THE FOLLOWING is a speech written for former South African President P.W. Botha to his Cabinet. Excerpts were written by David G. Mailu for the Sunday Times, a South African newspaper, dated August 18, 1985.
".....COLLEAGUES, Pretoria has been made by the White mind for the White man. We are not obliged even the least to try to prove to anybody and to the Blacks that we are superior people. We have demonstrated that to the Blacks in a thousand and one ways. The Republic of South Africa that we know of today has not been created by wishful thinking. We have created it at the expense of intelligence, sweat and blood. Were they Afrikaners who tried to eliminate the Australian Aborigines? Are they Afrikaners who discriminate against Blacks and call them Nigge*rs in the States? Were they Afrikaners who started the slave trade? Where is the Black man appreciated? England discriminates against its Black and their "Sus" law is out to discipline the Blacks. Canada, France, Russia, and Japan all play their discrimination too. Why in the hell then is so much noise made about us? Why are they biased against us? I am simply trying to prove to you all that there is nothing unusual we are doing that the so called civilized worlds are not doing. We are simply an honest people who have come out aloud with a clear philosophy of how we want to live our own White life.
We do not pretend like other Whites that we like Blacks. The fact that, Blacks look like human beings and act like human beings do not necessarily make them sensible human beings. Hedgehogs are not porcupines and lizards are not crocodiles simply because they look alike. If God wanted us to be equal to the Blacks, he would have created us all of a uniform colour and intellect. But he created us differently: Whites, Blacks, Yellow, Rulers and the ruled. Intellectually, we are superior to the Blacks; that has been proven beyond any reasonable doubt over the years. I believe that the Afrikaner is an honest, God fearing person, who has demonstrated practically the right way of being an decent human.
Nevertheless, it is comforting to know that behind the scenes, Europe, America, Canada, Australia-and all others are behind us in spite of what they say. For diplomatic relations, we all know what language should be used and where. To prove my point, Comrades, does anyone of you know a White country without an investment or interest in South Africa? Who buys our gold? Who buys our diamonds? Who trades with us? Who is helping us develop other nuclear weapon? The very truth is that we are their people and they are our people. It's a big secret. The strength of our economy is backed by America, Britain, Germany. It is our strong conviction, therefore, that the Black is the raw material for the White man. So Brothers and Sisters, let us join hands together to fight against this Black devil. I appeal to all Afrikaners to come out with any creative means of fighting this war. Surely God cannot forsake his own people whom we are. By now every one of us has seen it practically that the Blacks cannot rule themselves. Give them guns and they will kill each other. They are good in nothing else but making noise, dancing, marrying many wives and indulging in sex. Let us all accept that the Black man is the symbol of poverty, mental inferiority, laziness and emotional incompetence. Isn't it plausible? therefore that the White man is created to rule the Black man? Come to think of what would happen one day if you woke up and on the throne sat a Kaff*ir! Can you imagine what would happen to our women? Does anyone of you believe that the Blacks can rule this country?
Hence, we have good reasons to let them all-the Mandelas-rot in prison, and I think we should be commended for having kept them alive in spite of what we have at hand with which to finish them off. I wish to announce a number of new strategies that should be put to use to destroy this Black bug. We should now make use of the chemical weapon. Priority number one, we should not by all means allow any more increases of the Black population lest we be choked very soon. I have exciting news that our scientists have come with an efficient stuff. I am sending out more researchers to the field to identify as many venues as possible where the chemical weapons could be employed to combat any further population increases. The hospital is a very strategic opening, for example and should be fully utilized. The food supply channel should be used. We have developed excellent slow killing poisons and fertility destroyers. Our only fear is in case such stuff came in! ! to their hands as they are bound to start using it against us if you care to think of the many Blacks working for us in our homes.
However, we are doing the best we can to make sure that the stuff remains strictly in our hands. Secondly, most Blacks are vulnerable to money inducements. I have set aside a special fund to exploit this venue. The old trick of divide and rule is still very valid today. Our experts should work day and night to set the Black man against his fellowman. His inferior sense of morals can be exploited beautifully. And here is a creature that lacks foresight. There is a need for us to combat him in long term projections that he cannot suspect. The average Black does not plan his life beyond a year: that stance, for example, should be exploited. My special department is already working round the clock to come out with a long-term operation blueprint. I am also sending a special request to all Afrikaner mothers to double their birth rate. It may be necessary too to set up a population boom industry by putting up centres where we employ and support fully White young men and women to produce children for the nation. We are also investigating the merit of uterus rentals as a possible means of speeding up the growth of our population through surrogate mothers. For the time being, we should also engage a higher gear to make sure that Black men are separated from their women and fines imposed upon married wives who bear illegitimate children.
