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POWER AT ITS RAWEST (PART III)

Most political assassinations are out of necessity conspiracies. An important part of organizing a conspiracy is to convince the rest of the world that a given assassination is a work of a lone psychopath. All conspiracies are defined by a convergence of mostly narrow interests of the participants. Even a lone perpetrator of an assassination does not operate in a vacuum but rather takes action urged on by a prevailing forceful and emotionally loaded position of a subgroup of a given society. He feeds on that errant polemic to justify the hatred and the crime that follows. Exposure of a conspiracy rests in A remaining at the site of the crime and waiting there. @ Conspiracies are cracked not by commission of inquiries or police investigations but by conspirators. The conspirators = enemy is the one who exposes not only who they are, but also the agenda that supports their narrow interests. Patriotism, peace and security, our civilization, our faith, economic transformation, poverty alleviation end up being code names for money, raw power. Its money that ultimately motivates the conspirators. They do not kill in order to defend values, but rather to stymie worthwhile causes. A genuine cause does not need violence for its success. It has been said that 80% of human history is about wars, raw power and 20% of it is dedicated to peace, intellectual discourse, to people who ended up victims of persecution and true defenders of human values. Over time conspiracies have taken on a new name and meaning in the more advanced democracies. Those who work to support certain policies by lobbying the political institutions and personalities using money from their clients, do so in the open and have doors open to the corridors of power. That over time has led to a proliferation of high powered law offices and public relations firms that specialize in lobbying institutions of power for their clients. If you realize that dictator Mobutu Ssese Seko of former Zaire and Angola = s guerilla leader Jonas Savimbi had such easy access to powerful western governments, under the pretext of fighting communism, while Savimbi was busy decimating the elephant population in Angola to sell ivory and selling off diamonds in the areas under his control, in order to pay to play with the lobbyists in Washington and elsewhere, to keep the arms coming in to sustain the > resistance = against communism. Mobutu = s total net worth ended up being almost the total debt his country owed to foreign interests by the time he was thrown out of office. The main drawback of narrow or special interests is shortsightedness or short-termism. The world is busy today engaging the ruthless dictator, Robert Mugabe. This incredibly self-centered and cruel individual was mercilessly outsmarted by Margaret Thatchers = negotiators in the Lancaster talks leading to the independence of Zimbabwe . Mr Mugabe and his henchmen seem to be utterly clueless as to what > we shall return to the land issue at some other time = meant. Mugabe was given just enough rope to slowly hang himself, but at the same time some space was available in case he saw the light and stuck to what worked best for all parties. Mugabe = s escape was hidden in a robust economic approach that over time, decades, would slowly, peacefully and with financial instruments solve the land issue. As is the case now, Mr.Mugabe overestimated his ability to reconcile his love for power and the need to help his people. For sometime, the West has bought into the idea of benign dictatorship as a valuable tool of realpolitik, especially with the experience in Asia , a position indicative of the success of lobbyists. Privately they claim it has been forced onto them because the African populations are docile. Thus the world can reject a rigged election in Ukraine and > force = a re-run, but is unable to do the same in Kenya in spite of loss of more than 1000 lives, more than 300, 000 people displaced from their homes and the economic repercussions that follow. Mr Mugabe has won many fights and a few battles, but lost the war at Lancaster and is now so desperate that he finds, like so many of his colleagues in Africa, great solace in the expression > I am the President, = because at this point he has very little going for him. Some psychoanalysts have claimed that it is the words > I am = not > the president = that appeal to the depraved minds of the dictators, simply because the > I am = brings them so close to deity in their fantasy world. However they can probably be forgiven in claiming to be > God = in their countries, given the absolute power they wield over their subjects. It is this notion that leads a Mugabe to ascertain that the leader of the opposition will never ever lead Zimbabwe and that only God will remove him from power. No sane person would entertain the notion that God has a pact with Mr. Mugabe to rule as long as he likes, unless that > God = is also Mr Mugabe. If that does not qualify for senile dementia, one wonders what does. Mr Mugabe has paradoxically done Africa a favor, by exposing fully the myth of liberation and opening the door to the understanding that her future lies in hard, smart and fast work that should make alliances forged by common interests among peoples in this era of globalization. In order to succeed she needs to approach the table of unending negotiations on trade, development and security with a sense of urgency, intellectual honesty and fortitude. Her brief is to be a competent guardian of her interests within a larger effort of human progress and not a perennial victim of colonialism.

