Rwakasisi: "I could not believe that Museveni had pardoned me"

When Chris Rutimbirayo Rwakasisi walked out of Luzira prison where he had spent 24 years, everyone wondered why President Museveni had pardoned the man who had been said to be one of his leading tormentors in the 1980s.

Rwakasisi, who was the Minister for Security in the late former President Milton Obote II government, was arrested during the 1985 coup of the late Gen. Tito Okello Lutwa.

On June 30, 1988 he was convicted on six counts of kidnap with intent to murder and sentenced to death.

But all this changed in January 2009 when Museveni decided to pardon him.

"Museveni's main weapon has been reconciliation. He does not take revenge, and his kind heart has kept this country together," Rwakasisi said at the NRM headquarters during the weekly ideological clinic.

"When you talk about reconciliation I stand here as a testimony."

"The issue of reconciliation must bring people or nations together that have disagreed. For reconciliation to be meaningful, forgiveness must prevail. If it doesn't then it's not achieved."

After many years on death row, Rwakasisi said that he had grown weak due to sickness as a result of diabetes.

He said that he surprisingly received the letter of release from the OC upper prison Luzira from State House signed by Museveni.

"I could not believe but I was released. Two months after my release I received a call from the State House for a meeting with the president. I went and met Museveni at the State House. We were like brothers who had lost touch for quite so long. When he welcomed me from Luzira, I welcomed him from the bush. And we exchanged pleasantries," Rwakasisi narrated.

He asked all people who are peace loving to embrace the culture of reconciliation and forgiveness. He said that forgiving means that you know what someone did to you but you no longer hold them accountable.

"Reconciliation presupposes realignment of different societies so that people can have peace. The result of reconciliation is peace and freedom. This leads to a total transformation, something NRM has done. To transform a society you need peace, because peace is where everything is built," he explained.

The NRM secretary general, Richard Todwong said that a leader who doesn't know history is not a good leader, adding that Rwakasisi’s story about forgiveness and reconciliation is a lesson people must pick and emulate.

He said that a country like Uganda which was fragmented by ethnic tensions needed a statesman like Museveni who would foster national cohesion and unity.

"I didn't know much about UPC but I had a lot of hatred about Amin because he hated the Acholis and Langis including my father who was mistreated. We therefore needed a statesman of Museveni's calibre to keep this country together despite provocations. Given that Uganda is growing democratically, he said, we need a mature and patient leader to oversee this process," Todwong said.