By Ndawula Ronald
A fight between a man of 40 years and a child of 4 years will obviously go to the man.
The challenge is to the man who decides to engage in this fight!
I wonder whether the man can go to his family and announce or pride or throw a celebration for winning this fight?
To me the President of Uganda to open a war on a tribe and to seek supremacy, suffocate, teach them a lesson is vain, ill conceived, and pyrrhic.
Theres nothing wrong for a tribe to be proud of themselves.
Israelis are proud of themselves and thrive with this attitude and also believe their land in a desert is the land that rivers flow with milk and theirs is Gods chosen tribe!
We have gone as far as believing the pride of a community in middle east and go there In reverence of a man who died more than 2000 years ago. On many incidences I go to church and people say we the children of Israel! It looks like we have all been adopted and swallowed by the tribe which chose to regard itself in high esteem.
Secondly, there’s another tribe also descendants of Abraham who insist that their belief is supreme and Allah chose its Arabic language as the medium through which he can hear our mundane calls and prayers.
I see millions every other year flocking to Mecca and people naming themselves Hajji/Hajat and adopting Arabic names because they managed to reach the burial place of a man who knew and believed in the one Supreme being Allah.
He sold the doctrine so well because he had faith in his land and his people and they were able to die for his cause if you can remember the Kaffir wars.
Countless examples can be told in history about people who because of their pride have managed to rise and surmount enemies because of their beliefs and attitudes.
The United Staes of America is built on a foundation of a people who decided to believe in themselves.
You remember U.S was a british colony till the late 18th century. After the American war of independence in 1776 the colonies made a decision to work relentlessly so that they may not regret the decision of breaking away from the United kingdom.
The Bagisu and their Imbalu thing is their business and if you ask why you will be entering a tricky territory. They also believe a Mugisu who has not gone through the ritual is not man enough!
Why? It’s their belief and culture and they love it.
So, the idea of extinguishing the love and pride the Baganda have for themselves, their land and Kingdom is something that is going to have a weird ending because it means extermination of an entire Buganda population.
King Pyrrhus of Epirus was a famous Greek King who was obsessed by the pride of the Romans.
He attacked the Romans many times to crush their pride and impose the will of the Greeks.
He won many times but the cost of the war was too much on him that he regretted his decision to fight and thats what in English we call a pyrrhic victory.
His victories were empty with thousands of casualties and war dead.
The best way to avoid a pyrrhic victory is to use irenic approaches and methods for we all need peace.
Sometimes I think theres peace in Uganda not because the government is too strong, but because people chose peace and love and coexistence.
Very few can choose to kill others for power and property.
This, in a nutshell, let the Baganda have their pride, their language, and their Mailo thing because its theirs today and forever. The cost in money, time and manoeuvring can finish the Luwero Ngoma and Zirobwe, kikyusa Luwero roads and build all schools and hospitals if you love Uganda.
Ndawula Ronald, the author is the former chairperson of Luwero district
