NUP LEADERS SHOULD HELP MUSEVENI RELEASE THEIR SUPPORTERS IN PRISON

NRM’s Moses Ssali(Bebe Cool) and NUP’s Katerega Ali witnessing the swearing in of NRM’s Balaam as minister

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

When you want to bring back your supporters, especially those wrongfully arrested and where the rule of law and court system is not straightforward, it is better to negotiate a prisoner release. People like NUP’s Abed Bwanika do not wish the lives of ordinary human folk who have been caught up in a political fight to be adversely affected.

When it comes to negotiations, the people who scream and yell and make the biggest fuss about walking out on the deal, actually don’t mean it. They are just trying to appear relevant to the situation.

Negotiation is adversarial, the more you let the other guy know what you want, the more he’s going to use it to his advantage and exploit you. Most of the NUP leaders have been on TV telling people that they want all those arrested during and after the 2020-21 elections to be released. The public agrees, and now Museveni is using it to his advantage. He has recently demanded a list of all those in prison from Nupian leaders such that he looks into it. Now that it looks like he’s the one that’s going to get the credit, NUP leaders are saying that they aren’t going to give him the list – and this makes them look bad in front of the public more than Museveni himself. Of course, Museveni knows those that were arrested and where they are located, but it doesn’t matter to those who want their relatives out. Believe me, if the NUP leaders don’t release that list soon, the relatives of prisoners will do it for them. Either way, Museveni will benefit from this situation.

So, I would advise the NUP leaders to focus on the outcome, not on their ego or on how they appear in public. Most people don’t react well to distracting game playing and once you’ve been discovered, it’s hard to regain your footing.

NUP have their back to the wall. It’s so likely that Museveni will release some of the prisoners, and they will mainly thank him, not the NUP leaders. You can expect zero problems from most of the guys who meet the criteria for release. Others have suggested that some of the NUP leaders are afraid of losing funding that has been coming with some of their supporters in prison.

NUP leaders know they’ve lost faith amongst some of their supporters recently due to the Mpuunga Vs Bobi fights, and they have no strong card to play after this. The only card they can play is the one of blackmailing anybody who tries to negotiate with Museveni about prisoners release. Even Alhajji Latif Ssebagala can’t go against the playbook of the NUP. I saw him on one of the TV channels barking according to the text- He was saying that Councilor Katerega ‘ate’ because he stood with Balaam and publicly begged Museveni to release Nupians in prison. That is a big pile of lies that gets shovelled around to scare people that don’t support Bobi’s position in politics. Reality is much different and peaceful. People often extrapolate what they think about Bobi’s opponents, then present as fact that is happening.

I believe the prisoners themselves are just like most everyone else. They want to be free and take care of themselves and their families, not go out protesting for anybody again. Mike Mukula once said, after coming out of prison himself over GAVI funds, that anybody wishing the other person to remain in prison is evil.

Plus there is a long track record of such exchanges being done by the most powerful country  in the world,  USA.  The USA negotiated to release its citizens in Iran, and some funds were also returned to Iran on certain conditions.

Israel, too, has been involved in prisoner negotiations several times. In Judaism, “the sanctification of life” is one of the most important concepts. In 1986, Pilot Ron Arad had been kidnapped and literally disappeared after a few years of Israel rejecting exchange deals. This event traumatized the Israeli society and fuelled future exchanges.

Benjamin Netanyahu said in his book, “Place under the Sun”, he wrote: “Prisoner releases only embolden terrorists…..they encourage precisely the terrorist blackmail they are supposed to defuse.” But he has been himself involved in negotiating for prisoner releases because the relatives want their people free. They are even forcing him to do it now as I write this.

There are some people that argue that the Australian government should intervene to obtain the freedom of the Australian journalist Julian Assange. If the British justice is finished with him then his government should demand that he be repatriated to Australia rather than face any charges brought by the US.

The reasoning is that the pure effrontery of seeking to bring to trial a foreign national who broke no law in, or has not been brought to justice by the nation within which his actions took place entirely because the government seeking that did not uphold its duty to keep secrets secret where it classified them as such beggars belief. It cannot be accepted. Apparently, this is blame shifting and it is a vast over extension of any nation’s law. It is also a sign of miserable cruelty to any who were impacted by the loss of information.

Personally, I think it is a humanitarian gesture to release political prisoners. Credit should be given to all those that have been lobbying the governments to release them.

The NUP leaders should do the decent thing and call Museveni and agree to unconditional prisoners’ release instead of politicizing it.

WHY BOBI IS ARGUABLY THE BEST ‘’AGENT’’ M7 HAS GOT IN OPPOSITION

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

There are times when nothing less than the unvarnished truth will do. This is one of those times- the truth needs to be said for possibly the Uganda opposition to recover in future.

From the bird’s-eye perspective, the opposition looks weaker than it did before, and NUP’s Abed Bwanika was right when he said over the weekend that Museveni has been having the best time of his life since the end of the 2021 elections. It seems it has been designed that way ever since Bobi became the face of the opposition in Uganda.

The idea that Bobi was handled and massaged to the top by powerful people in the regime to slice Dr.Kiiza Besigye’s popularity is widespread. For a long time, Besigye was like a stone in Museveni’s shoes, and nobody envisaged how the stone could be removed till when Bobi came on to the political scene. His first assignment was to go on attack, and he wasn’t really attacking Museveni- he was attacking the former FDC president using mainly propaganda, blackmail and fake news (PBF). He was basically the pawn that was used to weaken Besigye and FDCs.

Large quantities of PBFs have been produced by NUP bloggers against other veteran opposition leaders such as: the Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago, and his Deputy, Asuman Basalirwa of JEEMA (after the passing of the anti-LGBT bill), Mpuunga Mathius, the Katikiro of Buganda, Kabaka of Buganda, Nabagereka, Mukaku Lubega, etc, to further Bobi’s latest smear campaigns and ideological goals. Bobi, like a vulture sitting in a tree, has been eyeballing every move made by other opposition leaders to stop them from taking the shine off him.

His behaviour seems rather predatory, harmful to the opposition, harmful to Buganda kingdom and spiteful towards other opposition leaders. For example, his attacks on Besigye put FDC and People Power/NUP in a pissing contest up to now, to the extent that a lot of people are, literally, fed up with the opposition. His attacks on Mpuuga and other Baganda leaders is now another pissing contest that we may have to bless ourselves with till 2026. I can see another bunch of more opposition leaders soon joining NRM because they see no future in the opposition.

According to FDC’s Harold Kaija, Joyce Ssebugwawo wasn’t really a mole in FDC as in, like, Museveni’s mole for a long time. Her head was, apparently, turned after losing the elections in Lubaga. Bobi planted a candidate against her, and the loss was too much for her to take in. Museveni being Museveni, he saw an opportunity and reached out to her after losing the elections. Kaija and Besigye reportedly tried to talk her out of joining Museveni then, but she was so angry about the loss. I imagine the same thing would have probably happened to Erias Lukwago, Ssemujju Nganda and others if they had lost to NUP candidates.

What’s confusing is that Ssebugwao was, reportedly, among the few FDC leaders that openly supported Bobi during the Kyadondo East by-election in 2017, instead of FDC’S Katinti. She also reportedly supported former NRM, Abubakar Kawalya, for KCCA speakership. I believe because of the toxic environment intentionally created in the opposition by Bobi; it has become easy for Museveni to recruit from opposition. As a result, the main political parties (FDC, UPC and DP) and other leaders have been weakened at the expense of an inexperienced politician – who is only chasing more fame and wind. No opposition leader since 1986 has travelled more times outside the country than Kyagulanyi.

PAST LINKS TO THE STATE

Bobi and his elder brother, Nyanzi, were extremely chummy with President Museveni and his brother, Salim Saleh, his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, and former IGP, Kale Kayihura, before they expressed interest in opposing NRM. It, therefore, came as no surprise to some people when the big people in NRM decided to support him for MP instead of their own candidate, Ssebalu. In fact, Gen. Tumukunde is on record, while being hosted on the Capital Gang, insinuating that Bobi’s campaigns as MP were mainly financed by NRM people. Bobi, himself, confessed on national TV for having received money from some NRMs to help him become MP of Kyadondo East. He also endorsed NRM candidates on various occasions during the 2021 campaigns at the expense of opposition candidates.

One can argue that associating with powerful people shouldn’t raise eyebrows, but I also remember when Andrew Mwenda used to heavily criticise Museveni and his family(1990s-2006), and I thought there’s nothing to it till when he fully joined where money comes from. Oh God, I liked the guy such that I literally became a matching ”mole” fan at the time, and I’m sure a lot of oppositionists fell into his crawls by entrusting him with their secrets and plans, didn’t they?

What’s odd is that all this still resonates in my consciousness somewhere, that how come nobody saw this at the time? How come we all concentrated mainly on Mwenda’s attacks rather than the people he associated with, or he used to associate with? Is it possible he was already on the payroll then, but most of us didn’t want to think about it?

In 2020, former State House spokesperson, Tamale Mirundi, is on record telling people that the deal for Bobi to work for Museveni was brokered by his elder brother Nyanzi. He stated that the state first approached Bebe Cool, but they later changed their mind to Bobi.

Frank Gashumba is also on record openly telling people that Bobi went into a deal with Museveni after the 2021 elections – never to stage protests against Museveni. Gashumba put the deal at a cost of US $5m till 2026. Obviously, we have no way of knowing how true this is, but the fact is that there have been no serious protests in the country since we ended the elections.

Then, there is the serious issue of Museveni writing to the Uganda Revenue authority to release Bobi’s bullet proof car without paying extra taxes. Speaking of the Bullet proof car, nobody knows exactly how Bobi came into possession of the car and how it was bought, apart from what Bobi told us – that it was a ‘gift’ from friends in diaspora.

STATE PROTECTION OF KYAGULANYI

On 14 July 2020, Kyagulanyi assumed leadership of the NUP party, according to EC records. Officially, the name of the party was changed to NUP on 22 July 2020. Current Justice minister, Norbert Mao stated, before he joined the government, that there were state operatives that were behind that certificate of 2019 signed by the Secretary of the EC. Mao also said that NUP registered two constitutions, but we have recently come to learn that the party is still operating using the 2002 Kibalama constitution. Mao contends that NUP was illegally registered as due process and diligence weren’t followed.

Around 2020, some people went to court to settle this, but Judge Musa Sekana ruled in favour of the Kyagulanyi based on technicalities, not the evidence presented. The troubling admission by former NUP leaders that there was no quorum when Kyagulanyi was sworn in as the new party president at Kakkiri in 2020, should have taken precedence over technicalities, I think.

Lawyer Male Mabilizi tried severally to challenge illegalities associated with Bobi Wine, but every time he got close, the state prosecutor (Director of Public Prosecutions, and State Attorney) took over the cases, and the end was all but predictable, i,e. not guilty. All of Mabilizi’s cases against Kyagulanyi ended up being taken over by the DPP with the exception of the one accusing him of having acquired a driving permit unlawfully.

Basically, court cases against Kyagulanyi not only demonstrate that there is a rule of law versus the rule of man in Uganda, but there is manipulation of the law by the powerful to save whoever they want. It seems the law and man are mortal enemies in the struggle for survival of a politician, history, and the fate of the nation.

MUHOOZI PRESIDENCY

The Kyagulanyi era has also served as a way of easing Uganda into a Muhoozi Kainerugaba presidency as different forces in opposition keep fighting each other. The former DP block leaders, headed by Abed Bwanika, have literally accused Kyagulanyi of putting NUP in the hands of NRM ‘’agents’’ in the party. Bwanika’s statements raise eyebrows and invite a nuanced examination of Uganda’s political landscape.

While the notion of a direct confrontation between Bobi and former LOP, Mpuuga, remains highly improbable, dissecting Mpuuga’s claims on CBS recently necessitates exploring the multifaceted personalities that are running NUP and other opposition parties right now.  At the heart of any assessment lies whether their actions are helping Muhoozi become president easily or not.

USA DETERMINED TO FUND BOTH THE UKRAINE AND MIDDLE EAST CONFLICTS

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

America is not giving $95 billion dollars to Ukraine and Israel. They’re giving $95 billion dollars to the American arms manufacturers who will be supplying both nations with weapons. The obscene profits will go into the retirement accounts of the managements of those companies, and the investment accounts of their stockholders.

Admittedly most people don’t realize the U.S. military and the industrial entities that serve it are, for all practical purposes, a massive jobs program.

Its not like in Uganda where you ask parliament to approve millions of dollars to buy fighter jets from Russia- an act that ends up enriching Russians more than Ugandans. Few Ugandans benefit from such deals through ‘enjawulo’ and other benefits.

BTW, it’s indeed insane that Russia is somehow still managing to find resources when it fights Ukraine that is armed by the whole western world. Russia has also transitioned lost markets from sanctions into a war producing one.

War economies are surprisingly strong and shouldn’t be underestimated. Russia has shown that it’s willing to rely on a war economy to stabilise it. This probably surprised the West since by doing so you’re making a bet to win the war and to be capable of making a smooth transition back to a normal economy once the war is over. Currently, it doesn’t look like Russia is anywhere near to be capable of transitioning back to normal markets since they don’t exist anymore due to sanctions.

And if Trump wins the presidency this year, it’s going to be interesting how things turn out in Ukraine and the rest of Europe. I honestly thought that the Israel- Gaza conflict had warned off western interest in the Ukraine war, but, obviously something happened and they are back at it.

WHO RUNS THE WORLD OR POWER IN YOUR COUNTRY?

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

There are a lot of theories out there on the people that run the world. Some people believe that the government is the ultimate authority, and they call the shots. Others believe that large corporations have more power and influence than any one government. And then there are those who believe that it’s actually a select group of wealthy individuals who control everything behind the scenes.

President Woodrow Wilson said: “Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.”

I believe the whole world is influenced directly and indirectly by the collective forces and actions of a top wealthy elite class. I believe that there are people who are controlling the greater processes of geopolitics and the global economy.

Every country is divided into four categories of people: the poor(P), the rich(R), Ultra rich people (URP) and Super Ultra Rich people (SURP). I believe that the SURP run the world and they play key roles in every integral global decision.

The P are in the bottom of the food chain and are struggling. Some call themselves middle class people when they build a nice house, buy a car and a few investments. The Ps have high risk of getting killed, being misinformed, and being controlled via threats. Hence, they can’t make major decisions.

The R and the URP are people in power, and they serve as arms of the SURP. They even have potential to become SURPs themselves. They have low risks of getting killed or being threatened. Hence, they work as executors of major decisions.

SURP are at the top of the food chain (Giant business magnets, Royal family members and Secret societies) where no scavenger or predator can bother them. They’re mostly people who have parlayed generational wealth into something that resembles a societal institution. Their command is the law, even in a democratic country. They are at their highest potential, they can crash the markets, they can choke a nation to poverty, and they can lift a nation from poverty. Hence, they control the world.

Most of the Rs and URPs answer to SURPs who financed their campaigns, who influenced (or own) the media, and put them there in positions of power to protect their wealth. The generally used term for these people is oligarchs, and the form of control is oligarchy, from the Greek for “rule by the few”.

There are people out there who have wasted their entire lives hunting down the Illuminati when all they really needed to do was to look out of their window and find the nearest corporation. The top 100 wealthiest individuals control more wealth than the poorest 3.5 billion people in the world. So, a very small number of people have more wealth literally than billions of people.

MONEY IS A BIG FACTOR

Basically, the thing that runs this world is money and the people who run it are those who have money. Rich people essentially control everything, whether they are rich and in public office because they are rich, or merely have bought politicians off.

For instance, Museveni’s family can actually dictate how things are to be done in Uganda, and they can make it stick. They can even determine an opposition leader for the poor if they wish, and the Ps will follow that person because the SURP control information flow.

Even when it comes to committing heinous crimes, money may save you. It determines how much justice you receive in the world. It determines whether you can afford the best legal representation, or not. A man accused of a crime for which the state ended up taking his life, once quipped: “Capital punishment means that those without capital get the punishment”. His name was John Spenkelink and there was reasonable doubt surrounding his guilt. He was born in a poor family; his fate was determined the moment he was arrested. Had he been able to afford the finest lawyers, he’d likely be alive today. He was executed in 1979 when Amin was still president of Uganda.

MONEY AND POLITICAL POWER

Al Pacino’s character, Tony Montana, discusses women with his friend in the film, ‘Scarface’, but the topic can just as easily be applied to anything in the world. “In this country, you got to make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women,” Tony explains to his friend. Power makes the world go round. And power is acquired through wealth. Once you have wealth, you have everything. His words are as true in 2024 as they were back in 1983.

However, Museveni didn’t follow Tony’s advice as he invested in political power first before acquiring wealth. Museveni served in Obote 1, Lule and Binaisa’s governments, but he invested his money in acquiring political power first. He could have built a mansion for himself as most ministers or opposition leaders do nowadays, but he didn’t. He only had a plot of land at Rwakitura before becoming president, but he’s now arguably the largest landowner in Uganda.

Money gives you some power and buys you access to a lot more, but when the chips fall down, people with political power have the power, because they have the coercive might of the state behind them. For instance, the late Sulaiman Kiggundu(inalilahi wahina ilayihi rajiuna) was inarguably extremely rich and had a tremendous amount of power right about until the point he was arrested. Now, people born in the last 17 years don’t even know that Greenland Bank once existed on Kampala Road.

My point though is that there is an upper echelon of people who have far more power than you and me and they’re in varying degrees of shadow. The good news is that God controls all humans in this world.

People with money rule this world. It’s as true in capitalist America and Europe as it is in the “communist” China. Once you reach a certain level of wealth, you gain access to the highest echelons of power and life’s a cake walk from there on out. Money opens doors that nothing else will open for you, and this is true everywhere in the world. Go and make money,guys!

NUP ISN’T A NEW PARTY -IT IS NEARLY 20 YEARS OLD

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

Dear friends,

A lot of people wrongly refer to the National Unity Party (NUP) as a new party, but this is a party that was registered in December 2004, same time as the FDC. What confuses me is that the Electoral Commission website has it registered on August 28, 2019, yet the delegates conference to change its leadership from Moses Kibalama to Robert Kyagulanyi took place during the Covid lockdown of July 2020. Norbert Mao had promised to expose more of how Museveni was protecting the NUP on EC books,but I don’t know what happened to him the moment he agreed to work with NRM.

What I want to stress is that the party changed its name from National Unity, Reconciliation and Development Party (NURP) to NUP before Kyagulanyi became its president. NUP was never founded by Kyagulanyi as widely reported in the media.

The original founder, Kibalama, and his ‘friends’ from the original NURDP party organised a delegates’ conference in May 2021 in Rubaga Division in which they unanimously agreed to re-appoint Kibalama as their president. In 2022, Kibalama again tried to get his party back from Kyagulanyi- he opened offices in Rubaga Division, but he was once again frustrated by the Electoral Commission.

Ugandans should know that changing the name of a person or organisation doesn’t make it younger. General David Sejusa was born on 13th November 1954. It doesn’t make him younger because he changed his name from David Tinyefunza. You can only legally (not biologically) become younger when you swear an affidavit to reduce your age as NUP’s Kyagulanyi did in 2020. You can simply use whatever name you wish in most countries. Ugandan law allows you to use any name you want, provided this is not done in the furtherance of some other criminal activity.

Outside Uganda, here in the UK, for example, the law allows you to call yourself whatever you like, and no official process is required. However, your circumstances will make a difference. A case in point, it is still a fairly common tradition for a wife to take a husband’s surname on marriage. A copy of her marriage certificate (together with her other documents) will be sufficient to allow the Passport Office to issue her with a passport in her new name. However, if she simply decides to change her name from Amina Goodheart to Amina Badheart, while she has done nothing illegal, she may find that she faces problems with authorities who like a paper trail. In this case, a Deed Poll would be useful. This can be organised by any solicitor and there is or used to be a company called Deed Polls Online who will do the whole thing online for you. This is for the UK only, as the laws will vary from country to country, but I believe it’s the same process in Uganda.

Similarly, a registered political party in Uganda can change its name. The party leader along with the consent of the party’s highest decision-making body must write a letter to the Election Commission. They should mention the reason for change and the new name. If the EC finds that there is already a party with the same name, then EC won’t give the permission to go ahead with the same name. In this case usually parties prefer to do some adjustments by adding a name in brackets along with the party name.

