Trump-et of courage

The protests and the tears I saw on CNN told of the trail of heartbreaks that followed the ascendancy of Donald Trump to the American presidency. During the campaigns he presented himself as arrogant, insensitive, brash and too reckless that Barack Obama dubbed him "uniquely unqualified" to be president of the United States.

Yet when it came to the polls he garnered an enviable number of votes and swept the electoral colleges to swagger into the White White, leaving the media and many know-it-all political pundits staggering from the seismic shock of the impossible having become possible! 

But what is it about Trump that got him defying the odds that were alarmingly against him? Many reasons have been advanced to have orchestrated his utterly surprising victory but for me it is the sheer enormity of Trump's courage that made all the difference. Hillary Clinton had her batteries of courage fully charged as well; standing up to such a man, but Trump is another animal! The power brokers in his Republican Party wanted to dictate his flow but he refused to toe their line; he was the captain of his own ship and he didn't care. 

 Then everything was hurled at him. The spoilers had rummaged through his old life and returned with some nasty stuff with which to tarnish his name and reputation beyond repair, but no one can stop a man whose time has come! The past was past, and in any case no one among his accusers was saintly enough to throw the first stone. They hoped the things he said about Muslims, Mexicans and Hillary's character would boomerang; the media unfurled its fangs doing its best to turn his words against him but Trump refused order his mouth alright or be politically correct for that matter. He was and is no pretender and that takes enormous courage. In the end many voters were won over because they felt if he was a devil he was a devil they knew well; a devil they would have no problem sticking with.

Trump's courage was too irresistible to them; it is like the courage that girls find very attractive about the bad boy. It is the courage that comes from knowing that you were created for greatness and nothing can stop you except God. It is an extraordinary courage that very few possess. It is the courage of big winners.

The best I can do for my country

A statesman named John F. Kennedy made a statement that continue to resonate long after his death: ask not what your country can do for you, he said, rather ask what you can do for your country. It's on days like this while we celebrate 54 years of independence that I realise the sheer power and timeless relevance of Mr Kennedy's words. Ideally every individual has a role to play in bettering his/her part of the world.

Ugandan musicians Chameleon and Lillian identified with victims of Bududa landslides

When Stephen Kiprotich won us gold at the Olympics, as he stood on the dais to receive his medal and our national flag was hoisted and our national anthem sang, I thought to myself: there's a man who's doing a lot more for his country than all our members of parliament combined!

This country so awesomely gifted that Winston Churchill christened us the Pearl of Africa needs its citizens to rise up with determination and let her not so sink as to become the peril of the continent. There's nothing that staggers more than the knowledge that a population comprising more than 80 percent Christians are so steeped in corruption and mediocrity almost beyond redemption. 

It then goes without saying that the least we can do for our country is to engage the paradigm shift gear and be the change we want. So many people are good yet evil. I mean, a man goes to a hotel and after his meal tips the waitress with an amount almost the total cost of his meal. To the waitress, such a man is an angel yet the man could be a dealer in a ministry who swindles public money without a modicum of shame. 

It's therefore not enough to do good. What matters is the purity of our intentions. Oswald Chambers said, "The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being." The best thing you and I can do for our country is to be right not only in our actions but also in our motives and thoughts. Happy Independence celebrations.

A river of tears

The tears the big shots are shedding could fill a river! First it was former Vice President Gilbert Bukenya when he was arrested for being implicated in some financial scandal. His tear-ducts opened up and released a mighty 'storm'. It was amazing because no body could believe that a man who compares himself to the toughness of the mahogany could become that mushy when pushed to the wall.

A photo montage of Maj. Gen. Muntu crying

Amelia Kyambadde who as President Museveni's former private secretary wielded as much power as her tough boss, also cried when she met the real face of poverty at a primary school in Mpigi. The jiggers jutting out of children's cracked feet, the sore state of the school buildings and the hunger she saw staring back at her in the eyes of children were just too much for her. Tears popped from the corners of her lovely eyes and gushed down her beautiful face, and she was led away to wipe them and regain her composure before she addressed the pupils. 

Then there's Gen. David Sejusa who told us that he once lost his leg in the bush war and that had Dr. Kizza Besigye not fixed it back in time, he would be a one-legged officer. This was tough but he handled it like a man. Yet when he was recently arrested, the General was seen on television wiping away tears. Why? Because he was dumped into the same dungeon he was thrown into during Amin's reign of terror; Cell No. 4, which was then called the "Cell of No Return". 

