Obote: The father of tyranny in Uganda
- Analysis
- Friday, 13 September 2013 12:08
- Published Date
By YAHYA SSEREMBA
ARTICLE SUMMARY: Part of Uganda’s most durable and most enviable infrastructure was set up by Milton Obote. But in his attempt to build a modern and strong nation, Obote was frustrated by his own primitive and savage background, his hatred for prosperous and intelligent people like the Baganda, and his piggish greed for power.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY: Yahya Sseremba is the publisher of The Campus Journal current affairs website.
If the roots of cruel and dictatorial rule can be traced back in colonial policies, why then should Milton Obote be chastised as the father of tyranny in Uganda? The answer is short and simple: Obote had the opportunity to choose between cutting or at least weakening the roots of tyranny on the one hand and nourishing them on the other. Not only did he choose the latter option, he reloaded the problem and established a regime whose cruelty dwarfed that of the imperialists and whose legacy continues to wreak havoc on Ugandans. At his hands tyranny was born again.
How the Local Council outlived its usefulness
- Analysis
- Tuesday, 06 August 2013 15:37
- Published Date
By ABUBAKAR SEMATIMBA
ARTICLE SUMMARY: They have worked for almost thirty years ‘pro bono’, and they cannot help but engage in acts of corruption in order to survive.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY: Abubakar Sematimba is a journalist and a teacher.
When the NRM Government came to power in 1986, it introduced a new national decision making body known as the National Resistance Council, or NRC, which was the equivalent of modern day parliament.
Below the NRA were the district administrators, or DAs, and at village level the Resistance Councils (RCs), which replaced the Mayumba Kumi system of Milton Obote. During the former president’s reign every ten houses had a chairman who wielded much influence in the village and worked hand in hand with a group of youth informers called Abaayusi.
DOOMED TO FAILURE: An advice to those who may wish to plot against Islam
- Analysis
- Sunday, 14 April 2013 09:03
- Published Date
By YAHYA SSEREMBA
Article Summary: There was only one chance to destroy Islam, and that was at the Battle of Badr. There has never been – and will never be – another chance.
Author Biography: Yahya Sseremba is the publisher of The Campus Journal news website.
Throughout its 1446 years of existence the Muslim civilisation has flourished and diminished, prospered and withered, risen and receded. In our own time the followers of Islam are going through a trying episode reminiscent of the downturn that afflicted their forefathers at certain points in history.
The state of most Muslim countries today is an embarrassment, with impoverished populations, illiterate children and inept governments. These internal weaknesses have paved the way for foreign assaults of all sorts, from military invasions to ideological intrusions, and worsened the condition of the Muslim.
Read more: DOOMED TO FAILURE: An advice to those who may wish to plot against Islam
How UN Security Council breeds conflict and impunity in Africa
- Analysis
- Wednesday, 05 June 2013 14:26
- Published Date
By MAHMOOD MAMDANI
ARTICLE SUMMARY: In this edited version of a talk at the UN Thematic Debate on ‘Peaceful Resolution of Conflicts in Africa’ held April 25 in New York, Prof. Mamdani highlights the difficulty of realizing peace unless the UN overcomes the dictatorship of the Security Council.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY: Mahmood Mamdani is the Director of Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR), Kampala. The original version of this article first appeared on the MISR website.
In the first half of 1994, two radically different events unfolded in Africa: the first was the genocide in Rwanda, and the second was the end of apartheid in South Africa. Ten years before – when then Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana’s program of ‘reconciliation’ was unfolding in Rwanda and the South African Defense Force was unleashing a brutal occupation of townships – hardly anyone would have picked South Africa as the site of reconciliation 10 years later and Rwanda as the location of genocide.
Read more: How UN Security Council breeds conflict and impunity in Africa
Five myths about Museveni
- Analysis
- Wednesday, 27 March 2013 06:36
- Published Date
By YAHYA SSEREMBA
1. Museveni played a key role in the fight against Amin
There is no question that President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda had – and retains – an intense hatred of former president Idi Amin Dada. But his role in the fall of the self-proclaimed Conqueror of the British Empire has been grossly exaggerated.