I have a committee working on finding better methods of inciting Blacks against each other and encouraging murders among themselves. Murder cases among Blacks should bear very little punishment in order to encourage them. My scientists have come up with a drug that could be smuggled into their brews to effect slow poisoning results and fertility destruction. Working through drinks and manufacturing of soft drinks geared to the Blacks, could promote the channels of reducing their population. Ours is not a war that we can use the atomic bomb to destroy the Blacks, so we must use our intelligence to effect this. The person-to-person encounter can be very effective.
As the records show that the Black man is dying to go to bed with the White woman, here is our unique opportunity. Our Sex Mercenary Squad should go out and camouflage with Apartheid Fighters while doing their operations quietly administering slow killing poison and fertility destroyers to those Blacks they thus befriend. We are modifying the Sex Mercenary Squad by introducing White men who should go for the militant Black woman and any other vulnerable Black woman. We have received a new supply of prostitutes from Europe and America who are desperate and too keen to take up the appointments. My latest appeal is that the maternity hospital operations should be intensified. We are not paying those people to help bring Black babies to this world but to eliminate them on the very delivery moment. If this department worked very efficiently, a great deal could be achieved. My Government has set aside a special fund for erecting more covert hospitals and clinics to promote this programme. Money can do anything for you. So while we have it, we should make the best use of it. In the meantime my beloved White citizens, do not take to heart what the world says, and don't be ashamed of being called racists. I do not mind being called the architect and King of Apartheid. I shall not become a monkey simply because someone has called me a monkey. I will still remain your bright star…His Excellency Botha. "
30 July 2007
26 July 2007
Complacency, Intransigence, Self-denial and the Spiral of Climate Change in Uganda: Implications for Farming
Once upon time, a frog got trapped inside a large clay pot full of water. The frog could have jumped out to safety, but it didn’t think it was necessary. After all life inside the pot wasn’t different from the pond it was used to. It had all the water it needed and it felt safer from its predators. True, its movements were confined, but that wasn’t a big problem at the moment. It had fed prior to being trapped and it could use this opportunity to rest. So comfortable was the frog that it did not realise when some human being lifted the pot onto a firing three stone stove.
Owing to the large volume of water, the change in the water temperature was so gradual that for a moment, the frog did not recognise any changes. It could have catapulted out of the ill-fated pot to safety; at least it still had all the strength to projectile itself over and beyond the pot. As the stove fired relentlessly, the conditions inside the pot became unbearable. Here was a cold-blooded frog now trapped in is lukewarm water, moreover, steam was gathering all over it so breathing was becoming a problem too. You may never have heard about a sweaty frog, but this frog sweated! It consoled itself that whatever is hot gets cold in the end, and thus opted for hope and a little bit of patience.
Halfway to the water’s boiling point, the frog decided it would not contain the situation any longer. It marshalled all the energy it still had and took a sharp vertical dive out of the hot pot. The strength of the dive was enough to get it above the pot, but could not projectile itself horizontally beyond the circumference of the large clay. Weakened by long exposure to high water temperatures, the poor frog came tumbling down, back into the now boiling water. Your guess as to what happened to it thereafter is as good as mine! The poor frog had succumbed to complacency, intransigence and self-denial.
Uganda always joins the rest of the world to cerebrate Environment Day (WED) on every 5th of June. What is not known is whether Ugandans spend such day critically reflecting on environmental trends specifically impacting on the country that was once referred to as “The Pearl of Africa” by British colonialists.
Literature based on research shows a sustained climate warming in Uganda; the fastest warming regions being the Southwest of the country where the rate is 0.3oC over the last decade. Researchers have warned of a possible 5.5oC change in climate over the next 100 years, leading to wide-ranging catastrophic consequences. Uganda, like other poor countries of the world is extremely vulnerable to climatic variability because of its heavy reliance on exploitation of natural resources. Over the last three decades, the country has experienced increasing incidences of climatically related catastrophes. The national economy, which is largely driven by agriculture, has experienced incessant shocks while some local farmers have been driven into destitution. The aggregate economic value of climatic catastrophes is not known, some estimates have put it in excess of $65 million.
A landmark report published by GRID in conjunction with UNEP in 2002 elaborated the extent of disruption that climate change would impose on agriculture. The report indicated that total area suitable for growing Robusta coffee growing in Uganda would dramatically reduce with a temperature increase of 2 centigrade. Only higher altitude areas would remain suitable, the rest becoming too hot to grow coffee. Such change would induce acute implications for farmers’ livelihoods and the national economy as a whole, given the importance of coffee farming in Uganda.
