Photo: Comrades walking paths we trod decades ago
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The conmen are at it again. President Yoweri Museveni has been repeatedly conned by some Diaspora Ugandans into believing that they have thousands of supporters of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) in their communities. Museveni has given them tons of money to establish party branches in their adopted countries. It has generally been a poor investment.
Last year, some of my people here in Toronto persuaded the President to give them hundreds of thousands of dollars because they claimed to have thousands of members to organise into an NRM branch. It was an expensive stillbirth whose story would be hilarious if it did not include loss of public money that could have been used to save lives in Serere or Ssingo.
This time the conmen’s victim is Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba mwene Museveni. The money-hungry are jostling for position to benefit from the cash bonanza that will flow to his praise singers. Some are turning to fanciful lies to appear to be working for Muhoozi’s mission to succeed his dad. In the process, some are engaging in mischief and outright fraud.
This past weekend, a man based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA posted a bright yellow electronic flyer on social media platforms proclaiming: “Team Chairman MK Movement USA, Welcome Everyone to Banyakigezi Convention July 7th, 2023.” The flyer has an image of the author, who claims to be an “ambassador,” flanked by images of Gen. Kainerugaba.
The flyer has understandably caused angst among many Banyakigezi and friends of Kigyezi. It has also caused confusion among many who know the principled non-partisan stand and mode of operation that has been the trademark of the Diaspora International Community of Banyakigezi (ICOB), now celebrating twenty years of service to Banyakigyezi. The gullible have yielded to the fake flyer. One even declared that “ICOB is a Muhoozi Project.” I am not kidding, though such a reaction is rib-cracking laughable. The “MK ambassador’s” effort is a con job that should be ignored.
The Diaspora ICOB is a non-partisan organisation which has withstood multiple attempts to infiltrate it and bend it one way or the other. Its founders, and most of its leaders, have been resolute in their belief that ICOB must remain neutral ground for all Banyakigyezi, regardless of ethnic, religious, gender or political identity and affiliation. Diaspora ICOB welcomes full participation of members of all political parties. However, we prohibit the donning or display of attire, flags, flyers, and all partisan material during our meetings. We insist on adhering to our non-partisan pro-Kigyezi, pro-Uganda agenda.
There will be no shortage of opportunities in Boston to celebrate ICOB’s achievements of the last twenty years. We shall review the education projects that the Diaspora ICOB has funded at Rukungiri Technical Institute, Nyakatare Technical Institute, Muhabura Vocational Training Centre, Uganda Martyrs Technical Institute Nyarushanje, and Kizinga Technical School. We shall formally announce and raise funds for two new projects that we hope will be completed before the end of 2023.
The first project will be the installation of a state-of-the-art Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Centre at Kihanga Senior Secondary School in Mparo Town Council, Rukiga District. The Diaspora ICOB will fund 75 percent of the total cost, to a maximum of US$ 30,000 (UGX 110 million).
We shall work with the Kihanga Alumni Association, and other community partners, who shall fund the other 25 percent of the cost, to establish this much needed resource that will serve students at Kihanga and other schools in the Mparo, Rukiga area. We believe that the inclusion of mandatory acquisition of ICT in the new secondary school curriculum in Uganda was a brilliant measure. ICOB is committed to an agenda of supporting the efforts of the Uganda Government and the people of Kigyezi to accomplish this realizable goal.
The second project of the Diaspora ICOB this year will be the creation of the Festo Karwemera Archive at Kabale University, with a view to expanding it to become a Kigyezi Archive. This is a project that is led by Professor Joy Kwesiga, the Vice Chancellor of Kabale University, supported by Professor Manuel Muranga of the Institute of Language Studies, and Dr. Bernard Bazirake Bamuhiiga, the Chief Librarian at the same university, and Professor Derek R. Peterson, the Ali Mazrui Collegiate Professor in the Department of History and the Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Michigan, USA.
The Diaspora ICOB has already offered to donate US$11,000 (UGX 40 million) to Kabale University to support the creation of the Karwemera Archive. The University of Michigan has agreed to provide a backup digital archive as insurance against loss of Festo Karwemera’s priceless legacy. A fundraising effort, led by Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, a former prime minister of Uganda, is underway. We shall support efforts to mobilize Banyakigyezi, and friends of Kigyezi, to ensure a successful establishment a Kigyezi Archive.
Incidentally, we shall honour Festo Karwemera (1925-2020), Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile (1949-2022), and Peninah Kyoheirwe Ngategize (1958-2022) in Boston. Their death robbed ICOB of some of its most committed supporters. They understood what ICOB stood for. They sought to advance the interests of Banyakigyezi, not to use Banyakigyezi as a tool for personal edification or enrichment.
The Boston Convention will also feature panel discussions about opportunities and strategies for collaborative participation in improving the healthcare of Banyakigyezi. Furthermore, we shall hold discussions about business opportunities in Uganda, a subject that is dear to Ms. Robie Kakonge, Uganda’s Ambassador to the United States.
Ambassador Kakonge, who will be our guest of honour, will find ICOB to be a serious, non-partisan organization whose members are eager to support any efforts that serve the interests of our homeland. Our central focus is the future of our young ones who are walking the paths we trod decades ago.
There will also be plenty of entertainment and social networking, during which, we hope, the supporters of various political leaders and groups in Uganda will relax and enjoy the camaraderie of their political opponents. Why, we might even get ANT, FDC, NRM and NUP supporters to dance Intore, Ekizino and Ekitaaguriro in an unforgettable celebration by brothers and sisters that have more that binds than divides us.
We shall, of course, raise funds to support the Kigezi Education Fund, the flagship program through which the Diaspora ICOB supports education projects in Kigyezi.
Once the convention is over, the partisans will return to their pursuit of a warfare that, for the most part, is puzzling to the pregnant mothers, to the knowledge-hungry students, to the young entrepreneurs, and to the elderly folk in the evening of their lives.
However, while they are under the temporary umbrella of the Diaspora ICOB, no politician will be allowed to market their partisan goods. The Diaspora ICOB has room for everyone. There is no room for conmen and self-serving adventurers.
© Muniini K. Mulera