Benon Herbert Oluka's Blog

To shoot or not to shoot...?

2009-09-17T12:33:00.002+03:00

A recent road accident along the Kampala-Gulu highway, which I was lucky to emerge from unscathed in the first place, has turned me into a frequent traveller to Bombo Police Station in the last fortnight. While returning from one such journey last Thursday, I ended up in the midst of rioting gangs who had blocked off the road right from Kawanda trading centre.

Before I left Bombo, a radio message had come through from the Central Police Station that spontaneous riots had broken out in the city and caught the force off-guard because most of the anti-riot police officers had been ferried to Kayunga district in anticipation of riots in the run up to the Kabaka’s planned visit. CPS officers were, in their radio message, calling for back-up from all police stations in the vicinity.

The problem for the force is that the very police stations that CPS expected to provide them with back were battling similar riots in their own localities. In some cases, like at the Nateete Police Post, the police officers on duty were actually overrun by the rioters who set everything in sight ablaze.

At Kawanda, where we were holed up, there was not a single policeman in sight. This left travellers from Gulu, Lira and areas alongside that highway at the mercy of the rioters, who by then were burning tyres along the road and threatening to widen the scope of their mayhem.

Sensing that the situation was getting out of hand, the police perhaps sent an SOS to the army in a bid to contain the riotous crowds.

For the travellers at Kawanda, the sight of army trucks driving into the city was a source of both relief and fear. We all knew that since the army lining up troops on the road from Kawanda to Wandegeya, the road would be opened up and we would be able to drive into the city centre.

However, one could sense right from the time they started shooting to disperse the crowds at Kawanda that some of the soldiers had not got an opportunity to refresh their shooting skills and were taking this one with both hands, literally.

Because of this, there were as many culprits that bore the brunt of the military style of law enforcement as innocent victims who just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. Like the fellows walking back home from the city centre, who were compelled – by the sound of batons and wood cracking against their backs – to carry hot ash from the dying embers of the fires on the road with their bare hands.

It was a situation that left me in a dilemma, in the same way that President Museveni’s assertion that the army should shoot riotous to main has. Without the intervention of the military, we could have been left at the mercy of the riotous – some of who were clearly acting in self-interest than that of their Kingdom or its head. However, no innocent person deserves to fall victim to the army’s style of law enforcement.

Anyone who got caught up in the violence and feared – however remotely – that they could fall victim to the rioters will have felt immense relief that the army was sent to the streets to disperse them. Yet, at the same time, one can’t help but feel for victims of the army’s heavy handed approach. It’s a tough cal to make.

Kampala is burning

2009-09-11T18:52:00.003+03:00

With at least 10 people dead by Friday evening, several cars and a police station torched, as well as prisoners released, six radio stations closed, Kampala has not witnessed such a spontaneous outburst of emotion in the recent past.

Kampala has seen large crowds riot due to the 2005 incarceration of FDC President Col. Kizza Besigye upon his return from South Africa to take on Mr Museveni for the presidency, the demonstrations to block the giveaway of parts of Mabira to investors and other recent events, but none happened so spontaneously as the one that took place late this week.

The government’s intelligence organs were clearly caught off-guard and the desperate attempts by the security organs to martial back-up from outside Kampala indicated the extent to which they were unaware that riots of this nature could break out, and ill-prepared to handle them.

Other post-mortems of this week’s riots will of course be done in different circles when the dust has settled, but some of the early lessons are already apparent. First, although many Ugandans seem indifferent to the destruction of their country, each individual has certain things that they deeply care about. What the country has lacked are politicians and political groups that can aggregate these individual concerns and show the different groups of Ugandans that their concerns will be addressed.

Of course the need to address individual concerns would never have been the case in the first place had Uganda not been so systematically fragmented. But that is an issue for another day.

Secondly, for all Buganda’s posturing as the most powerful and influential ethnic group in the country, there is little that it can achieve without involving other Ugandan communities in its struggle for whatever concessions they want from any government. Had Buganda been able to win over the other communities, yesterday’s riots would have at least brought the government to its knees if they had spread throughout the country.

For Ugandans, the lesson is very clear. Nothing is going to come on a silver platter and the sooner that sinks in, the better for the nation.

Paying taxes by sms, and other policies of a kind

2008-08-31T18:11:00.006+03:00

As I did some quick research about Sweden before my journey to this Scandinavian country yesterday, I landed on this rather amusing information about the Swedish culture and government policies. Reading some of that information, presented unedited below, gave me the feeling this trip promises to be interesting - all three weeks of it.

