UGANDA PEOPLES CONGRESS
(Office of the President)

AMO CLUB INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
LONDON OCTOBER 1998

MESSAGE BY PARTY PRESIDENT: A. MILTON OBOTE

1. TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE UGANDA PEOPLES CONGRESS, MEMBERS OF THE AMO CLUB, ALL UGANDANS AND FRIENDS OF UGANDA now assembled in Conference in London, UK, I send you all my warmest salutations and heartfelt wishes for a success of the Conference.
2. The most momentous issue in Uganda today continues to be what it has been since 1986 - over twelve years now. It is the issue of the determination of the military dictatorship in Uganda and the older democracies led by the United States of America and the United Kingdom governments to remove the people of Uganda from the human race.
3. In the year of the fiftieth anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the US and the UK governments are assiduously and strenuously collaborating with the military dictatorship in Uganda to remove from the body politic of Uganda the God given and birth right of every citizen of Uganda to determine, upon conscience, the nature and the level of his or her enjoyment and exercise of his or her inalienable human rights and freedoms.
4. Since 1986 - over twelve years now - the enjoyment and exercise by the individual citizen of his or her human rights and freedoms have been severely hindered and restricted without his or her consent. The older democracies led by the US and UK governments, supported, financed and facilitated each and every scheme which have hindered and restricted the individual citizen from enjoying and exercising his or her human rights and freedoms.
5. In the rest of Africa, except Uganda and Rwanda, the older democracies are, on the other hand, working assiduously and strenuously for governments and regimes to respect and not to hinder nor restrict the enjoyment and exercise by the citizen of his or her inalienable human rights and freedoms. Any government or regime which fails to respect or should seek to hinder or restrict the enjoyment and exercise by the citizen of his or her inalienable human rights and freedoms is immediately punished with the suspension of aid.
6. In Uganda, on the other hand, the more the hindrance and restrictions on the enjoyment and exercise by the citizen of his or her inalienable human rights and freedoms, the more support, praises of the Uganda military dictatorship and the more huge financial subventions from the older democracies.
7. The outcome of the dual policy of the older democracies as expressed in various ways, leave the people of Uganda with only two courses of action. The first is to accept and follow the wisdom in the American Declaration of Independence that "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires (that the people of Uganda) should declare the causes which impel them to (refuse to meekly) accept their removal from the human race by the Uganda military dictatorship in collaboration with the older democracies."
8. In the case of the citizens of Uganda who are members of the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC), their Party has over the years expressed to mankind the causes why the Party cannot meekly accept the removal of the people of Uganda from the human race:-
1. In public Statements, letters and memoranda to the older democracies and to the International Community.
2. In July 1997, the Party held in Lusaka, Zambia, a Consultative Meeting, the Communique of which was published and sent to each of the older democracies under seperate covers, clearly stated that the Party will not accept dictatorship in Uganda whose entrenchment is with or without finances from the older democracies.
3. The Party Representative Council (PRC) established to pave the way for the removal of the dictatorship was inaugurated in November 1997 and it again reiterated the stand of the Party never to accept dictatorship in Uganda.
4. A year later in July 1998, the Party held a Convention in Toronto, Canada, where again the position of the Party never to accept dictatorship in Uganda was strongly reaffirmed.
5. In addition, the Party President, A Milton Obote, the de facto leader of the Party in Uganda, James Rwanyarare, the Party Bureaux in Europe, North America and Africa and individual UPC members have written letters and memoranda to the older democracies and gave copies to the media which stated most definitively that the UPC cannot accept dictatorship in Uganda or the removal of the people from the human race.
6. This Conference now being held in the Capital City of one of the two older democracies foremost in collaborating with the dictatorship in the removal of the people of Uganda from the human race, is another evidence of the non-violent campaigns of the UPC, its Bureaux, its auxilary organizations and its members never to accept any such removal.
9. The Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) has therefore paid due and "decent respect to the opinions of mankind" by furnishing to mankind the fact that there is a dictatorship in Uganda which in collaboration with the older democracies is determined to remove the people of Uganda from being part of mankind by denying to the people of Uganda the enjoyment and exercise of the inalienable human rights in the UN Declaration of Human Rights Charter. The very strong opposition of the UPC to the denials has also been given to mankind and, in particular, to the collaborators abroad and the quislings in Uganda who are also citizens of Uganda.
