Uganda’s President Museveni needs to learn civility, which includes being respectful of others whether or not he agrees with them. I say this, because civility is obviously missing in his presidency, as displayed when he and his cohorts disguised as police officers recently arrested Director Samuel Ssejaka and Editor Mustapha Mugisha over a front page cover of their Summit Business Review's depiction of him blowing out a candle and wielding a knife, ready to cut a Ugandan shaped cake.
This is not the first controversy caused by a cartoon of a president and it won’t be the last. However, the issue here is his response. I also understand that several Ugandan journalists accused of defaming him have pending court cases. My concern is that this brings a more important issue to the limelight. Harassing, arresting and killing journalists who oppose them is the modus operandi of many African leaders. They do what they like because they feel they can get away with it. Their actions are not only to punish the journalists in question, but also to send a warning to others, which is what journalists worldwide cannot stand for.
Gone are the days of restricted information flow, when journalists were silenced quietly. Now thanks to technology, this isn’t the case. The journalists were arrested just because Museveni has the power to do so in Uganda. However, he doesn’t have that power worldwide. Any president is fair game when it comes to criticism, because it comes with the territory, especially one with a 25 year old senile presidency.
Museveni should know that he is due for large doses of criticisms regularly. Since he is one of Africa’s "Presidents for Life," ignoring or embracing critics would serve him well. Arresting journalists for doing their job, which includes criticizing any and everyone, including a president because he was “embarrassed,” shows that he has an overblown ego, cultivated by yes men and women surrounding him, that was bruised by the cartoon.
What is disturbing about this is the thought process behind it. He believes these journalists are just two Ugandan citizens; he can do anything he wants with. However, he should remember that they are journalists who are part of a world wide body of journalists who won't be silent when some of us are mistreated.
The truth hurts and to have responded the way he did, he must be upset because the cartoon is a correct depiction of him. Setting the cartoon issue aside, it’s obvious that he’s been enjoying the cake called Uganda for all these years, or why else would any one person want be the president for so long? So why then be upset that these journalists published a cartoon stating a plain fact?
Also, he should be used to this by now because this isn’t the first time this has happened. In a sad moment for Africa in 2005, a political cartoon published in a Kenyan daily newspaper depicted him as a puppeteer working the strings of the Ugandan legislature/his puppet, as the puppet wrote a 3rd term into the constitution for him. I wonder what happened to the Cartoonist and publication. Perhaps, he had to ignore them since they were out of his jurisdiction.
President Obama didn’t have anyone arrested. However, American citizens especially the incensed African American community and civil rights leaders demonstrated in front of the New York Post's office in Manhattan and asked for the Secret Service to investigate the cartoon as a threat to the president.
Similarly, in July of 2003, the Secret Service investigated the Los Angeles Times when it published an inciting cartoon of former President George Bush being shot in the head. The cartoonist, Michael Ramirez, because of the cartoon and another one that Jews called anti-Semitic, was terminated by his employer. He was not arrested or jailed.
However, when some presidents are offended in my homeland, it’s different. Borrowing from the late African Poet, David Diop, this is "Africa, my Africa." Africa of “proud warriors," however my version of his poem continues differently, Africa is a continent where when a leader’s overblown ego is bruised or slightly provoked, resorts to his “primal warrior kill or be killed instincts,” and has no qualms with mistreating or killing anyone. In many African countries, a person's safety is jeopardized for voicing one's honest opinions against the powers that be.
I can hear the West now, as they read about this saying, “Here they go again, another example of an African leader reacting in such an uncivilized manner over something so inconsequential.” As much as Africans, including our leaders like to act westernized, I personally don’t understand why their westernization end at wearing expensive designer outfits, over indulging in the finer things, and spending time and money in the West. When in reality, all these things don't define a person. Thought processes, behaviors and actions do.