And lately,  Major General Mugisha  wept live on TV over the state of affairs in Uganda. His tears reminded me of Jesus weeping over Zion, which He longed to protect like a hen covering its chicks but it could not let Him. Things are surely bad and as we celebrate Easter today, let's all shed tears of solidarity as we pray for our nation and the Lord God who cares about the tears of His suffering children will come to our rescue.

The weapon of love

At the height of Idi Amin's reign of terror in the 1970s, Bishop Festo Kivengere was asked how he would react if he was handed a loaded pistol and Amin was sitting opposite him. He replied, "I would hand

the gun to the president and say: 'I think this is your weapon. It is not mine. My weapon is love.'" 

What a disarming answer. Amin was a nincompoop and beast who killed citizens like flies, including Archbishop Janani Luwum. Kivengere had run to exile fearing for his life. Yet here he was saying he would forgive the dictator instead of shooting him in head? 

You would think the then Bishop of Kigezi was being hypocritical, but no. He explained in his autobiography that he would instead be a phoney servant of the Lord to remain bitter and angry with Amin. Jesus died for him too just as He died for all sinners. And if Amin repented with a broken and contrite heart, Jesus would forgive and welcome him with open arms. So the Bishop had no business hating the brutal ruler. His business was to love and pray for him. 

This brings me to the current situation in Uganda. So much hatred and bitterness over the just concluded elections. Social media is aflame with anger. There's a call to arms. The establishment knows; that's why the army have filled our streets with peeping guns. Yet all this is needless. No need for fear, no need for guns, no need for bitterness to lodge in the heart and put us in bondage.

The heroism and triumphalism of men like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther Jr., and Nelson Mandela was cemented by their rejection of tit-for-tat. Instead they overcame evil by doing good. Festo Kivengere knew the potency of this. He wouldn't shoot Amin given chance because he knew the only weapon that can take one forward is not the weapon of revenge but the weapon of love.

A gold medal for Ugandan women

It's Women's Day today and there's no better time than this to celebrate our women. Africa has produced productive women leaders but ours in Uganda outclass them all. How like a beacon in the night they shone in the just-concluded elections! Not just those who contested and won, even those who worked behind the scenes to make the electoral process generally successful.

KCCA E.D. Jennifer Musisi is doing a stellar job

It's not easy being a woman leader in a patriarchal society but this has not slowed down our women. Whenever Deputy Police Spokesperson Polly Namaye came on television to defend police actions and advise on how to conduct ourselves during the elections, I admired her.  In one interview, she fielded tough questions from Emmanuel Mutaizibwa of NTV as he pushed her to concede that the police were reckless with the opposition but she maintained her cool. Her guts and articulation reminded me of another courageous lady, former Police Spokesperson Judith Nabakooba who's the newly-elected woman MP for Mityana District. 

I also admired Josephine Mayanja-Nkangi who was spokesperson of the Go Forward team. Hon. Amama Mbabazi is a shrewd and sophisticated politician, the fact that he chose her testifies colourfully about her abilities. Then there's Uganda Law Society president Ruth Sebatindira and Anti-Corruption Coalition iron lady Cissy Kagaba - two women that have not brooked about the electoral injustices. 

When renown televangelist, motivational writer and speaker Dr Myles Munroe visited Uganda in 2013, he said president Museveni's successor will be a woman. The more I look at women like Winnie Byanyima,  Jennifer Musisi, Maria Kiwanuka, Julia Sebutinde, Rebecca Kadaga, Janet Museveni and Rev. Joy Kwesiga to mention a few, the more I pray his prophecy comes true. 

Uganda has gone through a lot at the hands of military rulers, yet we are not short of women of strength, wisdom and action to cradle us in their motherly arms and take this nation to another level. Come 2021, let's take one of these priceless women of ours to State House. 

Happy Women's Day.

To fight or not

On election day, I received a call from a friend of mine. He was stuck in the bus park after he found the fare to Mbarara had more than doubled up. So he called me to send him some money to top up. For over an hour, I tried to send my friend some mobile money unsuccessfully until I gave up, exasperated. In the end my friend didn't get to travel, and didn't get to cast his vote. Just like that, the government had disenfranchised him.

Voting in Uganda. Some people didn't get the chance to vote

Later that day, I tried to log in to my social media accounts. Again it was a total fiasco. When I learnt about the blockade from the government, I got angry. I called one of my brothers who is a lawyer to ask what it would cost me to sue the government for its disgusting stifling of its citizens.

