The words point at where we are as Ugandans; we are far from singing but this question must be in the mind of every one of us. We are mourning Kirumira and many other victims of standing up to Museveni.<\/p>\n
We must recall that Afande Kirumira, as commonly called, came to prominence when he denounced Museveni and his primitive ways for running the state. Initially, he concealed his dissatisfaction with Museveni in an attack against his institution pointing out that \u201cif correcting the image of the police requires some of us to be sacrificed, my burial place is Mpigi; that is where people can take my body.\u201d<\/p>\n
The widespread adoration that Ugandans had for Kirumira emboldened him into speaking more truth to power; he began calling for Ugandans to do their part to rescue their country regardless of the personal dangers this would expose them to.<\/p>\n
Mohammad Kirumira reassured Ugandans that this was not mere talk; he was ready to put his own life in the line of fire for this purpose, \u201cexpose the mafia to save the state,\u201d he said as he was telling Ugandans to rise up and reclaim their country from Museveni because as long as he was still in power no one could claim to be free \u201cwhen you speak you die; when you keep quiet you die. Better speak and die when the message has reached to the people; I act as a messiah. My communication to the killers who hold guns is that killing me now is useless because as a messiah I have fulfilled my objectives of communicating to the society.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kirumira denounced human rights violations, including torture, and in a recent communication to media he told them to keep up the shared struggle for freedom in Uganda. His friendship with Bobi Wine created the kind of cocktail that was too much for Museveni to stomach.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s clear that both were lined up for elimination. Bobi Wine, with the grace of God, managed to survive the assassination attempt that claimed his driver. Afande Kirumira wasn\u2019t as lucky. Most importantly, the method is clear; so is the message.<\/p>\n
The message is a warning to Bobi Wine, who is still in the United States where he is recovering from brutal torture, to show what awaits him should he return home and continue to challenge Museveni\u2019s power.<\/p>\n
Since 2012 at least 16 high profile assassinations have taken place in Kampala that were initially targeting the Muslim fraternity, including Sheiks Abdul Karim Sentamu, Abubaker Kiwewa, Yunus Mudungu, Mohammad Maganda, Abdul Kadir Muwaya, Mustafa Bayiga, Abdulrashid Wafula, and Sheikh Ibrahim Hassan Kirya, among others. It seems these were targeted in order to create the conducive environment necessary for the elimination of others such as Major Mohammad Kiggundu and, recently, Ibrahim Abiriga.<\/p>\n
And so, from that point it was easy to blame any assassination on the lawlessness in Kampala and that it was criminals doing the killings. However, these so called criminals have the same methods that prove that Museveni is killing Ugandans using specialists trained in killings; moreover, the kinds of weapons they use often suggest that they are part of the Special Forces Command in tandem with Abel Kandiho\u2019s CMI.<\/p>\n
Judge Joan Kagezi, AIGP Andrew Kaweesi, and others, were assassinated only for Museveni to go to their funerals in the same way he went to the crime scene following the assassination of Afande Kirumira. The reaction from the people is always the same; it shows that they know what he is up to. Yesterday the Daily Monitor reported that Museveni was \u201checkle at the crime scene\u201d in Bulenga, \u201cMzee, see this? We are tired of it. We are tired of you and your men in uniform,\u201d the crowd jeered at the president.<\/p>\n
By telling Museveni to his face that they are tired of him, the people are acting in line with the instructions that Afande Kirumira left them with, \u201cBetter speak and die when the message has reached the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pattern in the killings suggests that Museveni is targeting people who are able to expose his brutality and those who he perceives to have political ambitions in order to incapacitate their capacity to mobilize Ugandans for change.<\/p>\n
If in fact these were criminals doing the killings, then the kind of resources at Museveni\u2019s disposal suggest that he would have apprehended them much the same way he was quick to arrest the 33 suspects who he claims threw stones at his convoy in Arua. A criminal state took over in Uganda the moment Museveni enlisted Col. Kaka and Gen. Abel Kandiho, known criminals, to head ISO and CMI, respectively.<\/p>\n
Museveni\u2019s decision to turn to insecurity as a strategy for maintaining power then these two became the ideal candidates for the job; as a result, Museveni quickly resuscitated Kaka from semi-retirement since 2002 and Saleh fronted his long time personal assistant who, for decades, conducted his mafia operations. They took charge of national (in) security.<\/p>\n
In other words, the criminality in Uganda today is by design. Ordinary Ugandans now know that Museveni has not failed to curb this insecurity; instead, it is intended to conceal his systematic elimination of his political enemies: it\u2019s politics by other means.<\/p>\n
Kirumira\u2019s widow knows this: \u201cthe government knows who is killing our husbands. Whatever is happening the government is aware. Why can\u2019t government stop this? Today they killed my husband, tomorrow they will kill another woman\u2019s husband,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Museveni isn\u2019t backing down though. He now says that those who continue to challenge his power will force him to turn to the \u201cLuwero methods.\u201d Luwero is the place where death visited thousands of Ugandans during the NRA war in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
In the end, those being tortured or killed are targeted for simply pointing out the rot in Museveni\u2019s system. Consequently, the assassination of Afande Kirumira is a message for others who are criticizing Museveni to watch out.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, Kirumira knew he was in danger and spoke out against it, \u201cunknown people are trailing me from one place to another, with no clear motive. I am trying to fix a solution,\u201d he said some time in March this year. Since he set the alarm over his impending death, why didn\u2019t Museveni protect him?<\/p>\n
Museveni couldn\u2019t because he is the one ordering the killings. Sheikh Shaban Mubajje, the Mufti, in his words of comfort to the deceased\u2019s father, hints to the effect that the killer is known, \u201cthe greatest crime you did as a parent was to produce a son who speaks the truth and that was the crime that has led to his death.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only Museveni loyalists and a few others in the inner circle of his Bahima ethnic group are safe from elimination, it seems.<\/p>\n
{{For now
\n}}<\/p>\n
\u201cBetter speak and die when the message has reached the people,\u201d Afande Kirumira told us. Afande, the people\u2019s Messiah, has not died in vain. Let us take up his message to create many people like him and Bobi Wine, the people\u2019s prophet, so that Museveni realizes that we shall not give up fighting for our country. As we continue to mourn, the question keeps ringing in our heads, \u201cHow long shall they kill our prophets, while we stand aside and look?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reggae legend Bob Marley once put it in a song, \u201cHow long shall they kill our prophets, while we stand aside and look?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[75],"byline":[2929],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-38149","opinion","type-opinion","status-publish","hentry","category-opinions","tag-homenews","byline-ambrose-kiyimba"],"bylines":[{"id":2929,"name":"Ambrose Kiyimba","slug":"ambrose-kiyimba","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2929,"name":"Ambrose Kiyimba","slug":"ambrose-kiyimba","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/opinion\/38149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/opinion"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/opinion"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/opinion\/38149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38149"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=38149"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=38149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}