Article

by

H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni

President of the Republic of Uganda

in response to an Article by
Mzee. Ssemwogerere in the Monitor

16th October, 2014

In the Sunday Monitor of 28th September, 2014, Mzee
Ssemwogerere gave an extensive interview covered from
page 14 to 15. I agree with some of the contents of the
interview such as the rigged elections of 1962 and 1980.
The rigging was structural and obvious. The multiple
ballot papers, the multiple ballot boxes, the enclosed
polling booths, the failure to count immediately after
polling at the voting points and declaration of results, the
gerrymandering of Constituencies etc, etc.

It is also true that in the 1980 elections, the DP attracted

leaders that had been in UPC and KY in 1962. Mzee
Ssemwogerere quoted a number of names and they are well
known. In fact that re-alignment of forces had already
taken place even by 1965-66. I remember the vote in
Parliament for the election of, I think, Kakonge. The DP,
KY and the Ibingira UPC had put forward Mashaate.
Kakonge won by a narrow margin.

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However, there are many points on which I do not agree
with Mzee Ssemwogerere – both in the past and now but
will not go into them here. They include the decision by
the DP leadership to join the Parliament of 1980-1985 and
his belief in lobbying Oyite Ojok and Muwanga to “save the
lives” of some Ugandans. The NRM position has always
been to hold accountable all killers if they are identified.

I confirm to the readers that the Okello Government

released some of the prisoners that had not been killed, but
not all. I did not know that it was Mr. Ssemwogerere that
spearheaded that. I congratulate him for that. I am also
pleased that Mr. Ssemwogerere confirms that in the 9 years
he was with the NRM, he was “not inhibited” from carrying
out his work as Minister of Internal Affairs or Minister of
Public Service.

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However, there are fundamental points in Mr.
Ssemwogerere’s interview that I cannot leave unanswered.
Top on the list is Mr. Ssemwogerere’s answer to the
interviewer’s question that run as follows: “DP will be 60
next month. Don’t you get a feeling that it is considerably
weakened?” What was Mr. Ssemwogerere’s answer? It was
as follows: “you have got to see what has been happening
to other parties. Tell me which political party has stood?
Look at UPC, CP, KY etc, etc”. He goes on: “Where is Kanu
in Kenya? Where is Banda’s party in Malawi? Where is
Nkrumah’s Party?” The point Mzee Ssemwogerere was
attempting to make was that all political parties had to
decline on account of not being encouraged by the People
in power at given times. Unfortunately, that is not true.
Yes, there are those parties which have declined and there
are reasons for that. However, there are those that have
stood the test of time. I may cite four of them: the ANC of
South Africa, Swapo of Namibia, MPLA of Angola and
Frelimo of Mozambique.

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I have not added Tanu/CCM because it has been in power
all the time. That notwithstanding, Tanu/CCM/Afro-
Shirazi have had to struggle ideologically and politically
against competitors both before Independence and after
independence when Multi-partyism was re-introduced in
Tanzania. The other four (Frelimo, ANC, Swapo and
MPLA), however, were, for long periods, under-ground and
being persecuted by the People in power (the White racists
in South Africa and SW Africa and the Portuguese
colonialists). They, however, survived and thrived. ANC
was in opposition and under-ground for most of the time
between 1912 and 1990 – a period of 78 years. When
democracy was introduced, it won with a good majority and
it has continued to win ever since. Why did ANC thrive and
survive while other Parties were emerging and
disappearing? It was on account of a correct ideological
diagnosis of the South African Society.

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While other political parties were sectarian (racist, for
instance), through the Freedom Charter of 1955, the ANC
offered the therapy of multi-racialism. ANC offered South
Africa the medicine that could treat the sickness of their
society which was racism. The NRM, which Mzee
Ssemwogerere seems to detest although it gave him an
opportunity to serve without “inhibition” for 9 years and
separated from it of his own volition, has been winning
elections even under multi – partyism because it gave the
Ugandans the medicine they needed most – non-
sectarianism and security of person and property.

Mzee Ssemwogerere contradicts himself. He says Obote

and Amin established political – military dictatorships
where some people had to be saved, by Mr.
Ssemwogerere’s lobbying, from “dangerous go-downs” in
Makindye (killing centres) and where thousands had to be
released by Minister Ssemwogerere from detention without
trial.

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Yet he seems not to approve of the NRM/NRA ─ the
political – military force that had to end those
dictatorships. He even finds it a problem that Serving
Army officers (just 10 of them) are in a Parliament of 365
MPs – all of them elected, either by the population or by the
Army Council.

There is, however, something that Mzee Ssemwogerere did

not raise at all in his interview. Why did some Ugandan
elites choose to start another Political Party in 1954-56 –
DP, when other Ugandans had already started another
political Party – UNC – to demand for Uganda’s
Independence? If these elite were genuinely interested in
Independence, was it not easier to work together? Or could
it be that these Ugandans did not care about
Independence? What was it that was in DP that was not in
UNC? Why did our brothers and sisters in Tanganyika
rally around TANU but our political elite here could not act
together?

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Could this failure be the reason for the turmoil that
followed? Here, I do not have to talk about Kabaka Yekka
(KY) and their chauvinist and opportunistic programme of
involving the Kabaka of Buganda in partisan politics.

To round off this point, I would like to state that I am not

against Political Parties. If that was so, I would be against
ANC, Frelimo, Swapo, MPLA, Tanu etc. Mr. Ssemwogerere
knows that that is not so. He was a member of the cabinet
when I had to struggle to make them agree to Uganda
hosting the ANC fighters in Kaweweta, Ngoma. There was
a strong position in the cabinet that our hosting the ANC
would annoy the South African Whites and the Western
Countries. Fortunately, people like Dr. Rugunda, the late
Eriya Kategaya and others supported my position and we
were able to host the ANC fighters until their country won
freedom.

