Obote, rightly or wrongly, as we, the Gen-Zs, have been taught, is everything vile about Uganda’s politics. That is the indelible danger of history—it is unforgiving. Perhaps it is the only true justice in a society like ours, where democracy is a myth.

Obote is the epitome of injustice: armed yet masked gunmen breaking into the houses of opposition leaders without warrants; security operatives whisking away people for bearing varying political ideologies, never to be seen again; the State mitigating the freedom of expression and tramping the rights of citizens without any iota of decorum; morphing courts of law into a political weapon; shooting at unarmed civilians only to diffuse fear… 

It is thus incontestable that our Matigari [patriots who survived bullets] went to the bush, armed to the teeth, to wrestle with Oboteism, after our senior patriot, His Excellency Tibuhaburwa, was robbed of his victory as the Uganda Patriotic Movement president in 1980.

In fact, vote-rigging is as old in our politics as time—Obote imported such a colonial sin into our country. He bribed voters; his men pre-ticked ballots in broad daylight; he detained whoever disagreed with his barbarism, without charge or trial; he stifled the constitution… Oh, repulsive Obote! Good enough, our patriots kicked him out before he could rule the country for forty years. As His Excellency Tibuhaburwa once said, Uganda’s problem is leaders who do not want to leave power. But I add: Uganda’s problem is greedy leaders who think Uganda is their property.

And, for you, sleepy Ugandans, who still think that present-day injustice will dissipate on its own, you should draw lessons from our Matigari: lawlessness is defied, not voted against. In fact, it is insulting for victims to get into an election organised by their perpetrators with the hope of voting themselves out of servitude. This is akin to the eagles organising an election for the chickens to vote against their chicks being eaten. Such an election can never be free and fair—our great patriots knew this, and they acted swiftly.

However, the struggle against Oboteism is unremitting—for another Obote sprouts the moment an Obote is kicked out. How sad that political monsters never die entirely. Dear Ugandans, His Excellency Tibuhaburwa is dearly missed; he would have salvaged his thinning country from yet another Obote. Contemporary Uganda is not what our retired hero fought for. Uganda, under the current Obote, has become a famished bitch that feasts on its own puppies.

As of today, thousands of opposition supporters and leaders across Uganda have been abducted and murdered in cold blood, and some have been detained on trumped-up charges; Dr Kizza Besigye, who opposed Obote’s government for more than two decades, was abducted from Kenya, and now he battles treason charges in Ugandan courts, without any concrete evidence but only rhetoric to implicate him.

Bobi Wine [Robert Kyagulanyi], the contemporary leading opposition leader, is on the run after the January 15th presidential elections, which were marred by violence and abductions of the National Unity Platform supporters. His home is under siege, and armed yet masked gunmen, as per his son’s [Solomon Kampala] tweets of yesterday, the 23rd of January [with video evidence], broke into his house, ransacked it, beat up his family, and isolated his wife.

Under the current Obote regime, abnormalities have been normalised, and those who resist his rule have been labelled criminals—terrorists, and terrorists either rot in jail or are gunned down at first sight. Thus, the only way you can survive in this country is by being a sycophant, dancing to the tunes of injustice. In fact, patriotism has been redefined; it is about defending Obote’s wrongs against all odds. Obote is always right.

Certainly, our senior patriot, His Excellency Tibuhaburwa, sneers at today’s Obote, under whose watch the country has become a shadow of its old self. He must be wondering why he even led the revolution in the 1980s—there are no fruits to show for it.

Obote’s son, who also doubles as the country’s Chief of Defence Forces with absolute power, proudly tweets about killing hundreds of opposition supporters, about castrating Bobi Wine, and about hanging Dr Kizza Besigye, and nothing is wrong with that—some people clap for him—but words are not mere words if said by a dupe with power. Our patriots must be disappointed.

We are in dangerous times. Dissent is criminal. Truth is treasonous. And our leaders are the country’s worst enemies. The current Obote rules us with an iron fist, and with the help of the security organs, he sows fear all over the country. Corruption is more prominent than service delivery, for it knits the already-tattered government. Ugandans are hopeless, as everyone is a potential terrorist.

Obote has misgoverned us, and there is nothing but resistance, like our senior patriot, His Excellency Tibuhaburwa, showed in the 1980s when he and his comrades picked up arms and confronted the Obote of their time, that can save us from the current Obote.

All over the world, if there is any language that oppressors understand, it is defiance. Mass defiance—and no security brutality can counter the awakened masses who have recognised their condition.  As Ngugi Wa Thiong’o writes in his 1986 novel, Matigari, justice for the oppressed comes from a sharpened spear. And unless Ugandans sharpen their spears, modern Obote will always be a cancer that gnaws not only at their country but also at their liberties.