Written by MARTHA LEAH NANGALAMA
Our team has been writing about Uganda Politics & Security since 2013 (plus the Great Lakes).
Here is our first post which is in our first book on Amazon.
WHY MUSEVENI NEGLECTS HIS WAR VETERANS UNLIKE MUGABE | 18 July 2013
Unlike Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Museveni neglected the people of the former Luwero Triangle and the war veterans who helped him a lot during the guerrilla war that brought him to power.
Museveni deliberately neglected these areas and the war Veterans so that it served as a measure to deter and discourage others who may have intentions of venturing into supporting a similar armed rebellion against him. In that way, the loss of lives and destruction of Luwero Triangle’s economic base during the war 27 years ago, the total neglect of war veterans, and the general appalling poverty levels in that region sent a clear message that you support rebellion at your own peril.
For similar reasons, during the insurgency in the northern Uganda region, its economic base was deliberately dismantled. There is no doubt the people of northern Uganda rejected Museveni’s governance right from the start and therefore rebelled or supported the insurgency. The Northern Uganda reconstruction plan was designed just to attract donor money. No wonder, that money has been wantonly stolen under the supervision of the Prime Minister.
To Museveni, a successful rehabilitation and reconstruction of northern Uganda would amount to rewarding the area for having supported the insurgency. I wonder how the UPC government would have treated the Luwero triangle had it managed to defeat Museveni’s rebellion in the early 80s!
However, Museveni is now faced with a potential threat of armed rebellion with bases in Buganda region. He knows very well that having suffocated all civilized ways of expressing dissent the situation is ripe for armed rebellion. More so, he knows that Ugandans now understand than ever before that he has always taken them for a ride. He has hastily pitched camp in Luwero under the guise of fighting poverty. He has demarcated the area into zones and assigned his senior army officers as zonal leaders under the overall command of his topmost General and brother.
In military terms, this is a purely counter-insurgency operation meant to win back the local support and deny the enemy ground. No doubt, even the funding for this operation will indirectly come from the Ministry of Defence budget. The recent appointment of Gen. Katumba – a Muganda as head of the Army also alludes to these desperate efforts.
Unfortunately, the major problem of oppressed Ugandans is the failure to understand Museveni’s manipulative ways.
INFORMATION IS POWER.
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