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I am, therefore, never against political parties. I am always
against sectarian parties – using religion and tribes. See
the chaos that is generated in the Middle East by this
mistake; and even in North Africa. Parties that
opportunistically try to manipulate the identities of people
rather than crystallizing the legitimate interests of the
people are a disaster for any country that has the
misfortune to go through that experience. More, if
necessary, will be said on this later.

In his interview, Mzee Ssemwogerere blames the NRM. He

says: “unfortunately, the Musevenis continued with their
fighting”. Here, Mzee Ssemwogerere was saying that we did
not implement the Nairobi Agreement of power sharing
with the Military Government of my friend, Gen. Okello;
and that it would have been in the best interests of Uganda
to continue with that agreement. We were, therefore, in the
wrong to continue fighting. Of course, we did not want to
continue fighting. We preferred peace.

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However, we had made it categorically clear to the Okello
side, which at that time included Ssemwogerere, that the
NRM/NRA would not tolerate any massacres any more.
Remember there are 33 mass graves in the Luwero
Triangle, each containing about 2,000 skulls. These people
were not killed in combat or cross-fire; they were killed in
cold-blood by the criminal soldiers. Why kill non-
combatants, prisoners of war, children, women, etc? These
were following the massacres of 1966 and the killings
throughout Amin’s rule. Extra-judicial killings by
deliberate action by Government agents had to stop. It was
compromise enough that we sat down and negotiated with
elements of the same Army that committed these
massacres with impunity. It was part of the agreement
that not only were the massacres to stop but the ones who
had committed them had to be held accountable. The
massacres did not stop. Massacres were carried out at
Kibibi in Butambala and massacres were carried out at
Kasaala in Luwero. That was the end of that agreement.

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We moved in to create a totally new situation for Uganda.
That is what we did and Ugandans can judge whether we
created a better situation or not. Certainly, the
Ssemwogereres and other multi-partyists could walk out of
the Constituent Assembly (CA), over constitutional
arguments using their democratic right to do so, while they
stayed in the 1981-85 Parliament when Ugandans were
being massacred.

Then there is another statement by Mzee Ssemwogerere

that is not correct. He says: “Ah, no. Museveni was on
the retreat at the time. He was fleeing to the Rwenzoris.
He only bounced back after the coup by the Okellos”. That
is a falsehood. We did not flee to the Rwenzoris. We
opened the 2nd Front after we had successfully carried out
gun-raising operations in Masindi (20 th of February, 1984)
and Kabamba (1st January, 1985). We deployed the 11th
battalion, under Chefe Ali, along with the sick, the political
wing and the civilian workers to the more easily defendable

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Rwenzori Mountains; but kept the mailed fist of the NRA,
the mobile Brigade under Saleh (1 st battalion, 3rd battalion
and 5th battalion) in the Luwero triangle. The 7 th battalion,
under Kyaligonza, was in the Wabusana areas and 9 th
battalion, under Kihanda, was in the Nkrumah area
(Kiboga-Kyenkwanzi). It is the Mobile Brigade that, finally,
defeated Ogole and Erica Odwar at the battle of Kembogo,
along River Mayanja, on the 21st of June, 1985. It is those
defeated troops that came back to Kampala and made the
Coup of July. Therefore, Ssemwogerere’s statement is
false. On the Western Front, the late Fred Rwigyemera and
the late Chefe Ali ambushed and killed Lt. Col. Obot,
commander of the UNLA forces in the West and overrun
Rubona Stock Farm where the UNLA had made a big camp,
killing many soldiers of the Government. It was also in
those days that the late Muammer Gadaffi dropped for us,
by air 800 rifles and 1 million rounds of ammunition.
Where did the Libyan planes drop the cargo, Mzee
Ssemwogerere? In the late Ruharo’s farm, in Nakaseke.

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Where is Nakaseke? Certainly, not in the Rwenzori but in
Luwero area.

Finally, Ssemwogerere continues to misunderstand the role

of the Army in national affairs. Countries have different
histories. It is correct to say that the army and public
servants should not be partisan in politics. They should
not, however, be barred from taking part in national affairs
– patriotism, unity, stability, development, etc.
Ideologically, our army is patriotic and Pan-Africanist.
Other armies are guided by different ideologies.

The main problem of the Obote and Amin Armies were not
even partisanship. It was extra-judicial killings, looting of
people’s properties, raping women, sectarianism, etc.
Countries with a history of Resistance, always have and
should have the Army playing some role in the national –
not partisan – affairs of the country.

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In countries like China, the Soviet Union, South Africa,
Angola, Namibia, Mozambique, etc. you have former
freedom fighters – some of them with a military background
─ playing leading roles even in politics. Even in Western
countries such as the USA, you get Generals being elected
as Presidents or Ministers: Eisenhower, Kennedy, Carter,
Bush the elder, George Marshal, John Kerry, etc. In fact,
for a long time, service in the US military was a sine qua
non, of being elected to high political office. If
Ssemwogerere could not see retired Army officers in the
past, he has got a chance now; even Mzee Pangarasio
Onek, retired peacefully after many years. When the
economy improves and we are able to look after the welfare
of soldiers and retired soldiers better, their life will be good.

Yoweri K. Museveni (Gen. Rtd)

PRESIDENT

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16th October, 2014.

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