Otunnu: Time for making peace and truth-telling SHARE BOOKMARK PRINTRATING Mr Otunnu addresses residents of Kolo in Amuru District recently. This was after tensions in the area arose following claims that the government wanted to give away land for sugarcane growing. Posted Sunday, September 22 2013 at 01:00 IN SUMMARY This is the third and last segment of Uganda People’s Congress president Olara Otunu’s proposal, “Reinventing Uganda: Agenda for Radical Renewal”, in which he sets out a radical shift in the national trajectory. In the first instalment, he focussed on regime change and 2016 ‘elections’. In the second part, he discussed the National Convention and the Buganda-Uganda Question. And in this piece, he turns to the National Project; Truth-telling, accountability and reconciliation. SHARE THIS STORY Today, Uganda is deeply divided and polarised, especially along ethnic and regional fault lines. Discrimination and segregation are entrenched. I have never seen in our country such anxiety about a person’s ethnic or regional origins. When a person meets you for the first time, one of the first things on their mind is most likely, “So where does he come from?’’ “Is he from the kop ango group or the agandi fraternity?” “Does his name begin with an ‘m’ or with an ‘o’?” From these furtive discoveries, apparently the rest follows. Ethnic and regional profiling has become commonplace and accepted. When I was at Makerere [University], we had the Guild, for all students; UMSA, for all Ugandans; and equivalent associations for Kenyans, Tanzanians, etc. There was no Acoli association. Today there is Acoli association at university-level, and also one at medical school. Since 2001, ethnic caucuses have become systematic feature of Parliament. In itself, there is nothing wrong with this. Except that this development is revealing of something deeper. There has been a fundamental shift in our national consciousness. In the face of systematic discrimination and segregation, most of it organised along ethnic and regional differentiations, Ugandans have naturally reacted by retreating deeper and deeper into their “primordial wombs “ , there to seek the solidarity and sense of common belonging which has collapsed at the national level . This largely emerged as defence mechanism in an inhospitable national environment. The truth is that, for more than three decades, President Museveni/NRM has deliberately promoted and practiced toxic sectarian politics, in part as a strategy for gaining and retaining power. His pronouncements and those of his associates speak volumes about this. Museveni’s discourse divided Ugandans into mutually antagonistic universes: “Us” and “Them”; “Those people” and “Our people”; “Northerners” and “Southerners”; “ Nilotics” and “Bantus” ; “Those Baganda “ and “The Westerners” ; “Those are not people, they are biological substances”; “Oh yes, they came singing, and we massacred them; we really massacred them”. Songs of National Resistance Army are famously spiked with ethnic bigotry and gloating about killing compatriots. A systematic programme of hate and racist indoctrination was put in place from the inception of the NRA project. Indeed, the Luweero insurgency campaign was explicitly built on and dominated by this factor. A ‘cadre’ graduate of Kyankwanzi Political School described it as an institution where “virulent xenophobia and racism is officially taught”. - Absolutely... Sectarianism Museveni/NRM has entered into the Penal Code crime of ‘promoting sectarianism’; precisely to silence those who would dare to expose his sectarian policies and practices. Through his programme of divide-and- rule, Museveni has successively set one ethnic group against another and one region against another. As a consequence of the policies and practices described above, ethnic and regional origins have assumed a meaning never before witnessed in our country. One’s fate, in Museveni’s Uganda, is closely aligned to, if not sealed by, these identities. We must repudiate this cynical politics of divide-and-rule. We need to embark on the National Project; this means a conscious mission to rebuild national unity. Incidentally, this has nothing in common with the current fraud, the so-called ‘patriotism classes’. No country can achieve significant progress without a sense of common belonging and shared destiny among its citizenry. We cannot have Uganda without convinced Ugandans, without citizens who can say with real conviction and feeling, “We are Ugandans”. Otherwise Uganda becomes a mere flag of convenience, a far cry from a real nation state. As we build national unity, we must at the same time preserve and celebrate our ethnic and cultural diversity. Uganda is a multi-national and multi-cultural society. We should construct national unity on that foundation, not against it. We have to weave the fabric of our unity from the threads of our diversity. There is no contradiction in this. In the United States, I have encountered very few ‘plain Americans’. Most of the population is composed of ‘hyphenated Americans’ - - they are Irish-Americans, Polish-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Italian-Americans, Chinese-Americans, etc. All are very proud of their tribal identities, while being fiercely patriotic Americans. In India, a Gujarati or a Sikh is very proud of his ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic community, while being a very patriotic Indian. In Uganda, we need to accept and respect, not suppress, the four strands of our core identities - - ethnic, regional, religious and national. And weave them into a strong colourful fabric, a nation. I dream of a Uganda in which a person can be a very proud Muganda (omusajja wa Kabaka) - - because there is much to be proud of in the culture and civilisation of Buganda - - and simultaneously be a convinced Ugandan nationalist. The same goes for his Acoli, Mugisu or Mukiga counterparts. And all this, without feeling that somehow there is something awkward about this configuration. I see no contradiction whatsoever in this dual claim of ethnic identity and national citizenship. Let us reject manipulations by negative leaders to turn our identities into calling cards for privilege for some, and for discrimination and exclusion against others. When I was Guild president at Makerere, mobilising the country against the Amin regime, my rallying cry was: “We Have a Common Destiny.” Today, I want to shout this from the top of my voice, because it is even more salient in the current situation. Truth-telling, Accountability, and Reconciliation... I have been calling for truth-telling and accountability, leading to reconciliation, concerning dark traumatic episodes in our recent history. Witness: Atrocities committed in Luweero (1981-85); internment and atrocities in Teso, including Mukura massacre (1987); massacre of Muslims in Ankole (1979); Ombachi massacre (1981); and the genocide perpetuated in northern Uganda (1986-2008). Earlier: the 1966 crisis and atrocities under the Amin regime (1971-79). In September 2009: the massacre of many unarmed demonstrators in the streets of Kampala. And the unexplained disappearances of Fronasa leaders ( Black Mwesigwa, Rait Omongin , Sebastian Ginyakol); the unexplained , un-investigated deaths/murders of recent public figures (Andrew Kayiira, Paulo Muwanga, Francis Ayume, Noble Mayombo, James Kazini, Cerinah Nebanda , etc. These episodes remain deep and festering wounds on Uganda’s body politic. We must insist on independent investigations, and assign responsibilities for the crimes in question. Truth The perpetrators must be held accountable, regardless of which sides they belonged to in the conflicts. Let the chips fall where they may. We need to know the truth. My preoccupation is not retribution or revenge. - Far from it... No amount of retribution can compensate for the unbelievable loss and suffering visited upon these communities. This is about reconciliation and healing in our land. After major political traumas, other countries (Argentina, El Salvador, and South Africa) have successfully undertaken truth telling processes. As a society, alas, we have “all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. And so many compatriots remain deeply wounded. That is why we must strive to become “wounded healers” in our land. I want to see us, as a people, climb to the top of a certain hill - - the hill of reconciliation and healing. There to embrace in prayerful humility, repentance and forgiveness. There to wipe away the tears of the communities those have long been hurting in silent, unacknowledged pain. But the path to that hill necessarily passes through the valley of sorrow, reckoning, and acknowledgement. We cannot leapfrog our way from the land of denial and impunity, where we are embedded today, onto that hill of reconciliation and forgiveness. Hope Our country cannot turn a new page; it cannot experience healing; without walking through this valley. For what then shall we reconcile about, if the truth about these crimes and atrocities remain deeply concealed? And who shall we reconcile with, if there is no revelation of responsibility, if there is no acknowledgement of culpability? When I have persisted in this call for truth-telling, Museveni has responded with fury: “We shall crush you! “ “We shall arrest you!” And sure enough a raft of charges came tumbling in: criminal libel against Museveni; promoting sectarianism; sedition; arrest warrants. But we must insist on truth-telling and accountability, leading to reconciliation. We must break the reigning conspiracy of silence. For my part, no amount of terror and vilification will silence my voice for this cause. Otunu’s search for peace In April 2010, a surprise occurred at the UPC Uganda House headquarters. Unlike from the previous historical bad blood between Buganda and the Uganda People’s Congress party, the kingdom anthem was sung at the UPC headquarters. It was a rare sign of budding reconciliation between the two traditional protagonists. In his victory speech after being elected UPC president in February, Otunnu announced plans to initiate a reconciliation process between the party and Buganda Kingdom. He said there was need to confront the causes of the friction between the two political forces and explore opportunities for forgiveness and unity. The gesture came just a month after the kingdom’s Kasubi Tombs were burnt by a mysterious fire. When the incident happened, Mr Otunnu went to commiserate with Buganda. It appears that although he was stoned by hostile youth, the bigger message had been sent. The youth group before addressing a press conference first burst into singing the kingdom’s anthem before apologising for the violent incident at Kasubi where Otunu’s vehicle was stoned and had its rear glass screen shattered. The youth said the stoning was an act of people unknown to Buganda who had been planted there. They denied Baganda youth were involved.
Posted on: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 20:17:35 +0000
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