Later, a report on the trip. For now, here is Sweden Unplugged: -

From 2004, you can pay your Swedish taxes by sending an SMS message from your cell phone.
The government sends you a completely filled out tax form and if it looks good you just go online and click okay to pay your taxes.
Taxes are generally between 50 and 70 percent of your income. (Of course your employer already pays the full amount of your salary to the government in taxes before you even get anything.)
Companies must lay off employees in first-in-last-out order when they are downsizing.
You can take sick leave during your vacation if you are ill.
Parents get a total of 13 months of paid maternity leave and the father is required to take at least 1 month of it. (There has been a discussion about changing this to 15 months and requiring the father and mother to each take 5 and then split the last 5 as they feel appropriate.)
Parental leave can be used to take off time for parenting classes before your child is born.
Parents can save up their maternity leave for more than 5 years (i.e., use it for doctor's appointments, school visit days, etc.).
Daycare cost is based on your family income with a government imposed maximum. (Currently about 1/10th as much as in the U.S.!)
If you have a new child, your other children get a month of free daycare so you can concentrate on the new one.
All employees (including graduate students) get 5 weeks of paid vacation a year.
All employers (as of 2004) are required to provide free massage.
Yearly car inspections include comprehensive safety checks as well as pollution controls.
Car insurance is flat-rate depending on the deductibles (i.e., no "comprehensive" vs. "collision" vs. "uninsured" vs. "medical"), and liability insurance is not required.
The transportation department of the Swedish government works actively to reduce the number of traffic deaths each year to zero. (Mainly by reducing the speed limits.)
The government installs elk fences along the sides of large roads to prevent elk from wandering into traffic.
There is no right turn on red.
Multi-lane highways often merge in large roundabouts. (Although not as obnoxiously frequently as in England.)
Any product you purchase is guaranteed for 1 year, and the retailer must exchange it if it fails in that time. (This includes things like clothes and shoes.)
All non-military property that is not fenced in, or is not a farm or someone's personal garden is open to anyone for hiking through or camping for one night.
Ice cream comes in blueberry and rhubarb flavors, and is never florescent. (Although the licorice ice cream can be coal black.)
Roughly 20 percent of the country's police stations close during the summer since everyone is off on vacation.
The sun rises at 3.30am in the summer.
The sun sets at 3.30pm in the winter.
Christmas is celebrated on the evening of the 24th. The father always goes out to buy a newspaper and while he is gone Santa arrives (in person) to deliver presents.
Swedish university students are required to pay a membership fee in the student union, but no tuition.
American textbooks are cheaper in Sweden than in the U.S..
The government has made a political choice to shut down all nuclear power plants in the country for environmental reasons. This means Sweden is forced to import dirty coal-generated power from Poland to meet its needs.
In Sweden IKEA is a cheap store, not a trendy store. (And they are only open until 8pm on special days.)
Recycling is taken so seriously that one company (FTI) is trying to put up video cameras to make sure people sort their recyclables correctly. (June 2006)
Privacy is taken so seriously that putting up video cameras in laundry rooms to catch vandals is illegal.
Learning to speak Swedish is frustrating becaues everyone in Sweden already speaks better English than you will ever speak Swedish.
On Easter children dress up as witches and go trick-or-treating.
St. Lucia is a nationally celebrated saint (complete with baked goods and TV shows), and despite the fact that she is a saint because she tore out her own eyes to avoid being seduced by a man, little children dress up like her every winter.
The largest ice cream restaurant in the country is located in the quaint little village of Söderköping, and sells creations that use dry ice to create bubbling smoking concoctions. No one is concerned about being sued if some foolish kid eats the dry ice.

An insult to the conscience of a nation (Cont’d)

2008-07-26T15:28:00.001+03:00

After posting my last piece, I got thinking about some of the most callous things that some of our leaders do and get away with; the kind of things that would get them either impeached, sacked or – if they had some humility – to resign.

The most recent and most disturbing case was of Primary Education State Minister, Peter Lokeris, heartlessly telling parents whose children died in the Budo Junior inferno to go and produce more children since they were still young, rather than bothering the government to complete investigations and bring closure to the saga by producing a report on the real cause of the fire.

When a minister, who is supposed to ensure the safety of the children under his ministry, says something so senseless, one wonders whether we have a government committed to serving people or merely being in power and enjoying the privileges that come with it at the expense of the nation.

With Minister Lokeris yet to show any remorse several weeks since he made that statement, one would have expected some reaction from the President or his Prime Minister, who is the leader of government business in Parliament. However, the fact that they do not seem to see anything wrong with such statements is perhaps an indicator of the collective conscience of the government.

After all President Museveni, who has himself lately mastered the art of rubbing Ugandans the wrong way with some of his statements, sometimes doesn’t even need to say anything to show his selfish, heartless side.

When a president, soon after getting a newly spruced multi-billion shilling State House, then asks for a new multi-billion shilling presidential jet, and, as if that is not enough, even wants to keep the entire Old Entebbe Airport for himself, then the citizens are in trouble – especially because all of these demands from the big man come at a time when people in some parts of the country like Karamoja are dying of famine.

With leaders like these, can the long-suffering Uganda really get a worse enemy?

An insult to the conscience of a nation

2008-07-24T14:21:00.009+03:00

How times (or is it people?) change. A decade ago, or thereabouts, Gen. David Tinyefuza was fighting for his very relevance in Ugandan politics. The man had broken ranks with his comrade President Museveni and attempted to resign from the army, only to be told by the Courts that he could not do so.

In a country where people always have a soft spot for the underdog in any battle, Gen Tinyefuza’s lone battle against a system that seemed to be bent on keeping him in the army against his will, won him a lot of sympathy from the public – never mind whether it was he or the system in the wrong.

After a protracted court battle, Gen Tinyefuza eventually lost out to the system and, after undergoing ‘rehabilitation’, mended fences with Museveni and returned to the NRA/M fold.

Whatever that rehabilitation comprised, it certainly changed Gen Tinyefuza; he tucked in his tail and has since been singing a tune that must sound like music to his master's ears - starting with his ‘apology’ to Museveni at a marriage ceremony of one of his children, in which he ridiculously claimed to have been misled.

Today, Gen Tinyefuza is one of the foremost defenders of some of the worst the excesses orchestrated by Museveni’s government. Museveni could as well set Uganda on fire and, while the country burns, Gen Tinyefuza will scamper out of the inferno and proclaim that all is well. Iraq's comical Ali wouldn't do a better job.

But even by his recent standards, this week’s declaration – while commenting on the arrest of three Buganda officials by the government – that under certain circumstances “some laws can even be suspended” was a new low.

Uganda still doesn’t have sufficient systems in place to defend the freedoms of its citizens, largely thanks to the selfish scheming of people like Gen Tinyefuza, but saying “some laws can be suspended” should surely open the eyes of many Ugandans to the fact that they are governed by people who are only interested in keeping themselves in power at all costs; not enabling Ugandans to enjoy their freedom.

Had such a statement been made by somebody in the opposition, it would have been enough to send them to the cooler on treason charges. However, because Gen Tinyefuza is part of the system in power – never mind that he is still a serving soldier who should ordinarily have no business delving into politics – he makes such an inflammatory statement and is not apprehended for it.

But Gen Tinyefuza, more than anyone else should know that times and people can change. Ten years ago, he was on the other side of the fence but today he is making all the reckless statements he wants with the protection of the system. Who knows, tables can once again turn.

