Photos: YouTube
What compels the German government to continue funding the military junta of Uganda?
I was recently shocked to read on the Facebook page of the German Embassy Kampala, that the Federal Republic of Germany shall continue funding the military junta of Uganda with EUR 68,8 Million in a two-year development cooperation.
Despite the declaration that the funds will benefit the people of Uganda, that is false and the German government should have carried out extra layers of due diligence before making such a blunder! Unless there is a quid pro quo arrangement between these two governments, I do not see any common values that should be bounding them to begin with.
The funder, Germany’s government, is a democratic government which respects rule of law, human rights and other civil liberties, and the funded is a pure government of murderers, torturers, thieves and others. The record is visible to even a blind person. Does this funding come as a carte blanche to the crimes against humanity the government of Uganda commits against its people? Is it a pat on the back or endorsement to mean Job well-done? For us who are living in exile in Germany, shall look at this government as an accomplice in the proliferation of unlivable oppression in which the people of Uganda are encapsulated. Such funding is the fuel, the wings, which keep the oppression blooming and us the victims of such cataclysm have a legitimate voice to ask the funders to close taps.
Uganda loses UGX 20 trillion (EUR 5,405billion) annually to corruption despite relying on only a UGX 48 trillion budget (EUR 13billion). The amount collected from revenue is about UGX 23 trillion (Close to EUR 7billion) and the rest of it comes from foreign donations and loans so it means almost all the revenue collected is stolen. The junta leader, Museveni, is on record asking the Inspector General of Government to stop disturbing the corrupt people/thieves as long as they are investing the loot in the country.
Such a trend of maladministration has been going on since Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni came to power in 1986 and somehow the German government thinks that they will fund the kleptocratic gerontocracy to promote accountability, transparency and anti-corruption.
To begin with, the government of Uganda has been put on spotlight by the leader of opposition in parliament to explain why Ugandans in some districts of western Uganda have been forced out of their land and displaced internally so that the Office of the Prime Minister could avail itself of land on which to settle the gathered refugees. For over the years, the junta leader of Uganda has been gathering refugees from the entire Greatlakes region not on humanitarian grounds as it should be but to use them as a Cash cow. To put the West on gunpoint for funding and the funds are stolen by the Office of the Prime Minister. The record of theft is available.
On the insinuation that the funds will help in the protection of natural resources and forests, the German government ought to know that the government in Kampala is responsible for the depletion of forests by giving them away for sugarcane growing, swamps and wetlands are freely given to Chinese and Indians to set up factories while lake shores are given to Chinese for sand mining which is exported to China.
All of this is done in total disrespect of the law and protest by environmentalists and other organizations. This money which is allocated by the Germany government to protect natural resources and forests will be used for greenwashing and cooking reports for accountability as they table more requests for funding. And undoubtedly the gullible German government shall continue to fund.
The shrinking space for the civil society organizations is as a result of gross human rights abuses, and the junta leader, last year, closed over 50 NGOs whose work majored in human rights, rule of law, democracy and constitutionalism. Free space for these civil society organizations is a bedrock of a democratic society but when the government whose record on human rights is gross and wants these organizations to report otherwise, it negates the purpose of their existence.
There is no excuse for any government like Germany—which cares for human rights, good governance, transparency, accountability, environmental protection and other civil liberties—should give to continue funding a group of terrorists and thieves in Uganda who are masquerading as a government.
If I hadn’t been to Germany and seen how the country is run, I would be conceivably saying that birds of the same feathers flock together. But, when I was severely tortured by the government of Uganda, it is the same government of Germany through PEN-Zentrum Deutschland which gave me a safe haven for my healing as an exiled writer. I was lucky and got here safely before dying but what about innumerable other critics who have no wherewithal and are kidnapped and tortured everyday with impunity? Is it a matter of the brute government of Uganda creating hell for us and then we run to exile in Germany and then the German government continues to fund the oppressors? It doesn’t make sense and we are tired!
By Kakwenza Rukirabashaija:
Lawyer, Award winning Novelist and Scholar of PEN-Zentrum Deutschland.
Whatsap/Signal/Telegram: +447958104814
Books: 1) The Greedy Barbarian.
2) Banana Republic Where Writing Is Treasonous.
3) The Log Cabin.
4) Critical Analysis of the independence of Uganda’s judiciary (LLB Thesis)
5) The Savage Avenger
Full profile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakwenza_Rukirabashaija
