#Ugandan Profile: Mugisha Muntu

Profile: Gregory Mugisha Muntu: Ugandan Politian

Story by Muniini Mulera

Jeremy Jjemba, Blogger +UNAA DALLAS 

Gregory Mugisha Muntu, the President of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), was born on October 7, 1958 at Kitunga village in present day Ntungamo District, Uganda, to the late Enock Ruzima Muntuyera and Aida Matama Muntuyera. He had his early education at Mbarara Junior School and Kitunga Primary School. He completed his O-Level at Kitunga High School which was later renamed Muntuyera High School, in memory of his father.

Muntu attended Makerere College School for his A-level before entering Makerere University where he graduated with an honors degree in Political Science. While at Makerere University, Muntu’s desire for service inspired him to actively participate in guild politics and was honoured to serve as Vice President of the Makerere Students’ Guild in the government of now Prof. Werikhe Watuwa. 

Videos to follow of Muntu defending his record as commander for ten years....picture by Jeremy Jjemba! +UNAA DALLAS 

Seven days after completing his degree at Makerere, Muntu left all the luxuries at his disposal to join the National Resistance Army (NRA) to the surprise of his family and the leaders of the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), the party that his father fervently work for.

Early into the rebellion, Muntu was shot and severely wounded in the chest and leg. He was brought to Kampala for treatment and many thought he would not return to the ranks of the NRA in the jungles of Luweero. To the surprise of many, he returned to the bush.

Source: UNAALIST

Dallas Cops Raid the 25th Annual Ugandan North American Association Convention and end it with a BANG!

Ugandan flag flew over Dallas Texas for three days as Ugandans gathered for their Annual Convention: 

+UNAA DALLAS 

By Jeremy Jjemba, Author! 

I was on the 11^th floor of the Omni Hotel on Lamar Street in downtown Dallas when suddenly I saw a group of Dallas DP running up and down the hotel floor. I have a bad history with Dallas cops and let’s not mention I have what I call BPCS: which is “black people cops syndrome” …I am scared of cops running around with drawn guns. Dying to save my reputation, I immediately took cover in the elevators heading downstairs to the third floor where I thought the closing ceremonies were still ongoing.  

From when the elevator doors opened a sea of drunken people came rushing in the elevator. Like drunken people are, some seemed to be talking in tongues …they were saying the convention was shut down…of course people were sayings all kind of reasons why. I paid little attention to the closer of the dance floor. I am not big on the dance floor, unless it is real good music. I will leave that at that….

I have talked to many people since Sunday and some are happy some are crying foul. It is unbelievable…that the most memorable event of the whole sag was the shutdown of the last night…  It seems like there are a lot of people who want to place all the blame on everyone else except themselves….even for all the other things that went wrong…I still would not place all the blame on the organizing committee.

And, “Oh how they were so disorganized,” and oh how “this and that went wrong.” I find that very bad spirit. My question to you would be as such, where the hell were you not to help out to make sure everything was running well? 

Since I never really offered to help out I am going to choose not to complain about how a better of a job people would have done. I am going to approach things from a very different view.  

  
There were a lot of convention crashers who were not planned for but showed up to the event…..rumors are most of them where from the Dallas/community…there is no way all the people in attendance on the closing day were registered to be there; therefore most were indeed trespassing.

  …..I pause here; because the following words do not apply to all who came unregistered…..some were very respectful and stayed away from the actual events which were reserved for registered members...for example I traveled with an 18 year old who refused to pay registration fees…but to his defense..he had no interest in any convection event…I doubt he spent much time trying to access the ballroom…

But the likes of grown men and women who chose not to pay UNAA fees but yet booked hotels rooms and flooded them with guests who ended up crushing the convention, these cheapskates (traditional in our communities) who came from everywhere, some us far as UGANDA itself (Oh dear lord do not let me name drop!)…..and quit honestly some very prominent in our society and could afford but did not register for the actual convention are partly to blame for bad timings of events; bad planning of security etc …if you think about the whole reason why the cops where called is because security refused entry to someone who did not need to be there………to call you a cheapskate is to actually hold my words of what I exactly think about you…

          I find it shocking that in a three day convention filled with so many activities, most of those I have contact with on UNAA LIST, FB, EMAIL etc are mainly disappointed because they did not get to shake their bones on Sunday until 4AM….