If Tinyefuza is really interested in ensuring that the values and institutions that they claimed to have fought to restore in Uganda are indeed inculcated in this country’s political processes, then he should spend his time building them instead of insulting the nation and its people.

A question of pride

2008-06-13T20:30:00.001+03:00

By this time two weeks ago, when I penned (or is it typed?) my last post, the Uganda Cranes were gearing for their first match of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers with lots optimism, if not assurance.

By the end of the day, they were three points to the good courtesy of a solitary goal from team captain Ibrahim Ssekajja against Niger. Like is always the case when the Cranes score, we sang our hearts out at Namboole, danced and waved our flags like crazy.

But the display was not ewe-inspiring. Deep in our hearts, we knew that the Cranes needed to greatly pull up their socks if they were to mount a challenge against Angola (who played at the 2006 World Cup) and Benin (who gave a good account of themselves at the 2008 African Nations Cup).

By some uncanny twist of fate, the Cranes opened their campaign facing the team they had played against in the last match of the 2008 Nations Cup qualifiers. Then, the game ended 3 – 0 in Uganda’s favour; this time round, it was Ssekajja’s solitary goal. Had Niger improved or was it the Cranes who had lost some of their firepower?

Benin, who the Cranes faced only a week after Niger, duly gave Ugandans an answer with a 4 – 1 annihilation of their national side – despite the latter having taken the lead through striker Eugene Sssepuya.

Several explanations (excuses?) have since been given for that loss – from the lame to the bizarre. Three key players were not available for selection, said the coach Lazslo Csaba. The conditions in Benin were the worst the team had ever endured in a long time, argued the stand-in team captain Timothy Batabaire. I heard thunder in the stadium as Benin’s army of witchdoctors/fans did their thing, claimed goalkeeper Dennis Onyango.

The fact is that the Cranes were beaten. The reality is that the Cranes have many issues to overcome if they are to overcome the barren spell of 30 years that the country has endured without seeing its team at the African Nations Cup (never mind the World Cup). But with our passion for football and for our country, the fans will never desert the Cranes.

So, as I go to Namboole tomorrow to watch our beloved Cranes against Angola, I know there will be thousands of other like-minded fans. We will go hoping for a win. But even if we lose, we will at least be proud that we represented our country – by cheering our boys on from the stands.

When the odds are stacked against as is the case in these qualifiers , all we ask of our boys is to fight to the final whistle so that we live Namboole with our heads held high that they are setting a foundation for a tradition that makes Namboole a footballing fortress and the Cranes a hard nut to crack.

A nation waits, and expects

2008-05-30T18:23:00.000+03:00

Uganda’s national team, the Cranes, will tomorrow, Saturday, kick off their campaign to earn a berth in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa at the Nelson Mandela national stadium.

The Cranes have not had much luck in recent campaigns, but the team at least has a loyal nation behind them. So the 40,000-seater Mandela national stadium (located at Namboole on the outskirts of Uganda’s capital Kampala by the way, not somewhere in Johannesburg) is once again expected to fill up to the brim.

The expectations, as has been the case each time the Cranes have started such a campaign, will be enormous. And with Uganda’s soccer governing body, FUFA, having summoned a record 16 professionals, the fans will expect nothing short of a victory.

Opening day victories have in any case been formalities each time the Cranes have started such campaigns. Where the Cranes have come short in the recent past is in their failure to win sufficient games (especially away from home,) to garner sufficient points to claim a qualification slot.

Over the years the Cranes have, in the words of one pundit, come second so many times that if there was a competition for coming second, the team would still take the second position.

The most painful was of course the qualification campaign for the 2008 Nations Cup campaign where the team failed to qualify by a single goal. A second experience of that nature would be too much to bear for a nation that has already endured so much heartache.

Part of the reason the team has performed poorly in the past was the federation’s inability to transport all the team’s professionals to feature in every game of a campaign. It was a problem that reared its head again in the last campaign – with the team captain, Ibrahim Ssekajja, failing to make it for two crucial games.

This time round, with at least four games to be played in June, and the local league – as well as most leagues across the world – having been completed, even the 16 players plying their trade in foreign leagues can be maintained in camp for the entire month.

The signs look good; it is now up to the players to go out there and discard that nearly men tag that has dogged Ugandan football for ages.

A nation waits, and expects.

Killing the messenger

2008-05-23T13:21:00.006+03:00

In his previous life, veteran Ugandan politician Al Hajj Ali Kirunda Kivejinja of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party published a newspaper, The Weekly Topic, which he co-owned with Kintu Musoke and Jaberi Bidandi Ssali.

This newspaper, though apparently heavily censured, grew in influence and size to become a daily, before it folded up after some of its most senior journalists like Wafula Oguttu, Charles Onyango-Obbo and Ogen Kevin Aliro (RIP) jumped ship to launch The Monitor newspaper.

Today, Mr. Kivejinja is Uganda’s third deputy prime minister and minister of information and national guidance. Having swapped his media hat for a government one, the good minister is now at the centre of an alleged plot to muzzle media freedom.

Since President Museveni and his National Resistance Army (NRA) guerrillas shot their way to power in January 1986, Ugandan media has gained considerable wriggling room. That room was not gained on the cheap though as a number of journalists and media houses have paid heavy prices, but the reality is that Museveni’s government was continuously conceding ground.

When Mr. Kivejinja was put at the helm of the information and national guidance ministry after the 2006 general elections therefore, it seemed as if Museveni had finally appointed one of us. But Mr. Kivejinja has, since taking up his appointment, run his office like a man who knows which side of his bread is buttered.

Since President Museveni made his now famous outburst in Kololo in 2005, while mourning his employees who had died with South Sudan President Dr. John Garang that he would sort out the media, many functionaries in his government have been trying to outdo themselves in showing their boss that they doing his bidding.