While the attention has shifted to Mr.Mugabe, and recently to General Bashir of Sudan , the other monster of African Politics Mr. Yoweri Museveni has continued to harass, intimidate and murder his opponents without much of a protest from the west. For all the atrocities he has inflicted on Ugandans he has been rewarded with chairmanship of the Commonwealth.

Over the past years some members of the opposition in and outside Uganda have referred to the events in Northern Uganda as genocide. We have as a matter of fairness avoided that term. However recent months have revealed terrible claims by people who participated in those crimes, the extent of the atrocities inflicted on the people of Northern Uganda by the regime of Mr.Museveni. It is now accepted that some commanders of the Uganda Peoples = Defence Force (UPDF) have in the past repeatedly sold arms to the Lord = s Resistance Army(LRA) of Joseph Kony. This and claims that the current Inspector General of Police commanded the units that cut off victims = ears, lips, arms and legs and gouged their eyes before burning their homes to the ground and sometimes murdering them, would be sufficient to exceed the threshold for genocide. As you read this the UPDF has been ordered out of Southern Sudan where their forces have been located in order to keep the LRA in check, because of proven instances of attacks on civilians in the area, attacks they have blamed on the LRA. The least the International Court of Justice can do is to open a credible, thorough and independent investigation in relation to the atrocities in Northern Uganda as has been suggested by many human right activists and organizations including the tireless Human Rights Watch.

The common thread that unites all the atrocities and crimes committed by the regime is the quiet but growing dissent in the ranks of the UPDF, the National Resistance Organization, the brave and sustained activism of the opposition parties and the resurgent Buganda . The regime unable to utilize violence at levels in the past, as its modus operandi has been fully exposed, has developed a robust poison unit of its intelligence service the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence(CMI.) The nadir of the regime = s salami tactics is intended to spawn fatalism. With the assistance of intelligence services of rogue states and freelance merchants abroad the regime has established subterranean sleeper cells mainly around Kampala who would at short notice bring death to its opponents. One of those cells located in the canteen of the Parliament tried to poison General Mugisha Muntu with what insiders consider to be Tetramethylenedisulfotetramine , an odorless and colorless powder that easily dissolves in common drinks and is 100 times more toxic than Potassium Cyanide. It is public knowledge that he was saved by the presence of Mr Ben Wacha, a parliamentarian who comes from the same region of the country as the slinky hoodlum responsible for the assignment, who boggled at the perverse act. The cowardly attempt was brought to the disreputable speaker of Parliament who promised to investigate but has not done so up to this point. You have just read, what would have been uncovered if the investigation had gone ahead and progress made. Rampant corruption and nepotism led to more disgruntled officers within the UPDF and in the intelligence services, which led to an attempt to get rid of the dictator by way of mechanically sabotaging the presidential helicopter, allegedly with the blessing of those who pride themselves in coordinating the intelligence services. It would appear that the attempt was effected, but it also coincided with the visit of Dr. John Garang who met his death on that fateful night in bad weather as the doomed helicopter approached Juba. Dr. Garang was inadvertently assassinated in place of the intended victim and the continued assertion to the contrary, by some quarters in Southern Sudan, is false. The would be fall out was restrained by the implication of people who either knew too much or had connections whose response would be unpredictable within the services, especially without proof of culpability but mere hearsay. That in effect sealed Mayombo = s fate and the manner of his death.

