‘The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones. So let it be with Gen Elly Tumwine, Idi Amin and Apollo Milton Obote and ’, the timeless British poet and dramatists William Shakespeare might as well have written in the tragedy of ‘Julius Caesar.
Why?
The children of the late Gen Elly Tumwine as well as Dr Kizza Besigye and other former NRA fighters, who have asked the public to forgive him in case of any wrongs he did, are wasting their breath, (For all those he wronged, we ask for forgiveness, Gen Tumwine’s daughter - Nile Post 29th August 2022).
Empirical evidence is that by nature and culture, we Ugandans will never forgive, nor forget real or imaginary political injury. Ask Idi Amin and Apollo Milton Obote, if you can.
The two-time the former president, who never held a gun in his life is today lying in a simple grave in Abeibuti village, Akokoro sub-country, Maruzi country, universally condemned no less by former NRA fighters as their sympathisers as a mass-murderer.
The Anti-Obote court of public opinion has condemned him without right of appeal or parole, totally ignoring the 1986–1994 Truth Commission of Inquiry into Violations of Human Rights, which never found any scintilla of evidence directly linking him to any human rights violations.
According to the United State Institute for Peace, the “Commission of Inquiry which had a broad mandate including forced displacement, disappearances and discrimination, was held in public and some were even broadcast on national radio and television. Throughout its work, the commission was confronted with a lack of political support….
After the commission’s financial downturn in 1987, the Ford Foundation donated $93,000 USD to the Ugandan government to allow the commission to continue its work. Despite other international donations, the commission faced continuous financial problems further delaying its work. Many people assert that the Commission only served as a political strategy to provide legitimacy to the new NRA/M government.”
Yet, many Ugandans, especially in Buganda, whose support had been critical in putting Obote in power in 1962, jubilated and danced on the streets, when he died on 10th October 2005.
Idi Amin, who also came to power in 1971 on the back of wild celebration in Buganda has been treated even worse for the 43 years since his overthrow. His dead body has never been allowed back for burial in Uganda, 19 years since his death.
If 37 years after Obote’s violent overthrow, and 17 years since his death, Ugandans still celebrate the death of the man, who never held a gun, nor wore a military uniform, nor publicly called for the killing of anyone is remembers as a mas-murderer; it is rather unrealistic for anyone to expect Ugandans to forgive Gen. Tumwine, who boasted as the man who fired the first short in the guerrilla attack on a government military barrack, often wore military uniform and threatened Ugandans with death.?
There are five basic lessons to be learnt from the lives and deaths of Gen Elly Tumwine, Apollo Milton Obote and Idi Amin.
The first lesson is that the three Ugandans may have been divided by tribe, politics and age; but all three will be eternally loved and hated in equal measure by other Ugandans.
The second lesson is that Uganda is so cursed by tribalism that we may live together, even intermarry, but inwardly lead our separate lives, counting and mourning our own victims of political violence.
The third lesson is that any Ugandan “hero” basking is power today can rest assured of the harshest judgement by other Ugandans who will never forgive, or forget any real or imaginary political injury suffered while the “enemy” was alive.
The fourth lesson is that we Ugandans shall never see the Uganda we want until we develop a central nervous system that enables us to feel each other's pain, whether in physical torture by security forces, the killing of our relatives and tribesmen, or discrimination in business or employment opportunities.
The fifth and final, terrifying lesson is that, those in power today and tomorrow are unwittingly bequeathing a deluge on undeserved tribal hatred to their innocent children and grandchildren. Exodus 20:5 is instructive: “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me and my (Ugandan) children”
Is anyone out there taking note of these lessons?
Sam Akaki, Agulu Parish, Apac sub-county in Maruzi county
