What is YOUR position or view about the ongoing human rights abuses in Uganda?

Have you done ANYTHING about the serious abuses being perpetrated
daily by Museveni and his military regime in Uganda?

Or are you silently complicit with the human rights violations in Uganda?
“Silence in the face of injustice is complicity with the oppressor.” (Ginetta Sagan)

If you have not yet done anything, is it because . . . .

• you don’t believe any of the evidence of abuses or
• you don’t care or
• you don’t have enough time to even sign a petition or
• you are neutral or
• you feel helpless, thinking there is nothing you can do or
• it’s none of your business or
• Ugandans have brought it on themselves and should sort it out themselves or
• there are too many other problems and crises around the world which you are already involved in?

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have CHOSEN the side of the oppressor.” (Archbishop Desmond Tutu)
These are uncomfortable words. So where do you stand?

What have YOU CHOSEN? Whose side are you on?

Have you, albeit unwittingly, chosen to stand on the side of Museveni and his security forces, the oppressors, who are still daily abducting, imprisoning without charge or trial, poisoning, torturing and killing hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent supporters of the opposition NUP party?

Here is a message one of my friends in Kampala sent me a few days ago:

“We as Ugandans have cried out loudly for help but the other nations are quiet and not bothered, not even the petition have they signed. This is what we call brotherhood? When one can’t even feel the pain of others. Are they in support of what we are going through? We Ugandans – what bad thing have we done to other nations so that we can ask for forgiveness and they come to our rescue 😭😭😭😭😭? We are losing our good leaders for the truth. We are undergoing mental disturbance. We can’t even afford the treatment. We are dieing, leaving our kids behind. We need help. Oh God where are you? Nations are silent. They have given us to the enemies. Our hope is in you alone 😭😭😭 hear our cry prayers and please come to deliver Uganda 😭😭😭.”

 

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” This is a challenging statement by Martin Luther King jr (1929-1968).

This post is written mainly for those of you who have not yet taken any action on behalf of Uganda.

If you are one of the few who has already signed the petition and perhaps even taken other action, thank you very much for supporting my efforts but, more importantly, for supporting Ugandans yearning for justice and democracy and showing them they are not alone or forgotten.

The opposition in Uganda has consistently refused to take up arms and fight physically for justice – which is why they deserve the support of the world.

I find it very disheartening that so few non-Ugandans have signed the PETITION. Even though many Ugandans (especially those living in Uganda) are taking risks by signing and writing comments, about 80% of the signatories so far are Ugandans! Only a few hundred from all the other countries in the world have signed! WHY?? What kind of message is that sending to Ugandans who are literally crying out for their pain and grief to be heard and acknowledged? Even if your signature achieves nothing else, at least it shows support and solidarity with those who are suffering, apparently unheard and uncared for. It costs us nothing to sign and thereby take a stand against evil and show some love and concern. If only the rest of us could reverse that statistic and make it 80% non-Ugandan signatories.

If you have already signed the petition, can I ask you to PLEASE GO BACK to the petition and check because I know of at least ten people who have told me they have signed and yet their signatures have NOT been registered. If your signature has been registered, then it won’t let you sign again. But if it asks you to Sign this petition, then it means your signature hasn’t been registered. Try signing on a different device. If you want me to check for you, just let me know. And if there is more than one adult in your household, could you please encourage them all to sign, but using different devices? Even if you have signed and shared the petition before, would you be willing to share it again because so few people respond the first time?

Those of us living in “Western” countries (especially USA, UK, Germany and Italy) have a special responsibility to do something as our governments are particularly culpable and complicit, supporting Museveni and his military regime for our own selfish reasons such as using Ugandan forces to fight our battles against Islamicist extremists in Africa and for plundering its resources.

I am very concerned, along with many others, about the potential crackdown against the opposition in the next week or two as Museveni and his supporters prepare for the Presidential Swearing-in Ceremony in a week’s time, on Wednesday 12th May 2021. There is plenty of evidence that Bobi Wine (Robert Kyagulanyi) actually won the Presidential Election on 14th January 2021. Although his supporters won’t be violent, they may well want to demonstrate which will inevitably provoke a violent response from the security forces. And the Western media is unlikely to be present to tell us what is happening. We will, as always, be dependent on social media and African media for news of events,

 

Signing and sharing a petition is so quick and easy.  It is beyond my understanding why so few of my family and friends have yet signed the petition, even though many of them actually have links with Uganda or have visited. I know one person who says she believes the right way to respond is through prayer alone. For Christians, I think there is so much in the Bible about action as well, for justice, helping the vulnerable, supporting those in prison, widows and orphans. For me, prayer and action are inseparable.

If it’s just that you haven’t got around to it yet, then please don’t put it off again. And please ask other people in your household to sign it (signing on different devices, such as iPhones) and then share it on social media. I need to wind up the petition and send the signatories to the UN Human Rights Council by the end of May.

I have reached the end! I am running out of energy, support and ideas, and becoming “allergic” to spending hours each day on the computer for little or no apparent impact. So you will be pleased to know (if you have read this far) that this will be my last cajoling post! I will send the petition to the UN, with however few signatures there are, and tell Ugandans I have failed in my attempts to mobilise help bring an end to the injustices in Uganda. I have overestimated people’s willingness to take action for suffering and injustice in another part of the world. This is a painful conclusion to come to which leaves me feeling despondent, helpless and hopeless. No wonder Ugandans feel so desperate.

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