Happy New
Year esteemed readers of the Sunday Monitor. I hope 2017 will be a
better year for all than 2016 which was for me annus horribilis
(horrible year).
To say 2016 was a horrible year is an understatement. I have never experienced a year so full of challenges, trials and tribulations. I feel relieved that 2016 is gone and thank God for bringing us through a difficult year and pray for good times ahead.
Some predictions for 2017
At the beginning of a new year columnists and futurologists love to forecast what may happen during the next 12 months and wearing my prophetic hat let me join the party and make some predictions for 2017.
Before the end of January 2017, I predict the long-overdue downfall of the mad dog of Banjul, aka Yahya Jammeh.
He will be chased from the Gambia like a petty thief, arrested and charged before a court of law for many heinous crimes he committed against humanity in general and wananchi of Gambia in particular during 22 years he misruled Gambia.
He will be sentenced to life imprisonment although due to popular demand he may face the guillotine.
Mr Adama Barrow will be inaugurated as president of the Gambia on January 19 as planned at a ceremony attended by several Ecowas heads of state who were snubbed and ridiculed by Jammeh in December for allegedly interfering in Gambia’s internal affairs when all they did was advise the psychopath to leave office peacefully as he promised Gambians on national television on December 2.
On a pleasant note, I predict that a former colleague in the diplomatic service and currently Kenyan foreign minister, Ms Amina Mohammed, will this month be elected chairperson of the African Union Commission to replace the outgoing lacklustre Ms Dlamini-Zuma of South Africa who, according to credible sources, is being groomed by her erstwhile husband to be South Africa’s next president, which reminds me of similar sinister plots being hatched elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa.
I predict Ghana’s Black Stars will win the Afcon 2017 football tournament which begins in Libreville, Gabon in barely two weeks’ time.
Before the year is over, I predict the end of the road for comrade Robert Mugabe, life president of Zimbabwe who turned 92 recently and, against wise counsel, was endorsed as sole candidate of ZANU/PF in that miserable country’s 2018 presidential elections.
Mugabe will be accorded a lavish state funeral after which ZANU/PF will be torn asunder by a vicious power struggle pitting a faction led by Mugabe’s widow, Ms Grace “Gucci” Mugabe and another faction led by current vice president Emerson Munagangwa.
Many African tyrants from near and far will tremble and have sleepless nights throughout 2017 as justice and the ugly truth begins to catch up with them. The lucky ones will end up at the ICC while those who are not so lucky may face summary justice like Samuel Doe of Liberia.
Tribute to dear ones who passed on during 2016
The year 2016 will, at a personal level, go down in history as one the worst years since my father and mother passed on a decade ago. The year began with the death of my paternal uncle Henry followed by a cousin Miriam and a nephew Aseri.
In June my sister Rose, who was the last born of my parents, passed on at Arua hospital after a short illness and was laid to rest on June 24.
My friend, relative and neighbour in Terego, Daniel Adrabo passed on after a long illness on January 16.
With regard to friends and colleagues, the situation was not any better! Within one year I lost more than 10 friends; among them my dear friend, fellow congressman and fellow Teregian, Constantine Dramile Tadria who was laid to rest on June 24.
To say 2016 was a horrible year is an understatement. I have never experienced a year so full of challenges, trials and tribulations. I feel relieved that 2016 is gone and thank God for bringing us through a difficult year and pray for good times ahead.
Some predictions for 2017
At the beginning of a new year columnists and futurologists love to forecast what may happen during the next 12 months and wearing my prophetic hat let me join the party and make some predictions for 2017.
Before the end of January 2017, I predict the long-overdue downfall of the mad dog of Banjul, aka Yahya Jammeh.
He will be chased from the Gambia like a petty thief, arrested and charged before a court of law for many heinous crimes he committed against humanity in general and wananchi of Gambia in particular during 22 years he misruled Gambia.
He will be sentenced to life imprisonment although due to popular demand he may face the guillotine.
Mr Adama Barrow will be inaugurated as president of the Gambia on January 19 as planned at a ceremony attended by several Ecowas heads of state who were snubbed and ridiculed by Jammeh in December for allegedly interfering in Gambia’s internal affairs when all they did was advise the psychopath to leave office peacefully as he promised Gambians on national television on December 2.
On a pleasant note, I predict that a former colleague in the diplomatic service and currently Kenyan foreign minister, Ms Amina Mohammed, will this month be elected chairperson of the African Union Commission to replace the outgoing lacklustre Ms Dlamini-Zuma of South Africa who, according to credible sources, is being groomed by her erstwhile husband to be South Africa’s next president, which reminds me of similar sinister plots being hatched elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa.
