{UAH} To those in the Diaspora, the choice is yours

Ssemujju Nganda: Ttabamiruka gives Buganda hope

Columnists

TUESDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 23:04

WRITTEN BY SSEMUJJU IBRAHIM NGANDA

0 COMMENTS

Towards end of last month, I went to Stockholm (Sweden) to attend a business conference organized by Ugandans living in Nordic countries.

 

As a member of Parliament's committee on the National Economy, I was particularly attracted because this conference was supposed to discuss Uganda's debt burden.

A Swedish expert had been invited to discuss whether developed countries should continue offering aid to the Third World or simply allow them to access their markets. Sounds old but still relevant.

Since I joined Parliament two and half years ago, we have sanctioned borrowing to the tune of about $800 million, bringing Uganda's total debt burden to $6 billion.

Trouble is that there is hardly anything to account for this borrowing. Unfortunately, the conference was called off at the last minute due to visa-related problems experienced by some participants.

This afforded me the opportunity to fly to the US to attend the annual Buganda conference, Ttabamiruka, organised by Baganda who live in New York and New Jersey. The conference took place at Renaissance Woodbridge hotel, New Jersey, and was attended by at least 100 Baganda.

The key organisers are well-grounded people – professionals working with various companies. Although many have taken on American citizenship, they are still hugely emotional about Buganda issues. I presented a paper on the factors that have curtailed business and, therefore, impoverished Baganda in the last three decades.

The Mukono municipality MP, Betty Nambooze Bakireke, spoke about a Buganda under occupation. The head of clan leaders, Omutaka Alan Waliggo Nakirembeka, presided over the lively conference. The conference hall was neatly decorated with the US and Buganda flags. And it was emotional singing all the five stanzas of the Buganda anthem at the opening.

After Nakirembeka's opening address that drew a standing ovation, it was time to screen a documentary about the 1981-1986 Luweero war that brought the current administration to power.

The more emotional ones shed tears seeing children of 10 years carrying AK 47 battling to bring Museveni into power. Luweero, on whose soil the war was fought, looked like a ghost place littered with skulls and many abandoned homes.

The conference became even tenser when I revealed in my presentation that in this year's budget, rehabilitation of Luweero has been allocated Shs 7bn while the president's inland travel will cost more than Shs 36bn.

I also told the conference that the Visionary has been allocated Shs 80bn for donations and has another Shs 30bn to secretly sponsor some students. I further informed them that Wakiso district, with a population of about two million, has been allocated Shs 40bn in this year's budget and will spend Shs 19bn on salaries, Shs 9bn on recurrent expenditures and only Shs 6bn on development.

In the end we resolved, among others, never to give up the fight to rescue Buganda. The proceedings of this conference offer you an opportunity to understand the character many Diaspora meetings understandably took.

I am not surprised this Baganda conference was starved of coverage in the local media. Instead, it received negative publicity with many newspapers announcing that some Baganda leaders had boycotted it.

In Dallas, Texas, meanwhile, NRM leaders were in celebratory mood having taken over the Uganda North American Association (UNAA) conference. The executive director of the Uganda Media Centre, Ofwono Opondo, even announced that the anger [against the NRM] among those living in the Diaspora had died down.

I am told that State House alone sponsored about 50 delegates to UNAA and contributed over $50,000. It is not surprising that a panel discussion that comprised Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu, Muwanga Kivumbi, Jack Wamai and Ruhakana Rugunda was restricted to answering questions set by the organisers.

And I understand there is a business-sort-of conference taking place in London this weekend at which delegates have been vetted by Prime Minister John Patrick Amama Mbabazi. I have learnt that the word "politics" has been deleted from all presentations.

The regime invading and taking over the Diaspora meetings and deciding speakers and topics is what should worry Ugandans; not those who fly which flag or sing which anthem at such conferences.
Diaspora groupings had become lobby machines against excesses of the regime in Kampala.

They are slowly turning into platforms to legitimise violence meted against citizens on Kampala streets and the looting of the country's resources. The Vice President, Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi, who I have nothing against, was the guest speaker in Dallas and will preside over the London conference.

You can imagine the contradiction: no talking politics and a politician is the guest speaker. Diaspora meetings are becoming like NRM Kyankwanzi retreats. That is why we must consolidate Ttabamiruka and commend the New York and New Jersey group for sticking to the principles. Bribery is what this regime has mastered. Our dear leader operates a store full of cash at State House.

To him compromising an opponent is more rewarding than construction of a bridge in Kanungu. To those in the Diaspora, the choice is yours. You ally with looters and tormentors at your own risk