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.