Happy birthday Comrade Sam Mugumya.

On the 18th Dec 2015 I  dedicated my blog to strictly for comrade Mugumya Sam. Who celebrated his birthday in detention.

Happy birthday to our dear gallant and fearless comrade Sam Mugumya, it has been over a year in which you were snatched from us under a mysterious circumstance. Sam led a very passionate cause of liberating Ugandans, Sam is your modern day freedom fighter and like many of us he is suffering the fate of opposing status. Those multitudes who have been banished from their motherland share and understand the pain of being away from your family during the time you should be celebrating together.
Mugumya was born in 1979 in the western district of Rukungiri to Emmanuel Turyomurugyendo and Edinat in a family of five siblings.
He went to a school in Kasese district for his primary education before joining Muntuyera High School in Ntungamo and later Makerere University where he studied social sciences, majoring in political science. He graduated in 2006.
It was at Makerere that he cut his teeth in activism with the Reform Agenda, now FDC as general secretary of the party’s youth league. He was arrested in 2002 while delivering Christmas cards to former army commander James Kazini at Bombo barracks which Besigye sent to influential personalities.
He has not had formal employment after university and reportedly lives on hand outs from friends and well-wishers, arguing that he will get a job when the country has better leadership. He stood for MP Rukungiri Municipality in 2011 and lost.
In an earlier interview with this newspaper, Mugumya confessed his admiration for revolutionary icons Che Guevara and Machiavelli, saying his first girlfriend left him because she could not stand his extremist activism.
His humble background partly shapes his appreciation of Uganda’s governance questions and forms the fuel of his driving force. Mwijukye who last spoke to him three weeks ago says, “We come from a humble background so we are touched by inequality and the poverty this regime has created intentionally. You have schools, hospitals for the rich and poor. We want to change this.” When he is not engaged in frontline activism, Mugumya spends his time reading biographies and literature on revolutions and later catches up with friends in the evening.
Wherever Mugumya is, his close allies say, he is not shaken, he is only made stronger by adversity, his muscle of resolve has been thickened by the over 15 years of activism and passion driven by limitless conviction. City lawyer Julius Galisonga says he knows not of many young men who are incorruptible and resolute. For now, his future hangs in balance, what is clear though is that his detention is only part of an everyday struggle.
The government of Uganda under the NRM of Museveni, has a way of caring for foreigners more than her own citizens who are born, bred and raised in Uganda for that reason many of our brothers and sisters are languishing away in foreign prisons without help from the governments. Sam like many of our brothers and sisters has been incarcerated in a foreign country under some shoddy arrangements which the country is not bold enough to explain to its citizens why he found himself in Kinshasa.
When Sam vanished, what was heard was that he had been arrested on rebel activity-related charges in neighbouring DR Congo.
Intriguingly, news of his arrest was broken by the Uganda People’s Defence Force’s spokesperson, Lt Col Paddy Ankunda, on social media and then to the media. He also said Mugumya had been arrested in company of four others with huge sums of dollars and documents linking them to some rebel outfit in eastern DRC with intentions of overthrowing the Ugandan government.
What is surprising, from the onset, he says, “is that UPDF broke the news of Mugumya’s arrest and appears more knowledgeable of what is happening in Congo than the Congolese government.”
I request my friends, to observe some minute of prayers, respect for some today as he celebrates his birthday away from his family, friends, relatives and comrades. May the Lord protect you until the day we meet again, this struggle we shall overcome.


I also on the next day 19th Dec 2015 acknowledged the great work by the editorial team at the Sunday Monitor, we had two full pages of comrade Sam Mugumya interview published a day after his birthday in incarceration.

To all my fellow comrades and forces of pro democracy, you don’t want to miss this interview pick up your copy now. The interview is a blend of philosophical advice and a powerful message to the tyranny supporters.

Here is excerpt from the Sunday Monitor.

Sam Mugumya "I have three messages.
The first is to Ugandans; In the end we shall prove that tyranny is nothing but a harmless dragon that scares children but cannot do much more than that.
To the strugglists; all gallant strugglists should remember that you don't kiss tyranny out of power, you kick out, you don't smile tyranny away, you crash it, you don't convince it away, you compel it out.
The rise of liberty will warm up to those who stand up for their freedom before touching those who kneel and beg for their rights.
The last message is to the enemy; To him we say, he should be sure to have resolve, fear no sacrifice and we are ready to surmount all obstacles to ensure liberty, justice and equality flourish in our motherland Uganda at least within our lifetime.
This is an ideal we hope to achieve or we shall die trying. He has nothing to fear because he shall reap justice when his kingdom and vampire state eventually falls" – Sam adds -to him we say, he should be sure that we have resolve, fear no sacrifice and we are ready to surmount all obstacles to ensure liberty
I dedicate Corinthians 10: 13 to the strugglists, Isaiah 2:10 to the enemy, Isaiah 14:4 to the oppressed Ugandans as he signs out.

Tribute from Vincent Magombe.

Great work by the editorial team at the Sunday Monitor, we have two full pages of comrade Sam Mugumya interview published a day after his birthday in incarceration. To all my fellow comrades and forces of pro democracy, you don’t want to miss this interview pick up your copy now. The interview is a blend of philosophical advice and a powerful message to the tyranny supporters.
Here is excerpt from the Sunday Monitor.
Sam Mugumya "I have three messages.
The first is to Ugandans; In the end we shall prove that tyranny is nothing but a harmless dragon that scares children but cannot do much more than that.
To the strugglists; all gallant strugglists should remember that you don't kiss tyranny out of power, you kick out, you don't smile tyranny away, you crash it, you don't convince it away, you compel it out.
The rise of liberty will warm up to those who stand up for their freedom before touching those who kneel and beg for their rights.
The last message is to the enemy; To him we say, he should be sure to have resolve, fear no sacrifice and we are ready to surmount all obstacles to ensure liberty, justice and equality flourish in our motherland Uganda at least within our lifetime.
This is an ideal we hope to achieve or we shall die trying. He has nothing to fear because he shall reap justice when his kingdom and vampire state eventually falls" – Sam adds -to him we say, he should be sure that we have resolve, fear no sacrifice and we are ready to surmount all obstacles to ensure liberty
I dedicate Corinthians 10: 13 to the strugglists, Isaiah 2:10 to the enemy, Isaiah 14:4 to the oppressed Ugandans as he signs out.

Full interview link below:
 http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/PeoplePower/I-was-arrested-while-fleeing-to-exile--says-Mugumya/-/689844/3002812/-/item/0/-/futuqm/-/index.html