By M. Suleman

20^th Aug 2012: Even with the optimum observation of the Holy month of Ramathan, I could not miss some of the outrageous events in Uganda.

Apart from the great news of Stephen Kiprotich’s Olympic victory, everything else from Uganda was the usual rot expected from a failed state – for example: Despite their soiled mouths and hands, Sam Kutesa and Co were finally brought back into the predatory cabinet to continue from where they left.

Godfrey Kirumira of Bargey Trading Co, together with some government big-wigs that are yet to named, were exposed for allegedly stealing Shs190 million from Kiruhura district – a charge they deny.

Then, without any shame and apology, the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Mr. Bigirimana, defended the transfer of government funds into personal bank accounts – as if that was the best way to run government business.

But the most shocking of all was the visit of the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Uganda.  The visit was an affirmation of the strong and long standing relation between the US government and the Ugandan dictatorship General Museveni.

While Clinton’s message may have resonated with the interests of the citizens of the other African nations she visited, in Uganda, her messages were met with a lot of scepticism.  It was the usual hollow chorus of how the US values “good governance” – even when it continues to support a brutal tyrant who has ruled Uganda with an iron fist since 1986.

Apart from amending Uganda’s sacred constitution to anoint himself ‘Life President, Museveni has rigged every election he has organized.

Like all other major powers with vested interests in Museveni’s continued stay in power, the US response to Museveni’s election rigging has always been to hoodwink Ugandans into believing that they are “engaging” the Ugandan leadership to improve transparency in democratic processes.

These superlative statements of good governance and engagement mean absolutely nothing to ordinary Ugandans. In their eyes, they saw Clinton visit exactly for what it is – to show support for “their” dictator Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.

It was outrageous, for example, for Clinton not to say anything about Museveni’s involvement in the deplorable bloodshed in eastern Congo. While the US has instituted some limited sanctions against Rwanda to hoodwink the Congolese people, one wonders why it continues to shield Uganda – even when it is a well known fact that Uganda is the command centre for all the bloodshed in the Great Lakes region.

Museveni’s bloody record

It is no secret that after he launched his guerrilla war in Uganda in 1982, as National Resistance Army (NRA) rebel leader, Museveni was effectively in command of the massacres in the Luwero triangle in which an estimated at 800,000 people lost their lives.

In 1985, a blood-thirsty Museveni abandoned the peace talks in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and embarked on a campaign of total annihilation which left hundreds of Ugandans dead.  When our brothers in northern Uganda resisted Museveni’s annihilation campaign, it led to a protracted civil war that also claimed the lives of approximately 500,000 citizens.

Lest we forget, it was also soldiers from Museveni’s NRA who invaded Rwanda, resulting in a genocide which claimed close to 800,000 Rwandese.

The same NRA (now renamed UPDF), together with its new allies in post-genocide Rwanda, again exported their violence and invaded Congo to depose President Mobutu.  Since then, they have never really left Congo – causing the death of an estimated 5 million people since 1999.

It is common knowledge that the Tutsi M23 rebels who are now terrorizing eastern Congo are part of the same Tutsi fighting force ruling Uganda, Rwanda and DRC – with Museveni as their “Godfather”.

Therefore, for its continued support for Kagame, and for Museveni the “Godfather of Bloodshed”, the US is in fact a willing accomplice in the perpetuation of death and suffering in the Great Lakes region of Africa.

Simply put, Museveni is worse than Bashir or Assad of Syria.  That is the moral platform from which the world should judge US hypocrisy.  END.  Login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories mid-week for our updates

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