10. No government in the older democracies accepts that there is a military cum one-Party dictatorship in Uganda. They stubbornly maintain that position, quite cynically, in full knowledge of the fact that the provisions of that Article 269 of the 1995 Constitution and their antecedents provide for one-Party politics and elections and also in full knowledge of the fact that the Movement Act 1997, provides for all members of Parliament and lower Councils to be members of the Party of the ruling army. The two enactments clearly make Uganda a defacto military cum one-Party dictatorship.
11. Despite the provisions of the Constitution and the Movement Act which provide for participation by the citizen in politics and elections only under and through the aegis of the Movement which is the political Party of the army which seized power through the barrel of the gun and much bloodshed in 1986, the older democracies are, with sinister motives, adamant that the system does not hinder, restrict or violate the enjoyment and exercise by the citizen of his or her inalienable human rights and freedoms.
12. However, any other African President, except Museveni in Uganda and Paul Kagame in Rwanda, who should try to insert the provisions of Article 269 of the Uganda Constitution into the Constitution of his country, or try to enact the provisions of the Movement Act as the law of his country, will immediately be termed a dictator, and aid to his country will also immediately be suspended by the older democracies. Museveni and Kagame who are definitive military dictators are praised and are called the NEW BREED of African leaders by the same older democracies.
13. The Uganda military dictatorship headed by the older democracies' NEW BREED is not satisfied with Uganda being a de facto military cum one-Party dictatorship. It has therefore provided Article 271 in the 1995 Constitution for the inalienable human rights and freedoms of the individual to be removed from politics, elections and governance. This is the same as removing the people of Uganda from the human race precisely because once the nature and level of the enjoyment and exercise of the inalienable human rights and freedoms of the individual is made not to be determined by the individual, the individual ceases, in the field of politics, elections and governance, to be a wholesome person and therefore out of the human race.
14. The scheme in Article 271 to make the citizens of Uganda to cease to be wholesome persons and to be robotic participants in politics, elections and governance is disguised as choosing and adopting a system of governance through a referendum. The older democracies because of their bias towards the dictatorship have interpreted this evil scheme to mean a referendum in which the people will choose between on the one hand, the multiparty system of governance and on the other, what is euphemistically called the Movement System.
15. Because of the properties of the Movement System as defined in Article 269 of the Constitution, in the Movement Act 1997 and in the Electoral laws, the central issue in the referendum to be held after fifteen years' head start of the Movement System shall be a most evil profanity. Because of the properties of the Movement System, the central issue in the referendum can only be whether the individual should and must be the sole person to determine the nature and level of the enjoyment and exercise of his or her inalienable human rights and freedoms or whether the votes of strangers - other persons - should determine for the individual (against his or her will and consent) the nature and level of the enjoyment and exercise of his or her inalienable human rights and freedoms.
16. There are people in Uganda and elsewhere, some of whom are members of the UPC, who have not sufficiently appreciated the evil in, and the goal of the scheme in Article 271. Those people have even called for the referendum to be boycotted by the political Parties. Boycott is a trap which will later be turned against the Parties with the silly argument that they willingly chose not to put their case to the electorate and yet this is a matter for the Parties.
17. This is a matter about whether the individual, whether or not he or she is a member of a Party should and must, upon conscience, determine the nature and level of the enjoyment and exercise of his or her inalienable human rights and freedoms. The evil scheme in Article 271 proposes that the God given conscience of the individual be suppressed so as to make him or her a human robot who cannot and shall not be permitted to participate in politics, elections and governance in any other way except through and under the custody of the Movement which is the political wing of an army.
18. To execute the evil scheme, the dictatorship, the older democracies and the quislings are acting on two fronts. The first is that the political Parties, particularly the UPC, are represented in the dictatorship's Parliament fraudulently elected in 1996. The second front is the negotiations presently going on between the older democracies and the dictatorship for some of the restrictions in Article 269 on the activities of the political Parties to be resolved.
