BER TIC PA AKELLE

Praise song for Lucy Akello

David Brooks on the Power of the Subconscious

Lucy Akello

Amuru by-election

I WIN, YOU LOSE

The decade old Museveni-Besigye's saga seems to be based on the notion of: I win, you lose. And that has been the tenor of Museveni's rule for the most part. It is for the most part because, when it suits him, he has reached out to his vanquished foes, and brought them to his fold. Overall, however, Mr. Museveni must win at all costs until he meets a formidable adversary, then he might cooperate for the greater whole. That is his MO from whence one must begin in dealing with him.

 

CONFLICT IS NOT A BAD THING 

Someone said: Conflict can be creative; it shakes up what needs to be shaken up. However, if we are to benefit from it, it must be handled with the perspective of "taking whole" of win-win---I win, you win. It sounds counter-intuitive. It presupposes including everyone's perspectives in one's victory so that  the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It obeys the scientific natural process of Emergence, thereby bringing  a solution not envisioned at the outset of the conflict. When we do that we are not left with the residues of post-conflict angsts that might plunge us back to the beginning, or worse.

 

Habitually, we are used to responding to conflicts with a aggression. In the process we see things in partial and biased lights. As a result we see dysfunctional behaviors at  home, in offices, in schools and the likes. Moreover, effective leadership of the country is impaired.
 

WHAT TO DO?

We need to practice the habit of Taking Whole. Let us not hold too tightly or too loosely. Let the rope sag a little bit. Knowledge is key here. What is the situation? Who are we? Who are we dealing with? Imagine if Mr. Museveni had taken on Dr. Besigye with this concept in mind, where would Uganda be now?

The Essence of A Rwot ki ii Oda

In the history of post-independence Uganda the Acoli have had their fair share of darkness and scorn:  Amin slaughtered them;  Museveni slaughtered them;  the Baganda put the loss of their Kingdom and  the bones in Luweero at the doorstep of  the Acoli; and the Kakwa, Madi and Lugbara blame their post-Amin sufferings on the Acoli.  This is why one son of Amin claims that the Acoli are the most hated people in Uganda----as revealed by a fierce Acoli SA Nya Parwod.

Let me clear the air here and then I will go on to posit what a typical Acoli is all about. There is historic evidence of overzealous Acoli who have been loyal to a T,  and could be  aggressive at exacting punishment within and without at the order of the master. Even today we see manifestations of such deviants in the form of Acoli NRM.

The very fabric, the core of an Acoli worthy of his or her ancestor is about uncompromising personal independence. This is where A Rwot ki ii Oda comes as an aggressive statement that no man can pee on another. You don't kneel nor prostrate to your fellow man. Literally it means: I am a chief in my own house. From A Rwot ki ii Oda is where we derive the Acoli clan-based society where leadership/chiefdom and succession is based on intellectual, physical and spiritual prowess. The Chief is beholden for harmony and against famine and hostile invasions. The confederation of the Acoli clans is based on marriage and security interests. The Chiefdom is not a taxing entity and does not wish to extend its dominion over other clans and peoples. Thus no single egocentric chief arose to become a king over the Acoli.
 

Having said all this, then what? All over the world people are yearning to be with their own kind even when they interact with others. Scotland has just made such a statement. Muganga Fred would want his Buganda to have some kind of autonomy. He is proud of his Kingdom built on blood and carnage. I don't want a similar Kingdom in Acoli. What is the solution? Devolution in one form or another. If not and peoples are pushed too far by the current resource inequities, then it will be decided by iron and fire. How Decentralized Power, Not Democracy, Will Shape the 21st Century

Acoli History and Traditional Dance

HE BETRAYED HIS GENERATION

So, Mr. Yoseri Museveni is today 70+ (even he does not know the date of his peasantry birth) and, typically, gushed with accolades about himself. He thanked his parents for giving him education. Of course, the contributions of the Banyimas are conveniently forgotten. He thanked God. His wife thanked God for giving him to Uganda. Well and good.