Mr. Kivejinja seems to have done little to change his boss’ thinking. It is under his watch, after all, that nearly every independent print media house in Uganda has at least two journalists before the Ugandan courts battling cases brought against them by the state, and – in scenes reminiscent of the raid on The Monitor newspaper in October 2003 – another newspaper, the fledgling Independent, was raided by security operatives.

But the worst is not yet over. Recent reports seem to indicate that the government is raising the stakes in their quest to clampdown on the media. On May 21, cabinet constituted a powerful special sub-committee to investigate radios and newspapers accused of giving bad publicity to the NRM government.

This seven-man committee, comprising two deputy prime ministers, the ministers of security and of internal affairs, as well as the Attorney General, sends strong signals that the NRM government is determined to swing the whip hard.

Mr. Kivejinja has argued that this move by cabinet is not aimed at clamping down on the media, but a well-meaning attempt by the government to guide the media to do “responsible reporting”.

“For now over 2 years I have been studying the performance of both our electronic and print media and the legal framework under which they have been functioning. As you all know, I have taken time off to talk to fellow practicing journalists either individually or collectively and even visited most of the major Media Houses with the intention of breaking barriers that might be created between the media and government,” Mr. Kivejinja said during a press conference he called on May 22.

“My main objective has been to look for best practices that would enable our media to play a vibrant role and be one of the pillars of governance in our society,” he added.

This would all have been fine, was it not for the fact that the NRM takes most criticism of its failings as a political effort to malign it before the electorate, treats many media houses that host members of the political opposition as enemies, and perceives any critical views of the way that the country is being run as negative publicity against the ruling NRM party.

With the Uganda government intent on “fixing the press”, one would have expected that a siege mentality, if nothing else, would galvanise the journalists. Sadly, the attack on the media is coming at a time when our own house is not in order.

Early this week, information came through that the Uganda Journalists Association (UJA) – which is affiliated to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) – was holding a General Assembly on May 24 in which a new executive was to be elected. This information had been sent by the outgoing President of UJA, Mr. Ahmed Kateregga.

On May 22, the outgoing Secretary General of UJA, Mr Stephen Ouma Bwire, sent out a communication of his own, calling the meeting that had been called and organised by Mr. Kateregga “illegal”. Mr. Ouma says UJA “has never convened anywhere and at any date to propose, discuss and resolve to hold its General Assembly on May 24, 2008”.

“The purported meeting with forged backdated list of Executive Committee participants, resolutions is being “cooked” up by outgoing President Ahmed Kateregga to present at his solely convened General Assembly this Saturday,” argued Mr. Ouma.

He added: “Ahmed Kateregga should produce minutes of the Executive Committee, where it convened, the agenda and resolutions before he thinks of convening a General Assembly of his own making. Kateregga must take note, if he has never read, understood and internalised the UJA Constitution.”

The UJA Constitution says that General Assembly shall be convened by the associations’ Secretary General by giving a notice of at least 14 days before the scheduled meeting. And that the notice shall include the date, venue and agenda for the Assembly. Mr. Ouma says he, as the Secretary General, has never circulated such a notice.

Mr. Ouma’s letter raises several other allegations (to which Mr. Kateregga was yet to reply by 12pm on May 23) that highlight the level of infighting and intrigue in an association that is supposed to unite Ugandan journalists. For instance, Mr. Ouma claims that his President is running UJA like a personal business and has organised an assembly at short notice so his team elect an executive loyal to him.

Besides exposing the fact that the journalists’ body is not being run professionally, this latest squabble brings to light a more fundamental issue. The rat race for readers seems to have divided the media to such a state that practitioners in the country see each other as adversaries more than as partners.

As a result, the associations that are supposed to unite Uganda scribes and fight for their cause have largely been left to journeymen journalists like Mr. Ouma and Mr. Kateregga whose main interest are the foreign trips and other such freebies that they occasionally receive from international organisations.

At a time like this when the media is under siege, one can’t help but feel that while the government is going all out to hang the media, it is the media industry – through its own internal shortcomings – that is actually providing the rope.

A re-awakening in Maputo

2008-05-08T12:46:00.002+03:00

A first prize in the 2007 Akintola Fatoyinbo Africa Education Journalism Award presented me with the opportunity to get away from my hectic schedule in Kampala and earn a most longed for two-week rest in the beautiful Mozambican coastal capital, Maputo.

The 10 days in Maputo, and another four in Johannesburg, have not just enabled me to slow down; they are also affording me a number of fascinating and inspiring chance encounters.

On May 3, for instance, I was among the hundreds who gathered at the Joaquim Chissano International Conference Centre to witness the presentation of the 2008 UNESCO/Cano World Press Freedom Prize to Mexican Journalist Lydia Cacho Ribeiro.

This particular ceremony was graced by several dignitaries, including Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, former President Joaquim Chissano and the UNESCO Director General, but it was Ms Cacho who – rightly – took centre stage.

When the 45-year old journalist stepped up to make her acceptance speech, it turned out to be so powerful that it earned her a standing ovation from nearly everyone in the hall.

“By honouring me tonight you are recognizing the talent of my teachers, of the hundreds of women, men and children who have trusted me with their personal histories, their tragedies and their triumphs. Somehow they knew I would honour their trust by doing my job as a journalist,” she said.

The inspiring thing about Ms Cacho’s story is that she has faced several hurdles in her career, but did not lose her resolve. In her 18 year journalism career, Ms Cacho has been the target of repeated death threats because of her work, especially when she reported about a peadophile ring that included powerful figures in Mexican politics. Her car was sabotaged and she was the victim of police harassment.

“When I was tortured and imprisoned for publishing the story of a network of organised crime in child pornography and sex tourism, I was confronted with the enduring question of the meaning of life. Should I keep going? Should I continue to practice journalism in a country controlled by 300 powerful rich men? Was there any point to demanding justice or freedom in a country where 9 out of every 10 crimes are never solved? Was it worth risking my life for my principles? Of course the answer was… yes,” said Ms Cacho.

