Vincent Nuwagaba
20 December 2011
opinion
I was impelled to write this article by my namesake MP Vincent Mujuni Kyamadidi.
While on Capital Gang on December 17, Kyamadidi mesmerised listeners and his co-panelists with well-quoted verses of the scripture to buttress his stance against corruption and injustice within the ruling party, a position that has earned him and some other legislators the lable of "NRM rebels".
I first met Kyamadidi in 2008 when I was hosted on a political programme on Radio West as I represented DP while he was an LC5 councillor. Though on the programme he eloquently conceded to the ills of the government, he would describe President Museveni as a Godsend. Maybe that was good for his political survival. I am not surprised that although some public officials have named the President in abuse of public funds cases, no 'rebel' MP accuses him. That notwithstanding, I commend Kyamadidi and company for the stance to oppose wrong and support right. Indeed, I congratulate them upon the venerable label of 'NRM Rebels'. In a party whose chairman confesses is full of thieves, being branded 'rebels' is gratifying. No pun intended for the President revealed while in Rwanda that his government is full of thieves. Rebellion against injustice is a patriotic call for all of us. While I congratulate NRM 'rebels' upon placing their nation above party and self-interests, I was incensed by Kyamadidi's condemnation of the A4C, saying the NRM MPs will punish the thieves but the opposition should refrain from A4C reloaded. Kyamadidi's argument prompted me to revisit Martin Luther King's 'A letter from Birmingham jail', which I have read countless times.
Accordingly, I recommend Dr King's letter for all politicians to see the urgency for justice. Martin Luther King says, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". I support A4C activities not because I hate NRM. An emphatic NO. It's because I love justice passionately.
On December 27, Makerere University students will begin exams. State House sponsored students (who incidentally are arbitrarily sponsored by taxpayers' money) will sit exams even when the State has not paid. Sadly, poor students - some of who are Kyamadidi's voters, relatives or neighbours, who have not paid will either get dead years, or dropout altogether as has happened before. Upon the increment of fees by up to 126 per cent in public universities (which by law are supposed to be maintained by public funds), many students dropped out. How then do we build for the future? Ironically, with a disoriented education system, illusory UPE and USE, a collapsed public healthcare system, deplorable graduate unemployment, miserable, hungry and angry teachers and police officers, excruciating economic downturn, Kyamadidi condemns A4C!
The task before us is too huge for only MPs to handle. Pouring cold water on civil society efforts to hold politicians to account is an insult to the voiceless Ugandans and a travesty of democracy. For instance, media reports about UBC must be revolting to all right-thinking members of society. I am yet to see whether NRM 'rebel' MPs will push NRM cadres, notably managing director Paul Kihika, corporation secretary Dickens Kagarura and station manager Tony Owana from the national broadcaster and deploy them at the NRM Secretariat. Fusion of the State and the ruling party is abhorrent.
The most venerable Catholic Church leaders have shockingly reportedly decried A4C as a precursor for violence. They should condemn the Police for using violence against peaceful protesters and urge government to address the issues giving rise to protests. Nobody wakes up with a view to riot. Always well-intentioned peaceful protests morph into riots after provocation by the Police.
Appallingly, the government is hell-bent on enacting unjust laws to curtail civil protests. We shall inevitably defy them lovingly, openly and with willingness to accept the penalty since according to St. Augustine "a bad law is no law". No matter how well-intentioned the so-called 'rebel' NRM MPs are, disillusioned Ugandans should not rely on them to set a time table for their freedoms, rights and liberties. Like King wrote, 'Freedom is never given voluntarily by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed'. We must all be rebels against social injustice, inequality and discrimination. Personally, I lovingly plead guilty to terrorism and rebellion against social injustice.
Mr Nuwagaba is a human rights defender
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