Several UK political parties have changed their names, too, over the years. For example, The Whig Party was one of the two main political parties in England during the 18th and 19th centuries, along with the Tories. The Whigs originated in the late 17th century as a faction of the English Parliament that opposed the absolutist policies of King James II. They were originally known as the “Country Party,” but in 1678, they adopted the name “Whig” (a term originally used to describe Scottish rebels) to emphasize their opposition to the king.

The Liberal Party was founded in 1859 as a merger of the Whig Party and the Peelites, a group of Conservatives who supported free trade. The new party was initially known as the “Liberal Party” or the “Liberal-Labour Party” (to distinguish it from the Conservative Party), but it eventually dropped the “Labour” part of its name.

The Labour Party was founded in 1900 as a political party for the working class. It was initially known as the “Labour Representation Committee,” but it changed its name to the “Labour Party” in 1906.

Political parties in the United States have changed their names and ideologies several times over the country’s history. However, the changes were gradual, and there is no specific timeline for when the parties changed their names. The two major political parties in the United States today are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The Democratic Party was founded in 1828 and was originally known as the Democratic-Republican Party. Over time, the party evolved and split into factions, with one faction becoming known as the Democratic Party in the 1830s. The Republican Party was founded in 1854 as an anti-slavery party and was initially known as the Whig Party. The party changed its name to the Republican Party in 1856.

People should also note that NUP didn’t emerge from the People Power Movement (PPM). NUP and PP are totally different things though a lot of people allied with PP joined NUP when Kyagulanyi became its new president. The PP was never a Kyagulanyi initiative as several people have tried to explain, but I have seen a lot of media outlets wrongly calling it his. Kyagulanyi was a newcomer to the PP but it’s amazing how he hijacked the movement and portrayed himself as its leader. PP is literally a product of the ‘TOJIKWATAKO’ movement that opposed the lifting of the presidential age limits.

Bobi’s Current Mistakes Remind me of The Fox & the Monkey – Aesop’s Fables

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

At a great meeting of the Animals, who had gathered to elect a new ruler, the Monkey was asked to dance. This he did so well, with a thousand funny capers and grimaces, that the animals were carried entirely off their feet with enthusiasm, and then and there, elected him their king.

The Fox did not vote for the Monkey and was much disgusted with the Animals for electing such an unworthy ruler.

One day he found a trap with a bit of meat in it. Hurrying to King Monkey, he told him he had found a rich treasure, which he had not touched because it belonged by right to his majesty the Monkey.

The greedy Monkey followed the Fox to the trap. As soon as he saw the meat he grasped eagerly for it, only to find himself held fast in the trap. The Fox stood off and laughed.

“You pretend to be our king,” he said, “and cannot even take care of yourself!”

Shortly after that, another election among the Animals was held, and I guess you already know who won.

In the case of NUP and its leader, Kyagulanyi aka Bobi, elections haven’t been held in his party yet – I even wonder whether we shall see a delegates’ conference anytime soon.

All I know is that desperate Ugandans got excited in 2020-21 and got a bad deal in Kyagulanyi as the face of opposition. Let us hope the “animals” in Uganda begin to elect better leaders in future rather than those that act like the Monkey in their character, qualities, and actions.

Fundamentally, Bobi is the monkey who caught the car. He got what he spent his whole life chasing, then realised the chase was much more fun than actually doing the job.

Bobi swept into politics on an incredible landslide of public support in Kyadondo East and later decided to stand for presidency, decimating his rivals in opposition.

In the end, there was only one opposition politician in the entire country who had sufficient power and influence to actually take down Bobi. Who was that politician? Bobi himself.

Never in my life have I seen such an incredible display of self-sabotage. Bobi has done himself more damage than his political opponents could ever have dreamed of, including but not limited to:

1. Posting a photo of his armoured car on social media the day after withdrawing the electoral petition against Museveni. Then later on, Museveni gave a waver tax on it in a letter written on 7th June 2021 to Uganda Revenue Authority.

2. Moving away from the People power movement that embraced different parties to joining Kibalama’s NUP.

3. Presiding over a culture of near constant partying, traveling,insults, and rule breaking,

4.Promoting his elder brother, Nyanzi, to a position of authority over other senior leaders because he is his blood, despite fully knowing that it portrays him as nepotistic in the party.

5. Accusing all his MPs of working for Museveni in a BBC interview when asked about the Anti- LGBT Bill. And then later on brazenly lied to them about how much he was forced to answer that way when he came back to Uganda, causing them public embarrassment.

6. The current saga has been the public embarrassment of his deputy president, Mathias Mpuuga, over the shs.500m recommended by the parliamentary Commission to be given to him after serving as LOP for about 2 years.

While speaking at the funeral of ‘’Omutaka we Kiika’’, he said, ” For us, we were winning awards and interacting with the Schwarzeneggers, and then I read on social media the corruption scandals involving my fellow leader….”

Lol, that reminds me of a scene in The Simpsons Movie, where President Schwarzenegger (yes, really) is presented with a set of three unthinkable options for a difficult situation. He chooses one at random, stating that “I was elected to LEAD, not to READ.” That’s Bobi – he decided to punish the former leader of the opposition before reading everything about parliamentary laws.

What do all of those incidents have in common? He did it to himself.

Gratuity toLeader Of Opposition

Gratuity is given by the employer to an employee for the services rendered by him. It is usually paid at the time of retirement, but it can be paid before provided certain conditions are met.

Gratuity is merely an older and more formal word than tip – originally meaning “gift” and coming from the Latin word “gratus” meaning thankful. A gratuity is, therefore, a gift given as thanks.

Tip sands for “To Insure Promptness” or prompt service. In the UK we may give a tip to a waiter if we think that waiter has provided exceptional service or if just feeling kind. Some sneaky establishments give you a bill with ‘gratuity included’ on it, but you do not have to pay it (by law). I believe that in the US things are slightly different and a tip is expected – to the degree that they come running after you if you don’t leave one.

LOP equals the leader of govt business in parliament (Prime Minister -PM). The PM is given benefits in perpetuity. The LOP office should have been provided with a retirement package under the previous amended remunerations Act, but it didn’t happen.

The shs.500m to Mpuunga was a one-off for the LOP. The parliamentary commission (PC) made its recommendations to the budget committee and the House. So, I don’t see any illegality on the side of Mpuuga. The PC isn’t an illegal body, and all its actions are protected under our constitution.

There’s a massive difference between a bribe and gratuity. A bribe is paying someone to accomplish an otherwise unavailable (and often improper/unethical) outcome. Bribery is a payment made to cause an outcome that would not necessarily have been the outcome otherwise. It was unfair for Kyagulanyi to blatantly call Mpuuga corrupt, moreover, in public. That amounted to character assassination, and it’s really sad. He needs to stop killing people’s political careers that way. Mpuuga is basically being ”punished” because he’s becoming popular in NUP.

What do you think of the Pope’s latest views on Ukraine war?

Pope Francis has said that Ukraine should have the courage of the “white flag” and negotiate an end to the war with Russia that followed Moscow’s full-scale invasion two years ago.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is the largest Eastern Catholic Church in the world. As of 2019, it had approximately 4.1 million members.

It just doesn’t make sense that the Vatican would risk alienating over 4 million Ukrainian Greek Catholics to somehow seek to protect 3 thousand Russian Greek Catholics.

No matter how holy one is, when it comes to physical affairs, I have found out that one is more influenced by his belief than his intimacy with God when making decisions. You just have to look at all the past Popes and how they handled physical issues.

the no nonsense authoritarian Cardinal Achille Ratti, Pope Pius XI (1922–1939) despite being an anti communist, he hated Adolf Hitler with all his breath. He had already commissioned an Encyclical in which he strongly condemned Antisemitism derided Nazism and spoke very firmly and prophetically about Nazi Germany.

Unfortunately three days to the convention in which he was supposed to denounce the Nazis he died at 81 years. His doctor was also responsible for Mussolini’s health, so it’s believed that the Nazis got rid of him!

His successor Pius XII turned out at best to be a coward and at worst a Nazi sympathizer. Don’t ask me what happened to the Encyclical after Pius XI died!

 The Vatican has been invaded in the past, it’s been sacked, it’s been looted, it’s gotten burned a little bit, and there was a little over half a century where the French kidnapped the pope and set up their own papacy in Avignon.Last time was 1870, by the army of united Italia.

On June 5, 1944, Vatican City was occupied by a battalion of the American 5th Army.

Ukraine’s biggest problem is, as far as NATO ships are concerned, is its lack of a secure sea port. Supplying Ukrainian forces would be much easier, if there was a secure sea lane and port access. But the Black Sea has always been under Russian control, it would be suicide for USNS or USN ships to transit to Odessa or any other port in the Black Sea. Everything NATO has sent to Ukraine has been mostly by land or air, which can get real expensive- as we learned in Afghanistan.

STOP ABUSING NKUBA KYEYO!

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

I’ve seen a lot of fellow Ugandans back at home insulting their diaspora,and I find it disgusting. Living in a different culture gives you a broader perspective on the human condition. This often gives you a perspective that your stay at home friends and family just can’t understand. Instead of learning from diaspora, you call them names.

There are many aspects to understanding the importance of Uganda diaspora:

1. Uganda festivals are celebrated, and foreigners get an insight into our thinking and culture. This makes our country an attractive destination for tourism and business.

2. Political lobbying, which is not very powerful,but I have seen several Ugandans participating in protests outside our embassies.

3.Personal support: In Uganda history there were many people who were educated abroad (or trained/gained experience) there and came back to support the country, although they could have found much better (profitable) job to do abroad. Some examples: Abu Mayanja, Mayanja Nkanji, Dr.Sulaiman Kiggundu, etc

4. Financial support:Many of them still support their families in Uganda or at least come to Uganda for holidays and spend their money there (support for the economy). There is also some organizational financial support for people in Uganda.

5. Diasporans bring in more money in the country than Ugandans at home (minus Asians).

6. If you read international law as a subject, you will understand that one of the most powerful tools a country has, which is to achieve its goals worldwide, is its Diaspora.

LEARN FROM DIASPORA INSTEAD OF ABUSING THEM!

A LETTER TO GRAVITY OMUTUJJU

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

Dear Gravity,

Thanks for your Busabala hospital fundraising. Thank you for your donation of love, time, and a big part of your life and identity to those who are suffering. Anybody who gives is donating a blessing, anybody would be blessed to receive. What you are doing is nothing short of amazing. You’re tactically exposing the healthy inadequacies in the country, and I really hope something good comes out of your efforts. Its unfortunate that some people are only looking at this as a Bobi Vs Gravity issue.

I really appreciate when people fight for specific causes, and I am sure many others in society feel the same way.

It’s sad that some Nupians have insulted your mother, too. Who knows why people say such crazy things? Please take the insults like a champ. Responding with insults or offensive language will only escalate the situation and diminish your credibility.

Not sure what those criticising you their issues are; they might be having really bad days (or life). In any case your spirit is just great. Keep ignoring those who try to put you down and appreciate those who lift you up. Many people live in bubbles and cannot perceive anything or anyone beyond their small lives.

There are a total of 533 Hospitals and 6,937 health facilities in Uganda as of January 09, 2024, but most of them aren’t really equipped enough to help our people. That’s why most of our rich end up going abroad for treatment. The 17 Regional Referral Hospitals (RRHs) and 62 are General Hospitals (GHs) were mostly built during Obote’s leadership, but they look terrible.

Mulago Hospital which was built in 1962 could have been competing with the likes of Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa, but its now a death trap for Ugandans. South Africa stands out as one of the top African countries in terms of doctor education and healthcare offerings mainly because the government allocates an impressive 8.58% of their GDP to healthcare, prioritizing education, and practical training.

One of the reasons why Ugandans in diaspora are afraid of permanently settling back home is because of bad healthcare. Here, in the UK, the government’s NHS is so far better than any system in Africa.

I was watching a documentary on TV in the UK called ‘Your Life in their Hands’. A 14-year-old boy had a very aggressive non-malignant tumour right in the centre of his brain. The specialists said that he would be dead in 3 months and that 5 years ago there would have been absolutely nothing they could have done. A massive team of top neurosurgeons, anaesthetists and theatre technicians/nurses performed a 48-hour operation, yes 48 hours, and it was quite simply one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen human’s do. The boy thankfully survived and is apparently doing really well. Imagine trying to get a Ugandan doctor to exactly that!

In the same series there was a man that had an aneurysm on his aorta. He was told in no uncertain terms that he could literally drop dead at any minute or had the choice of a possible life saving operation that was very, very risky. He chose the operation. Sadly, he died on the operating table, and you could see in every single one of the operating theatre staff that they were absolutely gutted, and some were in tears. I don’t think people quite ‘get it’ that to these incredible people it’s way, way more than just a job.

UK doctors are so much respected in the world, especially in the USA. UK doctors do not have to retrain in the USA, but they need to successfully pass a battery of licensing exams, then endure a long residency at a hospital. It is equally rigorous going to the UK, just different types of requirements.

In all seriousness, I have great respect for the Uganda doctors but most of them have let down a lot of people through wrong diagnosis and all sorts of things.

BTW, is there a way you can drop the stage name ” omutujju”? It sounds bad, like, someone intentionally hurting others. Otherwise, thanks for exposing the hypocrisy of Bobi Wine, too. I hope you finally get land where a good hospital will be built,inishallah!

USA DETERMINED TO FUND BOTH THE UKRAINE AND MIDDLE EAST CONFLICTS

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

America is not giving $95 billion dollars to Ukraine and Israel. They’re giving $95 billion dollars to the American arms manufacturers who will be supplying both nations with weapons. The obscene profits will go into the retirement accounts of the managements of those companies, and the investment accounts of their stockholders.

Admittedly most people don’t realize the U.S. military and the industrial entities that serve it are, for all practical purposes, a massive jobs program.

Its not like in Uganda where you ask parliament to approve millions of dollars to buy fighter jets from Russia- an act that ends up enriching Russians more than Ugandans. Few Ugandans benefit from such deals through ‘enjawulo’ and other benefits.

BTW, it’s indeed insane that Russia is somehow still managing to find resources when it fights Ukraine that is armed by the whole western world. Russia has also transitioned lost markets from sanctions into a war producing one.

War economies are surprisingly strong and shouldn’t be underestimated. Russia has shown that it’s willing to rely on a war economy to stabilise it. This probably surprised the West since by doing so you’re making a bet to win the war and to be capable of making a smooth transition back to a normal economy once the war is over. Currently, it doesn’t look like Russia is anywhere near to be capable of transitioning back to normal markets since they don’t exist anymore due to sanctions.

And if Trump wins the presidency this year, it’s going to be interesting how things turn out in Ukraine and the rest of Europe. I honestly thought that the Israel- Gaza conflict had warned off western interest in the Ukraine war, but, obviously something happened and they are back at it.

WHO RUNS THE WORLD OR POWER IN YOUR COUNTRY?

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba in black and white

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

There are a lot of theories out there on the people that run the world. Some people believe that the government is the ultimate authority, and they call the shots. Others believe that large corporations have more power and influence than any one government. And then there are those who believe that it’s actually a select group of wealthy individuals who control everything behind the scenes.

President Woodrow Wilson said: “Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.”

I believe the whole world is influenced directly and indirectly by the collective forces and actions of a top wealthy elite class. I believe that there are people who are controlling the greater processes of geopolitics and the global economy.

Every country is divided into four categories of people: the poor(P), the rich(R), Ultra rich people (URP) and Super Ultra Rich people (SURP). I believe that the SURP run the world and they play key roles in every integral global decision.

The P are in the bottom of the food chain and are struggling. Some call themselves middle class people when they build a nice house, buy a car and a few investments. The Ps have high risk of getting killed, being misinformed, and being controlled via threats. Hence, they can’t make major decisions.

The R and the URP are people in power, and they serve as arms of the SURP. They even have potential to become SURPs themselves. They have low risks of getting killed or being threatened. Hence, they work as executors of major decisions.

SURP are at the top of the food chain (Giant business magnets, Royal family members and Secret societies) where no scavenger or predator can bother them. They’re mostly people who have parlayed generational wealth into something that resembles a societal institution. Their command is the law, even in a democratic country. They are at their highest potential, they can crash the markets, they can choke a nation to poverty, and they can lift a nation from poverty. Hence, they control the world.

Most of the Rs and URPs answer to SURPs who financed their campaigns, who influenced (or own) the media, and put them there in positions of power to protect their wealth. The generally used term for these people is oligarchs, and the form of control is oligarchy, from the Greek for “rule by the few”.

There are people out there who have wasted their entire lives hunting down the Illuminati when all they really needed to do was to look out of their window and find the nearest corporation. The top 100 wealthiest individuals control more wealth than the poorest 3.5 billion people in the world. So, a very small number of people have more wealth literally than billions of people.

MONEY IS A BIG FACTOR

Basically, the thing that runs this world is money and the people who run it are those who have money. Rich people essentially control everything, whether they are rich and in public office because they are rich, or merely have bought politicians off.

For instance, Museveni’s family can actually dictate how things are to be done in Uganda, and they can make it stick. They can even determine an opposition leader for the poor if they wish, and the Ps will follow that person because the SURP control information flow.

Even when it comes to committing heinous crimes, money may save you. It determines how much justice you receive in the world. It determines whether you can afford the best legal representation, or not. A man accused of a crime for which the state ended up taking his life, once quipped: “Capital punishment means that those without capital get the punishment”. His name was John Spenkelink and there was reasonable doubt surrounding his guilt. He was born in a poor family; his fate was determined the moment he was arrested. Had he been able to afford the finest lawyers, he’d likely be alive today. He was executed in 1979 when Amin was still president of Uganda.

MONEY AND POLITICAL POWER

Al Pacino’s character, Tony Montana, discusses women with his friend in the film, ‘Scarface’, but the topic can just as easily be applied to anything in the world. “In this country, you got to make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women,” Tony explains to his friend. Power makes the world go round. And power is acquired through wealth. Once you have wealth, you have everything. His words are as true in 2024 as they were back in 1983.

However, president Yoweri Museveni didn’t follow Tony’s advice as he invested in political power first before acquiring wealth. Museveni served in Obote 1, Lule and Binaisa’s governments, but he invested his money in acquiring political power first. He could have built a mansion for himself as most ministers or opposition leaders do nowadays, but he didn’t. He only had a plot of land at Rwakitura before becoming president, but he’s now arguably the largest landowner in Uganda.

Money gives you some power and buys you access to a lot more, but when the chips fall down, people with political power have the power, because they have the coercive might of the state behind them. For instance, the late Sulaiman Kiggundu(inalilahi wahina ilayihi rajiuna) was inarguably extremely rich and had a tremendous amount of power right about until the point he was arrested. Now, people born in the last 17 years don’t even know that Greenland Bank once existed on Kampala Road.

My point though is that there is an upper echelon of people who have far more power than you and me and they’re in varying degrees of shadow. The good news is that God controls all humans in this world.

People with money rule this world. It’s as true in capitalist America and Europe as it is in the “communist” China. Once you reach a certain level of wealth, you gain access to the highest echelons of power and life’s a cake walk from there on out. Money opens doors that nothing else will open for you, and this is true everywhere in the world. Go and make money,guys!

—

How Do You Know You are Rich?

1.You went shopping, you liked two very expensive shirts, but you couldn’t decide which one to buy. So, you bought both. Congrats, you are rich.

2. You need a new laptop, you go to amazon website, search, and then sort by price: high to low. Congrats, you are rich.

3. Your son is playing with your iPhone 7 Plus. Suddenly he drops it and breaks it. You run and ask him if he is okay. Congrats, you are rich.

4. You again went shopping. This time you bought groceries. The bill was shs.569,000, you gave him 600,000, but he said he didn’t have the change. You said,’ no problem’ and you left smiling. Congrats, you are rich.

5. You don’t just say a watch but Rolex, a car but Audi, a phone but an iPhone, a laptop but Mac, a perfume but Calvin Klein. Congrats, you are rich.

6.You celebrate your wife’s 40th birthday. You throw the party at the most expensive place in Kampala. Your own private jets are on duty to fly celebrity guests back and forth. Congrats, you are rich.

