Dear reader, denying political prisoner, brother Waiswa Mufumbiro the chance to go say goodbye to his deceased wife, Edith Mufumbiro was not only personally painful, but also a missed political opportunity.
Mufumbiro’s moment of pain would have been our Emitt-Louise-Till moment. It was a window to harness this pain of one family; a make good on a national cause.
In a nutshell, that is the story of Emitt Till, a 14-year-old African American boy who was ghastly murdered by a white mob, but his mother, in this moment of loss and pain, chose to use it and bring the civil rights issues to the fore.
In being callous and cruel against Mufumbiro – definitely without realising it – hurt the entire country. This bitterness has been loaned forward. As a man who lost a spouse in my early adult life, saying goodbye to a deceased loved one, is not just the last act of love we do for our spouses, but a memory we carry in our bones for our own healing.
This memory quickly becomes a core part of the stories we tell our children – about our own lives, and their mothers. Just the thought that you ensured your spouse received a decent send off – that their bodies were rested in a place you chose for them – is timelessly emotionally cushioning.
I can imagine Mufumbiro’s multiple layers of pain: the failure to be present as his wife struggled through a terminal illness; the regret that your absence possibly accelerated her death, but that also that you never participated in lowering her in the grave.
While she could have understood the choices Mufumbiro made – as sacrifices for a bigger cause – the guilty feeling and pain is inescapable. I can imagine Mufumbiro struggling to shade off that crippling feeling that he possibly made the wrong choices!
I’m not sure if folks in the deep state calling the shots understand this pain, and the possibility that tables might turn just as day follows light. It is undeniable, many inmates lose loved ones and never get the privilege to go bury them.
“Why Mufumbiro?” someone has asked. Truth is, had the deceased not been wife to Waiswa Mufumbiro, this matter would never have received any column inches. The point is this: at some point in their lives, men and women, free or imprisoned, might acquire a stature larger than their ordinary lives.
They become persons of immense public interest. Their pain or pleasure reflects on entire constituencies. It could be an entire country. This is the stature that Mufumbiro has come to embody and thus the actions of his jailers needed to beware of the public interest behind this man.
FEAR OF PRECEDENT?
If the fear was setting a difficult precedent, surely Uganda Prison Services will never have a hundred individuals of the stature of Waiswa Mufumbiro all at the same time. This could be a privilege accorded to this category of prisoners for their political and social weight, and the constituencies – they carry on their backs.
Prison authorities and visitors understand this really well – that not all prisoners are the same even for similar crimes: some carry immense public interest. But if carceral punishment – Mufumbiro is yet to be sentenced – is meant to be retributive, compensatory, a lesson for others, and the entire idea is making the incarcerated a better person, why cultivate bitterness?
Why turn prison into a battlefield? If the fear was setting this type of precedent, what is the problem with this type of precedent? Money and men? Why not channel resources to this otherwise forgotten but worthy aspect of the prison architecture?
Readers of Michel Foucault – especially, The Birth of the Prison – understand that the prison was never meant to rid the public of criminals. Because, the more prisons, the more numbers of criminals have multiplied.
Foucault tells us prison was actually designed to serve a different function: to govern. In a loose application of Foucault, is it not so evident that Uganda’s courts – and by extension, prisons – have so blatantly become an absolute extension of the autocratic power? (Is this what Prof. Oloka- Onyango called Juristocracy?)
It is apparent nowadays that court judgments, especially those involving political prisoners – including bail – are negotiated settlements. “Negotiated settlements” is not even the right terminology but of political considerations of the deep state.
To this end, the deep state ought to beware of a difficult future ahead of them, and be more wholesome, humane and fair in their allocation of political court decisions. There is a political transition staring at an entire country and cultivating more ire is surely recipe for disaster.
CULTIVATING A TRANSITION
There has been talk of mending hearts and reconciliation. If the future is going to belong to all of us, then there are things that those in power have to do. In Mufumbiro’s difficult moment, the deep state needed to beware of the constituency the man carries and exploit it with mercy and kindness.
His constituency would be pleased, and perhaps this would reduce the bitterness many Ugandans carry against the Museveni regime.
If we are jolted by social media users celebrating the death of kindred and friends of those in power, then we need to have a good understanding of where this celebratory anger comes from.
