I have reflected on the sad events of the last few days and have come to realise that there are a few important things many Ugandan politicians and voters are either ignorant about or have deliberately chosen to ignore.
First of all, Ugandans, must stop looking at politics mainly as a source of livelihood but rather a calling to serve their communities. Money should be de-linked from politics to restore sanity and good intentions in leadership. Voters must also resolve to vote only those with ideas, good leadership skills, and the right moral grounding.
As a nation, we should also learn to understand that those who disagree with us are not our enemies but rather people who react to the same things as us but in different ways. It is okay to disagree on some things especially on matters of ideology and principle.
Let us shed off the prototype mentality - A mentality that shapes people to believe that whatever shapes one man must shape all the others.
Let me chip in the incident of the trigger happy Rukutana. His actions were very unfortunate and uncalled for. Most of us blamed it on the misuse of the gun but the real problem was not the gun but the character of the man wielding the gun and untamed power.
People kill people, guns don't kill people. So instead we should be focussing on how to tame the demons of savagery, hate, violence, and intolerance in us.
We need to instill the right morals and virtues in ourselves and children. We should be very worried that Rukutana is just a sample of a vast majority of politicians like him that lead our society.
Generally, It is the politics itself we need to clean up by voting out the wrong people who find it okay to bypass, injure and discredit the tenets of good leadership so they can selfishly serve their interests. Politicians should embrace the leadership of humane purposes while the voters should cast their votes with clear conscience. Going forward, we must dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks dedicated themselves to several centuries ago, and that is;
"To tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world."
Ahabwe Fidelis
For #RedwallInsights