Lumumba Amin’s missive against Besigye (Full letter)

PUBLIC LETTER: MR. BESIGYE! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU EXACTLY?
Picture: Yesterday my brother Gen. Taban Amin meeting Yoweri Museveni who came to campaign for his son Taban Amin junior in the race for the Kabanda North Constituency parliamentary seat. Taban is my father’s eldest son. A former Russian trained jet fighter pilot from the 70’s and now a General in the Ugandan army (UPDF). Me and him used to speak Russian together until I forgot the language and learnt French instead.

Personally, I am an independent minded person. But everyone has the right to choose their political beliefs and party belonging.

My nephew Taban Amin junior and his father Taban Amin (pictured), both subscribe to the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party under its Chairman Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. That is why Mr. Museveni came to add his weight in the campaign. He does that for all NRM candidates.

Kizza Besigye who is the opposition leader, does the same for all FDC party candidates.

So it was shocking to read Mr. Besigye’s comment on social media mbu: “Mr M7 campaigns for Amin. George Orwell’s genius never dims!”

Why?

The message was copied to CNN and others. What does he mean? Especially that I have another nephew Sadik Amin, who stood on Besigye’s FDC party ticket in Busia in 2016 and is a die-hard FDC party official whom Besigye and his top team regularly sit and plan their party activities with. So basically Besigye’s stupidity is the only thing that is not dimming here. He might not have a beauty mirror in his bathroom to check himself first before subtly demonizing others deliberately for political expediency.

That cannot be a sign of wisdom or political maturity.

Because whatever he meant by his statement applies to him as well.

If it is about the famous Animal farm pigs, then that makes Besigye another pig himself who has also failed to leave his FDC Animal farm to other non-pigs.

Let me remind Mr. Besigye that this picture is way beyond the usual NRM versus FDC squabbles. It has bearing in the history of this country.

For those of you who know Museveni’s history fighting Amin, I bet you understand that it was not an easy journey to get to this day where he publicly campaigns for Amin’s grandson.

Though some may see it as a decision taken out of political expediency on his part, the outdated old enemities that have caused so much bloodshed in this country need to be gotten out of the window in the most reconciliatory ways possible. That is the part that I advise Mr. Besigye to think about. Because at this point he is probably insulting himself and pushing his supporters towards the path of continuous conflict in a country that has obviously moved on from the past.

I once asked Besigye that rather than talking about the so-called “Amin days” when he was a good, well paid medical student studying for free under Amin’s government, why doesn’t he expose his role in the killing of innocent peasants in Luweero during the infamous “Milton Obote days” in the 1980’s after Amin. How many Ugandan civilians did he try to save from his comrades with those medical skills when they were massacring Ugandans? He was an Amin-trained doctor right?Just like his wife was an Amin-trained aeronautical engineer. The first Ugandan woman to become one. Thanks to President Idi Amin.

So I want to ask Dr. Besigye again, how many people did he himself massacre in the 80’s with the infamous ‘kafuni’ club that had a six inch nail fitted on its top for hitting innocent civilians heads and thereby not waste precious bullets? Please tell us how many helpless people died at your own hands Mr. Besigye?

So in good faith, and knowing our history, I congratulate Mr. Museveni whole heartedly on this one. The business of seeking the right direction for a country is not easy. It demands that leaders come down from their high horses. And I ask Besigye to learn from this if he still wants to give the presidential seat a 5th run. Because in this country, if he ever becomes president, he will possibly find himself having to do the same with his own old enemies in the name of national progress.

Sure, tomorrow I will criticize the many incoherences that constantly surface in Museveni’s politics. That doesn’t mean we are fighting against each other to the death like Besigye was doing against Obote’s massacres in the 80’s. It is simply my duty to this country. Constructive criticism, even in anger, is the development tool that enables progress in civilized societies.

But attempting to demonize a person for contesting in an open election is simply the most intolerant view I’ve ever heard on my family. Does Besigye now want my nephew to capture the Kabanda North parliamentary seat by a military take-over or what?

Of all people, I didn’t expect such a stupid, ignorance-filled statement from Dr. Kizza Besigye. He is usually far brighter than that on national politics.

In fact I now advise him that he needs to meet Mr. Museveni at least once every year, probably during a function like Independence Day, so as to remove the endemic bitter political polarization between his party and the NRM as is done in other civilized countries.

Imagine what this country’s destiny would have been like if President Amin had been able to meet Milton Obote and shake hands after their bitter feud?

Do we realize that it took the Pope to come to Uganda for Besigye and Museveni to finally shake hands after 15 years?
I remember vividly that had it not been for NRM Secretary General Justine Lumumba to have the presence of mind and show Museveni towards the opposition leaders, that memorable handshake would not have happened, especially if it depended on Besigye going to greet Museveni.

So let us cool down ladies and gentlemen in politics. Using Western bullshit in our local political context doesn’t help Uganda. It was designed to serve their own western interests of continued control and abuse on Uganda. No Pan-Africanist should be parroting that nonsense. It is against Africans at large.

And I surely will oppose any Ugandan leader who comes up with that rhetoric expecting political capital in return.

Actually they don’t know that they gain nothing in Uganda with that nonsense. On the contrary it was possibly directed towards Besigye’s western backers, thinking they can have a good laugh together from mocking my father.

No wonder the last batch of pigs that where thrown before parliament had the blue FDC party color of Kizza Besigye.
Thank God the new generation of Ugandans has overcome the demonization.

Whether in the party primaries or during the 2016 elections, my nephew Taban Amin junior won with a landslide (above 70%). The people of Kabanda North constituency might want to repeat that message again in the upcoming by-election for those who didn’t get it the first time.

Actually most Ugandans today consider President Idi Amin to be the most patriotic nationalist leader Uganda has ever had.

The author Hussein Lumumba Amin is the son of former Uganda President Idi Amin Dada.