19. It seems not enough for Museveni to impose dictatorship, the older democracies to support and praise it, and the quislings to give it opportunistic credence and credibility. They even insult the intelligence of the people of Uganda and of the entire International Community with the propaganda that the political Parties are represented in the Parliament elected in 1996. Three matters show that the propaganda is vacantly silly. First, every Party except the Movement in Article 269 is specifically prohibited from "sponsoring or offering a platform to or in any way campaigning for or against a candidate for any public elections." Second, the Parliamentary Electoral law specifically debarred the political Parties except the Movement from fielding candidates. Third, every person who was elected in 1996 as an Independent has been conscripted under the provisions of the Movement Act 1997 into the Movement.
20. As for the UPC being represented in that Parliament and even having its leader in it contrary to the provisions of the Constitution and laws, the short explanation is that the dictatorship and the older democracies are so desperate to remove the UPC from Uganda's body politic that the turpitude and profligacy of their projecting a quisling as the leader of the UPC have become instruments in their goal to remove the people of Uganda from the human race.
21. There are three matters which show clearly that the UPC, much less, its leader is in the dictatorship's Parliament. First, on May 16, 1996 after the fraudulent Presidential election of May 10, the UPC issued a definitive policy statement, signed by its then Assistant Secretary General, which condemned and denounced the one-Party elections provided for in the Constitution and the Electoral laws. The Statement exhorted UPC members not to give credence to the fraud.
22. Second, under the UPC (internal) Elections Regulations, the supreme organ of the Party, the Annual Delegates Conference (ADC), must meet and approve the Party's Manifesto for Presidential and/or Parliamentary elections. On account of the prohibition in Article 269, the ADC did not meet in 1996 and therefore no UPC Manifesto was produced, published and presented to the electorate in the 1996 Parliamentary elections. Without that Manifesto, the UPC was clearly debarred, as provided in Article 269, from participating in the 1996 Parliamentary elections.
23. Third, under the UPC (internal) Elections Regulations, no one stands as a UPC candidate in a Parliamentary elections unless the person has been elected and adopted by his or her UPC Parliamentary Constituency Conference (PCC). Again on account of the prohibition in Article 269, no UPC Parliamentary Constituency Conference was held and adopted any person to stand as a UPC candidate in the 1996 Parliamentary elections.
24. The three facts namely, the UPC Statement of May 16, 1996, no UPC Manifesto, that is policy, was presented to the electorate and no UPC Parliamentary candidate was elected and adopted by any UPC Parliamentary Constituency Conference show that the UPC is not in the dictatorship's Parliament. The dictatorship is, however, financing, and the older democracies are projecting quislings and calling them UPC representatives in the Parliament. The purpose is to continue with the presentation of that falsity and deception until when time comes to enact the referendum law. The law to remove the people from the human race will then be presented as having been enacted by a Parliament in which all the Parties, including the UPC, were represented.
25. Members of the UPC, and indeed the people of Uganda, should know that to the older democracies and also to the dictatorship, the other political Parties have already accepted the Movement System of governance and the UPC must be forced to do the same. This belief is based on the fact that in 1986 the leaders of the other Parties willingly accepted, even after the imposition of the ban on Party activities, to give credence and credibility to the Movement System when they served as ministers. Except for Paul Ssemogerere who resigned to contest the 1996 Presidential elections, each everyone of those leaders were discarded or kept as propaganda toys by Museveni.
26. The policy of the older democracies to negotiate some relaxations of the restrictions on the activities of the Parties is a very dirty conspiracy designed to produce the entrenchment of the dictatorship. It is also not new. In 1995 in the run-up to the 1996 fraudulent elections, the older democracies led by the US Embassy in Kampala, promised to negate some relaxations of same restrictions. The idea at that time was to lure the Parties, particularly the UPC, to accept to give credence to one-Party elections as a prelude towards the entrenchment of the dictatorship. The promise caused considerable frictions in the UPC. When the Party as a member of the Inter-Political Forces Co-operation (IPFC) agreed with the other members of the IPFC to participate in the Presidential election without a fall-back strategy, the promise disappeared and no relaxation was effected.