On another fateful day Brigadier Mayombo left work to return home. He is reported to have stopped by a relative where he had something to eat and some beers. No sooner had he left the area than he started to vomit. He drove home and after several episodes of vomiting was taken to the hospital at Kololo. The real story according to sources appears to start here not before. This is because if his tea had been poisoned at work as earlier reports suggested, probably with the same poison intended for General Mugisha Muntu and which proved effective on private Atwine while awaiting trial for the murder of M/s Robinah Kiyingi( whose murder was not directly related to politics but was sanctioned by State House), then he would have been dead in less than four hours at most provided the appropriate dose had been administered. In any case the symptoms would have started much sooner. Besides the presentation of his symptoms soon after ingesting some food and alcohol is not an uncommon feature of acute on chronic pancreatitis. If the assumption is that he entered the hospital with such an attack, with (in medical terms) decent Ranson = s criteria and probably the best care in the country money could buy, sources allege an intravenously administered scorpion venom to push a moderate attack of pancreatitis to the fulminant form that would eventually do the trick. Absolutely brilliant. Expertise strongly suggestive of a profound purview of toxicology with an impressively rich repertoire. However Mayombo held on, well past the six hours of expected death after such an encounter. As Ranson = s criteria increased under the very nose of trusted care providers, outside help was denied. Severe pancreatitis can only be adequately managed in an intensive care setting. Soon the heart rhythm abnormalities, renal failure and shock, leading to multiple organ failure followed. At that point, albeit late, the State House = s interposition was again sought, but that was rejected. It was not until someone else offered assistance that State House authorized the transfer, but by then he was moribund, with or without transfer he would die and very quickly.. Apparently this is the assurance the State House wanted prior to authorizing the transfer. Drain to the lees, Mayombo did, tragically. In a similar fashion the same unit or personnel managed to allegedly administer benzoate salts over the period of his incarceration that would eventually cause leukemia in the case of Joseph Kifefe, which serves to strongly suggest that the unit is not only knowledgeable but could once again tailor their intervention to Mr. Kifefe = s time of exposure to benzene products when he run the family business, a gas station. Sources claim that the CMI has attempted to get close to Dr. Besigye = s home especially the layout of the house in order to come up with an intervention that would do the job without exposing their unit. The incident involving the repeated administration, intramuscularly of a cocktail of sorts to the plucky M/s Betty Nambooze, the spokesperson for the Democratic Party when she was arrested at Mukono during a demonstration has also raised some interesting observations. The fact that she was injected four times shows that the perpetrators knew what they were doing, by giving a little at a time, they held to the adage, that you can give more but you cannot take back what you have given. That is important in terms of airway safety as too much may demand expertise in airway management which the perpetrators may not possess at hand. The second point relates to the use of substances like the benzodiazepines, especially midazolam used widely by intelligence services because of the anterograde amnesia they cause. Thus the victims can participate in their interrogation, but are unable to recall the events later. Always ready and eager to humiliate their opponents, if the security operatives will attempt to undress a female member of parliament in broad daylight, in public , one can only imagine how far they can go when in the confines of a police cell or safe house and with their victims under the influence of powerful mind altering drugs. The same sources confirm that sleeper cells are on the loose and can act on short notice in some major hospitals, hotels, restaurants especially Kampala Club allegedly frequented by some personalities from Mengo. When the intelligence coordinator promises to crush Mengo, he knows what his is talking about. Arrangements are underway to A sort out @ those considered dangerous opponents of the regime, and this is unrelated to the approaching next cycle of elections. An incomplete inscription includes, Dr.Kizza Besigye, M/s Betty Kamya, M/s Betty Nambooze, Messrs. Elias Lukwago, Augustine Ruzindana, Jack Sabiti, Hussein Kyanjo, Regan Okumu, Nadala Mafabi, some journalists, columnists, radio commentators and FM radio station managers. The surprise on the list is Vice President Bukenya. Messrs Peter Mayiga, and Medard Lubega have not been targeted until recently, especially with their arrest. We have not agonized over apprising the listed, they should know what to expect by now. The time is now.
 