But her works have also earned her international acclaim. Besides the $25,000 World Press Freedom Award, she was awarded the Francisco Ojeda Award for journalistic courage in 2006 and, in 2007, the Amnesty International Ginetta Sagan Award for Women and Children’s Rights.

In a moving speech, Ms Cacho told the reasons why she has persevered against the odds. She told of having been contented to keep the promise she had made to the little girls who were abused by pedophiles and child pornographers, and who asked her to tell their stories. She called on other journalists to uphold the virtues of their calling.

“As journalists we should never become messengers of the powers that be. Nor should we surrender to fear and self censorship,” she said.

Three days later, I stood at the very podium that Ms Cacho had used; it was my turn to deliver my acceptance speech for the Africa Education Journalism Award to the 600 delegates and more than 50 education ministers attending the 2008 Biennale on Education in Africa.

Ms Cacho had raised the bar so high with her speech; I did not try to emulate her. I only spoke about the need for politicians to always keep it in mind that the decisions they make can change or ruin the lives of their people. I asked them to ensure that even the ordinary persons in the most remote part of their country get a fair deal from their governments.

For my own speech, I did get a resounding handclap from all in the Joaquim Chissano International Conference Centre that evening. Whether the politicians took the words to heart is another matter. The task for me now, and several other journalists, is to continue to make sure that the politicians are accountable to the people who entrusted them with the duty of making the policies that guide the destiny of their country.

This is no easy task; but Ms Lydia Cacho Ribeiro has once again reminded us all that it can be done.

The death of democracy… and over 600 Kenyans

2008-01-10T17:42:00.000+03:00

In the run up to the February 2006 presidential and parliamentary elections in Uganda, renowned Pastor Robert Kayanja, the founder and head of Miracle Centre churches, told the nation that he had received a vision from God. He (the Pastor, not God) informed Ugandans that one of the five presidential candidates would die before the elections and, as if that wouldn’t be tragic enough, violence would erupt after results had been declared.

None of that had happened by the time President Yoweri Museveni was sworn-in to office in May, in the process arming Kampala’s cartoonists and humorists with enough ammunition to laugh off the Pastor’s prophesy for several months.

Two years since those visions were first revealed, Pastor Kayanja’s prophesies have apparently come true, at least according to one Ugandan. The catch is that each of the two prophesies have happened, not in Uganda, but in two countries that are oceans apart.

The first prophesy, according to this Ugandan, came true in the death of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was running for the same job in an election that was slated to take place early January. The second was fulfilled by the violence sparked off by the contested results showing that incumbent Mwai Kibaki had beaten his rival Raila Odinga, although Raila’s party had won the majority seats in parliament.

It is of course sad for someone to use the misfortunes of others to justify their own faulty predictions of what happens in times ahead. But, in all fairness to Pastor Kayanja, he was not the one who tried to justify his 2006 predictions with the events in Pakistan and Kenya.

What was equally sad was the sight of Mr Kibaki shamelessly taking the Bible in a hastily arranged swearing in ceremony and promising to uphold the rule of law in Kenya (when he had just broken some of those very laws to get his hand on that Bible) – and that was even before Kenyans had run riot in a series of protests that (at the last count) had claimed at least 600 lives.

The world over (except our very own President Museveni, who congratulated Mr Kibaki on his ‘victory’) has since acknowledged that there were a series of irregularities in that election – the kind of irregularities that are likely to drag Kenya’s democracy several years back, if not killed it altogether.

The elderly Kibaki meanwhile continues to further his own selfish interests at the expense of the very Kenyans who he claims to want to serve. How shameless can a man get when he can close his eyes and ears to the fact that his selfishness has not just led to the death of democracy, but more than half a million of his own people?

Christmas on December 14th

2007-12-24T18:24:00.000+03:00

I am normally not the most verbose person wherever I get to address any group of people. Which, ironically, is a far cry from what happens when I sit in front of a computer and thumb its keyboard, or grab pen and paper.

My economy of the spoken word should paint the picture of what happens when a person who does not ordinarily speak much runs out of even the few words he normally uses to express himself.

That is indeed what happened to me on the night of December 14 when asked by the Presidential Adviser on Media and Public Relations, Mr. John Nagenda, the night’s chief guest, to make a seven-word speech after I was declared Golden Pen Journalism Awards’ Journalist of the Year 2007.

Winning that award was a very special feat for me in many respects (some of which I won’t explore here), and I wanted to publicly thank those who helped nurture the writer in me, as well as share a few experiences with colleagues in the business and raise some issues about the state of the industry.

But I didn’t, sorry; I couldn’t do any of that.

The best that came out of my startled mouth was: “I don’t know [what to say]. I am so happy. I just don’t know [what to say]”, before Mr Nagenda declared that I had met reached the target he had set for me – only just.

To a friend who found that little episode “interesting”, I explained that the awards had knocked the wind out of my sails in a touching way that left me speechless, my hands shaking, and my eyes welling up with tears – all because I just couldn’t contain the joy that came with the triumph.

Yet it was not even joy resulting from a first bite at the cherry. You see, it was not the first time that I am walking up to such a podium to receive an award of that nature so it one could easily wonder what all the excitement is about. So, here’s why.

On May 3 this year, I happened to have been one of the three category winners of the Uganda Investigative Journalism Awards 2007. The award came with a package that included a brand new laptop – a machine I so badly needed to ease my work, after the one I had got destroyed beyond repair.

However, eight days later, that laptop was stolen – along with several of my possessions – by a thief who broke into my house. It was a period, to say the least.

After some stern words from my boss, who asked me whether I wanted to just spend the rest of the year feeling sorry for myself or I could bounce back with a bang and work for the money that could buy me a new laptop.

The big man’s words registered and I invested all my energies (and frustrations from that incident) into my job so that, among other thing, I could purchase a new laptop to ease my work and enable me be a lot more mobile in 2008.

Now, just when all efforts to secure one seemed to have come to nought, along came the Golden Pen Awards!

Honestly, God (or is it the hand of fate? Well, depends on who or what you believe in) could not have offered this humble Ugandan a much better Christmas present.

