Thread by @IsaacSsemakadde

Do #UOT EXHIBITIONS really make a difference?🧵

The annoyance of petty bourgeois Ugandans regarding #KampalaPotholeExhibition & #UgandaHealthExhibition, as curated by our brilliant social justice warriors @SpireJim & @GodwinTOKO, has amused me more than it should probably have.

At @mylegalbrain, we did more than put on an exhibit around Kampala’s gargantuan potholes & open sewers 3 years ago.

We SUED @KCCAUG & @GovUganda for this blatant violation of duty that has caused widespread devastation, including death and disability to hapless urban dwellers.

https://twitter.com/isaacssemakadde/status/1263393004179664897

B4 #KampalaPotholeExhibition, we’d sued The Powers That Be & won a landmark ruling for a hazard-free road experience in Kampala City.

COURT ORDER—There shouldn’t be any potholes, open sewers & trading/dwelling places cut off by floods in the capital city.
observer.ug/news/headlines…

Judge Michael Elubu DIRECTED @KCCAUG & @MoJCA_UG (AG) to report to @Parliament_Ug within 3 months from 1 Nov 2021—with accountability & a plan to reduce the dangers posed by unsafe roads, open sewers, manholes, drainage channels & such infrastructure. dailyexpress.co.ug/2021/11/02/cou…

Then IMPUNITY struck. @KCCAUG & @MoJCA_UG disobeyed the court order.

But they were in hot soup a year later. Land court judge Alexandra Nkonge blasted @KCCAUG for “failing to find appropriate solutions for a drainage problem it had created in Kawempe.”
newvision.co.ug/category/news/…

During #KampalaPotholeExhibition, @mylegalbrain commenced legal action for “a WARRANT OF ARREST & DETENTION of @KCCAUG honchos, ED @dorothykisaka & Minister @kyofakabuye2, for failing to implement the court order of 1 Nov 2021, by Justice Michael Elubu.”

ugandaradionetwork.net/story/kccas-ki…

Although the matter of CONTEMPT OF COURT received some media coverage, its seriousness was largely ignored, minimized and/or crowded out by #KampalaPotholeExhibition —which rather encouraged a display of hypocrisy more than anything else.
independent.co.ug/kcca-boss-kisa…

THEREAFTER, #KampalaPotholeExhibition was quickly shut down, without any proper audit of impact & necessary future interventions.

Kampala’s hypocritical chattering classes had discovered amusement in “finger-poking” & they were greedy for more.

Hence #UgandaHealthExhibition

I was content to remain aloof until last Thursday, when I was ambushed & cajoled by some prospective MEDICAL INTERNS to help them with their interminable struggles with @MinofHealthUG.

They were, of course, coming to me as a lawyer of last resort—desperate for a Perry Mason act.

The young medics’ beef with @MinofHealthUG is neither new, nor revolutionary.

It’s a case of an old problem with new victims.

@KagutaMuseveni has always wanted to force all medics into a #Gulag; what better way to start than physically enslaving the lowest in the rank & file?

7 years ago, we helped a cohort of young medics to resist the #Gulag.

An INTERIM ORDER was issued to “restrain @MinofHealthUG from keeping the career plans of prospective health professionals in limbo by failing or refusing to post them immediately ...”
newvision.co.ug/news/1436559/c…

Despite the INTERIM ORDER, @MinofHealthUG officials attempted to pull the wool over the eyes of the young medics.

Deployment for the compulsory internship literally had to be won after some physical combat & psychological maneuvers.

@Curvez6, @Tatian27, @dr_oledo were there.

Unfortunately after this preliminary triumph, everything we had agreed upon fell apart.

Once INSIDE the precarious internship program, and on PAYROLL, the young medics didn’t bother to COMPLETE the case they’d started to combat & eradicate the #Gulag proposed by @MinofHealthUG.

Even after they became fully certified, registered & licensed, none bothered to keep on fighting against the #Gulag plan of @MinofHealthUG.

So, in 7 years, @TheUMAofficial has agitated only for better pay & conditions—while ignoring the simmering conflict over INTERNSHIP #Gulag.

Since 2016, prospective surgeons, doctors, dental specialists, pharmacists & nurses have entered the annual National Medical Internship Scheme probably without being aware that it was practically a WAR ZONE. They either didn’t have any idea they were unwanted—or they didn’t care.

Fast forward 2023: nearly 2000 “pre-interns” find themselves at DAGGERS DRAWN with @MinofHealthUG.

They’ve been “locked out” unless they accept to undertake internship training under #Gulag terms & conditions, incl forced labour, political indoctrination, official bribery, etc

Meanwhile all this is happening during #UgandaHealthExhibition, but one wonders whether it matters to hypocritical chattering classes who just want a platform for superficial finger-poking, frivolous meme-sharing & endless hi-fiving...WITHOUT GETTING ANY SWEAT ON THEIR FOREHEADS.

Will there be a space and a time in this era of glossy middle-class exhibitionism for in-depth analysis and old-fashioned litigation, protest marches & other mano-a-mano pushback activism to confront the dark underbelly of Uganda’s ruling military junta?

Accordingly, these are my conclusions:

1. These exhibitions are frivolous & even harmful, if they aren’t accompanied by a physical confrontation that embodies the collective decision & might of the online chattering classes.

2. Crowdfunding, sit-ins etc may be the gamechanger.

3. These exhibitions will lose direction if they do not build on past “mini-exhibitions” that may have floundered for one reason or another.

There’s no reason why we should be recreating the wheel, or repackaging old struggles as novel ones.

There’s nothing new under the sun.

4. Super successful exhibitions aim to change not only the priorities & behaviour of the “rulers” but also those of the “ruled”.

There has been very little spotlight so far on behaviour-changing actions or proposals to help people avoid or cope with the highlighted issues.

5. Lastly, the word CONSEQUENCES is mentioned a lot during these exhibitions. But our people are afraid or unable to imagine & impose CONSEQUENCES on those who violate their rights & the public trust. Hence the constant appeals to an external force, eg “donors”. THIS MUST CHANGE.