Studies in other countries show similar trends. For instance, a recent study on the effects of global warming on paddy rice yields in the Philippines found that yields declined by ten per cent for each 1°C increase in mean daily minimum (night-time) temperature in the growing season. Rice yields can decline with even moderate warming, because rice is grown under conditions close to maximum temperature tolerances.
The problems of flooding, soil erosion and siltation will become more frequent and more severe with the impending climate change. NEMA estimates that soil erosion accounts for over 80% of the total cost of environmental degradation conservatively estimated at 4% - 12% of the Gross National Product (GNP). Hydrological vulnerability assessments have predicted a 10% - 20% increase in run-off under future climate change scenarios. This poses a significant livelihood threat to communities in regions that are susceptible to flooding. Over the last few decades, problems of flooding from flashy mountain streams on Mt. Elgon and Mt. Rwenzori have been frequently reported. Affected areas included the lower valleys in Kilembe stretching to Kasese airfield by the river Nyamwamba (from the Rwenzori mountains) and flooding of lower Mbale areas by the river Manafwa (from Mt.Elgon). Heavy rains have led to numerous landslides in the mountainous regions to western and eastern Uganda.
In Kabale district (south western Uganda), severe flooding has often setback government efforts to transform farming through the NAADS framework. Other areas experiencing frequent flooding include Kampala City mostly due to changed landuse activities. With the anticipated climatic changes, these places should brace for the worst forms of flooding and landslides yet!
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned that increase in the frequency and intensity of climatic variation could result in crop damage, land degradation and severe food shortages in developing countries. Climatic variability and change will reduce food production potential due to lack of soil moisture and escalated abundance and distribution of insects, weeds, and pathogens. Drought will reduce the productivity of Uganda’s grasslands, which support 41% of the human and 60% of the cattle population. This could result into in massive cattle deaths; appropriations and encroachment on wetter protected areas; enlaced mobility among the pastoral groups – leading to escalation of conflicts; sedenterisation of pastoral groups; diversification of livelihood options; and in absence of viable options, destitution. The high yielding dairy cattle found in montane zones like southwestern highlands are known to be particularly vulnerable to climate change. With increasing temperatures, diary cattle could succumb to heat stress symptomised by elevated body temperature and respiration rates; decreased feed in-take, lactogenic hormone production, and milk yield; increased weight loss; decrease in reproduction efficiency; reduced calf weight; and a host of other pathological effects. Moreover, tick-borne diseases in the semi-arid areas could become rampant because of higher temperatures. There also a threat that the tsetse fly belt could expand.
Although up to 15% of Uganda's total area is covered by water, its distribution across the country is not even. Many regions – especially the North East – are partly semi-arid and face severe water shortages. For such areas, the cyclic and increasingly frequent periods of drought will continue to impose adverse effect on both the quantity and quality of water resources. Competition for water, possibly culminating into “water wars” could ensure. Some primitive water-induced wars have been fought in Uganda; indeed the marauding Karamajong warriors could be said to water-inspired – but this could slip into more bloody confrontations as the world has already witnessed in the vast Okavango river Basin of southern Africa, over which Botswana, Namibia and Angola just fell short of trading rockets and bullets. In the extreme scenario for Uganda, we could see the Karamojong warriors escalating their water-oriented raids into the wider Busoga; Teso; and who knows – even into Buganda. Diminishing water volumes in river Nile and Lake Victoria could usher Nile basin states and Lake Victoria basin countries into violent confrontation over water access and use rights.
So given all this evidence; why aren’t we seeing a more concerted strategy to tackle climate change in Uganda? Why does government continue to undermine climate management options? Indeed the recent cabinet decision to degazette Mabira forest reserve is clear testimony to lack of government commitment to climate change abatement. Why is deforestation on the increase, and why has wetland encroachment spiraled unabated? Why haven’t farmers adopted sustainable natural resource utilisation measures? Why are they stuck with unsustainable, uneconomic, poverty-entrenching means of production? Why hasn’t government devised and implemented incentive regimes and other instruments to effectively operationalise climate-related policy frameworks? For how long shall we wait for government rhetoric on climate change to materialise into concrete commitments? Where is the leadership from civil society, and what have they done to hold the government accountable to its obligations under the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)?
The questions could be endless but the answer is one: complacency, intransigence and self-denial within government on one hand, and Ugandans as a whole! There is no shortage of innovations for tackling climate change in Uganda. The National Communication to the conference of parties to the UNFCCC dated October 2002, provides elaborate methodological options to mitigate climate change in Uganda.
When government of Uganda willingly signed the UNFCCC on 13th June 1992, and later ratified it on 8th September 1993, it committed itself to fully participate and contribute to attainment of the convention objectives; namely climate change mitigation. Although more than a decade has passed since government ratified this convention, the country remains on a slippery slope towards a spiral of climatic crises and livelihood losses. The government and the people of Uganda have a choice: to face the challenges of climate now; or remain complacent, intransigent and in self-denial – and ultimately suffer the fate of the frog in the clay pot.
