Betrayal is always a bad thing!

By Abbey Semuwemba

Friends,

I have finally finished reading John Kazoora's book, "Betrayed by my Leader". I thank again one of the Ugandans At Heart forum members in London, Mr. Ronald Kavuma, for lending me his copy of the book. Of course, the book tittle meant " Museveni " as the "leader " in this betrayal . So, it could as well have been, " Betrayed by Museveni Yoweri ". It's one of those books that matches the old Nillson song, "You ripped out my heart, you tore it apart, so FUCK YOU." You would enjoy that if u like music, like I do.

Not to get all religioso on Luwero Bush fighters , but whenever someone I loved or cared for betrayed me, I turned to God to ease the pain. For me, It's a reminder that I was a part of something bigger, and that my suffering, however terrible, had meaning, and God knows what's good for me.I try to say to myself everything has it's purpose and in it's own time.

The truth is people have always betrayed each other. The speeches politicians make are usually not different from the marriage vows among Christians. Politicians generally stay with you in good times but not in "sickness". The term "In sickness and in health",(and most of the other verbiage usually appearing in a Christian wedding - richer/poorer; better/worse etc.) actually do not appear in a Jewish wedding vow, although fidelity and welfrare are implicit in the terms " (I wed thee)...according to the laws of Moses and Israel." In fact, the vows expressed at a wedding are legally unenforcable in most Western nations. In the eyes of the state, it is the wedding licence issued by a government which counts, not anything said in the ceremony. Similarly, all that crap Museveni said against the past regimes has turned out to be just that--crap.

Anyway, Betrayal is betrayal. Ugandans expected a lot from Museveni and he bailed. Let's not gloss over the immensity of his betrayal. He should be ashamed.

Kazoora espouses a lot of hunger in his final summations in the book. He sounds really like a broken man but with hope. He sounds so surprised that Gen.Salim Saleh, Museveni's brother, campaigned for Museveni to lead for more 40 years during the campaign to remove presidential term limits. He sounds so surprised that Gen.Tinyefunza was threatening Olara Otunu for asking for a Commission of inquiry into the Luwero war killings.He was also naive to think that he could help someone to get a job from Museveni but expect that person to be more loyal to him than the job provider. Kazoora basically regrets his participation in the Luwero Bush war. The following statement sums up everything:

"I did not ever imagine that the success of our struggle would surpass the very vices we had set out to eliminate....................Those who were responsible for rigging the 1980 elections must have realised by now that they did so amateurishly as the current government is the world's leading guru on election rigging "

I know this is dredging up an old topic, but i always ask myself the following question, " had the 1980 elections been free and fair, would Museveni still have found a way to become president, and run the country in the same way he has done for the last 32 years?"

My simple answer is " yes". The man had a plan, he executed it and it worked for him, not Ugandans!

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba writes from UNITED KINGDOM

"In tribute to the United Kingdom and the Republic of Uganda, two bastions of strength in a world filled with strife, discrimination and terrorism."