It’s Unfair That Neither the ANC Or Nelson Mandela Recognised Milton Obote for His Fight for Freedom in South Africa

It’s Unfair That Neither the ANC Or Nelson Mandela Recognized Milton Obote for His Fight for Freedom in South Africa   

·         In 1971 President Obote Was Overthrown While Preaching Against The Apartheid Regime In South Africa But He Has Never Been Recognised For His Efforts 

They say that success has got so many godfathers while failure is an orphan. This saying seems to be applicable to the case of former Ugandan president Milton Obote who brags about having liberated Uganda twice-first from British colonialism 1962 and from the brutal dictatorship of president Amin in 1979.  

You will get o know what this idiom is about when you read the article to the end.

On the 18^th July, which was last week, the world celebrated the Nelson Mandela day.

The Nelson Mandela day is actually an annual international day in honour of Nelson Mandela.  The day was officially declared by the United Nations in November 2009, with the first UN Mandela Day held on 18 July 2010.

To mark the first global celebration of Mandela Day on 18 July 2009, Mandela's 91st birthday, a series of educational, art exhibit, fund-raising and volunteer events leading up to a concert at Radio City Music Hall on 18 July were organised by the 46664 concerts and the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Although a lot of innovations have been put in recognising Nelson Mandela’s fight for justice, there has been a deliberate lack of recognition for other Africans who supported and fought for Nelson Mandela’s cause for social justice.

One of the most prominent Africans who invested most of his life in the fight for freedom i south Africa was former Ugandan president Apollo Milton Obote.

There is enough evidence to show that President Obote was overthrown in 1971 partly because of his fight for justice in South Africa.

Obote had been part of the frontline states that had stood up against the racist regime in South Africa. They took a number of measures to isolate the minority regime in South Africa.
The sanctions included a travel ban to both South Africa and Israel.
The travel band ensured that Ugandans couldn’t travel to all countries apart from South Africa and Israel.
To effect the ban, the Ugandan government issued passports which had a disclaimer at the back cover that read thus; ‘’travel to all countries apart from South Africa and Israel’’.
It must be stressed that Apollo Milton Obote could be the only president in the world who lost power because of his views about apartheid in South Africa.
When Andrew Mwenda interviewed the exiled former Ugandan president in Lusaka Zambia, Obote confessed that he paid the price for his support for the cause of justice in South Africa.
Yet when nelson Mandela walked out of prison in the early 90s, Obote was still alive, but Mandela never mentioned anything about the role the likes of Obote played in fighting for his freedom.
I found it imperative to pick some part of the interview where he talks about what transpired during and after the 1971 coup.
Below is Obote’s unedited version of the story about the 1971 coup was as follows;

 ‘’The Israelis were also involved in the coup of 1971. In 1970, we had arrested an Israeli mercenary, Steiner, and we deported him to Sudan where he was due to testify in court, a factor that would have exposed Amin's involvement in the coup plot. Another factor leading to the coup was the British. There was a conference in Singapore of the Commonwealth countries.
I didn't want to go to Singapore because one, there was going to be elections in Uganda around April; two, I had to complete presentation or writing of third five year government development plan.
British Prime Minister Edward Heath announced that Britain was going to resume arms sales to South Africa.
I did research on the nature of arms sales by Britain to South Africa and its likely implications on the liberation struggles in the whole of southern Africa. I presented the research to my colleagues, and requested that since the research could only be presented by me at the Commonwealth conference, I should go to Singapore. I reluctantly and in the interest of African liberation decided to go to Singapore. I left the country on January 11, 1971.
In Singapore, I presented my case. Heath made a statement saying: "Those who are condemning the British policy to sell arms to South Africa, some of them will not go back to their countries." I understood it to refer to me. I rang Babiiha, and Bataringaya who said there was an attempted coup. They said Amin had planned to assassinate me upon arrival at the airport but they had taken care of that. Secondly they said they had alerted loyal army officers. I told them that was very little, too late.
“Oh dear, Oh dear,” I told them on phone, “it’s already too late, it’s already too late!” Later, Bataringaya rang me from Kampala and told me that the coup had succeeded. Amin had said the army has asked him to take over government. I called my delegation to my room and briefed them about the situation back home. I said, “Loyalty to me personally ends here. When we are free either in Bombay or Kenya, you will decide for yourselves what to do, go back to Uganda or go to exile with me.”
'’’

Despite of the overwhelming support and risks Obote took in the fight for social justice on South Africa, he has never been recognised by the African National Congress and its leadership.

Mandela could have been in prison for 27 years but he had an obligation to recognize those who were with him in the fight for freedom of South Africa. The likes of Kenneth Kaunda, Julius Nyerere and Milton Obote deserve to be recognized for their role as leaders of the front-line states that were opposed to apartheid in South Africa.

The South African government still has an obligation to recognize and award medals to all personalities and countries that risked for the freedom of South Africa.

Mandela was not alone in the fight for justice. So as we celebrate the nelson Mandela day , we need to talk about those who stood with him and south Africa during that hot hour of need.

But it’s amazing that Obote who lost power due to his views for freedom in South Africa is not mentioned anywhere during the festivities to mark freedom in South Africa.

Maybe, the saying that success has many godfathers, while failure is an orphan is applicable here, since Obote lost power and is considered a villain he remains an orphan.

The author Fred Daka Kamwada is a journalist and a blogger Contact him at kamwadafred@gmail.com

In 1975 President Amin Almost Declared Uganda A Muslim State Courtesy of Noor Mbogo’s Inspiration

In 1975 President Amin Almost Declared Uganda A Muslim State Courtesy of Noor Mbogo’s InspiratioN

Last week Ugandan Muslims celebrated the return of Sheik Noor Kyabasinga Mbogo from exile in Zanzibar.
Mbogo had been exiled to the islands of Zanzibar for two years before he returned to Uganda.

The Ugandan Muslims had therefore found time to celebrate his return form exile in Zanzibar many years ago. 

Born in 1835 to the then Kabaka Kalema Ssuuna II (1832 - 1856), Mbogo was a brother to Kabaka Muteesa I, who invited modern civilization to Buganda.

Mbogo was nine years old when Islam was first introduced at Kabaka Ssuuna II’s court, around 1844.
Most records indicate that Islam reached Uganda at the very latest in 1844, when Ahmed Ibn Ibrahim reached the then Kabaka’s palace.

However, Islam did not thrive much until the reign of Kabaka Muteesa I, who declared it a state religion in 1875.
The declaration came with directives of observance of the five daily prayers, fasting during the month of Ramadhan and construction of mosques by the Kabaka’s chiefs throughout the kingdom.

To ensure that the mosques were constructed in adherence of the Islamic principle, Muteesa appointed his brother Mbogo to oversee the project.

And Mbogo embarked on Islamizing Buganda kingdom. At that time from 1875, almost the entire Buganda was supposed to adhere to the principals of Islam.

Every homestead had to have things like a kettle for praying water, a mat and other related items. Homesteads that did not have such items were harshly reprimanded.  

At that time Buganda was involved in expansionist wars against tribes in the great lakes region.

It was also during the same time that Europeans started showing up in Buganda.

History shows that Kabaka Mutesa 1 is the one who wrote to the Europeans to bring civilization.

 But other versions of history assert that the Europeans simply gate crushed into Buganda teritory, but Mutesa simply opted to receive them without a fight.

The arrival of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) missionaries in Buganda in 1877 and the White Fathers in 1879 heralded a new era. Soon, Mutesa I’s belief in Islam was polluted and religious conflicts arose.

Soon Kabaka Mutesa passed away in 1888 and a period of uncertainty ensued in Buganda between the Catholics, protestants and Muslims on the other hand.

Eventually religious wars erupted. The Muslims fought bravely although they were finally defeated.

The Muslims under the leadership of Noor Mbogo managed to install their own king called king kalema.  

But Kalema was easily defeated and forced to flee to a place called Mende Kalema-where he was buried.

During this time around 1892, Noor Mbogo was chased from his Nakasero home which had been given to him by Lugard.

 And while fleeing Mbogo allegedly told his assistants to allow him rest on a mat around seven miles from Nakasero.

His lieutenants then lamented that ‘’olaba ne Mbogo yebaka ku kawempe’’

Kawempe is now one of the big villages that form Kampala and it derived its name from that incident with Noor Mbogo.   

He fled to a place called a kijungute.

But there are reports that when Capt. lugard came to Uganda, he convinced Mbogo to return from exile in kijungute.

He was then given land in kibuli which now houses the headquarters of the Muslims and his house at Nakasero.

But around the same time confusion ensued and Mbogo was AGAIN forced to flee to Zanzibar.

