The leadership question in Africa is under serious test as agents of instability raise their operational status on our beloved continent. Africa’s future lies in the hands of the present generation of Africans with leaders as the vision bearers of our collective responsibility. But are we ready for the challenge?

Africa is weak because of poor leadership and, to make matters worse, disunity among leaders. Foolhardy groups like ADF, Boko Haram, are capitalising on that to claim a presence. It’s one thing to have people holding portfolios as Presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings, Supreme Leaders, and so on, but it is another thing to rate them worthwhile in the face of pending business.

Take the case of the reign of terror and insurgency that is now a common feature all the way from the tip at Cairo, through North Africa (Sudan), the Sahara region, West Africa (Nigeria, Mali,, Burkina Faso, etc) through Central Africa (Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic), East Africa (Uganda, South Sudan), Horn of Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia) on to Southern Africa (Mozambique).

This corridor of terror which runs longer the River Nile could lead to the gate of disintegration of this great continent as opposed to “Integration” that pure Pan-Africanists preach. When any one country is under attack, the whole of Africa is under attack. That is why we should not take chances even when incidents are isolated and not full throttle rebellions or groundbreaking (literally) revolutions as in Libya.

Leaders who have abandoned the pro-people, Pan-African agenda are to blame for the security challenges threatening us. Are we selling off Africa, like one singer sang? For how long are we going to plead with leaders to understand that Africans must put aside their differences on account of a common ancestry and work together to solve African problems with African solutions? What business does an African have fighting or sabotaging a fellow African? Is there a greater ideology than African brotherhood/sisterhood-the DNA bond? Why are some of our brothers and sisters buying into abnormal ideologies that rub the soul of the motherland the wrong way?

It all has to do with the caliber of leaders in place; leaders who refuse to acquaint themselves with the common origins of our peoples, who shy away from diagnosing problems and proposing solutions with urgency, aware that while being part of the global geo-political economy, we are severely weighed down by the injustices occasioned by foreign interference and the chronic syndrome of thinking small. Some of the African leaders think small, happy to be demigods in tiny fiefdoms, misleading their people farther away from the correct path to full actualization.

Then we have those who vie for or assume power without an agenda, including those who are imposed by outsiders.

In the early and latter years of Independence, our leaders were inexperienced and could be excused on those grounds, but today, experienced and solid leaders are fought and undermined where they should be utilised for institutional memory while the new breed comes in with a mind bending towards untenable nationalism. In short, colonial boundaries have occupied the mindset of many of our leaders. They cannot think beyond serving their time in office and retiring to win accolades of false praise from those least concerned with what matters most. They are more concerned with how they look in the eyes of outsiders than how they look at the head of a heap of avoidable and defeatable challenges.

They are no longer interested in security and promotion of common interests. They are back to the fold of African chiefs of the colonial era who sold off their own people into slavery for the price of mirrors and tunics. Leaders should revise notes and read speeches made in their forums in the last 15 years, pick out the resolutions reached that have not been implemented and do the needful. That is the only way to get back on track.

The practice of attending meetings and conferences as a routine, discussing issues for the cameras without follow-up plans and implementation schedules is coming back to haunt us and must be rejected.

Uganda has been at the forefront of advocating for unity of purpose in resolving concerns arising on the African continent, with the security aspect featuring prominently as an invaluable social overhead for all other developments to take root. Instability is a great destroyer and inhibitor of progress, and possibly the last stroke employed by our enemies.

Looking at the attacks that have happened in Uganda recently, where does ADF derive the confidence to attack a militarily-assured country like ours if not exploiting the indifference of regional leaders to the threat posed by small groups riding on the back of sleeping elephants? There is no regional non-state armed group that can operate and survive in Africa today except with the indifference or collusion of regional actors. I believe the same at the international level. Terrorism exists because leaders are failing to speak one language in word and act. Our people’s blood is on their hands. It’s the greatest betrayal.

My Leader, President Yoweri Museveni, can be vindicated on many fronts. He has consistently preached a message of the need for Africa to form a strong continental bloc to combat against any threats to the individual and collective sovereignty and stability of African states. Without a strong defence mechanism across borders, all other endeavours are seriously endangered. Are we waiting for a continental crisis before doing something?

Kirunda Faruk is the Deputy Presidential Press Secretary

Contact: faruk.kirunda@statehouse.go.ug

Ugandans should not be afraid due to the outbreak of bomb attacks that have so far left two people dead and some injured-the Komamboga explosion and the one aboard a Swift coach.

This is not the first time that these attacks have happened; they were most pronounced in 2001 when grenades and bombs were hurled at several places in Kampala, sparking off a wave of false alarms until that axis was broken and public confidence restored.

That’s ten years ago and it is as if the bad guys are marking an anniversary with a resurgence of their deadly acts, but they are making a big mistake that will cost them big.

If they were defeated a decade ago, what do they think our security forces have been doing, sleeping? How about Ugandans? Security experts will tell you that Uganda is secure not because insurgents are not trying to cause trouble (all the time) but because security is always ahead of them, thwarting most of their schemes.