So, what has this 70+ year-old man done worthy of phrase. Very little. Instead, he betrayed the aspirations of the immediate post-independent generation---a generation that has been probably the most articulate and educated in Uganda's history. This was a generation that believed that education and intellectual pursuits was the sine qua non from which all the good things would follow. As a group they believed in liberal democracy. As a group they wanted fairness to all. So, in general, the post Amin struggle was about finding those tricky goals even if they may have been couched in tribal undertones.

The rest of the story is well known. The succession question was achieved by armed struggle. Museveni won and declared a fundamental change, which was what endeared many of the generation to his cause which, in essence, was liberal democracy and fairness to all. Since then Mr. Museveni has amassed personal power, presided over an unprecedented rule by patronage that has ever been seen in Uganda's short history, and shown a perverted taste for wars that has seen many deaths from within and without.

The generation is still has some juice, and the promise is not lost yet. The following generation is yearning for direction. That generation is kneeling before Museveni. That generation is acquiring paramilitary training openly. Seemingly he wants to pass on his autocratic system to this generation. We should not allow it. Many of us still believe in liberal democracy and fairness to all as what will head this country in the right direction.

Playing the Musevenian Footsies.

Playing the Musevenian Footsies Put yourself into the dictator's head. You can arouse the public into a frenzy of apoplectic anger on an issue that is least of Uganda's myriad problems---thanks to some weird pastors' obsession with the evils of homosexuality who have managed to prepare a hapless population. It seems a very enticing meal. Not unlike Pontius Pilate, in your heart of hearts, you know that a great wrong was being committed, but you also want to please the Jewish establishment in order to save the Roman Empire---in your case, your thrown. So, you sign the Anti-Homosexuality Bill into an Act of Parliament.

Now your sponsors are pulling the rug under you by withdrawing their largesse which had plugged holes in your budget and allowing you to spend lavishly on wars and war machines. What is wrong with these people? Don't they know that you are a master tactician? You know how to cooperate and curry favor with in a sly devious way. That has been your history, a carryover from a less than optimal beginnings in life. Now, you are in re-explanation mode. Let underlings do it: You people have misunderstood our new law. In fact, we like homosexuals just like we like Evangelicals--they have rights and are free! No one will ever hear this from you however before 2016.

Gay Laws was Misunderstood by the West --The Monitor, Uganda

What is a Good Country?

A Good Country

What Matters

Who meets you at the airport?
Who picks your medicine prescription when you are sick?
Who holds your hand when you are in a funk?
Who cleans after you when you are a pig?
Who can sit with you without talking and ya'll be at peace?
Who understands you in spite of yourself?
Who feeds you when you can't?
Who shelters you when you're homeless?
Who defends you even if your are a dog?
Who cheers you in your moment of brilliance and glory?

The answer, my friend, is in love
And love knows no tribe, no race, no age, no physical or mental handicaps, no sexual orientation, and no status
And so folks,
Let us love one another and be free!
For the yolk of hate, greed, anger and delusion is too burdensome .

Libarilism v Conservatism Undressed

Dr. Besigye, has little sympathy for authority. His forte are Compassion and Fairness which might explain why he first gravitated towards medicine. His rebellion against the NRM authoritarian and predilection to order under one man is a another testimony to his innate makeup. Mr. Museveni, has some trace for Fairness and Compassion but is more about Loyalty, Authority/Order and the Sanctity of conviction.

Researcher, Jonathan Haidt tells us that we are born with these five characteristics, which might also be swayed towards one group or the other by our experiences.

"The first one is harm/care. We're all mammals here, we all have a lot of neural and hormonal programming that makes us really bond with others, care for others, feel compassion for others, especially the weak and vulnerable. It gives us very strong feelings about those who cause harm. This moral foundation underlies about 70 percent of the moral statements I've heard here at TED."

