The Rwakitura Mumbo Jumbo

This is the scene: The Big Man is seated on a nicely upholstered chair placed on an equally nice red carpet on the grounds of his private home. In front of him is what goes for Uganda media, members of whom are seated on plastic chairs placed on dirt. <Newvision>  That alone says volumes about what the man thinks of himself relative to other Ugandans.

Every so often Ugandans take trips to the country home of the Supremo of the nation. Of course, the expenses for such trips contribute to developments towards first-world economy. Of course, there is increased productivity as people travel from, usually, Kampala to the western enclave of civilization and progress.

Sure, once in a while a leader is taking a vacation at his private residence and he may interact with the media or conduct some official duty. But Mr. Museveni has taken this Rwakitura business too far. It says of how much he has personalize his presidency. Right now there is no difference between his home and the state houses. The whole arrangement is a farce, a waste of taxpayer money and time. It is a form of corruption when taxpayer resources are used to satisfy his personal convenience.

Now Cameron May Understand

Cameron: I don't want a country called Europe

news.yahoo.com

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron has slammed any moves to forge a United States of Europe.Cameron, who has shaken up Europe's political landscape by offering to let citizens vote on whether to leave ...

Cameron: I don't want a country called Europe
May be now he can appreciate the anguish, frustrations and difficulties of cobbling a country out of disparate groups as in Uganda--a legacy of his country.

The Quislings Are Coming! The Quislings Are Coming!

In Museveni's world-view of convenience and make-belief, the problems of the Acoli begins and ends with Joseph Kony, the LRA Supremo. He has pumped this line of farce into people's heads such that even the ones that should know better in the region parody the same song and dance. Why is that? 

First, in the region there are the spaced out ignoramous who possibly dont't know why they are even on this earth. They just exist and take anything that comes--thanks to the break-up of whatever semblance of pre-1980s social structures. These are the ones who probably cast their Museveni/NRM votes in the belief that Museveni saved them from Kony and heralded peace. 

Then there are the mentally defeated who were exhausted from the chaos that prevailed and a respite was welcome. Any meme could be slid into their consciousness which the NRM/Museveni obliged with an occupation army and well ochestrated propaganda techniques.

Events that Portend Conspiracism*

A young woman with a promise of becoming a very effective legislator suddenly dies under murky circumstances. Then the state actors, in what might have been age-old turf wars and ego trips, orchestrate a cavalier blocking of a parallel forensic investigations by other interested parties.

Ms Cerinah Nebanda, MP for Butaleja District died suddenly last Friday in the prime of her life.( MP Cerinah Nebanda is Dead). This is a big deal, and an event of great national import of historical proportion. The country's history is littered with sudden deaths of who-is-who of remarkable Ugandans. The circumstances and the causes of many of such deaths have been kept hush-hush from the public. And there have been whispers, and to nip any doubts seemed to have been the primary motivation for the parallel forensic tests.

By now this government should have wised up. When the government tap dances and threatens jail time for any speculative talks, it is making it worse for itself. It begs the question, and legitimately so: what is it hiding? Times are achanging, and such an event, if not handled well, could conspire with other events to trigger chain reactions. 

*Conspiracism is a word coined by Loren Collins in Bullspotting, Finding Facts in the Age of Misinformation. 
It implies the tendency for conspiracy theories.

The Real Impetus Behind the OPM Massive Thefts

Okadon Akwap, a failed journalist,  is a dubious lecturer in a dubious University belonging to one Hassan Hasajjabalaba, one of the scions of the Museveni economy who pockected government funds in the billions in dubious circumstances. Mr. Akwap came up with a fallacious and specious argument that the OPM thieves were somehow mental cases--a consequence of traumatic experiences in the volatile Uganda--and, by deduction, should not be responsible for their misdeeds. (Graft: Causes Could Be Beyond Greed). One wonders wether Mr. Akwap gained this knowledge from personal experience because for those of us who know him know that at one time he borrowed some money and, when asked, he instead challenged the creditor to a physical fight--a fact that borders on the insane side of the mental spectrum.

On the face of the reportings in the news media, one is stunned by the lack of accounting controls in the management of the Peace Recovery and Development Plan for Northern Uganda (PRDP) Funds. For example, what in the world would make a credible organization deposit huge sums of money in the personal accounts of its officials to carry out the organization duties? It is because of the understanding of human nature that is why accounting best practices require separation of duties and approval processes that may require signing off by the top honcho. All these were seemingly lacking and allowed for easy massive thefts because there were no checks and balances that could have flagged any improprieties early on. This is not surprising because that is the culture of this government whose president, in his one-man running of the country, views checks and balances as a handicap. So, when he talks of his NRM cadres detecting and carrying out forensic audits (after the fact), he is testifying to incompetence and a sign that his government is over its head in managing the country. The President may have had revoultionary successes, but it is time to let go and let dedicated and competent managers take over.

