By Zacharia Kanyonyozi
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
There are gaffes, there are the faux pas and then are the woefully worded speeches of Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
As usual, the man otherwise known as the Junior Dictator (emphasis on the word “Junior”), has come under fire, once again, from different sections of Ugandans for being disrespectful to the leader of Busoga kingdom, the Kyabazinga.
The marriage of the Kyabazinga of Busoga, William Wilberforce Gabula Nadiope IV, to Jovia Mutesi at Christ Cathedral Bugembe took place over the weekend, with various dignitaries, including Vice President Jessica Alupo and Church of Uganda Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu, attending the event.
Gen Muhoozi, among the attendees, gifted the couple ten cows following their marriage vows at the colorful ceremony in Jinja.
However, Gen. Muhoozi’s statement during the wedding reception, “So when you are ready, your Majesty, please come and pick your cows,” has sparked criticism for being perceived as rude and culturally insensitive.
The Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries, Frank Tumwebaze, who is Gen. Muhoozi’s kinfolk, defended Baby Doc’s faux-naif, explaining that different cultures have differing customs.
He clarified on the cultural practice of physically selecting cows from a kraal when gifted by someone from the Munyankore culture.
This is all very well, but it inadvertently exposes what Ugandans have feared all along: the First Family see Uganda through the parochial lens of tribe. This is why Baby Doc sees it fit to speak at a Busoga cultural event as if it were a Munyankore affair.
The Banyankore, who live in southwestern Uganda, where there is a common border with Rwanda and Tanzania, are widely believed in Uganda to be the ones “eating”. This is because they are from Dictator Museveni’s ethnic group.
This “eating” has created an arrogance of power, Ugandans believe, which has left the ruling ethnic group insensitive to cultural norms and practices outside of Nkore (the Kingdom to which Banyankore belong).
This is why Ugandans reacted to Baby Doc’s words in the manner in which they did.
Clearly, it was not really about the text of the speech he made but its subtext: we are Banyankore and this is all that matters. So every other tribe can go to hell, as the devil takes the hindmost.
Still, it would be most misleading to say the Banyankore are responsible for Dictator Museveni’s regime.
This is not tribal rule; it is family rule where Dictator Museveni openly once declared: “I’m working for myself, I’m not working for other people, I’m working for my grandchildren, for my children.”
He said himself who his Junta belongs to, him and his family. While the Banyankore are mere window dressing showing that this Museveni Junta is more than about family rule.
In truth, the Banyankore find themselves in the same position the Coloreds (half castes) found themselves in the twilight years of Apartheid South Africa.
Back then, the Boer government created a racial hierarchy, a pigmentocracy if you will, to classify all South Africans.
The fact that the Coloreds ranked higher than the Blacks in the official pecking order was used by the Apartheid regime to channel Black hatred towards Colored instead of the real culprit: the Apartheid regime.
This helped mire the struggle in otherwise internecine battles instead of the defeat of Apartheid.
So Ugandans should not lose sight of the fact that the Banyankore are not the problem. They are merely beneficiaries of the sterile, cynical game of politics favored by Dictator Museveni.
As he uses them to deflect attention away from family rule, our misplaced rage towards them, the Banyankore, ensures that we miss the point entirely. Yet the point is crystal clear: we must remove Dictator Museveni, not the Banyankore.