7.A lawyer takes you to court over reducing your age and for having been wrongly admitted at university, but you manipulate the entire judicial system, and you are free at the end. Congrats, you are freaking rich.

8. If you possess land somewhere and a person asks you to donate some for a cause, such as building a hospital, church, or mosque, and you just do it without thinking hard. Congrats, you are freaking rich. You know you’re rich when you’re able to give substantial amounts to charity.

9. You’re basically rich if you can survive without working anymore.

10. Personally, I think we are all wealthy when we have our own health and our own little world where we live with our own earnings.

THE OPPOSITION IS NOW A LAUGHINGSTOCK B’SE OF THE NUP INSULTS

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

Dear friends,

Negative and ignorant attacks have seeped into every aspect of our lives and are destroying our culture, politics and society. It is deemed a badge of honour now in Uganda to ridicule, insult and destroy a person based on lies and character assassination.

There have certainly been heated moments and jabs between the FDC and NRM supporters in the past, but things have never really gotten so personal, like at this level.

One thing I disliked, however, is the way some NRM supporters couched criticism of Museveni’s actions in terms of “personal” attacks. No Besigye supporter was attacking Museveni, they were attacking his judgment, which is perfectly within the bounds of good, common-sense, political discourse. I treated a lot of NRM bloggers with respect, and I believe they (most of them) treated me with respect, too.

It was Museveni who tried to spoil our politics at some point when he accused Besigye of being HIV positive during the 2001 elections, but I guess he checked himself. He also at some point called the past leaders ‘swine’, but he has toned down recently because he didn’t get cheerleaders for his insults.

FDC

I am very, very happy to see that the FDC party generally behaves in a more grown-up way than does its rivals. Not that there aren’t some bad apples or that bad behaviour doesn’t exist in the party, but I just see it as being a great deal more civil. When attacking others, it does not seem that the “no low is too low” rule applies to them like it does to Nupians.

Even Nandala and Besigye came to realise that they are opponents, not enemies. They are both allies of the same political party despite the major differences, and I’m hoping that the same spirit gets reflected in their respective supporters. It is to their credit that they realized that cheap shots and personal attacks may have brought personal benefit but weakened the party overall.

Besigye has always said, and I believe him, that it is not that he wants to be President, but that he wants whoever is President to advance his policies – which he would have done if he had been elected. So, his presidential campaigning was mainly about to get as much influence as possible to push Museveni to endorse policies close to his. He also used to use campaigns as a way of freely enlightening Ugandans on various issues.

BOBI AND NUP

Politics is nasty enough without the clown-car disaster on the NUP side. Many of us predicted it would happen at the very beginning of the bye-elections between 2017- 2019. Bobi’s group resorted to schoolyard taunts against the FDC in Arua byelections and other places; then later did the same to DP and UPC.

He only cares about himself, period, and if it involves discrediting or destroying other opposition leaders by incinerating them, so be it. For instance, Kyagulanyi aka Bobi used some pretty low tactics (reminiscent of his squabbles with both Jose Chameleon and Bebe Cool musical days) to destroy Besigye before the 2020-21 elections. He has continued with the same tactics against musicians who disagree with him. His recent pampered lifestyle has led him to believe that he’s bigger than everybody else in the opposition or music industry.

He has a short attention span. He does not read so much unless someone is taking a photo of him reading. He keeps his involvement in all aspects of his life limited to the right of refusal and amendment and little else.

What he is doing is a disgrace to our country and is bringing everyone down. All the while he is proud of his nonsense, rhetoric, insults and getting in the last word like a spoiled child. The only reason he and others are resorting to this is because we are accepting it and now expecting it.

Here’s the bottom line: Bobi is good at getting media attention but not good at focusing on his message. He’s not attacking Museveni or his son, Muhoozi, on policy, nor is he making a coherent argument for himself, in his press conferences. He attacks Muhoozi for being a drunkard, and that’s it.

People who love his combative public persona probably love reading stuff like this from him, but those people are already going to vote for him again in 2026. Public fights with his MPs over the homosexuality law, Hon. Mpuuga, Hon. Abed Bwanika, Bigirwa Moses, e.t.c, will not help him win over people who are not currently supporting him.

I have always deplored mudslinging and name-calling, and this is one of the primary reasons why a lot of people don’t want to be associated with NUP. I prefer to keep it on issues, abilities and records.

Saying someone is bought and paid for by Museveni to attack Bobi sounds like a personal attack, but maybe that’s just me. Of course, if you think it’s true and you have either circumstantial or direct evidence, you have every right in my view to assert it.

Saying that somebody’s mother, wife, daughter, e.t.c, is a whore or a crazy old fart, is a personal attack — The idea of it at all, for any reason is asinine. Unsurprisingly, now I see people also attacking Nupians by insulting Kyagulanyi’s dead mother, and it’s sad.

This whole ‘Kyagulanyi-tasobya’ thing is getting out of hand. Basically, Museveni is not a perfect leader, but he is a lot less imperfect than the main competition at the moment.

I personally distrust politicians much more than I otherwise would be due to this negativity. If just occasionally, political opponents would say something like, “I agree with my opponent on this, he/she makes a good point,” and leave it at that. Instead, they always must spin anything the other side says as negative, even when they agree with it.

NUPIAN’S BLIND LOYALTY IS BAD FOR THE OPPOSITION

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba,UK

Blind loyalty is when one is loyal to a person or cause despite the damage the person or cause does to himself or herself or others.” – Urban Dictionary. Another definition (my own) is when someone follows someone else without giving proper judgement to his or her actions. A lot of Bobi Wine’s supporters follow him blindly without scrutinising his mistakes.

For instance, while on BBC last year, Bobi wrongly said that Museveni brought the homosexuality bill to target him and the opposition, but later he claimed that the same Museveni was using Andrew Mwenda, Nicholas Opiyo, et al, to get rid of the same bill. So, Museveni is trying hard to get rid of something that would have made Bobi’s life hard? Huh! You see how his claims are so disconnected, but those blindly following him find it convenient to turn his rubbish statements into ‘juice’, and it’s very unfortunate.

In the same interview, he said that opposition MPs working for Museveni brought and supported the bill. I kindly reached out to Asuman Basalirwa who brought the bill, and he had this to say, ‘The office of the speaker received two bills. One was drafted by me and the other by father Onen. Mine was the first to be received by the office of the speaker and the other came days later. So, the meeting with the Speaker that Serwanyi was referring to was to decide that since my bill came earlier, it must be the one to go on the order paper and that instead father Onen becomes a seconder to my bill since it was even more comprehensive and had more punitive measures.’’

But you find a lot of Nupians still blindly insulting Basalirwa just because of Bobi’s careless statements on BBC. I think some people are just far more gullible, easily influenced, manipulated & fully committed to particular people they view as grandiose, special, godlike, or perfect. It’s difficult to be objective or see someone as flawed, when you truly believe they are otherworldly special enough to create blind loyalties. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like some FDCs aren’t guilty of this too, but not even close to the level of the Nupians.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about NUP’s future and political direction. The irony is that their supporters calling others names purport to be fighting for free speech in Uganda where everyone is entitled to the freedom of expression regardless of their views. Recently, I concluded that the freedom they talk about is pandering to their crappy narratives with no rational judgement.

The opposition has basically built a dictator who claims to be fighting a dictatorship. When you say anything against him, his supporters label you a Museveni mole, yet Bobi reportedly owes most of his wealth to having been close to government officials.

Being in the position of leadership does not mean that one automatically ‘derives’ respect and loyalty as a by-product of the ‘position’ in the organizational hierarchy. There are many people who are sitting in the top positions thinking that people respect them. The truth is that this is not something one receives by the virtue of the ‘title’ that he/ she holds. Just because you’re called ‘Principal’, it doesn’t make you anything more than just a president of a small party.

BLIND LOYALTY DURING HITLER

The bling loyalty among Nupians could possibly be compared to that of General Friedrich Paulus, the leader of the 6th army of Stalingrad – he was a “yes” man and Hitler wanted “yes” men above all.

Paulus’ case was very special – he hadn’t had that much experience fighting before his appointment as Sixth Army commander – by many accounts – he felt more comfortable behind an office desk than he did on the battlefield. Were it not for Walter Reichenau’s sudden death from a heart attack, and Hitler’s doubts about the loyalty of the higher-ups as the initial momentum faltered, it’s highly unlikely he would have commanded any army during the war.

The one-time Paulus gained enough courage to resist Hitler was, surprise, just before surrender when he was, ultimately, encircled in Stalingrad. The whole reasoning behind him being named Field Marshall was that in the illustrious fighting history of the Wehrmacht, no field Marshall had ever been captured in battle – Hitler’s expectation was that Paulus would commit suicide just before capture, but Paulus, with his life being on the line this time, refused to budge.

HITLER’S CONCENTRATION CAMPS

In early October 1939, Heinrich Himmler reported to Hitler on the actions of the Einsatzgruppen in Poland, but Hitler told Himmler not to brief him anymore. The subject of concentration camps was not to be discussed in Hitler’s presence unless he mentioned them first. This was typical for Hitler: the man did not want to be confronted with the repercussions of his actions. He always fled into a dream world when bad news was announced.

He had special blinds installed on his train and curtains in his cars, so he did not have to look at the devastation outside when he travelled in Germany. He never visited a bombed area, a destroyed factory, a damaged school, let alone a concentration camp. The man simply did not want to know what was being done in his name. He gave very general instructions and left the rest to others.

In Germany, there was this principle called “Dem Führer entgegenarbeiten” meaning “Working towards the Führer”. Hitler’s instructions would be interpreted by those below him without fully briefing him about what was going on. The lower echelons had to anticipate what they believed Hitler meant. That’s why Bobi can find it easier to deny what Fred Lumbuye does online even if he’s doing it in his name.

If anything, it’s much easier to fool the general public today than it was before WW2. The very access to mass media makes it much easier to consume propaganda when lacking the tools for critical thought. And let’s face it, we’ve had a deficit of critical thinking in Uganda for many years. That should make anyone who’s paying attention worry about the potential for the situation to get out of control. It’s our duty to remain vigilant and call out unconstitutionality whenever we see it.

Blind loyalty for anyone is a very toxic thing. Ultimately, there’s only one real reason why a person is blindly loyal to another person – the inability to think for themselves. The reliance on others to tell them what to do, how to act, who they should ultimately believe in. For example, If Besigye alone had told Nupians to plant banana trees in the middle of bad roads, they wouldn’t have done it, and this is one of the exact reasons why he’s compelled to work with Bobi.

Blind loyalty can be attributed to several psychological factors. One such factor is the need for belongingness and acceptance. Individuals may feel a sense of security and identity by aligning themselves with a particular group or person, leading them to exhibit blind loyalty. Additionally, cognitive biases such as confirmation bias and bandwagon effect can play a role. People tend to seek information that confirms their existing beliefs and may follow the crowd to avoid feeling left out or different.

When a person leads with their heart and not their mind. They would ignore the red flags when they hold someone to a high regard. Bobi has shown Ugandans that he barely has the capacity and capability to take on Museveni, a man that he found already weakened and exposed by Besigye.

A healthy democracy must have a system of checks and balances where leaders are held accountable for their actions. Demanding unquestioning loyalty is an authoritarian tactic that undermines the principles of democracy by stifling critical thinking and discouraging independent judgment.

There’s nothing unpredictable about Bobi. He venerates NRM and Museveni and will hand the 2026 elections to him or his son on a platter. Fool me once – shame on you, fool me twice – shame on me.

When Bobi goes to sleep at night, if he can, I wonder what he’s thinking about? Bobi is literally opposing for money, not his legacy as the face of the opposition, which now can be found at the bottom of a dumpster, and he knows it. He will fight anybody, including fellow musicians, who has received money from the government without his ‘cut’ or prior knowledge. So far, he’s managed to bamboozle the young people but for how long?

As for the extent of NUP’s continuing ”resistance”, the fat lady hasn’t sung yet, she hasn’t even put on her makeup, but I believe they will be around as long as Museveni and NRM wants them to be.

SOME OF THE CAUSES OF DIVORCE IN UGANDA AND WHY MARRIAGE IS LOSING OUT!

Abbey Semuwemba enjoying Ugandan food in Boston

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

Marriage is a complex social institution that has evolved over time, and there are many factors that contribute to its success or failure. Unfortunately, marriage has fallen in stature and respect over the last half century. Part of it is due to the growth of affluence and increased personal choices.

In 2019, for example, Uganda’s pastor Bugingo left his wife of 29 years for one of his employees. He publicly reasoned that his wife had been suffering from haemorrhage and had been bleeding for the past 10 years. He went on to justify his infidelity by saying marriage vows are satanic since they’re nowhere in the bible. There’s part of me that wants to judge him because of what he said but, at the same time, I have been involved in more marriage disputes to know that there are a lot of things that happen between couples that the public will never know about.

Another factor is that divorce no longer has the social stigma attached to it as was the case in the past. Remarriages are the highest in the history of humanity. So, most modern couples choose to part ways rather than live in unhappy unions. An option that rarely existed in boomer marriages. In Uganda, 7% experience divorce and separation every 4 years. This translates to roughly 370,000 people every year.

Financial instability also causes divorce – more women are working but still a lot of them survive on a man’s money, and they manipulate men using Bible or qur’anic verses or sayings of the prophets.  Personally, I think If you earn decently, you need not be dependent on someone. In Uganda, if you’re a married man, you are effectively working for your wife – you’re expected to pay the lion’s share of the bills, even if she has a job. In the developed nations, even if you end up divorcing, you will still be working for your wife to support her through alimony. Maintaining her will take up a large portion of your salary. My main point is regarding risk and liability – which is almost exclusively assumed by the male at this point. Even where men are entitled to alimony, it’s seldom awarded to them. Where women are entitled to it, there is no question that it will be awarded.

Another point I would make too is that there have been studies that show women who are higher earners expect their men to earn more or the same and the highest divorce rates are when women out-earn men. The wealthiest women, those who literally don’t need to work at all any more to maintain a good lifestyle, have the highest preference for wealthier men, much more than poorer women. That makes no rational sense as their survival is already ensured, but it is the instinct to crave for male provision on some deep psychological level.

Men, on the other hand, are also waking up and realising they’d rather not be treated as pack-mules, working themselves to the bone to support a woman’s life, when they can simply have a non-marital relationship without committing themselves financially.

Infidelity: Extramarital affairs can erode trust and emotional connection between partners. Infidelity often causes significant damage to the relationship, making it difficult to rebuild trust. However, In Uganda it’s very rare to find a woman who divorces her husband because he cheated with another woman.

Incompatibility: Sometimes, couples discover fundamental differences in values, goals, or interests that make it challenging to maintain a fulfilling partnership. Over time, these differences can become irreconcilable. The Harvard Business Review study offers a simple solution: If married couples see themselves more as partners in both income and housework – not limiting themselves to society’s constructed gender roles – it eases marriage anxiety and makes for happier relationships.

Lack of intimacy and affection: Physical and emotional intimacy play crucial roles in maintaining a healthy marriage. When couples lose their connection, become emotionally distant, or experience a lack of affection, it can lead to dissatisfaction and the breakdown of the relationship.

Women’s rights are always correlated to the rates of divorce. As women get more emancipated, marriages become more egalitarian. Which means that when they don’t work for either, there’s a greater chance of divorce. Most divorces are initiated by women in every country in the world. You can check those statistics; they apply to divorces in most developed countries. My stats say 69%, with a rate of 40 – 50% in the US and 37% in Canada. Women used to be treated so badly back in the day. I still see women from poorer backgrounds being mistreated. Child marriage and wife beating are still common in Uganda. Nobody wants to be controlled by someone, everyone wants to live life with freedom, whether it is men or women.

It appears that women have a hard time, ironically, committing to a marriage and are subsequently quicker to leave or divorce when things aren’t going optimally. I thought this effect is due to a greater social support circle amongst women as opposed to men. Socially, a woman is better off in a divorce than a man, in addition she’s significantly better off financially in a divorce than a man. These taken together, along with social pressure, makes divorce more attractive alternative for a woman as opposed to a man.

Marriage for a man is the financial equivalent of giving somebody, who often only brings a small percentage of the value to the agreement, a fifty percent share in your company, with a clause that they can leave for any reason, and they will keep their 50% share of the company. It literally makes no sense for a man to get married in the modern world. That’s why most men are usually more reluctant to marry to begin with. Most available marriage-material-women are divorced with kids; many young ones just want a sugar daddy to sustain their lazy lifestyle.

Ms.Doreen Nyanjula, deputy Lord mayor, may disagree, but a lot of marriages have also broken down because women expect to have equal power in relationships. Feminism has made them feel that they should be treated equally. Some men would like to see things go back to when women were more dependent and deferential though that’s highly unlikely to happen. And it seems to me that the men will have to adapt.

The fact is modern women do not enjoy being married anymore. You won’t agree with this but, it really has to do with the embedded power differential in traditional marriages. Men generally don’t give up their careers to take care of offspring, downgrade their employment, stop contributing to pensions. Money is power and, in a lot of marriages, that fact is plainly exercised. Many millennials are cohabiting nowadays and negotiating roles and responsibilities.

Nuclear families have also contributed to marriage breakdown. We have become more isolated in the way that we live. In most urban areas, we now have small families, big homes, and are often disconnected from neighbours and community. The 1990s brought in this idea of a self-contained unit with Mom and Dad at the head (mostly Dad) especially in Buganda. Some cultures that still have an emphasis on living with extended family tend to have lower rates of family breakdown. This probably means more support with extended family units, and it helps with raising kids.

Religion isn’t so strong in our communities anymore. Our culture has been dominated by religious ideas of how to live righteously for nearly two millennia. Now the religious hold on our secular law system has weakened considerably and so divorce, as many other cultural icons, is looked at from a purely personal point of view rather than as a societal one. It offers us the option of living together “in sin” or just being lovers who have sex without the tension of constant company of our lovers.

Divorce is bad.

The fact is that divorce is a terrible, financially crippling, life-destroying process. However, it may be better than staying in an abusive marriage but in many cases, it will take a huge toll on your life.

Decades of studies examining endpoints like psychological health, behaviour, academic performance, professional success, etc have consistently shown that children who grow up in a household with both parents present and legally married outperform those who don’t, in all endpoints. The enhanced financial and emotional security and environmental stability contribute to that, but of course that all depends on the health of the marriage.

Well, as much as a failed institution marriage is, some go wonderfully smooth as wine matures with age. And most of those marriages have few things in common: mutual respect, trust, religion, and a commitment to building a strong and healthy relationship. Whether a marriage is based on love or arranged, it’s important for both partners to prioritize their emotional well-being and work together to build a fulfilling and satisfying life together.

It is also important to note that each marriage is unique, and the reasons for divorce can vary widely from couple to couple. Additionally, many divorces occur due to a combination of factors rather than a single cause.

Lastly, divorce isn’t the only proof of a “failed” marriage. Unhappy or abusive marriages outnumber divorces -They are failed marriages as well, but we have no way of getting the real numbers. So, while modern marriages might get a flak for seeing an increased rate of divorce, most millennials consider that to be a good thing and not bad. For example, I know of many women living in slums getting beaten up every day who cannot even think of a divorce because that is not an option. Their life after a divorce is perceived as worse by them. Divorce rate is not a benchmark to check healthy and good marriages. It is just a statistic of how many people took legal action. Marriages by themselves don’t work or work. Love or arranged marriage, you must work at it. Basically, people should pray to God daily for their marriages to work.

Gates and Jobs, and The Importance Of Cooperation

A young Bill Gates with Steve Jobs, 1985

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

There is a fundamental truth in politics and business, and that is, you can not achieve results alone. You need to work with useful people to achieve what you want. In business terms, “cooperation” refers to the act of working together towards a common goal or objective, typically in a mutually beneficial way. It involves individuals or organizations collaborating, sharing resources, knowledge, and expertise to achieve a specific outcome. 

Most people are generally in competition than in cooperation in the world of business, but this was not the case with one Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. When Jobs was still alive, a good part of the time, Apple and Microsoft were producing products that were in direct competition with one another. As such, the term “frenemies” probably applied to the two men when they were running their respective companies. Microsoft was providing business software for Apple as far back as the earliest days of Apple II. 