Not being from Uganda, I wasn’t too familiar with Museveni, so to learn more about him, I spoke to some Ugandans who were more than willing to share. He certainly doesn’t have some Ugandan citizen’s goodwill. Many said if he was so loved and admired by Ugandan citizens for being an excellent president, this incident should have incensed them to demonstrate on his behalf, but that won’t happen because although he took over in 1986, he’s accused of launching the country into a downward spiral since 1996, when the elections that declared him president were rigged.
They said, even ignoring the fact that his origins and nationality are questionable, since no one is sure if he’s from Rwanda or Uganda, the problem now is that Uganda is now a police state, a classic 25 year old dictatorship disguised as a democracy. In addition to his alleged attempts to suppress the media and opposition political forces, he is also alleged to have been instrumental in the harassing and killing of people since the 1970s when he was an intelligence officer in Obote’s government. He is also alleged to currently conduct a reign of terror which includes torture houses, random arrests, disappearances, expediential killings, attempts on the lives of opposition party members, poisonings, and staged accidents. I was presented with petitions against him on crimes against humanity and genocide in Buganda which are below.
Indict Uganda's President Museveni for Crimes against humanity {Petition}
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/indict-ugandas-president-museveni-for-crimes-against-humanity/
Stop Genocide in Buganda {Petition}
http://stopgenocideinbuganda.blogspot.com/2010/07/stop-cultural-genocide-in-buganda.html?spref=fb
However, the West turns a blind eye to this and his many other atrocities he commits because he has been fighting their proxy war by deploying troops to Somalia, a failed state that’s vulnerable being taken advantage of by pirates, to fight their piracy war because the US withdrew in humiliation in 1993 after having so many casualties on ground.
Many Ugandans say they are fed up with it and with recent occurrences in Kenya, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe, next month’s election, many are saying will be a mockery, and its aftermath will determine where the country is headed. Do they intend to resist Museveni’s regime, leading to the demise of his reign or will he clutch on to power and continue in his role as president for life with a legacy of oppressing his people that’s prevalent in African leadership?
Time will ultimately tell, but the world including the international community, the UN, commentators, aid donors, Africans and Ugandan citizens at home and abroad are keeping an eye on the situation. Many Ugandans say they are looking forward to the day when they can speak freely without fear of arrest or torture in Uganda.
If he was a reasonable man with Uganda’s best interests at heart, when he saw the cartoon, he would have used it as an opportunity to ask himself why the journalists perceived him that way, examined himself to see if there is any truth in their perceptions and made changes to correct his mistakes, so he can be perceived and depicted positively in the future. But no, we are Africans so we should resort to jungle justice to warn and attempt to silence those who oppose us.
The funny thing about this issue is that the cartoon wouldn't have had this world wide audience had it not been for Museveni's attention garnering reaction. Now the cartoon and his reaction have made bigger news, so kudos to the journalists. As a philosophical person who appreciate all situations and tries to find the good in them, I will share on what I appreciate about this occurence. I appreciate that Museveni came to his senses and had the journalists released, even though it was on bond and they continue to face interrogations.
I thank him for making Uganda and Africa look uncivilized to the rest of the world. I thank him for reminding us all that even an autocratic president with 25 years in power still fears and seeks to suppress and silence the media. I also thank him for showing Ugandans and Africans that perhaps it’s only in the West and not in their homelands that the freedom of speech and the ability to express themselves freely and honestly, which they enjoy without fear of retribution, is available to them.
As reporters, our voices are often under attack and we must ensure that we are strong enough to resist those who seek to suppress us, so I am using this opportunity to draw attention to The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, nonprofit organization founded to promote press freedom worldwide by defending the rights of journalists to report news without fear of reprisal. Currently, the alarming statistics worldwide on their website are as follows:
In 2011, 2 journalists have been killed.
Since 1982, 847 have been killed.
Since 1982, 543 murdered with impunity.
145 are currently in prison worldwide.
These disheartening statistics are probably only a small portion of the actual numbers, so I am appealing to everyone who reads this article to visit their website at http://cpj.org/ to learn about the good work they are doing and to do what you can to assist the cause to ensure that your country’s and continent’s stories keep getting told.
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