What was the role of Africans in promoting Slave Trade? Should we consider Reparations after it ended decades and decades ago?

This is an  interesting article, written by a black professor, on the issue of slave reparations.  This is not going to sit well with many blacks in America.

So now the Islamists are operating inside Kenya.

So now the Islamists are operating inside Kenya.  When will this end? Will they come to Uganda too? Now here is a group that needs those missile-launchers.  Oh boy, could they ever kill lots of infidels. Please also read .That's about militants from Somalia's most hard line insurgent group that executed a man they convicted of murder and cut off the hands of an accused thief -- after injecting him with anesthesia.

If you are wondering what other countries are doing on religious rights, Think again. Indonesia’s Constitutional Court ruled 8 to 1 Monday that a controversial 45-year-old law banning religious blasphemy was constitutional. The law allows the attorney general’s office to ban religious groups that “distort” or “misrepresent” official faiths and calls for up to five years in prison for anyone found guilty of heresy.

The law also limits the number of officially recognized religions to six: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism. NO ATHEISTS

What should we consider as morals?

I have been seeing more of our detracting behaviors in our society. People are changing the way they behave within public places. I have heard moral and religious fanatics put the blame on TV stations mostly referring to foreign proggrammes aired almost in all African continent, they blame western influence and honestly I don’t know why one would blame USA, Canada, European states for the rotting society, they even go ahead and blame the internet itself without critically examining their invalid criticism. I say that because there’s no internet in Ugandan remotest areas, they don’t even own a TV set yet you still find the same behaviors that I consider to be out of place in society gatherings.

I personally don’t know who is the overseer of society morals and who is responsible for re-enforcing morals against immorality. But there are things that people do in public place which makes me feel uneasy and one of them is tooth picking, blowing your nose ( worse still with no hand kerchief)  heavy open sneezing, spitting, urinating on the side walks and making our streets public toilets, letting wastes run directly from parameter walls to the nearby neighborhoods, the open street dumping which has made almost all townships in Uganda and Kampala a dumping site and honestly this is very common in Uganda and mostly done by all people, women and men, younger and old, educated and those who never attended school. So should we go ahead and blame the internet, Western Countries for that too?

You have seen passengers in taxis extending the arms behind the seats. They let their armpits out its smell, mostly the smell is not fresh and good, I have observed the armpits always dirt. You have seen women who put on trousers, this is okay but why do you put on a blouse that cannot cover the whole of your wastes, they let their knickers out on public display, this puts me off. You have seen men, those who think that they are putting on “balance” as a dressing code and make their trousers as if holding pupu inside and making their underwear out in public areas.

 Its only in Uganda where you find parents presenting their children to NGOs as orphans seeking free donations and these parents even train their kids to lie, and tell you what, these are religious people since 99% of Ugandans have deities . So it puzzles me to hear President Museveni saying that he will give powers to Institutionalized religions to implement Government programmes because he thinks religious people are not corrupt something I personally don’t agree with.

This morning I boarded a taxi from Nakulabye through Makerere Hill road to Wandegeya and then to township (I don’t feel like calling Kampala a city, it lacks whatever it takes to be a city). This 40+ year old driver, whom I met in the taxi and sat within it for the 40 minutes as he waits passengers, was tooth picking, I watched with anxiety with hope that he will be through with that within minutes. I felt irritated and since I was next to him, I put off that ugly squarely face but the dude wasn’t willing to read my facial expressions. I usually use my face to communicate to someone who is irritating but Ugandans have forgotten to read faces or they simply don’t mind at all? The guy tooth picked for the next two hours that we spent in the car, thought the heavy traffic jams and may be he was just telling the passengers that look, I did have lunch, have you had yours? Whatever he wanted to communicate, it just didn’t represent a modern and well behaved man in our society.

State of witchcraft....What do Ugandan Free thinker's say?

There was a story that appeared in one of our daily newspaper and it declared that Uganda is a state of witchcraft .I wanted to share with you this story from another reknowned thinker in Uganda.who tried replying to that publication. There was also another Ugandan who did comment on the same story here . I hope you have another reason now to rethink about the research done by Pew Research Centre

You can also read this  and finally,how can i forget to tell you about Free Thinkers NIGHT?

Freethought Kampala is going to have its usual monthly meeting at a bar/restaurant called "4 Points" in Centenary Park on THURSDAY the 29th of April, starting 6PM.

The topic this month is "Is Religion Necessary for Morality’?"

ENTRANCE IS FREE

In Uganda, tell a religious person that you’re an atheist, and they’ll probably think one of two things about you (if not both). They’ll either think you’re a devil worshipper; or once you’ve made them understand that you don’t believe in any supernatural entities of any kind, they’ll conclude you must be a highly immoral person. ‘On what basis, then, besides religious laws, do you base your morality?’ believers will often ask the non-believer.

Indeed, most believers imagine that religion is necessary for morality. They think unless one believes in gods and their associated holy texts, one cannot have a good guide for morality.

It is believed that the details of things that ought to be done and ought not to be done are contained in religious texts, and that for one to be considered a moral person they would need to possess a good understanding of these guidelines prescribed in the preferred holy book of that culture, and be seen to adhere to them. Those that don’t subscribe to religious belief of any kind are thus viewed with suspicion.

Discussing this topic will provide us a good opportunity to show believers that atheists, agnostics and non-believers in general aren’t the evil people many believers imagine we are.

