Gaddafi’s exit Promises Progress for stunted Africa

By Valerian Kkonde

PEARL NEWS SERVICE

The events unfolding in Libya, borne out of the desire for political reforms, are giving Africa’s demagogues sleepless nights as their god-father is on the brink of extinction.

For 42 years, Col. Muammar el Gaddafi has turned Libya into his personal property sharing it out with his family and cohorts. He has even had the guts to sponsor dictatorship, on top of terrorism, thus subjecting Africa to a cycle of poverty, instability and stagnation.

Gaddafi’s system of operation which knows no law, boundaries and turns him into a god has been the godsend for Africa’s dictators who want everything for themselves. After Libya, Africa’s demagogues have taken to China which too has no respect for its citizens.

What shake Africa’s dictators is the disappearance of the oil dollars that have been flowing in from the god-like Gaddafi and the prospect of being the next in the target of uprooting dictators from the continent.

There is nothing as painful as seeing emaciated, destitute and hapless Africans amid plenty. The rulers rob their people of even the basics for a dignified existence. As a result, people look to Europe and America as the destinations, often over stretching the services and manpower of the reluctant hosts.

While the decision to hit Gaddafi out of power could have been necessitated by the pro-reform demonstrations, it is clear that the need to send a stern warning to the rest of his ilk in Africa was also intended. And already shock waves are being felt by those in the club of “revolutionaries who do not retire, but have to rule for life.”

Reading president Museveni’s March 20 dossier on the events in Libya, fear of what the future holds for him was evident. Museveni is a close Gaddafi ally, and has ruled Uganda for the last 25 years in a style closely modeled on Gaddafi’s. After Museveni did away with presidential term limits, it is evident that he too intends to rule for life. This explains his concern over the events in Libya.

It is also probable that Museveni is trying to make the most out of the pending departure of Gaddafi. He is trying to mend his strained relationship with the Muslims in Uganda by commiserating with them; many Muslims are not concerned with the suppression Libyans have endured under Gaddafi but the oil dollars.

There is nothing other than fear for the life after state house that leads Museveni to fault the pro-democracy allies on the use of “excessive force to hit Gaddafi.” Way back in 1979, while the minister for Defense, Museveni shot dead peaceful demonstrators who were denouncing the overthrow of Yusuf Lule as president. It was the same story as people demonstrated against the destruction of Mabira forest reserve to replace it with Mehta’s sugar cane plantations.

In September 2009, over twenty people were shot dead for demonstrating against his hatred for Buganda which led him to create puppet kings in Bugerere. In March 2010, again people were murdered by the presidential guard brigade as they mourned the destruction of the Kasubi Royal tombs.

On all these incidents, people did not even have sticks.

In the just concluded presidential, parliamentary and local council elections, the rate of government inspired-rigging and violence as well as the thwarting of the people’s will all point to the fact that Museveni will stop at nothing to close others out of the leadership of Uganda. He no longer hides his belief that he alone is capable of leading.

At every turn, one would not fail to see the anti tanks, armoured vehicles, rocket launchers, tanks and air to surface missiles staged to suppress the people’s will. This time round elections meant war.

But the last 25 years have not provided anything unique to prove his worth, let alone the destruction of some of the assets like the railways, Uganda Airlines, industrial Jinja, forests, wetlands and agriculture the country prided in.

President Museveni’s criticism of Gaddafi’s use of live bullets on peaceful demonstrators and the foreign intervention in African politics smack of hypocrisy and betray his fear of loosing hold on power which is staring him in the face. Museveni has shot peaceful demonstrators over and over. Where does he get the moral authority to take on Gaddafi? It seems Museveni is abandoning his close friend at a time he needs him most.

From another perspective, these are great signs that should be applauded; it is an indication that President Barack Obama is walking his talk of doing away with dictators, and the message has been received. Africa and Uganda in particular, has cause to smile with hope for a bright future.