When David Astor Journalism Awards Trust (DAJAT) Managing Director, Jim Meyer, interviewed me, on September 22, as he sought for the most suitable beneficiary for his programme, the conversation somehow veered towards the fact that I had won a laptop and then lost it even before I could benefit from it.

Jim told me that since I had lost that one, I would just have to win another one. This morning, I opened my email and found a message of congratulations from Jim; I just couldn’t help smiling to myself and saying: “I did it!’.

Watching history pass us by

2007-12-19T12:37:00.000+03:00

A few days ago, I phoned Prince John Patrick Barigye Rutashijuka Ntare VI of the currently stifled-but-once-great Ankole kingdom requesting for an interview on a subject that fate and experience have made him very familiar with.

Prince Barigye told me that he was not feeling well and I would have to call him the next week when he would hopefully be feeling well enough to conduct the interview.

I have profiled Prince Barigye before, interviewed him about Ugandan politics and other such issues, as well as visited his palace in Rubindi, along Mbarara-Ibanda road, where the Prince and his family hosted me to what still ranks as one of the more memorable Christmas seasons of my not so long life.

The point here is not that I have dined with royalty; far from it. I am only saying that journalism often provides those who practice it with front row seat tickets to historical events, and we witness it happen – first hand.

Or, in other instances, the profession provides us with the privilege of at least hearing directly from those who were either in the thick of the action or had the tickets to the front row seats when and as history unfolded.

It is our duty then, as journalists, to document this history and share it with the rest of the world.

Many times, however, we fail to perform this duty.

I was recently reminded of our shortcomings in this area following the death of the acclaimed Ugandan playwright, John Ruganda; the man whose writings formed the bulk of what we studied in our high school literature classes.

Just for the record, the great John Ruganda wrote plays and novels like The Burdens (1972), The Floods (1980), Black Mamba (1972), Covenant With Death (1973), Music Without Tears (1982), and Echoes of Silence (1986).

So John Ruganda, who has been silently suffering with Cancer in Uganda since February 2007 when he returned to the country (from the University of North in South Africa) never really got much mention in the Ugandan media until he passed away on December 9.

While such luminaries rarely get mention in the media, you have the likes of musician Henry Tigan, comedians Amarula Family, and Big Brother Africa II contestant Maureen Namatovu receiving headlines and whole pages in the media every other day!

In fact, although Ruganda passed away in the first week of December, it was only in the last weeks – long after even the Kenyans newspapers had several dedicated pages to his memory – that The New Vision newspaper finally wrote an obituary.

Contrast this with the time Big Brother Africa I contestant Gaetano Kaggwa was admitted in a hospital in Nairobi and the radio stations were providing almost hourly updates on his condition.

Maybe this is a pointer to the kind of society that Uganda has become today and I am one of the last people to realise it; a society where intellect is not as much as recognised, and materialism has long taken its place!

Ok, now I get the drift. And my heart bleeds because one day we will wish we had shared the pearls of wisdom that the older generation possessed, and we won’t have the chance. All because we simply didn’t care while they were here.

At this point I must confess that I am no better than those that I have held culpable for lethargic coverage of historical events and figures; I never called Prince Barigye again – and, in so doing, have cheated the reader of the newspaper I write for.

But not for too long – as I, too, have been reminded of the gravity of such apathy towards otherwise important issues.

Wishing I could live a dream

2007-11-27T19:42:00.000+03:00

A few years ago, while still in secondary school, a friend and I used to dream of owning mobile office premises. Our dream mobile offices were supposed to comprise mainly of only a car, a laptop connected to the Internet, and a mobile phone.

Of course that dream, like many that we used to have at the time, never came to be. But I just couldn’t help thinking of it this morning when we came to the office only to find that our landlords had locked us out. Again!

With our dream offices, we would not have had to worry about being locked out of the premises like was the case at my present work place this morning. Damn, we wouldn’t even have to worry about paying rent.

The only thing that would burn holes in our pockets would be the fuel for the car, and even buying that would have its advantage as we would be killing two birds with one stone since it would be help me drive my office premises to work.

Sadly, I still don’t have a car. And a lap top. And … Jeez, what have I been working all these years for?

The morning after ...

2007-11-26T19:46:00.000+03:00

Today is ‘01 AC (After Chogm) in Uganda. It is a day after the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) ended in the capital Kampala yesterday – leaving President Yoweri Museveni displaying arguably the most endless grin and dreamiest look he has ever spotted since coming to power some 21 years ago.

During the Chogm week, a buoyant Museveni did some things he is not particularly renowned for; First, there was the bow before the Ugandan Parliament (many of whose members he does not have the highest regard for especially after bullying and bribing them to change the constitution to allow him stand beyond the originally stipulated two terms) after he addressed them before Queen Elizabeth II of Britain.

And then, as if to confirm that he was a man in clearly benevolent mood, Museveni was publicly seen hugging some of his colleagues – a privilege his own wife Janet has not (to the best of my knowledge) received publicly since the son of Kaguta came to power.

A colleague who spoke to Museveni and Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki during the post-Chogm interaction between the leaders and media representatives over lunch perhaps drew the best contrast; Kibaki was in Uganda only in body but his mind seemed to be back in his country where he is struggling through a tight campaign that he is not even very sure of winning, while Museveni cut a very relaxed picture. He was clearly relishing the meeting that would hand him the leadership of the Commonwealth for the next two years.

Even the tune of Museveni’s own government officials, lackeys, and hangers-on was rather refreshingly different. First, it was the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, who apologised for the traffic jams caused by his officers when they were undergoing mock drills on how to supervise traffic during Chogm.

Then, when Chogm itself rolled into town, the opposition was given a designated area in which they would be allowed to demonstrate. Although some opposition figures and groups nonetheless faced the wrath of some overzealous Museveni security operatives when those who attempted to demonstrate outside the designated areas were clobbered. Maybe some habits die hard after all.

