Shaka`s life story and experiences of a child growing in the frontlines

Shaka`s life story and experiences of a child growing in the frontlines

For those who know little or nothing about Shaka Robert ,I republish an article published by the Daily Monitor .

On January 26, the National Resistance Movement (NRM/A) government will mark 28 years in power. In a countdown to this day, Daily Monitor is running a series dubbed CHILDREN OF REVOLUTIONARIES, where we interview children of those who fought or facilitated the 1981-86 Bush War. In this fifth part of the series, Risdel Kasasira talks to Robert Shaka about the five years he spent in the war theatre as a young boy with his mother, Capt Ruth Mukansolo. He was staying with top commanders.

 

 

“When the war began in 1981, I was in Primary One at Mabuye Church of Uganda Primary School.
The first attack in our village happened in the morning on a day my mother, who was then a cattle trader, had planned to go with my aunt to Kalongo, Nakasongola, to conduct their cattle business.

The dawn attack on Watuba Town, where my parents had built a family home, left 18 people dead.
My late mother, Capt Ruth Mukansolo, informed us that the driver preferred staying in a township like Kakooge that had lodges unlike our small village town.

I, my mother and aunt, escaped the shooting that morning by the back door and through the forest behind our home to my grandparents home 5kms away. It was a heavy shooting. On that fateful day, I was scheduled to take keys to our house to my grandparents’ home since my mother was going away to do her business.

 We thought the shootout was the usual UNLA violence we had heard in Kampala when we visited. So my mother and aunt went to pick the cattle using other means to travel to Kalongo because nobody seemed to know who had attacked the town.
They both assumed that the driver had not been able to make it from Kakooge. We did not know people had been shot dead until later in the day when news started coming through and rebels surrounded my grandparents’ home looking for my mother.

Later, we learnt from the rebels that the vehicle and driver that brought the UNLA army unit that attacked Kakooge had been hired by my mother to transport cattle to Kalongo.

In the evening, a group of people we knew came to my grandparents’ home armed with guns, sticks and grenades and they claimed my mother had brought the UNLA forces to kill civilians.

That is when it dawned on me that many of those I knew as ordinary people were rebels. The rebels demanded to know my mother’s whereabouts, short of which, we were all going to be executed. This information reached my mother and she returned home in the night and reported herself to Kireku were the rebels’ headquarters were based.

The rebels were commanded by a one Kikono, a one Ensi Egula Mirambo and Kakooza Mutale. Then, the rebels called themselves Vumbula, a largely Baganda rebel out-fit opposed to the UPC government.

 

The interrogation, which I witnessed, was bad. She was kept in a ditch full of water for a week where she was dumped after sessions of caning and interrogation and every day, villagers who had lost their loved ones came to tell the rebels how she was a ‘UPC collaborator’. By this time, many of her nails had started rotting and falling off and her whole body was covered with bruises.

The parish priest at Mabuye Church of Uganda, Patrick Opio, who was my godfather, was also murdered by the rebels after he was heard telling the congregation not to worry about the ‘robbers’ being called rebels.

Mother’s arrest and torture
During my mother’s incarceration by the rebel fighters, Mr Museveni sent a group of commanders to takeover and integrate Vumbula into NRA. This group consisted of Jerom Bwende as the commander, Paul Kagame, Scarge Tumusiime, Robert Kabura and Badru Kiyingi. They ably took over command at Kiwanguzi.

 My mother, who was scheduled to be executed, was interrogated by the new commanders and she was found innocent after pleas from a prominent elder called Edward Mugerwa, now a prominent NRM cadre, who had known my parents for a long time.

After his passionate plea to the community members and the now-integrated rebel command under Maj Jerom Bwende and Paul Kagame, my mother was released and I suppose in her judgement she realised she was safer joining the rebels since the entire area had become a war zone.

By this time, I had dropped out of school. Many of my uncles joined the NRA rebellion as attacks from UNLA intensified. UNLA set up a special force base in Katikamu and zonal units at Kasiso which constantly exerted pressure on rebel held areas and NRA 7th Battalion strategically shifted its base to Katagwe and Makonkonyigo near River Mayanja.