27. This time, the relaxation is being promised or negotiated in order to realize a most evil profanity namely, the removal from politics, elections, and governance the God given inalienable human rights and freedoms of the individual citizen. In countries such as Zambia and Kenya which were ruled by single Parties, the older democracies took the noble and human line that the nature and level of the enjoyment and exercise of the inalienable human rights and freedoms of the individual citizen be fully released from the confines of one-Party politics, elections and governance. Where any government was reluctant or hesitant, the older democracies suspended their aid until the Provisions in the Constitution for one-Party rule were repealed.
28. In Uganda where dictatorship has been the causes of wars, genocide, massacres, devastations and despoliations which are still going on, the older democracies are curiously opposed to working for the repeal of enactments and the abandonment of a system of governance which has caused so much mental and bodily anguish to millions of people. Even after Museveni, the New Breed, has shown so much reckless extravagance to use Uganda's meagre resources in wars in Uganda and to conquer neighbouring countries and has introduced corruption as a leading tenet of governance, praise, finance and facilitate the entrenchment of his dictatorship.
29. This is the second time the older democracies have deserted the people of Uganda and sacrificed the human rights of the people and sided with dictatorship. They have given Museveni the accolade of NEW BREED when the accolade means death and loss of human rights to the people of Uganda. From the end of January 1971 to mid April 1979, the older democracies gave Idi Amin the accolade of GENTLE GIANT when from day one to the very end, his rule was characterized by massacres, murders, terror and the destruction of the economy and social services.
30. This month, October, the British Secretary of State for International Development, Ms Clare short, announced when the Uganda dictatorship is fighting a war to conquer the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) the subvention of the huge sum of sixty seven (£67m) million pounds to Uganda. The ostensible reason given is that the money is for the development of education. Whether for that purpose or for underwriting Museveni's wars, the British government and all the governments in the older democracies know that Uganda's political Parties have been removed from politics, elections and governance and cannot therefore monitor and speak out about the deployment and usage of the huge sum to the extent of taking their findings to the electorate at "the next elections".
31. In any case, even if not a single cent of the very huge sum is used to underwrite Museveni's wars or to facilitate the entrenchment of his dictatorship, the easy availibility of huge sums from the older democracies enables the dictatorship to divert huge local resources to the military, bribery, corruption and the entrenchment of dictatorship. The money from the older democracies, whatever may be the ostensible reason for it, is therefore a direct subvention for the entrenchment of dictatorship.
32. There are a bunch of false grounds upon which the older democracies justify their shielding of Museveni from rigorous competition with the political Parties in free and fair multiparty elections. Elsewhere in Africa, the older democracies are promoting such competitions but in Uganda they have a quiver full of false grounds against free and fair multiparty elections. There is the propaganda that under Museveni, the economy has performed very well. This cannot impress the people of Uganda on several grounds. First, Museveni had no economic policy when he became President in 1986. He imposed the primitive barter trade and currency conversion which severely depressed the economy. In desperation, he plagiarized the UPC policy, programmes and Project Profiles and accepted to implement the UPC Act of Parliament for the return of Asians expelled by Amin all of which he had previously vehemently condemned. Let anyone read and compare the UPC documents of 1982/84 and Museveni's documents of 1988.
33. Second, in his BBC broadcast of Sunday 27 October, Museveni said that the economy has been growing at 6% per annum. In the last UPC budget presented to Parliament in 1985, it was estimated that the economy would grow during the 1985/86 financial year at 6% per annum. Under a military governance with so much subventions from the older democracies and particularly with the UPC at the helm, the economy would today be growing at the rate of at least 15% or more per annum.
34. Third, despite the claim that the economy has performed very well, Museveni has not, in over twelve years, built a single hospital nor a single secondary school. All the hospitals and schools are in dilapidated state. The people are even poorer that they were under Amin.
35. Fourth, under the UPC management of the economy in the 1960s and early 1980s, there was rising standard of living and the building of hospitals, dispensaries and schools. The catalyst for development and the provisions of goods and services in the 1960s and early 1980s was the presence of the oppostition Parties in the body politic, the presence which also served as the ubiquitous Police against corruption.