Presently, all they can do is celebrate their death, but in moments of uncertainty, this bitterness can end in genocide or internecine killings. This awareness ought to translate into tangible actions to mend hearts, and cultivate avenues for reconciliation. Rest in Peace, Edith Katende Mufumbiro.
yusufkajura@gmail.com
The author is a political theorist based at Makerere University.
Many thanks to Mukulu Sserunkuma for this . In a way , your nice and intelligent words will not only be well received by the late Edith , but also appreciated by your own late wife . May they rest in everlasting peace.
You wonder and say ” I´am not sure if folks in the deep state calling the the shots understand the pain ”
With us here , we can bet that they absolutely do not understand anything . Their cruelty and brutality has immunized them against any pain .As the rest of the society is struggling to breath , they are in Kyankwanzi feasting , belching and sharing their ill-gotten gains .
This Uganda is getting bizarre by the day- Ms Ainebyona did not hesitate to abuse her deep power in only denying Waiswa a moment for the man to go and touch his beloved wife`s lifeless body for the last time , she refused him and all everybody else to watch the process .She just sat there in the dark and gladly twisted the knife .
Two weeks later , a monster cuts babies to death , a billion is quickly put together to arrange a trial that resembles a Hollywood blockbuster . 1000 invitations are sent out to spectators . Every legal right is extended to a baby killer but not to those who “committed the crime” of wearing red garments !
A few moths before this , men in uniform matched towards Mw.Kivumbi Muwanga`s house ; they shot 8 young women and 2 young men and went away with their dead bodies. The nation`s army boss celebrated the elimination of those “terrorists” and promised us that one Kabobi would be the next dead one
No one has bothered to point out that there are babies whose Mums were taken away from them by armed state killers .
Doc, enough is enough! We are trapped in a deadly carousel, led by both Museveni and Kyagulanyi into the same predictable slaughter. To do the same thing—participating in these bogus, blood-soaked elections—every five years and expect a different result isn’t just a mistake; it’s national suicide.
I regret to say: I told you so. The ‘Kalonde, Kakuume, Kabbanje’ slogans were just words, and now, after the violence, it’s back to business as usual for the elites while the poor rot. Look at Waiswa Mufumbiro—persecuted for nothing more than a divergent belief, denied even the basic humanity to bury his loved ones. He is just the latest in a long line including Besigye, Haji Lutale, Eddie Mutwe and others.
Forty years of autocracy has bred an arrogance that sees our lives as disposable. Kyagulanyi has dug this ‘struggle’ so deep into the status quo that state-sponsored kidnappings and torture chambers are now treated as the ‘ordinary’. While we bleed and bury our dead, the politicians on both sides continue to collect their taxpayer-funded cheques. This isn’t a struggle for change; it’s a vicious cycle of endless pain.
Thanks Dr. Dr. Yusuf.
But the truth is: from the Luweero debacle, 45 years and counting of diabolism; is enough for someone to start hallucinating that he is becoming either god or God.
Since you are a learned Literally person: remember Emperor, Nero: He did not only murdered his mother, over criticising his adulterous relationship with his brother’s wife. But regularly watched Christians being slaughtered by Gladiators or devoured by hungry lions in the Colosseum.
And in the dark in order to light his way back to the Palace, he made sure some of the Christians in the dens, were dipped in oil and lite up on poles like street lamps,
And just like after the massacre of his supporters, Mwanga Kivumbi and others were arrested and charged terrorism; Emperor Nero told his terror agents to set ablaze a section of Rome’s Ghetto and blamed it on Christians. And as Rome burnt Nero told his handlers that he “was becoming god”.
Maybe that is where we have arrived. In other words, that is what raw power does to the heads of leaders who overstay in power!
Ironically, in order to have a photo moment and shake the bloody hands caked black with human blood; thousands fall over each other to get nearer, as well as attend his Thanksgiving Prayers!
One cannot believe that this African poor country is sleep walking into an ugly leadership transition! Much of what is happening to this country is self made. It is made in Uganda by the people of Uganda. It is certainly up to the people of this country other than USA, Israel, or Somalia to remove leaders who are up to no good to them and to try and put forward leaders that can lead them to better standards of living!
This is the STATE OF THE NATION UGANDA! Alex Waiswa is paying the price of unmasking the Leapord’s shrines in Busoga…especially with the history of working in Busoga Kingdom.