For many years, the two men had a serious problem, however, since Apple ordered Microsoft a graphical interface for its Lisa (first Mac) after buying the patent for a GUI operated by a mouse from Xerox Microsoft worked on a parallel project and released Windows 1, resulting in a lawsuit from Apple. Well, a legal battle ensued, and Apple lost in court many years later, but there has been a lot of friction between the two companies.

BAILING

In 1997, when Jobs came back to Apple at the company’s lowest ebb, Microsoft bailed Apple out and bought Jobs time to rebuild the company. Apple was considered the biggest rival of Microsoft in the market at the time, and with them going down, it would be quite obvious who would rule the market single-handedly and make it even greater. I mean, Microsoft’s business was good, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t get better.

It was more than just the money, though. Gates had also made a commitment that Microsoft would continue to develop Office for the Mac; he worked in coordination with Apple to create applications for the Mac which are today called Microsoft Word and Excel.

Microsoft’s public announcement that it would continue to fully support the platform was worth as much to Apple as its financial investment in the company. So, when Apple went on to introduce its new product lines (iMac, iBook, and the blue Power Mac G3), people not only bought them for their stylishness and quality, but also because they were fully supported by the important software vendors, starting with Microsoft; you cannot understate how significant that was in 1997.

Another reason Gates had to invest in Apple was that if Apple went down, it would be a monopoly business, and there was a chance he could be sued. Apple was leading in its patent infringement and intellectual property theft lawsuit against Microsoft, which the $150 million down payment on the settlement ended. When you are so big of a company that you can price gouge, dictate government policy, “pull” or “shutdown”, and cripple critical infrastructure, governments don’t like that at all. Not one bit.

In the past, Microsoft had already been sued for antitrust (monopolization). The Justice Department had a very strong case against Microsoft, and Gates’ lawyers were running out of stalling tactics. They barely escaped by claiming Apple was a competitor, which they barely were at the time. If Apple went down, Microsoft risked being broken up; Office would be a separate business, the operating system cross-licensed to at least 2–3 companies – it would’ve been a mess.

COMPARISON

Without a doubt, both men are extraordinary people who have made immeasurable contributions to advancing technology. When I first heard of Gates, his name was associated with being “the world’s wealthiest man”.

Microsoft’s mission was never to make technology with deep empathy for nontechnical users or to help advance humanity. The mission was, unapologetically, world domination, to ensure “a computer on every desk was running Microsoft software.” And Microsoft achieved just that by the mid-1990s— it has always been a textbook example of a “market-driven” company. From its founding, Microsoft has copied others wholesale products and made them only marginally good enough to beat competitors and dominate markets.

The late 90s and early 2000s is where I believe it became clear why Steve Jobs was such a hero for everyone who wants technology to serve them— and not the other way around. Jobs rebuilt Apple not by worrying about the corporate market, but by focusing on end consumers, leading to products like iTunes, iPod, iPhoto, GarageBand & iMovie becoming a hit.

Of the two companies, both reflected the core values of their founders, Apple set the bar so much higher than Microsoft. In short, Gates’s ultimate goal and measure of success was to make money and dominate industry, whilst Job’s was to advance technology for the consumer. Apple is continuously pushing the envelope for the Apple user experience & keeps forcing every other company to improve its products to keep up (e.g., Google, Microsoft, app makers, consumer electronic devices, etc.).

Everyone loves a comeback story. Once Gates reached the top, he never left. Jobs was booted from the company he created, and the triumphant return leading Apple to the heights he has is the simple reason why people love him more. 

Evidently, Jobs revolutionized personal technology by establishing the Apple computer, leaving the world better than he found it. By the end of 2011, he had 0.6% shares of Apple, roughly around $2 billion. At the early stages of Apple Computer, he had 26% of shares in the company (estimated value of those shares would be $167 billion if Steve Jobs retained those shares). Even after being ousted from the company in 1985 by one of his ‘friends’, John Sculley, he sold all his shares but retained one share so that he could receive an annual report.

Jobs sold Pixar to Walt Disney and held around $7.4 billion or 7% of the shares in Walt Disney (Roy Disney, the successor of Walt Disney, owns just 1% in the company). This makes him the largest shareholder of Walt Disney. Following his death on 8th October 2011, Walt Disney & Apple Computer transferred those shares to Steven. P. Jobs Trust, which is run by Lawrence Powell (the widow of Steve Jobs).

LESSONS

Gates proved that cooperation between competitors can be more effective than destructive competition. Even today, the two companies cooperate on some issues at the same time they fight like cats and dogs. In Uganda, business people and politicians mostly look at themselves as enemies. We don’t know how to utilise intelligent people in our families and communities – we just hate them!

Degrees don’t stop one from going for what they want. Bill Gates attended Harvard University but left after two years. Jobs didn’t have a business degree, but that didn’t stop him from becoming one of the most successful tech entrepreneurs ever. Jobs co-founded Apple Computers in 1976 with Steve Wozniak, and eventually built it into the global powerhouse it is today.

If the business isn’t doing well, cut down on costs. When Jobs came back to Apple in 1997, he knew he needed to cut a lot of jobs, or Apple would be bankrupt.

Personally, I think Jobs’ worst moment was denying that Lisa Brennan-Jobs was his daughter, and his disinterest in building a relationship with his biological Muslim father.

Finally, you can’t amass wealth without some sort of big luck. There are too many smart people in a very competitive world, but you need luck. Gates is now semi-retired, and Jobs is no longer with us, but their spirit still lives at the two companies.

BEING BORN INTO MONEY HELPS A LOT TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL

Walking around with my buddy in the Fan Pier park in Boston,MA

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

Being born in a rich family helps a lot to become richer or successful in business or something else. Yes, having a safety net (wealthy family in the background) makes all the difference. Someone without wealth cannot afford to make financial mistakes, which is why it is so difficult to become super wealthy in one generation if one is poor at the outset with only average luck and breaks along the way.

People are sold a lie at school – the lie that everybody can make it and become a billionaire if only he/she really, really wants it. I also think that the youths should be encouraged to do business if their parents can support them, instead of telling them that they can only make it through education. There is an excellent book called, “Capital in the 21st Century” by the economist Thomas Piketty. Essentially, he contends that inheritance is what makes one rich. The central thesis of the book is that inequality is not an accident, but rather a feature of capitalism and can only be reversed through state interventionism. For most people, building wealth is a multi-generational process.

Most people don’t realize that most of the super wealthy successful startups are not rags to riches, but rather privileged people who used that privilege to great effect. They only sell the rags to riches story to win over the trust of the public and make themselves relatable.  Jeff Bezos (Amazon founder), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook founder), Bill Gates (Microsoft founder), Warren Buffet (worth $120 b), Richard Branson, etc., were all born in wealth.

Just to give you an idea, Bill Gates’s mother was on the board of directors of International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) with access to the whole of IBM, and not just an ordinary daughter of a wealthy businessman. She was the first woman on the First Interstate Bank of Washington’s Board of directors, and first female president of United Way. Her acquaintance with IBM CEO, John Opel, during her tenure as President of United Way, helped indirectly or directly Bill Gates to use his OS for IBM computers. Bill also had a 3 million inheritance from his grandparents. Bill, like most rich kids with a vision, he never showed off while in college. He used to live on pizzas while he worked on his product and business plan.

Jeff Bezos’s grandfather was one of the largest landowners in Texas. When Bezos finished his degree in Computer science and started Amazon, his parents invested some money into the startup. And that was in 1990s money, just to give you an idea of where his wealth originally came from. Now, Amazon is soon rolling out drones to do deliveries in our homes here in the UK and USA.

Warren Buffet’s father was called Howard Buffet, a powerful businessman and politician(senator). Having a rich dad helped him, but he is brilliant, and was worth far more than his father by age 21. Not to mention that he had saved over $10,000 by age 16 in 1940 – something that was unheard of. He has shown prudence in the way he has handled money throughout his life and has consumed knowledge like no other. He used to sell chewing gums, Coca-Cola, newspapers and weekly magazines as a teenager to earn money and had started investing his money too. He wanted to fully go into business after high school, but he was overruled by his father who wanted him to get degrees.

ELON MUSK

Elon and his brother Kymbal had access to rough gems and even managed to sell one to Tiffany’s in New York when they still were teens. His father himself said in an interview that he drove Elon to school in a Rolls Royce Corniche. He also had horses and a motorbike when he was 14. It is believed that Elon Musk’s father “arranged” his admission in UPenn as well.

Musk may have been born into privilege, but we need to acknowledge his enormous capacity for risk, hard work, and intellectual drive. Elon’s father was against him moving to Canada and refused to pay for his Canadian education. So, he ended up doing odd jobs to pay for his own college and upside down in student debt loans. Elon left South Africa at 17, went to Canada with about 2000 – 4000 bucks to his name. His mother soon followed and lived in a small, rent controlled apartment. He started his own company with a computer he built, and the rest is history.The richest man in the world has vision. That’s why his products are very unique. Till date there is no alternative to Tesla cars, no alternative to SpaceX, no alternative to Boring company, and PayPal was a completely new concept back then.

I am not sure about Jack Ma. He was a tour guide; he learnt and spoke English while doing that. He began small business and now he’s on top of the chain, but he did apply to Harvard 10 times. It costs 75USD to apply; so, applying 10x would be 750 dollars which may be very much for a poor guy. But there are some rags to riches stories. People like Howard Schulz, Lakshmi Mittal, Roman Abramovich etc. They were born into poor families but managed to become among those running the world economy.

The fact is, while there will always be exceptions like Bezos and Gates, most Americans and Europeans will spend their entire lives in the same social and financial class in which they were born. They are engineered, as like most of us, to look at educational courses as the main sure way out of poverty.

UGANDA’S RICH

Back in Uganda, most people we call “rich” today are not wealthy. They are not even rich – They are “middle class”. Unfortunately, most of them continue to masquerade in public as rich, and this is the case with most of our celebrities. When they die or get sick, their children get exposed to poverty.

The age of social media, E-news, and TV has really deluded people’s expectations of what being wealthy actually is. Wealth is comfortably being able to afford a good living, have money to save, and money to invest. In addition to that being able to pass that wealth to your children and grandchildren without affecting your lifestyle. That is Real wealth.

At some point people equated wealth with driving an expensive car, owning a mansion, heading a political party, owning a beach and having a private Jet, but most of those people who do live like that are actually also broke, living paycheque to paycheque, contract to contract, business deal to business deal. Wealth is defined as having an abundance of money or assets. Abundance is defined as having more than what is necessary.

What do we learn from Russia’s new population policy?

Eight days ago,Vladimir Putin called upon all Russian women to have a least seven to eight children in a speech he delivered Tuesday. This is presumably to compensate for the number of Russian men being killed in Ukraine.

“Many of our peoples maintain the tradition of the family, where four, five or more children are raised,” he said on Tuesday. “Recall that in Russian families our grandmothers and great-grandmothers had both seven and eight children. Let us preserve and revive these traditions. This will become the norm, our goal for the coming decades.”

“The rescue and multiplication of the Russian people is our task for the coming decade. I will say more – for generations to come. This is the future of the Russian world and a thousand-year-old, eternal Russia,”

It sounds like Romania when Ceaușescu wanted to increase the Romanian population to 30 million.Target was not met even close but plenty of neglected children were dumped in children’s homes instead. And a tragic AIDS epidemic followed with utter disregard for the innocent victims! That was one of the policies that got Nicolai Caucescu and his wife executed by their own Romanian soldiers in 1989.

However,the fact that he is saying this, he is most likely aware of Russia’s demographic decline.Birthrates normally decline during the uncertainty of wars and only increase after they have finished.

But what does this mean for the rest of the world? Are we going back to having so many children? China is already encouraging families to have atleast 2 kids which wasnt the case before. Here in the UK, the old population that will need pension is higher than the young population, and this is a headache for the govt. UAE pays men(citizens) to marry as many women as possible to boost their population.

BUSINESS PEOPLE AND POLITICIANS SHOULD FAMILIARIZE THEMSELVES WITH MASLOW’S THEORY

While in my hotel room at Hyatt Regency Hotel, Maryland

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

Maslow’s theory of growth, also known as the hierarchy of needs, is a motivational system developed by renowned psychologist Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation”. I learnt the theory in my undergraduate studies at a university here in the UK (my eldest daughter learnt it in year 9 of high school). It’s the underlying psychological theory for what motivates everyone to do what they do. In other words, it is an attempt to explain human nature.The theory contends that individual humans are motivated by five levels of needs which are arranged into a hierarchical structure from most to least pressing.

Maslow’s hierarchy typically goes as follows:

The first is physiological (food, air, clothing, water), nourishment, and the basic protection of our bodies and such.

Second is safety (protection from harm). Shelter could likely be a sort of bridge between the first two steps in this positive psychology, which is what Maslow is putting forward. Safety includes any number of things. Caves rather than mud huts in certain areas, for example. Stable environments, especially for children, make them feel safe, but this is true for adults as well. Food storage and on and on.

Once you feel safe, you can develop love. You’re also better equipped to give it and accept it. You can handle what a social interaction means when your physical needs have been met and you’re in a safe and secure environment. It has been shown to improve your health as well, while the exact opposite is true if you have unhealthy relationships. Maybe this explains why a woman from a wealthy family is recommended for marriage – because she’s likely to give love unconditionally.

Ok, so you’re fed, you feel safe, and you’re loved. Then, you’re ready to improve your esteem. First is self-esteem – the idea that you’re worth something, not to anyone else, but to yourself. You’re loved, after all, and people are willing to accept you, you belong. Now, realize that other people recognize this and value you as well. That’s the second part – know that people value your contributions and acknowledge you. Positive feedback from others also provides an inner sense of value or achievement known as self-esteem.

Finally, there’s self-actualization. This is when you know you’re living up to your true potential and doing what you were meant to do. Maslow says this is very rare,and I agree, but only because I think we should always keep trying to do better, not because what we do isn’t sometimes good enough.

According to Maslow, at each level, individuals must satisfy their needs before they can begin to address the next level and ultimately achieve personal growth and self-actualization.

The main advantage of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is its simplicity. It tends to oversimplify people’s response to change. The hierarchy is simply useful in understanding the main levels of basic needs. Keeping in mind that it isn’t a rule that one starts from bottom to top or top to bottom, the presentation of needs is great and includes main specifications.

POLITICS AND BUSINESS

Maslow’s hierarchy gives a great framework to be used as a guide to develop political manifestos and business plans. For instance, If I’m to, miraculously, become president of Uganda, my first term will be solving just the following issues: food, water,roads, shelter, and safety, which are essential for our people’s survival. Developed nations have made sure that almost everyone has access to these necessities, and I have never understood why our leaders(both in opposition and govt) don’t invest much into these, but simply develop big manifestos to deceive people.

So, what does a baby born in Mulago hospital need to stay alive and healthy? Air to breathe, food to digest, time to sleep, time to excrete, and a bit of cleaning. These are the basic physiological needs we all share. These needs never go away, but as we grow, we learn habits and routines to keep them under control, and thus, we can pay less and less attention to them. However, a robust healthy policy for patients at Mulago could be developed by any government to ensure that all the basic needs are met, as was the case during Obote 1 and Idi Amin. The latter, Amin, was a good president mainly because he was very good at identifying people’s needs.

Similarly, nobody is born with business ideas. Everybody must learn it. Business ideas are born out of human needs. You can find business ideas almost everywhere there are people with needs. An ordinary person may look at Maslow’s theory and remain indifferent. However, a trained entrepreneur looking at the same diagram will see a ton of business ideas. Warren Buffett puts it like this: “Trying to explain business to an ordinary person is like trying to explain to a fish how to live on land”.

The best way to find a business idea is to ask people around you what problems they have. For instance, I was approached recently by one of the LC chairmen of a village near Kangulumira — he wanted me to help the villagers fundraise Ug shs.47m to bring electricity to the village. Honestly, I couldn’t see it happening without government help. So, what I did was to encourage one Muslim brother to go and sell his solar panels to the villagers in that region because I couldn’t see the government helping, either. I don’t have such generous friends in the government.

IS THE THEORY OUTDATED?

Basically, Maslow’s theory is still just a theory – it helps us understand our needs, what motivates us, and what aspects should be met first. There is evidence of individuals fulfilling needs higher on the hierarchy before fulfilling needs lower on the hierarchy.

Many reasons why the Maslow needs pyramid might not make sense is because of its failure to properly describe ‘self-actualization’. One can become ‘self-actualized’ without the need for safety and security. So, there are definitely a few things Maslow didn’t think about because he made a general assumption from the people whom he saw.

The thing to note is that our basic needs don’t just go away as we ‘move up the hierarchy’. All our needs overlap in time. But as we grow into each new life stage, our ‘lower’ needs are more under control — and that frees up more time and attention to focus on the next ‘higher’ need.

Maslow understood his theory would need to evolve over time. He foresaw the changes needed as human history marched on. Unfortunately, he could not finalize his theory – In the last months before his untimely death in 1970, he tried to expand on self-actualization and the next step – self-transcendence, but that vision is not very clear, especially for pyramid adepts. This unclear area beyond the “pyramid” is what makes Maslow’s thinking very relevant today. It is quite plausible that our next evolutionary step is yet unclear. It is possible that we transcend ourselves, break away from the material world and consumerism, and move to a more natural and genuinely happy life, closer to our biological roots. Indeed, there are lots of people who aren’t bothered by one’s wealth (cars and houses, e.t.c) because they look at this world as a temporary abode.

ANOTHER DISASTROUS BBC INTERVIEW BY KYAGULANYI

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

Deserved criticism is the strongest form of patriotism. Mindless loyalty is simple-minded nationalism. I always criticise Bobi, where he deserves it at the risk of being hated by his supporters. He gave an interview yesterday on BBC in London, and he managed to base most of his answers on a series of bizarre falsehoods that bear no resemblance to reality. I have no idea where he is getting his information, but none of it is real. So, let me get right into it.

HOMOSEXUALITY

He stated that he’s now a changed man when asked about his anti-gay lyrics that led to his 10-year ban to the UK. Do you know what that means? He now either supports homosexuality, or he’s more tolerant, but how does that play in local politics in Uganda? His statement did not obviously resonate with the people who elected him.

However, while speaking at a Muslim gathering in North London flanked by Dr. Rashid Kasato, he indicated that he’s the same person he was before the ban, and I quote, ‘I won’t go through the reasons why I was banned – you know them, but i’m still the same Bobi original’. Such a strange, double-faced person!

MUSEVENI BROUGHT THE BILL

What he said about Museveni was dubious, but no more so than what he said about Dr. Kiiza Besigye when he was trying to sell himself to Ugandans. At one point, he called Besigye ‘Museveni’s Charlie’, meaning ‘Museveni’s buddy’.

He said the anti-gay bill was brought by Museveni to target the opposition, mainly himself. The bill wasn’t brought by an NRM MP – it was tabled by JEEMA’s Asuman Basalirwa. So, how does Museveni come in to use it against the opposition? Is Bobi saying that most of the opposition is gay- friendly, yet all opposition MPs voted for the bill? Basalirwa is an MP because of Bobi. The latter is, literally, his boss. Is he saying that Asuman works for Museveni, too?

NUP MPs WORK FOR MUSEVENI

When he was asked why MPs of his party, NUP, voted for the ant-gay bill, he stated that some of his MPs work for Museveni. For the record, all the 57 NUP MPs voted for the Bill, which is now a law. Does that mean that all Kyagulanyi’s MPs work for Museveni? Where does that leave him as a leader of the party?

No matter what some Nupian bloggers and the media say, it was a stunningly insensitive thing to say. He was dismissive of the intergrity of his MPs, and he was apparently using it as part of a bid for sympathy for the gay community who face discrimination through the recently passed anti-gay law

If he doesn’t follow that remark with an apology to NUP MPs, he will become a pariah among the leadership of the party. Assuming his goal is to bring awareness and respect to the LGBT minority, he may be sabotaging himself in the process.

EXPEL HIM?

I’m not sure if there even exists any mechanism for expelling Bobi from party leadership or if it is even possible. He is obviously a divisive individual in opposition – he has proven to be dishonest and lacking credibility – his actions and words more than justify anything someone could say about him. 

