“While in Uganda the Tutsi claim that and camouflage as Bahima to dupe those who do not know them. Even the Bahima are oppressed and exploited by the Tutsi”.

Think about this statement critically, analyse it critically and discuss it critically.  If you can’t do all this, remain silent and learn from those Bahima or others that know the truth and can narrate their experiences meaningfully and effectively.

Remember this is a sensitive topic in a non-debating society, which Uganda has become over the past 37 years. There are many young Ugandans who do not know that there was a time when NRM made Uganda so open that there was no fear to discuss any topic openly. That was the time when we had things called Kimeeza (singular) or Bimeeza (plural).

A Kimeeza was a public platform for debate. Academics, intellectuals, ruling party officials and adherents, government functionaries, Opposition leaders and people from different publics would regularly meet to debate different issues of public concern. Perhaps the most famous and most effective was the one organised and mediated by Radio One at Club Obligato in Kampala’s industrial area. I was on several occasions invited to debate at Club Obligato and I did to help young people develop their debating skills.

Just like the Roman Empire whose members woke up one morning to find it no more, Ugandans woke up one morning to find Bimeeza no more.

You may have noted that long after the collapse of Bimeeza, I still promote debates in the social media by proposing topics of discussion for all humanity. It is not by accident. I was president of the Debating Society at Busoga College, Mwiri 1970-1971. I was also one of the dynamic academics and intellectuals who actively promoted debates at Makerere University and nationally. As I have said I was a participant at  Bimeeza, but also debates on various FM Radios and various TVs.

Many NRM functionaries benefited from Bimeeza because even President Tibuhaburwa Museveni was listening to their submissions. Some became ministers, resident district commissioner’s and NRM party leaders.

So a debating society produces leaders and also knowledgeable people who do not fear to say what they know to others.

A knowledgeable society is an asset. It is not enough to have academics and intellectuals. They must be ready to share their knowledge freely and costlessly. It would be bad for them if they lived in a fearful society that is also ignorant. When they do research they would either get no credible data or confront a docile, silent population, remote from them. Collectively, they would be one useless to the public and end up being victims of an increasingly illiterate society.

Let’s start engaging in the critical thinking on and critical analysis and critical discussion of the topic above. What transpires may contribute to our collective understanding of our current situation and put us at another level of understanding what situation is being created for our future generations of Ugandans.

If we cannot solve problems let us identify them and discuss them.

For God and My Country.

• A Tell report / By Prof Oweyegha-Afunaduula, a former professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences of the Makerere University, Uganda