If you are an open minded person whose opinions are formed not by religious or cultural dogma but on the basis of science, logic, and reason and are interested in meeting like-minded individuals - you are WELCOME to join us at the meeting!

Freethought Kampala brings together Kampala’s non-religious people, such as freethinkers, skeptics, atheists, agnostics, humanists, and those with naturalistic world views.

Please keep time.

Atheists win one

If i don't report this great win for Atheists,i may truly be cheating myself.I am looking forward for winnings in Africa.I hope Atheists in Africa will have courage and take our freinds in developed countries as an example. We have more reasons to stand against autocracy than ever before.

Should bus drivers be armed themselves?

On Saturday, a member of Sanyu FM breakfast show face book page posted a photo that almost destroyed my day. I thought of it all day long. I was asking myself many questions over and over but no one could answer me. It disturbed me so much that even when I went for a free thinker’s meet up in the evening, I still thought about it and this forced me to seriously inquire from my friends if this story and picturewas truly true and they all said YES and interestingly, some of them confirmed that they read the story and saw this pictures sometime back. It was the first time for me.

As I left the venue, while riding in a public taxi, I again asked myself why this could happen in Nigeria. As I think more of this, I decided to start thinking of writing a blog post on it and here are my opinions on the story.

I don't know how this happened, why people would obey by lying down.  Knowing me, I would have run ----just run and have them shoot me.  I would have screamed "fight the robbers" or something like that.   Screaming is a good self-defense tactic.  Being a victim of several instances of violence in my life, I know that screaming does unnerve criminals.

 I am sure that the bus driver (basing my remarks solely on what is reported) is doing a lot of re-thinking about this.  Should he have allowed himself to be killed by refusing to drive over people? 

Should bus drivers be armed themselves? What about technology that alerts the police in the local area? Where are the robbers? Or are they long gone and will never be brought to justice?

Why are people driven to this point?  The partial answer is that the very poor have nothing to lose, so they do anything because the specter of punishment means nothing. But there are so many things that led up to this. This is small when compared to the violence in Jos State.  And there so much that goes unreported.

I remember an article in Time magazine, published sometime in the 80s, describing the parties the rich in Nigeria had.  The air conditioning made the house so cold that the female guests had to wear furs to keep warm.  They wanted to mimic the Europeans who wore furs to their events.  It didn't occur to them that even the rich in Europe don't wear furs to parties in the summer-time.  But the point was the class divide--the very rich that can carry out their expensive fantasies vs. the very poor in Nigeria.  Or the very poor in Haiti who eat salted mud cakes

The second point concerns oil executives who care only about how much wealth they can extract from the oil wells in Nigeria (or any other country).  In their contracts, they could put in human rights clauses which would demand that 80% of the wealth derived from Nigerian oil be dedicated to population control, school repair and construction, hospitals & medical supplies, trained doctors, etc., housing and other programs that would uplift the poor.  But they don't! Since am in Uganda, let’s keep our eye widely open and see if Ugandans will benefit from oil revenues.

 The rich control the U.S. population and the world.  International boundaries are meaningless to the world’s wealthy.  The 20% for the rich, far fewer in number, would go a long way.

The Republicans are opposed to women's rights and population control. More poor people looking for work benefits the wealthy with cheap supply of labour.

President Museveni  and you can also see this is getting very cozy with one of Africa's most evil men, President Mugabe. What does this mean for poor people in Uganda?  I'm not exactly sure, but nothing good!

And there's the problem of the news media which, for the most part, is controlled by the rich. 

For example, the news media deliberately did not publish photos of the more than 2,000 people who jumped from the World Trade Centre on 9/11.   Why?  Are they protecting the sensibilities of the readers, or are they protecting the upper class?

How long will it be before the rich control the Internet?  China, North Korea and Arab countries are demonstrating how it can be done and that it can be done. With technology, where so many people have cameras, we can find out things that the news media just won't report.

Make sure you do no harm to others, and try to spread a little pleasantness and love in this unpleasant and unfriendly human world.

We don't choose where to be born, we don't get to choose our families--all these choices are made for us.  And yet, horrible people like Mr Conroy take it upon himself to murder a man from Ecuador because he was holding his brothers hand. Make sure you do no harm to others, and try to spread a little pleasantness and love in this unpleasant and unfriendly human world.

Never Trust a Christian or any religious fanatics

I will not go in full details of how 90 percent of Christians in Africa mostly those of pentecostal denomination. behave.But what i must say is,do read this article and see why you should never never trust a religious person.

THE DANGERS OF TRIBALISM

I think you recall me telling you that my mum was half  Rwandese in one of my articles. Would that be Hutu?. What I know is that one of her parents was Ugandan of Rwandese origin.

Anyway, I'm disturbed by this statement: "the Rwandan government is dominated by ethnic Tutsis." If government workers and department heads are hired on a merit system--meaning, applicants for government system take tests to determine their intellectual qualifications for government service, then that would, at least in part, reduce the dominance of Tutsi domination.  This should be combined with "affirmative action" to give some preferences to Hutus in the actual hiring--provided that they meet basic qualifications for employment.

The problem here is: should ethnicity be reported to make sure that Hutus get that preference? Or should there be no mention of ethnicity and hire strictly on academic qualifications?

I prefer the latter. In the U.S. they had problems with white people, in order to get certain benefits reserved for American Indians, to claim that they were half Indian--which qualified them for the benefits.  Well, how does one prove or disprove whether one is half Indian?  Likewise, a Tutsi could claim that he's Hutu.  How that could be proved or disproved? 

