Museveni in the Flesh
I came back from Kampala late Sunday night feeling a bit disenchanted about my visit there. I had a lovely time and the city is beautiful – with sweeping hills, winding roads, busy streets and markets that are colourful during the day and mystically candlelit at night.
But the city is also remarkably tragic in its absolute poverty. At times I wasn’t sure whether the city is more or less impoverished than Nairobi. But then I would see homeless amputees, people with hardly an ounce of flesh on their legs with protruding knees and bones, dozens of little children, barefoot with big bellies and skin infections – and I thought, perhaps Kampala is indeed worse off.
This was all juxtaposed against the backdrop of my reason for visiting Kampala, the East African Law Society Conference and Annual General Meeting, which was being held at an upscale resort just outside of town. It was there that I had the most fortunate opportunity to meet "his excellency," Yoweri Museveni, the President of Uganda.
From what I recall, Museveni became President in the mid-1980s upon the overthrow of Milton Obote’s second reign as President, and following Idi Amin’s atrocious dictatorship. I imagine Museveni was probably regarded as a saint in the wake of his violent predecessors – poised to “transform” Ugandan society towards prosperity. And clearly, some twenty years later, he’s still regarded as such by many.
In his speech, he talked precisely about “transforming” Uganda. He said, there could be no sustainable development without “transformation.” Yet, he failed to mention that he’s been in power for 20 years with such a transformation having yet to occur.
He said Ugandans shouldn’t worry about the “small things,” and should instead focus on “big changes.” I assume one such small matter is his revision of the Constitution so that he can stay in power until 2011, and indefinately after that – of course, such a trivial issue.
He emphasized that business development ought to be the priority of lawyers. He said, “if it is law that discourages business, then you are not a useful player for the country’s transformation.” And as if stating the obvious, he declared that human rights can only be guaranteed by business. He said that lawyers should work hard to ensure that commercial cases do not stagnate in the courts, although he was quick to mention that delay and stagnation are totally acceptable for all other cases. Another poignant point.
And, by employing a useful (and by useful I mean completely illogical) analogy, he compared Africa to the peasant class in the industrial revolution and harped on the fact that 82% of the Ugandan population is engaged in agriculture compared to only 2% of the UK and US populations. Continuing with his business theme, and comparing the Ugandan economy to the Kenyan economy (which is driven in large part by its Indo-Kenyan community), he said, “the Indians are not my relatives, but I am using them to build Uganda.”
Finally, he addressed the situation in Northern Uganda to say that “the problem is finished, those terrorists are finished.” (Although I don’t think the LRA are deserving of any respect, Museveni refused to say “Lord’s Resistance Army or LRA” and consistently referred to them as “those terrorists” throughout.) He then offered an unheard of explanation for the conflict as if he was disclosing a deeply-hidden secret: he said Northern Uganda is the result of an indirect conflict between Uganda and Sudan that began when the Sudanese Arabs decided to “Arabize”the Africans. He said that when his government came into power, the Arabs were suspicious of their Pan-African, nationalist agenda, and attacked Uganda in the hopes of regime change. But to their misfortune, they miscalculated Uganda’s non-interference and instead pushed the Ugandans to help their “African black brothers in Sudan.” (worthy of note, the Arabs in Sudan are also black, and African, but who’s counting?). He said “those terrorists” are agents of Sudan seeking to overthrow and intimidate his government, who have now finally been disarmed.
When asked about the indictments of LRA members by the International Criminal Court, he seemed to express no concerns over the ICC dropping their indictments at the request of his government. His hope is afterall, to grant those members amnesty and offer them an opportunity to reintegrate into society (a noble and highly ambitious objective – but a bit shocking considering the extreme nature of LRA atrocities). He said, “if there is peace, there should not be a concern for impunity.” That being said, if the ICC insists on their prosecution, he said he would probably turn them in, and with a laugh he added, that they’ve killed most of the indicted, so they may not have to worry about them anyway.
And with that, he concluded his brilliant sermon to a thunderous applause.
I stood there, a bit dumbfounded. Rather than being moved by what many other delegates regarded as a compelling speech, (my supervisor remarked that he had “hit the nail on its head!”) – myself, and my counterpart at the Ugandan Law Society, Salman, were rather distraught and discouraged by his words and even more, the positive and deferential reaction of his audience. I thought, “if he is considered one of the most progressive African leaders, what hope is there?”
Later, I had an interesting conversation with a Ugandan lawyer. He was asking me how he could come to Canada and become a lawyer there. He didn’t want to stay in Uganda. He said there was no incentive to stick around, Museveni had rigged the elections in 2006, thereafter amended the Constitution, and to make matters worse, is being propped up by the US, so, there’s no hope for change (and at that, I thought about Museveni’s constant reference to the LRA as “those terrorists”). Working as hard as he does, ‘the lawyer’ said his income is less than $3000CDN per year. Uganda’s taxpaying population is around 1000 people, in a population of 28 million. I suppose this is a burden he no longer wants to carry.
I spent my last free day walking around the city with Salman. The streets were relatively quiet as it was a Sunday – most shops were closed, many people were at church, or just relaxing at home I’m sure. One little boy wasn’t though, he was hard at work – looked to be no older than 3 years old. He ran up to us from somewhere, looked like he had been running for awhile – he was barefoot and had desperation in his eyes – he merely put his hand out and we gave him some food and money.