The second foundation is fairness/reciprocity. There's actually ambiguous evidence as to whether you find reciprocity in other animals, but the evidence for people could not be clearer. This Norman Rockwell painting is called "The Golden Rule," and we heard about this from Karen Armstrong, of course, as the foundation of so many religions. That second foundation underlies the other 30 percent of the moral statements I've heard here at TED"

The third foundation is in-group/loyalty. You do find groups in the animal kingdom -- you do find cooperative groups -- but these groups are always either very small or they're all siblings. It's only among humans that you find very large groups of people who are able to cooperate, join together into groups, but in this case, groups that are united to fight other groups. This probably comes from our long history of tribal living, of tribal psychology. And this tribal psychology is so deeply pleasurable that even when we don't have tribes, we go ahead and make them, because it's fun. (Laughter) Sports is to war as pornography is to sex. We get to exercise some ancient, ancient drives."

The fourth foundation is authority/respect. Here you see submissive gestures from two members of very closely related species. But authority in humans is not so closely based on power and brutality, as it is in other primates. It's based on more voluntary deference, and even elements of love, at times."

The fifth foundation is purity/sanctity. This painting is called "The Allegory Of Chastity," but purity's not just about suppressing female sexuality. It's about any kind of ideology, any kind of idea that tells you that you can attain virtue by controlling what you do with your body, by controlling what you put into your body. And while the political right may moralize sex much more, the political left is really doing a lot of it with food. Food is becoming extremely moralized nowadays, and a lot of it is ideas about purity, about what you're willing to touch, or put into your body."

Can there be a resolution? There is need for recognition of where one comes from. That is the start, otherwise we end up tearing one another to the destruction of all.

Does Unity Mean Kissing Someone's Butt?

Abwoye was my childhood friend. He did not ask to be born in his family. Neither did I. We would visit one another's home or meet somewhere in the playground. Sometime we fought each other or ganged up against others. But we always made up and were tight. We were both different. Abwoye was an amiable guy, easy-going with an infectious smile. I was an aggressive and take-no-prisoner little tyke. At the end of the day we each retreated to our parent's house to re-energize. We later went on to different schools and colleges, earned degrees, and worked in various places and professions.

In Uganda we have many different families, tribes or groups. Just as Abwoye and I, no Uganda chose to be born in a family, tribe or group. That family, tribe or group is unique based on its experience and historical journey. Just as with Abwoye and I, we find ourselves having to interact with one another--sometime in play, work or conflict. At the end of the day we go back to the family, tribe or group to re-energize--not out of selfishness, hate or chauvinism but that is the way it is. In time, if we do it well, the family, tribe or group prospers and is strong--so are the others--and there is mutual respect. Overall the nation moves forward and prospers. This is the way it should be. Is it?

Unfortunately that is not the way it is in Uganda. We gain power and lord it over others in fear. The abused, in fear, now want to kiss the butts of the oppressor in the hope of some crumbs from the King's table. Meanwhile others go on rampages of tribal chauvinism of their group's greatness and superiority, all the while throwing Molotov cocktails of invectiveness towards their supposed inferior enemies, who also have nasty choice of words of their own. And the state of the nation that is not mentioned in the State of the Nation address flounders, but survives shakily by what my Christian friends would say, the grace of God.

Todwong's Message was a Dud in Luweero

Richard Todwong is a Minister Without Portfoliio in Charge of Political Mobilization. #$%&**6^! If you understand what that position is about, let me know. It looks like  it is a position that is paid for by the government for NRM party-related work.Talk of fuzzy accounting!  In addition he is also a helper to the elderly Amama Mbabazi in his hat as the NRM Secretary General---thanks to the go-getter NRM MPs who wanted to clip the Prime Minister's wings which were soaring a little bit too high for the comfort of the Godfather.
 

So, how has Mr. Todwong risen so high so fast  as a first-term MP from Nwoya in Acoliland? The simple answer is:  he is one Acoli warrior who delivered in 2011 to another fierce warrior of Nkore extraction, the Godfather of the NRM, Mr. Yoseri Museveni.
 