Overall, there is a sense that there was an undercurrent of insidous and obnoxious tribalism at play. The physical and mental traumas and broken public facilities in the North that needed rehabilitation were and are real. There is no contest about that--even the skeptic Kalyegire of the Aminism Denial fame will agree! The PRDP Funds were meant to address that in part. But did the managers of these funds appreciate and were they committed to the mission? It seemed not. What they did with the funds give credence to the notion that the sense of the dehumanized Northerners still lingered--a carryover from the days when the president uttered publicly: We massacred them! Just as the president and his ilks could call Northerners "biological substances," it is not far-fetched to think that those who had their hands in the windfall largesse from donors (aka development partners as if this would cleanse the money from beggarhood) had similar mindset and no sense of responsibility because they inoculated themselves from guilt. After all, the supposed beneficiaries were nonhuman. 

The European donors could take a cue from the US in matters of bleeding-heart aid: Give the funds to NGOs, such  as World Vision, which have verifiable track record of service delivery for clearly identified projects with inputs from the locals. 

A Recipe for Cooking the Cock

In the East a birth year is a big deal because it is alleged to have archetypal relationship to animal beasts. It is believed that a person takes on the characteristics of the beast-year of birth. Thus from the knowledge of a person's birth year, one can gauge the person's predispositions. It was then not surprising that the Ninjas of medieval Japan, who were adept at stealth and surprise, exploited such a knowledge to  their advantage. For example, a person born in the year of the Ox  is prone to be a complainer. So, the Ninja would probably feign sympathy with the bitching, gain confidence and the poor fellow would not know what hit him.

This brings us to our favorite subject, the dictator of the Republic of Adnagu who demonstrates all the characteristics of the Cock. Those who have eyes have seen, those who have ears have heard and those who have sense have long known that, throughout his more than two decades of reign, the man is very predictable. He is very combative, eccentric, selfish and likes public adulation. Yet he also seems very insecure and needy of constant humoring. Further, as a perfectionist he does not admit to being wrong. So, if the opposition is to make any headway in wresting power from the man, it needs to employee some Ninja tactics. A test case Ninja tactic against the dictator was recently employed by the wily Obibi across the pond to the west. 

First, the Obibi orchestrated a leak that the Cock was involved in assisting a mutiny in the Forestland. As expected, the Cock became unhinged. He threatened pulling his troops away from propping up a failed state. He dispensed (at taxpayers' expense) an emissary to Obibiland to register his displeasure. Soon Obibi's representative in town showered the Cock with praises and declared that the Cock was the right person to bring peace to Forestland. The Cock grabbed the bait. Checkmate! 

Whatever the outcome, Obibi will achieve its objective. If the Cock brings lasting peace to Forestland, one nagging problem in this part of the world will have been solved. If he fails, be sure the push of accusation for alleged assistance to the mutineers will continue to hang over the Cock like the sword of Damocles. 

  

Of God, Guns, Gays, No-New Taxes and Millions of Dough

My friends turned Gothic in spite of their supposed education. Numbers didn't mean diddly, let alone the fact that their academic research efforts were anchored on numbers--that is, statistics. And so, no matter what one told them their candidate was a non-starter and it was better to use someone more likely to put up a credible challenge to the Ogre of Uganda, they circled the wagon of emotional stupidity.

Fast forward to the US elections of 2012 and the difference would be the same with the pitiful Karl Rove , the Republican King-Maker. Rove of the Republican-leaning Fox News became apoplectic when the station projected Obama as the winner of Ohio state, hence the presidential race.The 300-million dollars seat of power could not let go, not unlike my "educated" Uganda buddies. All some of  us would do was chuckle and say: look, daddy, my little contribution, leveraged with others trounced your more than a quarter-billion juggernaut--dig?. Appealing to the "godly" evangelicals didn't help you either.Harping against gun control did not do the trick. The gays won in four states, and that says a lot. No-new-taxes sounded hollow as a credible fiscal and economic policy. 

In the end, liberalism triumphed: we are in this together and let us be supportive of one another when we are here--after all, we are not going to get out of here alive!