I think we agree that the concept of tribe and ethnicity should be done away with and more emphasis be placed on intellectual qualities.

"I'm going back to my house,"

"Thunderbird" is mentioned in this article  .Thunderbird wine, as they say, never saw a grape.  It's alcohol and artificial flavours.   Go here to read more about Thunderbird:
The important thing about this article is that one can go from the lowest depths of hopelessness to a place of prominence.

I'm sure you (my readers) know a number of alcoholics. Alcohol destroys brain cells which not only causes memory loss and difficulty in processing information, but for the subconscious part of the brain, lowers the ability to fight disease, and causes loss of efficient performance of all the body's systems and organs. 

 Brain cells in the speech centers cause slurred speech--even with sober alcoholics--very similar to those who have had strokes. Plus, alcohol is expensive because governments like to pile on the taxes on it.

Back when I was going through my teenage age, I knew that if I dealt with my severe depression by drinking alcohol that would lead to my death. 

I dealt with depression and loneliness as I've been doing and as most of the brave/smart/intellectuals are doing—that’s getting myself on the keyboard and writes, read news, chat with friends and of course try my chances of developing new ideas that am not letting anyone have access now. 

In this way, I have been secured from the danger of alcoholism.

Finally do read this wonderful story.

WHAT MY CRITICS SHOULD DO BEFORE HITTING ME WITH INSULTS?

It's 20th April 2010. It amazes me how days go fast and eventually the year comes to its end within fortnights. That wouldn't be so bad but it pains to see that while you are growing old and weaker as you grow, nothing much you have done for both yourself, your community and the entire Country or at least for those who are big enough to create an impact on many lives across the globe. It's sad indeed especially when you are in Africa where continuous efforts are needed in almost all sectors of life to make this Dark Continent a much better place for all its sons and daughters. Please get up and do your best to make lives better than well.

Last week, I posted a remark/comment/message on my face book wall which didn't go well with most of my online friends both local, regional and globally. These included religious and non-religious friends (not entirely atheists). They warned me with strong words and some also in boxed me with some harsh words. Am now learning to give these attacks a silent treatment for my personal reasons even though they deserved an answer. What worries me most is that all the comments I got--including those from non-religious people--contained a tone of fear for religious riots, mostly from Moslems. On several occasions, my non-religious friends met me in person and requested me NOT to hit Islam, for four reasons

1) Moslems will follow you and slaughter you.

2)The Government of Uganda will suppress non-religious people if you hit on Islam. I disagree with this because the government will not suppress non-religious people if we show the contradictions between Moslem claims and Moslem actions.

3) I not only put my life in danger but since we are few in Uganda, we can easily be tracked down and chances are high of linking my actions to their group and

4) My actions will lead Moslems riots across Africa.

There is some validity to these points, but why should we fear any religious sects or cults? To be honest, I want to say that most of the non-religious people I have known don't want to discuss or even associate with any group whether rational, free-thought or even in public administration affaires. Non-believers are down to Earth people, they enjoy laying back and enjoy their coffee, beers and wines. Therefore there must be a valid point why today we are seeing more atheists, skeptics, agnostics, free-thinkers and philosophers coming out boldly and strongly to claim and demand their share of freedom and peace across the World.

And it's this point that my critics miss. My critics are failing to point their guns where they deserve to be and it's right here and this place am I forgetting our Ugandan

Am not preaching neither am I here to convert people like you may think. I have lived my atheist life peacefully with no trouble until religionists started forcing their faith down my throat; mouth and nose. Now, I have no breathing space or any other option. Am treated as a sub-human by both the Government and society on a daily basis. Do you want me to keep silent on this?

Am tired. All newspapers, radio and TV stations, all Government offices and public places, residential areas, all streets, are all full of these religious campaigns. Not only that but they go ahead to raise their mega speakers to deafening sound, I cannot listen to my sweet melodies, I cannot sleep at all because they shout to their imaginary god in the sky who cannot hear them.

I must now tell those religionists and my fellow non-religious critics that before you tell me to tone down and clean my mouth, it's now time for you to lead and tell your favourites friends whom you don't want me to offend, to consider other people's rights, freedom and peace of mind when doing their faith in action.

I mean, it's your right to have faith and worship but on the cost of my rights, freedom and peace? NO, I say that until you start having guidelines on how you do your irrational veneration to please that dormant deity in the sky; don't expect me to stop hitting at you and your not available deity.

Finally to my faithful friends, please think more about the money you are giving away to those who lie to you--promising a Heaven after your are dead without giving you a real tour of this place before you die. From now onwards, do question why you pay someone to lie to you. Don't you have better things to do with you money?

"I am wondering why all atheists hate God, knowing that they do not believe in him!!!!"

This is a remark which my friend my online  Moslem critic and friend sent me yesterday on facebook.I have answered him and also decided to make it a post here.

"I am wondering why all atheists hate God, knowing that they do not believe in him!!!!"

There are about 2,500 gods in the world.

Since I don't know which god you're referring to, I'll pick the one I think you believe in. I assume you believe in Lord Ganesha. For those who don't know about the divine qualities of this god, Ganesha is widely revered as the Remover of Obstacles and more generally as Lord of Beginnings and Lord of Obstacles (from Wikipedia).

I personally don't believe in Ganesha, but that most certainly does not mean that I hate Lord Ganesha. To moslems and xtians, Lord Ganesha would be viewed as a false god. But to those who believe in Lord Ganesha know full well that this is a real and powerful god because when they, their relatives and friends prayed to this god for help, and if the subjects had led good lives, Lord Ganesha rewarded them by removing obstacles that hindered their lives.

