Why are International players quiet on bail?
Uganda is gripped by the debate on whether to ban or not to ban the right to bail for Capital Offenders.
President Yoweri Museveni set the debate in motion after proposing the ban, claiming granting bail to capital offenders radicalizes victims of crime who end up killing the suspects bailed.
The opposition quickly weighed in, saying Museveni by proposing the ban, wants to secure a blank cheque to unnecessarily keep them in jail.
The government later grabbed two opposition lawmakers, Mohammad Ssegirinya and Allan Ssewannyana.
The duo were charged with first class murders related to the panga murders which were at the time afflicting the greater Masaka region.
Government says the duo were sponsoring the murders in question, but the opposition calls the prosecution of the MPs a ploy to persecute the opposition.
The lawmakers have secured bail twice only for the security operatives to grab them and swiftly hurl them back to jail!
As the hot debate ranges on, one key party is conspicuously and suspiciously absent. That party is the international world.
But, why is the international community more so the US and Britain mute about the disturbing debate. Below we attempt to answer the question.
Oil
Museveni is a lucky man. He has oil to fight back with in case the international community opens up wars of human rights against him and his government.
Museveni has used oil previously to punish London and Washington by handing China and Russia vast oil wells and related deals.
The fact that Museveni is still in possession of more oil and minerals to dole out coupled with fat deals, the Britons and Americans are keeping their human rights lessons to themselves in order not to annoy the Ugandan oil Sheikh!
Uninspiring opposition
London and Washington have backed the Ugandan opposition many times previously, but Besigye and company have done themselves a lot of disservice by remaining largely disjointed, unserious and generally uninspiring.
On the other hand, Museveni has positioned and proved himself to the whole world he is capable of uniting, securing as well as developing the former bogus republic given the resources and a chance.
Given that Bazungu do not want to gamble with politicians who are unserious, they would rather not antagonize Museveni who is , moreover, blessed with oil and minerals.
Terrorism
Museveni is very, very lucky he knows how to fight and, more importantly, subdue terrorists.
The man who dislodged a fully fledged government in a matter of five years using a rug-tug rebel outfit, has in the same fashion fought and largely weakened terrorists in Khartoum, Somalia and Congo.
The Americans and their allies had miserably failed to rout out the terrorists and actually packed up and ran away from the fire they lit like we have just witnessed them fleeing from the Talibans in Afhaganstan.
The terrorists are fighting America chiefly and the West at large. Given that Kaguta has proved himself to be an expert at subduing the terrorists, the Americans are currently using him in Somalia to fight their enemies.
Museveni knows the Americans badly need him to fight their enemies. This is why whenever America and the West have annoyed him, he has responded with threats of withdrawing his troops from Somalia and America and the West have always quickly kept quiet!
Gullible Parliament
The fact that parliament is ready and willing to help Museveni remove the right to bail, puts off the Bazungu.
And since that is the caliber of parliament Ugandans elected, the Bazungu don’t want to waste their precious time and energy interfering with what the MPs elected by Ugandans think is the best for their voters.
Granted, Museveni can bribe the MPs, but the voters are still to blame for electing representatives who can easily accept to be bribed to pass what is not in their (voters’ ) best interest!
Lastly, the Bazungu are simply looking on in bewilderment knowing that the MPs who are itching to remove bail can end up tomorrow in their own trap by being framed up with charges that aren’t bailable.
Apathy
Majority of Ugandans are disinterested in
the debate about bail. They are busy drinking mwenge bigere, kwete, malwa kitoko, kyarenga and what have you.
The others are busy hunting for muwogo and mukene. While the rest don’t know what is actually going on! And there those who even feel the debate on bail is the usual war between the opposition and Museveni!
So why should the Americans or anyone else outside the country get interested in affairs of people who do not know what they exactly want or bluntly put,who are comfortable with what is going on.
Elected president
We have just had held an election where Museveni was announced as the winner, other factors remaining constant.
Majority of Ugandans elected Museveni. They judged him the best president around.
The Bazungu do not want to interfere with the will of the people by questioning the decisions of the leader freshly elected by the people concerned.
Shift in power
America and Britain are no longer the world’s bullies they used to be. Russia and China have earned enough muscle over time to bark at the Americans and Britons.
Museveni and his peers are quite aware of this fact. So why not turn to China and Russia for safety if America and Britain bring lugezigezi!!!
The Americans and Britain as well as their allies are aware they have been speaking a lot of human rights and democracy to African leaders and at their own greatest risk.
The African leaders aware China and Russia aren’t drunk on human rights and democracy but mutual trade, they have tended to deal more with them.
This is how notably China has managed to clinch almost the entire minerals wealth and the biggest contracts from African countries and hence grown wealthy and wealthy.
Accordingly, the Americans and Britons have learned not to speak the lingua of human rights and democracy over time because doing so has served to alienate them from the rest of the world in this case Africa where leaders treat matters of democracy and human rights as anathema.
Can the debate begin.