From APN Correspondent in Africa Mr.  J. Cholo  Brooks/Liberia

According to him, he pleaded with them since he had never been involved in such an act, but the president of the group who he described as “Jewie”, said he was not going to spare him since that was their rule, “when I started crying the second man in command who called himself “four Star General” who knew me prior to my detention prevailed on his friend Jewie to leave me alone because I was a child. Based on that I was spared,” the sodomized victim in a tearful eyes to reporters.

During a visit to ascertain the facts on this issue,  our correspondent visited the Monrovia Central prison  where it was confirmed by prison authority that this attitude on the part of prisoners sodomizing their fellow colleagues was indeed truth , “my brother these guys are terrible. We have reported this over end over to the ministry of justice but to no avail,” one of the security officers said.

Several of the inmates who also spoke to reporters pleaded with our team to inform the Liberian leader, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to do some about this, “we are begging you guys to have this publish in order for the President to know about what is happening here t this Central Prison,” another victims in a serious tune said.

Meanwhile, a group of Human Rights Lawyers are calling on the Liberia Government to speedily investigate what is obtaining from the Monrovia Central Prison, “It is very shameful to hear that prisoners, especially men using their fellow men, or sodomizing them. The Liberian  Government must come out and say something about this”,  Demspter Browne one of the lawyers told our correspndent in
Monrovia.

Published by African Press in Norway, apn, africanpress@chello.no

What’s that? Kuna mtu anajisikia maboom.. Primary school stuff? . We are the burning spear!! Is osewe the Scandinavian raila? Has he lost it as well?..haiya!.

Well the mjamaa needs to keep his ambitions running. That we so well know . Him and his idol party odm-ks needs propaganda falsehoods, or cold war as he likes to call it; the latter sounds sophisticated, huh?. He is a “journalist” you know?.

Osewe is well known in the Stockholm he writes about. As a trickster today. He likes to video tape and document drunk odm-k and odm-ks supporters as an only way to discredit the incumbent government in Kenya.

Now and then, he drops something good and helpful and Kenyan Stockholmares we appreciate that. But his blog also creates the widest gaps between Kenyans.

It has become the wakenya in Stockholm’s own skvaller blog. Intentionally? This same blog is in fact the most disturbing representation; or misrepresentation as most of his fellow party members prefer, in his own odm-ks. He won’t care.

He never does, he wants the ‘dossiers` to keep his blog running coz otherwise what would he write about? You want to chongoa your exfriend or just your friend use Osewe’s blog!!

He has single-handedly turned his blog from a useful source of information for Kenyan Swedes into a joker’s nonsensical blog. Osewe has had the respect of Kenyans in Stockholm for too long.

When he became kesofo’s vice-chairman (his interest was on the chairmanship) we thought that the guy would demonstrate some sort of discipline just for the sake of kesofo.

Some kind of restrain in verbal blog attacks on fellow Kenyans. But the discipline, he lost along time ago. He’s incapable of reporting in accuracy for the sake of credibility.

No Kenyan is yet to show distaste in his deteriorating work in his blog! Whats up!? Mostly we just ignore the nonsense. Kesofo is seen as the latest test in unifying Kenyans in Stockholm but the presence of osewe jeopardises that aim with his more and more frequent rumour mongering.

Rumour as in baseless, untrue, unnecessary, uncalled for, dividing, tribalistic, and useless among Kenyans in Stockholm. He represents the odm-k we know to well. His kind come and go having served no purpose in our world politicaly.

It is the same kind we are tired of as Kenyans. Fake politicians/journalists who’s main aim is to gain ground tribalisticaly. His blog and his kind of political nonsense are of no use to Kenyans anywhere!

By Njoro, Sweden

Published by African Press in Norway, apn

 From APN Correspondent in Africa Mr.  J. Cholo  Brooks/Liberia

According to him, he pleaded with them since he had never been involved in such an act, but the president of the group who he described as “Jewie”, said he was not going to spare him since that was their rule, “when I started crying the second man in command who called himself “four Star General” who knew me prior to my detention prevailed on his friend Jewie to leave me alone because I was a child. Based on that I was spared,” the sodomized victim in a tearful eyes to reporters.

