Museveni’s NRM USA organization will, until it collapses, remember September 26, 2009 as a bloody day. Pressure from American Baganda forced their primary funder, Uganda’s ruler, Yoweri Museveni keep away from their 2009 NRM Forum in Boston.  The pressure came from the widely publicized plans by Baganda to demonstrate at the venue and the persistence of the same Kabaka’s subjects who came to the venue even after mixed messages about Museveni’s attendance. The Baganda came from New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Canada and elsewhere.

An estimated 200 Baganda , under the eye of the Boston Police, stood  across the street from the entrance to the Marriott Copley Place Hotel and loudly demonstrated from 10:00 AM to 3:30 PM.  They held  up placards that, among other things,  accused Museveni of genocide, stated that Buganda is an occupied country and demanded the release of Baganda political prisoners. Throughout the over 5 hours of demonstration, Baganda kept singing “Kitiibwa kya Buganda”, praising Kabaka Mutebi and chanting slogans like “Akaalo ka Buganda keeko, akalo kaliko nannyiniko”, “Tulina Kabaka, tulina ennyondo”, “We want change, Museveni must go!” and so on. Curious car drivers kept honking and showing ‘V” signs, which kept the demonstrators energized.

Our contact within  NRM USA admitted that the Baganda demonstration caused the NRM Forum to flop but would not comment of where Museveni was hiding.  Speaking on condition anonymity the source told us that between 25 and 30 people attended the event.  And when pressed, the source admitted that this number included over 15 organizers, government officials and spouses. Interestingly, the source, who is usually very defensive of  Museveni, said “no comment” when asked if the Uganda president has been scared away by the Baganda. However, the source agreed that Buganda Post was “in the ball park” when we reported that president Museveni had decided to leave early and skip Boston, and then changed his mind. When we brought up the feet pain issues, the source only asked: “Where do you get that nonsense from?”.

A prominent Muganda analyst based in New York told us that there is no doubt in his mind that Baganda demonstrators in New York and Boston combined with the Obama snub shook up Museveni.  The analyst explained: “You have to remember that throughout the Bush years, Museveni enjoyed open access to the US State House. For some reason he has not gotten used to the idea that Bush left, so he assumed that Obama would meet him personally. Thanks to Johnny Carson’s [US Undersecretary of State for Africa] intimate knowledge of Museveni’s regime, Obama administration put together a well-planned snub, which included ensuring that Obama’s TV images showed him speaking to the Uganda’s corrupt strongman for less than 5 seconds and immediately turning his back to him.

Our analyst adds: “In meeting Moammar Gadaffi, Museveni was hoping to make America  jealous. Now, if Obama’s administration fell for I would be shocked. I understand that Museveni had some meetings with Balaalo students under the secret state house scholarship and got a briefing on the progress of a program by Ruhakana Rugunda and his wife to recruit Baganda women in the USA.  However, the only thing he seriously looked forward to was holding court at the NRM Forum in Boston. In scaring  Museveni away from Boston and sabotaging the forum, the USA Baganda exposed his cowardice. However, very much like a man who gets fired from his job and runs home beat his children, expect the sulking Museveni to return to Uganda and take his frustration on Kabaka and Baganda, to revenge the humiliation he has suffered. The interesting part is that Buganda will get even stronger as no one can claim the ‘twebaka ku tulo’ and ‘Tumukwaate mpola’ crap.”

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Boston, USA: Ttabamiruka, Where NRM has Become a Dirty Word

Fellow Ugandans,

The country now more than ever is in dire need for independent minded thinkers to get us out of the quagmire of corruption, self destruction, unemployment and to improve the delivery of services in all sectors of our government albeit from a pool of the unencumbered, foresight third eye of the country.

The diaspora is made up of many disenfranchised capable hands, not so easily corruptible and with the potential to transform our nation, as long as that threshold of trust is reached without breach or violation as witnessed in these UNAA campaigns.

Some here have argued that President Museveni has surrounded himself with many yes men and women, who simply allow his continued sailing without alarm, stiffness or warning of looming danger from policies pursued; the president of UNAA should not to be in the same camp.

UNAA is one of the remaining organizations where civil exchange and honest to God, dialogue regarding deferred hopes, aspirations and expectations for tangible progress can still be heard uncensored.

Muzzling this discourse of reason and dissent, while desperately searching for a tenable position of development can only have dire consequences for our beloved country.

This obsession to sniff out and snobbishly infiltrate an organization with the desire to take over, despite repeated pleas,  not to meddle, will spoil the effectiveness of such organs to provide venting space for those disgruntled and disenchanted with the way things have been handled  in the country for the last twenty some years.