POWER AT ITS RAWEST (PART II)

We will consider the first world and then the third (i.e the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh worlds together) and strongly suggest that at its rawest, power always loses.

The question has been paused if there is such a thing as a just war. Has there ever been a just war? Does the end justify the means? Put differently, since war is a case of extreme violence, terror and atrocities can there be any justification for these in human interactions? What about National Security and hence democracy( vit et armis ) by force of arms? The explanation as to why the only truthful answer is no, is so simple that many an intellectual would not understand it. The passionate genius has difficult to comprehend it, simply because it is not accessible to the corporeal world where an eye is for an eye. Rigorous analysis would complicate matters and lead to more confusion. War is essentially a preoccupation of passionate man. The impetuosity that informs the decision to wage war, does in the short term re-assure and provide hope of some sort, but in the long term, looked at with humanity's eyes, every war is hostile to justice and love. There is therefore a just war for passionate, fallen, corporeal man(as would be expected, that is where he lives), and no such a thing for free, dispassionate and spiritual man. Dispassion like eternity has much space for pacifism, as it has for money. Dispassion seeks contemplation at the intellect's full throttle performance and has no understanding for argumentation of positions, a preserve of mediocrity. Should abortions be legalized? Is capital punishment just? What constitutes a just war? Should we teach evolution or Creation? Isn't evolution part of creation? Does God exist?

A powerful earthly administration spends annually $400 billion for defense and only $36 billion for diplomacy. It wages two wars, one as a response to a terrorist assault and the other to overthrow a tyrant and bring a democratic dispensation to a people who had suffered more than thirty five years under a ruthless and brutal dictatorship. It easily and predictably defeats a $1 billion annual defense expenditure quasi military dictatorship. What could possibly be wrong with such a scenario? Underestimation of the complexity of the situation of the invaded land, the resilience of the enemy and the subsequent economic repercussions. It is very easy to start a war, usually difficult to end it. Imagine an asymmetrical force of no more than 4000 men and women, with an annual budget not exceeding $2 million in both war theaters defining the limitations of the most versatile and powerful armed forces on earth. The cost approaching $700 billion over five years, not only exposes the shallowness of the thought process and sheer naivety that borders on wishful thinking, that preceded the decision to wage war, but contributes significantly to the economic downturn at home and replaces the danger of terrorist attacks on the homeland with National Security vulnerability in terms of severe financial constraints, were some catastrophe natural or otherwise appear suddenly without much warning. Raw power without substantial support from thoughtful and patient diplomacy can only at best substitute one overt and acute crisis with a costly chronic anomaly. If the politicians properly evaluated the complexity of the issues before them, their financial repercussions and the potential for blowback from the effects on the economy in general, they would wisely desist from the temptation to go to war or rather embark on it as a last resort in terms of moral economy, precisely because there is no such thing as a just war. The virtuality of benefit from war does not make it just, it may make it necessary in the context of our fallen condition.

