ARIAKA

It is January 2006 and the country has entered a new year.  2005 ended on a high for us.  What with the drama at the high court, the Namboole electoral opera and; the MTN zagazaga craze.  The country was gripped by election euphoria.  One popular candidate saying omusajja aja genda and his foe retorting; agenda wa? 

In the month of December, the presidential elections kicked off eventfully as you have read, but to me, the most notable being the altercation between our president and the crowd at Mambo Bado - that open radio discussion hosted by CBS. 

One lady complaining rather loudly that she remains a destitute on account of loosing her children in the liberation war and that her land is about to be grabbed.  She implores the president for help. Many more people openly disagreed with the regional tier arrangement for Buganda.  The president then said that the Buganda negotiation team did not report truthfully on the outcome of the meeting held with government.

Exasperation was in air.  You could feel it.  The heckling bordering on disrespect.  At one point, just as his execellency was leaving, he had to return to the microphone to pause a question to the people at the talk show.  Asked he, how will an unelected katiikiro account for taxpayers money. Or something to that effect.  The point had been made.  The Baganda were unhappy with the regional tier government arrangement and the president would not budge.

Later in the ensuing week. The Buganda prime minister, Mulanyamuli Ssemwogerere and his cabinet resigned enmasse.  The Kabaka would after two weeks appoint another Katiikiro, whom many people exclaimed was ultra conservative.  So, a non-reculcitrant president had reared a hardline administration at Bulange.

So what would Janauary 2006 portend for Uganda in these days and times.  Doomsayers had postulated that an election violence was eminent.  What with Dr Besigye’s troubles, the black mambas and the judiciary holding amidst extreme trepidation reminiscent of the days of departed DP president, Benedict Kiwanuka. 

Then before Chistmas, Uganda telecom relaunched.  Fusing two of this brands, Mango and Uganda telecom into U.  A smiley face that the telecom campany said was all about you.  But the accompanying system shutdown was not well taken by election watchers, some claiming it might be a precursor to an experience for voting day.  All in all, this was an industry dynamics especially coming in wake of the MTN ZAGAZAGA promotion.  People were nevertheless ready to give it the benefit of doubt.

Well, a sigh of relief.  No black mambas, some court victories for the retired colonel and Uganda?  The country under enveloped by hope.  The violence was nil.  Avid party supporters continuing with kakuyege and.. a general aura of good feeling. 

No violence remember.  Just a little worry that the combined shutdown of telecommunication early in the month portends election rigging.  What with the EC embagoing any result announcements other than her own.

We saw in the month quarrels on numbers.  Who had the biggest numbers,  Numbers do not vote. Eh!  You should take pictures of crowds at this angle, that angle etc ., so our candidate will be seen to be popular.  Oh! and campaign ads, on telly; graced our airwaves and curious ads in the The New Vision of crowds. 

All these messages for candidate Yoweri Museveni.  In fact January has been so peaceful that the Kampala mayoral race began to take centre stage.  Peter Sematimba and more Peter Sematimba.  Al hajji Nasser bickering with Takuba for DP candidacy.  Mr. Kyambadde trailing the movement gurus for campaign funding.   Kulubya Senseko gunning to restore the family pride ( his granddad was the first black mayor of Kampala). Ah, this man was ahead of his lot.  What with elect Kulubya ads on street polls and other outdoor advertising sites around traffic jam points in the city.

As January drew to a close a new phenomena had gripped Uganda.  That consumerism and African spirituality had bred effigy worship.  Suburban Kampala was awash with portraits of candidate Besigye adorned in suit, bottles of American Coke and Pepsi, bottled water and umbrella to boot , all accorded to the candidate.  Unknown to us, this was  a national devotion.  Word came as far adrift as Bugiri, Westnile, Western Uganda etal. 

It as was nolonger enough to sling a candidates portrait on an electric wire above in inner city roads.  You had to display a fully dress, entertain and butler the  effigy of your candidate.  You had to find a road island and display it.  You had to hire a mobile public address system, mount your candidate and in some instance employ dancers and minders.  You had to travel from point A to point B drawing the attention of folks to the drama.

People will say Uganda’s are enterprising.  Remember Bicupuli and the reputation this country earned?  Yes, I agree we are very enterprising.  What with pulling the first in electoral innovation.  Should it have escaped your mind.  It was in Uganda that election observation was born.  It is also in Uganda that the world understood such a team to be holiday makers, with no will and clout to avert stolen elections. So, Kampala and Uganda marvelled at this ingenuity. 

The oppoition was jubilating at yet another impending court victory.  A general appeared on Today with Andrwe Mwenda Live and remarked that the Judges were in cohorts with terrorists for defeating government cases every time.  Consequently the presiding judge on the Dr. Besigye rape case stepped aside.

A government minister had also suggested that the power of incumbency would deliver the election to Museveni.  People continued to hold their breath.  The general mood being that the events starting November 14th 2005 was taking a shape as to suggest elction rigging.  That was as it were.  All concerns borne out of hypothetical conclusions.

