Political parties asked to emulate Ignatius Kangave Musazi in grassroot mobilization

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Political parties in Uganda have been asked to emulate the founding father of Independence and Cooperative Movement Ignatius Kangave Musazi in organizing their support bases under oppressive political atmosphere.

The call was made on Friday by Dr Salim Ssimba Kayunga, the head of department political science and public administration at Makerere University during the fifth Ignatius Kangave Musazi memorial lecture.

Dr Ssimba says Musazi mobilized Ugandans to defeat colonial economic oppression without receiving any political party funding from government as being craved by political parties today. He said political parties should stop blaming restrictive political environment for preventing their effective mobilization in the country.

Dr Ssimba says Musazi took advantage of his oppressions which resulted into his deportation and imprisonment in Moyo and Teso to mobilize farmers there into a movement for Independence.

He asked government to rename one of the many colonial streets in Kampala after Ignatius Kangave Musazi.

“The irony is that even Makerere University where I teach has not bothered to name any residence after Ugandans or African who studied in it. We don’t have Nyerere Hall of residence.  I implore government to rename one of the colonial roads after Musazi” he stated.

Dr. Ssimba said Musazi’s political struggles started by organizing farmers for economic emancipation in which he galvanized ethnic diversity without dividing the people. He criticized politicians who have named their political parties after farmers whose economic conditions they do not know.

Wilson Usher Owere, the chairperson of Amalgamated Transporters and General Workers Union says many of today’s political parties are briefcase political parties who don’t care for the common people.

Owere says Musazi politically mobilized the country without violating the law adding that his activism was for the people and with the people.

“What is happening today? The political parties can’t even start a small group for poverty eradication. Our founding father

Patricia Nduga, the granddaughter of Ignatius Kangave Musazi from Makerere University says she is excited that the National Resistance Movement government has implemented Musazi’s vision for free primary education.

Nduga says education as a pillar for economic development is responsible for women empowerment into leadership and family roles. She says Dr Ssimba’s proposal for renaming a road after Musazi should be followed through with government.

Leonard Okello, the Executive Director Uhuru Institute said Musazi’s political strategy was to first address knowledge gaps among farmers for them to better challenge colonial government.

Okello says as long as political parties don’t address the knowledge gaps among the youth, their interventions will be meaningless in creating meaningful development.

“Musazi used very simple tools to build the nation. We don’t seem to see the youth today emulating Ignatius Kangave Musazi in wealth creation, something which Musazi did so well to achieve his mission of defeating colonialism and economic exploitation” Okello said.

According to Okello, the current political parties in the country are not firmly grounded in proper ideologies of equity which Musazi and his group stood for. He said in such a case, the political parties end up with noise on how all other political parties are very bad and they are the only saints in the country without mobilizing people on pertinent national principles.

Dr Ken Lukyamuzi, former Member of Parliament says he utilized lessons from Ignatius Kangave Musazi in his political career to get things done for his constituency. He said he firmly believes in the proposal for renaming a road in the heart of Kampala after Musazi.

Alice Kangave Musazi, the daughter of Ignatius Kangave Musazi serving as assistant commissioner for production in the Ministry of Agriculture says the young people of Uganda lack the drives of persistence which enabled Musazi to achieve many of the legacies he achieved.

The speakers were discussing the roles of young people in nation building – a key legacy of Ignatius Kangave Musazi. They said without linking human Rights and Democracy to food security, wealth creation and livelihoods, the political struggles in Uganda will not succeed in liberating the country.

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