Before the war, there was chronic indebtedness which in no small measure contributed to the dot.com bubble burst. Tight behind it was the 9/11 attacks, later to be followed by the war, then Hurricane Katrina and finally the financial contagion from the sub-prime debacle. All these events cumulatively contributed to what promises to be a moderate but protracted recession. Some have complained that the econometric models failed to predict the course of events. Predict what? Unrestrained greed or irrational exuberance? That is false and disingenuous, since models predicted the dot.com bubble burst even when many were still taken in by the irrational exuberance. Twenty four months before the sup-prime collapse, mathematical models and all serious analysts had rightly predicted the events together with the accompanying credit crunch, and an estimated total loss of about $250 billion in the worst case scenario. Would there have been a sub-prime debacle without the war? Yes, but it would have been mild, a “twinge and short-lived.” The power of the mathematical models lies in tracking the unknown, in this case the junk sub-prime securities. As long as the unknown remains unknown, there is paradoxically a level of predictability in respect to the full ambit of financial repercussions, the worst case scenario. The federal reserve bank has vetted the gamut of the downturn and the tempestive and lenitive interest rate cuts will surely offer umbrage from the scorching rays of the sub-prime mess, but that is unlikely to affect the value of the unknown at this time or any time soon. The current recession according to the models is expected to continue into the late 2010, when the first wave of baby boomers start to retire and also the time of the expiration of President George Bush's tax cuts. What about the entitlements? With the ever increasing automation and technological advancement more jobs are likely to be lost and in big numbers even when the green economy eventually takes root. In other words the prevailing economic conditions are a harbinger for major changes that may eventually impact the conservation and consumption lifestyles of the developed world first and the rest of the world second and radically change the political landscape. Raw power i.e intellectual laziness, inadvertently would have helped usher in the new economic maturity at an alarmingly exorbitant price. Recession, it may be argued, is a flagrant class retrocessive imperative of avarice's raw power, power at its rawest.. The mathematical models predict a harsh end for this decade, with some suggestion that the gas prices would plummet as the recession deepens towards the end of 2008 and as the pace to bring alternative energy sources into play quickens, later. The continued lowering of interest rates by the Federal Reserve Bank is unlikely to offer further help. The initial action did succeed to support a soft landing primarily for the banks and as a second thought for the economy, that is why the reduced interest rates have yet to trickle down to the victim of de-leveraging and probably it never will. There are still about $100-150 billion of junk sub-prime securities in the banks' possession, they are worthless. By choosing the slow deliberate release of losses, the financial houses have opted for a protracted process and probably the best course under the circumstances.

The economies of the highly indebted countries of sub-saharan Africa , where there is endemic corruption, the pandemic of HIV/AIDS and continued breakdown of institutions, will take the brunt of the economic downturn in short order. Before the end of the decade, the Mugabes, Musevenis, Meles Zenawis and Kagames of Africa will probably be swept by the turmoil that will inevitably result. The raw power of AK-47 will not be able to salvage these regimes, instead one by one they will wither on the vine and be forgotten. The path of economic progress of these countries is through agriculture, but as is the case for many concepts, the theory is simple, but the practice very complex and involved. If this was not the case, then these countries would not be in the vulnerable position they find themselves in today in terms of escalating food prices and exorbitant prices for all imported goods. Since these are not the type of problems that lend themselves to quick fixes, there is no alternative to radical change, though preferably non-violent change. The reason being that many of these economies are so fragile that new violent conflicts will push them from failing to failed states. The international community's patience will not just run out with the likes of Mugabe, but in the near future it will become almost impossible for these dictators to rig the elections and continue to mismanage their economies, simply because every one will have to pitch in to make things right. Liberal market policies without good governance will not do it and the discredited politics of dictators as allies on the war on terrorism is passe. The international community needs to create conditions where these selfish individuals are deprived of the oxygen that sustains their brutality. In these poor countries the financial turmoil will define the limitations of raw power. It will collapse but not without a tough fight, not before the television screens of the world parade the gaunt bodies of starvation victims in Mali, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Northern Uganda, Ethiopia, Darfur of Sudan and in other places.

The mathematical models have predicted a tough period in the short and mid-term and abundant opportunities in the long term if the right decisions are taken in respect to what promises to be the main contention, conservation versus unrestrained and irresponsible consumption. The games have started.

In the third and last part of ‘Power at its rawest,' Ugandans will be informed of the probable common thread that unites the deaths of M/s Robinah Kiyingi, Colonel John Garang, Brigadier Noble Mayombo and Joseph Kifefe. Some specific information has surfaced as to what killed Mayombo, and contrary to earlier or pending reports, not alcohol related fulminant acute on chronic pancreatitis. The time is now.
 