Right now Libya is on fire but it was Ivory Coast that was set ablaze first. Where has the African Union been all along? In any case, how many of the members on the Committee that was being sent to intervene in Libya have a record of respect for human freedoms and operational democracy back home? Many, if not all of them, are doing exactly what Gaddafi has been doing this long. They further admire his magic that has enabled him to clock four decades at the helm. The AU should not be given a chance to delay the rebirth of Libya, a new era minus Gaddafi, his family and cronies. In fact it is the whole of Africa being reborn.

It is unfortunate that America, Britain, France and allies waited for the human cost to get to that in liberating Libya before they could strike. It will also be a grave insult to the Africans if another demagogue is propped up by these super powers as has always been the case.

 Following the people’s power that forced out Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Tunisia’s Beni Ali and now raging on in Libya, Africans have   renewed their hope in the continent which for long has won the accolade of the laughing stock of the world. And for this tide of renaissance to make an impact on the continent, other countries with life presidents must be denied breathing space.  

Uganda too is in dire need of this revolution. The country has also become the property of Museveni and his close allies. Elections are no longer a means of giving people a chance to choose their leaders, but an opportunity for those close to the rulers to make money and impose themselves on the populace.

A number of reports about the oil discoveries promise trouble even before actual drilling! The goons have positioned themselves for the spoils to the detriment of the country. This is exactly what Gaddafi has been doing with the Libyan Arab Africa Investment Company. With capital of over $ 80 billion, and businesses all over the world, it has been controlled by Gaddafi, his family and cohorts.

 A Libya-like uprising will settle matters in Uganda and give us a new beginning, purpose and direction.

Bravo Ssalongo, the People's Power!

By Valerian Kkonde

PEARL NEWS SERVICE

Among the Baganda, the father of twins is called Ssalongo and the mother Nnalongo. That is why Kampala’s newly elected Lord Mayor is called Ssalongo Erias Lukwago.

Bravo Ssalongo! You have fought a good fight. You have finished the race. It has not been an easy one; Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni tried to employ his weird tactics of vote-rigging to ensure that the puppet occupies the seat. The vote-stuffing, multiple voting and violence that characterized the first voting on February 23, 2011 was quite be shaming that even Engineer Badru Kiggundu’s partisan and incompetent Electoral Commission (EC) had to postpone the exercise to March 14, 2011.

Inspector General of Police, Major General Kale Kayihura, deployed heavily armed police officers, backed up by the army wielding machine guns, mortars, anti-aircrafts, tanks and other battle hardware. But goons loaded with clubs adorned with nails went from polling station to polling station beating up those suspected to support Ssalongo.

Kayihura exhibited the highest degree of incompetence, as he put his selfish interests above the natural law of justice and the progress of the country. He was exposed to the extent of leaving the people questioning his mental ability to lead an institution tasked with maintaining law and order.

“The club-wielding goons causing havoc are trained, housed, fed and protected by Kale Kayihura,” the Lubaga Local Council chair person-elect Joyce Ssebuggwawo told the press.

The government-sponsored mayoral candidate, Pastor Peter Ssematimba, housed some of these goons in his Super FM radio station. Yes, he is a Pastor. His display of moral bankruptcy is unrivalled. He is a match for the outgoing mayor, Alhaji Nasser Ntege Ssebaggala another Museveni puppet. For the Pastor, becoming Kampala Mayor was a matter of life and death.

All these acts showed how desperate Museveni was. Five days to the Election Day, the man, who has been in power for the last 25 years, invited Ssalongo’s polling agents to State House, bribed them with 100,000 Uganda Shillings and told them to abandon their preferred candidate! The president went to the extent of swearing that if all fails, he will sabotage Ssalongo’s development plans for the capital city! Yes, it was uncouth.

The state of Kampala today confounds even the densest; sewage all over the place, rotting garbage, unplanned construction, idiotic parking and driving, dusty and potato garden-like roads, lack of drainage facilities and all primitive mannerisms one can think of. Such is the capital city of the once Pearl of Africa!

The people residing, working and passing through Kampala are yearning for some sanity in the city. People want to live like human beings, work in orderly and clean environment, garbage properly disposed off and collected frequently. There is also urgent need to put to halt all these political shopping arcades mushrooming every where but lacking parking space and toilets.