But that bemusement would not last.  Soon the police was at hand to scuttle a public nuisance.  Religious leaders clapping and congratulating the forces for being patrotic.  In Kibuye, the police stopped a group of Besigye supporters from travelling with the effigy.  This confrontation would spill in to Nakasero market area days later.

However, the most graphic confrontation happened on February 9th.  That evening, the people of Idudi, that township in Busoga  about 70km from Kenya border where worship their effigy.  As the night bore on, men clad in yellow T-shirt arrived in an omnibus.   They would pass for elect Museveni supporters and were accorded that definition.  Moments later, the men unleashed AK47 guns and attacked.  Their objective; to capture the Besigye effigy, that affection object that the Idudi youth were carriering.

In no time this Busoga town more reknowned for feeding hungry travellers on roasted meat, maize, oranges, avocadoes, tomatoes; generally the endowment of Uganda and the attendant hospitability: had morphed into a battle zone.  The youth replying with stones, boulders anything their nibbly hands could hold, whilst the yellow brigade; brandishing the shiny AK47.  Thankfully, no deaths but dread was cripping in.  February had arrived and we held our breath.

In the days immediately after, The New Vision ran in its weekend edition a story whose content suggested that candidate Besigye may have used another persons academic papers to gain entrance to secondary school.  The following week, Winnie threatened to play dirty should the new campaign against her hushand continue.  The NRMO melection machinery replying that they would respond in equal measure.  So the threat to mudsling continued.  We sighed that it was a necessary evil and left it at that.

 Well, very quickly, a man appeared in the papers to refute claims that he could have aided Besigye to secondary school and, strangely the story abated; leaving room to a more lethalm sort of news.  A more sadder news

The weekend papers would flash a scary headline. An independent MP died in Adjumani, northern Uganda in an accident involving her rival.  The death coming after a disagreement on using an election venue.  Charges of impropreity had filled the air. And, as happens in instances of sheer impudent rush and arrogance some one gets hurt.  It resulted in tradegy.  A 27 years old promising politician Clara Vuni, a darling of the people passed on.

The news of her dead was to precipitate the down.  On the last count, property worth millions of shillings lay in ruins.  An anguished population had pillaged, plundered and vanquished.  The town awoke the following day to count its losses and the Electoral commission; cancelled the election.

The Adjumani incident served only to wet the appetite of violence and yes, more innocent deaths.

Wednesday 15th was no ordinary day.  The weather these days are peculiar.  At CNN weather centre in Atlanta Georgia, Ms Jenny Anderson had mentioned la nina.  That obscure weather condition that sets starnge patterns in the world.  In Kampala, the skies were gloomy.  As if to suggest doom.  To Kampalans, it was good news.  What with all this dust. A little rain would do much good.

On the day, Dr. Besigye was on a visit to the new Katiikiro of Buganda, Dan Muliika and later adress students of Makerere University.  As is the wont these days.  Crowds.  More Crowds came to greet and cheer their candidate.

Crowds and politics is akin to life in the jungle.  Ever noticed, how the pride of lions always as evern followed the great trek.  The mass of herbivores moving to new grazing grounds.  Looking for fresh water.  And evading the eminent drought.  Politicians are keen to own crowds or at the least associated with them.  We had seya with his baseyas.  We saw the son of Kaguta ride on the boda-boda in 2001.  All this meant to endear the crowds.

Predators do such things to survive.  Ever noticed that it is a struggle for survival, that the iterant prey enavitably feed the predators at watering points, in the bushes, in the mashlands, in the moors.  Man has cultured politics on the philolosophy of the jungle.  You can run but eventually you will be eaten.  The late America actor former head of state, Ronald Reagan, must have studied animal planet to so correctly coin the line: You can run, but you can not hide.

So the Uganda politicians have learnt their lesson.  As Besigye emerges from Bulange to throngs of enthusiatic supporters, a duo of men in civilian attire holding AK47assault rifles nears the crowds. That word again.  Different account describe what followed.  The AK47 rifle wielding man attracted to this crowd soon make contact.  As if hunting for juicy prey : attack. 

Soon enough, a couple of young lives fall to the bullets.  One young man clearly draped in FDC party colours.  He lay on the ground covered with Dr. Besigye posters, cutting a picture of a party martyr. Scores of other people injured.    The crowd scampered much like the frightful dispersal of the ruminants by a hungry lioness.  But sometimes the prey fight back.

In vengeance the crowd descend on that car, from the office of Deputy RDC of Rubaga North and set it on fire.  Fire always beget fire.  Is that true with water?  Having escaped left Bulange, Dr. Besigye leaves for the University.  Another crowd awaits him.  Makerere crowds are always scary.  They are given to violence. 

After Besigye leaves.  The crowds follow him.  They pour on Makerere hill road and fill Wandegeya.  There is a traffic jam and motorists are apprehensive.  The students might just wreck havoc as they are wont to do.  Thankfully, all they do as they superspass the cars is chant Seya agambye, tu we Besigye obululu..  All

The newspapers had a field day.  The front page of the Daily Monitor carried a picture of the supposed killer talking on the cellphone, brandishing the killer weapon.  The picture cut rather an uncanny picture.  As if to say mission accomplished.