Opiyo Oloya

Dear Dr. Olara Otunnu, UPC Party President, Congratulations on your election as the new president of the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC). Your old friend and mentor the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere was fond of quoting the Swahili proverb, “Mgeni siku mbili; siku ya tatu mpe jembe” (Treat your guest as a guest for two days, on the third day give him a hoe).

Last weekend, UPC delegates gave you a hoe to get back to work for Uganda, and the job is very big. Luckily, you bring to the job two very distinct qualities that will allow you to become part of nation building. Foremost, as a former diplomat on the world stage, you are known across the globe; when you call, leaders pick up their phones to listen.

Your ability to network, and to connect internationally will serve Uganda well as a developing country. For one, Uganda needs less charity and more open cuk (market) to sell its produce. I am sure you have experienced the wonderful pineapples of Luwero, the bananas from western Uganda, the simsim and groundnuts from Teso and Lango, and the high quality coffees from central Uganda.

These produces could fetch high dollar values on the international market. Before that happens though, you need to help convince the developed nations that these are safe, nutritionally balanced organic produces. Indeed, your connections internationally could help in opening these markets much in the same way that South African wines are now international players.

Secondly, you bring to the job the experience of uniting diverse groups of people to sort out common problems. You did this often in your job as a UN diplomat and in your private capacity as an individual. You will need this skill more than ever before as you embark on the delicate task of rebuilding, rebranding and remaking the UPC into a viable political entity in Uganda. Here is why.

As you have undoubtedly discovered in the last several months that you have been home, Uganda has changed in more ways than one. First, there are many young people who were born after you left the country in the mid-1980s. These young people have grown up now, and in some cases are married with children and working to better their lives. Many want to experience the same kind of success that they read about in glossy foreign magazines and watch on global television. They want to be relevant to the development of Uganda and are already engaged in the business of nation building in their own way.

But these young people do not know who Olara Otunnu is. They may have read about you in history books or in old newspaper clips. Essentially, though, you are a foreigner to them. What this means is that you have to make yourself known to Ugandans, especially the youth, to enable them to understand the vision that you stand for.

By galvanizing the youth with your vision, you will infuse them with reasons enough to embrace you and walk with you in continuing to make Uganda a better developed nation than it was two decades ago.

Furthermore, there have been many progress made over the last 20 years in the country including universal primary and secondary education, stabilisation of the Uganda shilling, provision for small business entrepreneurs to flourish and so forth. There are many more educated Ugandans today than when you left the country. Indeed, I would also argue that Ugandans are slightly better travelled in their own country today than they were two decades ago. As a result, Ugandans likely have better understanding and ethnic tolerance of each other than many years ago.

Travelling alone through western Uganda a year and a half ago, for example, I felt completely at home and everywhere I went. It did not matter that I did not speak a word of Runyakore or Rukiga, I was still welcome as a son. You must acknowledge these as progress in the right direction, and use your position as party president to encourage further political and social dialogues among Ugandans.

To this end, while I agree with you that Ugandans need to know what happened in Luwero and in northern Uganda, who did what to whom, I would also suggest that we carefully define how to get at the truth. I too want the truth to come out. But the truth can be a slippery thing, and my fear is that without clear guidelines on how to proceed we might find ourselves back in the abyss of political chaos.

The victims and survivors of these heinous crimes against humanity should be robustly consulted on the way forward. Those who still can, should be allowed to say what they would like to see happen.

Finally, about that wife issue that you keep bringing up—or perhaps your opponents have kept bringing up, I would suggest you heed the Acholi saying, Winyo ma kiboko ii wang oo pe moko, (The bird so often spoken about openly in front of the bonfire will never get caught).

Take it from a late-bloomer, in good time, you will find the person who loves you and whom you love. Again, congratulations and welcome back home.
Opiyo.oloya@sympatico.ca