There are many among us in the diaspora who question the genius and preoccupation of buying men simply to make them blind followers rather than to seek them out for more erudite matters of thought and skill.

NRM strategists, ought to know that many of us in the diaspora tend to pear behind the rosy façade, often exposing the party line for what it is.

Further more we have acquired an appetite for verifiable honesty in dialogue and that is what we expect from our leadership.

We cringe when we see the out muscling of ordinary folks to impose non-progressive figure heads with blinders, bent on killing the free will and spirit of Ugandans, thus alienating those who might have added value to the development of the country.

The reality of the matter is: NRM needs the diaspora to inject not just cash but added wisdom to change the course of our nation. However, many in the diaspora want to work with honest brokers, those with a serious willingness to address and resolve critical issues that have dogged us for decades.

If such rules of engagement are not established, a Ttabamiruka, like scenario, where mention of the NRM-has become a dirty word, will ultimately ensue, resulting in a more parochial approach to development.

I would much rather see the prevalence of cool heads and practical dialogue, especially among the southerners, where lately there has been too much posturing of grown up men, baited and preoccupied with matters irrelevant to progress, put to the forefront by enemies of the state for purposes of disagreement.

Such agents of confusion have to be recognized for what they are, and I will repeat this call for a tribal ombudsman to bring a cessation to the polarization of Ugandans along tribal lines.

Remember, It is not how you get to the top, it matters most who you get there  with.

Tendo Kaluma

Ugandan in Boston

Sources close to the Uganda North American Association (UNAA) Vice President, Moses Kalemba, tell this reporter that NRM operatives have a plot to derail Ttabamiruka ’09 during the next Ggawangamujje Boston general meeting. The meeting is to be held on November 9, 2008, and according to our sources in Boston, the strategy that Kalemba and Bukenya emphasize first changing the Ttabamiruka date from September to May. Bukenya is a diehard NRM who, like Kalemba, takes the view that Baganda events like Ttabamiruka must not become an alternative to their UNAA Convention. However, they support similar conferences by Basoga, Bakiga, Bamasaba, Acholis and other nationalities.

According to the sources, the Kalemba/Bukenya team scored first when they bulldozed a clearly weak Ggwangamujje Executive to agree that changing of the Ttabamiruka ’09 date to May or July be put to a vote in a general meeting. And now they are engaged in a well funded intense ground campaign (“kakuyege”) to get very many of their supporters to the November 9, 2008 meeting and vote for the date change they want.  Apparently, they are confident that, once the date is changed to May 2009, there simply will not be enough time for the Ggwangamujje Executive to organize a serious Ttabamiruka. So, in short order the powerful Baganda conference which shook Museveni in 2007 and 2008 will be dead.

Members of the Ggwangamujje Boston Executive include Reverend Nakabaale (President), NRM’s Bukenya (Vice President), Prof. Lugira, Kato Kajubi, Samalie Kajubi, Ssali, Mark Kizza, Mayanja and Dan Nvule. Historically, the Boston chapter of Ggwangamujje has suffered from NRM manipulation, placing a cloud of doubt over the overall loyalty of Boston Baganda to their Kabaka and nation. The immediate past president of Ggwangamujje Boston is Abdul Kimbugwe who simultaneously held that position with Chairmanship of UNAA. Kimbugwe was later widely reported to be an ISO operative who was later recalled by State House and given a consultant job in Uganda Revenue Authority. All evidence so far is that Reverend Nakabaale and a few others on his Executive may be committed to the Buganda cause but they simply don’t have the experience and organizational skills to fight off the NRM.

Bukenya is Vice President of Ggwangamujje Boston but also, together with Kalemba,  one of the UNAA Convention organizers.  He is one of the NRMs strongest activists and has on many occasions spoken against Ttabamiruka. He has never attended a Ttabamiruka conference but was one of the key organizers of the UNAA convention in Florida. Moses Kalemba is Vice President of UNAA and a well known opponent of Ttabamiruka. This reporter has reliably learnt that Moses Kalemba is a Muganda or Mmamba but opposed to Baganda only affairs.

On September 25, 2008, Buganda Post broke the story that Boston Baganda were  threatening to report, directly to Kabaka Mutebi that NRM activists in the USA who had accepted money from Kampala were plotting to sabotage the next Ttabamiruka conference.  This reporter kindly requests all those who will attend the November 9, 2008, Ggwangamujje general meeting to send your observation to info@bugandapost.com.