In 2016 around November, a Ugandan army contingent commanded by the Land Forces Commander Lt. Gen. Elweru clashed with Royal Guards at the Palace of the King of Rwenzururu His Majesty Mumbere Iremangoma.
This came along after heavy inquiries, phone calling and texting with the OBR administration on having the Royal Guards handed over to government after several allegations of being involved in unlawful activities in the Rwenzoris specifically in Kasese and Bundibugyo.
It is common knowledge to understand that some opportunists in the Kingdom hierarchy (previously holding cabinet positions in the Kingdom cabinet) were involved in recruiting Royal Guards for activities best known to them.
My focus in this article isn’t about what they did and whether it was lawful or unlawful to be recruited. It is rather focusing on the mindset education these people received in order to work for the project they least knew its intentions.
Mindset change is something very vital to someone’s mental health. There has been so much distorted history (particularly for the Rwenzururu Movement) and has been passed to the current generation. It has greatly affected the minds of some youth who are easily gullible when fully engaged.
Ugandans should appreciate that Unity, social harmony, visionary leadership and nationalism will propel the needed national transformation. The country’s development and transformation is a national effort for everyone, above regional and political party differences. The Citizens’ mindsets, perceptions and attitudes change are a booster to the implementation of government programs, initiatives and policies.
Your mindset is your collection of thoughts and beliefs that shape your thought habits. And your thought habits affect how you think, what you feel, and what you do. Your mind-set impacts how you make sense of the world, and how you make sense of you. Your mindset is therefore a big deal.
To detoxify the lies that have had a base in the population of Kasese, it will take a fully-fledged program of mindset change and have the refocus of the youth on what’s important during this period when the Kingdom is at crossroads.
It’s time for political leaders across the ideological spectrum to realize that, while partisanship is understandable, hyper-partisanship is destructive to our Kingdom. We need more visionary leaders who will earnestly strive for bipartisanship and find policy solutions that can move the Kingdom forward.
History is not everything, but it is a starting point. History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is a compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells them where they are but, more importantly, what they must be. It is time for the Rwenzururu Kingdom to begin and write a new History. To rebrand and become inclusive to all bipartisan people. This will be achieved by lodging a mindset change program to people in the Rwenzoris who specifically confuse Rwenzururu Kingdom as their movement to achieve their ill motives.
I have said that propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation have always been part of political warfare. Social media and other new platforms have given it a new life and reach through which the fake news phenomenon can reach everywhere.
There have been a lot of published stories (fake) in the mainstream media, distorted oral history and misinformation that has affected the Kingdom’s growth. The earlier we learn how other recognized cultural institutions work with the central government, the better the
Kingdom shall prosper.
Kindly edit the names of the author in your heading. There is a spelling error in his names