-THE BANYORO PEOPLES OF UGANDA-
Abwooli Rujumba Omurungi W’Abasambu, Chairman Norbert Mao, one of Uganda’s most brilliant political prospects, is now a suspect!
The army alleges that the Gulu boss, husband to Naomi Mao and Democratic Party stalwart is engaged in subversive activities against Yoweri Museveni’s dictatorship!
That he is a weaning force to a newly birthed rebel group- The Uganda Patriotic Front (U.P.F). That before it was ‘nipped in the bud’, the force was clandestinely grouping up and planning its activities in the thick green of a National Park fittingly named after your conquerous great-grandfather, Omukama Cwa II Kabaleega- Orukolimbo nyantaliibwa mugobe.
Rujumba, this is an offense against the state called Misprision of treason (concealment of treason) contrary to section twenty five (S.25) of the penal code Act Cap.120, Laws of Uganda.
Thus when top Ugandan dailies revealed Mr. Mao’s supposed courtship with the U.P.F, the public prosecutors were divided with mixed reactions. To Kulaigye and band, Mr. Mao had a case to answer as an accomplice for having intentionally withheld ‘vital’ information that could endanger national security from the military authorities. They argue that Mao owed a duty to his nation to expose the information he had received from the underground group to the relevant authorities immediately he stumbled upon it.
They argue that Mr. Mao refraining to give account of this information to the necessary authorities is an act manifestation enough that he intended that the government of the day be toppled through extra-judicial means not contemplated by the grund norm- the 1995 constitution of the republic of Uganda. To that effect therefore, the chairman is blameworthy as an accomplice to the offence of misprision of treason!
For Reagan Okumu, Mao owes an explanation to the people of northern Uganda who have suffered the pangs of an insurgency that went on unabated for twenty solid years. “Mao has a case to answer for his deed of reserving sensitive information to himself. He has an explanation to give for this act to the people of the north’, the outspoken legislator told a press conference at parliament. For Kassiano Wadri, the chairman had to be held accountable for such a traitorous act.
Rujumba, we can understand the emotions of the two fiery legislators. They represent a people whose houses have been burnt, babies smashed against barks of trees, women cruelly raped, and youth’s heads clobbered by heavy sledge hammers. We understand.
However others preferred not to participate in the crucifixion of Chairman Mao. Opposion boss in parliament, Morris Ogenga Latigo, decided to tread the path cautiously. He warned the nation thus: “We the people in the north trust Mao.” And in a statement as if to communicate foul play in the Mao saga, the good old professor further retorted: “Infact we trust him more than we trust Museveni.”
Another voice of defense came from a very unlikely quarter- the Gulu R.D.C- Colonel Walter Ochora. Mao’s most eminent political rival told the world that he surely trusts his rival and that he never believes any bit of the story!
But whatever the blubbering and murmuring, Ugandans must not be fooled to forget the resolve of Museveni’s repressive junta to eliminate and ‘nip in the bud’ political opponents who pose a threat to his autocracy. The man in the dock for heaven’s sake is Norbert Mao.
He is an affirmed critic of the state. He is a top achiever in his native Gulu who has transformed the district from a pile of ruins left by the L.R.A insurgency to the region’s hub of development. In fact Rujumba, this is a figure that has been moving around, announcing his intended bid to whomever cares, to bear the torch of the Democratic Party in the forthcoming presidential polls of 2011!
How can the Museveni administration, resolved as it is, convince straight thinking Ugandans that this time round this is not a political witch-hunt but a genuine case of a citizen, and not an ordinary citizen, helping nurture a rebel front that aspires to topple a regime whose legitimacy three most respected and senior Supreme court judges question?
Rujumba, we know that Kiiza W.K. Besigye and his 22 co-accused are saintly innocent! We know that The Peoples Redemption Army (P.R.A) was a hallucination that was nurtured at Nakasero to eliminate the candidature of the Forum for Democratic Change strongman. That we know.
We know that charges of sedition await Olara Otunnu, a Uganda Peoples Congress presidential hopeful, upon return. Kivejinja, we know!
We know that The Independent Publications, brainchild of Mujuni Mwenda, lives in impending fear of being shut down for telling Ugandans the truth about a thieving regime. Ugandans know!
We also know that this is yet another sophisticated ploy to prematurely oust the candidature of Chairman Mao. Unless the state ably and satisfactorily answers these questions, Ugandans have already known the truth!
1. How come the memory stick with the treasonable information immediately slipped into the hands of the espionage no sooner had Chairman Mao lost it? Should Ugandans suspect foul play or be proud of an efficient and swift spy system?
2. How and under what circumstances did Chairman Mao meet and exchange pleasantries with the Ugandan U.K graduate who is said to have given the chairman the incriminating memory stick?
3. Is it possible that the meeting was a set up?
4. And finally, who is this graduate? How impressive is his profile as regards having no past contacts with the Ugandan government and its espionage?
Rujumba, time, that incorruptible relater of truth will tell!
KYOMUHENDO- ATEENYI
www.Kyomuhendoateenyi.blogspot.com
