26/10/2024
CONFRONTING THE TRIBAL ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM!
Each time the “tribal question” comes up in public discourse, a feeling of uneasiness and anxiety looms the air like a dark cloud over the skies. It’s almost as if Uganda has moved out its smelly feet that it hides beneath the discomfort of its shoes.
And such a situation came up in parliament this week, from which the outrage that followed was not a surprise at all. The culprit this time was the embattled speaker , whose year has been nothing short of a disaster. Continuing from a long list of scandal after scandal, punctuated by her now familiar trademark primal, kangaroo-court like leadership that has turned the legislature into a rubber stamp for the NRA’s draconian grip onto Uganda.
The plot this time, was the contentious so-called Coffee Bill that seeks to merge the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) into the Ministry of Agriculture. A move that is consistent with the NRA’s version of re-nationalizing parastatals (UNRA) and some key private entities (like UMEME, ROKO). But it turns out that what is good for the goose is surely not good for the “Ganda” (pun intended).
By some sheer unfortunate luck, Anita Among’s fortunate “mouth-slip” has now made this coffee bill almost impassable as she arose the holy tribal grail and handed it to the opposition on a red carpet. A weapon that has seen them successfully frustrate the passing of a bill that is so dear to the NRA. For comparison, imagine if had uttered the same statement during the “kisanja” and “tojikwatako” debates in Parliament?
Our discomfort each time tribalism is mentioned stems from our failure and fear to confront the big elephant in the room called Uganda and to all post-colonial societies. The scarlet letter on the tribal debate was placed by the colonialists in their imperial divide and rule policy that weakened the resolve of the Africans that opposed their rule. The imperialists sought to make us less of who we are and morphed us into value-less aliens in the hope that we would be as cynical and oppressive as they were contrary to our “Ubuntu” centric approach to life. Our tribes made us stronger and gave us a purpose to resist and fight back at a time when we needed it the most. This is the origin of the contention to a point that being tribal is akin to treason today.
We need a radical shift back to who we truly are (decolonization) and perhaps embrace our so-called tribalism as diversity. We can’t keep being like ostriches that hide their heads in the sand thinking and hoping that the prey cannot see them.
We are a tribal society. Let’s embrace it!
