I have had occasion to sit down with and interview two distinguished African soldiers; former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and South African writer and former Umkhonto we Sizwe (spear of the nation) —
ANC’s liberation army — fighter, Prof Mongane Wally Serote.
President Obasanjo’s motivation to join the military was “service” whereas Prof Mongane’s motivation was “liberation”. Well, I am on my next flight to Entebbe, this time, to sit down and chat with former guerrilla fighter, and now Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. I have just finished reading the second edition of President Museveni’s memoir, Sowing the Mustard Seed.
Museveni is dialectal, a polemicist, a pugilist who delivers the best of his well calculated punches on your nose, when you least expect it. But what is President Museveni’s military orientation? In the first edition, Museveni did not have the time to sit down and write the book, instead, he agreed to extensive interviews with MacMillan’s Dr Shillington in the presence of one of his staff members, Elizabeth Kanyogonya. However, since both Dr Shillington and Kanyogonya “were not part of the events, they would give different emphasis to points that were peripheral and, sometimes get facts wrong,” thus the need to tell the story himself.
“Therefore,” he writes, “this version is about the story and also the style.”
The book starts with an extrapolation on linguistics, juxtaposing English and Runyankore (European and African) languages, arguing that African languages are “superior,” and looks at the mechanic of language that would make distinguished Kenyan literary scholar and grammarian Prof Henry Indangasi envious!
Born in 1944 to Banyankore parents, Museveni left Uganda after completing his A-Levels in 1966, to go and study at the University of Dar es Salaam. When he arrived in Tanzania he found that Tanzania was a laboratory for the liberation movements in Southern Africa. It was here that the idealistic Museveni got his “political awakening”, becoming a fervent supporter of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, his role model.
Nyerere had clarity of vision on the East African Federation, and provided support for
the liberation of Southern African countries which were still under the yoke of colonialism; Mozambique, South Africa, Angola, Namibia, Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde. He allowed liberation movements from these countries to operate from Dar es Salaam “while other African leaders were paying lip service to the African struggle or, collaborating with the imperialists.”
Even students at university were mere “careerists” interested only in filling the administrative positions of the just departed colonialists. Yet all the firebrands were based here; Edwardo Mondlane, Joaquim Chissano, Mercelino Dos Santos, Samora Machel, Sam Nujoma. Museveni started visiting these leaders.
In 1968, Mondlane arranged for Museveni and six other students to visit the liberated areas under Frelimo in Mozambique. The group received military training. Thus, Museveni’s motivation to join the military was “revolutionary.” In 1969, Museveni went to North Korea where he received more military training.
After university, Museveni returned to his country and was employed as a research officer in the Office of President. One of the malaises afflicting Uganda and most post-independence Africa was “sectarianism”, a symptom of “bankruptcy” in leadership. These politicians ruled without recourse to the ancient and tried “symbiotic” relations the African had mustered as the antidote to the “parasitic” tendencies of myopic feudal rulers.
Museveni wanted to cure this. Idi Amin eventually staged a coup d’état. Museveni fled to Tanzania, and there he began his armed struggle, recruiting first the “legendary 28 guerrillas” whom he sent to Mozambique for military training. This book therefore is about military science; the theatre of war. Museveni is clear on the distinctions between “coup d’état” and “guerrilla warfare,” the prolonged people’s war.
It’s a story of bravery and sacrifice. Indeed,
once Museveni escaped assassination in Nairobi by the notorious Patrick Shaw. President
Museveni’s adversary Dr Kizza Besigye does not feature prominently in that epic
battle. He appears in the book late in 1985, when Museveni fainted and fell
down in the jungle of Ssingo Hills. Dr Besigye who was walking close behind
came to his rescue; he “gave me some rehydration salts dissolved in water.” Where
was Dr Besigye in 1971 when Museveni together with the likes of Eriya Kategaya,
Ruhakana Rugunda, and Mwesiga decided to resist Idi Amin? Dr Besigye should
tell his side of the story.
What do we know about the Rwandan genocide? We are in danger of hearing the clangour of the victor, always! NRM is guided by four principles: patriotism, Pan-Africanism, socio-economic transformation, and democracy. Museveni lists “ideological disorientation” as the first “strategic bottleneck” on the path to achieving these goals. On the political union of the whole of Africa, Museveni say it is neither possible nor desirable.
Museveni responds to proponents of “term limits” by arguing that in a democratic polity, what is important is for elections to be held “periodically". Hear him: “Leadership, in the African context today, is about the mission and national salvation and not about improving the CVs of individuals or about ‘Vaawo nange ntureko’ — let me also take my turn on the seat!” Is Museveni a messiah?