I Have Forgiven Rwakasisi â€" Prof. Mamdani
Mar 30, 2003
PROF. Mahmood Mamdani recently said Milton Obote’s government was short-sighted to strip him of his citizenship in March 1985.<br>
By Geresom Musamali
PROF. Mahmood Mamdani recently said Milton Obote’s government was short-sighted to strip him of his citizenship in March 1985.
He said the then state minister for security, Chris Rwakasisi and the commissioner for immigration, Zakaria Doi, were behind the act, but he had forgiven them.
“I had no personal relationship with Rwakasisi and he therefore could not have done it at a personal level. I clearly understood the political environment in which he and Doi were operating. There is no need for me to remain bitter about their action,†he said.
Mamdani was speaking at the closing of the Organisation for Social Research in Eastern and Southern Africa conference at Makerere University.
He said he lost his citizenship because he opposed the gazetting of Lake Mburo National Park and the immediate expulsion of the park’s illegal settlers.
Most of the affected settlers were Rwandan refugees and Ugandans of Rwandese origin.
Some of them eventually joined President Yoweri Museveni and the National Resistance Movement in the Luweero Triangle to liberate Uganda.
Dr. Baker Nyakana said people have again settled on parts of the park without any degazetting.
Ends
PROF. Mahmood Mamdani recently said Milton Obote’s government was short-sighted to strip him of his citizenship in March 1985.
He said the then state minister for security, Chris Rwakasisi and the commissioner for immigration, Zakaria Doi, were behind the act, but he had forgiven them.
“I had no personal relationship with Rwakasisi and he therefore could not have done it at a personal level. I clearly understood the political environment in which he and Doi were operating. There is no need for me to remain bitter about their action,†he said.
Mamdani was speaking at the closing of the Organisation for Social Research in Eastern and Southern Africa conference at Makerere University.
He said he lost his citizenship because he opposed the gazetting of Lake Mburo National Park and the immediate expulsion of the park’s illegal settlers.
Most of the affected settlers were Rwandan refugees and Ugandans of Rwandese origin.
Some of them eventually joined President Yoweri Museveni and the National Resistance Movement in the Luweero Triangle to liberate Uganda.
Dr. Baker Nyakana said people have again settled on parts of the park without any degazetting.
Ends