Todwong first met with elders of his clan of the Payira in Nwoya. He promised the elders that if they electd him as the NRM flag barer and sent him to parliament, he would be close to the President's ears to enable the flow of goods and services to the region. Mind you, he was talking to a people who had been dehumanized in Museveni's concentration camps and were grasping at any straw. He provided hope amidst squalor.

I am your son. I'll scratch your backs

The high-level talks of the opposition on human rights, land grabbing, or democracy fell flat. Mr. Todwong's message was reinforced by the military power exuded by his brother who was commander of the UPDF 4th Division in the area. Similar message was duplicated in cookie-cutter fashion throughout Acoliland. The rest is history.
 

Richard, here is kito kidogo. It should do it for us

 

In Luweero, Mr. Todwong swaggered to the podium and babbled the same message that brought him national fame: Send NRM Nalwanga to parliament and she will be close to the President's ears, and goods and services will flow your way. The guffaws of laughter throughout  the social media was deafening. Dude, the Luweero area has had a vast arrays of substantive ministers and, if they didn't deliver to the satisfaction of the natives, you think your girl was going to be any different? That was probably what went through the minds of his audience. And they gave him the finger with their votes.
 

The Musevenian Mind

Mheshimiwa Rais Yoseri Museveni has lettered a long-winded gobbledygook on the history of election fraud in Uganda since 1961. <Opposition Rigged Luweero Elections--Museveni >One must wonder: why now?

 

In 1980 Museveni went to war because he alleged that year's election was rigged and stolen by his nemesis, Apollo Milton Obote.  Being the master calculator that he is, he piggybacked on the disaffection of the Baganda with Obote and his Northern kinsmen. Moreover, the immediate post-Amin era was in a messy flux. The rest is history, and Museveni has been in power with several election cycles under his belt.

 

The recent by-election loss in Luweero to the opposition DP candidate, Nabukenya has hurt Museveni badly, hence the long letter to the newspapers. That seems to be an immediate obvious explanation. But Mr. Museveni is a complicated man. You have to look at historical behaviors to understand how his mind works. He wants to be in charge. He hogs credits for himself. He has a large ego. He struggles with being a savedee and playing hard-nosed dark politics. He is a very conflicted man.

 

Of late, the opposition has been on a nation-wide campaign for electoral reforms. As with all humans, when you do things together, you bond. Look at the fraternities among school athletes and you get the picture. The first mark of the opposition bond was manifested clearly at the campaigns in Luweero for Brenda Nabukenya. Her landslide win in Luweero, the epicenter of the Musevenian war of attrition, spooked the old warrior. He went back to basics: take control and get the credits.
 

So, the enumeration of election frauds and the blaming of the opposition, his own election commission and the NRM machinery is setting the stage for electoral reforms. I will not be surprised if the cabinet soon comes up with a proposal for electoral reforms

Sex in the Church

Sex in the Church   The man will clear your mumps and breast cancer. Just click and check it out.

God Loves Uganda

Beginning of Indepedent Uganda in Silent Movie

Listen to this Prof. and tell me if we need to rethink Uganda.

The name Nigeria was created by Lord Lugard and his girlfriend to define Nigger area. The Prof wants to change it to the United Republic of Songhai. Those who read or have studied African history know that Songhai was an empire at par with Ghana and Mali. The founding father of Ghana,Kwame Nkrumah, was far-sighted enough to change the name from Gold Coast.

The name Uganda is a British creation derived from Buganda. Since Buganda and purportedly others desire federalism, would it make sense to change the name of the country? While we are at it, we should also change the names of several waters and other natural structures to their original native names. This will be psychologically inspiring, and believers will not need some European names or Arab names to claim their religiosities.

 

We Love MP Anywar of Kitgum

Sowing the Mustard Revisited

 I  heard that the man wrote a book, called Sowing the Mustard Seed. Having a very low opinion of the man, I have never bothered to read the book.

