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!

Amazing Grace

The case for term limits in Uganda: Part IV of series:

The case for term limits in Uganda: Part IV…why term limits matter to Ugandans!

Should Ugandans leave issues of the Army Generals to the Army Generals…or should we embrace ourselves for dark days ahead…

Ugandan Army Generals seem to finally have some points of disagreement on the future of the Uganda, especially on who should be the next commander in chief and now their dirty laundry that has been long whispered by many Ugandans, our grandparents, our parents, our jobless Waragi drinking uncles and poor paid public servants is finally playing out right in front of us like a well written and directed drama.

Within the last few months Uganda has seen a different side of the Ugandan Army: the infighting that usually only happens in the General’s fraternity is finally on display for all Ugandans to see. And for the first time in so many years, top ranking officials are breaking ties with the UPDF code of conduct and giving us a rare look on the drafting of the next commander in chief of UPDF.

Current Ugandan Army Events:  January/2013…..chief of Defence Forces: General Aronda leaks talk of military coup echoing the words of Ugandan President: Yoweri Museveni: March/4^th/2013 ….three men attempted to raid an Army Base.

Last week, the coordinator of Uganda’s intelligence agencies, Gen. David Sejusa wrote a letter calling for investigations in the Barracks raid stating that the raid was indented to frame him and other UPDF Generals.  He also added that they were attempts to assassinate him and a few others according to his intelligence source.  

This is not the first time Gen. David has raised the roof, a few years back, he made public comments saying that war Lord Joseph Konyi was not a threat to Uganda rather the Army, which is part of was using the war to collect donor aid from western countries.   

The Ugandan Army is the only stable organization in the country, if it falls apart: God Save the Queen cause He won’t be saving Uganda from a show down by the people that have ruled Uganda for 27 years by the GUN!

The case for term limits in #Uganda! Part three of series:

The case for presidential term limits in #Uganda part three:

An average (National Resistance Movement) NRM die hard is above 39 years old, somewhat successful or seeking opportunity in a Govt office to earn a living:  most of its member’s do not agree with the party’s current positions! 

The opposition leadership is dull and lacks the capacity to organize the kind of muscle that can catch the NRM blinking. 

Not only do they lack money to fund against the NRM’s unlimited campaign fund, they lack organizational skills to form a common grassroots campaign that can motive the majority of Ugandans (Youth) to believe in their Manifesto: While the NRM gains as many supporters as it looses: the opposition is still finding its position and actually loosing members to the NRM.

Politics in Uganda is more about personality than any other one thing: the fact is also that the members elected reflect the electorate: mainly peasants, poor and uneducated people make up the majority of Uganda’s electorate and therefore makeup Uganda’s politicians: people are rarely voted because they can lead and bring about difference in their community rather it is based on fame and name or tribal ties: it is a luxury only afforded to people in places where everyone knows their name: politics is tribal in all regions of Uganda therefore good candidates are overlooked over favored tribal kin.

Yoweri knows this and the only way Uganda can have a peaceful transition of presidents is through restoration of term limits….the question is can the current NRM leadership deliver and put country first instead of person first: send Yoweri peacefully in retirement and have a new NRM president before Ugandan becomes God’s frozen people!

The case for presidential term limits in Uganda: Part II of series

The case for presidential term limits in Uganda: Part II

By 1996....After the NRA (National Resistance Army) turned into NRM (National Resistance Movement) things began to fall apart. It is one thing to rule people as a rebel group...it is another thing to become a democratic country 

Under NRM Uganda has accomplished a lot and in fact if the current leadership of the NRM can hear the cry of our nation: no doubt history will for the most part judge them in favor.

However, since history has two sides. The NRM leadership cannot stop providing historians with materials that will cast the whole party in a dark shadow of history. Under the NRM, the constitution was amended uplifting presidential term limits: political participation is limited to only those who favor the party position: In April 2013! 

The NRM party tried to kick its own members out of The August House because they disagreed with the party’s politics: the attempt failed after Rebecca Kadaga, Speaker of Parliament broke ties with party line and ruled in favor of the constitution.

The NRM government is so big that it never ceases to conspire: the NRM will also be remembered for high unemployment among youth, across the board corruption, high numbers of poverty resulting in poor services: cross the country and failure to fulfill the theses of Ugandan investors. 

The quality of political leaders in the NRM party or be it the Ugandan political system is so poor that the dynamics of change cannot be spotted in a near distance; but only far as a twinkling star. This is not to be hopeless but as everything that has life has to grow and die: the political elites in Uganda are still taking baby steps:  The NRM has created a culture where they cannot be opposed or they will throw you under the bus even if you belong to the NRM. Therefore if you are not running on the NRM ticket, you will not win: politicians know this: as much as the NRM enjoys a majority in political Uganda: they do not have a majority in the non-political Uganda:

Ugandan Govt went from being Anti-Gay to Anti- miniskirts and cleavage…

Ugandan women will soon be imprisoned for showing cleavage and wearing miniskirts if the wishes of the “Ethic and Integrity” Minister, Rev. Simon Lokodo come true. This is because he has crafted a bill tabled in the parliament this week and has given many interviews saying, “that women in miniskirts are distracting to society.” Well, forget telling men to look the other way when a beautiful woman or “hot chic” as my little brother would say, passes or nears them. Telling women what to wear is the right and just thing to do according to Rev. Lokodo.

Rev.Simon Lokodo

I cannot say that women in Uganda are controlled or held down in oppression in what to wear. Hello, this is 2013, RIGHT! However, I suppose that men can learn how to control themselves, where is the law that says if a man is caught looking at a women, they too should be convicted for a sexual crime, I want to see that law. Unless of course Rev. Lokodo wants to tell us that men are immune from seducing women into sexual acts.

Fr. Okolodo has lost his sense and is not in touch with the real issues of what a young woman faces in Uganda day to day. In a country where a woman is asked for sexual favors from a hiring boss for a simple job like housekeeping and young girls in Hillary Clinton look-a-like suites are asked for sexual favors at job interviews. Little girls are defiled left and right by religious groups, witchdoctors, family members, etc., regardless of how they are dressed, and this guy wants to tell us that oppressing a person from dressing how they want will cure men’s natural sexual instincts.

The NRM leadership in Uganda is beginning to prove right to our generation what many others believe, that it is an oppressive regime, it has to control everything. It goes to show that the NRM government is on high horse ridden by the so called old wise men like Minister Okolodo.  

This is not just about the miniskirts that are in danger here, soon it will be what music you can’t listen to, then it will be your Facebook, your Twitter, your Youtube, your internet in general. One would agree that if the bill passes it will pave way to limiting those other things because they too will be considered vessels of teaching Ugandans what they are not supposed to do.

 jjemba@facebook.com