God Calls Us To Show Mercy and Compassion to Our Fellow Man
Warnings on Taking Advantage of Others In Need
Exodus 22:22
Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan.
Deuteronomy 14:28-29
At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
Deuteronomy 15:7, 11
If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.
Deuteronomy 24:14
Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns
Leviticus 23:22
When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.
Psalm 12:5
Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise, says the LORD, I will protect them from those who malign them
Psalm 37:25-26
I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.
Psalm 41:1-2
Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble. The LORD will protect him and preserve his life; he will bless him in the land and not surrender him to the desire of his foes.
Psalm 68:5
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling
Psalm 112:9
He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn [a] will be lifted high in honor.
Proverbs 11:24-25
One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
Proverbs 14:21
He who despises his neighbor sins,but blessed is he who is kind to the needy.
Proverbs 14:31
He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.
Proverbs 19:17
He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.
Proverbs 21:13
If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.
Proverbs 22:9
A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.
Proverbs 28:27
He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.
Proverbs 31:8-9
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 58:6-7;10
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? ...and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
Ezekiel 16:49
Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
Zechariah 7:8-10
And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah: "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'
Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Matthew 6:1-4
Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 25:41-45
Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least among you, you did not do for me.'
Mark 10:21
Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
Luke 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Luke 10:29-37
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
Luke 12:33
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
Luke 14:13-14
But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
2 Corinthians 9:7
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Ephesians 4:32
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Hebrews 13:2
Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
Colossians 3:12
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
1 Timothy 6:17-19
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
1 John 3:17-18
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
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Saturday, October 29, 2011
JUSTICE TIPS
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20 quotes to inspire change
By Julie Schwietert On April 30, 2009 · 19 Comments
Photo: Sepperer Markus
They’re profound thinkers who spoke powerful words.
BUT THEY ALSO llived their lives as an example, putting these words into action every day. From Africa to the Americas, here are quotes from 20 famous–and not so famous–people, living and dead, who spent their lives thinking about and contributing to social justice movements.
1. “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” -Audre Lorde
2. “We must not allow ourselves to become like the system we oppose.” -Archbishop Desmond Tutu
3. “When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?” -Eleanor Roosevelt
4. “Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.”- Paulo Freire
5. “People must take a modicum of public responsibility for each other even if they have no ties to each other.” -Jane Jacobs
6. “We have a world to conquer…one person at a time…starting with ourselves.” -Nikki Giovanni
7. “We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Photo: meanestindian
8. “It is not enough to be compassionate – you must act.”- His Holiness The Dalai Lama
9. “The people are the only ones capable of transforming society.”- Rigoberta Menchu
10. “Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good; try to use ordinary situations.”- Jean Paul Richter
11. “There will be no Homeland Security until we realize that the entire planet is our homeland. Every sentient being in the world must feel secure.” -John Perkins
12. “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it.” -Helen Keller
13. “Take your easy tears somewhere else. Tell yourself none of this ever had to happen. And then go make it stop. With whatever breath you have left. Grief is a sword or it is nothing.” -Paul Monette
14. “Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope.” -Reinhold Neibuhr
15. “During times of universal deceit telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” -George Orwell
16. “To be human, at the most profound level, is to encounter honestly the inescapable circumstances that constrain us, yet muster the courage to struggle compassionately for our own unique individualities and for more democratic and free societies.” -Cornel West
Photo: Amor Ministries
17.”If you are trying to transform a brutalized society into one where people can live in dignity and hope, you begin with the empowering of the most powerless. You build from the ground up.” -Adrienne Rich
18. “Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two.” -Octavio Paz
19. “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.” -Elie Wiesel
20. “The more you move, the stronger you’ll grow….” -Ha Jineneas
Home
Channels
Topics
Destinations
Videos
Community
About
20 quotes to inspire change
By Julie Schwietert On April 30, 2009 · 19 Comments
Photo: Sepperer Markus
They’re profound thinkers who spoke powerful words.
BUT THEY ALSO llived their lives as an example, putting these words into action every day. From Africa to the Americas, here are quotes from 20 famous–and not so famous–people, living and dead, who spent their lives thinking about and contributing to social justice movements.
1. “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” -Audre Lorde
2. “We must not allow ourselves to become like the system we oppose.” -Archbishop Desmond Tutu
3. “When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?” -Eleanor Roosevelt
4. “Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.”- Paulo Freire
5. “People must take a modicum of public responsibility for each other even if they have no ties to each other.” -Jane Jacobs
6. “We have a world to conquer…one person at a time…starting with ourselves.” -Nikki Giovanni
7. “We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Photo: meanestindian
8. “It is not enough to be compassionate – you must act.”- His Holiness The Dalai Lama
9. “The people are the only ones capable of transforming society.”- Rigoberta Menchu
10. “Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good; try to use ordinary situations.”- Jean Paul Richter
11. “There will be no Homeland Security until we realize that the entire planet is our homeland. Every sentient being in the world must feel secure.” -John Perkins
12. “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it.” -Helen Keller
13. “Take your easy tears somewhere else. Tell yourself none of this ever had to happen. And then go make it stop. With whatever breath you have left. Grief is a sword or it is nothing.” -Paul Monette
14. “Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope.” -Reinhold Neibuhr
15. “During times of universal deceit telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” -George Orwell
16. “To be human, at the most profound level, is to encounter honestly the inescapable circumstances that constrain us, yet muster the courage to struggle compassionately for our own unique individualities and for more democratic and free societies.” -Cornel West
Photo: Amor Ministries
17.”If you are trying to transform a brutalized society into one where people can live in dignity and hope, you begin with the empowering of the most powerless. You build from the ground up.” -Adrienne Rich
18. “Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two.” -Octavio Paz
19. “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.” -Elie Wiesel
20. “The more you move, the stronger you’ll grow….” -Ha Jineneas
Quotes from Social Justice Leaders
Sometimes the best way to learn about a historical person is to read what they have said or written. Here are some quotes from people who were leaders in promoting social justice. If one of the quotes rings true with you, spend more time getting to know the person who said it. Search out more of his or her quotations, speeches, interviews, or writings. Think about ways you can model your life after him or her.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Click here to go to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s address delivered when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1964, in Oslo, Norway.
Dorothy Day
"The mystery of the poor is this: That they are Jesus, and what you do for them you do for Him. It is the only way we have of knowing and believing in our love. The mystery of poverty is that by sharing in it, making ourselves poor in giving to others, we increase our knowledge of and belief in love."
—"The Mystery of the Poor" by Dorothy Day. The Catholic Worker, April 1964. Found in "Dorothy Day Library on the Web" at www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday.
Daniel Berrigan, SJ
"... we are that small and assailed and powerless group of people who are nonviolent in principle and who are willing to suffer for our beliefs in the hope of creating something very different for those who will follow us. It is we who feel compelled to ask, along with, let's say, Bonhoeffer or Socrates or Jesus, how man is to live as a human being and how his communities are to form and to proliferate as instruments of human change and of human justice; and it is we who struggle to do more than pose the questions—but rather, live as though the questions were all-important, even though they cannot be immediately answered."
—from "A Dialogue With Radical Priest Daniel Berrigan" in Time (March 22, 1971)
César Chávez
"Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. And you cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Click here to go to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s address delivered when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1964, in Oslo, Norway.
Dorothy Day
"The mystery of the poor is this: That they are Jesus, and what you do for them you do for Him. It is the only way we have of knowing and believing in our love. The mystery of poverty is that by sharing in it, making ourselves poor in giving to others, we increase our knowledge of and belief in love."
—"The Mystery of the Poor" by Dorothy Day. The Catholic Worker, April 1964. Found in "Dorothy Day Library on the Web" at www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday.
Daniel Berrigan, SJ
"... we are that small and assailed and powerless group of people who are nonviolent in principle and who are willing to suffer for our beliefs in the hope of creating something very different for those who will follow us. It is we who feel compelled to ask, along with, let's say, Bonhoeffer or Socrates or Jesus, how man is to live as a human being and how his communities are to form and to proliferate as instruments of human change and of human justice; and it is we who struggle to do more than pose the questions—but rather, live as though the questions were all-important, even though they cannot be immediately answered."
—from "A Dialogue With Radical Priest Daniel Berrigan" in Time (March 22, 1971)
César Chávez
"Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. And you cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore."
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.
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.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Restore Term Limits, Mak Students Tell M7
Published by the Red Pepper on Thursday 13 October 2011
By Hope Muhairwe.
Makerere University students have begged Kenyan Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka to force President Yoweri Museveni to restore term limits in Uganda.
The request was made on Monday afternoon by Vincent Nuwagaba, a political science scholar during a public debate where Kalonzo was the guest speaker.
Nuwagaba told Kalonzo that Museveni’s over stay in power would kill the political federation. Nuwagaba was supported by the audience although the Kenyan VP did not reply the question.
He only advised Ugandans to be patient. At the same function Mak VC Venansius Baryamureeba announced that he was going to open up study centres in outside countries to enable students from those countries have easy access to education.
Barya also confirmed a Red Pepper story that said Mak was going to give a PHD to President Mwai Kibaki, for being the first student to get a first class degree in economics at Makerere University.
By Hope Muhairwe.
Makerere University students have begged Kenyan Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka to force President Yoweri Museveni to restore term limits in Uganda.
The request was made on Monday afternoon by Vincent Nuwagaba, a political science scholar during a public debate where Kalonzo was the guest speaker.
Nuwagaba told Kalonzo that Museveni’s over stay in power would kill the political federation. Nuwagaba was supported by the audience although the Kenyan VP did not reply the question.