Along with Lord Ganesha are the priests who explain the powers of this god and collect money to be given to Lord Ganesha.

If you don't believe in Lord Ganesha, then you are an atheist with respect to Lord Ganesha. The followers of Ganesha view the god you believe in as a false god since Lord Ganesha is the only True god.

If Hindus here in Uganda tried to force a belief in Lord Ganesha on me, I would resent and resist those people. I don't worship anyone's god and I want to be left alone by those who demand that I worship their god and give money to the religious institutions that promote the belief in Lord Ganesha.
Since you don't believe in Lord Ganesha, do you therefore hate Lord Ganesha?

George Washington's $300,000 library book fine

Even those men i admire had weakness.

"He famously never told a lie, but it seems George Washington was not without his faults, the BBC's Madeleine Morris notes" reporting from Washington.

Read more

Atheists are not your enemies, why do you hate us?

There’s no day that passes by without being attacked in all possible ways. Am being attacked and threatened on face book and in person, even on my phone! All this comes for two reasons. One is because am atheist and two is simply because I see life differently on many issues that the society believes are un-debatable.

Other’s attacking me simply because I never retreat from contributing to any debate. For a fact, I must also say there are those who salute what am doing and interestingly, they are the majority. I salute you guys too and you are always closer to my heart. Some haters even walked that extra mile to abuse those who think that I have a point that deserves some little attention, worse still, the haters find another route to hammer my head, this time by saying I speak bad English. Which is okay. Am NOT American or Briton. You continue your hate if you are one of them. For those who think that am pushing for another level of critical thinking, feel my presence wherever you may be. People like you make my day always special.

I have reviewed the horrors of the Roman Catholic Church, and the horrors of various cult religions which are spin-offs from majority religions. Here is yet another example of the horrors perpetrated by Moslems. See this and this link 

It's beyond the point where religionists and others can say "Oh, well, these are just exceptions. Religion promotes truth, social harmony, kindness and love."

Pretend you're a religionist. Try to dig up acts of cruelty and fraud that atheists perpetrate against children or society in general. Both of us read many articles from the news media every day and we have yet to find ONE article showing that atheists were behind cruelty.

I previously said that individual atheists, yes they must have committed serious crimes against humanity. But not as a group. As a group, atheists are never-endingly promoting human equality, rationality, and kindness. Atheists don't believe that suffering on earth helps one earn a front-seat in Heaven. That’s it.

You have a good sense of people and situations. Why anyone should be afraid of atheists? What have we done to hurt people? NOTHING

Religious people usually go back to Josef Stalin. I must point out that although he was an atheist, he was also an egomaniac, an ideologue, and a bully. Under the Soviet Union, there was no freedom of the press or even free speech. If you disagreed with the Soviet government, you were deemed to be mentally ill and thrown into a psychiatric institution--same thing as a prison.

Atheists, on the other hand, use the scientific method as our guide through life. And the scientific method demands total freedom of intellectual expression.

At present, you can see how Christians and other religious groups in many Countries want to do everything to prevent freedom of intellectual expression--which is why they want to forbid non-believers the right to assemble and talk with one another especially here in Africa.

My readers should now tell me what they think freedom is. Do religious people believe in human equality, or does they think that some people are superior to others. If the latter is true, Please explain how some people are inferior to others--and if you are aware of the struggle in all societies to overcome racial, sexual (gender) tribal oppression.

How much human talent has been suppressed--to the detriment of India--by the caste system where so-called Untouchables were forced to do menial labour instead of receiving equal educational benefits and to contribute as much as possible to their society?

Finally I say that Atheists and all other non religious groups are striving to uplift Uganda from the oppression of colonialist religions. AAU is pro-Uganda, is pro-Africa. Efforts to suppress AAU and other Free thought groups will only hurt Uganda and cause needless suffering among its people.

Atheists want peace and social harmony

Here is yet another reason why religion has to be educated out of existence--which requires the existence of AAU and total freedom of intellectual expression.see this

The Cost of Living in Uganda drives Corruption

Its Friday 16th  April 2010  in Kampala. I hope your day is progressing well, as usual, mine is fair. Am deeply frustrated by the costing of living in Kampala. The City itself is a hub of thieves. Final consumers are cheated now and then. NO price regulations in Uganda. Anyone can set up his/her price quotes and you are free to buy or not to buy yet you need the service. From agro produce to restaurants to fuel, the costs are sky rocketing and unaffordable to a common man like me who doesn’t even have a job.


While the cost of living in economically sounding countries is lowering everyday because of the recession, In Uganda it’s the opposite. For years, I have prepared my food at home, bought my essentials in the market and a price which was quite high but not skyrocketing. What’s more frustrating, you find prices strongly gapped on a same bulding, you can go and buy a kilo of sugar at 2500 UGX,but then after walking few steps on the same building, you find the same kilo costing 2200 UGX, why is this? When I tried to inquire why?, a store owner simply told me that “everyone knows where he gets his/he products” and also he told me, some shop owners have tax breaks, so if you are from western Uganda or an Indian, chances are very higher of NOT paying taxes or paying very low taxes, this is so because most of the political elites in Government are from western Uganda and these businessmen fund their campaigns during elections. Then we also have the problem of smuggling goods in Uganda but why? The answer is, the Government must squeeze those few who pay taxes, when the taxes are higher yet no services delivered from the State, business men find their way in smuggling and this makes Uganda another place where rules of the jungle apply in daily living.So these other people who are not connected to the politicians and Government in general, cannot compete with those ones who are not paying taxes. As a result of this, everyone is hiking prices of whatever they sell to enable them stay in business.