However,the NUP MPs have not learned their lesson yet – I’m sure they will still welcome him in big numbers wherever he goes because he remains their ticket for reelection in 2026. He could eat babies, but they will still support and protect him – it’s a survival game. MPs get elected into parliament with his support. Every MP contributes something monthly to the Bobi/party coffers, and everyone is happy.

It’s the same with trips abroad. The NUP supporters with a business acumen organise music festivals where Bobi and Nubian Ali come to sing – he gets his cut, and they get their cut. It’s all about making money!

Marketing includes advertising, self-promotion as well as “word of mouth”. The organisers market their festivals as ‘struggles against Museveni’ and the chance to see the ‘blessed young man’ to get people to come in big numbers. They announce to the cameras about his next show that they are planning to sell. 

Bobi also announces a thank-you-message blast full of videos and photos on social media sites he uses (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.), to get people hooked on his next visits – It’s all to make sure everybody knows his name. I’m sure we are going to get such festivals in London soon now that Bobi is allowed to travel. Social media platforms won’t cost you anything to build an audience that recognizes you.

Another clever way of marketing himself is by getting his agents to appeal to people to welcome him at the airports in big numbers. It obviously inconveniences travellers rushing to catch their flights because of traffic created, but I don’t think Bobi cares about that. The world and air waves are filled with artists who have what I would call limited talent but are huge stars. They got there because of fantastic marketing. I saw videos of a few Ugandans waiting for Bobi at Heathrow airport, and I smilingly thought, ‘How come Besigye never used to market himself that way whenever he travelled abroad?’

He also markets himself by taking photos with white people to make it look like donors have endorsed him for something. There’s also a video showing him promoting his documentary film, and,of course, some white people were in attendance. It’s all one big marketing game!

For the record,there’s no UK or American “establishment ” that has welcomed Bobi with open arms, as far as I know. The closest the UK government has openly supported an opposition Ugandan leader was when David Cameron was PM here – He even risked taking official photos with Besigye, and his party financially bankrolled FDC though it didn’t change anything back in Uganda.

Museveni is like a CIA agent in the East African region. Nobody can risk replacing him with someone like that, but Bobi can surely be used to blackmail him over certain issues. During Obote 1, Kabaka Mutesa 11 thought he had UK support when he ended up in exile in 1966. He was told to either accept Obote as president or live as any other refugee. The donors only protect their interests.

What’s saddening about this whole thing is that it has taken some Ugandans an exorbitant amount of time to don common sense mentalities and realize that this man is quite unwholesome. Many of the Nupians have embraced identity politics and show no signs of slowing down – Bobi is a symptom of that. 

In the immediate future, you can surely expect to see more of his type of bigotry within the NUP Party and not less. It seems to me that all the sympathy he’s garnered from this — not to mention funds from dinners and music festivals! — will encourage him to make more of these controversial remarks in the future, which could be a very bad idea.

UGANDA’S VILLAGE LIFE SHAPED ME SO MUCH

I was in my hotel room at GrandHyatt Washington DC.

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

Dear readers,

I was totally in shock in my first year in England when I found out that there were people born here who were not taking the advantages the country has to offer. Instead, they were deep into drugs, stealing liquor bottles from supermarkets, kids shouting at their parents, and all kinds of stuff.

In the corner of Uganda in a village called Kisega in Kayunga District, where I was partly raised, the notion of ‘quality of life’ seemed almost mythological.

This wasn’t just subsistence living; it was an existence dictated by raw survival, painted with the broad brushstrokes of repetition—same sun, same muddy roads, same struggle, day after day.

The primary school journey felt like an odyssey each day, I had a couple of school uniforms made of polyester to use for a week, but I had no shoes for most of my primary education.

We walked for about a mile to Kamuli UMEA primary school every day, all in a quest for education. The school hasn’t changed much up to now. There was no electricity in school then as is the case in most villages in the area now. Its main hall is almost falling apart and needs anybody’s help now.

Discipline was high in the school, and no excuse was good enough, and so, when you came late to school, you would get caned by ” prefects.” I sometimes got away with being late because my eldest brother was among the prefects; so, he would let me go unpunished. His best friend then, Moses Kawulukusi, was the head prefect, and I was just starting primary school.

To avoid going late to school, some kids left early, which meant no breakfast, and neither did they take any to school. They would have to wait for the arduous journey back home late in the afternoon or evening to eat something. Some school neighbours used to sell pancakes and sugarcane, but one needed money from parents to buy them, but most kids couldn’t afford them.

My grandfather used to work as one of the “managing Directors ” at a coffee processing factory nearby. He had arranged for us to have lunch with the factory workers. So, every lunchtime, we travelled from school to Nakatundu where the factory was located, and then went back to school again for afternoon classes. The meals were mainly posho and beans.

We did all kinds of odd jobs both at home and school, all kinds of play, swam in all kinds of water, drank all kinds of water, ate a lot of fruits and vegetables, subjected our bodies to harsh weather, and didn’t even fall sick. We used to drink water from the same ponds my grandfather’s cows drank from, but I don’t remember falling sick over this. I feared lightning when it was raining, I still do, but that didn’t stop me from walking in the rain to school.

I didn’t need a gym to carve my six-pack; hard work at my grandfather’s farm moulded me into a sculpture of resilience.

Yet amid all these challenges, there’s a striking paradox: the villagers, my people, exuded an inexplicable happiness. Maybe it’s the beauty of not knowing any different, of finding joy in the simplest things. Ignorance, perhaps, serves as a cushion against the harsh realities— if you don’t know better, how could you worry about doing better?

We had large extended families at home. A lot of relatives lived with us, and that’s how I first built my social network. That’s why I know a lot of people from both my grandparents’ sides because they lived with us. Most people shared beds and bedrooms – I, however, didn’t share a bed till I got married. Everyone had their own plate, and it was where food was served –we used to eat together as a family at home, and that included all the farm workers. We could pray together, too.

We used to play football almost every weekend against boys in nearby villages of Kizawula and Kikwanya. The Bagishu annual cultural festival called ” EMBARU” was a form of entertainment for everyone. We made our own toys out of plastics or banana fibres.

I stopped smoking as soon as I started because an elderly neighbour threatened to beat me up and report me to my grandfather. I later learned in class that it causes cancer, and that was scary enough.

We lived and toiled the land we grew up on, and our taste for food was enhanced – today, we are generally healthier than an average Westerner. Most African men and women here in the UK look younger than their age. They grew up eating organic foods.

Today, you might mistake me for someone who’s always been cradled in comfort. But every facet of my being has been shaped by those early years of unrelenting struggle at Kisega. Most Africans hold almost a similar story.

Perseverance was instilled in us; we survived yesterday and look forward to tomorrow. Most Ugandans are polite and humble – a stiff cane made sure of that.

Life has taught me that no story is set in stone. Change, as daunting as it might seem, is only a decision away.

We learned to read and write because our parents said this is “the key to success.”

Coincidentally, my grandfather, Hajji Hassan Kibirige, died today in November 2015, and I always miss him. Amen to all of you and be blessed.

Dr. Kazibwe’s interview on Health Economics was a bit disturbing

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

Dear friends,

I recently watched a video of our former Vice president, Dr. Specioza Wandera Kazibwe, and she was talking about several issues, including the health economics (HE) she studied at Harvard University. She said that the HE program is tailored to promote the donors lifestyle rather than Africa. She may be right on this but her argument that followed wasn’t convincing at all.

 She specifically said that most of the vaccinations the developed nations are promoting in Africa aren’t done in their own countries. She also said that she grew up knowing about 4- 5 Vaccines, and she found the increase in the number of vaccines unnecessary, a bit suspicious or something like that.I beg to disagree with her, and I’m hoping that her followers don’t just take her words as some form of Bible truth. Vaccines have played a big role in making developed nations healthier than Africa.

 Now I can only speak from my experience with the system here in the UK. You’re looking at a grand total of 18 separate vaccinations between birth and the age of 25 (for a female). The HPV vaccine, for instance, currently guards against four types of HPV viruses that can cause problems in later life, including cervical cancer. It’s one of the only cancers that you can vaccinate yourself against. It, like all vaccines, is useless if the cervical cancer has already been contracted. Humans are capable of sexual activity at about 12 or less. Thus, for the vaccine to protect it needs to be administered before the target is sexually. It is administered to girls in high school here in England. HPV can also cause problems for men (and men can pass on the virus to women), so many countries have extended the immunisation program to boys as well. Dr. Kazibwe sounded like she wasn’t so much in favour of HPV vaccinations, and I’m really hoping that I got her wrong on this one.

 Most developed countries also do recommend flu shots. Here in the UK, people get the flu every year – You might not die of it, but you could pass it on to an immuno-compromised child or another at-risk person. For the record, I don’t take flu jabs anymore because they caused serious side effects on me. I just use turmeric and lemon to fight flu for now, but I wouldn’t stand in the way of someone taking them.

 With regards to HE specifically, I think it has a bright future both in developing and developed worlds because we, as humans, have the tendency to see the immediate benefits and make decisions based on that rather than considering the prolonged negative effects as well. For example, for decades we kept focusing on economic growth through industrialization (more factories) which eventually lead to global warming, water scarcity, new diseases etc.

So, even with innovations and discoveries in new technologies, humans by nature would find ways of inflicting pain to themselves. Health economics would allow us to study the cause and effect of such decision making in the context of their implications on human health. For example, does urbanization lead to better health status of those individuals migrating from rural areas? Dr.Kazibwe argued that rural life is better and that’s why she moved away from Kampala, and I kind of agree with her – I like peace and quiet.

But she talked about the uses of the mosquitoes in the Pollination process, and I wondered whether she would like us to preserve mosquitoes or not. A lot of African kids are dying of malaria more than any other disease. So, I wondered where she was going with that narrative. I hope she’s interviewed again to enlighten us on what she was trying to drive at.

Personally, I have always encouraged people to self-educate themselves without lecturers and certificates. The problem is that in Africa, people would still ask for your degree in something before you talk about it, and it’s sad. Health economics is the branch of economics which is concerned with healthcare costs and financing.

At the micro level, a health economics degree would enable you to analyse the costs at both individual and community level of treating (or not treating) certain medical conditions and to compare the cost-effectiveness of different treatment options. Now, this is something anybody can do without necessarily a degree.

At the macro level, it could be used to design healthcare financing systems tailored to the needs (and affordability) of a particular country or society. Employment opportunities include government, healthcare provider/insurer, university, or consulting company.

I think all the above relate to Africa as well-developed nations. This may sound rude, but I think It’s unfortunate that Dr. Kazibwe did her course when she was a bit old, such that her studies haven’t really benefited Uganda that much. The scholarship should have been given to a younger person, but those are some of the mistakes president Museveni keeps making in order to quietly move certain people from offices. I think her point on integrity of leaders should have fitted this properly — why would a leader with integrity waste resources on people that may not need them? It doesn’t set a good example for the younger generation at all, I guess. lol.

BIGAMY IS ILLEGAL IN THE UK

Congratulations Isebantu Kyabazinga

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

Yesterday, I called my mum as usual and one major item dominated our conversations – she was mainly talking about the Kyabazinga wedding, and then we went to discuss the fate of the king’s first wife here in the UK. She is definitely not a happy bunny at the moment.

British law does not allow for a person to be married to more than one other person. On indictment, it is punishable with up to 7 years in prison, or on summary conviction up to 6 months’ imprisonment, or a fine of a prescribed sum, or both.

Men (and women) are prosecuted if they try to register two or more marriages. You can call another sexual partner a second or third “wife” if you wish, but as long as you don’t try and register it, then the law simply doesn’t care. It also becomes a problem when the first wife reports the husband to the police. The law can also take an interest if there are children involved of course, but that’s an entirely different matter.

If you and your multiple spouses come into the UK from a country that allows polygamy, such as Uganda, UK law will only recognise one spouse. Other spouses are allowed to call themselves spouses but don’t have the same rights as first spouses. This usually also applies under diplomatic law where the first spouse can be accredited and while other spouses are allowed to travel and accompany their spouse, they do not have the same diplomatic protection as the first spouse.

Also, it is possible to be married religiously, but your spouse won’t be recognised legally if you’re already married. We, Muslims, for instance do ” Nikah ” ceremonies, and that person becomes your spouse in the eyes of God, but not under UK law. Therefore, If the person hasn’t attempted multiple legal marriages and is just living with multiple partners they consider spouses, that is a polyamorous arrangement that currently has no legal support but isn’t punishable either.

Why is bigamy illegal in the UK?

Marrying more than one person for non-fraudulent reasons is illegal because there is an enormous legal infrastructure having to do with next-of-kin and inheritance, which assumes that a marriage consists of exactly two people. Consider the situation of a Kyabazinga in an irreversible vegetative state in a hospital in the UK, and he has two wives, but the hospital wants to remove life support. One wife agrees, while the other does not. Who wins? Definitely, it’s the registered wife here in the UK.

Apparently, allowing polygamy here would require the UK to rewrite a ton of laws and would also render a ton of case law (judicial decisions) irrelevant. The government doesn’t want to have to do that, and so that is considered a sufficiently legitimate reason to ban bigamy.

Personally, I think the UK and other countries with such a law, should try and review it to allow people to enjoy multiple marriages legally. If It’s perfectly legal for a man to have sexual relations with two people, marriage to two people should be no different.

Otherwise, congratulations to the King of Busoga kingdom and his newly wedded traditional wife. The Wedding looked so beautiful. By the way, Lusoga sounds more like Luganda – “Aye ntegeleyele byona byona omukaile omukyala (queen waife) byayakobye” in her wedding speech. I understood almost everything that was said in Lusoga at the wedding. I love Basoga so much!

WHY THE USA IS MORE INTERESTED IN GAZA NOW THAN UKRAINE?

Its now winter here in the UK, and our heads are all covered up.

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba 

The US and some countries in Europe have come to the conclusion that Ukraine has lost this war. On the other hand, there is a lot of gas in the sea off the coast of Gaza. If the Gazans can be forced to leave Gaza, then the US and Israel can get their hands on that gas.

Yes, the US has lots of oil and gas and they probably don’t need it, but the US does not act on need. They act on “control”. They want to control all the oil and gas of the world, if they can. That is why they have plundered the Syrian and Iraqi oil fields. That’s why they don’t want Russia to control Crimea and Donetsk where lots of oil and gas were found. 

The fact is, pretty much, the world today is in two Blocs. One side led by the USA, and the other side led by the joint leadership of China and Russia.It is thus obvious that the United States wants to keep regional wars, via proxies. 

Wars are also the favoured way to bump the US economy via military expenditures, it’s access to expanded budget & all, plus the business that comes post-war in terms of rebuilding contracts. 

Meanwhile, the Israel strategy isn’t only to control Gaza, but they are also interested in the West Bank. About 600,000 Israelis already live in the West Bank.Palestinians are excluded from the Israeli “settlements” inside the West Bank.

The West Bank is a made up name given to the territory captured by Jordan in the 1948 war and annexed by Jordan in 1950.

Then Jordan lost the territory in 1967.It’s not like the West bank is some historic area that has always been referred to that way.

Israel wants all the land.Gaza is an hour’s drive from central Israel. I can’t see Israel ever leaving that place after this war unless a miracle happens. 

WHY BOBI HAS FAILED AND WHY HE NEEDS BESIGYE NOW MORE THAN EVER

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

NUP’s president, Kyagulanyi aka Bobi isn’t doing Besigye any favours by working with him or inviting him at the opening of the NUP offices. He is simply gradually abdicating the responsibilities handed to him by his supporters after the 2020-21 elections. He has unceremoniously dumped most of his responsibilities to various degrees and left most of his supporters in a state of shock and disarray. A lot of the stuff that’s happening right now, you can’t even make this up a year ago. Almost everything I predicted about Bobi has come to pass.

There are benefits to being the top guy in opposition leadership, but the overall burden outweighs the benefit. So, it needs to be shared right off the bat. You see, being the “top leader” means that you must be the “counterparty “in times of crisis, the “counter-cyclical lender” of political and financial capital to almost every emerging politician in the country. When opposition leaders or supporters are fighting, you try to bring peace. When the international community needs a powerful response on a major issue, like homosexuality, inflation, political murders, etc., you are supposed to come up with one, especially if the government has a worse position. When friends in the struggle go bankrupt, you invest in them to bring them out of the hole.

Bobi initially thought that being the top guy was only about posting on Facebook, posing in photos with some leaders, doing press conferences, turning student hostels into party offices, etc, but I’m sure he has discovered that it’s more than that. I also believe that the ” donor ” community has realised that he isn’t up to the role.  So, he has been advised to start working with Besigye and other progressive leaders in opposition.

As a result, Besigye has been active this year. According to FDC’s Ronald Muhinda, Besigye has ‘’ hosted Guillane Chartrain at Katonga months ago and later visited EU offices on Hannington road. He is quite active. I hope he means well for Uganda’’.

It isn’t a case of Bobi saying to Besigye,” how about we take turns to sit on the big chair?” No. This is about Bobi saying,” I’m kind of fed up with all this, and I believe I can have a bigger slice of cake if I let Besigye take over in certain areas. This is your old-fashioned robber-baron mentality.

So, some Nupians are not happy, not because Bobi seems to be walking away from his obligations, but the way he is walking away, in such a piss-poor manner. Doing everything unilaterally in the first place, without any prior consultation, and being part of those that weakened Besigye, was bold but a bad move for the opposition.

Bobi has never had success with street protests in the country, like Besigye did several times. Besigye led from the front and the police were always kept busy. The NUP leaders espousing “martyrdom” are never talking about their own martyrdom, but about the people whose lives they put at risk, from a safe distance. They remind me of the WW1 generals living in the luxurious chateaux twenty miles from the trenches, quaffing champagne, and breakfasting on Fois gras, whilst happily ordering thousands to their deaths for their strategy game.

So now what you have is some Nupians standing up and insulting Bobi – except they are in a bit of a mess themselves right now. They don’t have a better alternative apart from clinging to more of the same in Allien Skin, another musician of similar background to Bobi. Of the top four opposition parties, FDC is in disarray, UPC is a walking corpse, DP is walking with one leg in government and another one in opposition, NUP is arguably a government created party, and it’s absolutely being controlled. That leaves Besigye and a few individuals, right now, to develop a somewhat rational plan of what to do about it.

It is heard everywhere that there must be a credible opposition for a healthy opposition. Everybody seems to parrot these words and are lamenting about the poor performance of the opposition camp. I also think the definition of opposition needs to be well defined. It shouldn’t be just to oppose every damn thing that the ruling government says. The strange thing is the current main opposition party, NUP, doesn’t analyse any big schemes that the government implements.

Personally, I think Bobi hasn’t failed because other Ugandans haven’t done anything; he has mainly failed because he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

1. 57 NUP members of Parliament cannot do anything to change anything in government.

2. Participation in the 2020-21 elections didn’t change anything in our politics.

3. Heavens will not fall because Bobi is meeting Ugandans in Boston or elsewhere and fundraising for the ” struggle”.

4. Insults, online petitions and protests abroad have never changed any government in Uganda.

5. Propaganda (2017- 2021) against Besigye and FDC didn’t change the government. Propaganda affects mostly ignorant people.

6. Bribery for NUP tickets before the 2020-21 elections didn’t bring change.

7. Having official party headquarters isn’t a magic bullet for any change in Uganda.

Bobi was never ideal enough to be an opposition leader. He has degraded the opposition completely. We must not be fooled with his verbal dexterity recently in Luwero — he has acquiesced to political polarization and does not hesitate to peddle lies to make himself appear more credible. For instance, the blatant lie that when he’s abroad,  he’s working to bring political change in Uganda. He’s mainly just hanging out with friends and doing his business.

When he first trended because of his music, most youth were fawning over his conversance with ” Ghetto ” Luganda and English — not his points specifically.  Since then, he has become more of a comedian in his speeches. For instance, his European speech last year of ” I heard bullets go like pwa pwa… ” was a disaster. The opposition basically needs serious prayers at the moment.

Posing at the Harvard Square where Bobi got his 3-weeks leadership “degree”. Lol.

Posing at the Harvard Square where Bobi got his 3-weeks leadership “degree” at Harvard University. Lol.

Nobody likes Rejection but You have to move on!