While the city roads are narrow, the problem of continuous traffic jams is compounded by the lack of parking space on all the structures coming up. At the beginning of 2009, the then Town Clerk, Ruth Kijjambu, threatened to close some buildings for lack of parking space. Nothing has been done to date.

Motorcycle riders in the transport industry, popularly called Bodaboda, take advantage of this chaos to cause untold misery. The missing link is regulation. People overwhelmingly voted for Ssalongo to fill that gap. And the people further hope that decongesting the city will be high on the agenda. Introduction of the Buses will be crucial in realizing this.

The two taxi parks in the city are in a dire state. Over 5,000 people use these parks daily but all the managers- the Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association (UTODA)- can do is collect millions of shillings and shout “long live Museveni.” On a rainy day, an unattended pigsty would be a far better place to transit through.

The Law Enforcement department of Kampala City Council had become a law unto itself. The chaos in the city is due to the criminal intent of making quick money and by all means; those who offer them money are left to do whatever they please. Those without money and political connections are always the victims of their greed and madness.

The 229,325 votes that Ssalongo got, compared to Pastor Ssematimba’s 119,015, are a strong statement that people have had enough of the masqueraders who promise heaven but resort to rhetoric devoid of substance when its time for action. The mayor-elect’s past performance as a lawyer and MP for Kampala Central, drives many to expect him to provide the much needed services and sanity in the decaying Kampala city.

President Museveni, in his wisdom, thinks that sabotaging Ssalongo’s development plans is the best thing to do. In a way it is not surprising since even the programs- like the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) - he has personally supervised have nothing to show in spite of the billions of tax-payer money spent on them. His past 25 years in power have little to credit his concern for the well-being of those he rules.

The hatred for the independent- minded characters like Ssalongo is the very reason that the president is introducing the post of Executive Director for the city so that the mayor’s power and authority is curtailed.

For Museveni, the most important issue is the well-being of his cohorts; the rest can go to hell. There is no doubt that the race for the Mayor’s seat was more than a contest; it was a. statement against vote-rigging, suppression, greed, envy and all forms of political thugery going on in the country.

Indeed the Lord Mayor need not worry. The people’s power is the greatest weapon. If Museveni still doubts this, then he should at least consult Egypt’s former Western-backed Hosni Mubarak.

                          

Security Personnel Must Serve the Nation

By Valerian Kkonde                                             

PEARL NEWS SERVICE

Embattled Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, is clinging on whatever comes his way so as to stay in state house. The language he has been using during the campaigns for the concluded February 18, 2011 elections, betray his feelings of seeing no future outside state house. But there is a future after the presidency, Mr. Museveni.

This could be understandable and forgiven. What cannot be forgiven is the turning of security personnel against the very people they are mandated to protect irrespective of their political, ethnic and social status. By so doing, Museveni believes that he will get the security personnel to pay allegiance to him instead of the country. This is proof that the bush mentality of resorting to the gun for solutions is still alive.

Nepotism is another weapon Museveni is using to disorganize and kill the morale of the forces. Many professional and dedicated personnel have in turn been rewarded with dejection and non-promotion. It is even a practice in the forces for the juniors, hailing from Museveni’s Western region, to give orders to those senior to them!

Uncouth security officials, in the army and police, have done everything possible to frustrate and bar the opposition from reaching voters especially in the rural areas. Their overzealousness went to the extent of forcing radio station owners not to host opposition politicians, and even harass their supporters.`

While in Sembabule, the Inter Party Cooperation flag-bearer, Retired Colonel Dr. Kiiza Besigye, also known as Kizza, accused the Intelligence Agencies Coordinator, General David Tinyefuza, of intimidating opposition supporters with arrests and torture, if they attended their rallies.

People’s Development Party presidential candidate- Dr. Abed Bwanika- had to suspend his campaigns for some days after he had been harassed by the District Police Commanders in Lira and Masaka. Other politicians from the opposition have also had their share of the state-inspired torture aimed at those vying for leadership positions in Uganda.

