Thank you RK for giving me this opportunity to comment on recent events that happened here in Uganda, Sudan, DRC & CAR running up to Christmas festive season. I have been a keen reader of your pages because I find you people as the only credible alternative for information in Uganda. There are obviously situations when you have got it wrong but been quick to put the record straight. And for that reason I would like to thank you for a job well done.

Today here in Ngora we have just come back from church -- though the service was actually held under a mango tree. We are having our first serving of a pot of Ajon -- Teso cultural brew which over the years has been embraced all over the country and lately attracted ridicule from some quarters.

As usual while enjoying our brew topical issues are discussed around these gatherings and right now the proceedings have turned to the recent the attack on Kony's camps in Garamba park in the DRC and President Museveni's Christmas radio address to the nation and reproduced in the New Vision Newspaper. Judging from the excitement this topic has generated in the gathering there are obviously mixed feelings regarding the Garamba commando attack of 14/12/2008 on Kony's bases and the President's address to the nation.

Being in the middle of all this I ask the gathering whether they do access RK and to my surprise the majority actually did, apart from those permanently based in the village (no internet). So I tell my people that I am going to write to RK with your views. I decide to undemocratically impose myself as chairman to facilitate orderly proceedings. I polarised the group to those who are in support of the attack and those against, and to be represented by Eriya Abilu and Akwees. Abilu and Akwees representing the former and the latter groups respectively.

After some deliberations with his group Abilu quickly draws everybody's attention to the fact they are ready and starts ticking off his points by show of his fingers why he thinks papa Museveni was right to attack Kony in Garamba;

• Kony brought ican ekingok (Ateso saying in reference to untold suffering that only a dog can endure) to Teso, Lango and Acholi in the form of killing, maiming and abduction in these sub-regions.

 
• What sort of human being kills his own if he is not ajokit? (Evil spirit). Ponders Abilu clearly emotionally disturbed.

 
• Kony enyami ebuu k'olek (again Ateso saying used in reference to a very bad person, in this case Kony, to extent that even if a hyena with a large appetite, ate him this beast would throw up!)

 
• Kony has been given the opportunity to sign the peace agreement, why should Papa Museveni keep on begging him?

 
• Kony has exported his unsavoury behaviour to DRC, Sudan and Central African Republic and there is a danger that people in those countries may see all Ugandan's in that light and yet we all need peace!

At this point Akwees says Ejo ber mot mot!! (meaning go slow on that one) He goes ahead to enumerate the reasons why he and his group think that the commando attack in the DRC is yet another misadventure.

You remember when Jeje Odong was Army Commander he came to Teso and took our boys to Congo/Kisangani? What happened? Ask Opolot here he will tell you! Says Akwees. This sends everyone roaring with laughter because Opolot's story is narrated at every opportunity in the village. And he obligingly tells it himself when he has had a glass or two of the local gin and being a local chap, Opolot has built almost a cult status around himself.

Opolot's story begins when he found himself sandwiched between a rock and a hard place when the NRA now UPDF were fighting UPA rebels active in Teso sub region then. He participated on both sides of this conflict and at times concurrently. When his commanders abandoned the struggle in exchange for pieces of silver and comfort, he found himself in Moroto. For about five years he served in the army without being able to get back to the village even on leave pass! One evening at the height of Uganda/Rwanda clash in Congo they were mobilised without much ceremony and ordered to board a military truck for redeployment. They were not even told where they were going.

RK readers if you have had the opportunity to travel on the Soroti - Mbale highway, you will have noticed that many commuters stop at some point along this road to buy things like groundnuts, chicken, mangoes and potatoes. These potatoes (white skinned ones) are particularly very delicious -- I am told these potatoes actually get to far flung places like London, Canada and the EU. This is the reason for the driver and their commander stopping at this spot. All along nothing has been going through Opolot's mind other than their intended destination.