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

Good morning, fellow men,

I would like to take this opportunity to issue advice to fellow men who have been rejected by women. First, this is normal, and you should pat yourself at the back for facing her and telling her what you want because it’s not easy.

With rejection, please don’t take it personally. People don’t think much about us while rejecting us. You can’t force anyone to love you. You’re not living to prove your worth to everyone because even at your best, you’re still worthless to so many people.

Just like you’re free to propose, they are also free to reject you. Rejecting you doesn’t make them bad in any way.

So, the solution is giving up. Yes,it is the appropriate response to a rejection from a lady (or from a gentleman, for that matter). The alternative is called “harassment”, which is not only rude but illegal, not to mention highly unlikely to be effective or result in a satisfactory relationship.

2. If you have started talking to a girl for let’s say 2–4 weeks and you have a general impression that she is a girl you like, be straight up with her there and then, and tell her that you are interested in the potential of a deeper intimate relationship with her, or marriage (if you’re a Muslim). If she is into you, she will agree, if she is not into you, she will tell you right there, and you will naturally stop wasting your time hoping that maybe she didn’t give you the right answer.

If she tells you that she is into you yet acts distant with you (this is what I call actionable clues) then understand that she is really not into you and don’t force it or pursue it.

See, my wife says that women know when a man likes them. They can smell when we like them from afar because our attitude towards them is just plain obvious to them, and we don’t even realise it 90% of the time. So, when she knows you like her, and if she is equally interested, she will put herself in a place to ease you into asking her about the relationship thing. And if you miss that opportunity to express yourself right there and then, she will lose interest because you are not a man who can stand up for what he wants, and that’s not attractive. If she really wants you and sees that you are awkward and have a serious hard time, she will give you a window of time to pick up her signals and come to her.

Ug Govt isn’t utilising the Kingdoms very well!

King of Buganda, Kabaka Mutebi

UK earns about £130 billions annually from tourism.Overall, the economic contribution generated by royal related tourism is around £1.75–2 billion yearly. This includes revenue from ticket sales to royal residences, spending on souvenirs and merchandise, and the economic activity generated by hotels, restaurants, and other businesses that cater to tourists who are interested in the royal family.

They cost the taxpayer about £90 m a year. The cost of maintaining the monarchy is paid for by the Sovereign Grant, which is a yearly payment from the UK government. The Sovereign Grant is calculated as a percentage of the Crown Estate’s profits, which are the proceeds from the management of the royal family’s property portfolio. In 2021-22, the Sovereign Grant was £86.3 million.

The money earned by the Crown Estate goes to the government. They then give the working royals a ‘salary’ (called the Privy Purse), which is approx 20% of the money given to the government. This percentage goes up and down depending on things like official state visits, etc. The remaining 80% is spent by the government on a range of things, some royalty-related, others not.

So, the British make more money from the Royal family than what they spend on them. In fact, the monarchy is a net contributor to the UK Treasury.

Uganda has a lot of kingdoms, and all have a lot of historical stuff. Buganda kingdom alone has a lot of attractions that could potentially generate a lot of money for us if the government finds a way of maintaining them. The Uganda government should be working with the kingdoms seriously on tourism promotions.

I recently visited the Buganda Kingdom page, and there were disappointingly more photos of people than tourist attractions – people few people would like to know. Moving forward, we all need to work on this, please!

Eye Contact for so long isn’t African!

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

I was saying goodbye to a female friend in Maryland, USA. This is part of the lobby of Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Most African and Asian cultures believe it is not polite to make eye contact, especially when it comes to elders and those in positions of authority.

Personally, eye contact makes me uncomfortable especially if you’re a woman. You have to be in my inner circle before I will do that. Otherwise, it causes anxiety that is physically palpable. To me, it feels like they are trying to peer into my soul and very few people will ever be close enough for me to allow that.

I know the “Bazungu” culture says it is polite – when you engage in a conversation, it is good to look into a person’s eyes, if they are paying attention to the dialogue.

There are differences in cultures. It is not right or wrong; just different.

What about you? How is eye contact perceived in your culture?

Is bravery sometimes natural in some people?

I took this picture inside the Royal Scots Regimental Museum of Scotland. The building is among those located in the Edinburgh Castle in Scotland.

The guy in the picture behind me was called Donald McBain. Before the battle of Malplaquet in 1709, his wife abandoned him leaving a 3 year old boy with him. His regiment was matching into the battle against the French; so, do you know what this guy did? He stuffed the child in his haversack, and fought the whole battle with a child at his back as shown in the photo.

Is bravery sometimes natural in some people?

UK MUSLIMS HAVE MORE FREEDOM THAN UGANDA MUSLIMS

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

Living in the UK, I can attest that there is not a single law that prohibits me from practising every single aspect of Islam. If I want to pray, I go to the mosque nine minutes’ walk down the road and pray, If I want to grow my beard, I can (it has even become fashionable for non- Muslim men to grow beards, too). If I want to wear Islamic clothing, I can, and if I want to preach my faith to others who want to listen, I can.

Muslim girls go to public schools wearing headscarves and long skirts/pants and long sleeves, without facing what is and has been happening in France for many years. A lot of Catholic schools in Uganda, on the other hand, don’t allow Muslim girls to dress Islamically or practise their faith – this was principally the reason why my elder sister had to be moved from Namagunga to Kibuli.S.S.

Muslims are not prevented from privately praying while at work or school. There are multi-faith rooms in hospitals, government buildings, etc, where Muslims go for prayers here in the UK. You rarely find such a setup in workplaces in Uganda.

Muslim kids have never been forced to pray in a manner antithetical to their faith while in school, which is very common in Uganda Catholic schools. They aren’t forced to eat or drink publicly during Ramadan, which occurs in some non-Muslim schools in Uganda.

Yes, there’s now legislation to teach LGBT and sex education amongst young children in schools, but it has been disturbing for both Muslims and non-Muslim parents.

We have got halal meat being sold in various butchers and supermarkets around the country. There are halal sections in major supermarkets in cities, like Bradford, Leicester, Luton, etc, where there is a large Muslim population.

There is no governmental policy in place to teach people, particularly students, about how Muslims have ruined the UK. The propaganda here against Muslims is from private sources and mainly cropped up after terrorist attacks on 11th September,2001, in New York. The noises by some people against Sharia laws have to do with the ignorance of the people toward Muslims and Islam.

There is no comparison of Muslims to animals. There are no UK government led gangs going out to destroy Muslim property and menace the Muslim population, like in Nazi Germany. Yes, some people have isolatedly shouted abuses at Muslims, but this isn’t so common.

A Muslim could work for the UK government if he or she so chooses to do so. I think it’s the same in Uganda, though there are some government posts that have never been filled in by a Muslim deliberately.

There is no governmental prevention of masjids or Islamic schools being built. A lot of Muslims have bought churches, entertainment clubs, and other buildings here and turned them into mosques. For instance, the Swahili community in Leeds bought a massive building about six years ago, and it now houses a mosque, hall, and madrassa for the Muslim community.

I don’t have to have a special pass or wear a special symbol that marks me as a Muslim. I see Muslim women everywhere in major UK cities covered from head to foot, freely wearing Hijabs, and looking at the ground when they are out.

By the way, Muslim women aren’t oppressed to dress that way. I would suggest non-Muslims try to meet and talk to Muslim ladies who cover themselves and find out first-hand if it’s their choice or they are forced to do certain things. It’s never a good idea to believe stereotypes.

I have also not been targeted by government forces for arrest, injury, or death for simply following Islamic precepts, which allegedly occurred in Uganda where several Muslim leaders were gunned down over the years for unspecified reasons.

I have non-Muslim friends – most of them aren’t bothered by my being a Muslim. We joke, talk, go out, eat together, etc, without any problems. A Muslim man can marry a non-Muslim woman or have another wife without any issues – hell only arises when the official wife complains to the police. Non-Muslims basically respect my faith. There are enormous social pressures on everyone about many issues. We have to learn how to deal with them in a way we each find comfortable.

I am reminded of how blessed I am to be a Muslim and living in the UK. Nowhere is there true freedom like here. You can practice whichever belief you want, be what and whoever you want, your rights are protected, and you are protected. The laws are there for everyone.

This is the ‘Great’ Britain. “Great” is generally used to differentiate the island of Britain from the region of Bretagne in France or Brittany. The term ‘’Great’’ Britain was first coined by James VI of Scotland when he became James I of England in the 17th century because he became king of the two kingdoms of Scotland and England.

Part of what makes the UK so great is the fact that it is so multicultural. It’s good to have the good and bad parts of cultures in front of us, it aids us to understand them, and also helps us to realise what we don’t want to adopt into our culture and what we do. At one point Xmas was never celebrated in the UK, tea wasn’t drunk, there were no Christmas trees, Curries couldn’t be bought, No one was willing to try potatoes, never mind making chips from them to have with fish. All those things came from other cultures, and the British adopted them into theirs and made the quintessentially British.

To understand a religion, you have to study it, not follow people and their behaviour, because we are human, and we are not perfect!

How did the FDC ever grow into the horrifying aberration of evil that it is today?

image description

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba,UK

FDC is being destroyed by almost every leader of FDC because one man can’t destroy a political party. It requires the cooperation of several people when they collectively agree on an irrational view of reality and start fighting against something incompatible with reality. This is the problem currently destroying the FDC, in case you are not clear on the nature of reality. The divisions in FDC now, I believe, have been brewing for about the last four years.

The reality is that there’s no hard evidence showing that both Nandala Mafabi and Amuriat Patrick are ‘sleeper agents’ in FDC. The hyperbole and vulgarity aimed at both does nothing but insult, belittle and denigrate the people who voted for them in those positions. These insults are coming from those who are no more intelligent or moral than the ones they are insulting. The answer is that the process needs to be allowed to play out according to the FDC constitution. Doing anything otherwise is a waste of time and a breed for more infighting.

I’m actually at a loss as to how anybody would think that making the FDC problems public was/is helping the party. The top party leaders are working extremely hard to destroy each other’s images. There is a bias on either side.

The Nandala group has a very big advantage, though. They seem to have more money, more MPs and state institutions on their side and control almost all the media. Politicians are good at getting people to be loyal to them; so much that they can make you believe things about the other party that have never been true. This can lead to you and me having anger and hatred toward the opposing party. It can even divide the people of Uganda. It makes us so blind to what is really going on. Some can get so brainwashed that even if the other political party makes complete sense about something, there will be no agreement just out of spite. Instead of pulling together to help the opposition, they would rather it fail, to destroy the party’s image – It is so disgraceful to do that.

If we look back in time, the FDC came in 2004 after the Democratic party in order to remove Museveni from power. Later, NUP was revived in 2020 in order to stop the FDC party, and the majority of the voters in opposition are now likely to round themselves around NUP in the next 5-15 years. NUP will be discarded once their usefulness has expired – Count on it.

We are all well aware about how the NUP and NRM have usurped social media in order to begin the brainwashing of youth very early about the pending Muhoozi Kainerugaba Vs Bobi Wine contest in 2026. This has been done subtly and very carefully since 2021.

BESIGYE’S CONTRIBUTION

Yes, I adore Besigye but he has made some blunders in this conflict, though it’s wrong for anybody in opposition to start spreading propaganda against him. The FDC in particular owes its success to Besigye’s pragmatism (thinking of or dealing with problems in a practical way, rather than by using theory or abstract principles). Besigye’s arrest in 2006 after coming back from exile was the main recruitment point for FDC at the beginning. His boldness to confront the soldiers and police on streets for years was something Ugandans had never seen before. We were used to politicians that usually oppose Museveni through their respective offices and issuing endless press conferences.

Because of Besigye’s sacrifices for the FDC and opposition, I therefore, don’t foresee much problem for Erias Lukwago as interim President of FDC and the party not doing well under his leadership if he eventually becomes full time FDC president. I would also recommend, with the highest level of urgency and priority, that Lukwago works hard to unite FDC leaders instead of furthering more divisions.

MOVING FORWARD

Maybe to move forward FDC needs to look back at its beginning and really think about the values that made them the most prosperous party that everyone adored and wanted to come to.

Every party has got factions – anybody that tells you otherwise is lying. For the party to be successful, each faction pushes for what they want but understands that they need to back the group as a whole in order to achieve overall success. You may not get everything you want but you will still get some of what you want if you work with others.

Also, let’s stop believing everything we hear on the news channels and other places. Politicians and news channels are experts at twisting stories and making false accusations – somehow, they still get people to believe them. There is such a bias in the media that it isn’t hard to see who is working for who.

If the FDC carries on like this in the next year or so, then it’s likely to end like the Whig party in the USA – dead. The Whigs split over the question of slavery and were weakened by presidents of their party not supporting their ideals. Abraham Lincoln always characterized himself as an “Old Whig.” As the USA moved toward confrontation over slavery in the 1850’s, the Whigs faded away as irrelevant and lacking in attractive leadership.

There were physical fights in (and out of) the halls of Congress, personal insults entered in the congressional records, and it wasn’t unusual to find mob violence as a feature of elections. One Representative even resigned his office saying, “You can all go to hell, I’m going to Texas”. He did indeed go to Texas where he died fighting at the Alamo.

In the midst of all this the Whigs fought within itself until it splintered and disappeared completely. In 1856, the Whigs basically reorganized, changing their name to Republicans. You might even find some parallels that could be drawn with FDC, but to me this was the best example of political party conflicts. I can only think how truly wise George Washington was to tell Americans to avoid forming political parties ever.

Sorry to drag this out so long but I just wanted to say something by giving both sides of the story instead of making this a Nandala or Besigye bash.

Betrayal is painful

Newyork at Times Square

Betrayal is painful and it’s excruciating when it comes from someone we care about. If your relative, friend or partner has recently betrayed you, don’t worry — you’re not alone. Many people have gone through this experience.

As they say, “When disappointment or betrayal knocks you down, get up and go again, because out of our greatest betrayal comes our greatest direction.”

Don’t dwell on what you could have done differently — it’s time to move on.

It’s only God who thinks about you 24/7.

As an individual no matter how great or how important you think you are, you are just a tiny fraction of what is available on this planet. 99% of the world can do without your existence. Most people don’t care whether you are dead or alive. With or without you, life will go on.

If you died tomorrow, you would be forgotten by the world the next day. Few people give a damn about you. Old or young, no one is thinking about anything but their own life.

If you’re wealthy, your family will still be thinking about you until the estate is settled. It’s only God who thinks about you 24/7.

A LETTER TO FDC SUPPORTERS

Dear FDC supporters and sympathizers,

I know you’re all hurting because of what’s happening to the party, but, please, you should work towards uniting party leaders; don’t take sides. Anybody who attacks Besigye, Nandala or any of the leaders is literally destroying FDC. I mean, the knife cuts both ways. When you attack the Katonga group, it hurts FDC. When you attack the Nandala group, you still hurt FDC. Insults won’t help solve FDC problems.

If FDC factions keep attacking each other, there’s only one way this is going to end – with FDC literally dead. Yes, it may hang around like DP did for a while, but I don’t like where this is going. By the way, sometime political parties disappear forever, as the Whig party in USA did. Yap, everything works beautifully until it doesn’t.

Secondly, please stop calling people spies or moles without any credible circumstantial or direct evidence. Look, I don’t discount the possibility that there are spies in FDC or any of the political parties, because “sleeper agents ” are obvious in every party. Museveni himself was once a mole in UPC in the 1960s. He even worked in Obote’s office to get a feel of it.

The least person suspected to be a spy might turn out to be the one. For instance, there was a British radio producer called Guy Burgess, who was working with the BBC in the 1940s. He was among the five Soviet spies recruited while studying at Cambridge, but nobody suspected him because he mainly portrayed himself as a “POKOPOKO” guy, like our Andrew M. Mwenda. He used to talk in support of Britain, like I see some ‘bloggers’ now shouting loudest for the opposition, yet he was a mole.

I also remember when Andrew Mwenda used to heavily criticise Museveni and his family(1990s-2006), and I thought there’s a man with real balls. Oh God, I liked the guy. I literally became a matching mole fan at that point, and I’m sure a lot of oppositionists fell into his crawls by entrusting him with their secrets and plans, didn’t they?

What’s odd is that all this still resonates in my consciousness somewhere, that how come nobody saw this at the time? How come we all concentrated mainly on his ‘attacks’ rather than the people he associated with, or he used to associate with (Gen.Salim Saleh, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Kayihura, e.t.c)? Is it possible he was already on the payroll then, but most of us didn’t know at the time?

Well, that’s for Andrew to answer, because we can’t know for sure, but it simply just shows that it’s difficult to pinpoint a spy or mole or whatever, just by links or association, unless one has got credible evidence. Just because someone is endlessly attacking Museveni at rallies or in the media, it doesn’t mean he isn’t working for Museveni.

John Cairncross was the last of the Cambridge Five to be recruited and the last to be publicly identified. He was recruited by one of the greatest spies of the 20th century, Arnold Deutch. That’s how Stalin knew that the British had cracked the enigma code. According to the Russian archives Cairncross leaked over 5,832 documents from Bletchley to the Soviet Union.

For the record, I have only called one person all my life a ‘sleeper agent’ in opposition, because there’s enough circumstantial evidence indicating that he’s working for Museveni. As for FDC, it needs prayers now!

IS NATO ABOUT TO ABANDON UKRAINE OR ITS A TACTIC?

Boston, USA

I’m shocked with the statements coming out of European and USA leaders in regard to more support for Ukraine.

1.Canadian Chief of General Staff: Russia is replenishing its ammunition reserves faster than expected.

2.British Foreign Secretary Cleverley publicly admitted that “supporting Ukraine is difficult and painful”. The Telegraphy today has reported that Britain doesn’t have any more ammunitions to send to Ukraine.

3. The House of Representatives of the American Congress passed a budget bill to finance the government for 45 days without allocating funds to help Ukraine.

4. Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, seems to have fallen out with Zerensky, and they are publicly mocking each other, although people will do well to remember he gave the Ukrainians these terminals in the first place. They couldn’t have afforded to run Starlink or anything like it. They’d be no better off than now.

5. Farmers from neighbouring countries said very clearly that Ukrainian wheat affects their domestic market and exports. Although Poland is the second country after the USA to arm Ukraine against Russian illegal aggression and has welcomed with open arms millions of Ukrainians who fled the war, the cocky Ukraine had the audacity to sue Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia because they do not allow cheap Ukrainian wheat.

Poland is by far the biggest logistics hub, not only for the military but also for humanitarian operations. There are several modern airports close to the Ukrainian border (Krakow, Rzesow), and the road and railway networks in Poland are excellent. In my opinion, the whole mini “crisis” is temporary for the simple reason that neither Polish nor Ukrainians want Russia to conquer Ukraine. After the elections, I presume the Polish govt will resume service to Ukraine, but probably not on the same high level as before. The war itself is no longer popular in Ukraine among the people.

I think the west underestimated Russia in this war. Since the middle of last year, we have been told that Russia had no chance of meeting production requirements to carry this war on for very long at anything like the intensity they were trying to fight it. However, the longer the war goes on, the more it’s not favouring Ukraine because its allies are no longer motivated to supply them. Ukrainian soldiers are surrendering in large numbers, and they request that they are not sent back to Ukraine. They want to remain as POW until the end of the war.

—

*Abbey Kibirige  Semuwemba*

WHO IS PUTIN AND HIS SIMILARITIES WITH MUSEVENI

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

There are so many similarities and differences between Putin and Museveni, and I was intrigued to think about the two after the recent Russian- Africa meeting in Russia.

 Putin seems to have been secretly prepared by the powerful people to become the president of Russia. He was never involved in risky KGB missions abroad. Here’s the thing; most people in the KGB thought of him as a ” fala ” meaning ” nobody “, but he changed when he got into power. Other members of the intelligence community downplayed his work. The Mediocre Crop of KGB – ended up doing basic Counterintelligence work – never leaving East Germany or USSR – mainly focussing on spying on KGB agents to see if they had turned traitor.

 Most referred to him as an officer worker and other things. He, however, received the same training as most other KGB personnel, but he was an administrator and not really a “spy”. He ran the Potsdam, East Germany office of the KGB as a Lt. Colonel for three or four years until the breakup of the Soviet Union. While in that position he made a lot of friends and contacts in the process – he also probably collected a lot of information about people who visited HQ. East Germany was (and still is) central to the European theatre of many spy agencies including KGB.