Considering his Balokole background, it is fair to say that he derived his title from the biblical Mustard Seed story. And one would surmise that he was making reference to his humble peasant-pastoral beginning and starting a guerilla out-fit that culminated into his owning a country.

Here is the biblical quote: Mark 4: 30-32...
“With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

The questions: Who or what is the large tree?  Is the large tree protecting all the birds or only select birds? Has the mustard seed grown into a newfangled thorny bush, judging from the state of affairs in the "kingdom of god"?

The Case for Secession from Uganda

The Church and Power

In the annals of wo/mankind the "church" has always been in cahoots with the powers that be. The great warrior-king/chief of yonder years had his or her retinue of soothsayers, alchemists, medicine wo/men sangomas, sorcerers or witchdoctors. Constantine, in the Edict of Milan and a later edict made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire. The Church of England (from which the Church of Uganda is derived) was created by a debauching, licentious King who hanged his wife at the Tower of London.

That the Bishops of the Church of Buganda should be hobnobbing with a despised family is nothing surprising. It seems the Kisozi farm (carved out of a huge tract of Buganda land) has subtly replaced Rwakitura as the venue for deal-making. But that is another story as we will be seeing more and more self-interests trooping to the halo ground.

Next time the bishops come praying, thump your nose from the stinks they carried from Kisozi lest you go into a coma and become a zombie.

 

What Does Mahatma Gandhi Say?

How does Mahatma Gandhi play out in present Uganda where things are in flux and we don't know what the future holds? Yet the dictator wants certainty by assuring his sole candidacy, afraid of the vagaries of the natural law of uncertainty.

Gandhi synthesized the teachings of Buddha, Jesus, Thoreau and Tolstoy. He argued that there are three responses to evil:
1. The lowest and least recommended response is to submit to evil, to surrender and do its bidding in abject docility.
2. The second response is to fight evil with evil, to oppose it violently.
3. The best response to evil is non-violent resistance, to fight against evil without evil tactics.

Gandhi was questioned about the third option: Would the NAZIs or the Boers of his native country of South Africa have cared and  mowed down the population en masse? His response was that the perpetrators would then have realized that they were committing atrocities sooner than what ensued with WWII and the loss of lives with Apartheid. --Adopted from Robert Thurman on Mahatma Gandhi.

Will Cuts in Aid Bring about Fiscal Discipline?

It is said that foreign aid helps prop dictators. The donors plug the gaping sores that are affronts to the conscience of humanity. The sores having been given band aid by do-gooders, the rulers become profligate and go on spending binges. In our case, the president builds himself a palace, complete with a whooping budget. He can change his plane every so often to keep up with the Joneses. Not bad for a son of a peasant. You have come a long way, dude. Since he is a militarist, that means the military budget goes through the roof. That is also how we can have gigantic numbers of MPs, ministers, presidential advisors, districts, and RDCs. And as if the brown envelops were not enough, we can now have "gifts" in sacks.

The question is: will the "development partners," a less humiliating euphemism for donors, have the guts to cut their largesse because of the anti-gay law? I hope so. If they did, would our rulers come to some sense and chop the bloated government? Fat chance. They will not. These are hard men, full of themselves, and are not going to sacrifice privilege for the minions under them. They will probably print money which may lead to massive inflation, let alone high interest rates for borrowings. If the minions--the people--will have had enough pain, then, hopefully, something will trigger a revolution for change. It won't be pretty. 

The Anti-Mouth Bill

You first heard it here. This is the year of the anti-bills in the Republic of Uganda. Anti-porn bill is now law of the land. And the anti-queer bill has just been signed into law with much fanfare and ululations. Word on the street is that MP Evelyn Anite is cooking up something. Yes. That infamous girl from Koboko who knelt before her president and begged him to run again in 2016.