He only advised Ugandans to be patient. At the same function Mak VC Venansius Baryamureeba announced that he was going to open up study centres in outside countries to enable students from those countries have easy access to education.
Barya also confirmed a Red Pepper story that said Mak was going to give a PHD to President Mwai Kibaki, for being the first student to get a first class degree in economics at Makerere University.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Museveni is now a captive of his own deeds
May 1, 11 12:10 PM
I have read with concern the remarks by the president on the closure of the Interreligious Council meeting and I felt duty-bound to respond.
For how long does it take a leader to generate electricity in his country – ten years; twenty years or fifty years? Doesn’t this mean that a whole generation can be condemned to poverty if a leader celebrates a silver jubilee in power and he is still talking about basic infrastructure? If we have not got those basic needs in such a long time, what guarantee is there that we shall get them in a period whose duration we don’t know?
That professor Oloka Onyango is poisoning our children with lies in Makerere: Is Professor Oloka-Onyango the one who promised a fundamental change and all we are seeing instead is no change? I would like to know whether Museveni is a taxpayer and Oloka-Onyango is not.
That if they were dictators, Professor Oloka-Onyango wouldn’t be alive teaching in Makerere depending on taxpayers’ money while poisoning their children: I find this absurd. All I know is Prof Oloka-Onyango is a Ugandan taxpayer and he is in that university not as a favour but because he qualifies to be there. Is this not a veiled threat against the good professor? By the way, although, Professor Oloka Onyango is alive it doesn’t mean there aren’t other people who have died at the hands of the state operatives who ironically are supposed to protect them. The Anglican prayer book says, “Constantly speak he truth; boldly rebuke vice and patiently suffer for the truth’s sake”. I applaud Professor Oloka for speaking the truth although it sounds unpalatable to those wielding power.
Since the president wants the truth, let him tell us why he never retired as he promised on page 11 in his manifesto in 2001? Let him tell us why we don’t have community polytechnics that he promised in 1996? Let him tell us whether it is not him that has ordered the brutalizing of the opposition leaders?
The country’s concern is not whether or not Museveni has won elections. The major concern is whether the president is doing what he is mandated to do. Is he delivering according to our expectation? In 2009, within a week that students were reporting, the government instead of funding public universities endorsed an increment of tuition fee up to 126%. It was never 40% as our media houses reported. I personally wrote to the president complaining about this unfair development. We took a petition to parliament with clear reasons as to why we opposed the increment. Rather than listening to us, I had to serve a jail sentence on trumped up charges of assault and threatening violence on top of being brutally tortured by the police who even stole my money. Right now, it is difficult for professors to sponsor their own children in a university in which they teach. We have a collapsed health system; public servants including Professor Oloka-Onyango whom the president said, should go and hang, are paid peanuts! Yet the president and his apparatchiks live in glamour, grandeur, sumptuousness, opulence, pomp, pageantry and ostentation!
All we need is not only political but also financial accountability for our money. We part with thirty percent every month in Pay As You Earn which Andrew Mwenda used to call Pay As Yoweri Earns, we part with 18 percent on Value Added Tax on each commodity we purchase and a host of other taxes and the president insults whoever asks him for accountability. We know we cannot have credible elections organized by the commission hand-picked by the president. Given the power of incumbency, it is only somnambulists who would think, Museveni could be beaten at the polls organised by him. Some of his spin doctors who have always argued that Museveni won clean and square have testified that he used about 1 trillion shillings from taxpayers’ money and some from his friends. How, then, can we have a free and fair election where the incumbent is using taxpayers’ money. And not just taxpayers’ money but colossal sums of taxpayers money!
That the radios never gave unfair advantage to the president: Virtually all the upcountry radio stations are owned by NRM members – some of them ministers and members of parliament. Amama Mbabazi, Igeme Nabeta, Nuru Byamukama, Jim Muhwezi, Mike Mukula etc. Moreover, the state-owned radio, UBC and those owned by Vision Group of companies also favoured the incumbent. So who is speaking the truth?
That incumbency didn’t favour Museveni because he had to divide his time for campaigns and national duties: Because he was a candidate and a president at the same time, he couldn’t distinguish between Museveni the presidential candidate and Museveni the president. This gave him an unfair advantage over other candidates as he used state funds to solicit for his votes and the votes for the NRM candidates. He should account for the more than 600 billion shillings supplementary budget which was passed during the campaigns and hardly after a month the finance minister said, government was broke! The 20 million shillings given to MPs reportedly for supervising the NAADS programme in the heat of the campaigns was rightly construed to be a bribe.
That incumbency is a disadvantage is a blatant lie. He should know that the people he was addressing – religious leaders are very informed people. Some of them have Phds. Because of incumbency, he began and has always began his campaigns before other candidates in the guise of “prosperity for all”, monitoring government programmes and so forth using taxpayers’ money. In fact, during these tours, the president hands over brown envelopes containing cash to a number of people which is also construed to be a bribe to the electorate.
I don’t think the president has the moral authority to talk about politicians who lie. This really is a case of a pot calling a kettle black. Sadly, whoever speaks the truth, Museveni labels such a person a liar.
I think careerists in politics are people who look at politics as a career. I would want to know, apart from politics, what other office has Museveni ever occupied since he finished university in 1969 if I am not mistaken? He has been in power for quarter a century now; twenty five years down the line, he is still talking of the vision. I don’t know whether his vision will be realised in 2050. If president Museveni is not a career politician, he should kindly tell us which other Ugandan is a career politician.
That the culture of giving money to voters has been started by these young careerists:
Again, the president is at it. His cadres in Bushenyi – Nasser Bassajabalaba, Hassan Basajabalaba, Willis Bashasha were openly buying votes for him and for themselves. So who does he blame? Does he want to say that the opposition had more money to buy votes than the NRM? In every cell, at least in my home county Ruhinda a chairman was given Shs120,000 and there were thirty people each of whom was given 5,000 shillings. This is the amount of money that everyone knows about. But also on the eve of voting and on the voting day, NRM cadres were distributing cash and other valuables. So who are these careerists buying votes?
If the president doesn’t want people to call the gifts and brown envelopes bribes, he should stop using taxpayers’ money. He should use his own money but also the prctice will be suspect when it takes place during the campaign period. Otherwise, taxpayers are entitled to know the criterion followed while giving those gifts. I would also need to know whether it is a constitutional duty for the president to give gifts to religious leaders. And, incidentally, we would wish to know whether the groups or people that the president often gives gifts are the neediest people. When a president gives a Land Cruiser to a bishop, it follows that many people of his flock may be swayed by the act of charity to the bishop.
That the president wants to push for the amendment of the constitution to deny certain categories of offenders bail raises suspicion. I know some opposition figures may soon be charged with treason and terrorism and this amendment could be aimed at denying them bail. The president again wants the people who are presumed innocent to continue being penalized like the practice is. If he abhors the practice of giving bail to the murderers he should begin by locking up Ofwono Opondo who killed a person at Kitante Primary school sometime back and he continues walking with his head high.
About term limits: I am amazed that the man who stated in black and white that Africa’s problem are the leaders who overstay in power is the one praising the desecration of our constitution by removing the most sacrosanct provision. The Banyankore say, nowahinga ahorobi ayinuka which means, even if one is tilling a soft ground, time reaches when they have to retire. I want to state, like Shakespeare stated, the world is a theatre; man comes, plays his part and then goes. In our neighbourhood here in Tanzania, Hassan Mwinyi is alive, Ben Mkapa is alive; Nyerere didn’t die in power; Daniel Arap Moi is around in Kenya; what’s so unique with us here?
On unemployment: There seems to me, to be a deliberate move by the regime to keep many Ugandans jobless. I have stated elsewhere that in Uganda, the biggest unemployment problem we are facing is graduate unemployment. Yet all Ugandan universities have produced not more than 300,000 graduates. Out of these, a sizeable number is from neighbouring countries – Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, among others because Uganda was and still is an education hub. These foreigners often go back after finishing their studies. We also have very few people studying from outside Uganda – notably those from topnotch families. Accordingly, genuine Ugandans with university degrees are not more than 200,000 (two hundred thousand). Why they don’t get jobs is simply because jobs are given on patronage basis to friends, relatives and in-laws of the political elites most of who forge academic documents from Nasser Road. The president was recently quoted in the New Vision saying the unemployed should sell juice and fruits! I have stated before that those that are not well educated are comfortably employed as Boda Boda cyclists, shoe shiners, barbers, wheel barrow pushers, fruit vendors, house maids and house boys and so forth. Now you see the the solution that the president has for the unemployment problem!
Way forward
On the problem of graduate unemployment, the government must ask all the employers whether in the private sector or public sector to verify the credentials of the people they employ with the respective institutions those people claim to have studied from. If you get a Makerere University transcript from Nasser Road, you will be unearthed if your document is taken to Makerere for verification and you don’t appear in Makerere University database. If you have a forged A or O level certificate, government must check with UNEB and the schools named. As things unfold, Besigye’s tormentor may have forged documents to obtain a degree. Otherwise, what describes a discrepancy between the names he used in the lower levels of education and the ones he uses now?
Government must make sure higher education including university education is accessible on merit not on the basis of affluence. University fees in public universities are too much to bear by the ordinary person but also by most employees including civil servants. Accordingly, government must reduce tuition fees as the president promised during his campaigns but also increase funding to the universities for research and enhancement of the academic staff salaries.