I predict Ghana’s Black Stars will win the Afcon 2017 football tournament which begins in Libreville, Gabon in barely two weeks’ time.
Before the year is over, I predict the end of the road for comrade Robert Mugabe, life president of Zimbabwe who turned 92 recently and, against wise counsel, was endorsed as sole candidate of ZANU/PF in that miserable country’s 2018 presidential elections.
Mugabe will be accorded a lavish state funeral after which ZANU/PF will be torn asunder by a vicious power struggle pitting a faction led by Mugabe’s widow, Ms Grace “Gucci” Mugabe and another faction led by current vice president Emerson Munagangwa.
Many African tyrants from near and far will tremble and have sleepless nights throughout 2017 as justice and the ugly truth begins to catch up with them. The lucky ones will end up at the ICC while those who are not so lucky may face summary justice like Samuel Doe of Liberia.
Tribute to dear ones who passed on during 2016
The year 2016 will, at a personal level, go down in history as one the worst years since my father and mother passed on a decade ago. The year began with the death of my paternal uncle Henry followed by a cousin Miriam and a nephew Aseri.
In June my sister Rose, who was the last born of my parents, passed on at Arua hospital after a short illness and was laid to rest on June 24.
My friend, relative and neighbour in Terego, Daniel Adrabo passed on after a long illness on January 16.
With regard to friends and colleagues, the situation was not any better! Within one year I lost more than 10 friends; among them my dear friend, fellow congressman and fellow Teregian, Constantine Dramile Tadria who was laid to rest on June 24.
He was married to my classmate at Makerere in the 1960s, Dr Hilda Tadria, an aunt of Mr Robert Kabushenga of the New Vision.
In May another friend and OB of Sir Samuel Baker School, Gulu, Dr Yoramu Jomabuti Ajeani passed on at Mulago hospital and was laid to rest at Maracha on May 22.
In August Dr Isaac Alidria Ezati, who was also from Maracha, passed on and was laid to rest on August 9. Ms Marion Dramadri, daughter of my friend Mr Ben Dramadri and a family friend, passed on July 9.
On September 21 death robbed Uganda of an illustrious son and former State minister of Works, Awuzu Andruale, whom I knew in the early 1960s when we were students. We last met and had lunch in Arua a few weeks before he passed on. With the benefit of hindsight it was a farewell encounter.
In November Aggrey Izio Tata, another friend who was headmaster of Mvara Secondary School, passed on and was laid to at Arua on November 20.
I thank God for their lives. May the Lord grant the souls of these departed fellow citizens eternal rest!
The Kasese inferno of November 27 is mindboggling, difficult to comprehend and difficult to justify. The excessive use of force and violence to solve a political problem was hasty, unnecessary and indefensible and it will haunt the perpetrators and stain the body politic and national image of Uganda for ages!
Against this background, I am dismayed and feel drained emotionally by the painful and tragic events of the past year, but my faith in God keeps me going. I thank the good Lord for giving me peace of mind and new strength every morning to press on and to march forward with hope and confidence knowing that our maker is in full control of my life and my destiny. May the Lord have mercy!
Mr Acemah is a political scientist, consultant and a retired career diplomat.
hacemah@gmail.com
In May another friend and OB of Sir Samuel Baker School, Gulu, Dr Yoramu Jomabuti Ajeani passed on at Mulago hospital and was laid to rest at Maracha on May 22.
In August Dr Isaac Alidria Ezati, who was also from Maracha, passed on and was laid to rest on August 9. Ms Marion Dramadri, daughter of my friend Mr Ben Dramadri and a family friend, passed on July 9.
On September 21 death robbed Uganda of an illustrious son and former State minister of Works, Awuzu Andruale, whom I knew in the early 1960s when we were students. We last met and had lunch in Arua a few weeks before he passed on. With the benefit of hindsight it was a farewell encounter.
In November Aggrey Izio Tata, another friend who was headmaster of Mvara Secondary School, passed on and was laid to at Arua on November 20.
I thank God for their lives. May the Lord grant the souls of these departed fellow citizens eternal rest!
The Kasese inferno of November 27 is mindboggling, difficult to comprehend and difficult to justify. The excessive use of force and violence to solve a political problem was hasty, unnecessary and indefensible and it will haunt the perpetrators and stain the body politic and national image of Uganda for ages!
Against this background, I am dismayed and feel drained emotionally by the painful and tragic events of the past year, but my faith in God keeps me going. I thank the good Lord for giving me peace of mind and new strength every morning to press on and to march forward with hope and confidence knowing that our maker is in full control of my life and my destiny. May the Lord have mercy!
Mr Acemah is a political scientist, consultant and a retired career diplomat.
hacemah@gmail.com
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