The minimal plots that succeed are a result of Ugandans being accustomed to freedom and peace (for which we can’t blame them), collusion of some and the fluid nature of terrorism. That is why vigilance, avoidance of collaborating with bad elements and the involvement of every Ugandan in fighting terrorism is the only sure way of minimising outbreaks. Some Ugandans are cooperating with bad elements based on personal, political, religious, ethnic and economic reasons. They should be warned that whatever reasons they advance for engaging with these bad groups, they will pay a very high price for their treachery. Terrorism-which goes hand in hand with treason and murder-is a capital offence which the Ugandan state prosecutes firmly. This is one crime where bail must be considered on the most stringent terms possible if not expressly prohibited.

As noted that most terror plots are snuffed out before they come to fruition, many of the terrorists are neutralised while still preparing to attack, like those cornered around Lt. Gen. Lokech’s funeral. Others, because of being amateurs, kill themselves while fidgeting with their improvised devices like the one who died on the Swift bus.

In any case, they are not serious people since they do not possess any justifiable agenda to back their belligerence. If they did, they would not resort to crude ways to make their point. True, they hate President Yoweri Museveni but if you hate him so much, how does it affect him when you kill an innocent 20 year old girl? You only bring curses on yourself because such innocent blood cannot be shed for nothing. At some point, you have to pay. It’s a big shame to find a whole organisation celebrating that they killed a 20 year old, unarmed civilian!

And that is how one can tell that the bomb group is linked to the bijambiya killers of Masaka, operation-wise. They attack indiscriminately with only one motive-to sow fear in the masses and distract them from enjoying the peace and security in place. In both cases, security unearthed a pattern, meaning that they are coordinated and taking orders from the same command structure.

Therefore, the group that was behind the bijambiya and the one of the bombs are siblings in crime. They are both killers, full stop, and should meet a similar fate when caught. Cowardly by nature, they are always willing to put anything to use to destroy life and property-pangas, guns, bombs, chemical and biological agents, etc. Nevertheless, whatever they arm themselves with, once the public is alert and equipped with “mchaka mchaka” skills, terrorists will not succeed. I urge security to massively sensitise the public on the “how to”.

All it takes is for Ugandans to exercise a policy of zero tolerance to terrorism since terrorism does not speak to the spirit of who we are as Ugandans. These are “imported” practices supported and sponsored by foreigners whose interests totally do not tally with interests of the ordinary Ugandan. Terrorism is more an attack on the ordinary Ugandan than it is on the leadership as no one expects to take power by hitting soft targets. If they feel that they are serious, why not face the army?

As security sorts them out systematically, we should also be aware that they are always exploring ways to launch their attacks, with an element of surprise. Who knows what method they will come up with next? They are always thinking up creative ways of destroying life and property, and slowing human progress, but they never succeed in the long run. They only manage small, momentary victories. If they are victorious, as they may want to make the world think, how come they are not rulers of the world?

The world is ruled by regular people making use of established pro-people avenues to vie for and exercise power, and to devise ways to improve conditions of the people through innovation, mass production, trade and industrialisation.

The world is also united in the fight against terror in all its forms. The axis will be broken everywhere. Whoever decides to be an ally and advocate of the bad guys by hiding behind politics and ignorant human rights campaigns will soon find himself or herself a victim.

Faruk Kirunda is Deputy Presidential Press Secretary

Contact: kirundaf2@gmail.com

0776980486/0702980486

While delivering his remarks during the Benedicto Kiwanuka Memorial lecture on 27th September 2021, President Museveni spoke strongly against the tendency of granting bail to people who intentionally and recklessly kill people.

He also defended the death penalty punishment for those found guilty of cold blood murder.

However, he has since come under attack from politicians and activists who claim that he is targeting the opposition.

How can they be so naive to the ongoing murders in the country. Just a few weeks ago, many people lost their loved ones to the so-called “Bijambiya” killers.

Prior to that, a woman had been murdered and her body hidden in a septic tank.

We have all witnessed cases of the brutal murder of women, Muslim clerics as well as cases of child sacrifice where children are murdered and their bodies mutilated by the killers.

What about the atrocities committed by Joseph Kony’s LRA in northern Uganda and the mass murder masterminded by one Kibwetere in 2000.

We have also seen an increase in people who trade in human body organs. These are nothing less than murders.

There are also LDU elements who have recklessly killed and continue to kill the wananchi.

What other sentence would you give to such ruthless, merciless and remorseless people apart from death?

The most straightforward argument for the death penalty is that it saves innocent lives by preventing convicted murderers from killing again.

The death penalty is firmly grounded in many traditional and religious rationales for punishment.

Yes, it is true that executing the murders does not bring back their victims, but at least it weeds them out of our communities saving the lives of the would-be victims.

It also sends a strong message to the would-be murders that a similar fate awaits them.

And if you put yourself in the shoes of those whose loved ones have been murdered under similar circumstances; knowing that the person who brutally took the life of your loved one is no more comes with great relief.

To those politicians and activists who are opposed to the death sentence, on whose side are you? The president is talking about hardcore and self-confessed killers who would kill again and again if they are not stopped.

I think it is the duty of the president to protect Ugandans from such people even if that means executing them as long as they are found guilty of murder in competent courts of law.

Haji Nsereko Mutumba

The writer is a Senior Media Consultant