The government promised to launch a students’ loan scheme which the president promised even before he started his campaigns. This loan scheme is long overdue and it should cater for all those that have dropped out of universities on account of failing to raise tuition fees. I am sure, since other countries have managed it, Uganda also must.
Government must increase the salaries of all employees and urge the private employers to increase the remuneration for their employs to match with the rising costs of living.
Government must intervene by cutting the fuel taxes but also taxes on all other commodity prices. I find the argument that when government reduces taxes, there will be no money for roads and electricity lame. The state is there for the good of its citizens. There are immediate needs that need to be prioritized and these are survival needs.
Government must bring to book all regime supporters that have flagrantly abused the law. We cannot accept a situation where criminality is condoned as long as it is done in support of the sitting regime. There must be a distinction between the state and the regime. Accordingly, Gilbert Arinaitwe Bwana who tortured, tormented and traumatized Dr Besigye should immediately be brought to book; Ofwono Opondo who shot a person in broad day light should also be prosecuted; Kale Kayihura a man under whose supervision Gilbert Arinaitwe Bwana works should also be brought to book.
The dialogue that government is proposing with the opposition is meaningless if the above issues are not handled. We demand to live in a country where our dignity as human beings is respected.
Finally, if shillings 1.8 trillion that has been unconstitutionally appropriated to buy fighter jets, (I don’t know what for) was to be distributed among 100,000 unemployed graduates, each one would get 18million shillings to be able to begin a job for himself/herself. It is nauseating and disgusting to find that our graduates have become paupers and criminals of all sorts just because they cannot get what to do when the government misallocates resources.
The recommendations I have given are by no means exhaustive but they will inevitably endear the government to the citizens if they worked upon. If they are disregarded, the government will further alienate itself from the citizens and calls by the opposition to withdraw the social contract will always attract public attention. It is futile for the ruling party to think that it will continuously buy votes, manipulate and deceive the masses to stay in power. Even if that is successfully done, some of us who know what the government should do will continue to protest. Incidentally, some people have chosen to go to prison in protest. At least, Honourable Mao told me when I visited him in Luzira that even by being in prison, he was protesting. Mr President, please, never ever think of criminalizing protests against the government. Thomas Jefferson said, “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism”. Accordingly, people who express dissent with the manner in which government is run are not saboteurs; they are not traitors but the greatest patriots.
Vincent Nuwagaba is a human rights defender
vnuwagaba@gmail.com
I have read with concern the remarks by the president on the closure of the Interreligious Council meeting and I felt duty-bound to respond.
For how long does it take a leader to generate electricity in his country – ten years; twenty years or fifty years? Doesn’t this mean that a whole generation can be condemned to poverty if a leader celebrates a silver jubilee in power and he is still talking about basic infrastructure? If we have not got those basic needs in such a long time, what guarantee is there that we shall get them in a period whose duration we don’t know?
That professor Oloka Onyango is poisoning our children with lies in Makerere: Is Professor Oloka-Onyango the one who promised a fundamental change and all we are seeing instead is no change? I would like to know whether Museveni is a taxpayer and Oloka-Onyango is not.
That if they were dictators, Professor Oloka-Onyango wouldn’t be alive teaching in Makerere depending on taxpayers’ money while poisoning their children: I find this absurd. All I know is Prof Oloka-Onyango is a Ugandan taxpayer and he is in that university not as a favour but because he qualifies to be there. Is this not a veiled threat against the good professor? By the way, although, Professor Oloka Onyango is alive it doesn’t mean there aren’t other people who have died at the hands of the state operatives who ironically are supposed to protect them. The Anglican prayer book says, “Constantly speak he truth; boldly rebuke vice and patiently suffer for the truth’s sake”. I applaud Professor Oloka for speaking the truth although it sounds unpalatable to those wielding power.
Since the president wants the truth, let him tell us why he never retired as he promised on page 11 in his manifesto in 2001? Let him tell us why we don’t have community polytechnics that he promised in 1996? Let him tell us whether it is not him that has ordered the brutalizing of the opposition leaders?
The country’s concern is not whether or not Museveni has won elections. The major concern is whether the president is doing what he is mandated to do. Is he delivering according to our expectation? In 2009, within a week that students were reporting, the government instead of funding public universities endorsed an increment of tuition fee up to 126%. It was never 40% as our media houses reported. I personally wrote to the president complaining about this unfair development. We took a petition to parliament with clear reasons as to why we opposed the increment. Rather than listening to us, I had to serve a jail sentence on trumped up charges of assault and threatening violence on top of being brutally tortured by the police who even stole my money. Right now, it is difficult for professors to sponsor their own children in a university in which they teach. We have a collapsed health system; public servants including Professor Oloka-Onyango whom the president said, should go and hang, are paid peanuts! Yet the president and his apparatchiks live in glamour, grandeur, sumptuousness, opulence, pomp, pageantry and ostentation!
All we need is not only political but also financial accountability for our money. We part with thirty percent every month in Pay As You Earn which Andrew Mwenda used to call Pay As Yoweri Earns, we part with 18 percent on Value Added Tax on each commodity we purchase and a host of other taxes and the president insults whoever asks him for accountability. We know we cannot have credible elections organized by the commission hand-picked by the president. Given the power of incumbency, it is only somnambulists who would think, Museveni could be beaten at the polls organised by him. Some of his spin doctors who have always argued that Museveni won clean and square have testified that he used about 1 trillion shillings from taxpayers’ money and some from his friends. How, then, can we have a free and fair election where the incumbent is using taxpayers’ money. And not just taxpayers’ money but colossal sums of taxpayers money!
That the radios never gave unfair advantage to the president: Virtually all the upcountry radio stations are owned by NRM members – some of them ministers and members of parliament. Amama Mbabazi, Igeme Nabeta, Nuru Byamukama, Jim Muhwezi, Mike Mukula etc. Moreover, the state-owned radio, UBC and those owned by Vision Group of companies also favoured the incumbent. So who is speaking the truth?
That incumbency didn’t favour Museveni because he had to divide his time for campaigns and national duties: Because he was a candidate and a president at the same time, he couldn’t distinguish between Museveni the presidential candidate and Museveni the president. This gave him an unfair advantage over other candidates as he used state funds to solicit for his votes and the votes for the NRM candidates. He should account for the more than 600 billion shillings supplementary budget which was passed during the campaigns and hardly after a month the finance minister said, government was broke! The 20 million shillings given to MPs reportedly for supervising the NAADS programme in the heat of the campaigns was rightly construed to be a bribe.
That incumbency is a disadvantage is a blatant lie. He should know that the people he was addressing – religious leaders are very informed people. Some of them have Phds. Because of incumbency, he began and has always began his campaigns before other candidates in the guise of “prosperity for all”, monitoring government programmes and so forth using taxpayers’ money. In fact, during these tours, the president hands over brown envelopes containing cash to a number of people which is also construed to be a bribe to the electorate.
I don’t think the president has the moral authority to talk about politicians who lie. This really is a case of a pot calling a kettle black. Sadly, whoever speaks the truth, Museveni labels such a person a liar.
I think careerists in politics are people who look at politics as a career. I would want to know, apart from politics, what other office has Museveni ever occupied since he finished university in 1969 if I am not mistaken? He has been in power for quarter a century now; twenty five years down the line, he is still talking of the vision. I don’t know whether his vision will be realised in 2050. If president Museveni is not a career politician, he should kindly tell us which other Ugandan is a career politician.
That the culture of giving money to voters has been started by these young careerists:
Again, the president is at it. His cadres in Bushenyi – Nasser Bassajabalaba, Hassan Basajabalaba, Willis Bashasha were openly buying votes for him and for themselves. So who does he blame? Does he want to say that the opposition had more money to buy votes than the NRM? In every cell, at least in my home county Ruhinda a chairman was given Shs120,000 and there were thirty people each of whom was given 5,000 shillings. This is the amount of money that everyone knows about. But also on the eve of voting and on the voting day, NRM cadres were distributing cash and other valuables. So who are these careerists buying votes?
If the president doesn’t want people to call the gifts and brown envelopes bribes, he should stop using taxpayers’ money. He should use his own money but also the prctice will be suspect when it takes place during the campaign period. Otherwise, taxpayers are entitled to know the criterion followed while giving those gifts. I would also need to know whether it is a constitutional duty for the president to give gifts to religious leaders. And, incidentally, we would wish to know whether the groups or people that the president often gives gifts are the neediest people. When a president gives a Land Cruiser to a bishop, it follows that many people of his flock may be swayed by the act of charity to the bishop.
That the president wants to push for the amendment of the constitution to deny certain categories of offenders bail raises suspicion. I know some opposition figures may soon be charged with treason and terrorism and this amendment could be aimed at denying them bail. The president again wants the people who are presumed innocent to continue being penalized like the practice is. If he abhors the practice of giving bail to the murderers he should begin by locking up Ofwono Opondo who killed a person at Kitante Primary school sometime back and he continues walking with his head high.
About term limits: I am amazed that the man who stated in black and white that Africa’s problem are the leaders who overstay in power is the one praising the desecration of our constitution by removing the most sacrosanct provision. The Banyankore say, nowahinga ahorobi ayinuka which means, even if one is tilling a soft ground, time reaches when they have to retire. I want to state, like Shakespeare stated, the world is a theatre; man comes, plays his part and then goes. In our neighbourhood here in Tanzania, Hassan Mwinyi is alive, Ben Mkapa is alive; Nyerere didn’t die in power; Daniel Arap Moi is around in Kenya; what’s so unique with us here?
