Let Ruranga pick a leaf from Muntu, Kategaya
Jul 19, 2005
Last week Maj. (rtd) Rubaramira Ruranga defended Obote on the Luweero Triangle massacres and instead pointed an accusing fingure at the National Resistance Army for the murder of hundreds of people during the five-year armed struggle.
Trevor Kaita
Last week Maj. (rtd) Rubaramira Ruranga defended Obote on the Luweero Triangle massacres and instead pointed an accusing fingure at the National Resistance Army for the murder of hundreds of people during the five-year armed struggle.
(The New vision, July 12)
At a weekly Forum for Democratic change (FDC) press briefing on July 11, Rubaramira said the killings in Luweero must not be blamed on former president Milton Obote and his regime. “Obote could have done some things wrong but Museveni did many bad things including using people as shields, a charged Rubaramira told journalists.
Rubaramira claims came after former army commander, now FDC chief mobiliser, Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu, had defended President Museveni about the massacres in Luweero (The New Vision, April 19). Muntu blamed the massacre on Obote’s government forces.
Museveni and Obote have always blamed each other for the killings. Muntu, stuck with his former commander-in-chief on this one and even promised to testify in the Museveni -Obote case, a move that surprised many in the NRM but also depicted him as a man of unique qualities, among many politicians here.
You do not have to tell lies because you are in the opposition. Muntu who was in Luweero is higher in rank than Rubaramira and remains one of Uganda’s longest serving army commander, which makes him more credible than Rubaramira, who seem be talking out of emotions.
This country needs mature politics based on core and factual issues, not the daily politicians who just criticise anything government does, to attract attention. It is common knowledge that the NRA struggle would not have succeeded if it did not enjoy the support of the population.
Many people across the country ran to NRA soldiers for protection against the murderous obote forces, and there is no way this would have happened if the NRA soldiers were terrorising them.
Living near Muhoti Barracks in Fort Portal in the 80s, I remember the horrible things Obote’s soldiers used to do.
One incident that I vividly recall was when one soldier who was interested in a married woman a few metres from our house took the lady to the barracks by force and came back a few days later and tortured the husband to near death as the neighbours watched helplessly.
A few of us who were young were ordered to run and hide under our beds, where we listened as the villagers pleaded with the soldier to spare the man’s life. He eventually left him unconscious, probably thinking he was dead, and moved back to the barracks freely in a broad daylight to have fun with the victim’s wife.
Interestingly, Rubaramira was provoked to make the allegations by journalists who felt that political parties should sensitise people on how to vote in the referendum since parties are often linked to the past bloody regimes. Is there any doubt about that? A government that kills its own people should never be condoned in whatever circumstances. Many people lost their lives in Obote’s regime just because of the way they physically looked.
Ugandans need to remember our bloody history. The Movement should not forget its ideals and values that made it popular. And, in the meantime, we should salute politicians such as Eriya Kategeya who, despite his disagreement with President Museveni, remains on talking terms with him, without mudslinging.
Those politicians who go around telling lies should emulate Gen. Muntu’s honesty even when they do not necessarily agree with the current regime.
The writer is a post-graduate student of Makerere University
Last week Maj. (rtd) Rubaramira Ruranga defended Obote on the Luweero Triangle massacres and instead pointed an accusing fingure at the National Resistance Army for the murder of hundreds of people during the five-year armed struggle.
(The New vision, July 12)
At a weekly Forum for Democratic change (FDC) press briefing on July 11, Rubaramira said the killings in Luweero must not be blamed on former president Milton Obote and his regime. “Obote could have done some things wrong but Museveni did many bad things including using people as shields, a charged Rubaramira told journalists.
Rubaramira claims came after former army commander, now FDC chief mobiliser, Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu, had defended President Museveni about the massacres in Luweero (The New Vision, April 19). Muntu blamed the massacre on Obote’s government forces.
Museveni and Obote have always blamed each other for the killings. Muntu, stuck with his former commander-in-chief on this one and even promised to testify in the Museveni -Obote case, a move that surprised many in the NRM but also depicted him as a man of unique qualities, among many politicians here.
You do not have to tell lies because you are in the opposition. Muntu who was in Luweero is higher in rank than Rubaramira and remains one of Uganda’s longest serving army commander, which makes him more credible than Rubaramira, who seem be talking out of emotions.
This country needs mature politics based on core and factual issues, not the daily politicians who just criticise anything government does, to attract attention. It is common knowledge that the NRA struggle would not have succeeded if it did not enjoy the support of the population.
Many people across the country ran to NRA soldiers for protection against the murderous obote forces, and there is no way this would have happened if the NRA soldiers were terrorising them.
Living near Muhoti Barracks in Fort Portal in the 80s, I remember the horrible things Obote’s soldiers used to do.
One incident that I vividly recall was when one soldier who was interested in a married woman a few metres from our house took the lady to the barracks by force and came back a few days later and tortured the husband to near death as the neighbours watched helplessly.
A few of us who were young were ordered to run and hide under our beds, where we listened as the villagers pleaded with the soldier to spare the man’s life. He eventually left him unconscious, probably thinking he was dead, and moved back to the barracks freely in a broad daylight to have fun with the victim’s wife.
Interestingly, Rubaramira was provoked to make the allegations by journalists who felt that political parties should sensitise people on how to vote in the referendum since parties are often linked to the past bloody regimes. Is there any doubt about that? A government that kills its own people should never be condoned in whatever circumstances. Many people lost their lives in Obote’s regime just because of the way they physically looked.
Ugandans need to remember our bloody history. The Movement should not forget its ideals and values that made it popular. And, in the meantime, we should salute politicians such as Eriya Kategeya who, despite his disagreement with President Museveni, remains on talking terms with him, without mudslinging.
Those politicians who go around telling lies should emulate Gen. Muntu’s honesty even when they do not necessarily agree with the current regime.
The writer is a post-graduate student of Makerere University