Meanwhile, as some of his boys (and girls, maybe; who knows?) vented their anger on the opposition for trying to spoil their party, Museveni was at his best behaviour before the Queen and the more than 40 heads of states and government or their representatives, who had found their way to Kampala.

It is difficult to imagine how Museveni felt when the Queen, while addressing the Ugandan Parliament, paid tribute to Uganda’s “respect for the rule of law” and promised more support to the country to “deepen its democracy”. But it wouldn’t be entirely off the mark to believe he was in dreamland because in effect, he was receiving international endorsement for his efforts to “uphold democracy in Uganda”.

After such ringing approval from one of the most significant figures in the world, before more than 40 world leaders, the opposition can make all the noise it can and their voice won’t be heard. Or, if it is, then it will just be ignored.

This is especially so because the Commonwealth, soon after suspending Pakistan and after parting ways with Zimbabwe and its leader Robert Mugabe not so long ago, will not be too eager to antagonise any of its members – especially the country that will be in the chair for the next two years.

The result is that, should Museveni flout any of the rules that all members of the Commonwealth are supposed to uphold, there will be the customary barking from across the world, but very few countries will be ready to pressure the Ugandan President to follow the rule book.

With the benefit of hindsight, one can understand why Uganda’s leading opposition political group, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), has been up in arms against the decision by the Commonwealth to let Uganda host this biennial meting; a successful Chogm for Museveni means tough days ahead for them and any other Ugandan who tries to stand in the way of the Museveni juggernaut.

Praying for the devil's continued good health

2007-11-15T12:07:00.000+03:00

The fate of Vincent Otti, the Lord Resistance Army’s (LRA) second in command, remains clouded in mystery more three weeks after word of his reported fall-out with the rebel group’s leader, Joseph Kony, first filtered through.

Otti is reported to have either gone down with malaria, been arrested or even killed by Kony after they fell out over the handling of the peace talks between the Uganda government and their LRA, and funds that are being given to them to sustain their fighters while the peace talks are ongoing.

Information on the recent developments in Garamba remains unclear even after Kony called Gulu LC V Chairman, Nobert Mao, by telephone to try and clear the air. One thing that is clear though is that the developments in Garamba have presented Ugandans with a very tricky situation.

On the one hand, few Ugandans would really give a hoot about the fate of Otti; in fact many would gladly toast to news of the death of Otti – a man who orchestrated some of the nastiest and most senseless killings that have been carried out by the LRA in the 21 years that they have been fighting the Uganda government.

It is therefore ironic that we have reached a point where Uganda needs Otti alive and pulling the strings in the LRA hierarchy more than ever before. One can hardly encounter a more awkward situation than this.

The point I am trying to make is that with the peace talks that have been taking place in the Southern Sudan capital Juba now heading for the home stretch after more than 12 months of negotiations, the uncertainty over the fate of the 61-year-old Otti could scarcely have come at a worse time.

Although all four senior LRA commanders indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) declined to attend the talks in Juba, instead preferring to delegate the task to a group of exiles sympathetic to their cause, the decision-making powers have always remained with them in the DR Congo jungles of Garamba National Park.

Otti, who has maintained constant communication with Uganda government officials throughout the last 12 months, therefore turned out to be the linkman to the LRA’s elusive leader, Kony. He had also turned into the voice of the group, often taking the initiative to call radio stations to articulate their position when the group felt aggrieved.

Perhaps it was this increased prominence that put Otti at longer heads with his Chairman. Since the cessation of hostilities agreement was signed just before the talks started, the LRA has seldom been engaged in combat. As a result, the period has seen Otti take on a more pronounced role as the intellectual commander of the group in a battle of wits with the government – since he is more educated that Kony.

While the official talks went on in Juba, Otti was often walking from Garamba to the DR Congo-Sudan border to meet different delegations. So Otti’s role in the process naturally became so prominent that the Uganda government deemed it necessary, even important, to start parallel talks with the indicted LRA leaders in Garamba.

Otti’s efforts won mutual trust with the Southern Sudan government, the Juba talks’ mediator Dr Riek Machar and the Juba government, several officials from the Uganda government, international observers like the former president Joachim Chissano, and even UN envoy Jan Egeland.

It is these ties that are now in danger of being broken if indeed Otti has been killed by Kony. If Otti is indeed dead and, like has been widely reported, Kony has appointed Okot Odhiambo as his a new deputy then it means that the world has lost out on its most prominent contact with the LRA.

More crucially, it means that more time will be wasted as the prominent players in the talks who had developed an understanding with Otti try to develop a relationship with Kony’s new deputy, Okot Odhiambo. More over it is not certain how much freedom Kony will give his deputy, or any other member of the LRA leadership for that matter, to make independent decisions during any deliberations.

Recent developments seem to indicate the Kony is likely to play a more prominent role in any parallel talks now that before. With Otti having come to be viewed as a moderate and Joseph Kony the hardliner, it could mean that the talks could take even more time since the two sides are likely to take a little more than trying to reconstruct burnt bridges.

Crying for a defaced country

2007-11-07T15:29:00.000+03:00

If there are any other things that Ugandans do worse than preparing for Chogm [Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting], then trying to revamp its old buildings must be one of them. One just has to take a look at the shoddy attempts that have been made to give some of the most distinct buildings in Kampala a new lease of life (or, in some cases, just a new coat of paint) to see the extent of the problem.

Take the example of the former Uganda Commercial Bank building, now called Cham Towers, which proudly stands side by side with Uganda House on Jinja Road. One of Kampala’s most distinctive buildings until recently, the ex-UCB HQ’s unique architectural design and imposing size set it apart; effectively making its one side of the face of good old Kampala.

However, since businessman Karim Hirji bought the imposing building and changed its name to Cham Towers, it has lost most of its old charm.

What Karim did when he decided to place tiles around the building was to inadvertently cover the beauty that the coarse texture of its walls exhibited; his action was tantamount to pouring acid on a beautiful face.