36. Another propaganda item in the quiver of the older democracies is that there is freedom of the press in Uganda. Apparently, the people of Uganda and the journalists who are citizens are supposed to believe that the provisions of Article 269 have no bearing on what they read, hear on radio and watch on TV and the journalists are to believe that the removal of the political Parties from politics and elections is not a form of censure. However much a journalist or an editor may hate a particular Party or all the Parties, the existence of more than one political Party in the body politic and the existence of competition in politics and elections enrich his or her professional performance. It is therefore to his or her professional integrity to hear all and to serve the public with the views of all. To muzzle the Parties except their occasional Press Conference is to muzzle the Press.
37. There is another aspect of Press freedom in Uganda which is a contradiction to how the freedom to impart ideas is exercised in Museveni's Uganda. The political Parties are prohibited from imparting ideas at public rallies but the Press is not so prohibited. This means that so long as Museveni's direct competitors in politics and elections are muzzled and denied access to the people, the Press may report anything which, in turn, is then used as freedom of the Press when, in fact, a substantial segment of the sources of news and information has been censured.
38. The censuring of a substantial segment of the sources of news and information has been carried further by business houses. They do not advertize in any newspaper connected with a political Party and they do so because ministries and public Departments and Parastatal do not advertize in such newspapers. It follows therefore that under Museveni, a newspaper connected with a political Party must be starved to death. Projects wholly financed by the older democracies are also not advertized in such newspapers and that is freedom of the Press to the older democracies.
39. The freedom of the Press in Uganda is akin to the licencing of Winnie Byanyima to speak freely against corruption so as to impress the older democracies that there is freedom of speech when should Paul Ssemogerere and James Rwanyarare are prohibited to debate corruption or any matter at public rallies and would, at the very least, face prosecution. Secondly, Ms Byanyima's licence does not include her charging Museveni with corruption but only includes cleansing him. Ssemogerere and Rwanyarare know, for instance, that the 30% of the money in circulation in 1987 which was levied as Development Tax though collected, never appeared in any budget. No minister, much less official could have pocketed such a colossal sum of money. In the circumstances, the Uganda journalists and editors should watch out not to crawl while the sleigh of hand is asking them to bend.
40. Fellow citizens, our country is in a very serious trouble; only sorrow rules over the country. The people are being attacked from the inside by the dictatorship and the quislings and from the outside by the older democracies. To suffer two massacring dictatorships in one generation and to be insulted to be ruled by a massacring GENTLE GIANT and a massacring NEW BREED must be accepted is two much for a people to endure.
41. The objective of the attackers namely, the dictatorship, the quislings and the older democracies is to remove the people of Uganda from the human race so that their voice in the governance of their country is completely erased. Their political Parties have already, since 1986, been removed from politics, elections and governance. The year 2000, the beginning of a new millennium, we see the older democracies while preaching democracy, competitive politics and respect for the human rights of the individual elsewhere in Africa, employing their considerable powers and resources to remove the people from the human race.
42. The older democracies have a dual policy for Africa; one for Uganda and Rwanda and another for the rest of Africa. In a letter and a Memorandum I wrote in March this year, I pointed to one of the older democracies that the dual policy is a prescription for instability, wars, genocide and devastations. I wrote that praising, financing and facilitating the removal of Uganda's political Parties from politics and elections and giving the Uganda dictatorship huge annual subventions was making politicians in other countries to abandon the ballot and politics and to seek, instead, to rule their countries through the barrel of the gun and bloodshed.
43. My letter and Memorandum stated that if the Political Parties Bill becomes law and if the referendum is held, millions of Ugandans who are members of the political Parties will either join the existing rebel armies or raise new ones. The reply I received and I quote the actual words: "the referendum must be held."
44. That policy that "the referendum must be held" means to me that to the older democracies as to the dictatorship, it is sacrilege for the people of Uganda to enjoy and exercise their God given human rights and freedoms.
45. After receiving the reply, a message came from Kampala to the effect that my letter and Memorandum greatly angered the government to which they were addressed. That government has now asked Museveni to do something to silence me or to get me deported from Zambia. The idea is that I be deported to Uganda and be killed there.
46. What appears to have caused the anger the most, was my pointing out the possiblity - in fact, virtual certainty that millions of people will either join the existing rebel armies or raise new ones unless the Political Parties Bill and the referendum are abandoned. The older democracies are actively engaged in persuading the leaders of the rebel armies to surrender which they call negotiations with the dictatorship. Two matters arise from the efforts of the older democracies.