During a visit to ascertain the facts on this issue,  our correspondent visited the Monrovia Central prison  where it was confirmed by prison authority that this attitude on the part of prisoners sodomizing their fellow colleagues was indeed truth , “my brother these guys are terrible. We have reported this over end over to the ministry of justice but to no avail,” one of the security officers said.

Several of the inmates who also spoke to reporters pleaded with our team to inform the Liberian leader, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to do some about this, “we are begging you guys to have this publish in order for the President to know about what is happening here t this Central Prison,” another victims in a serious tune said.

Meanwhile, a group of Human Rights Lawyers are calling on the Liberia Government to speedily investigate what is obtaining from the Monrovia Central Prison, “It is very shameful to hear that prisoners, especially men using their fellow men, or sodomizing them. The Liberian  Government must come out and say something about this”,  Demspter Browne one of the lawyers told our correspndent in
Monrovia.

Published by African Press in Norway, apn, africanpress@chello.no

As we continue being entertained and informed about the shadowy nature of the ODM-K Scandinavia interim committee, we see from various media how the embattled committee members are defending themselves. The plot is thickening.  

Munala on his Jamii blog has come out openly to ask Osewe of KSB why he should bring out his past life as a church Deacon into ODM-KS matters. Osewe, whom I gather keeps “personal dossiers” of Kenyans in Stockholm, claimed on KSB that his armory is full and he could unleash the necessary missiles when needed.

Munala has been candid enough to explain weaknesses within his past life. Meanwhile, he has left me in stitches writing that Osewe was injecting animals in Kisii-Kenya (read veterinary officer).

Anyway on matters ODM-KS, Osewe writes on his KSB that Mrs Opwapo (the undecided and confused chairlady) has invited Kenyans to the long awaited Party elections on May 19, 2007. For a briefcase Party, she seems NOT to have had any control, because Munala in his latest article, questions many things that are downright negative in the running of a public office. Her leadership is equal to Poor Governance.

I had earlier copied from http://www.narckenyascandinavia.com, the former vice treasurer’s (Jared Odero) resignation letter. He raised concerns that have left me wondering how the ODM-KS committee has been managing its affairs. Remember Munala told us that three (3) committee members had resigned from ODM-KS at different intervals.

The only visible answer to one of Odero’s concerns is the ODM-KS website which is running, but remains hijacked by a faction in the committee, according to Munala.

In an earlier article by Munala, the Chairlady is said to have gone ballistic when he (Munala) tabled Odero’s letter to be discussed during a committee meeting. I noted earlier that she is cantankerous. Today playing the good mother, but suddenly changes into a (shrewd) dictator whose word is final, whether right or wrong.

If one wants a regime change in Kenya, support ODM-K directly through different initiatives. Otherwise for the noisemakers in the Diaspora who do not even possess voters’ cards, remain armchair politicians or engage in worthwhile projects that will develop your personal lives. Why can’t these people engage in empowering themselves in the Diaspora instead of spending so much energy hurling insults on blogs?

The true winners are the “Wanjikus” on the ground in Kenya, who will vote for change. These “Diasporans” are tearing each others jugular veins from the comfort of their new country, yet the true Kenyans have to survive on meager earnings and run down the streets to bring that change.

ODM-KS is an ailing, radarless briefcase Party led by selfish people, whose agenda is negative for the well-being of Kenyans in Stockholm and widely in Scandinavia.

Odero’s resignation letter: 

Dear Committee Members,

Greetings from Johannesburg in South Africa. Am here meeting my research partners and the weather is cool, partly sunny, with scattered showers. However, it is a productive stay so far. I am announcing my resignation from the ODMK-S committee membership and Vice Treasurer in advance through this email. If deemed necessary, I will sit with the committee to discuss, but I will exhaust my reasons here, so it will be unnecessary to meet, because my resignation is immediate. It is good to be away because it gives one time to reflect upon certain things in life. I have done this with the ODMK-S matter, and felt that resigning is the most noble thing, though I will remain a party member.

