You think Democratic Party is dead, stop being a somnambulist for DP cannot die

On Friday 20^th December 2013, I meet two enthusiastic young FDC and NRM leaning men at Makerere University who then tell me, "Vincent Nuwagaba, brilliant as you are, how come you belong to DP which now is clearly a dead party?" I tell these young men that DP is not dead, Uganda is dead but with the imminent DP leadership, Uganda will resurrect. In fact, death is not a bad thing per se because before you die, you cannot resurrect. At least, that is our belief as Catholics. Death is not the full stop but a comma in the journey of life. In life, there is no full stop but only commas and continuations. Death is a preparation for inheritance of eternal life which is granted to us the believers after resurrection. I tell these young men the Democratic Party cannot die because it is a spirit. I tell them, you cannot kill DP; you can only manage to disorganise and inconvenience it for some time. I added, but even if you disorganise and inconvenience it, the spirit of DP will come to haunt you and you will regret why you disorganised and inconvenienced it in the first place. I further tell them, DP and UPC are the only viable parties we have in Uganda because they have what they stand for - what political scientists call political ideology. DP stands for justice, it is a centre-right political party which, although supports the down-trodden also supports private entrepreneurs. DP is the only party that will not kill initiative and innovations. DP has no problem with people making money as long as they are not exploitative and individualistic. In other words, DP is a liberal political party. I am sure; those who were lucky to study international politics know quite well the various schools of thought they were exposed to. These schools of thought include realism, idealism, liberalism, neoliberalism, Marxism and communism.

Democratic Party is neither socialist nor is it communist. But also, as DP we do not believe in the realism school of thought. Those with very little or no knowledge at all tend to think that realism connotes reality which is not the case. While the Democratic Party is not a socialist political party, we respect socialists and uphold their rights. While the Democratic Party abhors peasantry, we love peasants and work tirelessly to uplift them from peasantry. While we passionately hate poverty, we passionately love the poor for we know they were created by God and it is through loving them that we can liberate them and get them out of poverty.  This explains the reason as to why when political parties were officially and legally allowed to sponsor candidates, our presidential candidate Mzee John Ssebana Kizito ran under the banner of “From poverty to prosperity”.  Clearly, the Democratic Party is the only party that is deeply concerned about the plight of the underdogs; it is the only clearest and loudest voice of the voiceless, it is the clearest hope of the hopeless and it is ready, willing but also able to deliver real liberation to Uganda – not the imaginary one that was brought by gunmen after murdering thousands in the Luwero Triangle. For the record, media reports show that between 1981 to 1985 when the NRA was fighting, between 800,000 to 1,000,000 (eight hundred thousand to one million) people lost their lives. You may also need to recall that on the burial of Mzee Professor Adonia Tiberondwa, my area Member of Parliament Major General Kahinda Otafiire publicly revealed what was secretly known – that the NRA fighters would wear UNLA uniform, kill civilians to get them angered so they would join them in the bush to fight against Milton Obote’s government.

The Democratic Party has always and remains the champion of fighting for human rights. It has successfully challenged obnoxious laws in the courts of law. It paved way for the return of multipartyism. It remains diametrically opposed to violence and all Machiavellian overtures. To us in the Democratic Party, the end does not justify the means. It is the purity of means that we place at the fore-front. To us in the Democratic Party, our Motto is not the Northcote Motto "We either win or they lose". We do not set out to rule but we set out to serve our nation, our continent and our world. The Democratic Power takes pride in brain power and this explains the reason why we are no longer going to engage the senseless regime on the streets. We know if we do that, the senseless regime will either kill us or kill innocent people who have no interest whatsoever in what the regime does or what we do.
DP is the only fully-fledged accommodating political party and I call upon my brothers Asuman Basalirwa and Odonga Otto to come back home. I also call upon all peace-loving Ugandans to join the Democratic Party, a party with a big heart. We believe in the Democratic Party that our country has enough to satisfy all our appetite but will never have enough to satisfy our greed. We believe that greed is associated with Satan. Greedy politicians like we have in the current regime are demonic, satanic and have to be vehemently ejected.