Most buildings are owned by either Government connected guys or Indians, so they charge in dollars. Why do business people quote prices and costs in dollars and the Government of Uganda endorses it? Don’t we have our shillings? The continuing free fall of the Ugandan shillings almost makes us consumers slaves of business people and the Government. Who cares about us anyway?

Most Rwandese products including fuel go through Ugandan territories, why is it that the the Cost of Living in Rwanda seems friendly and affordable? Why do Uganda has fuel crisis? Why almost everybody in Uganda is cannot afford electricity yet our friends in Kenya and Rwanda where we export it can afford it? What went wrong? Who can fix our lives?

Because of this living frustration, everyone in Uganda including those politicians are corrupt simply because they want to make “their own set up living” ends meet. Everyone is like putting you on gallows to cough whatever you have.

Tribalism……..the full time bomb which African people are neglecting.

Monday, another lovely day of the week went. How do you spent it? Well a lot happens every hour around the globe but am not going to take that route. I spent it in town (Kampala city) doing almost nothing. These days am not working and honestly am looking for a job. What kind of job…? I don’t know but I must proudly say I can do any kind of job from driving to office attendant to those jobs you know as “odd jobs”.

As the day progressed, I decided to go to the Ugandan Immigrations office on Jinja road. I had applied for a renew for a new passport on March 19.In 2003,applying for a passport was much more easier(well it was for me).It took me three days to have a passport then but now it almost took me a month but thankfully, without mentioning all that I went through, I got it yesterday. Nothing changed apart from my date of issue and expiry in addition to my passport number.

I arrived at the immigrations at 9:45am. I immediately went to room 10 to complain on why it’s taking long for me to have my passport. I choose to go to this place for one reason, I previously came to have my passport and after hours of checking, they got back to me with the receipt and no passport and sent me to room 10.This is why this time I chose to go there first, the official in room 10 told me that, he couldn’t help me know whether the passport was out or not because the internal computer system was off. It was then that I decided to face the front office and after 47 minutes, the official from front office read my names and I felt happy for getting it this time. But when I stood up to have my book, he told me to go and line up for in what he called “line one” I did exactly that and all other people did the same

As I was standing on the first position of line one, the official attending to that line called me. “tell all other people to have their Identity documents and a pen ready, then wait me to call your name for passport signing” he shouted.. I have seen this official almost all the 100 times I have visited this place for various reasons. He questions almost everyone, your tribe, your dead grand parents, whether there’s anyone in your clan who is not a Ugandan and the questions are just too many. In 2003, he told me to name four grand parents of my genealogy
 
I was the first person to be called. He handed the passport very quickly and I signed it without asking me anything. As I was leaving, almost stepped out of the door, the official called me…..”Look, you look like a munarwanda (Rwandese) yet you are carrying “ganda names” why? I told him that “Yes am a Muganda because my father is. My mum is a Munyoro, whose mum was a Ugandan of Rwandese origin” then he said “Okay” go its okay”. To tell you the truth, am tired of tribalism in Uganda and am tired of being judged by my tribe.

The frustrating thing comes when you are born of several tribes like me. Baganda disowns me simply because I resemble those people from Western Uganda and the Ankole and other western tribes disregard me because I speak fluent Luganda yet I hardly speak any language from Western Uganda.  Uganda has more than 51 tribes.

This issue of rampant tribalism almost cost my life during the September 11th 2009 riots in Kampala. It’s this issue that prevents me from attending any public function because I cannot know what fate will bring on, you cannot predict how the day will end in Uganda. You simply have to watch out your steps. I have been to hospitals and Doctors, instead of examining my healthy problems, they start asking me my tribe, it’s the same thing with the police and almost all Government offices where office attendants expect you to speak their language because you are brown or not and when you don’t do what they thought you will do to affirm your tribe ship, then you can be ignored and if you are not lucky, you face verbal abuses.

In 2007, without giving you details, I was put in Morakatipe Prisons where I spent 5days. My fellow inmates almost killed me simply because Iam Muganda. The judge took on my case with tribal prejudice and I was charged unfairly just like all Baganda inmates in upcountry prisons.( Muganda = singular  and  Baganda= Plural)

On several occasions, we hear President Museveni spitting fire on tribal issues mostly targeting Baganda whom he indirectly refer to as “Tribalists” and from all his prejudice against us, we strictly examine his remarks always but as you know “ actions speak louder than words” .President Museveni is on record advocating for districts demarcated on tribal lines and also he publicly said that some tribes shouldn’t stand for any political and public office in some districts (this action is mostly known as ring fencing”) where all positions of leadership including religious ones are left for indigenous tribe. You recall his orders in Kibaale district yet when it comes to Buganda Kingdom; this same President denounces and curses his ring fencing idealism   expanding a room of his double standards and maxims. Am not defaming  Mr.Museveni. What he has done through his tribalistic governance is very clear and visible. Outside Buganda Kingdom, see how his regime had crippled Busoga region by making it extremely poorer and how his influence there almost wiped out that region from the Ugandan map.

Have a closer look on how he destroyed Northern Uganda by prolonging the  Joseph Kony insurgents yet he proudly say that Uganda has a strong trained army with all the resources available, if his regime failed to protect the people of Northern Uganda, why can’t he resign? The defense ministry is the most funded directorate and its funds are not supposed to be question by anyone, not even the Parliament of Uganda.