Looking at the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces top brass, one can rightly predict that it is a Western Region affair and devoid of professionalism and nationalism. It all smacks of sinister motives.

Worse still, majority of them, if not all of them have criminal records amounting to crimes against humanity. They have become hostages of their own making and that explains why they are doing everything to protect Museveni from defeat so that they procrastinate their prosecution and accounting for their crimes.

While there are many complaints about security personnel campaigning for Museveni, contrary to the Constitution and Army code of Conduct, the Commander-in-Chief only acts when security personnel declare allegiance to the Opposition. This is interpreted as: it is okay to engage in partisan politics as long as one supports Museveni. This is the reason why some security agents are openly meting out violence on members of the Opposition. Murders, disappearances, torture and arbitrary imprisonment are the weapons security agencies use against government political opponents.

One simple question but heavily laden with meaning is: Where is the logic in having army representatives in a Parliament for a Multi Party political dispensation? It is feeble to keep reasoning that the historical role of the army in bringing Museveni to power gives it the mandate to stay in the legislature; it is an excuse to cover up the deliberate destruction of institutions that is synonymous with Museveni’s National Resistance Movement (NRM).

Given the fact that day follows night, and that change is a fact of life, security personnel have a duty to reject orders that contradict their mandate to protect members of the public, more so given the fact that they are the ones who pick their salaries and allowances. It will be a matter of time when the untouchable security agents will have to answer for their mischief.

The torture, suppression and all forms of dehumanizing treatment that the people are subjected to because they differ politically, socially and economically with the powers that be, does not exclude the security personnel. It is the form that differs.

Security personnel are also members of this public but with a special mandate to protect and promote the well being of society. And because they have a mandate to oversee the safety of the values the public lawfully holds dear, they must never be fooled with money and promotions to renege on this noble duty. With or without promotions, there is nothing as noble and rewarding as diligently serving motherland.

During the 2001 presidential elections, soldiers in Makindye Military barracks were forcefully ordered to vote for Museveni. The soldiers obliged, but later complained.  The polling centers were removed from the barracks during the 2006 elections and soldiers voted according to their wish.

Security personnel need to constantly reflect on the demands of their career and the stability of their country so as to desist from becoming the property of individuals and regimes; all security personnel, irrespective of rank and descent belong to the nation and this is what guarantees their safety, future and true freedom. Regimes come and go, but the country remains. And just as whatever has a beginning has an end, even the most notorious regimes come to an end. That is when even the so called untouchables yell like a kid before a cane-wielding parent. The people’s ability to bring about regime change, in Tunisia and Egypt, for the good of the country and not individuals, is worth emulating.

And to achieve this, security personnel must resolve to fight crime and bad governance instead of becoming accomplices or instruments of terror. This is what will win them public support at retirement and regime change.

 It is a great statement for one to be identified with the Black Mambas besieging the High Court in 2005, the Kiboko squad, the shooting at Kasubi Royal tombs, the shooting of Dr. Besigye’s supporters during the 2006 election campaigns, as well as the fracas that is already unfolding in the on-going campaigns and elections.

Pearl News Service sources have also intimated that the country could be destined for a wave of violence as Museveni begins to stare change in the face. Museveni believes that by undermining the Army and Police he is consolidating his hold on power but it goes without saying that he is as well an enemy of himself.

Benefits of keeping on the right side of the law are enormous. So are the rewards of turning into terror machines.

Retired Col. Kiiza Besigye has been able to keep at bay president Museveni’s envy and hatred because he maintained a clean sheet while serving as an army officer .Just imagine

what would have happened to him if he had accepted to be used to serve the selfish interests of his commander-in-chief! Besigye’s decision to join politics, after being discharged from the army, would have offered an opportune moment the ghost of the past to return to haunt him. But it is no where in sight!

The best they could do was to concoct rape and treason charges against him. In all instances, the law that he had respected was the same law that set him off the hook. It is a great lesson to the serving men and officers.

