One Man's Week By John Nagenda

How Acholi Suffer At Kony's Hands -- The full horror of his deeds on his own people have been recounted THERE is much excitement regarding the pitiful batch of 27 abductees returning to Uganda this week from their days of terrible sorrow in Sudan, but it is salutary to reflect on how they got there in the first place. Around 9,000 children, out of a total of over 26,000 people, are believed to have been abducted since 1986. A large part of the estimated 6,000 of them still missing are presumed dead, according to UNICEF Uganda representative, Michel Sidibe. He says, "Despite the system of terror that reigns within the LRA camps in Sudan, and the deadly punishment for showing disloyalty, children do escape…" They tell chilling tales, and need specialised treatment to return, if they are lucky, to a semblance of normality. The full horror of the deeds inflicted by Kony on his own Acholi, young and old, has been vividly recounted before, often in this column. This time we shall charge, before God, the fulminating pronouncements of a Namibian (and before that, Ivorian) citizen, Olara Otunnu, in fact an Acholi, and presumably now ex-Ugandan, for reasons best known to himself. It is quite insane for this bird of exotic plumage to cynically interpret Uganda's attempt to protect its Acholi citizenry from the terrible Kony, as a premeditated plan to wipe out those proud people. He says the Uganda government "embarked on a systematic and deliberate destruction of the people of northern Uganda under cover of war." For Kony himself, he has no words of recrimination. Meanwhile Sidibe concludes: "This year alone, if there is no change, hundreds of children, both boys and girls, will most probably be abducted by the LRA. Many will ultimately perish in the bush, either as a result of the harsh living conditions or at the hands of other captives." What a hell on earth! And Mr Otunnu? It comes as no surprise to hear that he is currently selling his tawdry bits and pieces in Kinshasa. They should be accompanied by health warnings! * * * I confess I never cease to be intrigued by the statement, usually given by Mengoists at times of elections, "Vote for Kabaka's People." Actually more often than not, they are sexist in addition to intriguing: "Vote Kabaka men for House", as a Mr K Kanamwangi, a new name to your columnist, stated in Tuesday's Vision. You are left wondering what constitutes a Kabaka man and what does not. For example, not to beat about the bush, is Museveni one; how would Mr K above rate him? Did he advise, like those six Mengo ministers whose names are too tedious to recall, that Baganda votes should not be wasted on him? Mr K is nothing if not direct: Baganda should vote for those who will agitate for the Kabaka's will in Parliament. Does he mean on every matter under the sun? Does such a will always coincide with that of every Muganda, let alone every Ugandan? What can be said with extreme bluntness is that despite slogans, Baganda, and Ugandans, as they have done time and again, will weigh matters to their best ability and vote accordingly. If this makes them Kabaka people, well and good. If not, well and good. This is the beauty of the road out of serfdom. Uganda and its many-pronged people are the winners. * * * What a strange empire The Monitor is! Will history judge it to have been The Evil Empire of the present-day Uganda media? It would be no surprise. Its publication policy, of debunking the Movement government at every turn, of hardly ever praising it for any good deed done, is morally and professionally wrong. The irony of it is that such behaviour can only be exercised (and tolerated) in the climate of good governance which is ultimately part of Uganda's governance today. Of course the other side of the coin is that, in warm and sustaining conditions, bacteria flourish. How quickly the menace spreads! It is now glimpsed through the region in the weekly contamination of Mr Obbo's East African column; another Aga Khan publication. Does His Highness know? Do his representatives? But at least some of the readers are beginning to recoil in horror, most recently in the latest publication. A lady wrote of Obbo: "… nothing else but cheap criticism, ridicule and revelations of seething hatred for President Museveni… Spare us your obsessive hatred." And now on top of all this they have started the Monitor FM station in Kampala, and given time and space to the vainglorious Andrew Mwenda to show how far he and his programme can sink. Very far indeed, it seems. Not sated by his Obote frolic, in which that fossil engaged in unabated abuse of Museveni and the Movement (not that criticism would ever have even been allowed under the Obote leadership) Mr Mwenda next produced on air the ADF monsters. One of them had burnt to death 80 kids in their dormitory at Kichwamba. Mwenda characteristically failed to make the connection that this was akin to giving air-time to Adolf Hitler at the height of his massacres. Someone should remind him that those who collaborated in similar fashion, like the Irishman nicknamed Lord Haw Haw, were ultimately hanged. Mwenda does not much matter. He is only the Mutooro saddaaka (sacrifice) which is apparently obligatory at the opening of big structures! But does HH the Aga Khan know what is being perpetrated in his name? Ends