47. The first is that the culture of rebel armies was introduced in Uganda by Museveni and the rebellions and rebel armies which have emerged have all been the direct response of the people to the system of governance which he introduced in 1986 and has since consolidated with the support and finance from the older democracies. No Ugandan of sane mind would oppose the cessation of hostilities. The cessation of hostilities means the removal of their causes. Since the sole cause of hostilities in Uganda, since 1986, has been the system of rule imposed by Museveni and his army, it is that system which stands condemned and must be removed for peace and stability to reign in Uganda.
48. To the older democracies and to the dictatorship, the system must remain and must be entrenched with the removal of the people of Uganda from the human race. To both, the rebel armies must surrender so that greater oppression and the removal of the people from the human race may be realized in "peace", it is a new condition for and of peace to be applied only to Uganda which the Uganda Peoples Congress has no hesitation to condemn and reject.
49. The second matter which arises from the effects of the older democracies to persuade the rebel armies to negotiate peace, suggests, most strongly that the older democracies are wittingly or unwittingly avoiding the real issue. The real issue is encapsulated in the provisions of the Constitution which provide for military cum one-Party rule, and a referendum on the human rights of the individual and also in the Electoral laws, the Movement Act of 1997 and in the Political Parties Bill. The rebel armies have no locus standi to negotiate these matters and the real issue with the dictatorship.
50. The Uganda Peoples Congress has proposed and shall continue to propose and press that all enactments which provide for military cum one-Party rule be repealed and that the Political Parties Bill and the referendum be abandoned.
51. The Uganda Peoples Congress is a political Party and not a military outfit. The Party has done its duties on behalf of its members and on behalf of the people of Uganda as a whole. The Party presented to the International Community and to the older democracies in particular, the strongest case possible, for every citizen of Uganda to be the sole authority to determine the nature and level of the enjoyment and exercise of his or her human rights and freedoms.
52. On human rights, the Uganda Peoples Congress has gone to the High Court twice and twice the High Court has avoided to address the issue. The first was after the enactment of the Statute, in 1993, for the elections to the Constituent Assembly. The Assembly was to enact a Constitution but the Statute provided for the political Parties to be debarred from fielding candidates for elections to the Assembly. It, instead, provided for the members of the Assembly to be elected upon a one-Party model of elections. This effectively meant the violation of the right of the citizen to receive ideas and information from all quarters so as to cast his or her vote on the very important matter as the Constitution upon informed consideration of the issues.
53. In January 1994, the Court ruled that the suppressions of the human rights and freedoms in the Constituent Assembly Statute were "temporary". It was a vacantly silly judgement that a Court of law, instead of giving redress, should condone the suppressions of the human rights and freedoms of the citizen upon such a silly ground. Because of that judgement, the Movementists which the Court protected inserted into the Constitution Articles such as 269 and 271 under which the "temporary" suppressions are to be permanent and are to result into the people of Uganda (including the Judges) to be removed from the human race.
54. The Uganda Peoples Congress again went to the High Court in 1987 to question the validity of the 1996 Presidential and Parliamentary elections. In writing the Constitution, the dictatorship wanted to impress the older democracies with its democratic pretensions. Consequently, there are provisions which the dictatorship never meant to apply and some may be cited:-
1. Articles 20 and 21 provide as follows:-
   20(1) Fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual are inherent and not granted by the State.

   21(1) All persons are equal before and under the law in all spheres of political, economic, social and cultural life and in every other respect and shall enjoy equal protection of the law.

   (2) Without prejudice to clause (1) of this Article, a person shall not be discriminated against on the grounds of ....... political opinion .......

   (3) For the purposes of this Article, "discriminate" means to give different treatment to different persons attributable only or mainly to their respective descriptions by ...... political opinion........

55. The case which the UPC took to Court in 1997 rested on the interpretations of the above provisions and others vis-a-vis the provisions in the electoral laws which debarred the political Parties from contesting the 1996 elections and therefore imposed discrimination against Ugandans who are members of the political Parties "only or mainly to their respective description by" "political opinion". The electoral laws, violated the provision of the Constitution when they gave different treatments to the Movementists and to the multipartists. The Movementists were free to contest the elections under the banner of their Party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM), now the Movement whereas the multipartists were prohibited from contesting the elections under the banner of their respective Parties.
