----- Original Message ----- 
From: Vovi Uganda e.V. 
To: [log in to unmask] ; [log in to unmask] 
Cc: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2004 8:09 PM
Subject: Beating up opposition is good for democracy itle


      Take It or Leave It: 
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      With Austin Ejiet  

Beating up opposition is good for democracy itle

March 14 - 20, 2004



      Men who babble and stutter as if their tongues were once beaten with the testicles of a he-goat have been all over the airwaves exulting at the latest glorious victory by cadres of the revolution over reactionary forces. Crested Crane Hotel and the Clock Tower grounds on Queens's way are the latest in a long axis of battlegrounds: that has seen advocates of moderation clobbered with astonishing ruthlessness.

      Why are they wasting their breath? A cow that is about to die cannot bother about concealing her private parts. And when push comes to shove, to use a well-worn cliché, Mukajanga (the royal chief executioner of a by-gone era), will emerge from the designer suit. Kikulacho kiku nguoni mwako is a Swahili proverb, which translates literally into: 'the thing which eats you [louse, bed-bug or flea] is right there within your clothes.' That is to say that your closest friend could also be your worst enemy - especially when he has an LCIII Chairmanship or Minister of State ship to protect.

      That, of course, is a far cry from the heady days of early 1986, when a cabinet minister was compelled to resign for ordering his security detail to rough up a taxi man for impeding his (the minister's) way on the road. Perhaps to prove that this was no sectarian dismissal, another eminent warrior who pulled out his gun on a lady for calling his manhood into question in a public house, had to relinquish his ministerial portfolio. For the record, the good man has bounced back many times over.

      If a week in politics is a long time, the 18 years is a veritable eon. In that period we have thrashed citizens en masse in Rukungiri, Kabale, Tororo, Mbale, numerous parts of Kampala, and now Jinja too. This violence has often been triggered off by a seemingly harmless seminar. At other times, especially in the heat of local council, parliamentary or presidential elections, some unlucky Ugandans have had to pay the ultimate price - without the executioners getting punished or even reprimanded. The man who drove a pick-up truck at a murderous speed into a crowd of opposition sympathizers, killing five people and maiming so many at Namanve, has never been brought to justice.

      That, for me, explains a lot of things. In the space of only 18 years, we have created a myriad of classes: the so-called middle class as opposed to the economic and social under class: the northerners and north-easterners as opposed to the southerners - though this is never spelt out so crudely; the Movementists (which every Ugandan is supposed to be by law) as opposed to the Multipartyists, Federalists etc.; and lately the Third-termists as opposed to the Constitutional adherents who want the two-term presidential term limits up-held.

      Somehow it has become all right to beat up a member of the under class, a northerner or easterner, a multipartyist or any opponent of the Third Term Project. The people paid by Ugandan taxpayers will not only partake in the beating, tear-gassing etc, but they will also find some legal quibbles to justify their actions.

      The new thinking seems to be that the ears and brains of an opponent of the Movement are firmly located in his buttocks and also all over his back. The politics of the microphone, which we once boasted we had introduced was unceremoniously ditched as soon as elective politics came around. Now the canes, stones, and occasionally even bullets reign supreme, helped along by potent crude alcohol, raw opium and promises of petty cash sometimes as little as Shs 5,000/= per thug.

      Perhaps the greatest man ever to play the game of football was recently asked to compile a list of 100 best footballers still alive as part of the commemoration of FIFA's centenary. Pele's list was published just over a week ago, sparking off a hideous furore: 'Why isn't so-and-so on that list?' 'What is so-so-and-so also doing on Pele's list?' What business does a Japanese have making the top 100 world stars?'

      Well, I have questions of my own. Why is Daodu Migerenenko (from Ukraine) not included? How could Pele leave out Brazil's latest World Cup captain Cafu (also known as Kyafu)? I don't know about Argentinean ace Wakudumiradona, but shouldn't Ricardo Guluminho have been included? And that Italian sensation Mossi del Kizige? As far as I am concerned any player who can kick human buttocks in place of that idiotic spherical leather called a ball, deserves to be on anybody's list of top 100 stars.
     


© 2004 The Monitor Publications

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