It is the opposite in respect to General David Tinyefuza, Lieutenant Ramadhan Magara and their ilk. When Tinyefuza wanted to assert his independence, it was enough to flash, before him, his record during the dreaded Operation Iron Fist in Acholiland, and call him to order.

In its bid to expose human rights violations and hold abusers accountable, Human Rights Watch details all the Operation’s crimes against humanity. Magara secured himself a seven-year abode in Luzira prison. He had shot dead Dr. Besigye’s supporters during the 2006 presidential campaigns. Of course the regime tried to protect him but as usual, the law finally caught up with him. What goes round comes round.

And today, with the Global Village phenomenon, it is not only Ugandans watching; the whole world is taking note of the atrocities committed by security agencies and other aggressors. It is the reason why Jean Pierre Bemba is in The Hague to answer charges for atrocities committed in the Central African Republic.  

Events in Tunisia and Egypt should help security operatives in Uganda to appreciate the mandate that the constitution confers upon them, and respect the will of the people. Ugandans will be proud of the security operatives the moment they realize that they have an obligation to safe guard the rights of Ugandans and not the selfish, destructive and suppressive tendencies of demagogues who claim to have a vision to rule the country till death do them part.

It is time for Uganda to get rid of such.

                                                               

We suffer because of not listening- Archbishop Odama

Archbishop John Baptist Odama was at the fore front of efforts to end the Northern Uganda conflict peacefully. Pearl News Service’s Valerian Kkonde sought his views about the Juba talks and the continued search for peace, a commodity that continues to elude the country the same way good leadership has done.

PNS: What do the talks going on between Uganda government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) signify to you?

ODAMA: You know this is what I call the cream of human life. It is the best thing they have done. The example they are setting for the future generation will safeguard and promote humanity. It will promote harmony among the people here in this country Uganda and also other parts of the world. Because they are teaching the children now and the grandchildren to come that when there is any conflict, where you have violence, you should not continue and solve it in a violent way. You must come and solve it through peaceful means, through dialogue, through talking, through understanding and appreciating what exactly caused this war. You should go to the root and eliminate the causes of it. Then they can move forward. This is very important.

PNS: How do you feel that after two decades of calling for a negotiated settlement, government has finally seen sense in talking?

ODAMA: First of all I want to thank the government of Uganda and the LRA for accepting to talk. Two, it is not so much about me really. It is the people, the population who have been demanding this. I was only their voice just as were other leaders. The people have always been demanding that they want to live in peace. They were all along telling the warring sides that if there was anything, talk. If there is no deal, then forgive one another. So the greatest credit goes to the population who are now beginning to feel that they are peaceful and can go about their work, digging, sowing and even travel not worrying much about war. This is very good and they feel very happy about it.

PNS: You have been in this struggle for a long time. What is it like, in Uganda today, to come out and say no, we want peace and justice?

ODAMA: I talk from a point of view of being a believer. In reality, the issue of having a life of peace, of harmony, of justice, is a demand from God. At the end of creating everything, God said that it was good. At the end of the creation of the human being, God said very good. So the state of living in harmony is what God demands from us: I appreciate you, you appreciate me. You accept me, I accept you. You respect me, I respect you and love each other and promote the good of each other. This is what God wants from us. And this is what I meant when I stood up to speak on the demand of God who put me as a leader of the population in the Northern part of Uganda, particularly Gulu Archdiocese which comprises of  Amuru, Gulu, Kitgum and Pader districts. I am the leader of these people. The situation of war was not correct. God had to give me the courage to stand up and speak clearly for the voiceless. I could not fear because I knew this was a mission God gave me. It is the mission God gave to all religious leaders and other leaders. For all leaders, their mission is to unite people and enable them live in harmony with one another. You cannot lead a divided nation. It is even difficult to lead a divided family. So we had to speak courageously because the project of peace and justice is of God.

 PNS: What has been your greatest challenge?

ODAMA: The lack of listening to one another. People do not want to listen to one another easily. The lack of openness and readiness to talk to one another, over issues. People want to solve problems by fighting, not by separating and running away from one another. And they are not ready to say: yes, here I do not understand you. Can we sit down and say this is not good? This was the biggest challenge. This led to the prolonging of the war in the North this far.