Fellow Ugandans, it is time to stop the theatre. We cannot continue following M7 and Kyagulanyi into the same trap of violent, fraudulent elections and expect the sun to rise on a new Uganda. I warned this would happen, and here we are: back to business as usual while the ink is still wet on the ‘bogus’ results.
The incarceration of Waiswa Mufumbiro is a clear act of political persecution, a cruel denial of his right to mourn his wife—a move that makes sense only in a regime fueled by 40 years of impunity. But let’s be honest: the opposition leadership, specifically Kyagulanyi/NUP, has made this cycle of ‘killings, kidnappings, and torture’ the new normal.
Every five years, the script is the same: the people are sacrificed, the youth are imprisoned, and the leaders—both in government and opposition—continue to benefit from the taxpayer’s sweat. We are not just fighting a dictator; we are fighting a system where ‘the struggle’ has become a profitable, permanent industry for everyone except the citizens who suffer for it.
What solutions do you offer? Ugandans problems are embedded in 3 sectors; economical, cultural and geographical. Museveni, and past leaders exploited these knowledge/understanding. If we don’t revisit these sectors starting with especially culture and geographical claims/location, we are still doomed. Because of those 3 sectors, Ugandans are still slave to the colonial master and their agents. There is need to reset the foundation that were set.
Jamo, stop hiding behind the ghost of colonialism! It is a tired, cowardly excuse. Did the ‘colonial masters’ pull the triggers during 40 years of Museveni’s blood-soaked autocracy? Was it a colonialist who kidnapped Eddie Mutwe, tortured him, and forced him to learn Lunyankole in a basement—an atrocity Gen. Muhoozi himself boasted about? No.
We must stop blaming the past, just as South Africans must stop blaming apartheid for their own current failures. We know the truth: Museveni captured this state by the gun under the false mask of ‘fundamental change.’ He launched a five-year war in Luwero over rigged elections, only to spend the next 40 years rigging them himself while we pile up the bodies of the innocent.
We already gave our solution to Justice Odoki: Federo and Term Limits. That was our antidote. Instead, Museveni mutilated the Constitution to suit his ego. Now, we must stop feeding this monster. Participation in these bogus elections is complicity. If the 2026 election was a fraud—and we know it was—then Kyagulanyi and the NUP have no business sitting in that Parliament. If Senyonyi and the opposition are just ‘ironing their suits’ to feast on taxpayer money while Mufumbiro and others rot in cells, they aren’t leaders—they are beneficiaries of our anguish. No more status quo. Change now, or nothing!
You should ask yourself who are/were the most rich Ugandans. Have you ever asked yourself why Sudhir is so flithy rich? How about Mukwano? How about Aghan? If I’m not wrong, seven rich powerful Ugandan are of Asian origin. Why and how? It all comes down to their claims since 1900-1933 where they acted on behalf of the British, even if the funds were of development of Uganda it ended up being their factories, commercial building. Then analyzed spiritual/culture that were hijacked and uses to their benefits. When Museveni took over, his mercenaries became their agents and they know very well how to use it. When your souls is under water or in the forest, you will never be productive. Even if you go to Congo where Gold, diamond, copper, Lithium, coltan, etc. Our Indians brothers believe that they are better agents for local Africans. Every where you go, you will find them wanting monopoly over Africans. Our leaders have allowed it because (Indians and Arabs) are very good with bribery cover-up. The first point is for you/us to deliver the souls of our ancestors/our souls out of the Nile/Nalubaale(Lake Victoria) waters bodies and forest, then we can be delivered as a nation. Once our souls are delivered, then our eyes are open to the truth. The soul(s) of a nation is the Spirit of the nation. Find out where it’s hidden and how did it get there.
Jamo, while you are busy searching for ‘souls in the water,’ Museveni’s mercenaries are busy grabbing the land from under our feet. You don’t need to look at the Nile to see what’s hidden; look at Luwero. As a native of the very ground where M7 camped for five years, I can tell you that the blood of hundreds of thousands was shed only to produce the deepest poverty in the country. In Luwero, water is still a luxury, yet Gen. Salim Saleh has ‘bought’ and grabbed half the district.
