On Tuesday October 4

th
2011, former UN Assistant Secretary General Rachel
ayan!a "ill deli#er the 4
th
Abu ayan!a emorial $ecture on the theme
%&omen's mo#ement ( Reality or )allacy*'+ Some ,eo,le ha#e as-ed, "hat if Abu
ayan!a "as ali#e today and had to deli#er his o"n lecture, "hat "ould his ta-e
be on current sub!ects of democracy, corru,tion, elections, ,residential
succession, abira forest, the economic slum,, the issues at a-erere uni#ersity
to name but a fe"*
)ortunately for us, Abu ayan!a need not be ali#e today as he already s,o-e at
len.th on many current issues+ The trouble "ith as-in. Abu to s,ea- durin. such
troubled times, durin. times "hen nobody dared to s,ea- u, for fear of bein.
labelled a rebel or a saboteur is that Abu "ould ma-e the "hole country sit u,
and listen for days at a time+ /e "ould continuously and yet consistently nail
,oint after ,oint "ithout de.eneratin. into a borin. monotone, a monolo.ue God
forbid+ Abu "ould ha#e the le.endary /onorable 0a!ura "ide a"a-e+
On 24
th
A,ril 1112, "hile contributin. to the National 3n#ironment 4ill, he
than-ed the 0aba-a of 4u.anda for s,earheadin. the conser#ation cam,ai.n, as
he "ould than- him today for o5erin. land to the S6OU$ for su.ar ,roduction+
4ac- then he ,ro,osed a National tree ,lantin. day on "hich e#ery U.andan
ali#e "ould be com,elled to ,lant one tree, the same "ay he sa" it done "hile in
e7ile in 0enya+ The .o#ernment's res,onse then "as that it did not ha#e enou.h
money to ,roduce enou.h seedlin.s for the millions of U.andans of the time8
today it "ould say that it cared more about su.ar than "ater+ Today, Abu "ould
lead by e7am,le and sho" the 14,000 trees that his family alone has ,lanted in
the last 12 months+
Turnin. to the issues of democracy, Abu "ould s,ea- as he did on the 4
th
, 2
th
and
9
th
of :uly 119; about the ,ro,osed constitution amendments+ /e said(Mr.
Speaker I now turn to a detailed examination of the proposals chapter by
chapter and later on I shall make a few general observations in order to round
of my speech tomorrow. (aughter!. <
Those "ho lau.hed "ere then much obli.ed "hen the honourable = for 0a.."e
North 3ast held the >oor for ? days@ On that basis alone, the fact that a S,ea-er
in 119; "ould allo" a bac-Abencher in the o,,osition to hold the >oor of
,arliament for ? days, s,ea-s not only of the undeniable .enius of the man, but
also of the com,arati#ely narro"er democratic s,ace in U.anda today+ Abu
"ould comment on the ,ro,osed AntiAbail 4illBreferendum in this "ay(
I want now to talk about the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms of
the individual".I would remind hon. Members that one of the most serious
indictments of colonial rule was..( that it!.. denied# or restricted the full
en$oyment of fundamental rights and freedoms. %nd the $usti&cation for our
'huru was not only because we wanted to be ruled by black men". but because
colonial rule was bad .. in the sense of depriving us of certain things# what we
considered" very important fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual(
the right to decide who shall govern you# the right to meet freely# the right to
disseminate ideas# the right to ac)uire freedom of speech# the right to property
and so on. *ow I want to say that although we indicted colonial rule." because
it denied fundamental human rights. *evertheless there were many human
rights which were guaranteed under colonialism# and I am very disappointed to
see that there were some rights which we had even under colonialism but which
we are taking away under these proposals. Mr. Speaker it is a great shame for
us to think like that. +e are more afraid to grant more freedom when we are
independent than our colonial masters were disposed to grant us. Mr. Speaker
let me say it for the sake of posterity so that it is put very clearly on the record
that in my opinion there is no $usti&cation for detention without trial. I repeat so
that there is no shadow of doubt of where I stand on this. ,here is no
$usti&cation for detention without trial.
-etention without trial erodes# it corrodes# it eats into all the other rights and
freedoms which we are trying to guarantee to the people of 'ganda under
chapter III # in such a manner as to make them almost meaningless.