Evelyn Anite, the Northern Youth MP, instead of working to find jobs for northern youths has been busy writing up a bill. She was saddened that her boss, Beelzebub, expressed concerns about improper use of the mouth. So, she, like a true blue-blood NRM zealot, set up to work on a bill against improper use of the mouth, tentatively called the Anti-Mouth Bill. The bill says, in part, that  whereas the mouth was created by God for eating, drinking non-liquor, praising the Lord and our masters, talking to our dear ones, singing, or persuading, it has come to the notice of the NRM government that the mouth is being abused. Such filthy stuff like kissing, going down on one another while having sex, cursing, lying, or talking bad about the government are prohibited. The NRM is especially incensed by the importation of cunnilingus and fellatio. The former is an attempt by NGOs to debase the African man as the exercise requires a man to kneel before a woman, let alone the chance of contracting deadly diseases from that area of complexities. The African man, confident with his spear, should not resort to sissy mouthy behavior. As to fellatio, our African women want the black dildo at (as the president opined) the proper address--down there--not in the mouth.

Any such improper use of the mouth will be punishable by a jail term of twenty to fifty years hard labor with no chance of parole. We need to clean our culture and get back on the path of a God-fearing nation. For God and my Country.

The Emotional African

I had not been in the Republic for some time. So, I had one dude escort me around town.  At an electrical shop there were quite a number of men behind the counter.  My immediate thought was that there was an over-employment of store clerks in this store.  Later I was told that all those clerks represented different sections for different owners of merchandise—in the same store! Apparently the culture of partnership or corporation has not filtered into the minds of Uganda’s wanainchi. Like the man asked: Can we not all get along? I ask: Can we not all work together? What’s up with the black race? What does it take the race to work towards a common goal? Our very survival is at stake.

If Dr. Besigye can answer those questions, he may find the reason why the so-called Uganda’s educated elites are not as angry at the state of affairs as he is. The excuse about him being too confrontational is a just a cop out.

In corporate sales class I was taught to probe for the emotional hot buttons. Once you find them, then you can go for the jugular and close the sales effortlessly. I posit that the African has an extra overdose of emotional evolutionary talent. As such then, he needs very strong emotional incentives to push him to action.

Let us take General Museveni and his Luweero-triangle war that he never fails to remind the world of every week.  Museveni knew how to push emotional buttons.  He exploited the Baganda’s grudge with Obote and the North, especially the Acoli, to a crescendo of full blown hatred that lingers to today. Many Baganda were killed and the UNLA was blamed. That was like adding salt to an old wound. Songs were coined to denigrate the Anyanyas. Even little kids—the kadogos—joined the ranks of fighters. There are few emotions as strong as hatred, and it rode Museveni to power.

Now, let me ask a question: How many Ugandans have met or know of any homosexual? Raise your hands. With many being in the closet, we will have less than a dozen hands out of a population of 35 million. But here we are, parliament has passed an anti-queer bill, and General Museveni is toying with the country to milk it to the hilt for his grandeur. Meanwhile the population is in a state of apoplectic fury about some imaginary gays who are about to sodomize their children and wives if the general doesn’t sign the bill. The general knows what emotions can do to the African, and he will not let this one die off without using it for 2016—if at all there will be any contest.

We have seen the master tactician adorned in military uniform as he goes to parliament. He carried an assault rifle as he went to visit a disaster area on the slopes of Mt. Elgon. We have seen him recently do the same as he led his MPs through one of his vast many farms. He has threatened going back to the bush. He tied some personalities with the old regimes. All these are done to create fear—fear being another very powerful emotion that keeps the peasants in check not to rise up in spite of their woes.

Another strong emotion is greed. Give a political loser from another party an RDC or an ambassadorial position and you will own him. Give a thief a lease on life and he will clean your shoes with his tongue. Give the bishops four-wheeled drives and their hapless followers will sing your glory.

And so, General Museveni is in firm control because he understands the African primordial emotions of hatred, fear and greed.

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