Opolot has somehow worked out their destination and redeployment as being Congo/Kisangani. You will now realise that Opolot is a "sharp" soldier. He recognises his surroundings and it dawns on him that he has not been to these parts of Uganda for the last five or so years. He immediately implements plan B. He slides down the truck leaving his gun and making it known to his comrades in arms that he is answering a very pressing call of nature. He reassures them that he is going to cross the road to the bushes yonder for this purpose. Predictably when out of view Opolot legs it. But what is more hilarious is that he ran past his own homestead straight to apujan (this is a communal wetland mostly used for grazing cattle). This act puzzles his relatives to date. Opolot stayed there for a week and only came out when he felt that the UPDF were no longer at his heels!

He now cuts a solitary figure in the village doing his military drills in the hot Teso sun during the day or at night you can hear his parade commands intermittently piercing the serene nights.

Opolot's episode leaves me musing what the outcome would be if all UPDF's top brass were half as "sharp" as this young man. Sharp in the sense that it is worthless to spill blood for no tangible benefit to the nation as was the case in Kisangani. It is also very disturbing that our legislators are not still asking for the accountability of the whereabouts of our boys who have since perished in these foreign missions. But one person from Teso who will be definitely haunted by this is afande Jeje Odongo. I know you read RK can you please tell us where our brothers you took to Congo are? You can rest assured that this is a question people from Teso will be asking you for ages to come!

With the rib splitting laughter subsiding, Akwees presses on. Not to be outdone with Ateso sayings, he quips; Siri itenya amolig awu (It is foolhardy to poke bees/hornets nest) Kony to him and his group do not pose a real danger to Ugandan when he camped in Garamba Park. Attacking him there will only bring more misery to the people of Uganda, Southern Sudan and CAR.

Abilu interjects that "the people in DRC are being killed by Kony right now".

I ask Abilu to be patient and also listen to this opposing view.

Akwees reminds Abilu that he actually does not support Kony but thinks that peace should have been given a chance as the military option has not brought any results for the last 22 years. To emphasise this further he says that to have even waited another 5 years would not have done any harm since the military option has not worked to date.

Omoding without waiting for consent from Akwees or myself as chairman to put his point across draws the gathering's attention to the contents of President Museveni's address to the nation. He pulls out New Vision from his bag and quotes the reason the president gave to justify the attack on Kony's Garamba park bases;

1. Kony had refused to sign the agreement

 
2. Kony has never stopped abducting Congolese

 
3. Kony continued to kill Ugandans even during the peace talks

 
4. Kony had started dispersing his terrorists to the whole region (DRC, Southern Sudan & CAR)
• Akwees discounts points 1 and 2 above on the basis that more time should have been allowed for the signing of the peace agreement and operations against Kony in Congo should have been left to others as Uganda is not a regional policing force.

 
• Akwees on point number 3 wondered how the President of Uganda really would be concerned with the Killing of Vincent Otti by Kony. And also insinuated that Kony's camp was duped with information to cause kavuyo to the desired effect of the Uganda Govt.

 
• Akwees reminded Abilu and group that the defeat of LRA at Apopong in Teso was not because of the mighty UPDF technical abilities BUT because the people of Teso mobilised to defend themselves as they have done when their normal lives have been disrupted in the past. And this ability should not be overlooked!!

 
• Bombing the rebels camps was counter productive because bombs do not pick the rebel fighters from women, children and abductees who are actually being held against their will anyway.

 
• Akwees further tells Abilu that from where he is seated he does not think that President Museveni did believe in those peace talks anyway from the outset. He says this can be seen from the past efforts for peace - as soon as there is a glimmer of hope for peace Museveni drops a stink bomb!

 
• Akwees fervently tells the gathering that as far as he is concerned, the mission in DRC miserably failed because all the objectives for attacking Kony's Garamba camps were not achieved. He points to the picture in New Vision paper potraying UPDF commandos donning on Kony's wig and other items. "This", he says pointing to the New Vision paper picture, "does not say anything!"

Akwees poses a question to no one in particular; do you really believe that if Kony's camp was annihilated we would not be seeing pictures of the dead rebels or of burnt out huts as has always been done in the past?