Then he ran off down the empty street. His little body wiggling along the pavement.
But the city is also remarkably tragic in its absolute poverty. At times I wasn’t sure whether the city is more or less impoverished than Nairobi. But then I would see homeless amputees, people with hardly an ounce of flesh on their legs with protruding knees and bones, dozens of little children, barefoot with big bellies and skin infections – and I thought, perhaps Kampala is indeed worse off.
This was all juxtaposed against the backdrop of my reason for visiting Kampala, the East African Law Society Conference and Annual General Meeting, which was being held at an upscale resort just outside of town. It was there that I had the most fortunate opportunity to meet "his excellency," Yoweri Museveni, the President of Uganda.
From what I recall, Museveni became President in the mid-1980s upon the overthrow of Milton Obote’s second reign as President, and following Idi Amin’s atrocious dictatorship. I imagine Museveni was probably regarded as a saint in the wake of his violent predecessors – poised to “transform” Ugandan society towards prosperity. And clearly, some twenty years later, he’s still regarded as such by many.
In his speech, he talked precisely about “transforming” Uganda. He said, there could be no sustainable development without “transformation.” Yet, he failed to mention that he’s been in power for 20 years with such a transformation having yet to occur.
He said Ugandans shouldn’t worry about the “small things,” and should instead focus on “big changes.” I assume one such small matter is his revision of the Constitution so that he can stay in power until 2011, and indefinately after that – of course, such a trivial issue.
He emphasized that business development ought to be the priority of lawyers. He said, “if it is law that discourages business, then you are not a useful player for the country’s transformation.” And as if stating the obvious, he declared that human rights can only be guaranteed by business. He said that lawyers should work hard to ensure that commercial cases do not stagnate in the courts, although he was quick to mention that delay and stagnation are totally acceptable for all other cases. Another poignant point.
And, by employing a useful (and by useful I mean completely illogical) analogy, he compared Africa to the peasant class in the industrial revolution and harped on the fact that 82% of the Ugandan population is engaged in agriculture compared to only 2% of the UK and US populations. Continuing with his business theme, and comparing the Ugandan economy to the Kenyan economy (which is driven in large part by its Indo-Kenyan community), he said, “the Indians are not my relatives, but I am using them to build Uganda.”
Finally, he addressed the situation in Northern Uganda to say that “the problem is finished, those terrorists are finished.” (Although I don’t think the LRA are deserving of any respect, Museveni refused to say “Lord’s Resistance Army or LRA” and consistently referred to them as “those terrorists” throughout.) He then offered an unheard of explanation for the conflict as if he was disclosing a deeply-hidden secret: he said Northern Uganda is the result of an indirect conflict between Uganda and Sudan that began when the Sudanese Arabs decided to “Arabize”the Africans. He said that when his government came into power, the Arabs were suspicious of their Pan-African, nationalist agenda, and attacked Uganda in the hopes of regime change. But to their misfortune, they miscalculated Uganda’s non-interference and instead pushed the Ugandans to help their “African black brothers in Sudan.” (worthy of note, the Arabs in Sudan are also black, and African, but who’s counting?). He said “those terrorists” are agents of Sudan seeking to overthrow and intimidate his government, who have now finally been disarmed.
When asked about the indictments of LRA members by the International Criminal Court, he seemed to express no concerns over the ICC dropping their indictments at the request of his government. His hope is afterall, to grant those members amnesty and offer them an opportunity to reintegrate into society (a noble and highly ambitious objective – but a bit shocking considering the extreme nature of LRA atrocities). He said, “if there is peace, there should not be a concern for impunity.” That being said, if the ICC insists on their prosecution, he said he would probably turn them in, and with a laugh he added, that they’ve killed most of the indicted, so they may not have to worry about them anyway.
And with that, he concluded his brilliant sermon to a thunderous applause.
I stood there, a bit dumbfounded. Rather than being moved by what many other delegates regarded as a compelling speech, (my supervisor remarked that he had “hit the nail on its head!”) – myself, and my counterpart at the Ugandan Law Society, Salman, were rather distraught and discouraged by his words and even more, the positive and deferential reaction of his audience. I thought, “if he is considered one of the most progressive African leaders, what hope is there?”
Later, I had an interesting conversation with a Ugandan lawyer. He was asking me how he could come to Canada and become a lawyer there. He didn’t want to stay in Uganda. He said there was no incentive to stick around, Museveni had rigged the elections in 2006, thereafter amended the Constitution, and to make matters worse, is being propped up by the US, so, there’s no hope for change (and at that, I thought about Museveni’s constant reference to the LRA as “those terrorists”). Working as hard as he does, ‘the lawyer’ said his income is less than $3000CDN per year. Uganda’s taxpaying population is around 1000 people, in a population of 28 million. I suppose this is a burden he no longer wants to carry.
I spent my last free day walking around the city with Salman. The streets were relatively quiet as it was a Sunday – most shops were closed, many people were at church, or just relaxing at home I’m sure. One little boy wasn’t though, he was hard at work – looked to be no older than 3 years old. He ran up to us from somewhere, looked like he had been running for awhile – he was barefoot and had desperation in his eyes – he merely put his hand out and we gave him some food and money.
Then he ran off down the empty street. His little body wiggling along the pavement.
posted by Nadia at
10:50 PM
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