This isn’t a spiritual mystery—it is a calculated strategy. M7 deliberately impoverishes indigenous Ugandans while handing tax breaks, capital, and our very soil to foreigners from China, India, Eritrea, and Somalia. These groups have no attachment to our ancestors; they are here to extract. Today, a foreigner in Uganda has more rights than a native.
But the real tragedy is the ‘opposition’ that claims to represent us. Kyagulanyi’s ‘People Power’ was a masterclass in Okusibba ekiwanyi—deceiving the masses to build his own empire. While he accumulates wealth and irons his suits for Parliament, true fighters like Waiswa Mufumbiro are left to rot in torture chambers. We cannot liberate this nation with leaders who use the struggle as a business model while our youth flee overseas just to survive. The land is gone, the leaders are bought, and ‘People Power’ has become ‘Kyagulanyi’s Power.’ Enough is enough!
Jamo, stop blaming spirits and ancestors for a crisis caused by greed and guns. The wealth of the ‘seven powerful Asians’ and the foreigners in Kansanga and Munyonyo isn’t a spiritual curse—it’s an NRM policy. Museveni has systematically disempowered the native Ugandan to ensure his own survival.
Look at the Luwero triangle: the cradle of the revolution is now a wasteland of poverty and land grabbing by Salim Saleh and Chinese interests. While the indigenous suffer, the regime gives foreigners the keys to the kingdom.
We will never fix this by following a leadership like NUP that thrives on ‘business as usual.’ Kyagulanyi promised us power, but he delivered us back to Museveni’s table. He has used our pain to polish his brand while the real activists—the Mufumbiros of this country—pay the price in blood and chains. It’s time we stop blaming the ‘colonial master’ and start holding the current masters and their ‘opposition’ agents accountable for the misery they are both profiting from.
The spiritual world governs the physical world. Museveni uses our ancestral gods-Lubaale. I would dream of him wanting access to my father’s grave, and then he would say that he will send his boys to get the rock of power and wealth that was somewhere around our ancestral family land that our ancestors used. That’s when I take my Christian faith very seriously. He or someone would come in form a spirit on water enticing/inviting me to go into the water to make me rich as he had made a father of someone I know rich, and he serves in his government as a minister. I boxed him into his mouth and said get off me. Then he said, he will send police after me and I will never get a job. Then, I remembered my faith conversion 30 yrs ago in Jinja. It has taken me 13 years fasting and seeking God. For your own good news, his spiritual evil tree, rock/Island in the water are gone. You are going to see anyone in Museveni circle and has been deriving their spiritual power on it, going down. Wait, Watch and See. Then you will believe the power of prayers, and how the spiritual world governs the world. I’m locked in on God’s side, of spiritual deliverance of innocent souls. Enough is Enough. Right now Museveni is very disturbed man. When you hurt him in the spiritual world you see him better. That’s why where the battle is won. Glory to God and Christ who empowers us to do his will on Earth.
Mr.Remazi or what You call yourself, You are bent on Trying to Blame Kyagulanyi for the Woes Orchestrated by NRA/M (Notorious Robbers Army /Movement) Whose Legacy has ever been “Death and Destruction” Bobi Wine was only 4 years Old When These Monsters Stormed Kampala after Killing 1.000.000 Ugandans in Luweero! They have Never Repented or Apologized ! Their King The Devil in Person Boasts of NRA having Powers to Do Evil!..The Kasese Massacre that saw Women and Children branded Terrorists living 200 Dead! The November 18th 2020 Kampala Massacre that saw One Kamuyati being Shot from the Back for wearing a Red Skirt! 300 Dead! The List is Long!! Continue Praising your Devil but Stop Hoodwinking Ugandans with your Siasa rhetoric!..Waiswa is another Victim of NRA! Today Uganda is Personalized around The Devil,Saleh (Rufu) which Means Death and The Drunkard!
The Lady Devil is in Class with Aponye, Tumwine ,Susan Magara and Others! Wait for Celebrations..
Jamo, enough with the ‘colonial agent’ rhetoric. It’s a distraction from the blood on our own leaders’ hands. The British aren’t the ones turning Muwanga Kivumbi’s home into a slaughterhouse or filling torture chambers with the likes of Haji Lutale and Besigye.
For 40 years, we’ve recycled the same trauma. We go to the polls, people are murdered, and the results are cooked. Why do we keep doing the same thing? The people spoke through the Odoki Commission—we demanded Federo and Term Limits. Instead, we got an autocrat who treats the Constitution like a suggestion and an opposition that treats ‘the struggle’ like a career.