Denis Mutabazi
July 2007
Owing to the large volume of water, the change in the water temperature was so gradual that for a moment, the frog did not recognise any changes. It could have catapulted out of the ill-fated pot to safety; at least it still had all the strength to projectile itself over and beyond the pot. As the stove fired relentlessly, the conditions inside the pot became unbearable. Here was a cold-blooded frog now trapped in is lukewarm water, moreover, steam was gathering all over it so breathing was becoming a problem too. You may never have heard about a sweaty frog, but this frog sweated! It consoled itself that whatever is hot gets cold in the end, and thus opted for hope and a little bit of patience.
Halfway to the water’s boiling point, the frog decided it would not contain the situation any longer. It marshalled all the energy it still had and took a sharp vertical dive out of the hot pot. The strength of the dive was enough to get it above the pot, but could not projectile itself horizontally beyond the circumference of the large clay. Weakened by long exposure to high water temperatures, the poor frog came tumbling down, back into the now boiling water. Your guess as to what happened to it thereafter is as good as mine! The poor frog had succumbed to complacency, intransigence and self-denial.
Uganda always joins the rest of the world to cerebrate Environment Day (WED) on every 5th of June. What is not known is whether Ugandans spend such day critically reflecting on environmental trends specifically impacting on the country that was once referred to as “The Pearl of Africa” by British colonialists.
Literature based on research shows a sustained climate warming in Uganda; the fastest warming regions being the Southwest of the country where the rate is 0.3oC over the last decade. Researchers have warned of a possible 5.5oC change in climate over the next 100 years, leading to wide-ranging catastrophic consequences. Uganda, like other poor countries of the world is extremely vulnerable to climatic variability because of its heavy reliance on exploitation of natural resources. Over the last three decades, the country has experienced increasing incidences of climatically related catastrophes. The national economy, which is largely driven by agriculture, has experienced incessant shocks while some local farmers have been driven into destitution. The aggregate economic value of climatic catastrophes is not known, some estimates have put it in excess of $65 million.
A landmark report published by GRID in conjunction with UNEP in 2002 elaborated the extent of disruption that climate change would impose on agriculture. The report indicated that total area suitable for growing Robusta coffee growing in Uganda would dramatically reduce with a temperature increase of 2 centigrade. Only higher altitude areas would remain suitable, the rest becoming too hot to grow coffee. Such change would induce acute implications for farmers’ livelihoods and the national economy as a whole, given the importance of coffee farming in Uganda.
Studies in other countries show similar trends. For instance, a recent study on the effects of global warming on paddy rice yields in the Philippines found that yields declined by ten per cent for each 1°C increase in mean daily minimum (night-time) temperature in the growing season. Rice yields can decline with even moderate warming, because rice is grown under conditions close to maximum temperature tolerances.
The problems of flooding, soil erosion and siltation will become more frequent and more severe with the impending climate change. NEMA estimates that soil erosion accounts for over 80% of the total cost of environmental degradation conservatively estimated at 4% - 12% of the Gross National Product (GNP). Hydrological vulnerability assessments have predicted a 10% - 20% increase in run-off under future climate change scenarios. This poses a significant livelihood threat to communities in regions that are susceptible to flooding. Over the last few decades, problems of flooding from flashy mountain streams on Mt. Elgon and Mt. Rwenzori have been frequently reported. Affected areas included the lower valleys in Kilembe stretching to Kasese airfield by the river Nyamwamba (from the Rwenzori mountains) and flooding of lower Mbale areas by the river Manafwa (from Mt.Elgon). Heavy rains have led to numerous landslides in the mountainous regions to western and eastern Uganda.
In Kabale district (south western Uganda), severe flooding has often setback government efforts to transform farming through the NAADS framework. Other areas experiencing frequent flooding include Kampala City mostly due to changed landuse activities. With the anticipated climatic changes, these places should brace for the worst forms of flooding and landslides yet!
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned that increase in the frequency and intensity of climatic variation could result in crop damage, land degradation and severe food shortages in developing countries. Climatic variability and change will reduce food production potential due to lack of soil moisture and escalated abundance and distribution of insects, weeds, and pathogens. Drought will reduce the productivity of Uganda’s grasslands, which support 41% of the human and 60% of the cattle population. This could result into in massive cattle deaths; appropriations and encroachment on wetter protected areas; enlaced mobility among the pastoral groups – leading to escalation of conflicts; sedenterisation of pastoral groups; diversification of livelihood options; and in absence of viable options, destitution. The high yielding dairy cattle found in montane zones like southwestern highlands are known to be particularly vulnerable to climate change. With increasing temperatures, diary cattle could succumb to heat stress symptomised by elevated body temperature and respiration rates; decreased feed in-take, lactogenic hormone production, and milk yield; increased weight loss; decrease in reproduction efficiency; reduced calf weight; and a host of other pathological effects. Moreover, tick-borne diseases in the semi-arid areas could become rampant because of higher temperatures. There also a threat that the tsetse fly belt could expand.
