{UAH} My father was a generous person and courageous fighter - Jacob Mwebaze
My father was a generous person and courageous fighter - Jacob Mwebaze
In Summary
On January 26, the National Resistance Movement (NRM/A) government will mark 28 years in power. In a countdown to this day, Daily Monitor is running a series dubbed CHILDREN OF REVOLUTIONARIES, where we interview children of those who fought or facilitated the 1981-86 Bush War. In this third part of the series, Risdel Kasasira talks to Jacob Mwebaze, the son of the late Lt Col Jet Mwebaze about the difficulties of growing up without a father.
I was born in 1991, in Mbarara and after seven years, my father died in a plane crash in the Rwenzori Mountains. I went to Little Angels in Nakasero, Lakeside Primary school in Entebbe and later Kibiri, where I completed primary. From Kibiri, I went to Nalya High School, and then St Lawrence Sonde for A-Level and I am now at Uganda Christian University (UCU) doing Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
The first time I heard about the death of my father, we were at Uncle Gen James Kazini’s place in Nakasero, and a group of people came to see him and I heard them asking whether they had found the body of my father. I was toddler but I realised there was something wrong. My father’s body was eventually found and he was buried in Nakaseke at the NRA Heroes’ cemetery in 1998.
Kazini, Jet Mwebaze’s friends help
After the death of our father, the late uncle Kazini and aunt Naomi Kato took over the responsibility to look after us. Life was okay and we did not miss anything. They basically helped us grow into men. Uncle Kazini picked money from his pockets and also money collected from our father’s assets to take care of us. He gathered us from different mothers and we are now eight siblings staying together in Ntinda.
My other siblings are: Isaiah Tashobya, Lillian Mbabazi, Harriet Tumwebaze, Jethro Mwebaze, Douglas Mwebaze, Julia Mwebaze and Oman Mwebaze. He wanted us to stay together so that when support comes, we all share. But problems started coming when uncle Kazini lost his job in 2003 and aunt Naome was not working. School became hard. We tried to get State House scholarships but failed.
The situation became harder when uncle Kazini died and later uncle Edward Muhwezi, also known as Singa. That’s when sadness and a lot of challenges came in. But our father’s friends came in and helped. Gen Salim Saleh has been a parent. He has been a father to us. He renovated our house and whenever we want something, he is the one we run to. He pays my fees. Aunt Kellen Kayonga has also comforted us. Brig Elly Kayanja, who was my father’s Best Man, has been there for us.
The problem has been that most of the government officials or UPDF officers who were close to our father and would have helped us have retired or they are not working.
Those in influential positions are new and do not know our fathers. Even if you meet them, they may not give you the attention the old ones would have given you. That’s why some orphans think they have been neglected. But these orphans should understand that’s what comes with a system that is evolving. New ones come in and old ones go.
Even us, the orphans of the fallen UPDF are not organised. If these families can come together and pushed for funding as a group, it would be better. The problem is that these people the orphans are running to, also have problems. There are over 34 million people in this country and if you go as an individual family, they will not listen to you as an individual.
Worthwhile war
My father and uncle Kazini fought a worthwhile war. They wanted peace, a self –sustaining economy and government has largely achieved most of those programmes.
People tend to take situations for granted.
Without peace, you cannot talk about economy and democracy.
My father never lived long to see total peace in the whole country because there were wars in northern Uganda and western Uganda when he died. But he played his role and left.
We have heard many stories about the death of our father, but we treat them as rumours. Some people say he was killed, others tell us it was an accident. But for us, we know it was an accident.
It happened 15 years ago. I’m now 22, I have a brother who is 23 and a sister who is 25. We shouldn’t be bothered by those stories. We should be thinking about how we are going to carry on the glory of our father. These stories cannot develop us.
Like any other child growing up as an orphan, there are always challenges but we have managed to go through them. We have managed because of people like aunt Noame, Gen Saleh and Aunt Kayonga.
In our next issue, read about Ferdinand Tayebwa, the son of Brig Tadeo Kanyankore, talking about his arrest and imprisonment of his father.
I want to fulfill my father’s dream
For me, my childhood is not the best neither is it the worst. I have gone to school and when I graduate, my first mission is to help my tribe (Basongora in Kasese District) which has suffered historical injustice.
When colonialists came, they chased them from their land and they went to DR Congo. When I went there recently with other university students, you really see a forgotten tribe and no one is there to hear their outcry. My dream is to have these people settled. It doesn’t matter how I will do it. If it means joining politics to make this change, I will.
Government tried to resettle them but in the process those who are supposed to get land didn’t. Some of them have gone back. My father and uncle Kazini died before accomplished the mission and I promise to accomplish their dream.
With other fellow Basongora university students, we have started a campaign in Busongora to sensitise them about development. We want to encourage non-governmental organisations to go to the area and if possible, try and get scholarships for those who have no school fees. Our people are scattered and suffering.
This was our father’s and uncle Kazini’s dream to bring these people together. They first concentrated on fighting wars to pacify the country and never had time to help their people.
My father was a generous person, courageous fighter who wanted everybody to be happy. He was friendly and never wanted to see a friend suffering. He was selfless. He wanted the NRM 10-point programme to be achieved. He was frank. He wanted people like Basongora, who have suffered this historical injustice, to be resettled.
I wonder why government has concentrated on northern Uganda and forgotten other people who have faced historical injustices.
Who is jet mwebaze?
Education: He was born in Mbarara District in early in 1960s. He died in 1998 October in a plane crash in Rwenzori Mountains. Lt. Col. Mwebaze and his elder brother, the late Maj Gen James Kazini, went to Ntare School. From Ntare, he joined Makerere University from where he joined the bush in 1982. He left Makerere University with Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu and other students.
Military career: While in the bush, he was one of the daring and courageous commanders such as Maj Suicide Katungi, Col Patrick Lumumba, Lt Col Fred Mugisha, and Col Stanley Muhangi.
During the assault on Kampala, he commanded force that was supposed to encircle Kampala through Bwaise but failed because they did not have enough troops. After capturing power in 1986, he was deployed at the border with Sudan at Bibia to command a battalion that repulsed the defeated UNLA forces.
Mwebaze’s brothers: His brother, Maj Gen Kazini was perhaps the only army general of the UPDF who fought in every single major battle since 1986. He fought West Nile-based UNRFII, Lord’s Resistance Army and Allied Democratic Forces. The late Edward Muhwezi was a younger brother to Lt Col Mwebaze and Maj Gen Kazini.
Death: His death in a plane crash was controversial after on October 2 1998, it was reported that the rescue teams had found four passengers alive, including Lt Col Mwebaze. The then minister of defence, Stephen Kavuma also said he was alive. But days later he was found dead with severe head injuries.
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"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"
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