Aramanzan N. Madanda is a lecturer at the Department of Gender and Women studies at Makerere University. This is how he responded to my article on Violence against women manifested in Kampala riots.

I have read your blog  and what I can say is that what happened in the Kampala streets regarding attacking women is a manifestation of the broader problem of violence against women (VAW). Almost any study of VAW in Uganda reports about 60%  prevalence. What this translates to is that out of every 10 women 6 have experienced VAW is some form. This violence comes from mostly intimate partners like husband or boyfriend, but it can be from security agencies or the general public.

The justifications for VAW are usually embedded in the whole conceptualisation of women’s sexuality where in many cases females are objectified as instruments of sexual pleasure or even sexual humiliation. So the comment like “she was undressed because she is beautiful” – as if beauty is concealed somewhere in the under garments are some of the manifestations. When a woman is raped, some people begin by asking if she was “properly” dressed as if it is in order to rape anyone even if she was naked!! When a woman is beaten it is taken as disciplining and a show of love!! So whenever there is any chaos (riot, war, skirmish, etc), some people take advantage and vent their sexual and other egos on women in many forms.

My mind and my knowledge of myself is formed by the victories that are the jewels in our African crown, the victories we earned from Isandhlwana to Khartoum, as Ethiopians and as the Ashanti of Ghana, as the Berbers of the desert…. All this I know and know to be true because I am an African!

Because of that, I am also able to state this fundamental truth that I am born of a people who are heroes and heroines… The great masses who are our mother and father will not permit that the behaviour of the few results in the description of our country and people as barbaric. Patient because history is on their side, these masses do not despair because today the weather is bad. Nor do they turn triumphalist when, tomorrow, the sun shines.

I am born of the peoples of the continent of Africa. The pain of the violent conflict that the peoples of Liberia, Somalia, the Sudan, Burundi and Algeria is a pain I also bear. The dismal shame of poverty, suffering and human degradation of my continent is a blight that we share… Whatever the difficulties, Africa shall be at peace!

Rama Yade, France's junior Minister for youth and sports. linternaute photo

I have read a few stories in the past about this inspirational woman, France’s junior minister for youth and sports. At only 32 she has already penetrated the French politics. She was born in Senegal before her mother moved to France where she grew in  an immigrant neighbourhood. Yade is a brilliant  black muslim woman.

She has a book which I am yet to read titled “Blacks of France,” which according to the Washington Post “analyzed the place in French society occupied by African immigrants’ children and other French blacks.”   The paper says the book reminded people that, despite her own swift rise in a conservative movement, Yade carried the heritage of a black woman in a predominantly white society.

A friend of mine Shaazka has also brought to my attention that  Yada  boycotted official functions for Muammar Gaddafi last year in Paris. She said Gaddafi should be made to understand “our country is not a doormat on which a leader, terrorist or not, can come wipe the blood of his deeds off his feet.”

Go gal.

“And that was not all. I also saw, for the first time in my life, women being undressed in public by rioters. Whether these women were being looked at as bad omens no one knows.” Paul Musangi. This was extracted from a Daily Monitor story which entailed ordeals of those who are held up and shot in Kampala riots just over a week ago.

Another notable comment: “Hooligans tried to pull our mainly female students out of the tour jeep, tried to smash the windows of our car, and damaged the first of our three tour vehicles.”

The riots in Kampala were sparked off by government’s refusal of the Kabaka to visit Kayunga because the Banyala wanted him to seek permission from their leader. But in the end 21 people were killed and hundreds were injured in battle that saw the police  resort to live ammunitions.

People trying to find safe haven during the riots. Daily Monitor photo.

I picked Musangi’s words because up to now no one has explained or paid attention to the abuse of women during the riot. This reminded of an incident when the police publicly humiliated Kampala woman MP, Nabillah Sempala by trying to undress her during her arrest at a political rally in the city. Nabillah’s incident was captured by TVs and it was in the pictures but few put attention on the increasing humiliation of women in political battles in Uganda. I watched this video in disbelief and wondered what could have prompted police officers to resort to this.

This was so difficult for the female lawmaker to narrate to journalists that she sobbed in the middle of interview. But her sobbing was not enough to make women in parliament to make a big statement. Even the Old Kampala Police Commander, Moses Mwanga went ahead to justify the undressing of the Member of Parliament within parliament.