My frustrations hit fever pitch when I saw how the electoral commission handled the polls affair and how the police shamelessly conducted itself from voting day to Saturday when the winner was announced and after, paticularly its mistreatment of Dr. Kizza Besigye. 

I know the world is unfair and often we don't get what we deserve. And it's true that blessed are the peacemakers. But should we do nothing as injustice prevails? When should we ignore unfairness for the greater public good? 

My answer is that we should never brook or idly sit by while an unjust thing goes on. Martin Luther King said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We're caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly." 

More than ever is now the time to vocalise evil and act against it before the pent-up frustrations of the masses form a volcano from whose eruption it will be hard and long to recover.

In honour of Dan Nsubuga

It was a cold night. I lay on the wet grass under a lusterless moon brooding. That afternoon the military had stormed the streets; their red tops spelling danger, their gaping guns ready to spill blood. The atmosphere soon turned smoky with bursting balls of teargas choking many. The rumble of gunfire shook the foundations of the city like an earthquake and citizen Dan Nsubuga lost his precious life.

Rest in peace, Dan, your death was not in vain.

My mind raced back to 30 years ago when a young revolutionary who had just captured power stood on the precincts of parliament and waxed lyrical about the fundamental change he was ushering in. It was a fundamental transition from a violent and capricious past to a new dawn of good governance capped with constitutional reforms, institutional revival and economic transformation whose benefits would spill over to the rest of Africa.

Today, when we should be running faster along a path illuminated by the light of democracy, it's flabbergasting the military are stomping the city not in the time of war, but during an electoral process of choosing new leaders. It's obvious the best years of the old man with the hat are far behind him. His seniority has become his senility. The narrative of impotent institutions and the tumor of corruption testify dismally against him. He has hit the panic button by letting the dogs out to stop the wind of change. They shoot and smash up things while he creeps back into his power and seeming invincibility, unfeeling about the suffering proletariat he ostensibly came to redeem three decades ago.

These things make me brood and weep over my country. Then I wipe my tears because the Dan Ndubugas are not dying in vain. The time for military politics is fast running out.

The enigma

There's a guy who fell on us with a bang from heaven. Actually, he's not a literal symbol of the big-bang theory since he spent five years in the jungle ostensibly fighting for our liberation. But five years is nothing compared to the decades Joseph Kony has spent fighting without signs of ever seizing power.

Anyway, it was 30 years ago when this guy hit the scene and caused quite a splash. Many of you were not yet born but now are married and paying fees for your own children. That's how long this guy has been around but remains, in his own estimation, quite a revelation to Uganda; the only vision-bearer and mission-hungry revolutionary who cannot go away like that when the country still needs him.

President Museveni has been in power for 30 years and still counting

That self-image would not have been farfetched if this was still 1986. That was the year in which the rapid po-po-po and raat-aat-aatt-ttttt of gunfire ceased after he toppled the military regime of Gen. Tito Okello Lutwa. He didn't even have time to change into a suit; he was still wearing his green-military bush uniform complete with a cap when he stood on precincts of parliament for his inauguration, and said words that struck a chord in the hearts of many and provoked some tears of joy. 

 "This is not a mere change of guard, this is a fundamental," the then 40-year-old Commander-in-Chief said. There was a moving realness about everything he said that day including how Africa's major problem are leaders who overstay in power. Today we all agree that he knows a different definition of "overstay" than the dictionary offers! 

Anyway, this week the General's 30-year reign was celebrated in colour in Fort Portal. I followed the proceedings in my living room, grudgingly admiring his ability to ward off those that have all these years been clamouring for the topmost job in the land. It doesn't matter how much the old man with the hat ages, his iron-grip on power continues to tighten and nothing seemingly is about to

shake him off.

Dreams of change

I recently had a dream in which president Yoweri Museveni lost an election, accepted defeat and peacefully handed over power. Interestingly, the man who beat him at the polls was not Amama Mbabazi neither was he Kizza Besigye. The winner was a vocal city pastor who often leads annual national prayers.

I woke up from the dream happy that it answered the million-dollar question most Ugandans have been asking: can president Museveni accept defeat and graciously handle over power? When shall we witness peaceful power transition like our friends in Tanzania? 