This prompted UNLA to open bases in Lwamula, taking over areas formerly occupied by the rebels, extending to Wabusana and Kikyusa but the strategic cover provided by River Mayanja, that stretches from Luweero to Mukono, with vegetative cover gave NRA room for manoeuver, setting up ambushes and surprise attacks on UNLA bases.

By 1983, when the rebellion was raging, I was staying at the 7th Battalion High Command and I was somehow as safe as the high command folks.

 

Accidental burning of Kagame
Every time UNLA forces attacked, the High Command, through its chief surveillance unit headed by the late Col David Ryangombe, would always know when the enemy was 20kms away and preparations were made to either set up ambushes or make tactical withdrawal of units and civilians from the camps based on the strength of the attacking UNLA force.

One serious incident happened in 1983 when commanders were about to have lunch. I was supposed to bring warm water for them to wash their hands. Under panic instead, I brought a kettle unfortunately with hot water and Paul Kagame was my victim. It was an accident. I poured a little of the hot water on Paul Kagame’s hands and he jerked away his burnt fingers in pain. I was not punished but it was evidently bad judgement on my part although I was young.

At the height of intense UNLA attacks on rebel bases in 1983, Maj Bwende and Gen Kagame went to Mondlane and left Col Scarge Tumusiime in charge, possibly to ask for re-enforcement from Museveni.

 

UNLA attacks
Because of the drag civilians presented on the movement of rebels despite the need for protection under persistent attacks from UNLA, I remember Col Tumusiime made a comment: “Amahe ga Museveni garema” (the situation is becoming unbearable) and it was rumored he almost told civilians to start leaving areas under rebels.

During this time, we heard of the death of the Army Chief of Staff, Maj Gen Oyite Ojok in a helicopter crash. There was immense jubilation by rebels, who believed this was further going to demoralise the UNLA forces which had practically surrounded the rebels in all directions.

There were days when we were attacked more than three times in a day from different directions until the rebels set up an Island-like habitat on papyrus vegetation we called ‘ekitoogo’ in the middle of River Mayanja complete with a marine unit and canoes.

It was these canoes rebels used to cross into Bbale, Galilaya, Nakyesanja in Kayunga to obtain intelligence in Kampala and other areas. Jerome Bwende was replaced by Stanley Muhangi who was also replaced by Matayo Kyaligonza.

UNLA attempted to use a chopper to bomb the makeshift island but they did not have much impact. Another attempt was to use artillery from Kayunga around 1984 but this was also futile.

By 1986 my mind was on the good life in Kampala after the war. I stayed at Cape Town military garrison in current Munyonyo under Col Bell with another friend, John Diriyani, who remained active in the NRA.

My fun was cut short when I was taken to Wobulenzi Parents’ School by Maj Robert Kabura, then a Presidential Protection Unit commandant, so that I could resume school. My mother was put under 55th Battalion which was deployed to Pakwach to fight the insurgency in the north.

Our family disintegrated and I did not stay with my brothers until much later after the war. While I joined Wobulenzi Parents’ School, my little brothers went to start a new life back at our grandparent’s home.

I was given a scholarship to study for free by the Wobulenzi Parents’ School headmaster, Mr Edward Nsamba Bukenya.

In 1990 I passed my PLE with aggregate four and went to King’s College Budo and my brothers joined Jinja Army Boarding School for their primary education. I spend six years at King’s College Budo and then went to Makerere University where I graduated as a biochemist and also attained a masters in Computer Science. I am now an information security consultant.

Uganda under NRM has experienced a certain degree of stability despite the toll of the war in the north that lasted for more than 20 years. NRM enjoyed a lot of goodwill from Ugandans and the consolidation phase should have focused more on central planning for infrastructural investments as a strategic thrust to expand economy by absorbing more people into commercial production.”

In our next issue, read about Ferdinand Tayebwa, the son of Brig Tadeo Kanyankore, talking about his father’s arrest and imprisonment.

 

WE ATE COW HIDES AND WEED IN THE BUSH

We ate dry cow hides and sometimes weeds called egyerengesa because food convoys in dangers zones was risky given the number of ambushes escorted expeditions encountered. Women, men and children suffered from Bidomola which were big wounds that took long to heal because of lack of vitamin C. Both soldiers and civilians faced a serious lice epidemic. We washed in the swamp using certain herbs as detergents. But largely I always had food at the High Command as I ate the food the ‘big people’ ate.