He had a top secret agenda of making Uganda a state for his tribe, all the other tribesmen and women working in his regime are being used like condoms and later dumped, the worst part of this is when the majority of Ugandans fail to penetrate and see this secret agenda. While almost all regions cannot send their kids to school, Statehouse under his influence is busy giving scholarship from that tiny village where he comes from, if you doughty me, simply request the scholarship list and see if there are anyone from any other village. Its true that there’s Universal  primary and secondary school but look at the system itself, students are busy buying exams to pass, they cannot critically examine anything, so President Museveni’s regime’s is busy painting Uganda’s future black. Ask yourself, how many of their kids or grand kids attend any Universal school even those ones which were prestigious before they grabbed state powers?

Few years ago, Minister Amama Mbabazi was quoted by the press telling the country that “ ……..they prepared to rule Uganda for 50years”,given the situation that we cannot afford being in classes yet they distribute state scholarship to themselves, their dream will be possible and then when they die, their kids will be able to start from there and no dought, our children will never afford to oppose them simply because they are un-educated hence cannot challenge an intellectual. This is very dangerous for the future of Uganda. Equal educational opportunities must be made available to every Ugandan citizen--starting right now!  To have an educated ruling class will only cause violence.  People with no formal education are not dumb people.  From amongst the poor, an intellectual leader will arise to fight the ruling class.  Violence is always destructive.  What was built will be destroyed--as an expression of rage from the oppressed.  Then, what is the point in building in the first place?  A free society is one where citizens are equals--a lesson that's so difficult for people to understand.  

To continue showing you how tribalistic this man can be……..recall his remarks in 1996 when he said “One Indian investor is better than 500 local people” and to prove this, Uganda Government didn’t even waste a single minute mourning for the 350 people died in Bududa landslides but if these people were in Ankole, until now, Uganda would have been mourning. Do you recall that Ugandan Government mourned for Noble Mayombo who they believed was poisoned? And have done the same for all its Ankole political elites?

Let me get you another example. Do you know who is forcing people in Kayunga sell their land and later its distributed to some folks well known as “balaalo” (cattle pastoralists ) and this is a problem only to Buganda where we see these people migrating  in almost all Buganda Kingdom districts and the state cannot explain where they come from, instead they are given AK47s to guard themselves from who would be attackers  (Indigenous land owners). We even don’t know who gives them these guns.

The brutality of Kenya 2007 post-elections and 1994 Rwandese genocide had their wrath rooted from this tribalism and ring fencing idealism mostly promoted across African Continent. Nothing on this continent can change until nepotism and tribal differences are rendered a non-issue, religion is made powerless, and dictators, rulers, and kings think of their people before themselves.

This shouldn't discourage us from doing everything we can to change this state of affairs. We can change Uganda…We can change Africa…. And We can change the globe. Start playing your part now.

SOMALIA AND ITS PROBLEMS, DO WE NEED TO LISTEN TO HER?

You must have been a lucky person if your business ended the previous week and you are still going strong. especially when you are a journalist working in Somalia. Unlike you, the BBC was put off-air by Somali Islamic militants, which I personally refer to as “religious terrorists”. BBC is being accused of promoting the Western agenda which the militants call colonialism and an enemy of the Islamic religion. BBC denies the accusations. see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8612654.stm
BBC was a strong reliable source of information for both Somalis in Somalia and rest of the world. Now it's off. This is an indication of more dark days ahead for those ones who are still in that war-torn country, the militants will enjoy their most favoured game of brutality against innocent people and Allah will be the happiest invisible super being where he/she is. Yes Allah enjoys what the religious terrorists are doing.

I don't support Ugandan and other African troops being in Somalia. I opposed it and am still saying, African Governments should withdraw our troops as soon as possible and let the Somalis die…..they should be allowed to kill themselves until when their shit Allah comes to his/her senses to tell them to stop since they are doing brutality for him/her (I don't know if moslems regard Allah a woman or a man).

These religious terrorists are killing each other for only one reason. They want to be in VIP lounge in the presence of their shit (Allah) who is himself/herself a criminal. No one gets to Allah without facing death, then why do we care about them? Why do Somalis fight? These people have one religion (Islam).They speak one language. They are almost all related and it's like they all share one DNA. If it was not for the dream lifestyles and rewards of eternity from Allah, they wouldn't be slaughtering themselves. This is a grand display of mass mental illness. We see the same thing in other religious cults where a sick leader leads his followers to their deaths. You recall Kanungu massacre in Rukungiri district of Western Uganda where almost 1500 people perished and then the monster Joseph Kony of Northern Uganda.

They claim that “they want to arrange sharia system of governance” in Somalia, the current President had made it clear and accepted to off sharia arrangements. He was a fighter himself before coming to his senses, then the militants accuse him of being “influenced by western countries mostly USA and EU." We must not also forget to ask ourselves more questions.

1. Why (OIC) Organisation of Islamic Countries are keeping quiet on Somalia? They should be the one talking to the terrorists since they read the same book (Qur'an).

2. Why do Somalis seek asylum and refugee from countries that are full infidels (as they refer to non-moslems)? Why don't they simply run to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, Yemen, Indonesia, UAE and many Islamic territories?

3. Why do we really need to care about these people? They deserve the suffering since it's through it that Allah will reward them favorably? Its true that they are our fellow human beings. But if we interfere, as the U.S and Uganda. tried to do, we will be severely punished. The only thing left to do is to watch them slaughter each other. It would also help to spread a culture of science and rational thinking in other countries.