Although up to 15% of Uganda's total area is covered by water, its distribution across the country is not even. Many regions – especially the North East – are partly semi-arid and face severe water shortages. For such areas, the cyclic and increasingly frequent periods of drought will continue to impose adverse effect on both the quantity and quality of water resources. Competition for water, possibly culminating into “water wars” could ensure. Some primitive water-induced wars have been fought in Uganda; indeed the marauding Karamajong warriors could be said to water-inspired – but this could slip into more bloody confrontations as the world has already witnessed in the vast Okavango river Basin of southern Africa, over which Botswana, Namibia and Angola just fell short of trading rockets and bullets. In the extreme scenario for Uganda, we could see the Karamojong warriors escalating their water-oriented raids into the wider Busoga; Teso; and who knows – even into Buganda. Diminishing water volumes in river Nile and Lake Victoria could usher Nile basin states and Lake Victoria basin countries into violent confrontation over water access and use rights.
So given all this evidence; why aren’t we seeing a more concerted strategy to tackle climate change in Uganda? Why does government continue to undermine climate management options? Indeed the recent cabinet decision to degazette Mabira forest reserve is clear testimony to lack of government commitment to climate change abatement. Why is deforestation on the increase, and why has wetland encroachment spiraled unabated? Why haven’t farmers adopted sustainable natural resource utilisation measures? Why are they stuck with unsustainable, uneconomic, poverty-entrenching means of production? Why hasn’t government devised and implemented incentive regimes and other instruments to effectively operationalise climate-related policy frameworks? For how long shall we wait for government rhetoric on climate change to materialise into concrete commitments? Where is the leadership from civil society, and what have they done to hold the government accountable to its obligations under the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)?
The questions could be endless but the answer is one: complacency, intransigence and self-denial within government on one hand, and Ugandans as a whole! There is no shortage of innovations for tackling climate change in Uganda. The National Communication to the conference of parties to the UNFCCC dated October 2002, provides elaborate methodological options to mitigate climate change in Uganda.
When government of Uganda willingly signed the UNFCCC on 13th June 1992, and later ratified it on 8th September 1993, it committed itself to fully participate and contribute to attainment of the convention objectives; namely climate change mitigation. Although more than a decade has passed since government ratified this convention, the country remains on a slippery slope towards a spiral of climatic crises and livelihood losses. The government and the people of Uganda have a choice: to face the challenges of climate now; or remain complacent, intransigent and in self-denial – and ultimately suffer the fate of the frog in the clay pot.
Denis Mutabazi
July 2007
18 July 2007
Between a "Rock and Hard Place": Leopards in the Firing Line
Uganda will be joining the “leopard-hunters club,” according to a story carried in The New Vision of 8th June 2007. Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) had submitted a proposal to CITIES, seeking authorisation to lift the ban on commercial hunting of leopards in Uganda’s National Parks and Game Reserves. Leopards are some of the endangered species, not only in Uganda but else where in the world. According to UWA, Uganda is thought to have a paltry 2700 leopards – scattered across ten or so protected areas, and living under a constant threat of poaching and habitat conversion. Regrettably, UWA does not have information on leopards’ biological recruitment trends; neither does it know in empirical terms, the impact that hunting stress would have on the leopards’ reproductive behaviour. In essence, UWA’s proposal to lift hunting restrictions on leopards is not backed by any scientific reasoning.
Basic ecological science reveals that stress inhibits biological recruitment. Uganda has already witnessed such responses with the Mountain Gorilla in the south-west of the country. The unresearched proposal to sport-hunt leopards in Uganda’s protected areas tantamount to professional negligence and abuse of public trust on the part of UWA. There is no merit in the assertion that lifting of the ban will enhance community support for conservation no Ugandan will afford to pay the proposed $50,000 for each leopard killed. The “sport” will most likely be a preserve of wealthy foreign tourists. Rather than enhance community support for conservation, legalising leopard hunting might trigger adverse community backlash. It is doubtful whether UWA will repatriate and share revenues accruing from the “sport-hunting” with local communities. While “sport hunters” will no doubt enjoy themselves, local communities will continue experiencing vermin attacks and violent deprivations from protected area resources. At its extreme end, the proposed “sport hunting” of leopards could trigger increased resentment and poaching from the adjacent communities who might take it that after all, government has sold yet again, another natural resource to foreigners.