PNS: So, failure to listen was the reason why the war went on for this long?

ODAMA: Yes. Although there were other reasons which I had the chance to listen to when they came to the roundtable and started talking. If they had done that earlier, many lives and infrastructure would have been spared. We are now suffering, I tell you this frankly, as a consequence of not listening.

PNS: In 1994 Betty Bigombe almost brought the rebels out of the rebellion save for government’s scuttling of the peace talks at the last hour. Are you convinced that government is genuine about peace talks?

ODAMA: From their speech in Juba they had this to say: The stage at which we have reached is of no return. It means we do not want to go back to war. The government should encourage LRA to move forward. They should be encouraged to overcome the wrangles they have among themselves so that the peace process goes ahead. Similarly, the coming here of the LRA was very good. It was a morale booster for government to tell the rest of the world that they are committed to the negotiated settlement of the war.

PNS: Wasn’t the killing of Vincent Otti a setback?

ODAMA: It should not be a setback. The main reason of having the peace talks is because we are not happy with what they have done. They should go over it quickly and move forward for peace because people desire peace; it is not only us.

PNS: While peace talks are going on, there is land-grabbing and persecution of the opposition in other parts of the country by state agents. How do you relate that to the search for peace in Juba?

ODAMA: These are realities we should try by all means to avoid. Parliament should be tough on this: to advise government and the security agencies against land grabbing and the torture of the opposition. Parliament should be firm because they are there to be the voice of the people when they are oppressed. Those grabbing the land are depriving the poor people. They need to realize that what they are doing is bad and that they are doing it against themselves. They are casting a bad image of themselves. Opposition is good provided it is constructive.; it is good for the nation, for the opposition itself and  government. Physical fighting is useless and government must listen to the people.

PNS: As the search for peace and justice goes on in Uganda, what is your appeal to government?

ODAMA: We must have a nation that has a principle of acting according to justice and promotion of peace. This is what a nation must aim at. In justice there are so many principles of protecting human rights: the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, The Africa Charter… and others. All those have the observation of justice as their mission. When you observe justice you promote peace. We need Uganda to be a peaceful, just country where citizens practice justice among themselves. I have always said this to the 65 tribes of Uganda: we are one people. Our flag is one with black, yellow, red, and a white strip with a crane in the middle and the repetition of black, yellow and red. We all fit in the black; it is the people of Uganda. They are supposed to live as one nation in the brotherhood, the red. The white in the middle is to live in peace. The crane in motion means we are a royal people. Most of the tribes have kings. The crane in motion further means we want progress and prosperity. In reality we must promote peace. All leaders: be it religious or traditional must work for peace. But the people in government should be the first to ensure that we move in the right way.

PNS: And to all Ugandans?

ODAMA: Let us love one another, promote the good of each other and live in harmony and peace.

Demystifying Culture, Herbal medicine for better health

By Valerian Kkonde 

PEARL NEWS SERVICE   

       Reverend Brother Father Anatoli Wasswa is a household name in Uganda and beyond.  This popularity is due to his expertise in herbal medicine, an area many strongly believe is a preserve of divination and supernatural agents.  More so, his determination to demystify misconceptions about culture and cultural practices, has won him admirers and enemies alike.

   “In the culture of Baganda, all sickness and disease have a supernatural cause.  Hence, ideas like ‘bulwadde buganda’ meaning it is caused by supernatural agents, or ‘bulwadde buzungu’ caused by agents of disease as proposed by Western medicine”, Brother Anatoli explains.

   People, Fr. Anatoli goes on, consider the supernatural causes of disease to be: the offended family spirits-lubaale and mizimu- which have to be appeased by offering them sacrifices and building them shrines-masabo.  At other times it can be the soldier spirits-amayembe.  Soldier spirits are of two types: those for defending the family or clan, and those for offence.

   Soldier spirits for defence are thought to be inherited in the family and clan.  But those for offence are thought to be literary bought from witchdoctors and are the ones used for bewitching people.

