Letter to “Dr.” Andrew Mwenda on the duty of honest public commentary

I address you as “Doctor” for the mastery you have shown in the art of manufacturing narratives and deploying betrayal tactics against fellow Ugandans. 

Over the years you have presented yourself as a one-man institution whose core duty appears to be the blackmail, betrayal, and character assassination of those you deem inconvenient to your current patrons.

When you were with The Daily Monitor newspaper, you built a reputation as a fearless independent and nationalist journalist. You criticised the NRM government and President Museveni’s handling of Dr Kizza Besigye and the entire opposition.

Many believed you were a human rights defender and a voice of reason. Gradually, you became a darling of both Kampala and Kigali regimes where you profited from that access massively

Shortly after, you left Kigali and returned to Kampala in a different voice. Before President Milton Obote passed on in exile, you had sought proximity to him and to the UPC family where you even claimed to have brokered peace between Museveni and Obote’s family in one of your memoirs in 2008.

Some of us who believed in UPC ideals thought you had become part of us to the extent that when Dr Olara Otunnu returned to Uganda in 2010, you were made the Master of Ceremonies for his homecoming dinner at Serena. It now appears that it was a miscalculation and a terrible error of judgment.

Upon returning to Uganda from Kigali, your writings and public commentary took a sharp turn. Museveni, whom you once described as a ruthless dictator, became a saint for you and a model leader to be emulated by all.

Dr Besigye, whom you once admired and defended, soon became in your words “the worst creature who deserved to die for challenging the government.”

Therefore your inconsistency is hard to ignore. In one instance, you described Museveni as senile, old, and unfit for office.

The President responded personally, asserting that he was still strong and capable. From that exchange, two things became clear: first, your words carry enough weight to compel a presidential response; second, Uganda operates with two categories of citizens.

The “Ba-Ugandans,” whose views attract immediate attention from the deep state, and the “Na-Ugandans,” whose views are ignored and whose dissent is met with drones, AK-47, and intimidation.

Nonetheless, your recent public statements deepen my concerns and hence my letter to you.

On NBS TV, you attacked Hon. Ssemuju Nganda for defending Dr Besigye who remains in incarceration to date. You fiercely labelled Besigye a traitor and criminal who should be hanged and body dumped in Lake Victoria for allegedly plotting to kill Museveni.

With your media colleague, Robert Kabushenga, you accused Speaker Anita Among of corruption, wielding too much power and thus threatening the state, arguing that she needed to be neutralised to protect the “deep state.”

Two months later, we see Among pleading for her dear life to your pride.

More recently, without presenting any official report, you claimed that the former Speaker Rebecca Kadaga was using witchcraft to attempt to kill Museveni and his entire family, as well as Anita Among to further fuel hate among individuals.

Now after a humiliating episode on Anita Among, you now claim that she never stole any money and that she is a good person who will be rewarded by the deep state you appear to represent.

To me, this pattern suggests and represents a dangerous political operator who adjusts accusations and absolutions depending on shifting alignments, not on evidence but on falsehoods just to satisfy your personal ego and those of your masters.

Let me remind you that Uganda has seen this before. During Idi Amin’s regime, Henry Kyemba’s words sent many to their deaths. During Obote II, figures like Adoko Nekyon played the role of double-edged swords within and outside UPC.

Today, we see you as another individual who appears protected and promoted to carry out the special duty of betrayal and intimidation against perceived opponents.

“Dr Andrew Mwenda”, I ask you to slow down, reflect and remember that Uganda was built out of the struggles of the ancestors whose descendants are now targeted victims of persecution.

Stop using public platforms and proximity to the current first family to betray and traumatise Ugandans for your personal gain. We have shed enough blood due to betrayal. Ugandans have been humiliated. We have lost loved ones to betrayal and state violence. Let Ugandans live.

You now enjoy proximity to the first son and seem to believe that anyone who has built a reputation in politics must be eliminated or blackmailed to pave the way for your agenda. But even without that, your preferred successor can still seek power without destroying others in the process.

Remember: today it is the “Na-Ugandans.” Tomorrow it could be the “Ba-Ugandans.” In my next episode, I will explain the Ba and Na Ugandans, so don’t begin to assume.

I hope that after reading this missive you will become a good and noble citizen whom we treasured in the past.

For God and My Country

Hon. Ishaa Otto Amiza | Political activist, former MP and team leader, YBO Foundation