On unemployment: There seems to me, to be a deliberate move by the regime to keep many Ugandans jobless. I have stated elsewhere that in Uganda, the biggest unemployment problem we are facing is graduate unemployment. Yet all Ugandan universities have produced not more than 300,000 graduates. Out of these, a sizeable number is from neighbouring countries – Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, among others because Uganda was and still is an education hub. These foreigners often go back after finishing their studies. We also have very few people studying from outside Uganda – notably those from topnotch families. Accordingly, genuine Ugandans with university degrees are not more than 200,000 (two hundred thousand). Why they don’t get jobs is simply because jobs are given on patronage basis to friends, relatives and in-laws of the political elites most of who forge academic documents from Nasser Road. The president was recently quoted in the New Vision saying the unemployed should sell juice and fruits! I have stated before that those that are not well educated are comfortably employed as Boda Boda cyclists, shoe shiners, barbers, wheel barrow pushers, fruit vendors, house maids and house boys and so forth. Now you see the the solution that the president has for the unemployment problem!
Way forward
On the problem of graduate unemployment, the government must ask all the employers whether in the private sector or public sector to verify the credentials of the people they employ with the respective institutions those people claim to have studied from. If you get a Makerere University transcript from Nasser Road, you will be unearthed if your document is taken to Makerere for verification and you don’t appear in Makerere University database. If you have a forged A or O level certificate, government must check with UNEB and the schools named. As things unfold, Besigye’s tormentor may have forged documents to obtain a degree. Otherwise, what describes a discrepancy between the names he used in the lower levels of education and the ones he uses now?
Government must make sure higher education including university education is accessible on merit not on the basis of affluence. University fees in public universities are too much to bear by the ordinary person but also by most employees including civil servants. Accordingly, government must reduce tuition fees as the president promised during his campaigns but also increase funding to the universities for research and enhancement of the academic staff salaries.
The government promised to launch a students’ loan scheme which the president promised even before he started his campaigns. This loan scheme is long overdue and it should cater for all those that have dropped out of universities on account of failing to raise tuition fees. I am sure, since other countries have managed it, Uganda also must.
Government must increase the salaries of all employees and urge the private employers to increase the remuneration for their employs to match with the rising costs of living.
Government must intervene by cutting the fuel taxes but also taxes on all other commodity prices. I find the argument that when government reduces taxes, there will be no money for roads and electricity lame. The state is there for the good of its citizens. There are immediate needs that need to be prioritized and these are survival needs.
Government must bring to book all regime supporters that have flagrantly abused the law. We cannot accept a situation where criminality is condoned as long as it is done in support of the sitting regime. There must be a distinction between the state and the regime. Accordingly, Gilbert Arinaitwe Bwana who tortured, tormented and traumatized Dr Besigye should immediately be brought to book; Ofwono Opondo who shot a person in broad day light should also be prosecuted; Kale Kayihura a man under whose supervision Gilbert Arinaitwe Bwana works should also be brought to book.
The dialogue that government is proposing with the opposition is meaningless if the above issues are not handled. We demand to live in a country where our dignity as human beings is respected.
Finally, if shillings 1.8 trillion that has been unconstitutionally appropriated to buy fighter jets, (I don’t know what for) was to be distributed among 100,000 unemployed graduates, each one would get 18million shillings to be able to begin a job for himself/herself. It is nauseating and disgusting to find that our graduates have become paupers and criminals of all sorts just because they cannot get what to do when the government misallocates resources.
The recommendations I have given are by no means exhaustive but they will inevitably endear the government to the citizens if they worked upon. If they are disregarded, the government will further alienate itself from the citizens and calls by the opposition to withdraw the social contract will always attract public attention. It is futile for the ruling party to think that it will continuously buy votes, manipulate and deceive the masses to stay in power. Even if that is successfully done, some of us who know what the government should do will continue to protest. Incidentally, some people have chosen to go to prison in protest. At least, Honourable Mao told me when I visited him in Luzira that even by being in prison, he was protesting. Mr President, please, never ever think of criminalizing protests against the government. Thomas Jefferson said, “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism”. Accordingly, people who express dissent with the manner in which government is run are not saboteurs; they are not traitors but the greatest patriots.
Vincent Nuwagaba is a human rights defender
vnuwagaba@gmail.com
Friday, September 16, 2011
Let's get real ; teacher’s salary increment is long overdue
Published by Daily Monitor Wednesday September 28,2011
Vincent Nuwagaba
I read with concern Mike Ssegawa’s article titled, “Let’s get real; teachers do not deserve salary increment now”. I would like to use the Daily Monitor whose company slogan is truth every day to expose the truth to Mr Ssegawa and his ilk about the supreme importance of a teacher and why they deserve a pay raise now. Ssegawa rightly acknowledges that teachers need a pay raise. He, however, swerves and goes diversionary when he says they are holding us hostage over their salaries. I know he reasons in such a manner because he is not a teacher. I need to step in the shoes of a Ugandan teacher who started as a grade III teacher, upgraded to Grade V and currently is a university graduate but to date still gets a monthly salary of Sh260,000. We also need to put the concept teacher into perspective. Who says a university professor of law, medicine, journalism or engineering – professions that Ssegawa glorifies is not a teacher? And is everyone that has gone through a teacher training college a teacher in a real sense?
Although I cherish humility and therefore always refrain from tooting my own horn, I have been a teacher at two stages throughout my education career – I taught in a primary school in my senior six vacation and I have taught in university. I have received feedback from parents – not students that I am a good teacher. I have also facilitated in some functions and I get positive responses. However, I have never had any formal training as a teacher. Thus, if you asked me who a teacher is, I would say, that man or woman ably passes on knowledge, information, values or skills to another person.
Before the teachers called off their strike, the Premier Amama Mbabazi threatened them with sacking and recruitment of fresh ones. How sure can we be that we would real teachers for our children even if they had paper qualifications? We are deeply engrossed into form rather than substance. How do you sack a tried, tested and trusted teacher and you replace him/her with the one that hasn’t even undergone orientation or induction? So our children should be turned into laboratories onto which tests and trials are done? Sadly, those who intended to sack teachers don’t have their children or grand children in UPE schools. They have eaten too much and are now suffering from indigestion!
As to whether teachers are holding us hostage over their salaries, he who wears the shoe knows how it pinches. And by the way, teachers have not stopped anybody from demanding a pay raise. Teachers and indeed all workers have a right to withdraw their labour if they are not well remunerated. All workers are entitled to a living wage.
The argument that only what the government should do is to control the spiraling inflation is misleading. With or without inflation, Shs250,000 is not worth working for. Not by people in the noble profession!
When Ssegawa argues that teachers’ level of education, workload and experience are miles away from other professionals such as doctors, state attorneys, accountants, engineers and journalists, I fail to understand whether or not he is a journalist because journalists like academics are the most informed people. While different people have different opinions, I would expect journalists, academics and researchers to give informed and considered opinions not opinions pedaled on the streets. A teacher goes to class, draws lesson plans and schemes of work and at home after 5pm, they embark on marking.
Ssegawa and his ilk should know that university professors are teachers but also there are currently primary and secondary school teachers with Masters Degrees. UNATU’s James Tweheyo and I were supervised by Professor John-Jean Barya for a master in human rights. How many Ugandans are better educated than him? When my brother talks of experience what exactly does he mean? Is he saying that inexperienced teachers are the only ones that laid down their tools?
Ssegawa lies that education has the “most lax” and affordable requirements for entry into higher institutions of learning. He must be uninformed and while he is entitled to his opinions, he has no right whatsoever to misinform others. Not any fool can qualify to do a degree course in education from Makerere University for instance. Maybe he is talking about what some people have called useless universities.
Mr Ssegawa makes a good observation that there’s need to increase salaries across the board. Granted! That doesn’t stop teachers from demanding salary increment and since he is a journalist, I would expect him to use his profession to urge the police, military, doctors and state attorneys to demand a living wage. Personally, I hardly need state attorneys in my life because all they do is work hard to secure convictions of many people so that they can be appreciated in which case many innocent people are convicted as a result of state attorneys that Ssegawa idolises. Besides, state attorneys don’t complain because they have their informal ways of getting money – read bribery.
Teachers have many dependents including their very pupils and students and this justifies their demand. I am only saddened that they asked only 100 percent increment which would translate into a total monthly earning of Sh500,000. What will that little do for the teacher, his wife, his elderly mother and father, his children and other dependents? It is just a drop in the ocean. True, teachers have their pupils and students depending on them. My Maternal Uncle James Ruremire died when I was in P5. For P6 and P7, my fees were paid by Raphael Kamugisha, a Grade III teacher at Kigarama Primary School. He was the second person to buy me a trouser after my grandma Susanna Kirakwende. I cannot count how many of my teachers bought for me goodies at school. After senior four, I opened a shop and I used Charles Yemare and Nazario Twesigomwe commonly called Debraza - my former teachers’ bicycles to do my business. Let’s get real; forcing hungry, angry and impoverished teachers to work is detrimental to our children for they can give them wrong information and formulae.
The writer is a human rights defender
mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
Vincent Nuwagaba
I read with concern Mike Ssegawa’s article titled, “Let’s get real; teachers do not deserve salary increment now”. I would like to use the Daily Monitor whose company slogan is truth every day to expose the truth to Mr Ssegawa and his ilk about the supreme importance of a teacher and why they deserve a pay raise now. Ssegawa rightly acknowledges that teachers need a pay raise. He, however, swerves and goes diversionary when he says they are holding us hostage over their salaries. I know he reasons in such a manner because he is not a teacher. I need to step in the shoes of a Ugandan teacher who started as a grade III teacher, upgraded to Grade V and currently is a university graduate but to date still gets a monthly salary of Sh260,000. We also need to put the concept teacher into perspective. Who says a university professor of law, medicine, journalism or engineering – professions that Ssegawa glorifies is not a teacher? And is everyone that has gone through a teacher training college a teacher in a real sense?
