Aren’t we tired of moving in circles?

A few days ago, a friend of mine asked for my opinion on the recent reshuffle of the Leader of Opposition by the leading opposition party, National Unity Platform. Like seriously?

There are things that I have consciously decided to stop giving attention to and even comment about. The current parliament is of those things. I feel like we have been running in circles and at this point, we are stuck in an intricate web that is slowly but surely choking us.

I told my dear friend that I really have no comment on the reshuffle because; NO HOPE, NO CHANGE. The legislature has been rendered a powerless arm of government. Surely, do you expect Joel Ssenyonyi to miraculously turn things around? It is already unfair that he is being compared with the outgoing LoP, and it all seems like a contest between the two.

Let me blow your bubble: Ssenyonyi is stepping into an arena where, just like his predecessor, he will be made to look like a joke. The system is designed to fail promising leaders like him. A few months from now, I will not be surprised to see Ssenyonyi being roasted, just like his predecessor.

As long as the high-tempered speaker who runs parliament like a kindergarten in order to assert her authority is still in that house, the office of the Leader of Opposition will remain a shadow that it has been turned into. As long as Museveni, who runs the country on a family WhatsApp group, is still in that seat, the reshuffle of the LoP is not a big deal.

We need to uproot the system from the mother root. The year 2023 has seen us do a lot of consciousness arising through digital activism. I commend all those who have dared to challenge the junta with all means available to them. But please, if you may, allow me to express my disappointment. It seems we have become so comfortable in this era of hashtags.

Museveni and Musevenism cannot and will not be removed by hashtags. He has milked the situation to his advantage. Complaints about potholes? Sure, he will send his only dramatic son to tour the potholes. The son will secure a contract for his bandits to masquerade as the saviours of the situation.

Or better still, Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) will show up with caterpillars and graders and they will quote that post with pictures of their machinery. Satisfied? Is it enough that we rant and they come out of their hubris to show concern or scorn us even the more? We accuse and argue, they counter- accuse and counterargue. The system is dysfunctional. We need serious action.

Honestly, how did we freely let go of our rights to assemble, peacefully protest and the like? I know what you are thinking. Oh yes, they  have the guns and tear gas. They have the trigger-happy mercenaries on standby. But can’t you see the writing on the wall? That they are COWARDS; they know that power lies in the hands of the people.

And because of this fear, they decide to arm themselves to the teeth and crush whoever crosses their path. They take all the credit for being true revolutionaries who put their lives at risk to secure power under the guise of liberation. On the other hand, we have been turned into apple-eating revolutionaries, sucked into popularism.

When we make that one tweet that goes viral, then we swell as we pick on apples at our tables as we watch ourselves on tele-making headlines. We are so fierce online but behind closed doors, we think about and plan for what to put in our mouths on a daily. We have censored ourselves in many ways. We fear to lose jobs, miss promotions and get isolated.

The cowards at the helm of power have transferred their fear onto us. They know that we have the power to catch them and hold them accountable. They arrest, torture and displace a few to make an example to the rest of the masses.

We get scared at the sight of fresh wounds from our tortured comrades. We even fight our comrades. We accuse them for using strong vocabulary and being too radical. Maybe, if they had been a bit sensitive in their ways, then they wouldn’t have gotten into so much trouble.

The cowards at the helm of power have made us turn against one another. They use our resources to lure a few with mouth-watering deals in exchange for their silence. And then they have the guts to tell us how our comrades are in bed with them. This makes us turn our focus and attention onto ourselves and point out who is the mole and who is not.

Institutions have been rendered dysfunctional. We know this yet we go ahead to crucify our opposition politicians in some of those offices. The Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago has done nothing for the city blah blah… Yet, it is on record that the president bragged about fighting Lukwago.

Dear countrywoman and countryman, aren’t you tired of moving in circles? I would like to remind you that we are at war. We have had so many boiling points. Every day, there’s a new trigger.

Power belongs to the people, power belongs to us.

Happy New Year, Uganda! May we attain the freedom and good service delivery that we so much desire!

ashabaannah@gmail.com

The writer is a human rights activist.