Yes, Museveni Not “Responsible” For Bloodshed

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March 12th, 2010

Daniel Dromm: NYC Council's New Immigration Chair

Priorities Dromm outlined for the Immigration Committee are relieving school overcrowding in communities with large immigrant populations, expanding funding of English-as-a-Second Language programs, improving health care access for immigrants Full Story

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Date: March 11th, 2010
Name: Ron
Subject: Dictator
Comment: To everyone who considers elections as the only recourse to oust the worst dictator Africa has ever created, tell me how this will happen when he will without regard to shame continue to steal elections. To all the so called democratic countries of the world who have supported this dictatorship and thus condemned millions of Africans to because of Museveni, what are you gonna do once again when he steals the elections? Do Ugandans continue to accept this theft and continue dying

Date: October 2nd, 2009
Name: Timothy Kalyegira
Subject: Why does the Kabaka always give in to Museveni's wishes?
Comment: Why does the Kabaka always give in to Museveni's wishes?
A meeting took place Wednesday, September 30, between President Yoweri Museveni and the Kabaka of Buganda, Ronald Mutebi II. The meeting got underway at State House in Entebbe. But the two leaders had a separate closed door meeting without the presence of the delegates that had accompanied the Kabaka. What was discussed remain a guess for everyone.
This was viewed that when Buganda decided to relent and cancel the Kabaka's trip to

Editor's Note: Your posting was unfortunately truncated. Please resend to milton@blackstarnews.com

Date: September 20th, 2009
Name: Ugandan US Community
Subject: Protests Against The Dictator!
Comment: This is to remind you that there will be demonstrations in USA and elsewhere to protest Museveni's government curtailment of the Kabaka's freedom of movement, its heavy handed and brutal handling of the ensuing protests over those restrictions, which resulted in considerable loss of life and property.
Regardless of political affiliation and/or ethnicity or nationality, you are all invited and encouraged to participate. The demonstration schedule and contacts are as follows:- New York - Wednesday September 23, 2009 at the United Nations. Contact -- John Mayanja Buwembo (jmayanja@townisp.com).
People from surrounding states are encouraged to attend.
Boston - Saturday September 26, 2009 at The Marriott Copley Place Hotel, at 110 Huntington Avenue, Boston MA 02116; i.e. the day and venue of the NRM Gala. Contact -- John Mayanja Buwembo (jmayanja@townisp.com). People from all over USA are encouraged to attend.
Other cities -- information to be disseminated as it becomes available. To organize a protest demonstration in your town call your local police to find out if you need a permit. The sooner you do it the better, because some juridisctions may require a 5-day advance notice, depending on number of participants.
The message below gives some pointers on what to bring, dress code, donation to support those who were injured in Uganda and the survivors of those who lost their lives, etc. Freedom is not free: come join us as we register our collective disapproval of Museveni's dictatorship and tyranny in handling the Banyala affair.
All inquiries welcome. James Ssemakula james_ssemakula@yahoo.com

Date: September 17th, 2009
Name: Nicholas P'Okech
Subject: International Law Will Catch Up With The Tyrant
Comment: In all the senses, M7 is responsible for the recent bloodshed. First, he responded to the demonstrations by use of excessive force--the Mamas, shoot to kill, etc.

Second, in a recent outburst, the killer said these: “I want to assure you that the days of mercy for rioters are over,” and even went further by making his usual lies: “Everyone must be law-abiding. I am also governed by the laws. I cannot do something illegal. I am not above the law.”

However, what M7 has done--to kill innocent Ugandans trying to show their anger to a despotic government is illegal. Can a person, who is governed by the law do the above?; by acting using guns?, rather than through democratic process?. All he has done is to continue pilling his illegal actions which Ugandans have been documenting. I hope he will not escape the consequences of all his actions when the time dawns on him.