   The other supernatural cause of disease is thought to be failure to observe a custom or religious practice.  Most notable are those to do with in-laws and twins.  People believe, thus fear, that contact with an in-law of the opposite sex causes tremors for the victim.

   It is worse with the twins; twins are so revered that their birth is supposed to be honoured with an elaborate ceremony, failure of which results in the death of one or both twins, with detrimental effects on the family.

   “The native doctor’s explanation of disease evolves around these causes.  Everything happening to a person, including influenza, will be explained as witchcraft.

   And the major reason why native doctors give such explanation is to convince the patient that witchdoctors have supernatural powers so that the patient submits to the treatment and all demands they may make.”

  With their secrets revealed, native doctors have labelled Br. Fr. Anatoli an enemy out to destroy culture.  He rubbishes such mentality saying that it is impossible to destroy culture while he is aware that culture is the foundation of the diversity that gives a people an identity.  He further says that our traditional ceremonies, rites, taboos, medicine … had deeply religious meaning, and that some had very positive elements of social cohesion.  But that the antics of the native doctor are in most cases, irrelevant to the curative powers of the medicine they administer.

     “Provided that the proper diagnosis has been reached these medicines will work very effectively, freed from the fetters of superstition or witchcraft which is a profane of culture.”

   “Every one of us is convinced that together with positive qualities, negative spots are also present in our character.  The same applies to our culture, indeed to all cultures.  We all, without exception, need to meet the Supreme and Powerful Healer Jesus Christ to purify us and make our characters and cultures more precious and shining for the good of all.  WITCHCRAFT is certainly most in need of the healing power of Christ”.

   Native doctors insist that administration of herbal medicine has to be done inside the shrines. These have become notorious for criminal acts: human sacrifice, ritual murders, rape and outright robbery.

   Shrines are given undue respect which has nothing to do with administration of medicine but instil fear in the patient who goes there.  A woman in her menstrual will not be allowed in, you enter bare footed, and the place where the native doctor sits is a source of fear and not hope: it is decorated with skins of all sorts of rare animals, claws, rare bird feathers, shiny spears, roots and stems twisted artistically by nature.

   Native doctors bedeck themselves with beads, bark cloth, teeth of dead animals and all sorts of things that can cause an aura of omnipotence.

   Brother Anatoli says that his extensive research in herbal medicine and its practice has helped him establish that the shrines are not essential for one to effectively practice herbal medicine.

   Confessions of the converted witchdoctors confirm all this:  “You have come to me with confidence and fear, sure that I was in direct contact with one or more strong spirits.  Now I disclose to you the truth: No, I never had any contact with any spirit at all.  No supernatural power therefore.  I have been INITIATED, not possessed.  The tricks I was taught were my real and only strength.  Yes, I have been deceiving ...  I am so sorry now and ask for the pardon of God and yours.

   “My commitment in confessing the truth and demonstrating what and how I was doing it, to convince you, will now help many to leave witchcraft and its fear; and trust God, His medicines, His teachings and His love.  I assure you,” confesses Jane Nakafeero.

   Jane Nakafeero, 69, is one of the many reformed native medicine people moving countrywide in a bid to convince people to denounce quack medicine people. Nakafeero abandoned the non-essential strings used by witchdoctors, after listening to Br. Fr. Anatoli preach against those practices.  She says that she found herself in this snare as a result of her father wanting to rescue his suffering children.  Nakafeero’s elder sister was barren and her younger brother a thief. Whenever her sister sought a remedy from herbal doctors, they would tell her that she could only bear children after appeasing the clan spirits.  This explanation was later extended to the thieving brother.

   Nakafeero observes that although she was initiated, after her father spending hefty sums of money, her father was operated upon, her sister bore no child, and her thieving brother was killed while trying to steal a bicycle.

   At initiation, she was told a secret “which would cause death if revealed to someone else”.  She was told that she was the spirit and had to keep changing her voice to announce the arrival of a different spirit.  She was cautioned not to embark on any ceremony before all the requirements had been presented to her. But the most important thing was to learn herbal medicine and its proper diagnosis.

