ADAM KAMULEGEYA: Why tribalism in Uganda!

Friends, we are going, in a two- part series, look at the two vices which still bedevil the development of our societies indeed country.

Every country on earth, like a family, has the potential to improve it’s lot. Said differently; every country was bequeathed at creation to have the wherewithal to take care of the people who dwells on it’s land.

Therefore there is neither a country which is too poor to be able to feed it’s people nor a country too rich that it has no problems at all.

We know too that some countries are successful in many human development aspects and others not, because of the degree of how those bequeathed resources are amicably utilized and or shared.

It is not even about how plentiful or scarce are those resources. A true resource-poor country like Japan is an economic giant while a true resource- rich country like DRCongo is extremely poor and struggling.

Misusing of those resources is called CORRUPTION (covered in Part 11). And not amicably and fairly sharing those resources is almost always an illness called TRIBALISM.

Generally speaking and in practical terms, Uganda is a poor country therefore there are not many resources to go around. This we must all agree to it’s reality.

Uganda has a huge political appetite and not enough resources to quench that. It has rich politicians and government workers and poor entrepreneurs. It has a sick tax regime which discourages trade and kills local manufacturing.

It is like the people running our tax body (URA) are jealousy of our traders. Every months traders importing and exporting goods are reducing and companies are being closed faster than new ones are opened!

Which is logical? To have many people paying reasonable taxes or a small over-taxed group of traders? Of course the last group will fold and there will be no one left to tax!

Uganda hasn’t got many resources; it has a big population on a small piece of land; unfairly given, by God, unpatriotic leaders; a lazy work-force to boot; a wiseacre but “washamba- village” population; sandwiched between savage countries and landlocked; including but not limited to a very meaningless education system.

The above is made worse by two silly practices: corruption which is now institutionalized and tribalism which is now threatening to drown all us into a dark hole.

In this part, we are going to talk about tribalism.

WHY TRIBALISM:

By definition tribalism is the state of being organized by, or advocating for, tribes or tribal lifestyles. With a negative connotation and in a political context, tribalism is discriminatory behavior or attitudes towards outside groups, based on in-group loyalty.

Therefore tribalism comes from a belief that my ‘tribe’ is better than yours. A people who identify with each other on the basis of perceived shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups are essentially dangerous to any country.

A tribalist therefore is a narrow-minded person who thinks that only his or her people should be accommodated at the dinning table. Once this happens to a country, then growth and development cannot happen.

Often at times, the tribal cabal is made of incompetent people or even lazy ones with myopic outlook to life. They stay ignorant because they resist outside knowledge or from people who are not part of their small group.

Conjure up an image of a village made up of 100 blind people and food is often brought in by outsiders every now and then. These fellows will often devour whatever is brought in and wait for the next delivery. This is exactly what happens to a tribalism- infested country. The ‘eaters’ don’t work and whose who work don’t eat!

It should be made clear that I am not a tribalist but a social observer who has a penchant for telling the truth.

And I know that President himself is not a tribalist (I wrote here before why Museveni is not a tribalist) and has tried all his entire life to fight tribalism a lesson he learnt from Mwalimu Julius Nyerere his mentor. Museveni himself has spent his entire life defending his true origin.

Therefore it is only prudent that he would discourage completely any practice which promotes tribalism; elevates ethnicity; glorifies sectarianism; incites regionalism and advances religious discrimination.

Mwalimu Nyerere hated tribalism so much so that even mentioning that he was of the Zanaki tribe would land you into trouble. The unity and meteoric rise happening in Tanzania are all from this broader understanding of societies by the Mwalimu.

Paul Kagame of Rwanda is building a great country at our southern border by shunning completely any talk of tribalism. Rwandese are people of the same ethnicity but they found minor differences to hate indeed discriminate against each other.

This will never happen again under President Paul Kagame’s watch.

And yet Kagame and most of Kigali’s top leaders were born and raised here in Uganda. What did they learn which we ourselves, taught it to them, but failed to practice?

President Kagame, a Tutsi, is guardedly aware that his people, the Tutsis, were once the kings of Rwanda. They treated their erstwhile comrades, the Hutus, as second rate citizens. Then the tables turned, as they always do, around 1958 and the Hutus, who are the majority, commandeered power.

A visionary leader Kagame long became, knows that by promoting Tutsi nationalism today, then he must expect a future rise of Hutu nationalism.

Has Mr. Museveni done enough to stop this ugly disease? Ye he has. Has he won the war? Not at all.

We must all be reminded of this Banyankole saying that:

“Yoora zoona toori kumanya
Erahige kurungi neha!”

It simply means that look after all (meaning dog puppies), because you don’t know which one will hunt better!

Therefore it is wrong and immoral for any leader, at whatever level, to be promoting sectarianism and tribalism. It is actually blissful ignorance to think that your ‘own’ people are the only ones capable of doing things!

Yes it’s true that some groups have benefitted immensely from 40 years of NRM leadership because of unfair distribution of state resources including scholarships and unfair recruitment programs.

It is not true that the Sabiny, for instance, can’t have their people working in top government positions because are incompetent. It is also not true that the only competent people in Uganda are Banyankole, Baganda, Basoga and Acholis. It is also not true that northern people are generally good for “Askari- security guard” jobs and that ‘Chapati’ makers are Basoga.

All people are created equal and blessed with unique capabilities. When you seat and make a plan to discriminate others, then you have half the capacity to develop.