56. In addition, the UPC requested the Court to give the interpretation of Article 61(a) which provides as follows:-
    61. Electoral Commission shall have the following functions;

    (a) to ensure that regular, free and fair elections are held;

57. Again, like in 1994, the issue of the human rights and freedoms of the citizen, was avoided by the Court. The curious judgement was that the Court had no power to dismiss the President. The judgement has left the impression that the case was proved but because Uganda is a dictatorship, the Judges feared to pronounce that the dictator-President was not elected according to law.
58. There are members of the UPC who are genuine in their presentations and views that the Party should do more and/or examine itself. The UPC has always been the Party of Ideas and all ideas shall continue to be welcomed. Members of the Party should avoid two pitfalls.
59. The first pitfall arises out of the force majeure in Article 269 which has made moribund all the organs of the Party and which, in turn, has led to the development of opinion, though still very small, that the Constitution of the Party be torn up or be rewritten. This opinion is as realistic as the decision of the rats, in fables, to bell the cat. Once the Constitution of the Party is torn up not by the Annual Delegates Conference, the UPC, as we know it, shall cease to exist and that will be a victory to the dictatorship.
60. Imagine, for instance, the difficulties, in the face of the force majeure, of assembling elected not appointed delegates with linkages to the Branches, Constituencies and Districts to rewrite a new Constitution and/or set up new organs and elect leaders. The realistic thing to do, is to use and strengthen the improvisation organs including the Bureaux which members of the Party have accepted.
61. The second pitfall is also a trap. It is called power struggle. it is important at this very difficult time for Party members to take stock from the fact that from the 1958 Mbale ADC until July 1996 - a total of 38 years, the UPC never experienced a putsch or cabal politics. In 1996, the older democracies induced a putsch and cabal politics so that the UPC should be a quisling. When it failed they still found their quislings to give credence to dictatorship. To organise a putsch against the elected leaders or to organise a cabal in order to be elected to leadership is not policy for the good of the Party or country. The UPC has a war against the dictatorship to fight. I ask all members and leaders to close ranks and to fight the war to the bitter end.
62. At the Lusaka Consultative Meeting of July 1997, it was agreed that the Party should publish its position on all aspects of the situation in Uganda and that a new PPC be instituted. The position of the Party was to be published under the generic term of AGENDA 21. Many members of the Party from all the continents sent their contributions for which I am most grateful.
63. The first draft for which there was no copy, was unfortunately lost. A new draft is nearing completion. There has, however, been very strong representations from friends of Uganda that the Party's priorities are wrong. In their views, the Party should suspend publishing its position on the Constitution, economy, agriculture, education, health etc etc in AGENDA 21 and concentrate on removing the dictatorship. What would it benefit the Party, they argue, if after publishing the Agenda, it is declared illegal under the Political Parties Bill or after the referendum.
64. The second argument of the friends is that after publication, the attention of Party members will be directed more to discussing parts of the Agenda such as the eradication of poverty, education, health etc etc and less to the Party's struggle and campaigns for the removal of the dictatorship. The pros and cons of these arguments are being examined and it is part of the reason why a new PPC has not been instituted. However this Conference, like the Toronto Convention, to sensitize the entire world opinion on the plight of the people of Uganda is part of Agenda 21.
65. Fellow citizens and friends of Uganda, I said at the beginning of this Message that the dual policy of the older democracies, leave the people of Uganda with only two courses of action. I have given the first course - the political course - which the UPC has pursued and will continue to pursue. To the older democracies, however, the UPC and Uganda's other political Parties are already dead. That is why throughout the past over twelve years, all their ministers who visited Uganda, none (except the titular German President) met a committee of any of the political Parties to discuss politics, wars, genocide, massacres etc etc. In December 1997 the American Secretary of State, Madam Madelline Albright, even met Sudanese opposition politicans on Uganda soil to emphasize that to the US Administration, opposition politicians and their Parties do not exist in Uganda.