I am saying that these powers used even by an angel are dangerous. Mr.
speaker even .od himself has not allowed himself these powers/ "we muslims
believe that on the day of $udgment we shall be called and the angels will read
out a record which will be an indictment before .od# who will know# because .od
is 0mniscient# 1e knows everything# 1e will know before hand that Mayan$a is
guilty or not guilty# but .od who is 0mniscient on the day of $udgment will get
the indictment read out by an accusing angel and man will be given an
opportunity to defend himself.2
Turnin. to the 0in.'s 4ill, Abu "ould then ar.ue, at Crst ,assionately but later
turn combati#e and ,ersonal "hen challen.ed on the issueD
<Mr. Speaker with regard to the abolition of kings# I am unalterably opposed to
it ..on the grounds that I am an %frican( I believe this country should have an
%frican nature# image# personality and it should have an %frican heritage.
3ingship# politically speaking# is $ust about the only institution which some of us
in 'ganda have really evolved from the very beginning 4 other people have not#
but those of us who have we are proud of having this institution 4 and we should
continue to have it. I do not believe that the existence of kings would detract us
from the building of a united nation( I do not believe that my loyalty to the
3abaka of 5uganda would mean that I have therefore less loyalty to the republic
of 'ganda or to the president of 'ganda. .
Mr. Speaker# my conscience is absolutely clear on this matter and I want to state
so here that there cannot be any doubt on this. I consider myself to have no
mandate to vote on this proposal to abolish the 3abaka in 5uganda. I have no
mandate to do that and I hope I shall be granted the indulgence. ,his is not a
)uestion of refusing loyalty or bad loyalty or anything of that kind. 0n
conscientious grounds# I conscientiously ob$ect( it is contrary to my
understanding of sense of duty and honor( my honor as a self respecting man#
having pledged myself to preserve and uphold an institution and then to come
here and vote it out of existence.2
After ? days of holdin. the >oor, Abu "ould "ant to conclude his s,eech but for
annoyin. inter!ections mostly from the front bench no" Clled "ith fresh faces+
U, to no" he has handled inter!ections "ith the -ind of "it that "ould lea#e his
detractors both humbled and humoured+ That is until a debutante front bencher
"ho ,re#iously "or-ed as his ,ermanent secretary "hen Abu "as inister of
3ducation E a ,ublic ser#ant "ho "ent behind Abu's bac- to di#ert scholarshi,
funds for ,olitical ca,ital E inter!ects one more time and for the last time+ Abu
no" loses it and res,onds "ith "ords "hich are ada,ted years later by Army
.enerals and other bush "ar heroes to intimidate !ud.es+ Abu instead directs his
tirade at the /onorable inister of commerce "ho recoils and suc-s it u, li-e a
school boy(
<r+ S,ea-er, I am really sick and tired of men who have only started thinking of
'ganda# men who were in their businesses when we were &ghting for the unity
of the country# men who were $ust nestling their nests when we were in $ail and
now they come and try to teach me a lesson. 1owever# I was discussing %rticle
678 (aughter!2 At the time Abu did not -no" althou.h he couldn't care less if
he did, that "ithin months he "ould be bac- in incarceration "here he "ould
remain for ? years as a ,risoner of conscience+
4ac- on the sub!ect, Abu concludes(
Mr. Speaker I want to end with a warning. -emocratic government cannot be
created by writing a constitution. % constitution# if it is a good one# can help but
ultimately democracy does not reside in the constitution ".but in the hearts and
minds of people"it is a habit of mind"a )uestion of temperament of our people#
the spirit of tolerance# of sharing basic beliefs and value so that there is a
substantial ma$ority of people in the country who say that far and no further2
and this can be respected. Mr speaker unless we cultivate those values# those
commonly shared values and beliefs# unless we cultivate the habit of mind which
is essential to en$oyment of liberty# freedom and democratic government# we
shall not succeed.2
On that note, today, the /onorable embers for 0am,ala 6entral and
$"emiya.a 6ounty stand u, and re,eat <)ar and no furtherF+ They are !oined by
the /onorable "oman member for 0it.um a-a ama abira and the member for
4u."eri "ho nod their heads as they return %bribe' money sayin. <)ar and no
furtherF8 and 192 others across the ,olitical di#ide "ho ha#e decided that this
country and the oil beneath it belon. to all of us, not !ust those "ho bear the
scars of "ar+ They
Guoted and ada,ted from /ansard by Omar ayan!a, Abu ayan!a )oundation+