Violent Tongues, Short Fuse In The Elections

One Man's Week By John Nagenda The late and lamented John Rwabuhungu used to write in his New Vision column of our village of Namutamba (or rather an extended area to which he lent that name) that it was a Land of Wonders. You can say that in triplicate for Uganda. Consider: Recently, two people who because of their positions should know better than to incite violence, have advocated it. Mr Ken Lukyamuzi, MP, we discussed last week. He advised Ugandan voters to use axes and machetes to hack and slash any person they suspected of being a foreigner trying to vote in the coming presidential elections. He feels so proud of himself in this matter that he has refused to take a word of it back. What is more, he lies that his action relies on the Uganda Constitution. What rubbish! Mr Lukyamuzi has for so long been regarded as a fool and a clown that what he says is received with mirth. But his advice here was the opposite of funny. Remember the Rwandan massacres? On Monday he was arrested and charged in court, for incitement to violence. With him was his mentor, Mr. Sebaggala; or is he Sebaggala's mentor? With people of this type it is not easy to tell. In the latter's case he had not only given full public support to the former's axe and panga call, he had also exhorted people to stop paying graduated tax. Messrs Sebaggala and Lukyamuzi are leading supporters of a certain Dr Besigye, who has said he is against violence. It will be interesting to see what steps he takes against these two. (Don't hold your breath!) But he should, if indeed he is different from them, have reflected more deeply before jumping into bed with the pair, and others sleazily like them. And they are not finished with him yet. BBC's Focus on Africa reported on the arrest of the duo, and rightly quoted "incitement". But its journalistically slovenly Ms Borzello did not volunteer what kind of incitement, which was surely key to their arrest. Was this to protect Besigye's friends, or did she not consider such information of importance? Please, BBC, let another part of the universe benefit by transferring Borzello there today. The two inciters, the law can deal with. Incidentally, the merged heads of Besigye and Sebaggala in the ad were a neat idea, perhaps inspired by the recent ones of the Americans Bush and Gore (who?) in Newsweek magazine. For ours, a name could have been coined: Besiggala, with its proximity to the Luganda "besigula", loosely translated: "They risk based on nothing." Most appropriate! *** The retired colonel must constantly squirm in his waking and sleeping hours. After Sebaggala and Lukyamuzi had been arrested and then bailed out on Tuesday, the former was reported to have said that he would have preferred jail to bail. It is well-known that jailbirds love going back to prison. But he went on, "My supporters prevailed upon me, but I personally wanted to stay in jail for at least two weeks. I would have swept the polls." (What lovely English; his own?) But note the "I". Me, Sebaggala, not Besigye, of whom he only refers to as his candidate. Another in a similar groin-handling position must be the present Mayor of Kampala, John Sebaana Kizito, who borrowed Sebaggala's office and seems most reluctant to hand it back. Is it really true he has been overheard tearfully praying, "Please God let Besigye win so he can make my predecessor his VP, otherwise my goose's cooked!" You will notice nobody even bothers to mention poor old P Ssemogerere anymore; what ignominy! Meantime the short fuse in the equation, the desperate Monitor, comes through with its take on the opinion polls for the presidential race. Museveni is leading with 47%, but very closely followed by "Sebaggala's candidate" at 43%! Museveni lovers (of whom the US Embassy poll only last November gave a figure of over 90%) need suffer no shortage of breath. During the 1996 presidential fight, it was the same Monitor that showed the same Ssemogerere leading by some clear points with a week to go. In the event, Museveni romped home with 75% of the vote, more than 50 points clear. Why does Monitor ever bother? *** This column has rather gingerly pointed out that Besigye's lady wife, Winnie, these days looks permanently on the edge of tears, even when in the company of her beloved. It is only fair to report that this week some of her bloom is back. Is it because with one bound she is free of the impediment which had been placed around her mouth? Now, as befits her personality, you cannot open a paper or listen to the radio without strong pronouncements from Madame. For example, on Radio West she firmly announced that Sebaggala was merely an ordinary enthusiast who had somehow named himself Chief Campaign Agent for Besigye. She pointed out that Sebaggala was not even on Besigye's campaign list! My jaw hit the floor. Was she speaking with one voice with hubby or were they, as we say in Luganda, binyonyi bibuuka bitalagaanye, birds flying with no flight plan? Intriguing thought! But no less intriguing was how the greatly self-regarding Sebaggala would take this put-down. We can repeat three times: Uganda truly is a land of wonders. As the abesigula will soon discover! Ends