66. The groups of Ugandans other than leaders and agents of the dictatorship, in whom the older democracies are interested and know as exisitng are leaders of the rebel armies and their armies. The older democracies desperately want the rebel armies to surrender because their existence is proof that the military cum one-Party or Movement System of governance is the cause for rebellions and wars which the people of Uganda have suffered since 1986. Although the older democracies consider the political Parties as dead, they also want the Parties to condemn the rebel armies and their leaders. The Uganda Peoples Congress has no problem with that.
67. The rebel army which has committed the most horrendous genocides, massacres, devastations and despoliations is the National Resistance Army which is also known as the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF). The Uganda Peoples Congress has always, since 1981, condemned and shall always condemn the NRA for genocides, massacres, devastations and despoliations. The UPC also most strongly condemn and shall always condemn the NRA for disturbing the peace and unity of Uganda by imposing dictatorship and therefore the culture of rebel armies.
68. This rebel army, the NRA now masquarading under the name of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces, has fought disperate adversaries in all the four regions of Uganda - South, East, North and West - and is still fighting in the North and West. It has also fought wars in Rwanda, Sudan, Zaire and is now fighting war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In each theatre of war where the NRA has fought in Uganda and outside Uganda, the nature of the atrocities, particularly genocides and massacres, has been the same.
69. The mission of the UPC, since 26 January 1986, has been and shall continue to be the removal of the dictatorship which the NRA Proclaimed on the day. Any condemnation of rebel armies which omits the NRA is inhumane against the people of Uganda.
70. As for the other rebel armies which have emerged since 1986, the UPC recognizes that they came to being in order to protect life and property against the marauding, genocidal, massacring and despoliating NRA. The atrocities by these armies have been and shall always be condemned by the UPC. The leaders of these armies must know that it makes no sense to come out in the defence of the life of the citizen and his or her property and then to take that life and destroy or rob that property.
71. While the UPC and presumably the other Parties will continue with the political campaigns for peaceful and non-violent removal of the dictatorship, the positions of the dictatorship and of the older democracies:-
72. That enactments such as Articles 269, 270 and 271; the electoral laws and the Movement Act of 1997 must not be repealed and therefore that military cum one-Party rule must continue;
73. That the referendum to remove the people of Uganda from the human race in Article 271 must be held;
74. That the political Parties Bill which requires a Party to be registererd as a non-participant in politics and elections provided it can show evidence of having active Branches in 2/3 of the Districts when since 1986, the Parties have been prohibited from managing, operating and keeping their Branches active, must not be abandoned; translate into a second Liberation to gain freedom which now demands that the people of Uganda must find a General.
72. The matter is no longer in the realms of politics in the hands of the political Parties as they may continue, for posterity, with their ineffectual campaigns. The people of Uganda must find a General and start a new form of campaign. Manpower is available in plenty and therefore not a problem. The General must be a citizen who upholds and strongly believes that the citizen must be the sole authority to determine the nature and level of the enjoyment and exercise of his or her God given human rights and freedoms.
73. In preparing his or her plan, the General must take care to identify the enemies correctly so as to avoid causing sufferance to the innocent and to have only one objective namely, the removal of the dictatorship.
74. When I received the Instruments of Independence on 9 October, 1962 from a British Prince, I never thought that my country would have a massacring GENTLE GIANT and a genocidal NEW BREED both heavily supported from abroad. Independence was brought by political campaigns. Events since 1986 have shown that the second Liberation must be given birth by a combination of politics and some other means.
75. It now only remains for me:-
76. To thank all of you fellow citizens and friends of Uganda for blessing this Conference with your presence and brain power.
77. To thank all of you who came from outside the United Kingdom. Your pesence has affirmed the Internationalist nature of the UPC and made this Conference truly International.
78. To thank the organizers of the Conference in the AMO Club and their friends in the UK for what each and everyone did to organize this Conference. In doing so, you have lived up to the mission of your Patron who, since 1958, has always striven to keep the UPC family together.
79. To thank Joseph Ocwet, the Chairman of AMO Club, for enabling members of the UPC family, other Ugandans, and the friends of Uganda to meet and know one another at this International Conference.

LET US PRAY that it be the will of God that next year we meet in Kampala.

My hope and wish is that this Conference succeed in the name, letter and spirit of the Uganda Motto: For God and My Country

A. Milton Obote

President
Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC)