Our Greatest Fear Is the Transition of Power: An Open Letter to the President

© 2013 by Sseruwagi Godfrey Mitch. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/19/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-7199-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-7200-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-7201-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013911767

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Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

INTRODUCTION: A Boy’s Letter to the U.S. President

PROLOGUE: The Day of the Carnival - Uganda @ 50 Years

Part 1: Experiencing A Violent Revolution: 1979-1986

Chapter 1: The Soccer Boys

Chapter 2: The Midnight Bus of Death

Chapter 3: Neighborhoods without Men

Chapter 4: We Dreamt Big—When You Came

Part 2: Open Letter To The President; The Politics

Chapter 1: A Troubled Generation

Chapter 2: Victims of Election Violence Speak Out

Chapter 3: Our Greatest Fear—The Transition of Power

Chapter 4: Your Legacy under Multi-Party Democracy

Part 3: Open Letter To The President The Economics—The Final Battles Of The Revolution

Chapter 1: The Peasants’ Call For An Economic Revolution

Chapter 2: The Economic Revolution Proposals

Chapter 3: The Economic Cadres

Chapter 4: Call for Order in the House

Chapter 5: Politics is a Calling—The Politicians we want

EPILOGUE: Making a Case for The Father Of The Nation

References

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Endnotes

Dedication

At the 50th year of Uganda’s Independence,

this book is dedicated to;

The generation that was old enough to experience the agony of the wars of the 70s and 80s and applaud you for surviving the tyranny of the political and military chaos of the time. Furthermore, I dedicate it to the younger generation who should not take for granted the freedoms so far attained and must be watchful against anyone who tries to take them away through wars. Should such freedoms be snatched away, it would be an unpredictable, long and rough road to restore them to Ugandans once again.

. . . . Happy 50th Independence Anniversary . . . .

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my family for their patience while I was away both physically and emotionally researching for this book. Special thanks go to Benjamin for his initial inspiration; his letters to President Barack Obama prompted the concept of a book.

I’m indebted to the victims of political violence in Bukoto East Constituency who volunteered testimonies and information in their efforts to fight against election violence and proposed ways to end it once and for all. I’m thankful to traders on the streets and peasants in the countryside whom I randomly asked questions and they gave me answers that led to valuable information used in this ‘Letter to the President’.

I’m thankful to the political leaders of the Entrepreneurs’ League and all party members who furnished me with valuable information and those who encouraged me that what I was writing was worth the time and effort.

Special thanks go to a special friend, Dr. William Tiga Tita, Professor at NorthEastern University, Boston Massachusetts, USA, who encouraged me to write this book when I introduced the idea to him in 2010.

All these efforts would not have been realized into a book if it was not for the unwavering support, marathon efforts, local knowledge and relevant expertise of my editor Dr. Edith Natukunda-Togboa, a senior Language Consultant/Conference Interpreter and Professor of Makerere University, who worked beyond professionalism to become part of the project and affirmed the importance of the content of the book to this political period of our country. Finally, I wish to thank Professor Sandy Steven Tickodri-Togboa of Makerere University who in his efforts and desire to innovate and impact introduced me to his dear wife to edit my book. To such mentors and other contributors that I cannot list due to space limitation, I address my sincere thanks for embracing me and giving me an opportunity to shine.

INTRODUCTION

A Boy’s Letter to the U.S. President

H e is a ten year old boy, Benjamin Batista, born and living in the City of Belmont, State of Massachusetts of the United States of America. One evening at home, I was watching news and the issues of rising college tuition and President Obama’s student’s loan reforms was airing on one of the local television channels. Benjamin listened attentively and then asked a question. Daddy do you think that by the time we go to college we will get financial aid! I was startled, dumb-founded for a while for a ten year old already keen and grappling with one of the head-boggling issues of adults. May be you write to our congressman, he might have some answers. I answered him. I went on watching the news and I thought that was the end of it. After a while I was amazed that he wrote to President Barack Obama of the United States instead of the congressman as follows;

From: Benjamin Sseruwagi <benjaminsseru@yahoo.com>

To: "info@barackobama.com"

Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2011 11:19 PM

Subject: RE: Student Scholarship

Dear President Obama,

I’m ten years old boy. I live in Belmont, Massachusetts, just near Harvard University. I want to go to Harvard University when I grow up. Do you think I will be able to get student scholarship or grants to go to Harvard if my dad cannot afford to pay all my tuition? By the way I love to play soccer and basketball so much. Also I’m very good in writing and math. I go to Chenery middle school and I wanna be a soccer player, basketball player or pediatrician when I grow up.

It is me Benjamin Batista.

I was not aware that my son actually sent a letter that night to the Obama forum. A few months earlier, I had signed him up with his first email address on Barack Obama discussion forum. I wanted him to get a kick out of receiving emails from Obama’s campaign team. He had previously found me reading my emails from Barack Obama as one of the President’s campaign funders. He had been mesmerized that his simple dad actually communicates with the mighty President of the mighty United States of America. Dad, President Obama writes to you! He exclaimed. I can’t believe this! he called his young brother Elijah and later his mom Ruth to announce how powerful his dad is, able to communicate with the most powerful President of the most powerful country in the whole wide world. And after a few months the office of the President replied his letter reassuringly as follows;

From: "Info2012@barackobama"

To: "benjaminsseru@yahoo.com"

Sent: Friday, March 23, 2012 1:39 PM

Subject: Benjamin, Thank You for Your Email

Dear Benjamin,

Thank you for your message about education and for sharing your thoughts with us. The President’s campaign is being built by the voices of the American people, and messages like yours will always help shape it.

The President knows that in order to create well-paying jobs of the future, and an economy that’s built to last, we have to out-educate our global competitors. That means giving every student the quality education they deserve.

To help provide every child the opportunity to go as far as their ambition and hard work will take them, the President has:

• Helped states raise K-12 standards, invest in teachers and turn around low-performing schools so that children are prepared for college and careers of the future. (Watch this video about the President’s view on No Child Left Behind)

• Made college more affordable for millions more middle-class students. His student loan overhaul moved more than $60 billion from big banks, which had acted as middlemen, and used the savings to double our investment in college scholarships, provide Pell Grants to an additional 3 million students, and strengthen community college programs to make them more relevant to business needs. (Watch this video about Student Loan Reform to learn more about this important legislation.)

• Fought for funding to save the jobs of hundreds of thousands of teachers across the country.

President Obama has fought hard to out-educate the rest of the world, but we need to do more. Please visit the President’s record on education, or sign up to stand with the President as he continues to fight for the issues that affect your life.

If you haven’t seen it already, we urge you to watch the short film The Road We’ve Traveled. It’s about President Obama’s first three years in office and the tough calls he made to get our country back on track.

Thank you again for your message and for joining the conversation about education in America.

Sincerely,

James Kvaal

Policy Director

Obama for America

You should have seen this wide smile on this ten year old boy’s face when he received a reply email from President Barack Obama. When I looked at him, the satisfaction on his face was in itself a big achievement. In 2009, he jotted a few lines on a piece of paper to the same President, congratulating him for his victory and raising issues of his concern at eight years old; the environment and good teachers. Not sure it was received by the White House.

I thought for a minute about this and I said to myself, I wish I can write to my President in Uganda and get a reply just like my ten year old. How important President Obama thinks about this 10 year old boy’s ideas and aspirations! Not even a voter yet, but an obligation the President has to respond to every citizen of the country, directly or indirectly through his aides. Consequently, after my son’s letter was replied by the most powerful President of the world, me too, I was now inspired and encouraged to write to you again, Your Excellency, the President of Uganda. Hopefully you will read and reply my letter. This time it is an open letter to you, and it is kind of a long one, different chapters, different issues, many challenges of your people and I desperately want to let you know, so I decided to use this desperate measure of an open letter to you and to the people of Uganda. I’m hoping that you might come across these letters during your free time reading. My previous many letters to you were never replied, and therefore, the desperation. Should you still be too busy to read this letter, may be, some concerned future leaders will read it, and may be the issues contained will be addressed. I will then be exonerated by those whose messages I actually carry on their behalf in these letters. Then I will be satisfied that I tried my best as a citizen having shared these dreams and aspirations that touch the lives of millions of Ugandans, from which many ideas in this letter come from… . I’m only a messenger. A messenger of the voters from different districts, the traders on the streets, the struggling business persons, the potential entrepreneurs, the victims of election violence, the veteran soldiers, the aging peasants who believe that their lives are about to end without shaking the hands of their fellow hero, whom they fought alongside in the bush war of 1981-86.

*     *     *

PROLOGUE

The Day of the

Carnival - Uganda @ 50 Years

Mr. President,

T oday is different. A business woman in the crowd loudly appreciates the silky beauty of the green as we set off from the Constitutional Square. Further ahead the police officer says Thank God the lights are working. At least we can see the trouble makers from afar when the night comes. The Boda boda ¹ cyclist is enjoying the marching tune and clearly, he doesn’t care from which part of Uganda it comes from. The most relevant point is that he can march and dance to its rhythm. The artist ahead of us jumps aside to execute an acrobatic hip hop stroke; we all create a space around for him to shine. The shoe shiner drums his mobile stool to join the applause. Today’s events transcend partisan squabbles in total defiance of the usual, politicizing of everything under the Ugandan sky.

It is the 7th day of October 2012. It is few days ago since the country begun celebrating Uganda @ 50 years; the coined name of our country’s jubilee for fifty years of independence from the British since 1962. During this carnival, I saw some ardent political adversaries hug and shake hands, dancing to the national songs of the celebrations; something I hadn’t seen in a long time. We all seemed united as a country this time with a common cause and purpose of achievement not seen in a while, just like it was when Uganda cranes won the 2007 African Nations Cup qualifying soccer game, beating Nigeria’s Super Eagles. This game re-united us as a country for at least a day after the 2006 Presidential and Parliamentary elections that left us deeply divided along useless and baseless illusionary political lines.

A few years later there was fresh relief from political differences after the 2011 elections when a bitterly divided country genuinely prayed for and rallied behind our only national hope, one hope, Stephen Kiprotich to bring the 2012 Olympic gold medal home. The celebrations for his award of gold were patriotic. We were united us as a country; we all joined in the long wave of admiration that cut across the oceans and the communication divide. How I hoped that the nation could diligently explore this unity in our political parties, in our local and central governments and in our political communities! Then we could use it for production and entrepreneurship and the country would leap frog into the much desired middle-income world and First world.

It is because of this oneness of a nation that I saw on that night of the Carnival that I was encouraged to begin writing to you Mr. President, and explore this oneness for the long overdue good of this country, Uganda. I’m neither an expert writer, nor a novelist, nor a journalist. I’m writing as a devoted voter of your consecutive presidential terms and as a concerned citizen and one of the national leaders in the country. But also, I’m writing to you like a son who needs guidance from a father who doubles as one of the most experienced leader, because this son is also a leader of the people. In this letter, Mr. President, I’m writing about concerns of your people, the fear of their future, the future of their children in this country, as we watch Uganda every day, being shaped right now by you, greatly influenced by your past deeds, as one of the most senior politician, most prominent revolutionary leader of our times, in sad and happier decades, playing the major role in all these times.

I’m singling you out in this letter, Mr. President, because you are the longest serving President Uganda has ever had, greatly influencing both the military and political maneuvers of this country. You have traversed the entire country and the region many times and have visited every corner of the country and made friends and influenced every enclave and villages for the last close to 30 years of your Presidency. Therefore, you are the most experienced leader of our time and the right citizen to bring concerns of the people and expect the best answers.

Mr. President,

Politics in this country is an enigma that, for the bigger part of our 50 years of independence, has kept the country under the influence of poverty. The good ideas envisioned by you, by the ruling party members, by independent minded experts, by the opposition members or resourceful individuals, to catapult prosperity through the implementation of national projects, are shot down prematurely by politicians for political prowess and victory of the day, squandering energies of a nation in political squabbles. This has lasted for decades since our independence. As a result, cheaper hydro power missed the funding and darkness prevailed over light for a decade and slowed economic progress. Powerlessness prevailed over developing capacity in hydro electricity when ardent advocates for the environment protection, cheered by politically charged crowds, raised the storm of controversy not to have a new Bujagali hydro power dam in order to save fauna and flora for those that come once in a while, the tourists. Indeed they had a point but at a cost of desperate need of low cost factory power. Higher costs of production would quash competitiveness and deny us factory jobs for the masses, which jobs are taken away to other countries with leaders whose political egos don’t come in the way of patriotism and the peoples’ needs they claim to represent.

The national project of Biometric Identification of individuals in the country, so vital to; curb lawlessness, strengthen national security, control immigration, provide an accurate voters’ register to eliminate the anxiety and suspiciousness of vote rigging through multiple voting, and end the violence that arise from such disputes, which political disputes have put our democracy to the test every time we have elections, was delayed by politicians and civil servants for more than a decade.

The same project that is intended to widen the national tax base by bringing to book all potential tax payers in the tax bracket, as important as it is, was shot down by politicians, politicking every aspect of it, not because they were patriots to save tax payers money. But, most of them who stood in front of the cameras on national televisions pretending that they want to curb corruption and malpractices in procurement, misleading other members of Parliament and Ugandans to believe so, were all directly or indirectly agents of companies that lost out in the final decision by the President.

The decision was taken when the President was fed up with these politician-agents fronting companies in near war and unending procurement processes for the last fifteen years that had failed to implement such an important project, not only for Ugandans, but a requirement for a member country of East African Federation. The President opted for a practical solution to kick start the project by avoiding the corruption-infested procurement processes; then, the losers turned into anti-corruption crusaders on the floor of Parliament, fuelled by a well-orchestrated and politically sponsored media apparatus to tarnish all efforts. The civil servants in charge of the project with high anticipation to make a killing from the contractors, and did not, celebrated almost on every project’s failures, standing on its carcass with no remorse when millions of Ugandans waited impatiently for years to celebrate their national identity while in possession of a national Identity card.

Ugandans ought to know that, if this Biometric project is not further politicized by the new incoming group, the immigration board members, to be patriotic and counted, to stand their ground and not be influenced by the old fighting cliques, still around, still fighting the project, and allow this project to be well-integrated as originally conceived, it is a project that will drastically lower the national wage bill through the elimination of all ghost pensioners, ghost teachers, ghost nurses, ghost UPE students, ghost civil servants, ghost soldiers and ghost police officers to curtail this kind of corruption, once and for all, through absolute and unequivocal biometric identification of an individual when biometric features; the fingerprints and face are captured in the National Information Security system. Had this project been implemented in time, fifteen years ago spent in political bickering and anti-project schemes, the huge sums of money that would have been saved in fifteen years, through curtailing such corruption, would probably have built a modern referral hospital in every district and equip it with medical supplies and medical equipment.

Because of frustration of a nation by politicians and the civil service, I started to believe, and I proposed in some discussion forums that, based on our history of failures in better service delivery, the military with high level of discipline, operating under a Uniform Code of Military Justice, as compared to the easily manipulated and easily corruptible civilian justice system, should be called in regularly to monitor implementation of sensitive government projects for better service delivery for Ugandans. The military is structurally better placed, in command and control to assist, if we are to move faster and achieve the desired government vision of 2040. I firmly believe that the prosperity of this country could even come much earlier if strict disciplined implementers can be allowed to oversee some key government programmes that are intended to benefit the masses and transform the economy of this country.

Uganda as a country is too small to have 300 or so politicians politicking on 200 or so radio stations every day spending unproductive energies. You find them at lunch and drinking joints politicking and politicizing almost everything. This type of politics has bred political violence and violent demonstrations that curtail the country’s development and many times they trample on some of the country’s fundamental revolutionary gains that must be jealously guarded; the return of the security of people and property so far achieved. The rule of the law, so far accomplished, and the establishment of institutions of government that is in progress. But with seemingly powerful anti-corruption institutions put in place, the smart thieves instead, have caused the rebranding of our country as an International shame; with total incompetence to manage the affairs of a country’s accountability systems. This is a country whose public servants and politicians have no grain of shame or patriotism. They steal from their country and deliberately stunt it, denying its growth. Stealing funds for modernization of agriculture and steal from poor pensioners fund, steal drugs from health centers. They cut a lifeline of the sick and walk away to drink whisky and gamble in casinos and let Ugandans die of HIV and Tuberculosis.

But the country also read the newspapers with utter frustration when it is discovered that some drugs available in the country expires while in government stores when the referral hospital patients are sent to pharmacies associated to the doctors to make a killing. Ugandans who cannot afford to buy die miserably. What a country! But the technocrats in these medical stores still hold their jobs and the country wonder why! In China and Philippines, the courts handed down deterring long jail term sentences for offenders that engaged in rampant practice of ordering drug consignments close to expiration date at a low price, repackaged with new usage labels; new production date, batch numbers and expiration dates and resale it on open market. The difference in total cost of a bad consignment about to expire and the cost of a good consignment was big money shared with government officials in charge of policing at Customs Department and the Drug Authority. How can Ugandans be assured that our government officials in charge of procuring our medicine are not engaged in similar malpractices! The Executive Director and his directors must tell the country why drugs expire in stores when our sick people who can’t afford them on market prices die miserably for lack of it. Then Ugandans wonder in despair what those government officials are still doing in our offices while such practice has gone on for such a long time!

My foreigner friends from one of the Arab nations wonder if this country they steal from, with such impunity, is their own country. Are they foreigners? He asked, while opening the newspapers with headlines of billions lost from the pension fund. Somehow, you think these thieves are just passers-by, walking through this country to their mother destination countries. But surprisingly, you see them cruising in the city potholes and dusted roads with no pavements for the pedestrians to walk on, having stolen part of the road construction money or built a shoddy school and you wonder at their deeds. But in actual fact, it is their real country; they are citizens expected to live in the same country for as long as they live. However, there is some news coming in lately, the nation is increasingly suspicious and worried that the corrupt ruling elite may have started to invest their ill-gotten funds overseas; have bought houses in the Diasporas, their children are studying abroad, they rather become ambassadors, a sign that in a few years they might flee the country with their loot to the chagrin of the impoverished Ugandans left behind. They are the type who flees the country when a President, who they claim is their shield, is about to change. They start to panic. We have seen it before.

Meanwhile, millions of Ugandans whose interest is production, commerce, opportunities and wealth creation that could be offered by value addition and entrepreneurship are frustrated for the past decades and now hold politics in very low esteem. Ugandans have begun seeing politics as a nuisance, a wicked and stupid game of intrigue, hatred and factionalism with unending political campaigns and endless politicking of energetic people turned into skimming politicking and drama actors. They wonder; will politicians ever change our lives to fight for the people at the height of abuse of political and public offices with impunity? They see political ambitions, political power and political authority as a public stunt, a public outcry abusing the trust of the people who are increasingly giving up that type of politics. Somewhere in Kampala, they, instead, cheer politicians for their dramatic acts, after realizing that, that is all they can offer. We can at least have some fun. They say, resignedly, during constituency gatherings in Lubaga Division.

Mr. President,

On this cerebration day, it seemed that the plan hatched by political agitators against boycotting the celebrations, organizing anti government demonstrations once again politicizing a historical national occasion, tumbled and the supporters of the opposition parties also turned up like other Ugandans for the festivities. Through my interactions I found out that the people of Uganda, in general, see opposition leaders promoting civil disobedience as exploiting a few sections of jobless youth who may not have been told the stories of the past bitter history that ruined a country, which country ambitious Ugandans both inside and overseas are sweating to rebuild. Ugandans in the Diaspora with sleepless night’s working day and night saving every penny destined to Uganda, are worried of such politics that could destroy their humble investments back home. Will they ever come home to enjoy their sweat in total peace without worrying about possible eruption of political violence, night thieves jumping over their fences or waylaying them on their way home! One police officer called them idle and disorderly trying to make ends meet. But Ugandans in the Diaspora who have been frequenting Uganda are increasingly becoming skeptical for fear of increasing insecurity. The big investors may have insurance covers for their big investments, but the humble investors don’t have such. Their only insurance is the stability of the country. Some have begun to scout for alternative destinations for their investments in neighboring countries. They need reassurances Mr. President that the security situation will not deteriorate as we enter the transition period. They want punitive action against criminals.

But the question lingers on; had the so called idle and disorderly had skills and jobs and some reasonable opportunities, would they be easily recruited into such political demonstrations, hooliganism, street and night thieving gangs or even rebels! Would they engage in destroying traders’ merchandize during the violent demonstrations if they too had stake in the economic activities of the country! They don’t have anything to loose, no jobs or businesses to protect. That is why. They have no stake in the country and surely they don’t care, and this is a very dangerous emerging group for this country. This is the message the jobless are sending to all of us and we must do something real fast to massively and systematically mobilize them for job skills to make them feel usefully employable and self-employable. Otherwise, the politicians who mobilize them for selfish ends make them feel useful and they will always have fertile breeding and recruiting grounds.

On this day however, the people of Uganda believed that all these are not too big challenges to address by a united Uganda and united political front if more time is spent, enough time is earmarked, thinking about ways to get our people out of poverty, create jobs for our youth other than spending much of the time politicking. On this day, there were no strangers, we simply felt as Ugandans enjoying a moment of joy, saying ‘hello’ to one another with a spirit of nationalism, of unity and of the national pride of being Ugandans, as the people