Happy Birthday, dear Uganda

This weekend will see us celebrate 48 years of independence from colonial rule.

We are free, yet even in that very statement are endless chains of bondage for who are we but a singular group of people bound by laws and rules that are for the most part alien to us. We hide behind collectives, pass of others’ achievements as our own and profess to know, believe and hold ideals that we would be hard pressed to elaborate. Are we free? Are you truly your own person? Is your Uganda what your forefathers, misguided and otherwise, had in mind when on that fateful October day they took up, among the powers of the earth, that of self determination? Are you truly free?

I have for the last two years been imbibing, in several forms, a naturally occurring plant that has among its many properties, the ability to garner the imbiber a not inconsiderable amount of social scorn and contempt.

“Mbwenu wamureba?”
“Oha?”
“Mutabani wa Banyenzaki. Nomanya ekyarikukora?”
“Yakora ki?”
“Yalesa ebinyasi!”
“Ingaha!”
“Aga’ruhanga!”
“Kyo!

 Each human being will in their lifetime struggle to understand the meaning of freedom and finding their station in life less disposed, will rise and take up whatever arms avail themselves and fight for it, in the belief that it is their right, granted by none other than their creator if they deem themselves to have one. This spirit has led to countless revolutions the world over and will do so unto the ending of time. It is how the human race moves forward, the eternal quest for liberty, whatever it may be.

In 1980, the UPM having lost the general elections and alleging massive fraud at the polling stations took up arms and started the now famous “bush war” fight for freedom. In essence, the fight was against a society that had grown corrupt and murderous and like a cancer spread fear to most corners of the country. A relic of the colonial era, that society was deemed less than adequate by our fathers for its leaders sought to derive their power from fear and intimidation of the masses, of you and me.

Enter a ragtag band of rebels, who, when all is said and done, were nothing more than a bunch of young men with grand ideas, no political capital and probably not much support from the masses, financial or otherwise. It is said that there is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time is come and coming off the back of two murderous regimes, the chants of “freedom” no doubt filled every idealistic heart with awe and inspiration. I remember a friend from childhood called Reuben, a lot older than me, who maintained that if Museveni came calling for volunteers, he would pack his bags and follow. This was in 1991.

It is quite easy to promise the world.

“People of Uganda; it is your inalienable right to live in a society wherein you can pursue even the most trifling of follies unafraid. A society where you are free to express yourself and the opinions you hold without fear or favour. A society where your children can be who or whatever they wish to be.”

Such was the rallying call and the response is now a matter of historical record.

So, how is your Uganda today?

Apparently, tuli mu kintu and as a consequence, we can do almost anything we like; hell, we can even flout the law, call up people in high places and have your ass tortured for looking at my gal the wrong way, tell off the traffic cop, flash our security services credentials and get preferential treatment. If we end up in the cell making “chappus”, all we need know is someone in high places who will send orders down to affect our unconditional release.

There are no doubt thousands of incidents where the law is circumvented, your rights trampled on daily and unfair and undue preference given others over you but I will daresay that this is for the most part a consequence of your ignorance and inaction. You should know and do better.

Your country is built on the idea of the liberty of each and every individual to pursue his or her own ends in life. This is enshrined in your constitution which unconditionally grants all power to the people. It is, when all is said and done, a piece of paper, a construct of man’s feeble mind and any right thinking man must know that even it is merely a representation of something more for I am not free because someone wrote it down on a piece of paper but rather because I believe it to be an undeniable and unalterable fact whose knowledge I possess within and cannot be taken from me even under pain of death.

Yet these are not the questions of freedom today, well, not every day. Today, any man or woman can make their way from the remotest corners of this country to any other corner and seek to start a life, at least in theory. The many obstacles any person will face in such an endeavour will almost always whittle down to a question of finances. The questions of financial freedom are the sole responsibility of any individual; your government is tasked with creating an environment in which you can attain this, the rest is up to you. If it should fail in this respect, it is your duty as a citizen to point out and correct it and by so doing make it better. It is well to sit back and complain as you spit fruit seeds to the ground, but that seed will grow and one day bear fruit if it falls on fertile earth, you would do better to follow suit with your ideas.

Any man, woman or child living in Uganda today has at their disposal the bounty of the earth and life in abundance, all you should seek is knowledge and the will to power.