Although I cherish humility and therefore always refrain from tooting my own horn, I have been a teacher at two stages throughout my education career – I taught in a primary school in my senior six vacation and I have taught in university. I have received feedback from parents – not students that I am a good teacher. I have also facilitated in some functions and I get positive responses. However, I have never had any formal training as a teacher. Thus, if you asked me who a teacher is, I would say, that man or woman ably passes on knowledge, information, values or skills to another person.
Before the teachers called off their strike, the Premier Amama Mbabazi threatened them with sacking and recruitment of fresh ones. How sure can we be that we would real teachers for our children even if they had paper qualifications? We are deeply engrossed into form rather than substance. How do you sack a tried, tested and trusted teacher and you replace him/her with the one that hasn’t even undergone orientation or induction? So our children should be turned into laboratories onto which tests and trials are done? Sadly, those who intended to sack teachers don’t have their children or grand children in UPE schools. They have eaten too much and are now suffering from indigestion!
As to whether teachers are holding us hostage over their salaries, he who wears the shoe knows how it pinches. And by the way, teachers have not stopped anybody from demanding a pay raise. Teachers and indeed all workers have a right to withdraw their labour if they are not well remunerated. All workers are entitled to a living wage.
The argument that only what the government should do is to control the spiraling inflation is misleading. With or without inflation, Shs250,000 is not worth working for. Not by people in the noble profession!
When Ssegawa argues that teachers’ level of education, workload and experience are miles away from other professionals such as doctors, state attorneys, accountants, engineers and journalists, I fail to understand whether or not he is a journalist because journalists like academics are the most informed people. While different people have different opinions, I would expect journalists, academics and researchers to give informed and considered opinions not opinions pedaled on the streets. A teacher goes to class, draws lesson plans and schemes of work and at home after 5pm, they embark on marking.
Ssegawa and his ilk should know that university professors are teachers but also there are currently primary and secondary school teachers with Masters Degrees. UNATU’s James Tweheyo and I were supervised by Professor John-Jean Barya for a master in human rights. How many Ugandans are better educated than him? When my brother talks of experience what exactly does he mean? Is he saying that inexperienced teachers are the only ones that laid down their tools?
Ssegawa lies that education has the “most lax” and affordable requirements for entry into higher institutions of learning. He must be uninformed and while he is entitled to his opinions, he has no right whatsoever to misinform others. Not any fool can qualify to do a degree course in education from Makerere University for instance. Maybe he is talking about what some people have called useless universities.
Mr Ssegawa makes a good observation that there’s need to increase salaries across the board. Granted! That doesn’t stop teachers from demanding salary increment and since he is a journalist, I would expect him to use his profession to urge the police, military, doctors and state attorneys to demand a living wage. Personally, I hardly need state attorneys in my life because all they do is work hard to secure convictions of many people so that they can be appreciated in which case many innocent people are convicted as a result of state attorneys that Ssegawa idolises. Besides, state attorneys don’t complain because they have their informal ways of getting money – read bribery.
Teachers have many dependents including their very pupils and students and this justifies their demand. I am only saddened that they asked only 100 percent increment which would translate into a total monthly earning of Sh500,000. What will that little do for the teacher, his wife, his elderly mother and father, his children and other dependents? It is just a drop in the ocean. True, teachers have their pupils and students depending on them. My Maternal Uncle James Ruremire died when I was in P5. For P6 and P7, my fees were paid by Raphael Kamugisha, a Grade III teacher at Kigarama Primary School. He was the second person to buy me a trouser after my grandma Susanna Kirakwende. I cannot count how many of my teachers bought for me goodies at school. After senior four, I opened a shop and I used Charles Yemare and Nazario Twesigomwe commonly called Debraza - my former teachers’ bicycles to do my business. Let’s get real; forcing hungry, angry and impoverished teachers to work is detrimental to our children for they can give them wrong information and formulae.
The writer is a human rights defender
mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
A 15% promised salary increment is a mockery to the Ugandan teachers
Vincent Nuwagaba
Ever since the teachers started their strike, I haven’t written about it. Not because, I was indifferent to their concerns but because I wanted to first gather ample views about their industrial action. It has now emerged that their industrial action has come to a halt even when their demands have been snubbed by the political leadership. What’s more disturbing is that the teachers’ industrial action ended in the wake of threats by the prime minister whose office is allotted billions of taxpayers’ money and his daily expenditure evidently far surpasses a teacher’s monthly salary as though the prime minister is superhuman while a teacher is subhuman.
As a human rights defender, I hold three principles dear, viz; human dignity, equality and non-discrimination. These principles should take centre stage as we analyse the plight of teachers. With due respect to Mr Amamba Mbabazi, our dear prime minister, some teachers are as educated as he is. What makes him believe that he has an inherent right to earn millions from taxpayers’ money while teachers are paid peanuts? personally, rarely do I need the services of a minister and politicians generally (if we have functional technocrats) but I will be terribly hurt if teachers denied us their services. I am a political scientist because of teachers; Mbabazi is a lawyer, MP and premier because of teachers and by the way Mbabazi’s boss is a president courtesy of teachers.
Personally, I hold all my teachers in high esteem including those who harassed me and those who taught me mathematics although I didn’t pass it. Actually, in terms of hierarchy and closeness, my teachers are second to my parents. Indeed they are also my parents! To all my teachers right from Kigarama Primary school, Kigarama, Kanyabwanga and Bubangizi Secondary schools up to Makerere University, I must say thank you and long live. Because I love teachers, I empathise and sympathise with them and call upon all well-meaning Ugandans to fight their battle for their battle is a battle for the welfare of our children.
I spent the weekend of 10th and 11th September in Bitereko my place of birth, upbringing and study and shared pleasantries with my primary and secondary school teachers together with some old students who joined the teaching profession. I told them first that while I sympathise with them, I am disappointed that they could settle for too little. Imagine, asking for a monthly salary of Sh500,000 in the current Uganda. Mr Bigirwamukama, a head teacher of Karangara Primary School told me he spends Sh4m every term for he has dependents but also his children are in relatively good schools. He has to sell his cattle but also mortgage his land to acquire loans to pay fees for his children and dependents. Ultimately, while he works for government, he is perpetually and incessantly indebted. Many teachers are insolvent because their liabilities far outweigh their assets and incomes. Fred Muhumuza, a parent for Kigarama Primary school justified the need for enhancement of teachers’ salaries by proving statistically that even the 100% increment they need is just a drop in the ocean. Muhumuza considered a teacher with a small family of six members and said if Sh500,000 was divided among six members each member would get Sh83,000 an amount that cannot push them for a month considering medical care, feeding, transport, clothing and other basics. Surely, the 500,000 that teachers need is barely enough to solve even 10% of their financial woes. Donozio Tumugabirwe an LCI Chairman for Katwe II said, “The money they demand is too little, and sadly government has blatantly refused to grant it”. It is clear that even if they were paid Sh1m a month, teachers would still not enjoy but it gives them a breathing space.
I continued the debate on teacher’s welfare when I was aboard a bus coming to Kampala on Monday, September 12th and some Engineer told me, “In simplest way, we are not better than Uganda Kobs which we have left in the National Park because whenever a Kob falls into a ditch the other one jumps it and doesn’t care about the fallen one”. However, I would think that Kobs are better than many Ugandan leaders because they don’t exploit each other. With us, someone arrogates himself powers (for the case of those who use the gun and buy votes) to collect taxes from us. This revenue is ordinarily supposed to be put in a national till for social welfare purposes. Shockingly, this money cannot enhance teachers’ meagre incomes; cannot equip health centres with drugs and a road that should have four lanes ends up with two and piliferage has become fashionable. I have a hunch that Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU) leaders have had their palms oiled (read bribed) to call off the strike when no visible fruits have been born.
I read an article by a one Mike Ssegawa titled, “Let’s get real; teachers don’t deserve salary increment now” and I was dismayed at the base analysis. Can we have lawyers, doctors, engineers or journalists without teachers? Oh my God! The teaching profession is a mother to all the other professions and it cannot be less important than other professions. At least, some of us who have had an opportunity to go to school should refrain from such debates. It’s like indulging in a debate on whether mother is better than father! It’s common knowledge that teachers play a complementary role to the parents. In fact, teachers spend more time with our children, buy for them sweets, playing kits and nurse them. Accordingly, teachers shape our children more than parents. Some parents especially fathers take days if not months to see their children. How do we despise and condemn the shapers of our country’s future to misery, poverty, hopelessness and frustration. It’s high time we paid our teachers at least Sh1m per month. How do we expect them to teach our children when they are hungry and angry? What if they poison our children with wrong information and formulae? We must know that their plight has just been postponed and most likely it will grow bigger. Government’s proposal for a 15% pay raise to the noble profession is a mockery because they also want their children to become lawyers, doctors and engineers and must be opposed by all well-meaning Ugandans. Ask me the two most important people in my life I will show you my parent and my teacher.