President Museveni has been in power for 29 years

They say dreams come true, and as I was enjoying the possibility that my dream might come true, I remembered an intriguing part that cut short my hopes. In the intriguing part of the dream, tears were running down the cheeks of Museveni as he gave his last speech as the president of this country and handed over power. He was literally crying a river! I wondered: was he crying because he didn't want to leave and didn't know how to face the world outside the presidency, or was he crying over the mistakes of his past 30 years in power and the things he could have done differently? 

It's difficult to tell but one sure thing many Ugandans would welcome peaceful transfer of power. I heard one politician say all of Uganda's presidents have had to bomb their way to power and must be bombed out or they will never leave. But that ugly history of violence is one the friendly people of Uganda never want to revert to.

That's why for me this year's Independence Day was less about celebrating and more about meditating and praying that the beautiful aspects of my dream do come true sooner than later. It would be Museveni's best legacy to peacefully pass on the mantle. 

Moreover, change is one of the main constants of life. So the sooner we accept the inevitable the better for the greater good.

The best thing we can do for our country

A great American leader, John F. Kennedy, once said, "Ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country." The best thing we can do for our country in the next 50 years is to detest and fight evil, earn an honest living and work for the greater good.

Patriotic Ugandans raising the national flag high by living accountable lives

Accountability to self, country, and world is the only way to dissipate the darkness of general degeneration that has since independence obstructed the progress of our country. Judging by the status quo, it appears accountability from the top Ugandan to the bottom is too much a price to ask yet we must pay it if we are to achieve Vision 2040.

My ears are still smarting from hearing the president voice his determination to uproot corruption from the soil of our nation yet he still surrounds himself with implicated officials. As you read this, somebody is dying in some hospital because of neglect or lack of drugs. A huge pothole has just caused an accident on some road, and a parent is feeling embarrassed and saddened on behalf of his Universal Primary Education child who cannot correctly recite the alphabet.

All because people are sleeping on their jobs, diverting public resources and getting away with it. Few are being accountable to those they are called to serve. The meat of the country is being torn away by ravening wolves and most of the elite have turned their backs on the weak by keeping silent.

Forget the new discoveries of oil and other minerals. The future of this country remains in an agricultural economy, but there is no way we can reap without restraining our lust for free and easy riches. It is high time we took off some soul-searching time. It is after we have mopped the dust of all forms of corruption from our hearts that we can begin to heed the cry of our consciences and lead transparent lives.

Then the government can fire all the lazy bones masquerading as loyal cadres, and hire competent technocrats who will passionately and effectively push for the noble cause of this nation. Only then can the now pale Republic begin to shine again as the "Pearl of Africa."

Good political music

If there is anything I share in common with Okonkwo;s father, Unoka, it is that I cannot bear the sight of blood. Call me a coward if you want, but to me, war and bloodshed are the two ugliest things ever! And I am praying that by the time you read this, everything will be alright in next-door neighbour Kenya where tensions are mounting over delayed release of the presidential election results. I am praying that the camps of the leading men Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta do everything to prevent a replication of the post-election violence and bloodshed of December 2007.

Raila is a man who has patiently struggled for the peace of his country and for a harmonious East Africa. He was arrested in the 1980's for eight years without trial and has endured many political trials and tribulations because he was "born in politics" and learned early that democracy and progress don't come easy. He embodies the greater-good politician who knows that he cannot dare sow seeds of discord regardless of what is done to him. That is why he put aside his personal ambition in 2002 and supported a coalition candidate, Mwai Kibiki, who later rigged him out in 2007 but he still agreed to work with him for the sake of peace.

As for Uhuru, he has always had his political palm-kernels cracked for him. He was wooed into the game in 2002 by Daniel arap Moi in reciprocation of the kindness his father Jomo Kenyatta had rendered him on his way to the throne. Analysts say Uhuru just wants the top job so he can protect his vast chunks of prime land allegedly obtained controversially. He hopes it will also put him in better position to defend himself from ICC over crimes against humanity.

Actually the antagonism between Raila and Uhuru was inherited from their fathers who served together in the first post-independent government before they fell out. All said and done, Raila should not be motivated by ending the hegemony of the Kikuyu and Kalenjin who have dominated Kenyan politics since independence. Uhuru should also not be preoccupied with winning to that he can entrench that hegemony further.

Let both men respect the outcome of the election and work together. Let them not make war over the ballot, but like Unoka, let them pick their flutes and make good political music. And together we shall boogie on the dance-floor of brotherhood.

This was first published shortly after the elections.