He had fled with over 100 Muslim colleagues but only 60 made it to Zanzibar alive!.
After two years he returned as still the undisputed leader of Muslims whom he found in a very sorry state. He once again reorganized them and became very instrumental in steering their affairs to becoming a strong and recognized group until his death in 1921.
 During his time he worked for both his religion and his culture. He was a pillar in the upbringing of Kabaka Daudi Chwa II who ascended the Buganda throne while still a minor.
 For what he did for Buganda, he was given the title of Grandfather of Buganda, a title enjoyed by his son, Prince Badru Kakungulu who immediately succeeded him and Kakungulu’s successor, Prince Kassim Nakibinge today. 
That's why he was commemorated last week.
ENTER AMIN
And all that time Muslims had no political leadership up to 1971 when Uganda’s army commander Gen Idi Amin overthrew president Obote to assume power in Uganda.
At first Amin was very careful about mixing politics with religion.
But being a Muslim himself and with big following of Muslim leaders around the world like Libya’s Col Muamar Ghadafi , Amin started to shift towards Islamizing the country.
He abolished all the minor religions and openly allowed three major religions of Islam, Catholics, and Protestants.
Friday was declared a public holiday.
According to Prof Mamdani, president Amin made a deliberate policy to recruit Muslims in the army and all sectors of government.
It’s widely believed that Gen Amin wanted to declare Islam a state religion in 1975, which was exactly a hundred years since Islam had been declared a state religion in Buganda in 1875.
Amin was a very big follower of Noor Mbogo who had fought wars to defend Islam. Noor’s name Mbogo means buffalo and is derived from his instructions for Muslims to fight like buffaloes
Amin was hugely influenced into pushing for Noor Mbogo’s mission of Islamising Uganda.
 President Amin reportedly consulted senior Muslims leaders like Badru Kakungulu, a relative of Noor Mbogo, Sheik Ali Kulumba, Amin’s brother called Ramathan, and a host of other senior Muslim soldiers like Col Juma Oris , Gen Moses Ali and others.

But it’s said that Amin delayed to make the decision because he was jittery about the reaction it would cause in the east African region which is predominantly Christian.

In that year, 1975, he had been elected chairman of the OAU by countries that were mostly Christian. He had created enough enemies already and never wanted to antagonize his lose neighbors like Zairian president Mobutu and Kenyan president Jomo Kenyatta who were both staunch Christians.
He was also discouraged by the mere fact that his fellow Muslims leaders like Sudan’s president Jaffer Niimery were not as friendly to him as the non Muslim leaders.
He reportedly decided to differ the decision to a future date.   
It’s widely projected that if Amin had reigned for another ten years, Uganda would have been declared a Muslim state.

The author Fred Daka Kamwada is a researcher, journalist and blogger
Contact him on kamwadafred@gmail.com

The Fresh Fighting In Juba Proves That The UPDF Intervention Simply Postponed The Problem

The Fresh Fighting In Juba Proves That The UPDF Intervention Simply Postponed The Problem

• ·         If a foreign force Had Intervened in Uganda in 1985 , Museveni Would Never have Emerged as President of Uganda and If the International Community Had Intervened to Stop The 1994 Genocide , Paul Kagame wouldn’t have Emerged President Of Rwanda
  
  
  

The news that Gunfire had rocked Juba again on the very eve of their fifth independence anniversary was received with a sense of dejavu by some of us.

 For someone who was opposed the hasty UPDF intervention in the south Sudan conflict when President Yoweri Museveni sent troops to shore up President Salvar Kiir government, I felt roundly vindicated.

I always felt that we never gave war a chance in Southern Sudan.

I know that there has been a series of wars in Sudan for the last sixty or so years. But all those wars have had different dimensions.

Anyanya one, Anyanya two, SPLA 1983 up to the secession from Khartoum that culminated into the signing of the peace agreement with President Omar Bashir are all different wars that happened for different reasons and at different times.

HELTER-SKELTER INTERVENTION OF UPDF

The war that erupted on 15^th December 2013 happened for different reasons and we should have given it time to see how it would evolve.

But the helter-skelter intervention of the UPDF denied the chance for the most powerful group to emerge from that skirmish.

A lot of reasons have been advanced about what led to the 15^th December 2013 war in juba.

One of the most talked about reason is ethnic divisions between the Dinka (to which President Salvar Kiir belongs) and the Nuer (Where Dr Riek Machar belongs).

But the issue for the fallout is beyond ethnicity.

President Salvar Kiir was accused by his colleagues (DR Riek Machar and co)of intolerance and subverting democracy within the SPLA.

But many people are only discussing the war in terms of Dinka Versus Nuer, which is a misleading prognosis of the conflict.

There is an obvious possibility that if President Salvar Kiir had not violated democratic principles within the SPLA, these misunderstandings, which have claimed a lot of lives, would have been avoided.

He who mismanages a group of people will provoke undesirable consequences, irrespective of whether they are brothers or not.

These are cases where members of one family can fight each other simply because of the poor management style of their elder.

