By Oweyegha-Afunaduula
In Uganda we have severally heard of the word treason, more frequently in connection with ordinary people opposed to the regime in power. Treason may be committed by people of power and in power, by the policies and laws they make and the practices in governance and leadership if they compromise the character of the nation and sabotage its independence, self- determination, sovereignty, development, transformation and progress in all spheres of life and sectors of the economy.
However, rarely have people of power and in power been accused of treason even when they have done all these things. We have seen, for example, the social areas of education, health, agriculture and environment being deliberately left to decay and collapse by the people of power and in power, thereby sabotaging the quality of the nation and its people.
That should be treason. It should also be treason disorienting the national budget for the purpose of just ensuring regime survival and power retention, instead of human survival and survival of the nation well into the future. That is betrayal of the nation by those who disorient the budget away from social development, transformation, progress and change, for example to fit in a he 21st Century of new and different knowledge and communication.
In this article, as implied in the title, I want to focus on high treason, which is only one of the many synonyms of the word treason. The other synonyms of treason are Punic faith, lese-majesty, treachery, disloyalty, betrayal, faithlessness, perfidy, perfidiousness, duplicity, infedelity, sedition, subversion, mutiny, and rebellion. Governors of a country may make treacherous policies and laws that may end up making citizens wonder if they still belong to and own their country.
They may have no faith in the citizens and indigenous firms and turn the running of the economy to foreigners and foreign firms, and even give public money to them to invest, tax holidays and allow them to take out all the money they make, while subjecting citizens to high and multiple taxes and excluding them from the economy. That is treason at the verge of high treason.
Let me distinguish between treason and high treason, although one is a synonym of the other.
Treason has been defined as “crime that involves attempting to kill or overthrow the sovereign or government”. But this is too narrow. It is treason leaders of a government give national resources to foreigners and foreign firms, and thereby exclude citizens and cultures groups from them, thereby submerging them in the abyss of poverty. It is in fact high treason.
High treason, has been defined as the crime of making war against a legitimate government, or attempting to help an enemy or foreigners to take control of your country or economy”.
Therefore, it was high treason when Idi Amin Dada overthrew the Government of Apollo Milton Obote in 1971, with the help of the British and Israelis, and paved the way for Nubians from Southern Sudan to capture the instruments of power in Kampala, there by making them the dominant ethnic group in the governance and leadership of the country.
It was high treason when Tito Okello and Basilio Okello overthrew the elected government of Apollo Milton Obote in 1985, paving the way for FRONASA elements in the National Liberation Movement/National Liberation Army to capture the instruments of power in Kampala on January 25th 1986.
Rwandese elements, including Paul Kagame, now President of Rwanda, and Fred Rwigyema, occupied high level positions in the post-bush war government formed by the then President Yoweri Museveni, who later became Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, and is now Yoweri Tibuhaburwa Museveni. It was high treason to deliberately include foreign elements in the Government of Uganda and it’s Institutions, and lack of respect for the indigenous citizens.
It was high treason for the various rebel groups, including the NRM/NRA, to take up arms against the elected Government of Apollo Milton Obote between 1981 and 1985, precipitating the Okellos to capture the elements of power.
High Treason was committed during the bush war when banks, cooperative unions, cooperative societies, Railways , and industries (in the then industrial town of Jinja) and distribute their resources and equipment between the rebels.
High Treason was committed by the rebels that formed Government after the bush war when they grabbed and shared the resources of stock farms, and the resources of the then Coffee Marketing Board, Cotton Marketing Board, Uganda Transport Company and Peoples Transport Company, among others, among themselves.
Recently high treason was committed by Uganda government officials and politicians when they decided to give a mysterious firm, Uganda Vinci Coffee Ltd, the sole right to buy coffee from Farmers of Uganda, determine, coffee price for farmers, find market for Uganda Coffee and be the sole seller of Uganda Coffee, but at the same time violate the law by exempting the firm from legal taxes for 10 years, and giving the firm billions of taxpayers money as start up capital for the firm to do business.
One can cite several examples of similar high treason cases committed by Politicians in high places and some go government officials against the public interest, but for lack of space, I will leave readers of this article to cite those cases, which have led to enormous loss of public money.
Suffice to say that as we advance in the 21st Century high treason has become common and more or less normal in Government practice to the detriment of the country. A few, people perhaps closely related ethnically and in terms of kinship, have been, and continue to be, the beneficiaries, of what looks to be “official high treason.
This, no doubt, is a reflection of ethical and moral decay in the country in general and government in particular, and diminishing respect of politicians and bureaucrats for the citizens of the country. When this is the case, impunity reigns and those in charge of the country lack shame to the detriment of the country.
For God and My Country.
The Writer Is a Ugandan Scientist And Environmentalist
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