And we never saw any action from female MPs of whom majority were voted because they are women (read Affirmative action). Not a walk out or no nothing to show their positions and part of the problem is because for most of them belong to the ruling party where they are more less home mamas who have no role in political decision making or influencing it. The only reaction that made headlines was Kahinda Otafiire’s who instead blamed the police actions on Nabillah’s beauty.

“If it were me they wouldn’t have undressed me, it’s because she beautiful.”

And where were our so called women activists who have for the greater part turned the field into donor-money getting one. Or was it because this story was not juicy enough to sell to the donors?

Well this one of the women in the riots for sure is a good one to talk about. So far I haven’t seen any woman interviewed who went through these humiliating experiences. I am no femmist but it’s only natural that when a person is wronged most that we pay more attention to them. We all know that violence against women is like a culture that some women have accepted and actually go ahead to say if your man doesn’t beat you then he doesn’t love you. But for those abused in the riots to tell a story as being one of those ‘who were undressed in the riot’ is a difficult one.

We can’t be silent about this public display of violence against women. What did women have to do with the decisions of the government and Kabaka? It’s not clear how many women died in this riot but you can be sure many faced the most abuse just because they are women. If we can’t hear stories of those who were undressed, God knows if we will ever know those of some who might have faced greater abuse like raped in these riots.

Some women I understand were being attacked for wearing trousers but this is just a lame excuse because Uganda is no Sudan. Women wearing trousers in most of Uganda is not seen as bad enough to evoke hostility. In places like Bosnia, we saw many women humiliated as men in the conflict resorted to rape as a weapon of war and most of their stories are yet to be heard. I fear that if Kampala or Uganda faces a much bigger riot or turmoil, the women will not survive this abuse. You can say those who were undressed in the riot were in the wrong place at the wrong time but who are the ‘wrong people’ who carried out these acts? They are there among us and if Kampala succumbs to another bigger battle – God forbid- they will come out and will be ready to humiliate women again and this time it will be at a larger scale. And if Museveni is to compensate those that lost their properties, how can we ‘compensate’ for these women’s lost dignity?

Interesting article in Daily monitor Prof. Nabudere explains recent riots, the devide and rule policy of President Museveni, the unemployment of youth could lead Uganda to more chaos.

Today I read in disbelief about a proposal entailed in working paper presented to President Museveni calling for government to “bar any person whose paternal grandparent was not living in Bunyoro by 1926 from contesting any political office from parish level to Member of Parliament.”

I find this proposal unfortunate and I even wonder if there was any women in this delegation. We may be living in patriarchal society but the constitution calls for giving women equal access to power. And that’s why there’s affirmative action. If this is implemented it means anybody who happened to be brought up on their mother’s side will be indeed sidelined. It’s important not to take the little strides the country has made in giving women a platform back to the ancient view of ancestry. That’s why our constitution for instance doesn’t say for one to be president their partenal parents must be Ugandan.

It is even more difficult to trace these roots for the record and political purposes. While the proponents of this proposal say they are angainst the first position of ‘ring-fencing’ of offices for only one tribe, their new position is even more radical and would exclude almost all immigrants.

Al Shabab has successfully attacked the AU troops in Somalia and has left a top Burundian force commander dead.

Uganda and Burundi are the only African countries that allowed to deploy in volatile Somalia to support a weak Transitional government.

Press reports indicate about 16 people are dead after suicide bombers arrived in stolen UN vehicles.

Maj.Gen.Mugisha, the injured force commander in Somalia. Daily Monitor photo.

The dead include the deputy commander Maj Gen Juvenal Niyonguruza from Burundi.

Force commander Gen Nathan Mugisha, from Uganda, was lightly wounded. The Ugandan military has not yet indicated how many Ugandans died in the blast. But this is the first major attack on the base since Uganda entered Somalia under the AMISON.

I have always wondered what Uganda has to gain or to stand up for in Somalia that we must risk our troops’ lives in a mission impossible. Uganda cannot simply continue to ignore the rising influence of the militants and the conflicting interests from the west and neighbouring countries like Ethiopia and Eritrea that have partly played in the mess in this country. Ugandan troops a few months were reported to have passed on arms from USA to the TFG which controls a small part of the country.

Why should Ugandans be in Somalia as peacekeepers in the face of violence where they are targets? How many lives do we have to lose to see that a peacekeeping mission at this stage cannot work in Somalia? What is the AU thinking or is this asking too much? I think Ugandans especially those whose relatives are deployed in Somalia should start asking government questions that should have been answered before deployment.