A misunderstanding doesn’t have to emerge simply because there is a fundamental difference in tribe or religion as many will have us believe.

Therefore the problems of southern Sudan are a management issues.

And when those contradictions reached boiling point, it was imperative that we left the protagonists to tussle it out in the ring to get the winner.

Once the UPDF intervened, the whole issue stagnated into a very dangerous stalemate.

War happens for a reason(s). And war is the midwife of a new society. Once you interfere in a war that was about to produce a new society, you have postponed the problem.

And that is exactly what happened in southern Sudan.

Fitting Analogies

I think I should give you analogies to qualify my point.

When a relatively younger Museveni disagreed with the Obote group in the early 1980s, it was inevitable that only war would provide the lasting solution to the problem.

And it was good that the world gave war a chance which gave museveni’s NRA an opportunity to takeover in 1986.

If a foreign force had intervened in 1985 when the NRA was still rooted at Katonga Bridge, Museveni would never have emerged as president of Uganda.

We would never have known the discipline and good conduct of the NRA\UPDF.

We would have been content with a very bad situation where you had UNLA in charge of one part of the country and NRA in charge of another part of the country.  

But it was good that the NRA managed to fight its way into Kampala and liberate the country as a whole.

If some country had intervened, the NRA would have been forced into a power sharing arrangement with military junta of Gen Tito Okello.

Your guess as what would have emerged from that confusion is as good as mine.

The RPF Experience

Likewise, many Rwandese officials including President Paul Kagame accuse the international community for not having intervened to stop the genocide of 1994.

Well, they (RPF officials) never ask themselves what would have happened if the international community had intervened and indeed managed to stop the 1994 genocide.

The answer is simply that if, the international community had intervened to stop the 1994 genocide, the RPF would never have managed to takeover power.

The RPF would instead have been forced to engage into a power sharing arrangement with remnants of the late president Juvenal Habyarimana’s government.

Intervention Postpones A Problem

All this shows that a hasty intervention in a given conflict doesn’t necessarily provide durable solutions to a given conflict.

In fact the intervention simply postpones the problem as you can see what is happening in juba today.

I know that UPDF was defending a legitimate government of President Salvar Kiir. Another economically advanced theory is that Uganda was trying to restore order in a country regarded as its biggest trade partner. But even that so called trade with southern Sudan was coming at the expense of the comfort of a local Ugandan.

I will write another blog about the negative effects of trade with Sudan and the regional neighbors as a whole.  

Conclusion

The bottom line is that we should let the Sudanese people determine their own destiny. We need a powerful person to emerge from that conflict. And we cannot have a durable outcome when we are busy interfering. If we keep on interfering we shall be postponing the problem.

If intervention in conflicts was a solution, Congo which has been having UN peacekeepers since 1963 would have been settled by now. But it has never been stable. Most times its war that can provide a lasting solution to a given conflict.

Thank you for reading this far

The Author Fred Daka Kamwada is a journalist, researcher and blogger,;Contact him at kamwadafred@gmail.com or chat him up at 0782480121

   

President Yoweri Museveni’s Government Runs a Very Confused Foreign Policy

 President Yoweri Museveni’s Government Runs a Very Confused Foreign Policy

• ·         You Cannot Concurrently Hobnob With South Korea And North Korea , Iran And Israel , Russia And America And Reap Diplomatic Dividends

They say that ‘’he who falls for anything falls for nothing’’

And that idiom characterizes the foreign policy of president Yoweri museveni’s government.

While governments all over the world have a clear cut foreign policy that dictates on how to relate with particular countries, the Ugandan government opportunistically expects to relate with each and every country at the same time without weighing the consequences.

That is not how diplomatic engagement is done. You cannot be friends with everybody.

During the aftermath of the 911 attacks on America President George Bush junior made a statement that shaped American foreign policy when he said that ‘’you are either with us or against us’’

He then named the list of countries that were deemed to be hostile to America. Among them were Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea. He categorized them as an axis of evil.

Ugandan seems to be the only country in the world that is not clear on which country to regard as clear allies or enemies. It therefore freely relates with two countries that are known to be hostile to each other.

It’s only Uganda that can claim to be in bed with Iran and Israel at the same time, never mind that the two are plotting to eliminate each other.

 It has bilateral relations North Korea and South Korea, yet it’s clear that Pyongyang is at logger heads with Seoul.

Uganda brags about being on good terms with Russia, even when it’s well known that America and the western countries in general alienated and slapped sanctions on Moscow, when it invaded Ukraine.

Amin Was Very Clear

Even president Amin was very clear about which countries to relate with and which ones to oppose.