To Kyagulanyi and the NUP: You cannot claim the election was rigged and then go to Parliament to collect a salary from the rigger. You are either with the victims in the torture chambers or with the oppressor at the dinner table. We demand the release of all political prisoners and an immediate end to this cycle. The suits are ironed, but the country is bleeding. Enough is enough!
The day you find out that Museveni is a damn Bachwezi clansman(demi-god) who embraces the Lubaale/Nalubaale gods then your approach towards him will change drastically. Knowing how your souls are hijacked is key to deliverance. The ONLY strong weapon against this belief culture/system are true strong Born-again Christians(faithful ones). Using the weapons Jesus used on the Mountains, over the water & tree spirits. Finding where the soul(s) of a nation is placed is very vital to deliverance of a nation. When foundation evil are built or set up, they need to be destroyed.
Kalibbala, the history you cite is exactly why the current betrayal by the NUP is so unforgivable. You talk of massacres and NRA atrocities, yet Kyagulanyi and the NUP leadership are already ‘ironing their suits’ to sit at the same table as the perpetrators.
Where is the ‘Kalonde, Kakuume, Kabbanje’ we were promised? Kyagulanyi told us to vote, protect, and demand. We voted, but while the poor are abducted and tortured, the NUP is busy securing its 50+ seats in Parliament to collect taxpayer-funded salaries. If the 2026 election was as ‘bogus’ as they claim, why are they joining Museveni’s table instead of standing with the victims?
I predicted this ‘business as usual,’ and sadly, I was right. While heroes like Waiswa Mufumbiro rot in cells—denied even the humanity to bury his wife—the opposition is smiling all the way to the bank. This isn’t a struggle for change; it’s a shared feast on the people’s anguish.
Kalidikihedi, a good friend of mine is an ardent follower of Pastor Willy Asimwe, a devoted and vocal Kyagulanyi/NUP who famously urged elected members of NUP to boycott their swearing-in ceremonies until all political prisoners were freed and the rigged 2026 elections were addressed. However, the mood turned bitter this past Friday. While the nation bleeds under 40 years of Museveni’s autocracy, it has become clear that Kyagulanyi’s promises of ‘Kalonde, Kakuume, Kabanje’ were nothing more than a ‘kiwanyi’ (hoax).
Now that their personal objectives are met, the NUP leadership is preparing to swear in and feast on taxpayers’ money while life returns to ‘business as usual’ for the elite. Reliable sources suggest Kyagulanyi has already brokered a deal with Museveni to facilitate his return. His claims from the US—that he isn’t in exile but merely seeking funds—prove that this leadership prioritizes pockets over principles. For them, the endless suffering of Ugandans is merely a conduit to attract donor funds and state resources.”
Kalidikihedi, put it differently, instead of a total boycott of the rigged 2026 elections, and a demand to free political prisoners, the NUP leadership has pivoted to ‘business as usual.’ The promises of a liberation struggle were clearly a ‘kiwanyi’—a calculated hoax to secure seats at the taxpayers’ table.
As the country suffers under 40 years of autocracy, Kyagulanyi is reportedly negotiating deals for his return while claiming his US trip is for ‘fundraising for NUP.’ It is now evident: the NUP leadership doesn’t care about change; they care about cash. They are using the pain and blood of Ugandans as a tool to unlock donor wallets and government salaries. The struggle has been sold out.
Enough with the diversionary rhetoric, Kalibbala. No one denies the NRA’s legacy of blood, but that makes NUP’s complicity even more shameful. You cannot call someone ‘the Devil’ in the morning and then join his Parliament in the evening to share the spoils of a rigged system.
Kyagulanyi’s three pillars—Kalonde, Kakuume, Kabbanje—have all crumbled into one thing: ‘Kuliira mu NUP’ (eating within NUP). They claim the 2026 election was a fraud, yet they are already validating that fraud by taking their oaths of office.
The ‘business as usual’ I warned about is here. The elite politicians on both sides continue to enjoy their taxpayer-funded luxuries while the ordinary Ugandan faces the same kidnappings and state-sponsored terror. The struggle has been monetized, and the only ones truly paying the price are the political prisoners who are used as talking points but never actually freed