Nicholas

Date: September 17th, 2009
Name: Okello Patrick
Subject: M7 does not meet standard to meet Obama
Comment: Securing an appointment with His Majesty Ronald Mutebi hasn’t proved to be that easy for the Ugandan dictator Museveni. Last week, Museveni speech to the nation and the world at large suggests that he had been in the queue for 2 years before his telephone could be answered by His Majesty.
So, Uganda’s paid lobbyists, and from former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, be advised that to broker a Museveni meeting with US President Obama in the White House might prove disastrous

Date: September 17th, 2009
Name: Anthony Rwaga
Subject: Oust Museveni Out
Comment: What Ugandans need and today, however, is to start putting fire around the government of Yoweri Museveni. Plant bondfires around the Bushes of Buganda so that governing Kampala becomes impossible with time. Afterall they are in hiding now, and as long as the people see nothing and hear nothing, transforming the country will just be a matter of time.

[Publisher’s Comment]

I read an article dated September 15, in the Daily Monitor, one of the Ugandan newspapers, under the headline “I am not responsible for Buganda crisis –Museveni,” wherein Uganda’s dictator denies any responsibility for the political crisis that led to the protests that were violently suppressed last week, claiming a reported more than 20 lives.

The Ugandan, who was a favorite of George W. Bush, and sees himself as life-president, presents a test case for President Barack Obama’s proposed new U.S. policy towards Africa as outlined in his Accra Speech, which rejected tyranny and one-man rule, in favor of enduring institutions of governance in Africa.

The way the U.S. handles the dictator, heading into national elections there in 2011, will demonstrate whether the Administration plans to live up to the promise in the speech or not. Initial signs are favorable; the Obama Administration has rejected appeals by Uganda’s paid lobbyists, and from former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, to broker a Museveni meeting with Obama in the White House. Still, he continues to get heavy support from the U.K.

The Daily Monitor article I refer to, dealt with a speech Museveni had made to Parliament in the aftermath of the killings of demonstrators who had thrown stones at police. In the address, Museveni reportedly said he had restored hereditary monarchies –including Buganda’s—to Uganda, after they had been abolished in the 1960s by a predecessor, President Milton Obote, so that they could preserve “cultural heritages like language” instead of promoting “chauvinism.”

The protests reportedly erupted after Museveni’s security agents blocked a visit by an emissary of Kabaka Mutebi II, one of the hereditary monarchs, to a region in Buganda; Buganda is a region in Uganda and home to the Baganda, the largest ethnic group. The Kabaka is the Buganda monarch and his emissary had planned to pave the way for a later visit by Mutebi II himself.

Museveni’s characterization of events, in the speech, was his way of minimizing the national crises brewing as Ugandans from all regions –whether they support or reject hereditary monarchs—have tired of 23 years of tyrannous and militaristic regime, which had been heavily backed by Washington for years.

Yet, on this occasion, I must agree with Museveni that he is not “responsible.” As president for-life, commander-in-chief, and generalissimo, Museveni can certainly pick and choose what he is "responsible" for.

So for example, if there is economic growth in Uganda, obviously the president will claim responsibility.

But: when his regime herds two million human beings into concentration camps in Acholi region, as his did, and the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that at least 52,000 civilians were dying per year in those camps--or 520,000 over a 10-year period, then of course Museveni is not "responsible"; when he trains an Army and equips it and finances it and provides logistical support and allows it to invade a neighboring country, Rwanda, and the president of that country Juvenal Habyrarimana is assassinated in a missile attack on his plane reportedly by the invading army, and the country erupts in genocidal massacres, of course Museveni is not "responsible"; when he then invades DR Congo for a second time, in 1997 --the first invasion most of the world excused because it deposed tyrant and Kleptocrat Mobuttu Sese Seko-- and his army occupies Eastern DRC, looting and destroying property, committing massacres and mass rapes, and creating conditions for the deaths of more than 5 million Congolese, and according to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which awarded Congo $10 billion, and the DR Congo government, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and causing the ICC to launch its own continuing investigation of Museveni; then, of course Museveni is not "responsible."

So quite naturally, and "logically," how can anyone blame Museveni for the current crisis when he is immune to responsibility for any negative outcomes? Ultimately, the question is, can an "irresponsible" person be blamed with responsibility?

Perhaps that’s the point Museveni was trying to make.

Please post your comments directly or submit them to milton@blackstarnews.com

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