At this point an old man by the names of Okiror Ekonyolet requests for a hearing. He says "my sons I have listened to all what you have said. Please allow me to say something".

Everybody agrees that the old man should be given a chance. Okiror begins by saying that he is not going to say Abilu or Akwees is right or wrong. "However, I want to point out that I was in the Uganda Army at a high rank and served in foreign lands including Congo" said Ekonyolet.

"You know that country is heavily forested". Continues Apolon Ekonyolet. "You see when you are on a chopper you are more likely not to be able to see what is happening below the tree tops. The President says Kony fled five minutes before the air raid. But really who had a stop watch to time Kony's sprinting ability and arrived to five minutes?

"Can you really say a mission has been successful when all you have got to show for all you efforts is an abandoned guitar"? Concludes Apolon Ekonyolet Nuka ngupongun (meaning that's all I have to say).

RK readers we have another sitting slated for the New Year and I will share with you all what transpires in Ngora over this festive season.

Yours truly,
Ekutu Kwap
Ngora, Kumi District

Dear Radiokatwe,

Yoweri Museveni the so-called great warrior is soon to be exposed. As soon as Ethiopian troops leave Somalia, the poorly trained and funded UPDF will soon be on the run in Somalia.

This thuggish government has no Army worth taking about, poorly trained soliders, lack of basic logistics, old jet fighters, poor leadership and command, corruption in the military, tribalism, they just can not fight a War.

Back to the on going saga, Uganda has no Mig -23s but 3 old Mig 21s and the pilots lack proper training hence can never deliver bombs accurately, that is just an imagination.

Muhoozi is pictured claiming to be in the battlefield yet he is surrounded by PGB guards, those putting on helmets, hope Ugandans may have noticed the same thugs riding around his father's Jeeps.

You see Muhoozi with guns, heavy security etc while his 2 other commanders have no guns, why? Ugandans should ask.

Our Captain Vincent once wrote that this boy had got low grades in leadership (katwe reproduce that story), are Ugandans surprised that the attack was a failure? (the story is always available, see Why Muhoozi went back to America, and advice for our young officers of 13 Jul 2008 - Editor)

When Mig or any other planes bomb an area, that is not how huts would look, these huts they are showing were just torched. So we see no crack which would have been a sign of an exploding bomb.

Well, fellow Ugandans, this is how Museveni promotes his kinsmen and family.

State House Analyst

In New Vision, they show a PGB APC (BMRT) at Entebbe old airport ready to be "ferried" and yet in reality it is going no where. Uganda has no planes capable of transporting tanks and APC's and for sure not the Hercules C-130 shown in the papers. So once again this is Yoweri's lies to make Ugandans think this was a big operation commanded by his son, who is pictured surrounded by PGB guards in black helments will other soldiers are in cloth caps!

They show one so-called special operative briefing him, why should he be briefed standing 800 km away from the battlefield when we are told he is directly involved in the operation? He should be able to follow what is happening first hand or is it a case of those cowards who fight from behind? And in anycase, what kind of military briefing takes place in such a setting? This was just propaganda.

The pictures show the young man viewing jerrycans, basins, a guitar, a sun flask and slippers, for sure is that the training our young dud son has been getting in USA, Britain and Isreal, not even one single dead NRA? Why is Yoweri taking his jokes this far?

In the Sunday Vision, it shows the father's helicopter AF 605 with Muhoozi disembarking, who is fool who here? Was he just arriving hoping to lay claim on behalf of others? One time Captain Vincent told us how his father would wait in Gulu ready to claim General Kazini's credit which he failed to deliver.

Like father, like son, that is how Yoweri's will be remembered, as a General who always stole the show from his seargents.

The latest failure of the so-called commandos to apprehend or kill the LRA leader just proves one thing only; that the UPDF is run by a bunch of incompetent morons.

They continue to waste our taxes as they run these empty-headed errands for that infamous Sewer Rat in Chief. We gather that 2 aircraft have been lost already!

This eagerness to wage war, especially in other peoples countries must end otherwise our children and their descendants will be paying for our crimes for generations to come.

Let commonsense prevail.