The writer is a human rights defender with keen interest in socio-economic rights
Email: mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
Ever since the teachers started their strike, I haven’t written about it. Not because, I was indifferent to their concerns but because I wanted to first gather ample views about their industrial action. It has now emerged that their industrial action has come to a halt even when their demands have been snubbed by the political leadership. What’s more disturbing is that the teachers’ industrial action ended in the wake of threats by the prime minister whose office is allotted billions of taxpayers’ money and his daily expenditure evidently far surpasses a teacher’s monthly salary as though the prime minister is superhuman while a teacher is subhuman.
As a human rights defender, I hold three principles dear, viz; human dignity, equality and non-discrimination. These principles should take centre stage as we analyse the plight of teachers. With due respect to Mr Amamba Mbabazi, our dear prime minister, some teachers are as educated as he is. What makes him believe that he has an inherent right to earn millions from taxpayers’ money while teachers are paid peanuts? personally, rarely do I need the services of a minister and politicians generally (if we have functional technocrats) but I will be terribly hurt if teachers denied us their services. I am a political scientist because of teachers; Mbabazi is a lawyer, MP and premier because of teachers and by the way Mbabazi’s boss is a president courtesy of teachers.
Personally, I hold all my teachers in high esteem including those who harassed me and those who taught me mathematics although I didn’t pass it. Actually, in terms of hierarchy and closeness, my teachers are second to my parents. Indeed they are also my parents! To all my teachers right from Kigarama Primary school, Kigarama, Kanyabwanga and Bubangizi Secondary schools up to Makerere University, I must say thank you and long live. Because I love teachers, I empathise and sympathise with them and call upon all well-meaning Ugandans to fight their battle for their battle is a battle for the welfare of our children.
I spent the weekend of 10th and 11th September in Bitereko my place of birth, upbringing and study and shared pleasantries with my primary and secondary school teachers together with some old students who joined the teaching profession. I told them first that while I sympathise with them, I am disappointed that they could settle for too little. Imagine, asking for a monthly salary of Sh500,000 in the current Uganda. Mr Bigirwamukama, a head teacher of Karangara Primary School told me he spends Sh4m every term for he has dependents but also his children are in relatively good schools. He has to sell his cattle but also mortgage his land to acquire loans to pay fees for his children and dependents. Ultimately, while he works for government, he is perpetually and incessantly indebted. Many teachers are insolvent because their liabilities far outweigh their assets and incomes. Fred Muhumuza, a parent for Kigarama Primary school justified the need for enhancement of teachers’ salaries by proving statistically that even the 100% increment they need is just a drop in the ocean. Muhumuza considered a teacher with a small family of six members and said if Sh500,000 was divided among six members each member would get Sh83,000 an amount that cannot push them for a month considering medical care, feeding, transport, clothing and other basics. Surely, the 500,000 that teachers need is barely enough to solve even 10% of their financial woes. Donozio Tumugabirwe an LCI Chairman for Katwe II said, “The money they demand is too little, and sadly government has blatantly refused to grant it”. It is clear that even if they were paid Sh1m a month, teachers would still not enjoy but it gives them a breathing space.
I continued the debate on teacher’s welfare when I was aboard a bus coming to Kampala on Monday, September 12th and some Engineer told me, “In simplest way, we are not better than Uganda Kobs which we have left in the National Park because whenever a Kob falls into a ditch the other one jumps it and doesn’t care about the fallen one”. However, I would think that Kobs are better than many Ugandan leaders because they don’t exploit each other. With us, someone arrogates himself powers (for the case of those who use the gun and buy votes) to collect taxes from us. This revenue is ordinarily supposed to be put in a national till for social welfare purposes. Shockingly, this money cannot enhance teachers’ meagre incomes; cannot equip health centres with drugs and a road that should have four lanes ends up with two and piliferage has become fashionable. I have a hunch that Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU) leaders have had their palms oiled (read bribed) to call off the strike when no visible fruits have been born.
I read an article by a one Mike Ssegawa titled, “Let’s get real; teachers don’t deserve salary increment now” and I was dismayed at the base analysis. Can we have lawyers, doctors, engineers or journalists without teachers? Oh my God! The teaching profession is a mother to all the other professions and it cannot be less important than other professions. At least, some of us who have had an opportunity to go to school should refrain from such debates. It’s like indulging in a debate on whether mother is better than father! It’s common knowledge that teachers play a complementary role to the parents. In fact, teachers spend more time with our children, buy for them sweets, playing kits and nurse them. Accordingly, teachers shape our children more than parents. Some parents especially fathers take days if not months to see their children. How do we despise and condemn the shapers of our country’s future to misery, poverty, hopelessness and frustration. It’s high time we paid our teachers at least Sh1m per month. How do we expect them to teach our children when they are hungry and angry? What if they poison our children with wrong information and formulae? We must know that their plight has just been postponed and most likely it will grow bigger. Government’s proposal for a 15% pay raise to the noble profession is a mockery because they also want their children to become lawyers, doctors and engineers and must be opposed by all well-meaning Ugandans. Ask me the two most important people in my life I will show you my parent and my teacher.
The writer is a human rights defender with keen interest in socio-economic rights
Email: mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
Museveni's NRM is already history
Vincent Nuwagaba
Comrades,
Please, don't ever waste your time and mental energies thinking of removing this dictatorship using guns. We are soon removing Museveni without firing a single shot. And by the way, even if we were to use guns, Museveni cannot defeat any organised group contrary to what some of you think that it would be playing into his hands.
True, Museveni has heavily invested in military arsenal but he has disappointed the military men and women so much so that when a serious battle breaks out, the rank and file in the UPDF and Police would point their guns at him not his opponents. Haven't you read in today's papers how NRM MPs thwarted the efforts by the opposition to have salaries of teachers, policemen, soldiers and prison warders enhanced. So why would you think the people Museveni and NRM are fighting would defend their very enemies. For some time now, I have been sensitising the police about their rights and I have often told them that their number one enemy is Museveni and their number 2 enemy is Kale Kayihura.
It's Museveni and Kayihura who makes the policemen earn a paltry sh260,000 a month when they work almost twenty four hours a day; it's Museveni and Kayihura who have kept the policemen in unipots which they share between two families; it is Museveni and Kayihura who have kept the senior officers in Asbestos thatched houses when it is clear that that is a health hazard.
Right now, policemen cannot afford university education for themselves and their own children; none of them can afford to take a girl friend to a good restaurant if they don't steal and I am investigating the source of money for those who have bought plots of land, vehicles and made lavish wedding ceremonies when they have been in the force for only three years and their monthly pay is 470,000. Stolen money cannot be said to have been earned.
I am sure that all the guns in the hands of the military, police, prisons and civilians will be turned against Uganda's enemy Museveni. However, we are soon winning the battle without firing a single shot. Thus, all we need is to urge the armed Ugandans to protect us because our cause is their cause. Long Live Uganda!
Vincent Nuwagaba is a human rights defender and can be reached via phone on +256712843552
email: vnuwagaba@gmail.com or mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
Comrades,
Please, don't ever waste your time and mental energies thinking of removing this dictatorship using guns. We are soon removing Museveni without firing a single shot. And by the way, even if we were to use guns, Museveni cannot defeat any organised group contrary to what some of you think that it would be playing into his hands.
True, Museveni has heavily invested in military arsenal but he has disappointed the military men and women so much so that when a serious battle breaks out, the rank and file in the UPDF and Police would point their guns at him not his opponents. Haven't you read in today's papers how NRM MPs thwarted the efforts by the opposition to have salaries of teachers, policemen, soldiers and prison warders enhanced. So why would you think the people Museveni and NRM are fighting would defend their very enemies. For some time now, I have been sensitising the police about their rights and I have often told them that their number one enemy is Museveni and their number 2 enemy is Kale Kayihura.
It's Museveni and Kayihura who makes the policemen earn a paltry sh260,000 a month when they work almost twenty four hours a day; it's Museveni and Kayihura who have kept the policemen in unipots which they share between two families; it is Museveni and Kayihura who have kept the senior officers in Asbestos thatched houses when it is clear that that is a health hazard.
Right now, policemen cannot afford university education for themselves and their own children; none of them can afford to take a girl friend to a good restaurant if they don't steal and I am investigating the source of money for those who have bought plots of land, vehicles and made lavish wedding ceremonies when they have been in the force for only three years and their monthly pay is 470,000. Stolen money cannot be said to have been earned.
I am sure that all the guns in the hands of the military, police, prisons and civilians will be turned against Uganda's enemy Museveni. However, we are soon winning the battle without firing a single shot. Thus, all we need is to urge the armed Ugandans to protect us because our cause is their cause. Long Live Uganda!
Vincent Nuwagaba is a human rights defender and can be reached via phone on +256712843552
email: vnuwagaba@gmail.com or mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
Red Pepper has become a classic case of yellow journalism!
Vincent Nuwagaba
I have looked at the front page of today’s Red pepper with utter disgust and I must say, very many understanding Ugandans are soon withdrawing the respect they hitherto had for the tabloid. I am terribly annoyed that a newspaper can publish such pictures on its front page even if it is true. When I expressed my concern with one of the journalists managing one of Uganda’s premier newspapers, he told me, “Red pepper is the best selling news paper”. When I asked, whether what they publish is what we need, he added, “It sells more than the New Vision”. Why he did that is to emphasise that that’s what the market (readers want). This is yellow journalism at its very best. Yellow journalism is the type of journalism that flouts all the ethical principles of journalism. This sensational reporting is as a result of what Kahinda Otafiire refers to as the gutter press. I don’t care whether or not what the Red Pepper published about Prof Gilbert Bukenya is true, why must Red Pepper think, it is for public consumption?