   “I have been revealing this secret over and over for the last 27 years but I am still alive,” Nakafeero narrated.

   Dismissing the popular belief that herbal medicine practice is a result of the revelation by the spirits of dead relatives, Brother Anatoli says that he just picked interest in herbal medicine the way we all pick interest in this or that.

   “I embarked on the exercise of educating myself on medicinal herbs. I have received much assistance from native practitioners who have abandoned divination and other non-essentials. To-date we are busy improving on methods of preparation, storage and administration”.

    Brother Anatoli’s early encounter with the healing powers of herbal medicine left an indelible mark on him, thus the respect and desire to streamline its practice and administration.

Born February 15, 1927 Brother Anatoli had a severe heart problem which greatly bothered his parents: the late Thanasius Ssalongo Mivule and Juliana Nnalongo Nambwayo. Efforts to treat it with scientific drugs yielded nothing.

   It was Brother Joseph Balikuddembe (RIP) who gave him the herbal medicine which cured him and changed his life fundamentally.

   His efforts to demystify herbal medicine were rewarded with getting in touch with a great herbalist Sr. Rosalina of Bwanda religious Sisters, and a priest of the White Fathers’ congregation, Fr. Pelinet.

   Fr. Pelinet had done a lot of research on herbal medicine.  He later handed all his findings to Brother Anatoli, which he has strengthened with more research, improved administering and storage.

   In 1981, the Masaka Diocesan Synod, after reading the “signs of the times”, set up a Committee to do research, make recommendations and educate the faithful on, among other things, traditional cultural beliefs as well as traditional medicine.  To Brother Anatoli, this was sending lizard to thatch.

    “We established that people go to traditional shrines to look for life.  We decided to put the medicine within easy reach of the people.”

    Among the many problems Brother Anatoli has encountered, is the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Welfare’s failure to do enough research so as to identify the helpful cultural practices and those detrimental to society. 

   “We still have to convince Government that witchcraft is not a cultural practice.  It is thus wrong to issue certificates to witchdoctors to practice herbal medicine,” regrets Brother Anatoli.

   But as a member of the Committee, charged with finding better means of preserving and promoting herbal medicine, in His Majesty King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II’s Buganda Government, hopes of doing away with deceitful and undignified herbal medicine practices are real.

   From time to time there are claims of soldier spirits terrorising and displacing residents in different parts of the country. Then some native doctor comes and restores order after being paid the money demanded for. This reinforces Brother Anatoli’s argument.                                                                                                                                                                              

   Witchcraft is not only backward, but an insult to human intelligence. Witchdoctors confuse people’s intelligence reducing it to the limits of a small child.  It has also caused

a lot of suffering by sowing hatred among people at their places of work and among family members. 

   Although people continue to lose their lives for being suspected witches, others are killed for being wrongly accused by witchdoctors, and the press is full with reports of en lightly referred to as human sacrifice- rape and outright robbery all in the name of herbal medicine administration and cultural practice, government continues to issue licences to native doctors!

   Even the confessions of reformed native doctors have failed to move government officials into action. What extent of catastrophe will move them?  For how long are                                                                                                                   

people going to suffer at the hands of witchcraft, witches and witchdoctors who thrive on people’s fear of spirits?                                                                               

                                                                                                      

   To Brother Anatoli, the root cause of all these problems is the trend of forgetting God’s role in our lives, and put trust in witchcraft.  People have taken to wrong methods of self-sustaining, politically and economically.

   Families and schools, he goes on, have long seized to be nurseries of good morals.  Moral decadence is so intense that it does not discriminate between the literate and non-literate.

   “Schools are after money, awarding certificates, and attracting more pupils while morals are left to who it may concern.  While virginity was a virtue some years back, today it is a shame.

“We need a fundamental turn-about to plants.  We have succeeded in treating cases that have failed with Western drugs like diabetes, ulcers, impotence, sickle cells, high blood pressure, asthma and alcoholism,” Br. Anatoli explains.