 He was in New Zealand a couple of times as a Bata shoe salesman. Nobody knows exactly whether he was genuinely selling shoes or gathering intelligence. Then he left the KGB and started his political career in St. Petersburg.

 The most important job of a spy is to be able to defer being seen as important from other agencies including internal ranks until such a time that the most critical part of one’s mission is complete.

 Once an agent “earns” the status of “important” then any of the professional agencies will deem him due for rotation, promotion or retirement. That’s exactly what happened with Putin;Yeltsin picked him as his successor, became president, and the rest is history.

 Now we know that the top men are always buried in insignificant postings in spy networks to never have them in the spotlight. If former spy chiefs and his former colleagues are saying that he was not doing anything important, it only means that he was probably doing well his job. If you read Putin’s People by Catherine Belton, it details his life and rise to power.

 However, there’s another theory that it was Berezovsky, an oligarch and a billionaire, a part of Yeltsin’s “family” and, some say, Russia’s former clandestine ruler, who brought Putin to power. Still, because he was KGB, he, very slowly, after many years, was finally able to accomplish an incredible feat: defeat the strongest oligarchs, and steamroll over the weaker ones, bending them to his will. That’s why it’s difficult for any of them to rise against him during the Ukraine war.

Putin banned alcohol advertising in Russia. He does not drink it and advocates healthy life without alcohol. Winemakers from southern Russia made a big deal about it during the 2018 World Cup, as they could not advertise their products on TV or Billboards for tourists to see.

 Museveni, on the other hand, doesn’t drink alcohol or eat pork, but allows alcohol advertising. Both men are a few steps away from being Muslims if Allah wills. Putin actually does everything to protect Muslims in his country compared to Museveni.

 Just like Museveni, Putin harboured personal ambition to become president while still young. Putin spent his entire life preparing for a major war between Russia and the West. Growing up, he was ever mindful of the Nazis in German, the Western invaders, who took the life of his older brother in the Leningrad siege. This family tragedy played no small part in leading Putin to join the KGB at the height of the Cold War. He hoped to defend the Russian people against similar tragedies at the hands of foreign invaders.

 The breakup of the USSR was the single most heart-breaking tragedy that he endured in his lifetime. Upon becoming president of Russia, Putin supposedly resolved to do all that he could to try to reunite the Soviet Union. Throughout the 1990s, Putin watched as the Russian economy and the nation that he pledged to defend against foreign invaders disintegrated.

 For Putin, the war in Ukraine will likely be the defining moment of his life. The future of Russia and humanity is at stake. Either the 21st Century will remain an Atlantic Century, wherein the US and its Western European allies act as hegemons over Eurasia, or it will be a Eurasian century dominated by Russia and China.

 Museveni, on other hand, while in secondary school, told his friends that he was going to be president of Uganda, and his friends simply laughed at him, according to the late Eriya Kategeya. He then started up a debating club in school where he used to discuss politics and history of Uganda with about five of his friends, according to his book, the Mustard Seed. The same debating club idea continued while he was at university in Tanzania, only that it expanded to include the likes of late Garanga of Southern Sudan, Mulyanyamuli Ssemogere(who later became his RDC and Katikiro of Buganda), and several others. He later used some of the same guys to start FRONASA that transformed into PRA and later NRA. As they say, the rest is history. His ambition was simply to be president of Uganda and unite the east Africa countries. He has found the later ambition difficult just like Nyerere and others before him did.

 That’s why I pity guys who compare Museveni to some singer who has clearly made Museveni’s life easy since the end of the 2020-21 elections. Literally everybody can see that the NUP “Bear” is really a Facebook tiger. It’s understandable if some of you think this is anti- Bobi propaganda, but it’s actually what’s literally happening nowadays.

 Basically, Putin and Museveni are rooted in the similar (not the same) archetype; but they are different. Museveni is a bit flamboyant while Putin is more introvert, cerebral (pensive) and enigmatic. They share two common traits: alpha male image and politeness. There are other excellent examples: Fidel Castro, Mahatma Gandhi (yes, the great Gandhi), Che Guevara, Subhash Chandra Bose, Thomas Sankara – all of them were viewed as Alpha males and all of them were very polite with women and always courteous to their staff and audience.

MUSEVENI KNOWS HOW TO PLAY THE OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba 

Prognostication means prophecy, the action of predicting or forecasting, or prophesying future events.

A lot of opposition supporters believed Museveni would be gone by June of 2021. They believed that Kyagulanyi was going to do something  different  from Besigye before and after elections.  In the end, he ended up getting 35% –  the same percentage as Besigye got in the 2016 elections. 

All the talk about how Museveni’s arm being too black and cancerous was just speculative entertainment. He even survived the Covid he had recently despite his old age.

And then there was “comedian ” Ssegirinya Muhammad with his claims about a USA ship coming to liberate Ugandans.Well, I hate to be the one to break it to NUP supporters; that ship sailed ages ago. You need to get out from under your bridge and eat some avocado or something.

Museveni finessed his way out of the pathetic 2020-21 elections by doing what he has been doing since 2001. i.e. rigging. Up to now,  i have never understood why some people expected something different that time. Actually, NUP supporters insulted whoever told them that Bobi was going to lose.

Bobi was a joke as the main opposition candidate – no policies sold to the public apart from jokes, propaganda, and music. He lied more often than not and was seen as delusional. The only opposition leader to have lied more in public than Bobi and appeared more delusional was Abed Bwanika. He swore an affidavit after the 2006 elections supporting Museveni’s win despite widespread open rigging, and he was among the former DP members accusing Besigye of being Museveni’s stooge at the DP reunion in 2020.

Much as I see Tinyefunza and Tumukunde as clowns in some of their past actions, it’s obvious they were spot on in their analysis of the 2020-21elections. However, Tumukunde went on to stand as a candidate, which confused me a bit. Most dictatorships today hold elections, but then manage them in a way to guarantee that the ruler always wins. Almost everyone knows this, but people still stand for presidency for other reasons.

Bobi, on the other hand, walked his way in the elections simply to increase his fame and make some  money via NUP, especially. 

He even didn’t do anything, like serious protests after the elections. Bobi is the dude who sees a charging brown bear, then trips his friend as they run away. He has a habit of running away the few times he has been on the streets to protest.

Dictatorships conduct elections to help people feel better. People participating in elections are a way to have them express their consent to the system of governance. Voting is a form of buy-in and acceptance. By voting, citizens can demonstrate their patriotism and are encouraged to feel they are a part of something larger and more powerful than themselves.

Voting also serves a purpose in that some citizens embrace the illusion that they have some level of control over their lives and meaningful input into their governance.

If you give people the illusion of having a voice, then they will believe they have a voice. But if they find out they don’t, they’ll rebel. So, Museveni does it in a clever way. He allows the opposition to win a few by-elections and retain some posts, like Kampala Lord Mayor, in areas where they’re popular. 

Of course, NUP, FDC, and other parties will front candidates again in 2026; even Bobi will stand. He has already excited Ugandans with crowds, as we saw yesterday in Mbarara. He’s basically selling elections to Ugandans again; something that exactly fits in Museveni’s interests. 

It doesn’t matter what percentages NRM gets. Unlike other dictators, Museveni doesn’t give himself 70- 90% in elections.  He has always made it believable between 53% and 68%. Those who give themselves  a 99% are about ego. It’s a lie that says, “everyone loves me!”, the left over 1% accounts for the few people that complain but don’t get killed.

Being part of a “slim minority” changes the behaviour of the populace to be more accepting and docile, to believe that they have no power. 53% is a near miss for the 47%, and just a little more fight would have possibly swayed the election.

My prognostication is Museveni will be around until illness or old age kills him or incapacitates him, or when he decides to hand over to his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba. He will probably let the son take over from him in 2026 because everything seems to be in place now. Most importantly,  he now has an opposition he can fully control. I’m probably wrong – prognostication is a risky endeavor.

FDC WAS INFILTRATED BUT THE LEADERS HAVE BEHAVED LIKE SCHOOL KIDS

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba,UK

A lot has been said and written about the recent fall out in FDC, and it has been painful to watch. I saw Besigye’s press conference where he tried to give some sort of background to the issue – he used a lot of wisdom to seemingly mask most of the rot in the party, and I hope that other leaders of the party start emulating him –they should stop talking carelessly in public.

I again painfully watched Ssemujju Nganda and Nandala Mafabi on national TV, and I felt so betrayed by both of them. Both built their brand by never sugarcoating the truth and saying what must be said, but it was sad to see them accusing each other like little children. There has been a lot of speculation, too, meant to clearly tarnish names of leaders of FDC. Ssemujju, for instance, was speculating on why Nandala allegedly received money from Museveni, and I wondered why.

Saying that the Nandala money was meant to fight NUP doesn’t benefit FDC – It only benefits three people: Semujju himself (if he plans to lure NUP supporters to his side in the next election), Bobi Wine( make him appear like he’s a threat to Museveni), and Museveni( because it makes FDC appear like it’s already in his pocket).

It should be noted that Nandala hasn’t denied receiving the money but he’s yet to mention the source and the reasons for the money. All we know is that money was received before or during the 2020-21 campaigns. Most politicians who receive financial help from some NRMs never reveal their sources to protect them. It was only Bobi Wine who confessed on national TV for having received money from some NRMs to help him become MP of Kyadondo East. He was cornered to confirm this after General Tumukunde and Tamale Mirundi had revealed the same information to the public.

Some unconfirmed media reports have revealed that the money in contention now came from an international donor to both NUP and FDC, and it had to pass via Bank of Uganda, because it was a very large sum of money.

If you have access to money— even if it’s not your money— you are morally responsible for what you decide to spend that money on, and what you decide not to spend that money on. I have a feeling that Nandala spent most of the money received in helping his party during the elections.For instance, I don’t know if people remember this, but FDC nominated more MPs than NUP and paid nomination fees for all of them. So, where did they think all that money came from? If it all came from party accounts, then FDC must be really a rich party.

There are three things people should know about life: what you desire, what you believe and what you should do. Regardless of whether NUP was created by Museveni, its leaders and followers turned a lot of FDC and UPC supporters into Museveni supporters before voting took place – people just wanted Museveni to win and for NUP to be put in its place. So, it was tempting for anyone in that category, including Nandala, to receive any help from Museveni if it meant to weaken the NUP.

Obviously, it’s Museveni who benefits from all these situations. He gets to reduce the popularity of something he created as a fake opposition in 2004 by sponsoring another party, or some individuals to fight it. And if it’s true that he’s the one that gave Nandala the shs.7 b, then he has already made a good ‘profit’ on his investment considering the ongoing public outbursts among the FDC leaders.

Obviously, the current problems at FDC extend beyond internecine struggle. A lot of FDCs attacking the party president, Patrick Amuriat, and Nandala wouldn’t be doing so if the party was doing well on the ground. The resurrection of NUP, a party that’s as old as FDC, directly affected the latter (FDC) tremendously in the 2020-21 elections.

MOLES

That said, we cannot rule out that Museveni had infiltrated FDC and other parties before the elections. It’s a well-worn aphorism that Museveni has eyes and ears in almost all political parties in Uganda. Infiltration is the action of entering or gaining access to an organization or place surreptitiously, especially in order to acquire secret information or cause damage. I’m loath to speculate about circumstances under which government agencies might choose to infiltrate a political party.

In Uganda, as far as I know, it is not illegal to infiltrate a political group as long as you do not break any laws. If you are able to find out inside information to give to your own party, that is not against the law.

Words have meanings. A “mole” has a meaning, and while Nandala and Amuriat are seemingly corrupt, self-serving, narcissistic obstructionists, that doesn’t make that an accurate label for them. In guessing a mole, you can only work with what you know and calculate, and you might be wrong. But do try, nonetheless.

Moles find it so easy to blend in and avoid detection in any political organization in Uganda. In Uganda, people only try to detect moles by their tribes though this may not necessarily give actual results. Someone can be a Munyankole in DP or NUP but not necessarily a mole, but a Muganda may be a mole in both parties.

You can’t detect a mole by their actions as Besigye said at his recent press conference. The most successful spying is performed by those who are never revealed. Interestingly, a lot of Ugandans ignorantly think that a mole in opposition is the one who criticises their leader. An actual agent is supposed to play nice in order to get close to the leader.

However, if you ask me, most political parties do themselves no favours in this area. They don’t do adequate vetting while recruiting people who work at their headquarters, or those standing for elective posts in and outside the parties.  For instance, FDC can easily endorse one as their candidate if one can raise the shs. 3m required nomination fee. It’s almost the same in other parties. In NUP, party tickets were reportedly being sold at astronomical prices by party officials before the 2020-21elections. All NRM needed to do was to pay the ‘’bribe’’ money, nomination fee and campaign money for most potential NUP ‘recruits’ in order to control most of the party.

That is how the KGB, too, partly managed to infiltrate both the MI6 and the CIA during the cold war. Both intelligence agencies did not conduct adequate vetting for their employees during the early Cold War. This was especially the case with MI6 – the KGB exploited MI6’s penchant for recruiting from elitist top British universities such as Oxford and Cambridge by getting their intelligence officers to recruit people at these universities as agents and then getting these agents to join MI6 as intelligence officers. This was the case with Kim Philby and the Cambridge Five. Philby was the biggest traitor MI6 ever had. He exposed countless intelligence officers, agents and operations etc. He also jeopardised MI6’s relationship with the CIA.

Ugandans should also stop attacking people in NRM especially if they aren’t hurting you directly. There are obviously so many people that are in NRM but sympathising with some in opposition. Similarly, there were a lot of people that worked for Hitler but were also trying to bring him down. German spies were generally agents of the Abwehr- German military intelligence, and the Abwehr was run by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, secretly an anti-Nazi and a member of the conservative resistance. He purposely staffed his organisation with people opposed to the Hitler regime and agents were implicitly or explicitly encouraged to defect or get caught at the earliest convenience; spies who were loyal to the Third Reich were prone to being sold out. Canaris was reportedly in direct contact with British intelligence throughout the war and may have had a hand in orchestrating the assassination of his former protege Reinhard Heydrich, who was onto him and building a case against him.

The Soviets, on the other hand, made no such error which is why they were more successful. Russian spies were famously involved in the allied atomic bomb project such that there is a story that when US president then, Harry Truman, hinted about the new weapon that Stalin showed little surprise.

So, everybody is useful during a struggle one way or the other if they are willing to help. If you receive money from Museveni or an NRM, and put it to good use, I don’t see any problem with it under the current circumstances. Good use shouldn’t mean buying bullet proof cars, houses abroad, e.t.c, but things to help the cause or the needy.

TANKS AND WARFARE

By Abbey.K.Semuwemba

One of the things the Ukraine war has taught us is that the days of tanks are over. Tanks are getting less and less useful in every war they’re used in, air superiority or no. As far back as the Gulf War, analysts from China’s PLA reviewed records and published a report saying “America expected to win the war with their tanks, but America’s helicopters defeated Iraq’s tanks and outperformed Iraq’s. Every helicopter-vs-tank engagement of the war proved helicopters are the best tank terminators, and they fulfilled the infantry support role traditionally ascribed to tanks more efficiently than tanks did.”

And now, nearly 30 years later, we’re seeing a war where both Russia and Ukraine are finding tanks to be almost a liability.

George Friedman, who isn’t even a military man but a geopolitical forecaster, explained it in terms even an officer could understand. “Tanks exist to protect infantry. They’re built so if someone is in a machine gun nest shooting at your infantry, you’ve got a mobile cannon ready to blow up the pillbox. But now, infantry squads carry so many anti-tank weapons that before you can use a tank you have to send out infantry to screen for anti-tank weapons and protect the tanks. Which raises the question of why you’re using a tank, but never mind.”

Ukrainians try to attack without air superiority, without artillery superiority and without long range Atacams – no surprise here it goes slow and looks like the Great War from 1914 – 18. That’s why their second counter offensive isn’t working out yet. I’m yet to understand why NATO is still reluctant to provide them with F-16S. Russia has had time to prepare and build fortifications like massive mine fields that take time to clear.–

*Abbey Kibirige  Semuwemba*

Stalk my blog at: https://semuwemba.wordpress.com

“Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive.” – Henry Steele Commager 1902-98

THE FUTURE OF UGANDA OPPOSITION DOESN’T LOOK GOOD

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

The recent remarks by Lubega Mukaku (I don’t know what party he now belongs to), and the leader of opposition, Hon. Mathias Mpuuga, is something to keep an eye on. Mpuuga’s recalcitrance has nothing to do with fearing the likes of Fred Lumbuye, but the fact that Bobi uses them to attack other leaders in opposition.

THE PRESENT

Right now, NUP cannot fight their way out of a paper bag. Museveni would make short shrift of them. These discrepancies are so glaringly and disgustingly obvious that you’d have to be wilfully ignorant to be able to ignore them.

The hypocrisy is really easy to explain too. NUP is being looked at as a child that should be protected to help Gen.Muhoozi ease into the presidency.

Nobody in NUP is an obvious threat to Bobi’s power at the moment, but that’s not the problem. The problem is that Bobi suffers from a garden-variety Cluster B personality disorder, and, as such, he cannot admit that he made a mistake to attack FDC and Besigye, UPC and DP, thus, dividing and weakening the opposition. He is still consumed with being popular on social media, and that’s why he tries to pick fights with other musicians, like, recently with Eddy Kenzo.

Bobi is unable to take criticism or dissent. A true leader is strong enough to weather both. His response to Pastor Bugingo, for instance, exposed him as someone who takes criticism to be personal more than anything else. NUP, though puffed up and proud, shows itself to be as weak and fragile as an egg from an old chicken.

On the national front, he’s about as popular as a fart in an elevator – he’s the worst smell to happen on Uganda opposition politics. It’s just the gutless misinformed Ugandans that still think he’s a little bit “special”.

THE FUTURE

It takes far longer to build things up than tear them down. NUP is only barely beginning to feel the effects of being in opposition under Museveni. Add the inevitable power struggle that’s likely to emerge before or after the 2026 elections.

Yes, NUP will front Bobi as a candidate in 2026, and he will unsurprisingly again lose to any NRM candidate. He will probably use more slogans other than “Roboda-style.”

As much as the word “Roboda-style” caused fanboys to drop the pants and fap themselves raw at it’s mere mention, it didn’t mean anything other than chest thumping. As Forest Gump once said,“ stupid is as stupid does”.

After or before 2026, most likely, a new NUP strongman will eventually arise. There will be a delegates’ conference, and the loser will start up something, like Muntu did with FDC, and form another party out of NUP.

In the meantime, time, Bobi will put cronies in all positions of responsibility and continue wasting all the efforts Besigye and FDC had put in opposition. Basically, NUP is recycling most of the FDC ideas. As sung by The Who, “Here is the new boss, same as the old boss.”

Bobi will continue to take advantage of the young people. There are so many Ugandan kids on social media nowadays (and some adults who still think like children). They seem to equate Uganda politics with school sports, music, or video games. Honestly, it takes tremendous effort to be so clueless and hapless.

MOVING FORWARD

Serious activists don’t even need to engage with Bobi gangs at all. They are fully capable of and “have been” self-destructive since the end of the 2020-21elections. Darwinian Theory fully applies here. They will drop their man at their own pace.

One of Bobi’s most potent weapons is propaganda, fake news, misinformation, disinformation, and confusion. I think the best way to combat that is through rigorous fact-checking and honest reporting.

Lastly, there is no “collective opposition” vs. “collective NRM dictatorship” fight going on. All the ruling class across the country is tightly interconnected and they are trying to deceive as many “Wanainchi” as they can — dividing us into opinion groups or those that support Muhoozi Vs Bobi, distracting our attention from the real systematic problems. I think the opposition needs to watch out for this as we will inevitably welcome the new NRM president in 2026.

Once UPC and DP became open allies to NRM, and FDC unsurprisingly went back to good old Nehruvian Non-Alignment after attacks by Bobi’s gangs, it was game over for the opposition. Museveni got the small gap he needed in the noose over Besigye’s head.

IS IT POSSIBLE THAT PUTIN AND WAGNER PLAYED US ALL?

