-THE SHONA OF ZIMBABWE-
Abwoooli Rujumba Omurungi W’Abasambu, when a government intentionally refrains from answering the calling of help from its citizens in times crises, It in the alternative aspires to dismantle them!
There is no purer test of the effectiveness of an administration than when a citizenry blares a clarion call for help. When an administration swiftly intervenes and answers that desperate call, it can safely be branded effective but when the reverse is true, then the people do not deserve such a government. In fact they should aspire to overhaul it with whichever means possible!
Last week, those who died of hunger and starvation related diseases in the Nothern and North Eastern part of the country were being counted in their hundreds ! It was also related that three million of your brothers were on the brink of starvation by the turn of the week!
The press was awash with grim pictures of women crying after missing out on the last of the World Food Programmes’ (W.F.P) hand outs, a two-year old Karamojong boy crawling after a cockroach, teenagers feasting of poisonous cassava tubers, an elderly woman rabidly rubbing her stomach as if to intimate that exactly that could reduce her hunger and Peter Oduluse, a 70 year old resident of Amuchu parish, Amuria district hopelessly stretched down!
Native doctors reportedly took turns in the dire pursuit of appeasing the Gods and swaying them to save the land from the calamity of famine! Rujumba, the look in Peter Oduluse’s eyes eloquently spoke of government betrayal!
Even with the Ministry of Disaster, Preparedness and Relief in place, the response of the government was regrettable. It not only shocked and disturbed the nation but equally invited tears to freely flow from the eyes of those who not only sympathized with their suffering people but also questioned the motive of government.
Rujumba, when reports of massive deaths as a result of the famine flowed to Kampala, the honorable Minister of Disaster and Preparedness in a press conference he personally convened asked the messengers for proof of their allegation by show of graves! According to him, this hunger thing was a smear campaign to government orchestrated by disgruntled opposition hotheads whose major occupation is to sound doldrums even where it is not necessary.
That once more, the opposition legislators had seized the opportunity of a ‘mere food shortage’ to smear the good government. He then reminded the people that it was not the duty of government to feed its people and capped up his words with counsel to the famine stricken people to grow more mangoes, dry them in times of plenty and save the excess for tough times. He is a professor of sociology from Makerere University, East Africa’s premier tertiary institution.
When famine hit Kenya at the turn of last year, the Kibaki- led government, whatever its excesses, swiftly responded by declaring a state of emergency. Through negotiations with Kenyan partners abroad and with the blessing of the O.D.M, the major opposition party, pathways of relief were constructed in the Harambee nation.
But it remained that His Excellency Emilio Mwai Kibaki swallowed all his pride , declared a state of emergency and saved his countrymen who were bordering death.
Thus in Kenya there may be electoral theft and those other evils that plague African democracies but there no such a thing like the government forsaking its people in dire times. The government loves its own!
The world over, governments react swiftly to check any crises they are faced with or actually take significant strides in countering the after-effects of those crises that are beyond man’s contemplation. When Hurricane Katrina bore its claws on the American shores, the response was swift and admirable. When a powerful earthquake shook L’Aquila in Italy, Silvio Berlusconi’s government impressed and in fact, made it the venue of the G8 summit to tell of how his administration feels the plight of the its countrymen.
In the Peoples Republic of China, Hu Jintao’s government has repeatedly shown commitment to its people at the strike of the crises the latest being an Earthquake.
But in Uganda, Tinker man Yoweri Museveni and his segregationist junta cannot just stop tinkering with the lives of Ugandans. By show of their actions, they virtually feel nothing for the ordinary poor Ugandan.
That explains why ministers have the Liberty to post such despicable comments in such trying times. That is why Museveni’s henchmen can afford to live lavish lives fit only for Hollywood actors of fame and name as jiggers ravage the electorate.
That is why a ‘super’ minister can openly rob workers of shillings 11 billion and the government he is serving parcels out a paltry 10 billion shillings as a relief envelope to the people being overwhelmed by famine.
Rujumba, if the N.R.M administration goes on with such cosmetic responses to dire crises like the current famine that is running over the Northern and Eastern parts of the country, these brothers of ours shall not only feel segregated against and thus seek secession but will also doubt the motive of the government.
KYOMUHENDO- ATEENYI
www.kyomuhendoateenyi.blogspot.com
