OPINION: Leave the International Community, it’s Us Ugandans to Liberate Ourselves

By Brian Atuheire Batenda

I have seen with concern the Ugandan elite again calling upon the international community to help us fight the junta.

When there was gross abuse of human rights in Uganda in the past regimes, these guys didn’t close their embassies. They remained opened and worked with the dictatorial regimes. It’s Ugandans who went to Tanzania and organized, came back and fought and toppled the regimes. Let it be the Amin regime it had some international support.

These guys can’t fight for us, they instead fight for their national interests. They are here to get a place to dump their goods, sell their guns (used to torture us etc) they are here to get their multinational companies to get the next deal at their oil fields. As 35 people were tortured and are under detention, the Japanese business people were visiting Musevenis cows.

They have gotten our ill advised people in the NGO world. Like I have always said, there is a claim that we have NGOs but all these work on foreign interests.

How can we have NGOs funded by DFID, USAID, DGF and claim the money is spent on us for our emancipation. The tactic is simple get African governments through loans but also mute their civil society with grants. That’s why we have dead governments and a dead civil society 60 years after independence.

The diplomatic missions from European counties and the American embassies released statements during the Kasese mascre, walk to work, after the rigged 2016 general elections, they have again got the guts to condemn what happened in Arua.

The intellectuals clapped hands for them as usual, the same thing our civil society leaders have done. I haven’t seen the NGO moving to check on any of these tortured people neither has the foreign missions gone to check on the clobbered people in illegal detention. All the eyes are on what the political leaders will do and the continued struggling society will do.

In 1980, our people joined the bush and fought against the will of these so-called foreign powers they supported when the people showed resilience and won. A report from the Central Intelligence Authority (CIA) in 1985 showed that the National Resistance Army (NRA) was thin on ground and incapable of winning and a decision to remain work with the junta then was taken. I have evidence that they have betrayed Kenya and South Africa.

When Museveni abused them on his illegal swearing in, later, they were on the farm with Museveni and they had reconciled with the junta. They moved on and the abuses continued.

They are here for their interests not our interests and we must know that in the next struggle. If they help, well and good but should they not, we shall fight and win because the struggle is unstoppable!

The writer is an activist and the FDC youth leader for Kanungu district.