Not so long ago, the Government of Uganda made a contestable decision to de-gazette and allocate Mabira tropical high forest (Central Uganda) to a private company, which intended to degrade it into a low grade sugar cane plantation. Before the “chickens had come home to roost,” here was UWA, having the audacity to suggest an equally ecologically detestable action. UWA’s sport-hunting proposal is not what Ugandans expected from an institution entrusted to protect and conserve the county’s endangered species. It is tantamount to betrayal of public trust, and reminiscent of a laying chicken, which devours its own eggs! My appeal is that UWA should rescind its absurd proposal.
Denis Mutabazi
July 2007
Basic ecological science reveals that stress inhibits biological recruitment. Uganda has already witnessed such responses with the Mountain Gorilla in the south-west of the country. The unresearched proposal to sport-hunt leopards in Uganda’s protected areas tantamount to professional negligence and abuse of public trust on the part of UWA. There is no merit in the assertion that lifting of the ban will enhance community support for conservation no Ugandan will afford to pay the proposed $50,000 for each leopard killed. The “sport” will most likely be a preserve of wealthy foreign tourists. Rather than enhance community support for conservation, legalising leopard hunting might trigger adverse community backlash. It is doubtful whether UWA will repatriate and share revenues accruing from the “sport-hunting” with local communities. While “sport hunters” will no doubt enjoy themselves, local communities will continue experiencing vermin attacks and violent deprivations from protected area resources. At its extreme end, the proposed “sport hunting” of leopards could trigger increased resentment and poaching from the adjacent communities who might take it that after all, government has sold yet again, another natural resource to foreigners.
Not so long ago, the Government of Uganda made a contestable decision to de-gazette and allocate Mabira tropical high forest (Central Uganda) to a private company, which intended to degrade it into a low grade sugar cane plantation. Before the “chickens had come home to roost,” here was UWA, having the audacity to suggest an equally ecologically detestable action. UWA’s sport-hunting proposal is not what Ugandans expected from an institution entrusted to protect and conserve the county’s endangered species. It is tantamount to betrayal of public trust, and reminiscent of a laying chicken, which devours its own eggs! My appeal is that UWA should rescind its absurd proposal.
Denis Mutabazi
July 2007
17 July 2007
The Last King of Scotland: A Fresh Injury to the Wound
Forest Whitaker may have earned a coveted Oscar award for his role in the movie The Last King of Scotland but he also successfully poked into Uganda’s bleeding wounds of the rotten past which, I would rather we conveniently forgot about. Hollywood’s release: The Last King of Scotland early this year, haas no doubt generated unprecedented excitement around the world. The movie mirrors the monstrous regime and lifestyle of Uganda’s worst dictator Iddi Amin, who ruled or rather misruled Uganda from 1971 until 1979 when Tanzania-backed Ugandan rebel exiles ousted him. While I personally feel the movie is not worth the exhilaration (Rise and Fall of Iddi Amin is better for me), the world doesn’t seem to agree with my perception; and the urge to watch it over and over and over again seems unquenchable! Make no mistake; this is true even in the most unexpected of places.
In Afghanistan (may God bless this battered country) where I have been living for over a year, foreigners don’t have many options for leisure and outdoor recreation owing to insecurity-imposed restrictions. After office in the evenings, they head to their heavily fortified guesthouses (sometimes in armoured cars); its vice versa in the mornings: any detours could be costly for life – so you have to avoid them! While you cannot help growing accustomed to such back and forth movements from Sunday to Thursday, many of us have found solace in movies, reading, and board games as off-duty ways to keeping our brains excited. The aspect of brotherhood and socialistic tendencies are very impressive here: quite often, when somebody buys and gets through with a novel, or VCD or DVD, he/she will let it float and circulate to whoever might be interested. That is how The Last King of Scotland crept into this part of the world and engulfed the community here like a wild bush fire. The heinous plot, characters, setting, and actions portrayed in the movie have dominated dinner-table discussions in the Afghan capital, Kabul, for several months, effectively turning president Iddi Amin, Uganda and Ugandans into icons of brutality and savagery in Africa.
I have to confess I was excited at first, by the extent of discussion about Uganda. In fact, I felt flattered that every body around, including those who didn’t know where Uganda is located on the map, seemed so interested about my country’s history. I became an authority on Uganda, filling in gaps to the story and quickly gained some rather unpalatable social capital by way of being more widely known among the foreign community; albeit for the wrong reasons! To some expatriates, I was the “king’s son” (God forbid). However, as the dinner-table discussions unendingly progressed from hours, to days, to weeks and so on, I grew increasingly uncomfortable. I had to critically reflect on why such a movie, which in my opinion is so ordinary, could so ably capture people’s imagination for all that long. In the quest to find clues, I posed several questions to myself: What do people find so interesting about the savagery and brutality of president Iddi Amin? What was the intention of the movie’s directors? Were the dinner-table discussions on Iddi Amin and Uganda a credit or a liability to the reputation of Ugandans? How does The Last King of Scotland benefit Uganda as a country, and Ugandans as a people?