I am not one of those night owls…I am not disappointed…I had a great time…I mean I met so many prominent member’s of Ugandan society residing in North America, I even met a Ugandan brain surgeon from Canada, all the politicians I met. Only Mugisha Muntu and Proscovia Musumba impressed me….the others were full of shit as usual…I won’t name drop.  

          To drive the point home, I say before blaming the organizing committee, or the hotel staff…let’s look in house first, pay your UNNA dues or do not attend the functions…respect the venue rules…I doubt the Omni had Uganda Waragi on sale but some of us were walking around with huge bottles of it even after the hotel staff asked us not to bring in outside liquor……drink in your rooms!.....what does this  say about us as a community…...

Overall I am looking forward to maintaining the connections I made over the three days…I am looking forward to serving the newly elected leadership of UNAA and I pray to God that these gatherings become less about the partying and dancing moving forward! Because from what I understand...something similar happened in Philly..I wasn't there

From a very hot summer morning in Houston, Texas I am Jeremy Jjemba and these are my personal reflections…see you in San Diego next year!  

"I am multicultural, multilingual.." +UNAA DALLAS  

IN BUGANDA WE WALK LIKE MEN!

In our Baganda cultural when one is asked to walk like a man; one is simply being asked to recite by memory their ancestral lineage back to as many great, great, great grandparents: what part of Buganda they came from, are they dead or alive, one must also state their clan and pledge allegiance to the Kingdom and King.

Built in 1881, this is the largest grass hut in the world, and oldest, also burial place for four kings; most important for me, this is were I was born and often played hide and seek here!

Here is a tested of how I would WALK like a MAN my friends; mind you this is all done in Luganda which I am very fluent at…

My name is Jeremy Ernest Kimbugwe Jjemba

I am Nicholas Jjemba’s son of Wakiso, in Busiro of Buganda Kingdom (one has a choice to add other relatives related to one’s father especially his brothers, one’s uncles)

I am a grandson of the late Mulangira (Prince) Zimbe resting in peace in Kona, in Busiro of Buganda (same here one has a choice to name their grandfather’s siblings.) (male only)

Then you would state you great grandfather

I am the great grandson of Omulangira (Prince) Ssenti resting in peace in Kona, in Busiro of Buganda (same thing, you add a couple more of his siblings)

I am also a greatttttt grandson to Sselwano Ssenti resting in peace in Kona, Busiro of Buganda.

I am also a greatttt grandson to ***King Jjuuko of Bujuuko in Buganda, the 16^th King of Buganda from 1680 A.D to 1690 A.D

I am also related to King Kimbugwe of Bugwanya of Busiro in Buganda, the 13^th King of Buganda from 1634 to 1644 A.D

Kimubgwe was King Ssunna’s son; Ssunna was 11^th king from Gimbo in Buganda from 1584 to 1614 A.D

King Ssunna had a brother named Jjemba who was the 10^th King of Buganda… from 1564 A.D to 1584 A.D

They also had a brother named Mulondo who was the 9^th King and their father Nakibinge was 8^th king…..it goes on and on just like that all the way to one person …in my case it would be Kato Kintu who was the first to rule this ancient throne nearly 1000 years back …..

My friends knowing your ancestral is what we Banganda mean when we say WALK LIKE A MAN!

**** King Jjuuko king from 1680 A.D to 1690 A.D is my direct greatttt grandfather*** I am a distant cousin to the throne of Buganda! Kudos to me right? 

knowing the above at times may save you from dying..and will earn you a place among MEN!

IN BUGANDA: MUTEBI CELEBRATES TWENTY YEARS ON THE THRONE:

The Uganda that you know and see on TV and want to visit before you die is only 50 years old. 

