Museveni must rule ‘pakalast’ to avert genocide
By Adam Kazoora
28th Nov 2011: Over the last few days, I have been terribly shaken by the angry reactions to my article [see: Why can’t we celebrate Museveni’s great record?] from members of the public. A certain John Emesu even promised to hunt me down and kill me and others who hail from Western Uganda in revenge for the unfortunate burning of civilians in a train wagon by NRA soldier in Mukura – Teso region.
And he wasn’t alone! At the last count, I had received a mind blowing 116 emails, all of them threatening me and anybody from Western Uganda with eminent death when President Museveni leaves power. In fact, I fear that these threats extend to anyone who has been openly associated [in one way or another] with the NRM government in the last 26 years.
Just to give you a taste of the seriousness of the problem we now face as Westerners, and the country at large, of the 116 emails, only nine (9) of them we personal attacks on me, calling me stupid and all manner of insults that my integrity cannot allow me to repeat in these pages. The rest were outright threats to commit genocide against anyone from Western Uganda.
Clearly, as a potential genocide victim, my automatic instinct is to think of ways to preserve my life. An immediate Truth & Reconciliation Commission came to mind! Although that would be most desirable, I quickly dismissed it after convincing myself that no reconciliation commission in the world will ever satisfy angry people who are determined to commit genocide.
Why should we be threatened with genocide for merely exercising our constitutional rights to freely associate with the NRM government? As I said, when one is faced with such matters of life and death, the instinctive inclination is to advocate for any means possible to preserve one’s life.
With deep regret, in the current situation where I find genocide hanging over my head, I find that I am left with no option but to urge President Museveni to rule ‘pakalast’ to avert genocide in Western Uganda. Once he retires, he can then hand over to his son Muhoozi to begin the healing process since he is from a younger generation and therefore carries a lighter anti-Westerners historical baggage.
I admit. It’s not the perfect solution by any stretch of the imagination. But it has been forced on us by threats from people like Emesu. Unless the opposition parties make it a point to proactively go out of their way to dissuade their supporter from resorting to revenge genocide then I can assure you that we shall do everything in our powers to make sure we stay in power forever to preserve our lives.
That is the bitter pill that Besigye, Mao, Otunnu, Kamya, and all other opposition leaders must now swallow, because they brought it upon themselves through their consistent hate-filled rhetoric. END. Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