Who of us – Ugandans including the Red Pepper Managers and staff is a saint? Why wouldn’t the Red Pepper Directors be guided by the Golden Rule of Morality which goes, “Do to others, as you would want them do to you” (Luke 6:31). I deeply respect some of the Red Pepper directors especially my brother Arinaitwe Rugyendo who was in the line of becoming a Catholic Priest. Rugyendo still comports himself well, he is humble and notwithstanding what views other people have about him, I cherish his methods of work. I am, however, disappointed that a paper to which Rugyendo is a director can sink so deep as to publish such useless stuff.
To begin with, what the paper is writing about Bukenya is traumatic; it will traumatize Bukenya’s family – his wife, children and aging mother. If that’s the intention of the paper editors, then they are turning themselves into sadists. Secondly, the Red Pepper has at one point in time published a false story about me. I only chose to keep peace but I would have dragged them to the courts of law over defamation. Shamelessly, even when I wrote to clear my name they never published my story neither did they apologise for the wrong story published.
Why would Red Pepper editors think they have an innate right to pry into anybody’s private life including Professor Bukenya? I am in no way saying Bukenya is an angel; I am not his spin doctor or spokesman but I am enraged at the manner in which the red pepper journalists have chosen to make money at the expense of his human dignity. The Prime Minister, the President, the First Lady and all other ministers and MPs have their own gaffes, why doesn’t the Red Pepper write about them? Could the allegation by Radio Katwe that the Red Pepper is used to destroy politically non Bakiga-Banyankore hold some grain of truth?
Who of the Red Pepper directors, editors and reporters is an angel; a saint that they would be comfortable with anybody who pries into their private lives? While Bukenya is a former Vice President, former minister and currently a member of parliament, he remains a human being entitled to the right of his privacy? By following him up everywhere, the Red Pepper reporters show that they are uncouth and they expose their moral nakedness. It is not Bukenya who is portrayed in negative terms but you guys in the Red Pepper. In the Bible, we read of a woman caught in adultery and when it was suggested that Moses’ law be invoked so that she would be stoned, Jesus said he who has never sinned should be the first to throw a stone at her (John 8:1-11). The same Bible in Mathew 7:3 exhorts us not to see a speck in our neighbour’s eye before we save ourselves of a log in our own eye. I am sure that none of those rumour mongers that have specialised in writing about Bukenya are more morally upright than him. Please, give a man of God a break.
To Red Pepper editorial team, must you publish any rubbish because you need your paper to sell or because you have been given money by someone? How can the Red Pepper convince us that it’s not doing a mercenary job – that some people have hired it to trim Professor Bukenya’s political wings? How can we be convinced that Red Pepper is not part of the Dirty Tricks Unit (DTU) which the NRM uses to destroy political opponents and any other people that threaten its political survival? If the Red Pepper management doesn’t repent, doom is awaiting it. I am not going to play a false prophet job because I want you people to promote me. I must advise you as brothers and comrades that the path you are taking is perilous. Please be mindful that there’s a future after the NRM regime which has protected you and enabled you to abuse professionalism to mint money.The world doesn’t revolve around money! For God and my country.
I have looked at the front page of today’s Red pepper with utter disgust and I must say, very many understanding Ugandans are soon withdrawing the respect they hitherto had for the tabloid. I am terribly annoyed that a newspaper can publish such pictures on its front page even if it is true. When I expressed my concern with one of the journalists managing one of Uganda’s premier newspapers, he told me, “Red pepper is the best selling news paper”. When I asked, whether what they publish is what we need, he added, “It sells more than the New Vision”. Why he did that is to emphasise that that’s what the market (readers want). This is yellow journalism at its very best. Yellow journalism is the type of journalism that flouts all the ethical principles of journalism. This sensational reporting is as a result of what Kahinda Otafiire refers to as the gutter press. I don’t care whether or not what the Red Pepper published about Prof Gilbert Bukenya is true, why must Red Pepper think, it is for public consumption?
Who of us – Ugandans including the Red Pepper Managers and staff is a saint? Why wouldn’t the Red Pepper Directors be guided by the Golden Rule of Morality which goes, “Do to others, as you would want them do to you” (Luke 6:31). I deeply respect some of the Red Pepper directors especially my brother Arinaitwe Rugyendo who was in the line of becoming a Catholic Priest. Rugyendo still comports himself well, he is humble and notwithstanding what views other people have about him, I cherish his methods of work. I am, however, disappointed that a paper to which Rugyendo is a director can sink so deep as to publish such useless stuff.
To begin with, what the paper is writing about Bukenya is traumatic; it will traumatize Bukenya’s family – his wife, children and aging mother. If that’s the intention of the paper editors, then they are turning themselves into sadists. Secondly, the Red Pepper has at one point in time published a false story about me. I only chose to keep peace but I would have dragged them to the courts of law over defamation. Shamelessly, even when I wrote to clear my name they never published my story neither did they apologise for the wrong story published.
Why would Red Pepper editors think they have an innate right to pry into anybody’s private life including Professor Bukenya? I am in no way saying Bukenya is an angel; I am not his spin doctor or spokesman but I am enraged at the manner in which the red pepper journalists have chosen to make money at the expense of his human dignity. The Prime Minister, the President, the First Lady and all other ministers and MPs have their own gaffes, why doesn’t the Red Pepper write about them? Could the allegation by Radio Katwe that the Red Pepper is used to destroy politically non Bakiga-Banyankore hold some grain of truth?
Who of the Red Pepper directors, editors and reporters is an angel; a saint that they would be comfortable with anybody who pries into their private lives? While Bukenya is a former Vice President, former minister and currently a member of parliament, he remains a human being entitled to the right of his privacy? By following him up everywhere, the Red Pepper reporters show that they are uncouth and they expose their moral nakedness. It is not Bukenya who is portrayed in negative terms but you guys in the Red Pepper. In the Bible, we read of a woman caught in adultery and when it was suggested that Moses’ law be invoked so that she would be stoned, Jesus said he who has never sinned should be the first to throw a stone at her (John 8:1-11). The same Bible in Mathew 7:3 exhorts us not to see a speck in our neighbour’s eye before we save ourselves of a log in our own eye. I am sure that none of those rumour mongers that have specialised in writing about Bukenya are more morally upright than him. Please, give a man of God a break.
To Red Pepper editorial team, must you publish any rubbish because you need your paper to sell or because you have been given money by someone? How can the Red Pepper convince us that it’s not doing a mercenary job – that some people have hired it to trim Professor Bukenya’s political wings? How can we be convinced that Red Pepper is not part of the Dirty Tricks Unit (DTU) which the NRM uses to destroy political opponents and any other people that threaten its political survival? If the Red Pepper management doesn’t repent, doom is awaiting it. I am not going to play a false prophet job because I want you people to promote me. I must advise you as brothers and comrades that the path you are taking is perilous. Please be mindful that there’s a future after the NRM regime which has protected you and enabled you to abuse professionalism to mint money.The world doesn’t revolve around money! For God and my country.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Uganda under Museveni is devoid of Ubuntu
I have been impelled to write this article by Professor Augustus Nuwagaba’s article “Govt must rectify the salary imbalance in public sector” (See Daily Monitor, Friday, September 9, 2011). Lots of money approved by MPs for community barazas; money approved for patriotism clubs yet the claim is that there is no money for salary enhancement for all civil servants.
We need to define the concept patriotism. Who actually is a patriot? Is it an MP who earns 21m a month; IGP who reportedly uses 1.3b a day whenever there’s a protest, demonstration or strike; is it a political leader whose daughter will give birth from a first world country using huge sums of taxpayers’ money when women in labour at Mulago Hospital corridors hardly find gloves, kaveera, cotton wool, surgical blade and spirit to enable them deliver babies; is it a minister whose children study from international schools but blackmails teachers with sacking when they demand a modest pay raise of Shs250,000; is it a presidential advisor who pockets millions of money including AC Vehicles and security guards when but never meet the president only to see him on TV yet medical doctors are paid 700,000, is patriotism a preserve of young men and women of one particular political inclination?
Where can the money be found? Where is the waste? A lot of government revenue is wasted on the following.
There is a tendency where government institutions especially ministries are being duplicated by the creation of various semi-autonomous authorities like KCCA, URA, NDA, UNRA, NPA, UIA, CAA, NFA, UWA, among others. There are other semi-autonomous agencies such as NWSC, NSSF, National Housing, Administrator General, etc. in addition to authorities we also have semi-autonomous Commissions. Workers in these agencies and commissions earn far higher than the conventional civil servants. Ultimately, the mainstream civil servants spend virtually all their energies thinking of how and how much they can steal to bridge the gap that exists between them and their counterparts in the named authorities. For example a fresh university graduate who enters public service starts from salary scale u4 and his/her take home is around Sh470,000. A similar fresh graduate who enters URA or NPA earns between 1.5 to 3m. if one wants to move at the same pace with their contemporaries they therefore spend virtually all the time devising means of “cutting deals” and the service delivery is poor if not negative. Mainstream civil servants are government employees and so are workers in authorities, commissions and other agencies. Why then can’t we have a uniform salary structure for all government employees?
The other area of waste is the big size of cabinet and parliament who earn very fat emoluments and the flowery title of honourable. To ascend to these positions, the academic requirement is a mere equivalent of Advanced Level. Shockingly, these MPs and ministers delude themselves that they make a bigger contribution than teachers, police, medical workers and without any shame university professors. Interestingly, quality of these “Honorable” members is wanting as some MPs may take their entire term without contributing to debate.