For Blog owners, Osewe and Munala, if you want to improve your hit ratings with this scoop, then you better cut and paste my resignation letter word for word, otherwise I would advice you to leave this as an internal matter, because I was not appointed to the committee via the blog.    

Reasons for Odero’s resignation from the ODMKS Committee:

1. Lack of collective drive/push: 

When I first joined the committee in November 2006, I was very enthusiastic and hoped that the vision charted (constitution and the 12 point program) would be implemented at the fast pace that the members had. So far, this has not worked and instead there have been loose misinterpretations and deviations from the original scripts. I do not have to quote, but so far all know that we had to re-debate the independence of ODMK-S. I will not even repeat the half-hearted way of dealing with other Kenyans within Sweden, who have shown interest in joining us.

2. Financial challenges: 

I foresee challenges ahead in raising money for the ODMK-S office rent and activities, because so far the only solution is to sell drinks, which some do not even buy. This is therefore an unfair way of recruiting money because some are in the bandwagon at the expense of the others. No other clear financial activities have been agreed upon to generate money. I personally do not wish to donate any more personal cash to fund the office. The revival of KUWA et al., remains rhetoric yet rent will be needed soon in 2 months’ time. Alternatively, the lokal can be rented later on a demand-basis, instead of running an underutilized and expensive place every month. We are not even talking of the monthly maintenance fees of SEK 50 any more. No clear strategies are in place to recruit more members, even in Stockholm. ODMK-S cannot be run by the committee alone.

3. Collaboration with ODM-K: 

I was enthusiastic in the beginning that ODMK-S would be supporting or challenging ODM-K as per the ODMK-S 12 point program. So far nothing of the sort has happened. The trip to Nairobi by the ODMK-S Chairlady yielded nothing other than personal nods. The Secretary’s trip to Nairobi only unearthed our ignorance on how to collaborate with ODM-K. Clearly, they have no time for us and we do not have the registration fees to be their branch. What is the implication? Individuals do not want to face the bitter truth that our initial ‘baby-steps’ towards ODM-K have been cut short, because there is no formal recognition. On the other hand, what about being critical to ODM-K? So far there are no signs from ODMK-S. When I raised my thoughts on Raila’s display of his Hummer vehicle on entering the Parliament recently, only Osewe responded, and this is on email so I will not repeat it. I do not see any critical voices in ODMK-S who can debate on the crooks in ODM-K without reservations. We cannot claim that we are only focused on the party and not the individuals who form it, because they are inseparable.

4. Side projects: 

The confusion exhibited when I raised the Korogocho project issue, only left me wondering whether we are certain about the minutes agreed upon and written, during committee meetings. Some people want the Korogocho project in ODMK-S to gain political mileage, while the reality is that this woman and many others are suffering and need help. I recently donated SEK 500 genuinely to help, so I was puzzled that some people want to hang onto others tailcoats, yet they do not enthusiastically donate to this and cannot even narrate the genesis of this project.

                       5. Personal agenda in ODMK-S: 

I will not reiterate the enthusiasm I had when joining ODMK-S. I found it running but I have also now gathered that there are some people in it for personal and selfish reasons. There have been questionable cash transactions done by others without the full awareness of the committee. A good example is the opening of the ODMK (odm-k.org) Web site which was done with a personal agenda. This project was not sanctioned by the committee, yet it is claimed that money from ODMK-S was used to finance it. For whatever reasons, this project has no impact because the last update on this Web site was on March 7th 2007 and the traffic has almost stopped. We donated money for our own Web site and Munala has been responsible for it. By the time I was leaving Stockholm last week, it was NOT yet up and running.

                                                              6. ODMK-S has no impact in Kenyan politics: 

So far, nothing has been done by ODMK-S to impact Kenyan politics. There are individuals within ODMK-S who use the media to vent their minds, but the group as an entity is nowhere near there. Raila met the ODM-K Uganda Chapter enthusiasts the other day, meaning that maybe mainstream ODM-K branches and NOT independents like ODMK-S, are closer to those leaders and share a forum to express their support and criticism (while within). It is probably futile for ODMK-S to fight outside the ‘cow-shed’ in the name of being independent. The recent political “tsunamis” in Kenya have been staged while inside the government and not outside.

