Opinion

OPINION: Why Guns, Force and Suppression Cannot Solve Rwenzori Mystery

Rwenzururu King Mumbere Charles being escorted to court

Last time I gave you the definition of madness according to one medical professor who defined it as the act of doing the same thing, in the same way, using the same method, time and again but expecting different results.

Let me say that my heart was left bleeding profusely when I read some piece of advice by some clergy men who advised government to demobilise, demilitarise and disarm a non existent militia group because I know this can only result into non other than more deaths.

Allow me to break it with some brief history.
It’s now about 100years when the Rwenzoris has never had total peace and every time a conflict erupts, authorities have always killed and suppressed people.

Around 1918 when Tibamwenda, Nyamutswa and Kapolyo staged a resistance, people were seriously killed, the three leaders of the resistance arrested and killed in public amidst a gathering of people, an act that I guess was aimed at sending a signal and serious warning to the people never to dare resist again.

But guess what, this brutal execution of these three men is one of the reasons that forced Isaya Mukirania in the 1960s to stage a more organized resistance than the first named the Rwenzururu movement that last for about 20years until the Obote regime gave up and opted for talks with its leaders resulting in the descending of the Omusinga Mumbere from the mountains and his subsequent travel to the USA for studies.

But because the reason for staging the resistance which I guess was majorly looking for the answer to the Rwenzori question had not been discussed, in 2014 we again witnessed clashes that culminated into the November 2016 palace raid that left about 200people dead and others arrested including the Rwenzururu king.

A problem known is a problem half solved, I guess the Rwenzori issues are clear but I just bet that probably there lacks deliberate will to solve them.
Why would for example a sane mind suggest use of force to solve the Rwenzori crisis a method that has practically failed for 100years.

Patriots have it that people will always love their beliefs more than their own lives and may at any given time be willing to loose their lives in defence of their beliefs if they deem it necessary.

The Rwenzori question is now an enrooted belief in the heart of the Bakonzo and can not be rubbed off their minds by mere locking up of 200people in the Kirinya cells or killing a few of them in cold blood.

What is being done is mere management of the conflict that could be incubating it for future hatching in a more serious and organized form.

So if the Rwenzori mystery must come to an end, we need a more pro-people inclusive approach that can answer the Rwenzori question and therefore satisfy the people.

Life is not a movie or a game of chess and we don’t need shortcuts in this.

But all the same, for us as the Dream Team we come for and in peace because the peace we wanted yesterday is still needed today, tomorrow and forever in the Rwenzori where my story begins.

Isande Atanazio.
The Dream Team.
Keeping The Hope Alive.
The Rwenzori Eagle Eye.
The Voice From The Peak.

 

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