Now, why Karim decided to cover up the buildings unique wall with some funny tiles is beyond comprehension. Wouldn’t it have been better to maintain the original outlook of the structure rather than mess up its distinct wall with some lousy tiles?

Karim, it must be said, is not alone. A similar misdemeanour has been committed by the management of Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) who – instead of retaining but only polishing the original design of the building housing the national broadcaster – has decided to cover it up with tiles.

Even more shameful is the fact that none of the ‘artists’ at the National Theatre, just a street away from the Parliament Building, saw it important to ensure that the guys renovating the building didn’t interfere with its unique design.

In the case of the National Theatre, the consolation is that an attempt has at least been made to ensure that the building retained a semblance of its distinct old self. The story is even worse at the building housing the Prime Minister’s office, opposite Golf Course Hotel, whose beauty has been drowned in some rather lousy yellowish paint – and even the painting was not done that well.

Such buildings have in effect been defaced, in the process throwing its authenticity out of the window. And it is quite a shame that not a great deal of Ugandans are even crying out to save the structures that give their country a distinct face.

Sometimes, it seems the urge to destroy what already exists has become a sort of national obsessions. We are only too eager to tear down our national forests in order to produce a few additional kilogrammes of sugar; and we freely give away prime land in the city to ‘investors’ even at the expense of national monuments.

Yet we could only gain more by maintaining some of these things in their original condition, like other countries do. For instance, in Turkey which I visited recently, the ancient architecture that was put up by the leaders of the Ottoman Empire (remember your High School history lessons?) ages ago is still protected very jealously and maintained. That country has, as a result, been able to earn billions of Turkish Lira from tourists streaming into that country every other year.

Ugandans and their leaders never give such things a thought. But if we continue defacing our own country at that rate, what aspects of dear Uganda will mark it out from the herd some 20 or so years from now?

Owning up to my failings, and making yet another promise

2007-11-05T16:40:00.000+03:00

This blog promised to be insatiable; always imbibing its prolific author’s writings but never getting its fill. It was meant to provide everything from serious insights to doses of humour that left the readership begging the author to do it again and again.

That, dear reader, was the dream at the blog’s birth on August 28, 2006. The reality, as you can see, has been different. Starved off its author’s pearls of wisdom and nonsensical rumblings, the blog has since withered to near extinction. And I hang my head in shame for letting that happen.

So much for being [or is it claiming to be?] a writer.

Anyway, the will to share my thoughts with the world – as you might have realised – is there alright. It is now the consistency and discipline, two traits I believe I have sufficient doses of, which I somehow have to summon in order not to fail at the second asking.

When I posted my first piece in August last year, I was still finding my footing in this industry. Now, a little over a year since then, and having learnt a few more lessons that should keep me in good stead as I continue my development, I am certainly better prepared to sustain a struggle on this particular front than ever before.

In the last year, as one can imagine, a lot of water has passed under the proverbial bridge. I have swapped media battlefields from Ruth Towers to Crested Towers, made my first forays into lands foreign, and honed a few of my skills under the guidance of some of the most inspirational field commanders in this industry.

Indeed, I have made some useful strides; but – more importantly – I believe I have not got ahead of myself. I know that there are still mistakes to be made, battles to be lost, and lessons to be learnt down this road. Such roads are never meant to be rosy, but I feel better prepared to ride the storms that will come my way.

This blog is meant to provide me with a platform to put my thoughts to PC, and in the process make some of those mistakes, lose [as well as win] some of the battles, and, above all, learn the lessons that should enable me become the writer I aspire to be.

This is an open forum so I look forward to receiving feedback – both the nice and not-so-nice. If I am writing crap, just give me a kick up the backside. It could hurt, but at least it will ensure that I don’t lose sight of the objective that I set out to achieve.

So, once again I invite you, dear reader, to join me down this road on a journey that has begun all over again.

Just The Way You Are

2006-09-05T11:06:00.000+03:00

It could have been worse!!
By some bizarre toss of the dice
You could have been born to die
Or, if you had to live,
You could have been born into the throes
Of the abyss of utter misfortune;
A life sentence into incessant suffering.

We all wish we were much better
Than what we hitherto are,
But if you can go through today with a smile
And look forward to tomorrow with relish,
Why not go down on your knees,
Just for a few seconds, to thank the creator
For designing you just the way you are.

Oluka Benon Herbert.

Copyright ©2006 Oluka Benon Herbert.

Dressing up my thoughts with words

2006-08-29T09:51:00.000+03:00

I was watching a movie the other day where a rock star was asked what he considered the guiding star of his life. It was only a movie but his answer to that particular question was something I took very seriously.

"In life," he said "some people get peace when the find God. In my case, I found [his wife, whose name escapes my mind]."

Hey, hang on. I know what you are thinking. But no, not yet. What that answer showed me is that people are inspired by different things. In my case, I found my calling in writing. Comparing my passion for writing to 'finding God' may be over the top, but the reality for me is that writing stirs me up in a way that very few other things in this life do.

Writing, to me, is a passion with which I have always hoped to make my humble contribution to making my country Uganda and, indeed, the world a better place. I have been passionate about writing for the better part of my not so long life; the realisation that I could use it to make some contribution, however little, in my time came during the time I spent with the man who gave me my first break in journalism; John Ogen Kevin Aliro.

From the great Kevin (RIP), I learnt that writers are not made; they are born. No matter what stands between the writer and that calling, he/she will always defy all odds and get a shot at it. The question is how, when the writer reaches the promised land, he/she uses their talent.

This blog is just one way that I will express myself. It is likely not to be anything award winning. All I want to do is think aloud; to put down my thoughts on the different things happening in my life, my country and the world. In other words, all I want to do is to dress up my thoughts with words as and when I can.

So on this weblog you will find a variety to read. It will have a bit of everything from serous analysis of political, economic and social issues in Uganda and beyond; insights into events that make news; and my random thoughts on the different issues that affect us and those that I feel very strongly about.

And, Oh! There is also my poetry!