4. Why are Ugandan and African troops in Somalia? Why do our brothers die in Somalia? If they went there for our own safety, why don't we simply strengthen our borders and deploy all our Somali based troops on our borders?

5. Don't you think that African Governments are sending our troops to Somalia because they are yielding lots of money on the cost of our troops? If you keenly look at the troops in Somalia, how many men and women are from the President's family? How many of them are related to the Vice-President, Speaker of Parliament, Prime-Minister and many political elites of our Country? The answer to this question is NONE, so why should the ordinary, hopeless, innocent Ugandan troops die in a war they never initiated which is thousands of miles away from home

6. Who funds the Islamic terrorists? How can a Somali Government fail to take control of the nation with almost every resource needed is on its display backed up with foreign troops?

7. Is it because Somali regime is making some money too as a result of this life-taking mission lead by their highest chief of military (Allah)

8. Both Islamic terrorists and the regime in Mogadishu claim that “Allah” is on their side, why can't this invisible imaginary friend in the sky create peace among them? Haven't I heard that he/she is too passionate and merciful? Why can't he/she care about the pregnant women and Children?

Whenever we (the rest of the world) provide shelter to the fleeing Somalis, we act as if we don't want them to be happy for eternity. Since eternity is paradise and real by their understanding, we shouldn't open our borders for them. Let them kill themselves…… Let them kill themselves… .... Let them kill themselves for there's no one who can enter eternity without death. They deserve it since they are respecting their invisible and imaginary friend somewhere in the sky.

HERBAL MEDICINE, DOES IT REALLY WORK?

You must have come across someone who advised you to use herbal medicine once in your life time, but do these locally-grown herbs really work? Am not a good fun of these herbs for only two particular reasons:  one is hygienic conditions of both the people involved and the place of work (where they manufacture or boil the herbs)  and the other is professionalism of the practitioners.

To tell the truth, the number of people going for herbs is increasing significantly across Africa--both men and women, educated and uneducated--and the business is booming, hence attracting many investors. While a many Ugandans associate this business with Jjujju (witchcraft) and African traditional religions, when it comes to seeking these herbs, even prominent modern religionists will put their faith/belief on hold and use it. Today, it’s now like a religion itself. We are seeing more advanced arrangements mostly known as reflexology, there’s so much manipulation using this system and it feels like no one regulates how reflexology works. 

For the past two weeks, I have not seen the wife of my landlord. I didn’t care much about her whereabouts since it’s not my business to know. But this morning I was alarmed to see her getting out of her house with big bottles of herbal medicine. I felt sorry for her simply because, from my observation, she can afford any medical doctor in any medical centre in Kampala, but then why does she use herbs? I kept that for my own, some things are better left unknown. I was determined to ask her but chose not to.

These herbs are not purchased by prescription.  You simply hear the herbal businessman telling their patients to take five litres of herbs, and sometimes they even tell you to take a jerrycan of 20 litres, this is total madness and backwardness of African people.

There are many things I love in life, one of them is cameras of any kind.  Cameras don’t lie. Recently on NTV, a journalist brought the story of a herbal maker on its screens. The guy had lots of stuff in his place of work including a Qur’an (90% of herbal makers are Moslem, at least in Uganda).This guy was arrested for mixing his herbal medicines with all funny and dirty stuff. He was mixing it with his urine, saliva, burnt nails, pupu (shit) and he went ahead to also burn his hair into ashes then mixed it with the herbs. When the journalist asked him why he does that? His answers were “The Qur’an teaches them that everything from them, both in and outside can be used to heal.” This is on record.

This is a humanitarian issue. No society should permit entrepreneurs to make a living endangering people’s lives. This is the primary reason am writing about this. Take precautions before getting addicted to buying herbs.

While the journalists did their work, it’s now a year and never heard of him being charged. I even recall seeing some Moslem leaders protesting “that the guy was NOT a Moslem and that his actions were against the Qur’an and the Islamic regulations”. Since then, nothing we heard of any action by courts of law in Uganda.

We all know how these medicines are prepared; they pick up discarded empty containers (mostly plastic water bottles) which are used to package their products. The bottles and cans are picked from polluted Kampala streams and we cannot be sure how they are treated beforehand. Some guys even pee in these cans before dumping them in streams around Kampala.

On many occasions, I overheard customers of this kind of medical solutions complaining that “herbal makers” packed food color.  Forgive me because I don’t consider them professional healers, therefore I have no respect for them.   Can you imagine? Let whatever illness hit me, I will never use locally made (unapproved) herbs.

I truly presume that some herbs may have some real benefits like thoseones used by women after and before giving birth but I encourage strong critical consultation virtually. We now have the Internet,which has more information on almost anything you would ever like know, it should be consulted before buying any herbs.  If you are not sure of what to do on internet to get what you would want,kindly seek some help from Internet Café attendants. Most of them are kind and approachable.

Are you Intelligent, Brave and Smart? How do you know?

Am I out of things that I should be writing out? The answer is NO. I presume that many of my readers will question themselves using the same question I have used to find answers why I have particularly, chosen to ask if anyone is intellectual and smart or you can add on brave?


Many people in Kampala pretend to be that. But how do we know that some one is smarter, intellectual or wise? Should we judge them by the way they put on, speak, eat in public places, the hair style the put on, the lotion they apply? The list is endless but the question remains, how do we know that someone is smart, intellectual, or I must say “well brought up”?