7. My professional life: 

I have a lot on my plate right now within my professional life, so I will set aside more time for this but remain a member of ODMK-S. I think I will be more objective and speak my mind freely as a member and not a committee member. Thank you all and it was a pleasure working together.

Best regards,

Jared Odero

29/3/2007

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Published by African Press in Norway, apn, africanpress@chello.no tel +47 932 99 739 or +47 6300 2525

By Ham Mukasawww.hammukasafoundation.co.ugwww.hgmconsult.com 

A Word Or Two 

This article is dedicated to Capt Otim (UPC) – Obote 2 army officer;  Read the article carefully, than publishing uselesss claims. Remember I write HISTORICAL FACTS AND WELL RESEARCHED – you so called educated Officer, “Challenge me instead of insulting”. Being a topic in your meetings should be seen as some positive, it’s my articles which makes you curious. BUT THESE ARE FACTS and I take it positive that I make an impact your reasoning. Enjoy it and am waiting to see you one day as you claim. Democracy has come to Uganda to stay – a point you should jot on a lap and put  your pockets everyday, especially when you are going to your party meetings. I will try to make this article as simple as possible for you and your comrades in UK, Norway, Denmark, US and to mention but a few Sweden – as a response to your critics and telephone harassments of recent . 

Uganda’s history should not be read in tribal terms
When one of Ugandas Ex-President(Obote)Officer walked into my office for the first time sometime ago, my mind was very unclear as to how to receive him. Sensing this, the visitor introduced himself by announcing his name and quickly adding that he was a Budonian (College), perhaps to reassure me.

Since our first meeting, apparently precipitated by an article I wrote about the UPC, the former officer has kindly given me some good reading material out of his collection gathered from the library of Princeton University when he lived in the proximity of the famed institution among which was the article entitled “The Politics of Recognition by Charles Taylor” which I found to be most engrossing. Perhaps encouraged by his reading this article, the Lt.Gen himself has contributed on a very long essay on the history of UPC under the title “The Roots, Emergency, and Growth of the Uganda People’s Congress, 1600– 1985” in which he strives to recreate the birth of UPC in events which happened almost four centuries ago the Lt.Gen contributes and writes, “The politics of Uganda since its independence in 1962 has been intertwined with the fortunes of the Uganda People’s Congress that it is impossible to discuss any aspect of the country without UPC being a major factor”.

With this general statement as a backdrop, the Lt.Gen starts to trace what he calls the psychological unity of UPC (which was not evidenced in the recent elections though) to similar experiences which the various nationalities had with the Baganda first in the pre-colonial tribal wars, then in the use colonialism made of the Baganda and lastly in their rabid chauvinism in the period preceding the formation of UPC in 1960.

This is a brave statement considering that the cohesion of UPC was shattered early on by the conflicts which flared between the factions of Grace Ibingira and John Kakonge which reached their climax at the party’s Gulu conference in 1964. Later on in his essay, The Lt. Gen contradicts himself on the issue of UPC’s cohesion when he alludes to the disillusionment of people like Felix Onama over Obote’s status in the party. On the trade boycott of 1959 the Lt.Gen shows a lack of firsthand information on the subject when he writes that some of the principal concerns of UNM were with the prestige and status of the Kabaka.

In fact it is the Mengo government which was concerned with this issue and on numerous occasions the Buganda government condemned the movement. Earlier the Lukiiko had banned political parties in Buganda on the ground that they were anti-Kabaka and this animosity was extended to UNM. The principal aim of UNM, contrary to what the Lt:Gen writes, was to achieve independence for Uganda and one of its early public rallies under the Tree of Liberty on March 8, 1959 attended by thousands of people and as reported in the Uganda Argus of March 9, 1959, the UNM passed a resolution demanding for negotiations to be opened “for bringing into being a free and independent Uganda instead of having the Wild Committee.

