Activists renew campaign for honoring victims of post independence violence

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  | A group of human rights campaigners have renewed demands for the gazettement of National Memorial Day on which victims of Uganda’s post-independence violence are remembered.

The call for National Memorial Day was first mooted in 2008 during the nationwide consultations for drafting the National Transitional Justice Policy, two years after it was proposed during the Juba peace process between government of Uganda and delegation of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

It then gained International Momentum in 2010 as former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took part in a football match to honour war victims with President Yoweri Museveni in opposing team on May 30th at the Mandela National Stadium, Namboole.

During the Match, Ban Ki-Moon dressed in Blue represented the “Justice” team, while President Museveni – dressed in white – played for the “Dignity” team in a 10 Minute match attended by several Victim Communities from the countryside.

Now, a group of transitional justice campaigners want the debate returned to the National table of dialogue for victims of some of the 125 conflicts documented in the post-Independence era to be memorialized and remembered.

Margaret Ajok, the Justice Law and Order Transitional Justice Technical Adviser says they are demanding proper dialogue over the matter for victims to find reparation after years of living with unsettled pains of losing their loved ones.

In the East Africa region, the concept of National Memorization has been strongly harnessed as a tool for healing the hurting human heart bruised by the 1994 Rwanda genocide as well as economic tourism tool fetching it millions of dollars every year. In South African town of Soweto, a sculpture of Justice stands tall among the critical National Pillars in memory of students killed in protests during the Apartheid era.

Ajok says while the context of the atrocities suffered by those African countries significantly differ from those suffered by victims of the Kichwanmba Massacre, the Rwenzori Massacre, the Lord’s Resistance Army massacres, the National Resistance Army bush war and the 1970s Liberation Wars or the other post-Independence struggles, it is high time Uganda consolidate the various memorials taking place at the sites of those conflicts into one National Event as proposed in the National Transitional Justice Policy.

Shortly after attaining her Independence on October 09th, 1962, Uganda went up in political flames which left it bruised, wounded and deeply divided along ethnic lines. The Refugee Law Project has documented 125 conflicts including the heinous 1966 Buganda Crisis, in their wake broken hopes, broken dreams and unfulfilled pledges in various communities in Uganda.

The most common feature around some of the Massacre sites is unwavering call for accountability, truth-telling, memorialisation and closure hover painted in scattered monumental stones occasionally cleaned by winds of uneasiness among victims.

Hectares of vast land offered for construction of community reparation institutions such as vocational and training institutions lie bare inside the hearts of affected families who are still waiting for the return of some of their lost properties.

Chris Ongom, the chairperson of Uganda Victims’ Foundation says they want government to gazette May 30th, the day President Yoweri Museveni participated in the football match in memory of the victims of War Crimes in Uganda a National Memorial Day.

Ongom says it is about time government did something about the plight of communities who continue to host disjointed annual memorials at the sites of the various massacres in Uganda. He says they are mobilizing support from other victim communities in Western Uganda to join the National Campaign as a single Common Voice.

During the Constituent Assembly, delegates from around the country penned a strong preamble condemning past human rights violations and abuses in Uganda pledging to prevent a repeat of such atrocities. The recognition among others birthed the Uganda Human Rights Commission to educate Citizens to the observation of Human rights, Justice, Principles of Fairness, Accountability and Democratic governance.

Ajok says government should invoke holistic implementation of the core principles laid down in the Constitution for victims to find the justice they yearn for.

Professor Mwambutsya Ndebesa, the Head of History Department at Makerere University says the academia should throw their weight behind this noble campaign to trigger the process of National Reconciliation.

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