{UAH} Share more information with us - Kashambuzi tells Gen Sejusa

Share more information with us – Kashambuzi tells Gen Sejusahttp;//www.thelondoneveningpost.com/share-more-information-with-us-kashambuzi-tells-gen-sejusa/

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Editorial Team

Gen David Sejusa: "I do not need to be accepted by anyone in opposition or not. Mine is a calling – a mission to free my people. Even if I was to remain alone, I will go on until it is done.""

Those who shift support from Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and cross to the opposition, should clearly state why they chose to do so, what they did while serving under Museveni and provide audience to Ugandans to ask questions and seek clarification on various issues on peace, security and stability, corruption, sectarianism and cronyism, war crimes and crimes against humanity as well as Uganda's involvement in regional conflicts and wars.

This is the view expressed by the Secretary General of the United Democratic Ugandans (UDU) Professor Eric Kashambuzi in a statement sent to The London Evening Post Saturday. He said the UDU believes in regime change in Uganda by peaceful means and is urging supporters of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) in Uganda to desert "in droves" and join opposition against Museveni. "In this spirit, retired General David Sejusa (Tinyefunza) is welcome," he said.

He went on to say: "Gen. Sejusa who served under Museveni for over 30 years and held senior positions in the military and security services as a close adviser to Museveni, commanding troops in various parts of Uganda and coordinating security activities in the country as well as serving as a Member of Parliament, has definitely influenced legislative and executive decision making. He should be individually and collectively held accountable for commissions and omissions during his term in office."

Prof Kashambuzi who is a consultant with the United Nations in New York and an active Uganda political activist, said among other things, Ugandans want Gen Sejusa to tell them "what he knows about the alleged killing of Muslims in the western part of Uganda during the 1979 war of Liberation when Uganda was invaded from Tanzania; the killing of up to 700,000 residents of Luwero Triangle and the role the NRA played." He added that the country would also like to know how Baganda senior officers in NRA lost their lives during and after the bush war, especially Dr Andrew Lutakome Kayiira who was murdered at the home of this writer in Kampala 27 years ago next month and would also like to know how land in Luwero was allocated after the guerrilla war and how the selection of land owners was done and by whom.

As commanding officer in the northern and eastern regions, Sejusa should tell us how the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) with limited capacity, could have carried out such human atrocities for over 20 years. Ugandans also wish to know the circumstances surrounding the herding of Teso youth in train wagons where they perished by deliberate asphyxiation," Prof Kashambuzi said. "As a parliamentarian and senior adviser on security matters," he went on, "What role did he play in drafting the draconian Anti-terrorism Act and its implementation, resulting in serious violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of Ugandans?"

Prof Kashambuzi said his UDU also wanted to know what Gen Sejusa's views are on the proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission and when and how it should be implemented. "Not least, what role does he see for himself in post-Museveni regime after he has been cleared of allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity?" he said adding that these were "legitimate questions in the interest of debate and open disclosure".

It is now nearly a year since Gen Sejusa left Uganda after writing in local newspapers that there had been a plot by the man he was serving, Gen Yoweri Museveni, to assassinate senior army officer opposed to a Museveni plan to have his (Museveni's) son Kainerugaba succeed him as president. His attempts to return home were thwarted when the Ugandan regime moved out heavily armed troops that besieged Entebbe International Airport to await his return, clearly showing they were going to arrest him.

Forced into exile, as most Ugandans have been as far back as the 1960s, Gen Sejusa joined others to form the Freedom and Unity Front (FUF)  which is geared towards planning regime change in Uganda using all available means. He has told friends he is convinced that the Museveni regime hasn't long to go before it is replaced and urged the opposition to prepare for this eventuality.

We contacted Gen Sejusa and sent him a copy of what Prof Kashambuzi had said above. In reply to our request,  Gen Sejusa said there was nothing new at all in all the questions raised by the professor. In a written reply to The London Evening Post Gen Sejusa said Prof Kashambuzi's comments did not specify how the UDU was going to cause "that peaceful change he is talking about".  He asked: "What new thing are they doing differently that should cause different results from those they used in the past which made them fail to achieve the desired results in the last 30 years of their resistance against Mr Museveni and the NRM?" Gen Sejusa added: "Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results, is not a sign of being smart (I don't want to use the word insanity) [Gen's words]."

The general warned that if those opposed to Museveni continue to make the same mistakes and betray people, history would judge everyone harshly. "Internal wars help no one except the enemy," he advised, adding that time has a wonderful way of exposing those who work for the enemy in hidden forms. "As you know, no one cheats time. Not Mr Museveni or those who work for him either directly or indirectly," Gen Sejusa said. He said what the organisation he helped found last year, the FUF  is doing now is to concentrate on "tested methods" that can deliver change for Ugandans and seriously working with those determined to bring an end to the current suffering of Ugandans.

The general said that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that Prof Kashambuzi mentioned, could only come about when the people attained victory. "If Mr Kashambuzi and his type undermining the struggle to attain the critical mass for change go on, the dictatorship shall remain in place and Mr Kashambuzi and his friends can as well prepare to kneel even in their death and so will their children," he said.

"So as we all struggle to cause change, the foremost question that must engage our minds should be – is what am/we are doing or saying a force multiplier for the revolution or is it a subtraction from the people's efforts to liberate themselves? Do they work for change or for the enemy? Such is the importance of what leaders do and say," Sejusa said.

Gen Sejusa warned that it was important to "always know and be on guard" against people who work for the enemy in two ways; KNOWINGLY, in which case, they become legitimate targets for the revolutionary forces, to expose and neutralise or; UNKNOWINGLY where in this case they need to be helped with education and ideological empowerment. "In Mr Eric Kashambuzi's case, I want to believe that he is serious about defeating the current dictatorship in Uganda and that the wrong methods him and his group use are mistakes made in good faith.

"He is an educated man. Surely he must be aware of how the internal divisions weaken the resistance. I suppose Mr Kashambuzi and his group have hated NRM and Museveni, and from the way he writes, even myself, for over a quarter of a century. Why has he and his group not defeated NRM then? The simple answer is; because of the wrong methods of struggle they use – ideological deficiency; lack of clarity and ideological understanding of the problem; lack of clear strategic vision and; use of wrong tactics."

Asking to know on which ideological and strategic benchmarks Prof Kashambuzi's UDU was based, Gen Sejusa said it wasn't his practice to attack other opposition forces because it was not very long ago when he was in government and knows very well how those in government gain and actually pay to divide the opposition. "It surprises me to see that some people, who call themselves leaders in the struggle against dictatorship, learned nothing even after spending FOREVER in opposition without removing Museveni." He added: "They need to be honest with themselves, ask what they are doing differently now which will cause that change. Luck? Miracle? Witchcraft? What? Look at the streets of Ukraine today. That's what it takes to remove a dictatorship. Not wishful thinking of apologists of failure and prisoners of enemy propaganda."

Gen Sejusa said he did not need to be accepted by anyone in opposition or not. "Mine is a calling – a mission to free my people. Even if I was to remain alone, I will go on until it is done. That is the meaning of a freedom fighter. It becomes a personal calling before it crystalizes into a group mission. Mine is a journey, and it has been since I was 20 years old. Such is the level of my conviction – has been, and always will be. Even when I was making some mistakes, it was in pursuit of a better country. I was at times wrong, made mistakes like all humans do. But what defines me is my quest for a better Uganda. Even in mistakes, I always get up and do the right thing. No one can therefore slow this momentum. History is in the making," he vowed.