The other area of waste is the elevation of counties into districts and proliferation of sub counties for political expediency while duping the masses that they would bring or take services closer to the people. Instead these have ended up increasing the burden on taxpayers due to the cost of Administration like new Councils, RDC’s, DSO’s, GISO’s, Departments, vehicles and structures such as buildings. While the argument that the proliferation of districts and sub counties was meant to enhance service delivery, government health centres are devoid of essential drugs and equipment; government aided schools are on the verge of collapse because of poor performance; UPE and USE are just in name but we neither have universal primary or secondary school education because the remittance UPE for each pupil is less than Sh 2000 while USE remittance for each student is Sh41,000. In a school such Kigarama Primary School, parents are compelled to pay 15,000 for each child under UPE while at Kigarama secondary School parents part with Sh78,000 for each student under USE. One wonders if a parent pays 15,000 for his/her child and government tops up 1300 or 1500 why should government say it caters for our children?
Government violates ILO Conventions – convention 100- equal pay for equal value of work.
Doesn’t government have the money? The argument that government has no money is a hoax. There are too many taxes paid by Ugandans and URA collects huge sums of money on a daily basis. However, the problem is largely abuse and misuse of these monies through priority misplacement and imbalances in the allocation. These imbalances are largely responsible for the misappropriation and embezzlement of public funds as we highlighted in the foregoing. Our society has enough to satisfy all our needs but doesn’t have enough to satisfy our greed.
We have businessmen who pay no taxes. These happen to be business associates with the powers that be. Because they don’t pay taxes, if a genuine businessman imports or exports they are taxed through the nose. That professors cannot sponsor their children in universities where they teach is a truism. On the whole, what need to be overhauled are not the salary structures but a whole system starting from the political establishment. Many Ugandans under Museveni are devoid of Ubuntu which manifests in humanity, empathy and experiences a moral downturn.
The author is a human rights defender
Email: mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
We need to define the concept patriotism. Who actually is a patriot? Is it an MP who earns 21m a month; IGP who reportedly uses 1.3b a day whenever there’s a protest, demonstration or strike; is it a political leader whose daughter will give birth from a first world country using huge sums of taxpayers’ money when women in labour at Mulago Hospital corridors hardly find gloves, kaveera, cotton wool, surgical blade and spirit to enable them deliver babies; is it a minister whose children study from international schools but blackmails teachers with sacking when they demand a modest pay raise of Shs250,000; is it a presidential advisor who pockets millions of money including AC Vehicles and security guards when but never meet the president only to see him on TV yet medical doctors are paid 700,000, is patriotism a preserve of young men and women of one particular political inclination?
Where can the money be found? Where is the waste? A lot of government revenue is wasted on the following.
There is a tendency where government institutions especially ministries are being duplicated by the creation of various semi-autonomous authorities like KCCA, URA, NDA, UNRA, NPA, UIA, CAA, NFA, UWA, among others. There are other semi-autonomous agencies such as NWSC, NSSF, National Housing, Administrator General, etc. in addition to authorities we also have semi-autonomous Commissions. Workers in these agencies and commissions earn far higher than the conventional civil servants. Ultimately, the mainstream civil servants spend virtually all their energies thinking of how and how much they can steal to bridge the gap that exists between them and their counterparts in the named authorities. For example a fresh university graduate who enters public service starts from salary scale u4 and his/her take home is around Sh470,000. A similar fresh graduate who enters URA or NPA earns between 1.5 to 3m. if one wants to move at the same pace with their contemporaries they therefore spend virtually all the time devising means of “cutting deals” and the service delivery is poor if not negative. Mainstream civil servants are government employees and so are workers in authorities, commissions and other agencies. Why then can’t we have a uniform salary structure for all government employees?
The other area of waste is the big size of cabinet and parliament who earn very fat emoluments and the flowery title of honourable. To ascend to these positions, the academic requirement is a mere equivalent of Advanced Level. Shockingly, these MPs and ministers delude themselves that they make a bigger contribution than teachers, police, medical workers and without any shame university professors. Interestingly, quality of these “Honorable” members is wanting as some MPs may take their entire term without contributing to debate.
The other area of waste is the elevation of counties into districts and proliferation of sub counties for political expediency while duping the masses that they would bring or take services closer to the people. Instead these have ended up increasing the burden on taxpayers due to the cost of Administration like new Councils, RDC’s, DSO’s, GISO’s, Departments, vehicles and structures such as buildings. While the argument that the proliferation of districts and sub counties was meant to enhance service delivery, government health centres are devoid of essential drugs and equipment; government aided schools are on the verge of collapse because of poor performance; UPE and USE are just in name but we neither have universal primary or secondary school education because the remittance UPE for each pupil is less than Sh 2000 while USE remittance for each student is Sh41,000. In a school such Kigarama Primary School, parents are compelled to pay 15,000 for each child under UPE while at Kigarama secondary School parents part with Sh78,000 for each student under USE. One wonders if a parent pays 15,000 for his/her child and government tops up 1300 or 1500 why should government say it caters for our children?
Government violates ILO Conventions – convention 100- equal pay for equal value of work.
Doesn’t government have the money? The argument that government has no money is a hoax. There are too many taxes paid by Ugandans and URA collects huge sums of money on a daily basis. However, the problem is largely abuse and misuse of these monies through priority misplacement and imbalances in the allocation. These imbalances are largely responsible for the misappropriation and embezzlement of public funds as we highlighted in the foregoing. Our society has enough to satisfy all our needs but doesn’t have enough to satisfy our greed.
We have businessmen who pay no taxes. These happen to be business associates with the powers that be. Because they don’t pay taxes, if a genuine businessman imports or exports they are taxed through the nose. That professors cannot sponsor their children in universities where they teach is a truism. On the whole, what need to be overhauled are not the salary structures but a whole system starting from the political establishment. Many Ugandans under Museveni are devoid of Ubuntu which manifests in humanity, empathy and experiences a moral downturn.
The author is a human rights defender
Email: mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
Friday, September 2, 2011
Let’s all demand social justice in Uganda
By Vincent Nuwagaba
First published by Daily Monitor on Friday, September 2 2011
Two media stories have compelled me to make an input. The first is President Museveni’s war against anybody who is opposed to the give-away of part of Mabira Forest to Mehta for sugarcane growing and the second is the report launched by UWEZO on August 18, titled, “Are our children learning?”.
On Museveni’s ‘sugar war’, I find statements attributed to him worrying, annoying and unconstitutional. To begin with, the President has no right to donate public land. The government holds public property, including land, in public trust. Any attempt to give away public property without the consent of Ugandans is tantamount to abuse of the trusteeship. Sadly, the abuse of trusteeship has gone on in the past for so long that the President now thinks he has a customary right to do whatever he wants. In my considered view, the war that the President has declared against environmentalists and all save Mabira crusaders is a war against himself.
While the President has a history of winning many wars, I think he will surely lose this one. While the President reportedly said he is ready for war on sugar, he seems to have given up on other meaningful wars such as grand corruption, poor quality education, inaccessibility to higher education by the poor; lack of health facilities and graduate unemployment, among others. We would also need to know whether or not the President intends to use guns to fight his war. If he is talking of an ideological war, then well-meaning Ugandans should be ready for the battle of brains.
The President was quoted as having said, “I am not ready to listen to anybody who is saying that I save Mabira”. Does he then still maintain that he derives his legitimacy from the people of Uganda? Is that not abrogation of Article 1 of our Constitution which says power belongs to the people? At the Pan-African club meeting at Seascallop Restaurant in Kamwokya recently, some NRM activists were saying Mabira is already gone, can someone in the know throw light on this?
At the press conference addressed by Hon John Ken Lukyamuzi and Hon Beatrice Anywar, they alleged that Mehta has not paid taxes for the past 26 years, why then does he have to be given free land? Is he an investor worth the name if he doesn’t pay taxes? I know pretty well the working conditions of Scoul employees and the meagre salaries they earn.
I would be comfortable if Mr Museveni waged his war against theft that is now synonymous with the NRM (remember while in Rwanda recently the President said Ugandans are thieves), I would be happy if Mr Museveni funded education. It’s amazing that the government remits less than Shs2,000 for each pupil under UPE and a paltry Shs41,000 for each student under USE yet schools spend around Shs120,000 on each student. And this is why the UWEZO report shows that Ugandan primary school children suffer from literacy and numeracy capabilities.
Museveni should also fulfill his promise of introducing university student loans and prevail on universities to cut tuition fees. It is ironic that in Museveni’s Uganda, public educational institutions are financed by poor parents and students as though they have ceased being state institutions. Recently, teachers made a modest--considering what they are earning--100 per cent pay raise but their demand was rejected by the government. If I were one of them, I would have asked for 400 per cent salary increment. Don’t Ugandan teachers, policemen, prison warders, and indeed all civil servants want their children to attain university education?
As other well-meaning Ugandans join environmentalists to save Mabira, I also call upon the rest to join me in demanding the right to education which is enshrined in Article 30 of the 1995 Constitution and the international human rights instruments that Uganda has ratified, which stress that higher education shall be accessible on the basis of merit.
These include inter alia Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1966), Articles 28 and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989), Article 10 of the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, 1979), Articles 1, 2 and 5 of the International Covenant on Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination, 1969) and Unesco Convention Against Discrimination in Education.
Accordingly, education is a fundamental human right but also that it is a critical tool for social transformation is obvious. Let’s all demand social justice in Uganda for we are citizens, not subjects.
Mr Nuwagaba is a human rights defender.
mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
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