Why Ugandans should celebrate Heroes Day

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By Richard C. Ntiru

Today is Uganda’s Heroes Day. I take it as an article of faith that Uganda’s national heroes are for all Ugandans and for all time.

The cause for which they laid down their lives was the cause of freedom for every Ugandan across the entire nation and for all time from generation to generation and from jubilee to jubilee. None of them laid down his or her life for a district or a region – or for a decade or the duration of a particular regime.

I also take it as an article of faith that it must be with that intent and to that very end that 25 years ago heroes’ day was established so that we who are alive today, as well as successive generations of Ugandans, can have a special day to honour all those who sacrificed themselves to better the lives of their fellow citizens.

It is, therefore, profoundly disturbing to read reports of cheap talk about “seasonal national heroes”. Such talk is symptomatic of bad faith, at best or political cynicism, at worst. Seasonal national heroes are a conceptual impossibility because authentic national heroes stand on the collective shoulders of the people with whom they struggled and with whom they triumphed. And the people are forever…. 

In honouring the memory and celebrating the lives of those who paid the ultimate price, the day also offers Ugandans an opportunity to recognise the contributions of those who, in their daily pursuits, best exemplify the qualities of such men and women and in so doing challenges all Ugandans to be that which they have within them to be and to put their myriad talents at the service of their country.

It is no wonder, then, that the debate continues as to what constitutes a hero; who should be honoured; what the criteria should be; who may be stripped of an honour previously bestowed; etc. This is a healthy debate indeed – moreover one in which all should engage responsibly, honestly and courageously - but also soberly and realistically.  The establishment of a canon of national heroes is a process that is vital to the health and well-being of the nation. It is for this reason that many Ugandans believe that it would be greatly enriched by contributions from a broad cross-section of the public, in addition to those obtained through the official and conventional consultation channels.

The process needs, perforce, to be deliberate and high-minded, if we are to establish a canon of national heroes worthy of the company of Ignatius Musaazi and Yusuf Lule in a budding pantheon at the core of which the distinguished historian Samwiri Lwanga-Lunyiigo has placed Omukama Kabalega and Kabaka Mwanga II (the historic cruel destruction of converts to Christianity on the latter’s orders notwithstanding). 

The definition of the word ‘hero’ has two components: the objective existence to a very high degree of the quality of courage or ability in a person and the subjective opinion of others that a person does indeed possess those qualities and is to be admired and held up as a model or an ideal. So it matters a great deal what ordinary citizens think and believe, for heroes live in the folk imagination of the people.

There is no question but that it is the prerogative as well as the responsibility of governments to establish a system for recognising those of their citizens whose contributions to the nation entailed paying the ultimate price. This is especially true of a regime that emerges as a result of a people’s resistance war against an oppressive regime. Such a government can reasonably be expected to be highly motivated to exercise this prerogative, in part out of a sense of obligation to those who fell during the struggle as well as their families and the sections of the population who bore the brunt of the reprisals on account of their support for the struggle and in part out of enlightened self-interest. Moreover, this is a time-honoured military tradition worldwide.

By the same token, this special day also honours those who laboured hard to attend to the material, medical and other needs of the combatants, often at equally great personal risk.

The same is true for the civil service, whose members are servants of the public but employees of the Government, which pays their salaries and emoluments out of tax-payer revenue. It is for this reason that citizens feel strongly that they should be consulted more fully regarding the process of nominating candidates to be honoured for exemplifying the qualities of our fallen compatriots. So far alleged or reported complaints about a wide gap between Government efforts in this regard and public expectations persist and it is to be hoped that this can be significantly narrowed soon through wider and appropriate consultations to the great benefit of all concerned.

The debate on ‘national heroes’ has inevitably raised the question as to how to handle the cases of people who, by reason of their prior service, deserved to be recognised as national heroes but who went on to conduct themselves in ways which, in the view of many, caused them to forfeit any claim to such a status. According to that view - and it is the only tenable - people in the uniform of the national army (or in no uniform at all) who committed crimes against the Ugandan people or were convicted of serious criminal offences such as criminal homicide or were convicted on treason charges belong in this category. In such a scenario, it stands to reason that the proper course of action would be for a person who had previously been honoured to be automatically stripped of the honour.

A welcome suggestion is a parallel but second-tier category of national heroes which would recognise the significant contributions of some Ugandans in advancing the “cardinal” values espoused by the NRM government, as outlined on the web site of State House. These are: peace and security; national sovereignty; fundamental rights and freedoms; national unity in diversity; good governance; patriotism, national identity and pan-Africanism; fiscal and monetary discipline; well-being of society and fulfillment of the basic needs of individuals; social justice and affirmative action; and a God- fearing citizenry.

Right from the inception of the NRM regime, its top leadership demonstrated political savvy by devising strategies to foster national unity and national cohesion through the amalgamation of a dozen or so disparate rebel fighting forces into a national army, the formation of a non-partisan civilian administration and the co-option into the Cabinet and other levels of government of leaders of political parties and groups some of whom did not necessarily share the regime’s vision or philosophy.

Bearing in mind both the perception and the existential reality that history is written by the victors and the dictum “to the victor the spoils” (above all the glory), the NRM government would do well to enhance the above record by continuing, through political sensitisation, confidence-building measures and community-based reconstruction and rehabilitation projects, to create and promote an environment conducive to national reconciliation and national healing. The annual celebration of Heroes’ Day offers a unique opportunity.   

The writer is a communications strategist