Walk2Work Uganda - Stop Talking and Start Walking
I feel so moved to blog the Walk2Work demonstrations in Kampala today. I woke up and fed my twitter addiction and immediately saw my screen vibrating about the protests throughout the country.
I’m sad for the victims of the demonstration violence, such as this woman:
Walk to work victim from Daily Monitor
But I’m happy for the civil society because I see today’s events as a win for them and I know people are very enthused and inspired to act.
In the words of Ugandan political pundit, Andrew Mwenda
discussing the demonstrations on Monday, “Walk one day and it is a protest. Walk for days on end and it becomes a movement.”
The movement is a win in my opinion because of the potential for it to happen again! To me, this is what democracy looks like. Ugandans are exercising their rights and holding their government accountable.
Ugandans are angry at Museveni for spending so much money on new fighter jets (US $ 744 million) and on his own presidential inauguration ceremony ($1.3 million). Meanwhile, fuel and food prices SKYROCKETED this week. A kilo of beans went from 1,000-3,500 a chicken went from 10,000ush to 19,000ush. Ugandans are walking behind the opposition in droves to say enough. They are holding their government accountable by demonstrating, walking to work because fuel and transport costs are too high to take matatous or drive. The government has responded extremely violently to a peaceful demonstration. According to the press, police even fired tear gas into a hospital in Kampala to quell crowds, Members of Parliament, multiple opposition party leaders, and a mayor were arrested by the police.
This is about more than beans, it is about Ugandans exercising their civil liberties and rejecting corruption. This is the win for the civil society because they’ve got people listening, participating, and loudly demanding for change in a more unified voice.
Basically, they’ve finally landed on a platform everyone can hop onboard. The walk2work movement has gone viral. Tomorrow students at the main university in Kampala, MUK are walking to classes in protest instead of taking shuttles. Boda boda drivers have abandoned their bikes to walk and people are demonstrating in Masaka, Entebbe, Jinja, Mbararra, Gulu, Wakisa, and Bushenyi! This is day 2 of the protests and more days are planned for next week.
Tear gas today
Obviously I’m not there, but I’m glued to the coverage during my breaks in training and did some phone calls/texting/tweeting this morning with people there to get the scoop. Plus what a catchy name for the movement, Walk2Work. Simple, everyone gets it and it has real meaning related to the issue at hand, runaway inflation. One person tweeted, “M7 needs to walk to his helicopter, come back to Kampala and address our issues!”
Mao, another opposition leader, reportedly detained by police today in Gulu, said recently, “Uganda is a volcano under an ice cap.”
Well, I think the ice just melted a little.
I’m sad for the victims of the demonstration violence, such as this woman:
Walk to work victim from Daily Monitor
But I’m happy for the civil society because I see today’s events as a win for them and I know people are very enthused and inspired to act.
In the words of Ugandan political pundit, Andrew Mwenda
discussing the demonstrations on Monday, “Walk one day and it is a protest. Walk for days on end and it becomes a movement.”
The movement is a win in my opinion because of the potential for it to happen again! To me, this is what democracy looks like. Ugandans are exercising their rights and holding their government accountable.
Ugandans are angry at Museveni for spending so much money on new fighter jets (US $ 744 million) and on his own presidential inauguration ceremony ($1.3 million). Meanwhile, fuel and food prices SKYROCKETED this week. A kilo of beans went from 1,000-3,500 a chicken went from 10,000ush to 19,000ush. Ugandans are walking behind the opposition in droves to say enough. They are holding their government accountable by demonstrating, walking to work because fuel and transport costs are too high to take matatous or drive. The government has responded extremely violently to a peaceful demonstration. According to the press, police even fired tear gas into a hospital in Kampala to quell crowds, Members of Parliament, multiple opposition party leaders, and a mayor were arrested by the police.
This is about more than beans, it is about Ugandans exercising their civil liberties and rejecting corruption. This is the win for the civil society because they’ve got people listening, participating, and loudly demanding for change in a more unified voice.
Basically, they’ve finally landed on a platform everyone can hop onboard. The walk2work movement has gone viral. Tomorrow students at the main university in Kampala, MUK are walking to classes in protest instead of taking shuttles. Boda boda drivers have abandoned their bikes to walk and people are demonstrating in Masaka, Entebbe, Jinja, Mbararra, Gulu, Wakisa, and Bushenyi! This is day 2 of the protests and more days are planned for next week.
Tear gas today
Obviously I’m not there, but I’m glued to the coverage during my breaks in training and did some phone calls/texting/tweeting this morning with people there to get the scoop. Plus what a catchy name for the movement, Walk2Work. Simple, everyone gets it and it has real meaning related to the issue at hand, runaway inflation. One person tweeted, “M7 needs to walk to his helicopter, come back to Kampala and address our issues!”
Mao, another opposition leader, reportedly detained by police today in Gulu, said recently, “Uganda is a volcano under an ice cap.”
Well, I think the ice just melted a little.