He was the first to say that he was neither pro-west nor pro-east. By this he meant that he belonged to the non aligned movement which was a league of countries that were not involved in the cold war between the capitalist countries and the socialists’ countries.

It was his decision to relate with the Palestinian cause that led him to sever relations with Israel.

You must recall that Amin had been trained by Israelis. He had friends in the Israeli army like Col Bar Lev.

It was Col Bar Lev who hoodwinked president Amin by engaging him in a long telephone conversation as the Israeli commandoes raided Entebbe at night in 1976.

It must be emphasized that Amin’s decision to have stronger diplomatic relations with the Arab countries was done at a bigger risk of losing ties with the western powers.

During his time Uganda had stronger ties with Col Muamar Ghadafi’s Lbya and King Fahad ‘S Saudi Arabia. It was this diplomatic relations that helped him when he was kicked out of power in 1979 when he fled to Libya and eventually settled in Saudi Arabia.

I stressed to you in my previous blog that Idi Amin spent only 8 years in power and 24 years in exile in Saudi Arabia. If he had not cultivated good diplomatic relations with the Arabs, they would never have kept him for the two and half decades that he spent there.

When Amin’s friend Emperor Jean Bedel Bokasa lost power, he was extradited back to the Central African Republic and humiliated with prosecution because he had not cultivated clear friends.

President Obote’s Foreign Policy

Our former president Milton Obote also had a very clear foreign policy where he opposed apartheid and its supporters. He also had relations with North Korea that remained till he was kicked out of power on two separate occasions, 1971 and 1985. He did not dillydally with both North Korea and South Korea like it is today.

We can also safely say that president Obote’s tight friendship with the likes of Julius Nyerere and Kenneth Kaunda worked for him during his hour of need. He had to seek refuge in Tanzania and Zambia respectively whenever he endured a coup d’état.

Enter Museveni

 Now today its had to tell where Uganda’s allies and enemies are.

We don’t know whether our close neighbors Rwanda, Tanzania, Sudan and Kenya are really our true friends. its really confusing

Kenya Might Be Hostile 

For instance a few weeks ago Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta bitterly complained about Uganda’s decision to use Tang port instead of Mombasa. And you know very well that President Yoweri Museveni defended Uhuru Kenyatta in regard to the ICC indictments.

If Museveni was very good friends with Uhuru Kenyatta, the issue of Tanga port wouldn’t have spilled to the media. They would have resolved it amicably between them. But that was not the case because there is lack of trust between the two leaders.

Kenya’s leader of opposition Mzee Raila Odinga also complained about the importation of Uganda’s sugar to the Kenyan market. Remember Mzee Oginga Odinga might emerge as Kenyan president since he is preparing to contest in the forthcoming presidential election in 2017.

So you can see that president Museveni is not assured regardless of who is president of Kenya.

Likewise, at onetime Uganda was having a bad relation with Khartoum’s president Omar El Bashir who was known to sponsor the LRA AND ADF rebellions.

Bashir could have been a bad boy because he had even got indicted by the ICC for his war crimes in Darfur and Kordofan.

But we were shocked to see our dear president Yoweri Museveni abusing the ICC for indicting President Omar Bashir!

Why should you defend criminals, Mr president ?

Abusing The International Community

To cap it all, you all know that our country cannot foot its entire national budget. We are being helped by the international community to fund our development budget.

But it’s shocking that during the 12^th May 2016  swearing-in ceremony our president made a decision to attack the international community by calling them ‘a bunch of useless people’!

Yet he was at the same time reading out a list of roads that were about to be completed, never mind that most of those roads are funded by these ‘useless people’.

For instance the northern by pass is funded by the European Union. But remember one of the officials of the EU walked way in protest to president museveni's abusive speech at kololo.

President Museveni should surround himself with strategists who can help him direct his policies.

If he had strategists he would never have made the mistake of agitating for a two state solution to Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu. They would have told him that it’s a no-go topic for Netanyahu.

President Museveni should have been advised that whoever roots for a two state solution becomes an instant enemy of Israel.
Its rumored that Israel broadcasters switched off president Museveni\s gaffe speech from Tel Aviv.

These are some of the cases which prove that president Museveni doesn’t seem to have a clear foreign policy. He merely gambles with each country without weighing the consequences.

If nothing is done about this ambiguous foreign policy , Uganda stands to lose big time because we shall claim to have the entire world as allies , yet we cannot point out which one can stand with us during that hour of need.

The Author, Fred Daka Kamwada Is A Journalist, Researcher And Blogger You can contact him on kamwadafred@gmail.com or even chat him up on 0782480121