I was still grappling with these questions when I took some trips to Pakistan, Uzbekistan and United Arab Emirates. Whew, I swear I did not have to bother to explain about my nationality. Whenever I would mention that I come from Uganda in response to some question either from Immigration officials, or taxi drivers, or ordinary curious citizens, they would excitedly yell: “oh, Iddi Amin’s country?” They would quickly assure me how they had enjoyed watching The Last King of Scotland – as if I cared to know. Believe me; I would feel humiliated, outraged and flabbergasted. I asked myself why Uganda as a country and Ugandans as a people must always be known for wrong reasons.
I recall with deep regret, the attention I attracted from immigration officials the first time I landed at Pakistan’s Islamabad International Airport in June 2006. Uganda is included in a short list of countries that Pakistan considers a threat, and despite having all my travel papers in order, my baggage was thoroughly checked repeatedly. The immigration officials made me sign a special Federal Investigations Agency surveillance form indicating which hotel I would be staying in – before they wished me a belated “enjoy your stay in Islamabad!” That was all because that I held a Ugandan passport! Of course, I have since then gone through the same drill every time I pass through any Pakistan airport and naturally gotten used to those annoyances though it’s a constant reminder of how poorly regarded Ugandans are at international level. Can I blame Pakistan authorities for that? No! They are not the ones who made me a national of a rogue state perceived by the world community as dubious, monstrous and scandalous. The officials would only be doing their job – just in case I ended up acting like “Ugandan, proper.”
Therefore with due respect to Hollywood, the directors and actors who participated in the movie, my thesis is that The Last King of Scotland has intensified Uganda’s exposure to global ridicule, contempt and odium. It has inflicted a fresh injury to our bleeding wound, made us a global laughing stock and revived feelings of bitterness amongst local communities against which president Iddi Amin committed atrocities. Accordingly, I can emphatically state that The Last King of Scotland is not only malevolent in its plot, but also its outcome in respect of global perception about Uganda and Ugandans. If I had wings, I would fly to Hollywood; look straight into the eyes of the movie directors and say: “hey guys, Uganda and Ugandans deserve an apology!”
Painfully and regrettably, Forest Whitaker received a VIP reception when he recently visited Uganda. He even successfully lured our president, General Museveni into almost declaring him a national hero, while he described the movie as a landmark success. Iam sure Museveni looked at The Last King of Scotland only from the perspective of justifying his armed struggles against Iddi Amin’s regime. Nevertheless, politics aside, The Last King of Scotland is a huge dent to the country’s image, which Museveni has struggled to build since he grabbed power in 1986. I hope he will realise sooner that The Last King of Scotland is nothing more than a Hollywood money-maker, and doesn’t deserve the applause it has received.
I urge government to be more proactive in dissuading moviemakers from documenting such inflammatory themes. Don’t get me wrong: I have never condoned state censorship on the media or entertainment or anything, but come on, we need to be positive. It does not always have to be Amin, Kony, Aids, election violence, and Global Fund scandals. Ugandans are severely hungry for success stories to turn over a new chapter and boost the esteem of Ugandans living within the country and the diaspora.
The people of Kigezi have a Rukiga proverb, which says “ebyomwirisizo tibitaaha omuuka” (what happens in the grazing area stays there and does not reach home). No doubt, Uganda is rich with rotten history, but there is no point resurrecting it every now and then. We ought to safe guard against awakening ghosts and washing our dirty linen in public! We need healing as a country and as a people; and such healing demands that we forge ahead without looking back!
Denis Mutabazi
July 2007
In Afghanistan (may God bless this battered country) where I have been living for over a year, foreigners don’t have many options for leisure and outdoor recreation owing to insecurity-imposed restrictions. After office in the evenings, they head to their heavily fortified guesthouses (sometimes in armoured cars); its vice versa in the mornings: any detours could be costly for life – so you have to avoid them! While you cannot help growing accustomed to such back and forth movements from Sunday to Thursday, many of us have found solace in movies, reading, and board games as off-duty ways to keeping our brains excited. The aspect of brotherhood and socialistic tendencies are very impressive here: quite often, when somebody buys and gets through with a novel, or VCD or DVD, he/she will let it float and circulate to whoever might be interested. That is how The Last King of Scotland crept into this part of the world and engulfed the community here like a wild bush fire. The heinous plot, characters, setting, and actions portrayed in the movie have dominated dinner-table discussions in the Afghan capital, Kabul, for several months, effectively turning president Iddi Amin, Uganda and Ugandans into icons of brutality and savagery in Africa.
