Is the PROFESSIONAL UPDF YELLING at the CONSTITUTION

The great internet code deems typing in CAPITAL LETTERS offensive, equivalent to YELLING. Typography and graphic communication experts observe that people have been using capital letters for thousands of years to convey “grandeur,” “pomposity,” or “aesthetic seriousness” according to a 2014 article titled, How Capital Letters Became Internet Code for Yelling.

A 2022 yourdictionary. com article, Why Are You Yelling? How All Caps Make You Loud, notes that CAPITAL LETTERS in online writing can be used to grab attention, for emphasis, to show anger/shock/outrage/ confusion and to convey urgency.

Handwriting specialists opine that one ought to be frugal with the employment of capital letters as the blocky profiles of capital letters lessen readability. Thesaurus.com advises that we don’t have to wholly discard the use of capital letters; instead, capital letters have found a home in informal communications.

Why this quest to understand the place of CAPITAL LETTERS in official communication today, in the age of the ‘internets’? On February 1 at 2:54 am, Colonel Chris Magezi, Military Assistant in charge of Public Relations of the Chief of Defense Forces (CDF) tweeted on his X account: “UPDF official Statement: The General Court Martial will continue to TRY ANYONE WHO CONSPIRES TO MURDER THE PRESIDENT, COMMITS ARMED REBELLION AGAINST UGANDA, AND ENGAGES IN TERRORISM AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF UGANDA. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL COL. KIZZA BESIGYE BE RELEASED UNTIL HE FACES THE FULL EXTENT OF MARTIAL LAW. The final decision on this matter will be taken by the CIC and Chairman of the High Command, General Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.”

As far as one can go back on Magezi’s X account, he is not in the habit of typing in capital letters. Ba dia, he is not in the habit of YELLING on the internet. Thus, we can comfortably speculate that in using CAPITAL LETTERS, Magezi sought to convey SERIOUSNESS.

As the nation regaled in the euphoria of the extraordinary January 31 Supreme court judgment shutting down the trials of civilians in the General Court Martial, CAPITAL LETTERS were being summoned to the frontline like reserve troops amassing for war.

At 2:54 am, as the nation purred the sweet sleep the liberators brought foras, the heralded professional Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces (UPDF) YELLED online that it neither cares for quisling civilian institutions like the JUDICIARY nor for lofty papers like the CONSTITUTION OF UGANDA. (Former ruling party member and Ethics minister Miria Matembe reported that President Yoweri Museveni once said, “What is a constitution but a mere piece of paper?”)

In addition to CAPITAL LETTERS joining the UPDF, Magezi’s X account has taken on additional responsibilities – the channelling of the ethereal thoughts of the UPDF CDF, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba (MK).

A more recent tweet on Magezi’s account reads, “CDF Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba: The traitor Besigye will only leave prison in two ways. Either in his coffin after we hang him or shoot him or on his knees apologising to Mzee.”

Magezi’s account has seemingly taken a sharp turn in its character – previous posts and reposts on his page mainly feature updates about the offices of the President, the First Lady, the CDF and the UPDF. Even at the height of MK’s virulent posts promising to behead opposition leader, Robert Kyagulanyi/Bobi Wine, Magezi’s X account did not retweet those now ‘disappeared’ posts.

Meanwhile, on the official UPDF account on X, the PROFESSIONAL UPDF is in full swing with posts about army doctors undertaking surgeries highlighting the strong civil-military relations in Masaka, soldiers participating in international Qur’an reciting competitions, plans to buttress Uganda’s border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, among others.

Oddly, the UPDF account is mute on the Supreme court judgment, and neither does it carry a repost of Magezi’s YELLING post. The media widely reported Magezi’s position as the ‘official UPDF position,’ which position has not been refuted.

Dear reader, let us be so bold as to similarly employ the wonder of CAPITAL LETTERS. Thus, let us walk gingerly among the advisory orders of CHIEF JUSTICE Alfonse Owiny-Dollo that accompanied the January 31 Supreme court judgment.

“THE PEOPLE OF UGANDA pronounced themselves in the course of the making of the 1995 CONSTITUTION, expressing their FERVENT DESIRE TO MAKE A BREAK FROM THE UGLY PAST THAT CHARACTERIZED LIFE IN OUR COUNTRY; ESPECIALLY THE GRAVE ABUSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS BY THE MILITARY.

THE UGANDAN MILITARY HAS SINCE BEEN TRANSFORMED INTO A PROFESSIONAL FORCE; AND IT HAS MADE REMARKABLE CONTRIBUTION TO ENSURING REGIONAL PEACE, SECURITY AND STABILITY. IT IS RATHER CONTRADICTORY AND RATHER DISCONCERTING FOR A MILITARY FORCE BUILT ON NEW AND COMMENDABLE PROFESSIONAL DISPENSATION TO OPERATE UNDER THE SAME LEGAL FRAMEWORK THAT FAILED TO CHECK OR AVERT MILITARY ABUSE OF POWER; WITH UNSPEAKABLE RAMIFICATIONS.”

As this article is a class on the employment of CAPITAL LETTERS, we further note that the 2004 government White Paper on Defence Transformation, stated the following as one of Uganda’s core security interests: “A SOCIETY THAT FUNCTIONS ACCORDING TO PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE, FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY, WHERE FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS ARE PROMOTED AND PROTECTED.”

Class dismissed.