We also believe that we do not need charity as a society. What we need is justice. We have invested heavily in the accumulation of knowledge and given our superb brains, we are firm and sure that we shall resurrect the Uganda that Yoweri Museveni and his apparatchiks have successfully killed in the past three decades they have accidentally been at the helm. I believe (and this is my personal belief) that the NRM is a historical accident to ever happen to Uganda and that now its leaders are either ghosts or shadows or both. Under the National Resistance Movement, we have witnessed the devaluation of values, the demonization of saints and canonization of demons. We have also witnessed, the dearth, devaluation and death of institutions including but not limited to the death of the Constitution. The Uganda Constitution is not a living document anymore. I may even be wrong to think that the Uganda Constitution has ever been a living document. The Constitution can be used, abused and misused to suit the interests, not of the ruling party but of Yoweri Museveni. Museveni has not only elevated himself into a fully-fledged institution but has turned himself into a state. Now Uganda equals Museveni and Museveni equals Uganda. That is the tragedy, the dilemma and fiasco we find ourselves into. At the moment, prayers cannot work anymore because we seem to have burdened God with prayers yet we do nothing beyond prayers. What works is what we Catholics say, ora et labora which is a Latin phrase meaning that you pray and work.  For so long, we have prayed but inadvertently failed or sometimes deliberately refused to work. Today, if we do not want what befell southern sudan to be replicated here. We must pray very hard and work even harder to extricate ourselves from the oppressive, exploitative and discriminatory cabal of rulers who have donated Uganda to themselves. We must reclaim what rightfully belongs to us.

I am now told that the UN secretary general is courting Yoweri Museveni to intervene in Southern Sudan to ensure there is peace. My question to Ban Ki Moon and all those who think like him is, what credentials does Museveni have to restore peace in any country let alone Southern Sudan? Clearly, if Museveni was not in power, wouldn’t he be throwing bombs here in town and killing innocent people? I presume he would. He has killed innocent people before as he fought to capture power, he has killed innocent people in his quest to consolidate and retain power and he would most likely kill innocent people in his quest to recapture power if he was ejected. Accordingly, Museveni is not a peace-maker; he is not a peace lover and is not a peaceful man. You cannot give what you do not have. Museveni can only give violence because that is what he has in abundance. He can give vindictiveness, revenge, retribution and mayhem. Museveni is the worst messenger for a noble cause. I call upon the UN secretary general to nominate Kofi Annan and Benjamin Mkapa for the mission of ensuring peace in southern Sudan not Museveni who I am sure must be taking sides in the whose impasse.

Finally, all the leaders of the Democratic Party share similar traits: they are all nonviolence, peace-loving, truthful and above highly thoughtful but also good listeners. These traits have cut through from Benedicto Kiwanuka, Paulo Ssemogerere together with Mzee Boniface Byanyima, John Ssebana Kizito and ultimately Norbert Mao. THE Democratic Party is clearly destined to heal Uganda from spiritual doom, moral quandary, intellectual dishonesty, mental and moral poverty, and a culture of violence, dishonesty, pretence and hypocrisy that has been inculcated by the current crop of political (mis)rulers.  Our patriotic call is to defend truth and propagate justice.  Anything that is unjust; we cannot and will never associate ourselves with it. Long live truth and justice, long live Uganda.

Mr. Nuwagaba is a human rights defender, scholar, researcher and life member of the Democratic Party

Contact : +256702843552

vnuwagaba@gmail.com

The Democratic Party is neither a Baganda nor a Catholic Party, it is a national party

TIM MUGERWA on the A4C Facebook page alleged that the DP is a party for the Baganda and Catholics and I found it prudent to clarify for him and his ilk. I am amazed at people who say DP, my parents' and grand parents' party is a Baganda Catholic Party as though they don't know the history of the Democratic Party. That the two of the party flag bearers Ben Kiwanuka and Paul K Ssemogerere have been both Baganda Catholics doesn't mean they own the party. At independence, DP was defeated because of the unholy marriage of convenience by the Protestant Kabaka Yekka with Protestant-leaning Uganda People's Congress. Since, UPC's Milton Obote became Uganda's first independence Executive Prime minister courtesy of UPC's alliance with KY, does it sound true to say UPC is partly a Baganda Protestant Party and Partly a Langi-Protestant Party? The lies, misconceptions and half-truths against DP cannot be swallowed anymore. Like the Bible says, "They will know the truth and the truth will set them free". For the information of Mugerwa and his ilk, Mzee Boniface Byanyima - Dr Besigye's father-in-law was until 2005 the national chairman of DP and is still a strong pillar of the party. Byanyima's wife, Gertrude Kabwasingo Byanyima (RIP), Winnie's mother was known as mother DP in the whole of western Uganda if not in the whole of Uganda. You need to be told that before the advent of Museveni's NRM, virtually all the Bahima who are neither Baganda nor Catholics were DP members and supporters.

And by the way you need to recall that in 1980 Sam Kutesa stood on the DP ticket to defeat Museveni in Nyabushozi. I wish to aver that it is largely because Kutesa left DP and joined NRM that he started behaving like the NRM people whose party is synonymous with corruption. Otherwise had he remained in DP most likely he wouldn't be embroiled in corruption scandals. That's not to say DP is purely free from the corrupt. DP - a spotless party may be infiltrated by people who at heart are NRM but superficially claim to be DP. At least, those who read the Bible know that when Job's children went to dance for the Lord Satan came along with them. So where there's good, the devil must be there to tempt the good people. Where people worship God, Satan will be there to tempt God's people to evade HIM. Those who wrongly perceive the party to be sectarian must know that DP is a party with a big heart welcoming and accommodating all people that believe in truth and justice.