POWER AT ITS RAWEST(PART I)
 
It has been said that one is a danger to herself/himself in three situations, when one is greedy, when one is paralyzed by fear or both. The answer to greed and fear is passionate commitment to work, effort. Passion is action. Effort towards integrity, here called the integrity effort is substantively who you are. To know yourself, to believe in yourself and to trust yourself. To know what to do, when to do it and how to do it. To see the most as the least one can do.

Integrity allows a relationship with God, one based on core values, that enable one to be one with the One. Only at that point is “All authority derived from God,” not the raw power of frenetic murderers and thieves. The integrity effort is the authority that nurtures and leads the community to greater horizons. Any power play is hopeless and worthless (not necessarily useless), without integrity and therefore authority.

The integrity effort is branding, who you are, your originality, that is why it is said that “branding is the key to the good name in the community and seldom to riches in the market place”. The integrity effort defines a saint, martyr, hero, true leader and a friend. You can shoot your way to raw power, but not to authority. The latter is earned by dint of core values, integrity. You can hang on to raw power, but not to authority, for the Author of integrity, life and truth is One.

Integrity is the measure of one's worth, who you are. If we know who we are, how far we have come and that the journey is never complete, until we seek integrity no more, then we feel secure in who we are, we are then able to take risks, to keep our truthful promise, the brand, to our beloved community. A promise of brotherhood and oneness. The word Muganda, derived from omugaanda a bundle or stack, pointing to togetherness, combines both brotherhood and oneness. It is these that engender justice. One's self-expression exposes one's theology as in show me your brother and I will show you your God. Risk taking is having meager resources and doing the best one can with what one has. It requires focus and commitment. If your desire for justice does not override any other desire in your life then your faith and religion amount to pure self-deception and probably you are unlikely to take risks for freedom. Without justice any progress can only be transient and unsustainable.

Integrity is the substantive thing. Glory is the shadow of the integrity effort. At the highest level of performance, it does not matter what denomination you belong to or if you are religious at all. Prayer is action. It relates to where your integrity effort is, on the ladder of perfection, the endless struggle of humanity to reach the Standard, the One of oneness or by grace oneness in the Onest( Abaganda ba Katonda). Many an agnostic are a decent lot dedicated to brotherhood and oneness and appropriately, faithful to Himself, God embraces them as they scream and kick. Who can take away what God holds? That is why they thirst for justice.

Forgiveness is to hold oneself and others accountable to the Standard, for forgiving if for giving and the Giver is One, and He gives Himself. Forgiving is an embrace of integrity that results in oneness. Our “daily bread” is the integrity effort, our prayer, action that places us in position to forgive by holding ourselves and others accountable. The ingredients of forgiveness are integrity, accountability and authority. Accepting forgiveness is regaining the same. Since the Author of life is One, forgiveness is the simultaneous movement of the warring parties towards the Giver of life and only Lover of Mankind.

Do you possess self-knowledge? Have you been blessed with intelligence and authority? Have you joined your sisters and brothers in the noble struggle for freedom? When all is given nothing is lacking, but when “all is done that was commanded one considers oneself an unprofitable servant.”

Chesterton observed that, “humility was largely meant as a restraint upon the arrogance and infinity of the appetite of men.” Within that humility lies the principles of responsibility and proportionality. The misunderstandings, misconceptions, misrepresentations and misplaced priorities are products of only those minds who desire the fruits of justice without the requisite genuine effort, integrity. If you wish to join the noble struggle against the rapacious land grabbers, thieves and murderers, be prepared for effort over and above what is expected. Pull hard, very hard to open the door to freedom, anticipate difficulties, failures and challenges, but be assured that victory is closer today than it has ever been, with the impending anabasis. Integrity gives birth to freedom, the incentive is freedom, and only the free can embrace transparency and accountability, the elements of good governance, true leadership. The time is now.
 
 
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