Patriot

Merry Christmas all. Thanks Radio Katwe, for your sense of duty, at this festive season, when, it seems the media houses in Kampala seems to have gone to the breweries! It seems there are still a few thick people out there who don't have a clue, why the war in Nothern/Eastern Uganda started, and that any may still have popular support, and felt/still falls heal over for Museveni's deceit.

You don't train a general, but a general is born! And sadly that's why militarily, Museveni couldn't win any war anywhere and against anybody unless he dupes them, into a worthless peace accord like he duped Kayira, Lutwa, Olara and Angelo Okello.

Kony, meanwhile has learned to read Museveni. It is equally not impossible for Kony to shoot down, Museveni's war planes, because he has the means, and has been waiting for this day. Kony, like most war lords in the jungle of DRC, has learned to carve something out of this oasis,and there men out there who don't give a toss about international law and would supply plane loads of just any weapon so long as you have the money and connection, which I believe Kony lack none!

The only was to peace in in this region is the truth and transparency, and not the guns. The UN, like always and everywhere, has let down the people of this region, and for that matter, should withdraw their arrest warrant and stay out of the region all together! Why didn't they act before Museveni went to the tribunal?

It should also be noted that much as it's almost impossible for a guerrilla movement to topple a sitting government, the same could be said about a government defeating a guerrilla movement! How many years have the Tamil Tiger fighters in Sri Lanka been fighting? Look at the Taliban, in Afghanistan, the Kurds in Turkey etc. The SPLA, PLO, FRELIMO, UNITA, never achieved their goals militarily!

Dear RK,

Sometimes early this year I doubted the news that appeared on your paper about Muhoozi's perfomance during the less than one year Command course he underwent at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, United States of America. How can a Graduate of the most presitgious military college in the world fail to capture General Kony? Look at how General Kagame perfomed against the Habyarimana Boys after Fort Leavenworth in 1994. It is time Ugandan military students are selected on merit to persue such courses if there has to be peace and development in Uganda.

Shame on you Museveni together with your dense Son Muhoozi.
May God Bless Uganda!

RA,

Kansas City,
USA

WHO IS A PATRIOT IN UGANDA?

Dear RK., kindly assist Ugandans to get serious in the new year and make serious resolutions for a Patriotic Uganda. Patriotism is not seen in the many bullets one fires to cut down another's life prematurely. NO. It is just a concern for another's well being.

Reading the sections of "Opinions" in The Monitor News paper of 26th. Dec. 2008, we find this shocking message:

"...The airport building, which was renovated just before the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November last year, is now leaking hardly 24 months after the repairs which cost a colossal $20b (about Shs35b). This follows several other similar cases of abuse of public resources..."

Quoted from: Leaking airport building: Shame

Where are we dear Ugandans? The airport is a National asset which can be a priority even to a primary kid who would attain leadership. We all know how Amin, a Primary four graduate, elevated Entebbe Airport to International Standards. Now how come these so called elites comprised of the Kaguta's, the Tinyefunza's, the Nyakairima, the Kakooza Mutale, the Nasasira, the empty gong Otafiire, etc... and we get this ashaming situation in spite of their so called degrees ( unless may be they qualified in human destruction)?

No wonder the tender system is so unpatriotic. For one to get a construction tender must first buy his way to "special" guys with a fat envelop. In executing their work, they consider the lot they bribed and so where a B12 bag of cement would work in the quantity of 100 bags, the constructor uses only 40 bags. How firm or strong will that building be?

I know a goon who took up a tender in Kibaale for the construction of a primary school on the road to Kisengwe, just from Kasambya. The sub-standard work was revealed when a strong wind came and removed the roof and some kids were injured by flying iron sheets. The goon who had taken the tender was a political leader and so called NRM die-hard but insensitive character under whose hands lives were lost because Fred Rulemera, a Mukiga patriot had won the LC V seat. For how long shall we continue to live inhumanily yet as leaders we are to be the HOPE of the led, the citizens?

May the New Year bring a new spirit of true Patriotism to Ugandans!

Jerome K