Freedom has two sides
Nov 03, 2005
THE stage is set. The curtain has been rolled back, as Milton Obote lies dead in the soils of Akokoro and Dr. Kiiza Besigye walks Ugandan terrain a free man. The show has begun in earnest.
Eva Mwine
THE stage is set. The curtain has been rolled back, as Milton Obote lies dead in the soils of Akokoro and Dr. Kiiza Besigye walks Ugandan terrain a free man. The show has begun in earnest. God rest the soul of Milton Obote, and welcome home, Dr. Besigye! Although my vote belongs to President Museveni and the NRM, the FDC and the entire opposition are a healthy and welcome balance to the equation that spells out the democracy.
In my quest to venture beyond the deceptive veil of street crowds into the minds of the broad spectrum of registered voters, I learn a lot in what I will call ‘My conversation with Uganda’. The overwhelming feeling in this season of anxiety and emotion, even among critics of the Movement, is that NRM has displayed admirable levels of political maturity and expedience in the face of these two recent events. Fresh fires are ablaze in the hearts of many to keep the NRM at the helm of Ugandan politics under a new dispensation.
As destiny claimed her unchallengeable right, and extinguished the breath of Obote at the dawn of a new multi-party era in Uganda, the symbolism was palpable, the omen a good one. It tells us that as we walk into the new dispensation, the forces of nature are fighting on the side of Uganda. It is no coincidence that the ailing but influential voice of Obote, embodiment of our gruesome past, has been silenced by the hand of nature.
We are a generation tasked with creating a ‘New and Improved’ multi-party Uganda, and as we struggle to uphold and advance fundamental freedoms, each one of us must realise that freedom abused is often worse than freedom withheld.
“Freedom is like a coin. It has the word privilege on one side and responsibility on the other. There are too many today who want everything involved in privilege but denounce anything that approaches a sense of responsibility.†(Joseph Sizoo)
At the heart of the respectable and boisterous establishment of the Ugandan media is an irresponsible element that pumps the arsenic of untruth into the veins of a country walking the quicksand of transition.
Individuals with selfish political interests use the media to push their political agendas. We have witnessed the glorification of the Obote era. Glossy but questionable statistics have been laid before us that paint in gold Nyamurunga’s economics of Magendo and Kusamula.
What the perpetrators of this falsehoods forget is that behind their whitewashed accounts of history are living and breathing people that tell a different story. Sadly, there are young people who, because of such inacurate accounts, will have a warped perspective of our country’s past. Yesterday defines today, and draws a roadmap into the future. What good is a generation equipped with a distorted view of yesterday?
In the very same vein of irresponsibility, we have started seeing political parties drawn largely on tribal grounds and party leadership choosing to ride on religious and tribal sentiments. If you are guilty of this, you are an enemy of Uganda. We the wanainchi are watching and listening. History will hold you accountable for re-injecting the poison that the NRM has worked tirelessly to neutralise over the last two decades.
As we witnessed bloody scenes of a Democratic Party rally at Centenary Park a few months ago, I emotionally penned a letter that I never sent. The first line read: ‘Your Excellency, Mr. Kolker, then American ambassador to Uganda, welcome to pluralism with a Ugandan twist...â€
Ugandans, world history repeatedly shows that the Western world, more often than not, makes poor judges of the societies they patron politically and economically.
Twenty-five years ago, status quo was challenged in Uganda as Yoweri Museveni and a few brave souls birthed a movement that was an authentic Ugandan solution for a unique Ugandan problem.
However, over the years, our donor friends imposed on us a national guilt complex for withholding the freedom of association. And so, a few months ago, by way of Referendum, the soul of Uganda was under siege as a population that would have much preferred to tick the House, obediently and in good faith ticked the Tree.
As we begin to live the “Donor Dream†for Uganda, we must create, in the midst of this dream, our own Ugandan dream. The onus is on us to use home-grown ‘magezi g'Abaganda’ techniques to make this “one-size-fits-all†textbook democracy work in our complex Ugandan setting.
As we politic and work tirelessly for personal and party victories during this election season, we have the moral obligation to put Uganda first in all that we do and say. For the sake of our common good, we must uphold the crucial element of responsibility – the other side of the coin.