Indeed, the Tree of Liberty was so named because nationalist rallies were always held there to demand for UGANDA’S independence, not BUGANDA’S. Later when the police confiscated from the home of Elidadi.Mulira, one of UNM’s leaders a document outlining his political credo in which he vowed to “beat up neo-traditionalists with clenched fists” after we gained our independence, the Attorney General, Mr. Dreschfield, used its contents in a prosecution that followed as evidence of UNM’s communist links. Mulira was convicted and exiled to Gulu as were other leaders including QCGodfrey Binaisa (Ex-President), I. K. Musaazi and Jolly Joe Kiwanuka who were taken to other centres. This is hardly evidence of the neo-traditionalist outlook Lt.Gen paints of UNM. Again the Lt.Gen falls flat when it comes to the formation of UPC. He quotes D. A. Low’s observation that “UPC whose prime function – the opposition to the pretensions of the Baganda, fitted precisely the anti-Baganda feeling in the rest of the country” a function which was based on a misapprehension of the various strands of Buganda’s politics and its history.

Note: In order to understand this phenomenon one has to first appreciate its five branches comprised in the institution of Kabakaship, the Mengo government, the neo-traditionalists, the political parties and the people themselves. Since 1956 the neo-traditionalists have held sway over the affairs of the kingdom by adroitly labelling whoever did not fall in line with them as anti-Kabaka although all the subjects are loyal to the institution. This group has at times overstated Buganda’s interests to the chagrin of other communities.

UPC, like the Lt.Gen, overlooks the positive amity between Buganda and the other areas throughout the period of colonialism which produced many cosmopolitan people both from Buganda and outside.

The tragedy of Uganda is that independence as Low clearly points out, was not entrusted to such people who did not have small wars to fight. The original political parties embraced people of all communities in their parties (Call it a way to federalism – its your call). In this regard it is almost sacrilegious to talk about Obote’s wing of the UNC as the Lt.Gen does in exclusionary terms of Buganda since it was the original UNC leadership composed mostly of Baganda which first introduced Obote to national leadership. UNC leadership first fragmented in 1957 when a group left to form the United Congress Party under David Lubogo, a Musoga. Later in January 1958, it splintered again between Musaazi and Kiwanuka’s factions over the party’s Cairo office. Kiwanuka, a Muganda invited Obote to be president of his faction in order to provide a counter-weight to Musaazi’s support in the north, a fact disregarded by the new revisionists. In 1959, Kiwanuka wound up his faction which he joined with UNM. It is known that Obote’s hang-on with the name together with Abu Mayanja a Muganda and a Secretary General, a fact which demonstrates the fallacy of reading our history in tribal terms which Lt.Gen does.

The UNC after Musaazi and Kiwanuka was not significant at all in terms of national following. 

 All in all we need closer interactions so as to remove misconceptions which have led to our apparent disunity. Museveni has done his part and has introduced democracy, i know you will disagree. Like others, he will at one time leave but this time remembered as the father of Ugandas democracy and not to mention his contribution to a far better economy than all his predecessors. Give the gentleman some credit atleast. That will be a historical fact. Hope you have enjoyed the history lesson – facts. 

A Good Muganda With historical facts.Ham Mukasawww.hammukasafoundation.com

www.hgmconsult.com

Published by African Press in Norway, apn, africanpress@chello.no, tel +47 932 99 739 or +47 6300 2525

By Ham Mukasawww.hammukasafoundation.comwww.hgmconsult.com 

Although the Bataka Party  does not feature much in the minds of today’s political analysts, it nonetheless held sway over the country’s political horizon from the time of its formation in 1945 until it was banned by the colonial government in April 1949.

In Britain, for example, the Conservative Party, emphasises the value of tradition and a preference for individually driven growth believing that if it is not necessary to change it it is necessary not to change. 

A Good Muganda With Historical FactsHam Mukasawww.hammukasafoundation.com

www.hgmconsult.com

Published by African Press in Norway, apn, africanpress@chello.no