A heated presidential race is underway, majority between red and yellow. Colours that belong to National Unity Platform (NUP) and National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential candidates. The former is vying for the seat and the later in the incumbent.
An exorbitant propanda is associated with the two candidates in question; a question of tribe. Kyagulanyi Ssentamu of NUP is a Muganda while Museveni of NRM is a Munyankore. As time wends on, this tribal rift between the candidates is deepening and widening and what’s happening now is a true definition of a calm before the storm. All signs point to a possibility of an outbreak of a bitter internal strife.
This week alone, the streets were ablaze, red hot and red in blood. Police force was at it again. Using force to enforce orders from above. Innocent lives were lost as tear gas cans and rubber bullets were blasting high and sometimes flying right into humans’ flesh. The Pearl is no longer at ease.
There is need for change of the status quo and I side with whoever is trying to cause that change. The system we have is far from the promised land. We were promised of a bright future and the same narrative is still being recited 35 years down the road. Shame! I sob, whenever I see pictures and clips of torture to civilians. It beats my understanding when I try to think of how the people in the positions of power go to bed everyday. “Do they sleep comfortably and wake up the next day in peace? Do they see what the people they’re supposed to protect go through?” – I ask myself everyday.
However much change is needed, it’s not a time to be against each other. We all need each other now more than ever. We need to embrace our differences and understand that we all can’t score in the same goal all the time. Violence is not the answer to everything. When a life is lost, it’s gone, gone for good. We can’t take other people’s lives, their dreams and aspirations, the tears caused when a life is lost will always be back to haunt those who took the life. Politics is not a reason big enough to equal to a human life. Remember that. We need change, yes we do, but we can’t resort to violence to cause change.
That’s what I think.
