By Stephen Lwetutte
LONDON-UNITED KINGDOM/ NEWSDAY:
Being reckless is described by the Cambridge University English dictionary as “showing a lack of care about risks or danger, and acting without thinking about the results of your actions”. Yet President Museveni, today 4 February 2022, has stated publicly that his son, an army General now in the Uganda army would avenge the wrongs against his father. As Presidential statements often amount to or constitute official policy, has President Museveni considered the risks his statement poses if everyone adopted it? What if it backfired or spiralled out of control?
“When you hear my son’s name Muhoozi,,,” explained President Museveni to his audience at the launch of the New Law Year 2022 at High Court in Kampala, “I have got somebody to avenge me,,, that is what his name means, now that l have got a boy, in case something wrong is done to me.” Lieutenant General Kainerugaba Muhoozi, 48, is currently the Commander of the Land Forces of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) as well as the Special Senior Presidential Adviser on Special Operations.
He has rapidly scaled the military ranks from irregularly joining the army in 1999 to becoming a senior General in less than 20 years, fuelling consistent and credible speculation that he is being groomed and positioned to succeed his tired and ageing father. The statement that Lt General Muhoozi will avenge the wrongs against his father is too loaded and ominous a statement to be publicly coming from a head of state, and doesn’t bode well for the future of this country.
I am not sure if President Museveni has heard of Mahatma Gandhi’s statement who once said that “an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” Mr Museveni should also know that, for every offence or wrong done against him, there are millions out there he has wronged against, whose children, if allowed, could similarly be seeking to avenge those wrongs. As the constitutional Fountain of Honour, it is irresponsible for President Museveni to publicly be making and encouraging potentially inciteful or inflationary statements which could be misconstrued or misinterpreted as official policy.
This is also dangerous conduct by the President as it could undermine public order, upset community relations and precipitate a national security crisis. The President should be advised immediately to recall his statement or clarify it, unless it is deliberately made with the intention of sowing fear and terror, as amply demonstrated in the Kakwenza case, to cultivate respect for him in time for his coronation.
Kakwenza Rukirabashaija is an award-winning Ugandan satirical novelist and a law scholar who has repeatedly been illegally detained and tortured for criticising the president and Lt. General Muhoozi. Kakwenza in his recent twits, called President Museveni, among other things, a thief and Lt. General Muhoozi “an incompetent pig-headed curmudgeon”, earning himself weeks in incommunicado detention. He was held variously in unlawful detention and torture chambers, in contempt of at least two court orders, from which he emerged with visibly horrifying torture marks all over his body, following immense pressure from the opposition and the international community.
He has also been charged with “wilfully and repeatedly used his Twitter handle to disturb the peace of His Excellency the President of the Republic of Uganda, Gen Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, and his son Lt. Gen Muhoozi with no purpose of legitimate communication”. He faces a term in jail if convicted. Moreover, he had got other criminal cases pending for being critical of the Museveni regime. In 2021, he was recognised by the international NGO PEN with the award of “the Pen Pinter Prize for an international writer of courage.”
It is against that background that President Museveni declares his son Lt. Gen Museveni for his avenger as his health declines, his energy abates and his influence wanes. It is worrying that it is the same son who has been in charge of or holds sway over the notorious Special Forces Command (SFC) which has repeatedly been accused of serious human rights violations against dissenting or opposition supporters, including abductions, disappearances, murders and torture. The SFC is the elite unit in charge of the protection of the President, and Lt. Gen. Muhoozi has previously directly been in its command.
After close to four decades of the an awful legacy of the father, the son is set to maintain it and throw in vengeance for the wrongs against his father for good measure. If the children of those with grievances against his father emulate the Museveni family and avenge the wrongs against their parents, we have got the recipe for a perfect disaster. It is precisely for this reason that respected world icons like Nelson Mandela, which a name, reputation and a legacy to protect, have sought to exercise their authority and influence responsibly and leave an impeccable legacy behind for posterity. He said: “We were expected to destroy one another and ourselves collectively in the worst racial conflagration. Instead, we as a people chose the path of negotiation, compromise and peaceful settlement. Instead of hatred and revenge we chose reconciliation and nation-building.”
President Museveni still has time take corrective measures and salvage what remains of his legacy, if he picked leaf from Madiba – this country is bigger than the Museveni family and will need to go through a long period of reconciliation, not vengeance, to reverse and overcome the deleterious effects of the Museveni regime and legacy which likely will be felt long after he is gone. It is easier recklessly to destroy but much harder to diligently to rebuild. President Museveni must rise to the occasion and act responsibly before it is too late.
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