I have to confess I was excited at first, by the extent of discussion about Uganda. In fact, I felt flattered that every body around, including those who didn’t know where Uganda is located on the map, seemed so interested about my country’s history. I became an authority on Uganda, filling in gaps to the story and quickly gained some rather unpalatable social capital by way of being more widely known among the foreign community; albeit for the wrong reasons! To some expatriates, I was the “king’s son” (God forbid). However, as the dinner-table discussions unendingly progressed from hours, to days, to weeks and so on, I grew increasingly uncomfortable. I had to critically reflect on why such a movie, which in my opinion is so ordinary, could so ably capture people’s imagination for all that long. In the quest to find clues, I posed several questions to myself: What do people find so interesting about the savagery and brutality of president Iddi Amin? What was the intention of the movie’s directors? Were the dinner-table discussions on Iddi Amin and Uganda a credit or a liability to the reputation of Ugandans? How does The Last King of Scotland benefit Uganda as a country, and Ugandans as a people?
I was still grappling with these questions when I took some trips to Pakistan, Uzbekistan and United Arab Emirates. Whew, I swear I did not have to bother to explain about my nationality. Whenever I would mention that I come from Uganda in response to some question either from Immigration officials, or taxi drivers, or ordinary curious citizens, they would excitedly yell: “oh, Iddi Amin’s country?” They would quickly assure me how they had enjoyed watching The Last King of Scotland – as if I cared to know. Believe me; I would feel humiliated, outraged and flabbergasted. I asked myself why Uganda as a country and Ugandans as a people must always be known for wrong reasons.
I recall with deep regret, the attention I attracted from immigration officials the first time I landed at Pakistan’s Islamabad International Airport in June 2006. Uganda is included in a short list of countries that Pakistan considers a threat, and despite having all my travel papers in order, my baggage was thoroughly checked repeatedly. The immigration officials made me sign a special Federal Investigations Agency surveillance form indicating which hotel I would be staying in – before they wished me a belated “enjoy your stay in Islamabad!” That was all because that I held a Ugandan passport! Of course, I have since then gone through the same drill every time I pass through any Pakistan airport and naturally gotten used to those annoyances though it’s a constant reminder of how poorly regarded Ugandans are at international level. Can I blame Pakistan authorities for that? No! They are not the ones who made me a national of a rogue state perceived by the world community as dubious, monstrous and scandalous. The officials would only be doing their job – just in case I ended up acting like “Ugandan, proper.”
Therefore with due respect to Hollywood, the directors and actors who participated in the movie, my thesis is that The Last King of Scotland has intensified Uganda’s exposure to global ridicule, contempt and odium. It has inflicted a fresh injury to our bleeding wound, made us a global laughing stock and revived feelings of bitterness amongst local communities against which president Iddi Amin committed atrocities. Accordingly, I can emphatically state that The Last King of Scotland is not only malevolent in its plot, but also its outcome in respect of global perception about Uganda and Ugandans. If I had wings, I would fly to Hollywood; look straight into the eyes of the movie directors and say: “hey guys, Uganda and Ugandans deserve an apology!”
Painfully and regrettably, Forest Whitaker received a VIP reception when he recently visited Uganda. He even successfully lured our president, General Museveni into almost declaring him a national hero, while he described the movie as a landmark success. Iam sure Museveni looked at The Last King of Scotland only from the perspective of justifying his armed struggles against Iddi Amin’s regime. Nevertheless, politics aside, The Last King of Scotland is a huge dent to the country’s image, which Museveni has struggled to build since he grabbed power in 1986. I hope he will realise sooner that The Last King of Scotland is nothing more than a Hollywood money-maker, and doesn’t deserve the applause it has received.
I urge government to be more proactive in dissuading moviemakers from documenting such inflammatory themes. Don’t get me wrong: I have never condoned state censorship on the media or entertainment or anything, but come on, we need to be positive. It does not always have to be Amin, Kony, Aids, election violence, and Global Fund scandals. Ugandans are severely hungry for success stories to turn over a new chapter and boost the esteem of Ugandans living within the country and the diaspora.
The people of Kigezi have a Rukiga proverb, which says “ebyomwirisizo tibitaaha omuuka” (what happens in the grazing area stays there and does not reach home). No doubt, Uganda is rich with rotten history, but there is no point resurrecting it every now and then. We ought to safe guard against awakening ghosts and washing our dirty linen in public! We need healing as a country and as a people; and such healing demands that we forge ahead without looking back!
Denis Mutabazi
July 2007