From my observation, I tend to judge people mostly from two factors. I don’t judge them from their quality and quantity of their education, I judge people mostly from the way they behave in a public place, be it a bar, restaurant, club or even on the public road. I also use the capacity of reasoning to judge someone’s ability to be intelligent. I know that I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but hey what about the content of the book?

Just like me, am sure you have spotted these people in restaurants, bars, Internet cafés, and taxis and most recently on public roads. I mean these people who buy magazines and walk as they read. Haven’t you seen any previously? Well do ask me, I will tell the roads on which you will find them. Yesterday I met one in a public restaurant which displays all its tables on the verandah with hot sunshine hitting the top but this which was busy reading yet she couldn’t see, she squeezed her eyes to prevent the sunshine from damging her eyes but still insisted to hold on the book simply to make show of herself that everyone can notice that she is brave to be reading a novel.

This same evening, as I was heading home, minutes after I jumped on a taxi, I found a big, black woman who bought her samosas and Nsenene (seasonal paratable green grasshoppers mostly favored by Ugandans) and she was busy speaking to he long known conductor as she chew, and she couldn’t care how other passengers are irritated by the piglet voice (same as that one produced by pigs while eating) she was producing? I almost vomited because of what she was doing.

You have visited public and private toilets once and you find a homestead, whose toilet is only used by the family members but has all shit spread on the walls. And you question yourself who is responsible? You have seen the flashing toilets in hotels and other eating places, instead of people sitting on top and do their thing, they opt to stand on top with all their dirty shoes and worse still spit on the floors, these are things that trouble most of us and destroy our day, this same act also puts off the same person who does it simply because this time, he/she is not the one who did it?

Am sure you have seen people picking their nose with bare hands in public places, what do you think of them? What do you think of both taxi and street preachers who have walked another extra-mile by acquiring hand speakers to make their action of violating other people’s rights stronger? The list of things that put you and me off is endless, but I wanted to voice out on these ones first, you can simply add your list on mine, but most importantly, how do we make these people who do the things we hate to understand in a nice way, that next time, they reconsider before demonstrating how stupid they are. Hope you help me on this.

Child Abuse-How do you understand it?

What do you understand when somebody talks about human rights of Children? Do you quickly think about sexual abuse, malnutrition, child trafficking and hard labor in which our children are enforced to participate? How do we know that now, this act is a violation of rights when it’s not the above mentioned crimes?

On Tuesday 6 February 2010, I awoke very early in the morning at 5:30am.I prepared myself to leave for town. Minutes after I left home, I met a parent in the junction hundred meters from my home, it was dark and you could hardly see anyone in a distance of thirty meters. All I heard was this parent telling her 13 year old daughter in a local language “Yanguwa..yanguwa “ (Be quick, be quick). I didn’t mind them honestly. I set of my way but at this point, the 13 year old girl was ahead of me 30 meters or more. She looked worried, troubled with no choice at all, she was in the school uniform, and holding her books, therefore she was heading to school at that time (5:30am). From my observation, this kid didn’t want to be on her way to school by that time, she was deeply concerned according to the walk she walked.

To make this story short, when this girl arrived at the branch off to her school, she met a guy who was standing upright the tree which was inches on the parameter wall of the residence. The guy was a rapist who jumped immediately infront of the girl to rape her, she screamed for help but no one was there and me? I was a little bit of away, but then I heard her screaming, thus running to her rescue. I saved her that time, am not sure if I will be around the next time to save her or anyone.

I have been with these questions for years but I hardly get answers. When you walk around Kampala and its suburbs, you see kids going to school as early as 6am and in the evening, kids return home up to 10 pm. This is total child abuse. Now who is to blame for this? Is the schools who are trying to manipulate parents to get more money from them? Is it the Parents trying to let us think that their kids are busy attending school and that being in school is something special that a kid must face all the threats just to make sure she/he is in classes?

Do our schools have procedures they follow when providing Education? Where is the role of Government to make sure that our children are safe both to and from education centers? (Call it schools). Am sure the state has laws to guide teachers while doing their work, why do enforcements fail in almost all Government entities? What should we do to save our children from monsters? What’s the role of both parents and schools?  I need answers, who can be of help? I have already talked with the Ministry of Education about this issue, perhaps you can join me and we present a collective voice against this habit.

These days,its very common finding gals aged between 12 to 17 working as housegirls in the surburbs,what will their parents tell them in future?

Finally am Back People!!!!

I hope you are okay in all possible ways. It’s long since I last posted on this blog. There are several personal issues why I have not posted for almost three months. Writing is not easy when you have very limited time, but now, am glad to let you know that am back. How have you been? How do you spend your valentines day on 14th February? What about the Women’s day on 8th March? These are all important days in our lives. Have you attended the Sanyu Fm’s Breakfast show party yesterday? I presume that you managed to attend the now famous Free thinker’s night that comes every last Thursday of each month and it comes with a new topic every time, so make it a point this time to be there on 29 April 2010 6pm at 4 points Bar and Restaurant at Centenary Park opposite Zain House on Jinja Road.


I did attend and finally learnt that there’s so much more to life than simply laying back and rest in your home, today am just reminding you that am back. There’s so much more to write on but may be it’s a little more important to check on you? How is everything in your life?

Are you moving on smoothly with your New Year’s resolutions? Is there any progress? If so then I salute and admire you for that. Allow me to stop here and please watch my blog, there’s so much more to write on and soon, you will prove that am still the guy you knew for so long..