By CHANGE OF GUARDS
Uganda is scheduled to host three international conferences in January 2024. As a member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Uganda will host the Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers Conference (CSPOC) and assume the chairmanship for the next three years. The conference is expected to attract about 120 delegates and observers from 32 Commonwealth parliaments. From January 15th to 20th, 2024, Uganda will also host the 19th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement Heads of States and Governments. Following that, from January 21st to 23rd, 2024, Uganda will host the G77 and China conference, where it will assume the chairmanship for the next year. Hosting these three international conferences will put Uganda in the global spotlight. The Museveni military regime wishes to create an impression that all is well in the country. As it masquerades as a democracy, it would like to create an impression of observance of the rule of law and constitutional governance in general.
In particular, the creation of a semblance of separation of powers, as demonstrated by a functioning parliamentary system and political pluralism, is its major preoccupation. Similarly, improving its poor human rights record is also a priority. Coincidentally, opposition MPs have been boycotting the plenary for the last month. Spearheaded by NUP, the main opposition entity, the boycott was aimed at pressuring the regime to account for gross human rights abuses. Since the sham general elections in 2021, the military regime has been involved in kidnappings, summary executions, physical torture, forced disappearances, and other crimes against NUP supporters, especially in the Buganda region. The regime has consistently disregarded all efforts to address the suffering of the victims with arrogance and contempt. The so-called Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) was, as usual, ready to carry out its core mandate of covering up the regime’s abuses. It is the de facto PR firm for the Museveni regime’s brutal security apparatus.
The latest attempt to address the plight of victims is the NUP-led demand by opposition legislators for the government to be held accountable. They went ahead and boycotted the plenary for over a month. The regime panicked, not because of the boycott, but out of fear that it could escalate into a mass uprising. The announcement by the NUP of their intention to resume the much-feared countrywide mobilization drive further heightened the regime’s panic. In response, the regime detonated two explosions in the city, as usual, aimed at curbing freedom of assembly. Placed in a tight corner and realizing that intimidation and blackmail would not work, the regime presented the infamous Gen. Muhoozi sham report on the missing people and human rights violations. However, the report did not address the pertinent issues raised by the boycotting opposition MPs. Usually, such reports are prepared by a small clique appointed by Museveni, consisting of his most trusted sycophants. In this particular case, the committee must have been composed of the officer in charge of intelligence in the SFC, the CMI, the Director of Crime Intelligence in the Police, and the Director of JATT. The spokespeople of the Ministry of Defense, the Police, and Prisons, whose core mandate is to cover up such atrocities, must have also been incorporated into the committee.
Once the said spun report had been assembled and submitted to Museveni for approval, the issue arose of who was going to sign it. The Minister of Internal Affairs, Gen. Otafiire, had deliberately been keeping away from these controversies because he is opposed to the MK Project. Instead, the regime has been assigning the Minister of State, Gen. Muhoozi, to carry the burden. As a lawyer and an upright officer, since his days as army chief, he has been treading cautiously. His diplomatic approach to human rights controversies, as demonstrated by his frequent public apologies, led to his dismissal. Museveni had to order Gen. Otafiire to sign the report, but he still refused to go to parliament and present it. Instead, the sacrificial lamb, Gen. Muhoozi, was compelled to read it. Gen. Otafiire was very quick to disown it when he sent Capt. Francis Babu to inform the public that he had no hand in its contents.
During the presentation, the speaker was very cautious in using any tone that could provoke the opposition into making fresh demands. Although the opposition dismissed the report, in a turn of events, they simply ended the boycott. Instead, they overwhelmingly passed the 3.5 trillion-shilling supplementary budget for the Museveni regime. All the ruling party MPs and cabinet ministers had been briefed not to make inflammatory statements that could further radicalize the boycotting opposition. This has remained the case, except for a few instances where some regime functionaries have rhetorically asked the opposition what their boycott had achieved. The strategy is to buy time as the three international conferences are successfully hosted in the country. Parliament is about to go into the end-of-year recess, which may last the entire January 2024. Even the so-called probe by the parliamentary Human Rights Committee and the meetings between the Leader of Opposition and the Head of the Uganda Human Rights Commission, as mediated by the Speaker, have not changed the situation. Instead, the regime is controlling the media by promoting the diversionary narrative of Bobi Wine’s BBC interview on homosexuality. Furthermore, it is propagating its much-craved agenda of dividing the top leadership of NUP, particularly the party president and the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. As a result, the issue of human rights violations and missing people, in particular, has been phased out of the public domain.
On the other hand, if the opposition had insisted on continuing with the boycott, it would have further pushed the regime to the wall by putting its human rights credentials in the international spotlight. Museveni’s strategic game plan has always been to create an impression that he alone determines the fate of his victims. He strives not to be seen succumbing to pressure from any entity, whether the opposition leadership, human rights defenders, or any civil society grouping. The strategy is for the victims to develop a feeling of abandonment by their minders or any other entity. Museveni describes this as making them “lose appetite.” Once the three conferences have been successfully hosted in January 2024, the regime will be back in action with more zeal and determination. As for how the opposition abruptly and irrecoverably lost momentum, only God knows.
INFORMATION IS POWER AND THE PROBLEM OF UGANDA IS MUSEVENISM
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