It is even foolhardy to preside over a security meeting, for instance, when majority of the members are from one tribe. How will you know what the other groups not represented are thinking or planning?

This is exactly what I am advocating for here. Let us shun tribalism completely.

If you follow President Museveni’s story, indeed the story of most great people, you will realize that they got most assistance from people who were not their family members or born from their villages. Great leaders are born immune to racism and tribalism. God engineered them to know that every other person is as important as the other.

But once you are given an office and you have this urge to fill it with your village folks or relatives, you have to know right away that you are a ‘small-brained’ person. God did not equip you to be a leader therefore you won’t rise above the present small office you occupy!

That is why when we make businesses, say a restaurant, we don’t build them thinking of family members as our targeted customers. You don’t start a boutique business and your targeted customers are people of your tribe. Unless if you are selling traditional wears unique to your tribe or ethnicity.

Today in Uganda, some groups are eating way above their contributions to national growth and development. Their children are assured of employment after school and even a longer life span because they can afford to be treated in private hospitals and clinics here and abroad.

But we all know as a fact, unless something abnormal happens, that the ‘eaters’ will one day exchange positions with the deprived.

It will be the degree of this depravity that might determine the future stability of our country.

I know President Museveni is a master at DISTRIBUTION politics and poor at CONSTITUTIONALITY, but, he understands fully the consequences of sectarianism.

But there is tribalism in Uganda which he must face head on. I have no issues with one promoting his or her own people if this is done in moderation. I have issues with formulating a team to represent all of us but when most of the members, at times all of them, are from one tribe or religion.

During Milton Obote’s two regimes, we experienced a very high level of tribalism. This of course was also the case when Idi Amin Dada, a Kakwa, was calling the shots here.

Milton Obote caused all the mayhem to Buganda indeed Uganda because of his hatred of Baganda people. He even married Miria Kalule, a Muganda, not out of love but to snab Baganda!

I recall in the 1980s how my brothers used to purchase dollars through Acholi and Langi friends. These fellows were often allocated dollars by Bank of Uganda, because of their tribal association, which they then sold to other traders.

Even clearing goods at Entebbe airport was a job done by Acholi and Langi folks. Any other person not from those tribes was often robed or even jailed. Therefore Kampala traders had their Acholi friends who went to Entebbe to claim for those goods and also clear the taxes.

# Is it happening today? You bet it does!

You don’t have to be a nuclear scientist to know the group of people you have to associate with to have anything done for you in Uganda. I don’t know whether this is by design or a mere coincidence.

During those years, it got so bad that some folks started speaking ‘broken’ Luganda to sound like were from Acholiland and others put on caps or toppies very close to their eyes to disguise their true tribes. Being with a rare dark skin was a blessing in then Uganda.

# Is it happening today? You bet it does!

Now folks with ‘brown’ colour wield most power here. You come across this fellow you can certainly tell he is from Busoga claiming Rwandese ancestry just to fit in. The in-thing is for girls to claim that one of their parents is either a Munyankole or a Munyarwanda.

True that Milton Obote often appointed a cabinet full of all other tribes, but the rest of the people who worked under them were his tribes mates. This was also the case with his army (UNLA) which was forever commanded or led by the Acholi and their Langi cousins.

# Is it happening today? You bet it does!

President Museveni has a diverse religious and tribal cabinet. His Voice President is a Japs (Japadhola) and Prime Minister a Munyonyo. The deputy Prime Ministers are Kwaka and two Basogas. Therefore he works with everybody no matter their tribes.

But the people with ‘real’ power are Banyakitara you have to give a call at night if you’re in trouble with the police. The same fellows you have to trust to clear your goods from Nakawa.

In May,1985, Milton Obote’s tribal regime was put to rest after Acholi soldiers revolted after Langis were getting all the top posts but doing little fighting against NRA rebels.

Idi Amin Dada wouldn’t have lost power if he had not depended heavily on his ethnic people. He surrounded himself with Kakwa, Nubians, Alinga, Lugbara, indeed people from the Sudan. In 9 years he was here, no one led his army in any recognizable position if not from West Nile.

BY WAY OF CONCLUSION:

We have only one option left to us: unite for a purpose.

Some time back I wrote here stopping social media personality Frank Gashumba from using or taking too far the fake idea that Baganda were preparing to kill Banyarwanda.

After that article, we met and had a chart with Gashumba. Together we agreed that it was “not easy in present Uganda to identify who is a true Munyarwanda or a true Muganda. It is even hard to separate a Munyankole from a Munyarwanda!”

Northern tribes are also in a lot of confusion when it comes to who is who.

If this is the case, and it is, why then discriminate against ourselves? Are we not, through the practice of tribalism, not self-destructing?

Let us all work together to build Uganda because it is the only country we’ve got. In our individual uniqueness, we all bring something to the table called Uganda. Together we can overcome all our adversities and build a great country astride the equator.

Like I said before, President Museveni is not a tribalist but he somehow tolerates it.

Mr. Museveni might be our leader, but he is not our father or mother. The onus therefore rests on us to do what is right for our country. In our individual capacity, we can fight tribalism. Start by eating from a restaurant not owned by your tribal people or board a bodaboda without thinking about the tribe or religion of the rider.

LAST WORD: “In Tanzania, it was more than one hundred tribal units which lost it’s freedom; it was one nation which regained it!”
– Mwalimu Julius Nyerere

Adam Kamulegeya
adamkam2003@gmail.com
0779 104 336