The writer is a citizen of Uganda
THE stage is set. The curtain has been rolled back, as Milton Obote lies dead in the soils of Akokoro and Dr. Kiiza Besigye walks Ugandan terrain a free man. The show has begun in earnest. God rest the soul of Milton Obote, and welcome home, Dr. Besigye! Although my vote belongs to President Museveni and the NRM, the FDC and the entire opposition are a healthy and welcome balance to the equation that spells out the democracy.
In my quest to venture beyond the deceptive veil of street crowds into the minds of the broad spectrum of registered voters, I learn a lot in what I will call ‘My conversation with Uganda’. The overwhelming feeling in this season of anxiety and emotion, even among critics of the Movement, is that NRM has displayed admirable levels of political maturity and expedience in the face of these two recent events. Fresh fires are ablaze in the hearts of many to keep the NRM at the helm of Ugandan politics under a new dispensation.
As destiny claimed her unchallengeable right, and extinguished the breath of Obote at the dawn of a new multi-party era in Uganda, the symbolism was palpable, the omen a good one. It tells us that as we walk into the new dispensation, the forces of nature are fighting on the side of Uganda. It is no coincidence that the ailing but influential voice of Obote, embodiment of our gruesome past, has been silenced by the hand of nature.
We are a generation tasked with creating a ‘New and Improved’ multi-party Uganda, and as we struggle to uphold and advance fundamental freedoms, each one of us must realise that freedom abused is often worse than freedom withheld.
“Freedom is like a coin. It has the word privilege on one side and responsibility on the other. There are too many today who want everything involved in privilege but denounce anything that approaches a sense of responsibility.†(Joseph Sizoo)
At the heart of the respectable and boisterous establishment of the Ugandan media is an irresponsible element that pumps the arsenic of untruth into the veins of a country walking the quicksand of transition.
Individuals with selfish political interests use the media to push their political agendas. We have witnessed the glorification of the Obote era. Glossy but questionable statistics have been laid before us that paint in gold Nyamurunga’s economics of Magendo and Kusamula.
What the perpetrators of this falsehoods forget is that behind their whitewashed accounts of history are living and breathing people that tell a different story. Sadly, there are young people who, because of such inacurate accounts, will have a warped perspective of our country’s past. Yesterday defines today, and draws a roadmap into the future. What good is a generation equipped with a distorted view of yesterday?
In the very same vein of irresponsibility, we have started seeing political parties drawn largely on tribal grounds and party leadership choosing to ride on religious and tribal sentiments. If you are guilty of this, you are an enemy of Uganda. We the wanainchi are watching and listening. History will hold you accountable for re-injecting the poison that the NRM has worked tirelessly to neutralise over the last two decades.
As we witnessed bloody scenes of a Democratic Party rally at Centenary Park a few months ago, I emotionally penned a letter that I never sent. The first line read: ‘Your Excellency, Mr. Kolker, then American ambassador to Uganda, welcome to pluralism with a Ugandan twist...â€
Ugandans, world history repeatedly shows that the Western world, more often than not, makes poor judges of the societies they patron politically and economically.
Twenty-five years ago, status quo was challenged in Uganda as Yoweri Museveni and a few brave souls birthed a movement that was an authentic Ugandan solution for a unique Ugandan problem.
However, over the years, our donor friends imposed on us a national guilt complex for withholding the freedom of association. And so, a few months ago, by way of Referendum, the soul of Uganda was under siege as a population that would have much preferred to tick the House, obediently and in good faith ticked the Tree.
As we begin to live the “Donor Dream†for Uganda, we must create, in the midst of this dream, our own Ugandan dream. The onus is on us to use home-grown ‘magezi g'Abaganda’ techniques to make this “one-size-fits-all†textbook democracy work in our complex Ugandan setting.
As we politic and work tirelessly for personal and party victories during this election season, we have the moral obligation to put Uganda first in all that we do and say. For the sake of our common good, we must uphold the crucial element of responsibility – the other side of the coin.
The writer is a citizen of Uganda