And please, don't make a mistake of calling FDC a party for Banyankole/Bakiga or protestants because the party president is a Munyankole/Mukiga cum protestant or because the leader of opposition is a protestant. By attaching political parties to religion or ethnicity we miss a big point: namely what the parties stand for. Nobody applied to belong to their ethnic group and majority of us find ourselves following our parents' faith. Although, I proudly cherish the Catholic faith, most likely if I was born or brought up in an Anglican or Muslim family, I wouldn't be a Catholic. We have no control about our ethnicity and have very little control about our religious beliefs. Let's confine ourselves to the issues that we can control.
It's not a crime for a Muganda Catholic to stand on the ticket of DP simply because we fear the false perception that the party is for only Baganda Catholics. Mzee William Mukaira was until recently deemed father DP in the greater Bushenyi although he's a Munyankole Anglican. His crossing to FDC had neither to do with his ethnicity nor his faith. I have talked to him several times and I can authoritatively say, he's still DP at heart although he may have been disillusioned by the slow pace at which the party was moving. I will not comment on UPC for reasons best known to me but I also know that it has some well-meaning people.
Formation of political parties is often influenced by causes. If Catholics are marginalised as Catholics they make no crime forming a party to address their marginalisation thereby calling upon all Catholics who resent marginalisation to shun other parties. Aristotle's dictum that man is a political animal and that whoever claims to be apolitical is either a god or a beast is axiomatic. The mistake arises only when they lock out other people on religious or ethnic grounds or if they use the party to marginalise others. Even if I was not a Catholic I would find it prudent to identify with a party that espouses my cherished values: truth and justice. This I have done and those who have seen me since 2001 can attest that I have strongly identified with the marginalised Ugandans from the north and north-east. I wonder whether the NRM is called a Banyankole- Bakiga protestant party since the core leadership comprises of Banyankole/Bakiga Protestants.
We shouldn't fall prey to the NRM propaganda by labeling the opposition parties sectarian. The most sectarian party that I have known is NRM. I agree DP was largely followed by Catholics while UPC was largely followed by Protestants but at least religion cuts across the whole country meaning if DP was a Catholic Party like it is portrayed, a Catholic in Acholi land would see it as his/her party and the same applied to the one in Kigezi or Ankole. In Museveni's reign, today people are divided along ethnic grounds and parties are largely ethnic! So between the NRM and the past political parties where is sectarianism highly pronounced? I have seen some people who criticise me sharply when I support a fellow Catholic for any leadership position arguing that I have chosen to be sectarian on religious grounds. But whenever I support a Muslim or Anglican even if such a person is a fellow Munyankole-Mukiga, they don't criticise me. Does it mean Catholics are devoid of leadership credentials? I have seen some people from my area who critiqued me for joining Uganda Young Democrats arguing I did that because I was a Catholic but they don't criticise westerners who join NRM or FDC youth leagues. We must not be hypocrites if we are to make Uganda better for all of us. Incidentally, I like the FDC Slogan of "One Uganda, One people" but the Alpha and Omega for that slogan is justice which will remain an illusion if we shun the truth. Therefore, truth and justice to me are the cherished values while "One Uganda, One people" is a motto. It's because of this reason that DP, FDC and all other opposition parties must necessarily work together never apart. You also have to know that for every rule there's an exception. Therefore, even the perverse parties such as NRM have got some good people. I think Theodore Ssekikubo is a respectable gentleman.
Ugandans don't eat parties but all they need is what the parties promise and ultimately do for them. In Uganda, we don't have ideological differences as all parties ironically including the ruling party promise better health facilities, education, roads, markets for agricultural products, jobs and so forth. Even the parties which call themselves right-wing parties end up campaigning as social democratic parties. We have parties that call themselves social democratic parties but have not proved to be so when they are in power. Social democratic parties cannot fight trade unions or accept wholeheartedly to be in the pockets of the western capitalists. The NRM is an ultra-right wing political party but some members who suffer the dearth of knowledge of political ideologies call it a social democratic party which necessarily must be centre-leftist.
Finally, we must sit down as Ugandans, identify our problems and prescribe remedies for them. We must extricate ourselves from the yoke of the current capitalism which has emphasised heartless individualism and exploitation. All of us must participate in politics either as leaders or voters or activists who will hold our leaders to account for the taxpayers' money.