Dr Ssimba says Musazi mobilized Ugandans to defeat colonial economic oppression without receiving any political party funding from government as being craved by political parties today. He said political parties should stop blaming restrictive political environment for preventing their effective mobilization in the country.
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Dr Salim Ssimba During The Memorial Lecture
Political parties in Uganda have been asked to
emulate the founding father of Independence and Cooperative Movement Ignatius
Kangave Musazi in organizing their support bases under oppressive political
atmosphere.
The call was made on Friday by Dr Salim Ssimba Kayunga, the head of department
political science and public administration at Makerere University during the
fifth Ignatius Kangave Musazi memorial lecture.
Dr Ssimba says Musazi mobilized Ugandans to defeat colonial economic oppression
without receiving any political party funding from government as being craved
by political parties today. He said political parties should stop blaming
restrictive political environment for preventing their effective mobilization
in the country.
Dr Ssimba says Musazi took advantage of his oppressions which resulted into his
deportation and imprisonment in Moyo and Teso to mobilize farmers there into a
movement for Independence.
He asked government to rename one of the many colonial streets in Kampala after
Ignatius Kangave Musazi.
“The irony is that even Makerere University where I teach has not bothered to
name any residence after Ugandans or African who studied in it. We don’t
have Nyerere Hall of residence. I implore government to rename one of the
colonial roads after Musazi” he stated.
Dr. Ssimba said Musazi's political struggles started by organizing farmers for
economic emancipation in which he galvanized ethnic diversity without dividing
the people. He criticized politicians who have named their political parties
after farmers whose economic conditions they do not know.
Wilson Usher Owere, the chairperson of Amalgamated Transporters and General
Workers Union says many of today’s political parties are briefcase political
parties who don’t care for the common people.
Owere says Musazi politically mobilized the country without violating the law
adding that his activism was for the people and with the people.
“What is happening today? The political parties can’t even start a small group
for poverty eradication. Our founding father
Patricia Nduga, the granddaughter of Ignatius Kangave Musazi from Makerere
University says she is excited that the National Resistance Movement government
has implemented Musazi's vision for free primary education.
Nduga says education as a pillar for economic development is responsible for
women empowerment into leadership and family roles. She says Dr Ssimba's
proposal for renaming a road after Musazi should be followed through with
government.
Leonard Okello, the Executive Director Uhuru Institute said Musazi’s political
strategy was to first address knowledge gaps among farmers for them to better
challenge colonial government.
Okello says as long as political parties don’t address the knowledge gaps among
the youth, their interventions will be meaningless in creating meaningful
development.
“Musazi used very simple tools to build the nation. We don’t seem to see the
youth today emulating Ignatius Kangave Musazi in wealth creation, something
which Musazi did so well to achieve his mission of defeating colonialism and
economic exploitation” Okello said.
According to Okello, the current political parties in the country are not
firmly grounded in proper ideologies of equity which Musazi and his group stood
for. He said in such a case, the political parties end up with noise on how all
other political parties are very bad and they are the only saints in the
country without mobilizing people on pertinent national principles.
Dr Ken Lukyamuzi, former Member of Parliament says he utilized lessons from
Ignatius Kangave Musazi in his political career to get things done for his
constituency. He said he firmly believes in the proposal for renaming a road in
the heart of Kampala after Musazi.
Alice Kangave Musazi, the daughter of Ignatius Kangave Musazi serving as
assistant commissioner for production in the Ministry of Agriculture says the
young people of Uganda lack the drives of persistence which enabled Musazi to
achieve many of the legacies he achieved.
The speakers were discussing the roles of young people in nation building – a
key legacy of Ignatius Kangave Musazi. They said without linking human Rights
and Democracy to food security, wealth creation and livelihoods, the political
struggles in Uganda will not succeed in liberating the country.