IS IT POSSIBLE THAT PUTIN AND WAGNER PLAYED US ALL?

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

As a former student of the hospitality industry myself, I got excited a few days ago seeing a well-rounded chef cooking up something deadly in Russia in a heartbeat. But there’s this feeling in me that the so-called attempted coup by the Wagner group (made up of mainly ex Special Forces) might have been staged by Putin himself.

I’m not underrating Progozhin because of his former occupation as a mere cook/chef. After all, Pol Pot was a cook, too – he did wonders for Cambodia and fertilised the countryside with lots of human bodies.

Prigozhin’s Wagner is state funded, and his catering business relies heavily on state contracts. It is,therefore, hard to see Wagner biting a hand that’s feeding it. Putin himself allowed Wagner to set up a shadow command and supply chain inside Russia.

Secondly, the outcome of that short uprising has largely benefited Putin. Prigozhin is retiring and will stay in Belarus. Putin has basically put the genie back in the bottle – the Wagner group would have been difficult to contain after the Ukraine war. Some of Wagner’s fighters will now be absorbed into the Russian military, and this will give Russia a boost in the number of experienced and disciplined soldiers. The Wagner weapons will be transferred to the Russian military. Now, decide for yourself whether Russia is strengthened or weakened.

Anyway, it was incredible for us to believe that a private army was capable of defeating a large, recognized government military. It is like Blackwater PMC of USA taking down US Army, Air force, Navy and space force. Prigozhin was in the midst of an advance to Moscow and was less than 130 miles from the capital city when he announced he had halted his troops.

The history of Russia, including modern episodes since the fall of the USSR, clearly indicates that the Russian military has no qualms about shooting at civilians if necessary. It was, therefore, odd that the Wagners took over Southern Military Command Headquarters without a struggle.

Meanwhile, Russia was still able to launch missile attacks on Kiev and other parts of Ukraine as the uprising was going on inside Russia. Unbelievable!

Please, don’t get me wrong; the Ukraine war seems to be a good incentive for a coup against Putin, but Russia has been through a far worse crisis back in 2008 which put much more strain on Putin’s close elite allies due to recession. Still, nobody managed or even seemed to attempt to contest Putin’s authority. Since then, he further solidified his rule and disposed of his potential rivals.

If you can make the king bleed, people will cease to believe in him, but nothing happened to Putin personally, apart from the uprising, making him look a bit weak. He still didn’t show panic during the uprising.

In fact, the day of the attempted coup, On TV show “Good Morning, Little Ones!”, children were being taught how to wash hands. A brass orchestra performed military songs on federal TV stations to mock Prigozhin’s Wagner troops.

In Moscow, authorities announced a counter-terrorist operation, but where were the terrorists? Oh, they were held up about a thousand miles south. Honestly, It was odd that Prigozhin’s forces apparently approached Moscow on a highway without being destroyed. I would have thought that the FSB (or FSO subunit of FSB, which protects the Kremlin) would do or say something, but they didn’t.

Putin is a seasoned spy who knows how to protect himself. The first thing to remember here is that if a coup was really in the works against Putin, the best chance for it to succeed would be if no one knew about it. But Wagner broadcasted their intentions to remove Putin in advance, and then a few hours later, they were retreating.

So, is it possible that Putin was deceiving NATO? Is it possible he wanted to see who was still loyal to him and who wasn’t?

The tricks of deceiving the enemy isn’t something unusual. For instance, another seasoned spy in Uganda, Museveni, did so during the Luwero Bush War in the early 1980s. Apparently, the NRA would reportedly dress in UNLA uniforms, kill a few people, and then blame it on the then Obote government.

Hitler also did a similar trick when he was looking for a reason to attack Poland. His pretence was to protect Germany from Polish incursions, when poles attacked a German radio station inside Germany. It was, in fact, the Schutzstaffel (SS) dressed as poles who carried out the attack, then shot concentration camps (KZ) inmates and left them in German uniforms.

However, Putin declaring Prigozhin, a traitor on TV, didn’t give a lot of room for manoeuvres. So, till Prigozhin is dead soon, I won’t believe any more stuff about a coup against his boss. The Wagner chief is now in Belarus – it’s hard to believe that Prigozhin abandoned his forces to exit Russia in a deal he can’t enforce.

There is nothing the rest of us can do except eat popcorn and wait for the next Putin and NATO moves as we continue to pray for peace.

MY 2ND DAY IN NEWYORK ON A BOAT CRUISE AT EAT RIVER.

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK.

Last month, on my 2^nd Day in New York, my sister, her husband, Tim, and I went on a boat cruise at East River.

Despite the name, it’s not actually a “river.” The East River is a channel that connects Long Island Sound to Upper New York Bay, both of which join up with the Atlantic Ocean. The East River also connects with the Harlem River, which is also a channel. On the other side of Manhattan, you will find the Hudson River, which is a real river. It is spanned by several rail and road bridges. Guess you could call it a branch of the lower Hudson River.

My most unique moment riding on a boat began in London city on Thames River after Covid in 2020 with my wife and kids. Floating in something that displaces water is one of the coolest things humans ever figured out. I’m not a water person by natural design, but I am a human explorer of all frontiers.

Departing from our hotel at Times Square, we used a uber to the docking area. We didn’t need to queue up since we had bought our tickets online. The day was perfect.

We got on the boat after a few minutes of waiting. The boat was big. We sat on the top deck as per our first-class tickets, and along with others, we enjoyed space and fresh air superiority. We sailed during the heat of the New York summer days, and I got to tell you, it was literally blistering hot. We bought some drinks to cool ourselves down.

I made some new friends, took photos, enjoyed the sun, and experienced amazing sights, and did something I had never done before—dancing on a boat in front of others. Tim later joined in the dance as my sister recorded us.

America’s most famous sight, the Statue of Liberty is the first thing people come to New York to see, and it was made possible for me while on the boat. Apparently, this express cruise is the fastest way to get up close and personal with the Statue of Liberty.  It was France’s gift to America. Built up in 1886, it is one of the top attractions in America.

Upon returning to dock, I felt great satisfaction of having returned safely and in the knowledge that I had created great memories with my sister. Afterwards, we went to buy halal food on a street near our hotel at Times Square.

Every day is a joy. Life is simple. There is time for everything. Indeed, I enjoyed my time in New York. As the poet, A. E. Neuman, says, “what me worry?”

Dancing at Times Square New York

New York isn’t just about the crowds, the noise, the hustle, and bustle, but it’s also about making money. For instance, we found two guys at Times Square making money out of literally nothing. Basically, they had this thing, like a wheel, where you stand on, dance to a song of your choice, and they record the video using some app on their phone, and then send it to your phone.

The app captures the buildings and streets where the video is recorded.  All this only takes about 2 minutes, but costs about US 24 dollars. I saw a lot of people lining up for this. It cost us about 72 dollars for 3 videos. The two lads potentially make averagely 500 dollars per hour, moreover, on a street.

The youths in Uganda should think of such creativity instead of just targeting office jobs. I saw a lot of businesses on streets of NYC, and it was amazing.

The city brought a smile to my face every time I walked on the streets, because there’s always something new, I would find. Ah I miss the city, already!

MY SISTER’S WEDDING WAS WELL PLANNED AND SO BEAUTIFUL

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK.

Weddings are among the most anticipated events in everyone’s lives. Therefore, it’s important to make a wedding that you will like and remember fondly whether you spend money or not. Don’t be pressured into creating a wedding for other people. In the end it should be exactly what you want and make it a priority as it is your wedding.

My sister’s wedding last month at Hyatt Regency hotel in Maryland, USA, was just how she wanted it:

1. The day before the wedding, we did some prayers and later also had dinner in the evening at the hotel where all guests got to know one another. It was Mai’s birthday, too; So, she got a chance to cut a cake in front of us.
2. The Bachelorette and bachelor’s parties followed later in the night. The ladies gathered in the presidential suite, and I have no idea what they did over there. The men went out for: bowling, playing pool, swimming, and other activities.

A presidential suite at Park Hyatt New York reportedly costs 30,000 USD a night, but I have no idea how much it cost the couple for four nights in Maryland– I didn’t want to ask. All I know from my undergraduate studies is that Hyatt is a great option for those looking for a luxurious stay at an affordable price. Hyatt is a name in itself. It holds a great prestige in the hospitality industry.

3. The couple had invited 50 guests, but about 40 turned up, alhamdulillah. The guests included mainly the relatives and friends of the couple in the USA. I was the only one that had travelled from another country. Anyway, we spent three days at the hotel enjoying ourselves before the wedding day.
4. She had three dresses to change into.

5.Prior to the wedding, we had wedding rehearsals organised by the awesome wedding planner, Alison, and it was all fun. My sister is fun, and I’m glad we spent some time together before the wedding.

On the morning of the wedding, we did another round of Islamic prayers in the presidential suite. My brother-in-law, Seif, was, again, part of it.

On the wedding day itself, I was the one that walked her down the aisle. She looked a million dollars in her white wedding dress.

It was UK’s Queen Victoria who started the white wedding gown business, and it’s meant to indicate chasteness – a virginal status of the bride. Funny how that caught on all over the world.

Mai’s wedding day was a day to remember with beautiful warm weather outside till we finished the outside ceremony around 14:00. The groom, Tim, looked awesome – he dressed like a Prince ready to marry a princess from another kingdom.

The ceremony was held in a penthouse built in the middle of a River close to the hotel. The venue basically provided a serene and romantic view of the Choptank River.

Serenading the couple and the guests was a mixture of Nigerian and western music provided by one of the best DJs I have ever seen.

After the morning ceremony, we went to the Lantern room where we had a stand-in interaction — there were no chairs– just music, tables, food and drinks. After, like, two hours, People went back to their hotel rooms to change and get ready for the reception.

When we later got to the venue for the reception, again beautiful Alison and the DJ were waiting for us outside — It was around 16:00. They both organised us to enter the room in style on Nigerian music, though I don’t remember dancing that much. Maid of Honor and brides’ maids, best man ushers, and flower girl, all looked smart and happy.

At the reception, three speeches were made, a 2- course meal with drinks pairings was provided to everyone. Flowers, bouquets galore, and a grand cake, were all part of it.

I made a speech on behalf of our family back in Uganda who were watching via some online link, and I was able to thank everyone for coming. We danced, joked, and partied till late at night.

We had a video recorder and an awesome photographer who both took excellent pics and videos for the wonderful memories throughout the day.

As for me, it was my first time to attend any of my sisters’ weddings. As most brothers will tell you, I enjoyed every bit of it — Mai’s wedding was worth the money. It was wonderful and I guess everyone loved it. I only hope that their love story goes on forever, inshallah.

PART OF MY TIME IN HERSHEY TOWN IN PENNSYLVANIA

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

After spending three days in Washington DC, my next destination was Hershey which is like a 3 hours drive from Washington.

I spent the afternoon of 5th May 2023 touring Hershey, Pennsylvania, particularly the chocolate factory, one of the largest American global chocolate manufacturing companies.

1. We bought tickets to watch the company movie. It’s a clever in- store marketing strategy – I loved it. There’s a screen, obviously, two gentlemen are hired to make you laugh while at the same time talking about the Hershey chocolates, especially how they are made.

2. We were then moved into a room to demonstrate exactly how the chocolates are made. We were required to put on aprons.

3. We then scanned our tickets on computers to sign in and start designing our own chocolates. At this point, you choose the design of your chocolate, the ingredients, and the packaging outlook.

4. Then we waited for 6 minutes as the chocolate bar went through different stages before it came out. It’s all shown to us, as you can see in the videos recorded on my Facebook page: Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

Milton Hershey, who started the chocolate company that bears his name, decided he wanted a city for his workers to live in. I wish all rich people would do stuff like that.

At the end of the tour, we purchased some chocolates (for my kids back in England) at the company gift shop along with a Hershey jumper, games, and puzzles. My wife liked the jumper and it’s now hers.

When World War II came around, and Americans so loved Hershey chocolate, the War Department tried to get Hershey chocolate into rations. The War Department did ask Hershey to make one change — Don’t make it good enough that American soldiers will long for fine chocolate.

Hershey is the most prominent example of what a “company town” can be. Mainly, it’s a nice rural/suburban area that’s quiet, so clean and friendly.

 It is worth planning your whole vacation around here. Kids, too, would love it so much. There is an adjacent park, beautiful hotel, walking trails, shopping mall, roller coasters, etc.

Our Uganda MPs and leaders should do such trips. They will learn a lot and bring it back home, inishallah.

Thanks Tim and Mai for such an awesome experience. Owe you, guys, big time.

Hershey hotel

MY THIRD DAY IN NEWYORK WAS A BUS TOUR

 

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK.

On my third day in New York, we went on the famous pre-booked bus tour. My sister and her husband jumped off the coach at the last minute, as the latter wasn’t feeling well.

New York is loud. Noise is everywhere – the traffic, beeping horns, the subway trains, sirens, loud people. It takes a while to adapt. The city is also surrounded by water. Actually, water welcomes you as you enter it from New Jersey. 

We saw a lot of places as the tour started at 10:00 a.m and ended at 17:30. There is the central park, Union Square, Washington Square, Little Stuyvesant Park, Madison Square, and Trump building. The list is long, and they are wonderful places to stop and rest. 

And of course, the UN headquarters — Uganda owns two buildings in the area that were constructed by Idi Amin. Yes, the Uganda embassy and Uganda House are unbelievably located in one of the most prestigious locations in the city.

What’s not to like in NYC? You can spend a whole day walking and eating and being entertained for free in the city.

Our last stop was at the World Trade Centre. We stopped here for lunch — so I went into a Korean restaurant to see if i would like the food. I ordered a curry, but i didn’t like it at all – the rice looked and tasted horrible. It was a total waste of money!

My visceral gut reaction on 9/11 after the towers fell was that the Americans would rebuild the same World Trade Centre (WTC) towers again, but they didn’t.  Instead, they decided to build a 9/11 memorial(reflecting pools), museum, and park on the old spots and a new attractive tower on the side.

The memorials look like two big holes or water retention ponds with the new tower shoved off to the side. Just like at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, names of the dead are written on the pond walls.

There’s something designed like a bird outside to reflect the planes that hit the previous towers, I guess. I took a photo in front of it because I found it interesting. 

The new WTC tower( Freedom tower) is actually about 48 feet taller than the previous WTC tower, at the top of the radio towers. It is exactly 1776’ tall to mark the country’s founding year. 

Apparently, the previous WTC was controversial even when originally built. Many New Yorkers hated those towers because they stuck out too high above the skyline and looked ugly. The building was built in 1973 when Amin was president of Uganda but was fully occupied by 1975.

In terms of making a statement, America lost an opportunity by not building back the Twin Towers to the exact pre-attack specifications. By not building it back up, it is the backers of the terrorists who get to forever say “Yeah, we did that!”

The WTC tragedy took part about a year and a half after the NATO campaign over Yugoslavia, during which one of the targets that was successfully destroyed was the TV tower on the mountain near Belgrade The tower was built in the early 60s and has since been a visual symbol of the city, visible from many parts of the city, as well as from roads approaching it. Its destruction wasn’t really strategically meaningful, since most people had already switched to cable TV by then, but it had a massive emotional effect, permanently altering the city skyline, leaving huge void, visually and emotionally (much like destruction of WTC did to the NYC). In the following decade, an initiative was launched with a major fundraising campaign to build an identical new one (even though it wasn’t really needed much anymore). It was completed in less than 10 years, restoring the city skyline.

I have more to tell, but it may take a whole day. So, just invite me for food somewhere such that we joke about New York – you will be paying.  Wasalam!

AMERICANS ARE GENERALLY FRIENDLY PEOPLE

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

While in my room at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Maryland

Americans are very friendly people – Everyone chats with you like they’ve known you for a while. They ask, “how are you today?”. My brother-in-law, Tim, kept saying “hello” to almost everyone we met in the lifts, and he would wish them a good day, like he already knew them.

There’s a Muslim guy selling halal food opposite the W hotel at Times Square. He often put on his Quran soundly, but that didn’t stop all kinds of people from buying food off him in big numbers. I bet he makes more money than even a minister in Uganda.

Americans like talking about the UK royal family once they know you are from England.  My other brother- in law, Seif, took me to this mega store selling shoes on the outskirts of Boston. A lady on the till, Wendy, spoke to me for ages about King Charles’s coronation (I didn’t even watch it on TV).

About Uganda, one or two discussed with me about the LRA and Idi Amin, mostly.

I don’t understand where news media find horrible people to represent the Americans. These people don’t represent the USA. The politicians, mainly, portray Americans as anti- Muslim, but I didn’t get a sense of that at all.

There’s only one black young girl(from California) I sat with on a bus tour in New York– she rarely talked to me. I guess she saw an old guy and thought,” This guy shouldn’t even be here.” Lol!

VIETNAM WAR MEMORIAL IN WASHINGTON DC.

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

I visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. Apparently, it’s the most-visited memorial on the National Mall in Washington, attracting more than 5 million people each year.

I was there with my sister’s husband, whose brother is listed on the wall. Apparently, he drove a plane into the enemy fire, knowing he wouldn’t come back, but he did it to save others.

The most prominent feature of the memorial is a massive wall that lists the names of over 58,000 servicemen and women who lost their lives during the Vietnam War.

Every night, the staff remove (and preserve) the mementoes left behind. Letters, photographs, flowers, stuffed animals. Bottles of beer left from old friends. Marriage announcements of children or grandchildren left for a dead father. There is a warehouse with about 400,000 items. It’s been 40 years since the Memorial went up, so the number of mementos is decreasing as the survivors die off or their pain fades with time, but they keep coming even to this day.

The Americans are in the process of creating a Global War on Terrorism Memorial, which presumably will include both the unjustified war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I sometimes wonder whether the Vietnam War was worth it.

Back in my home country, Uganda, I also wonder if there’s a memorial for those (soldiers and civilians) that died during the Luwero Bush war (1980- 86). Their names should be listed somewhere, please 🙏 regardless of how things have panned out 36 years after the war. We could boost our tourism revenue this way if everything is well planned.

BOSTON IS MORE LIKE ENGLAND

On the 4th day in New York, I was picked up in the morning from my hotel by my brother- in-law/friend, Seif, and his wife, and we drove for nearly 8 hours to Ayer, one of the suburbs of Boston.

The following day, we started touring Boston and surroundings. The city sure is easy on the eye and has a more European feel – lots of their suburbs have English names.

Because Boston was English and because many Boston designers followed English trends and technologies, the city has many of the same design elements of England.

The city layout is hard for a newcomer to navigate around it. The roads are kind of like the ones in England. None of the roads in Boston is straight, and often 5 or 6 roads intersecting at one crossing. It’s quite confusing.

I was told by a Boston friend that there is a historical reason for the city’s road system to be like this. Something related to the fact that the roads are due to typographical landmarks that are no longer there – the city started off as a peninsula and is mostly landfill. Many roads followed the shoreline and as more land was filled (from several hills being cut down, which they also added to the winding streets) new roads would then be made to follow the “new” shore. New York also has a similar street grid as Boston in Lower Manhattan.

We first drove downtown Boston, where I was shown the Statehouse, shopping centres, restaurants, Freedom Trail, and that cold docking area opposite a massive Italian restaurant.

We then drove to where the Boston Tea Party happened. From the obso deck, you can see the harbour and most of South Boston and the Greenway – no one goes up here – so it’s a great place to steal a kiss from your halal- sweetheart.

I didn’t know much about the Boston Tea party apart from what I read in the novel Burr (Gore Vidal). It describes Aaron Burr’s rise through the war and his falling out with General Washington.

We visited the site of Boston Marathon Terrorist Attacks (April 2013). There are two sites, and we took some pictures here. Coincidentally, on the same day, 29 people were killed and 60 injured in a terrorist attack in Somalia. Also, 75 people died in a terrorist attack in Iraq. But Boston got more news coverage worldwide.

The city is pretty with Charles River running through it and sitting right next to the ocean. So, you get to see water very often. And that’s what I did when we passed the river to cross to Cambridge, where Harvard University and MIT are located.

We toured lots of places, including Waltham, where most Ugandans live.

Anyways, if you’ve made it to the bottom, congratulations! Sorry for the long article!