Prior to British Colonialism that lasted from 1894 to 1962 most of what we know as Uganda was different territory made up of different kingdoms including Buganda where my family was born.

No doubt many of you know where Uganda is….but did you know that inside Uganda lies one of the world’s most ancient Kingdoms; one that dates back nearly 1000 years.

In Buganda, this very ancient Kingdom that makes up most of central Uganda, hence the name of the country Uganda comes from the word Buganda…there are three main events that us Baganda people (people from Buganda are referred to as Baganda, we speak Luganda, which  mainly all of Ugandans speak) will never forget. These events will remain penned on the mental sheets of our always unfolding history for generations come.

In 1962 when the British formed Uganda: King Edward Mutesa II of Buganda was made president of Uganda, by 1966 his kingdom was abolished; the Ugandan govt of that time burned down his palace and sent Mutesa II running into exile where he died in 1969.

The ancient kingdom was lost and it wasn’t until 1993 that the Kingship was restored. Mutesa II’s son Mutebi would become king. I was a little boy in 1993 and I remember the country coming on a freeze for this occasional. As any little boy of that time: I had no idea what the fuss was about: I didn’t care.

Ekitibwa Kya Buganda: KYAVA DDA!

Twenty years later, our kingdom is rebuilding, BUGANDA is still waiting for the “central govt,” which is the govt that governs all of UGANDA to fulfill and honor the promises that Buganda signed with the rest of Uganda in 1962! 

Among many, all of us in Buganda want a “federal type govt,” where Buganda manages her own affair as a state with in Uganda because prior to 1894 and before 1962 that is what we did.

My first TIME in Ssinda Village, Uganda...memiors of starting a non-profit

 Memoirs of starting a nonprofit and my first time to Ssinda Village, Uganda!

I am sure, if you follow anything I do. I have somewhere along the way mentioned to you that I had ideas of beginning an NGO (non-profit organization)  to support and promote rural Ugandan’s efforts in advancing their education, spirituality and vocational knowledge.

How the idea came about…I will get to that in a few blogs later… but check this out. My first time to Ssinda Village!

So in July/1994 my mother, whom I was staying with lost her battle to AIDS in Kasubi along with my stepfather and my youngest brother Jonathan...I ended up staying with her side of the family for sometime but hated them….they were/are nice people but they were not my mother. 

Plus it was against tradition for a child to grow up (ebukoja)…Luganda for your mother’s side of the FAM…that was told to me by one of them… so anyways at the wise age of between nine and ten years old I designed my master plan to escape to my grandmother’s home  (dad’s side) in Ssinda, Village, Mukono District of Uganda from Kasubi from my aunts and uncles….in my mind after I buried my mother in Masaka…my next plan was to run away.

Bomma (my grandmother) was a wise and nice lady,she spoke this deep Luganda at times only using metaphors to make herself understood…. prior to my mother’s death I had only met her one time, in 1992 during my school holidays, it was the first time I went to Ssinda Village, and it is my first memory of rural Uganda life: Bomma, along with my aunts, uncles and cousins lived in a small mud house with a dry grass roof-top….I don’t remember much of this trip or how my Aunt Tabitha came to get  me and took me there, to Bomma’s house…but I remember lots of other things…I remember it was a large extended family of all Bomma’s grand kids.
 

I remember that Bomma was a Muslim and prayed all the time…I remember we spent a lot of time fetching water and firewood out in the village’s bushes….and that we were always clearing land to plant food...I also remember a snake falling from the grass-roof-top once and Bomma grabbed it by the neck end and threw it out…. 

to be continued.....

Senkansuku is were I fetched my drinking water during my stay in Ssinda, Village! Photo taken in 2010 while I was working on a water project for the village:

My name is Jeremy Jjemba: I am chairman and founder of "RUEI", The Rural Uganda Education Initiate: we are a non profit 501(C)3...our mission is to promote and support rural Ugandans' effort to improve and advance their education, vocational knowledge, health care and spiritual awareness.

website and more information to follow!