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| Chemutai. Photo credit: AFP |
The name Chemutai, in my local dialect, sounds like “Jjamu [e]taayi” as may be pronounced by a native Luo speaker. It sounds militaristic rather than romantic. It bears the image of a soldier ordering during arrest a politician, like [Mohammad] Ssegirinya, to remove his necktie before he is freed of it – of course with force.
Chemitai conquered the world of steeplechase the other day in Tokyo when she raced to an Olympic gold medal. It brought joy to many Ugandans (and of course earned her that rivalry attention of Uganda and Kenya as she comes from a border tribe called the Sabiny).
My friend Prof Oweyegha Afunaduula posted on his facebook wall: “The Basoga no longer have anything to make them happy collectively except Chemutai.” His comment was in reference to another post: “Well done Chemutai – you have made Busoga proud especially the people of Mutai in Jinja”
Most Ugandans take pride in their tribes first, and then the nation. The comments that followed Afunaduula’s post were tribalizing Chemutai’s name, of course for the fun of it, but it reflected how something good, something conquered peacefully, can give joy and unite people.
Here are a few of those comments: “Chemutai is from Sebei”, commented Samuel Kitamirike Mikenga. “She is a Muganda ‘Kyamutayi Perusi’”, stated Dan Muliika. Patrick Obulejo shared Chemutai’s picture captioned “Ainembabazi Chemutai. Banyankle have made us proud” – I think this one was sarcastic.
Sports bring that joy of conquest, so do political and/or military campaigns when they climax in a win. It takes a number of factors to get there, including strategy, hard work, commitment and luck.
When you hear the cheers from your supporters, the ululations, you know you have made people happy and proud of you. But why are sports and poli-military conquests so different yet they draw almost an equal measure of happiness and pride just when they happen?
This is what I think: On the part of sports, you, the supporter, are subconsciously sure that that win will not hurt you at any time. The winner will go to their home peacefully and you will stay in your community discussing and drinking to the win for as long as you like, even for decades.
You also subconsciously know that there will be another race and if the winner of today is defeated in that one, they will not go kicking everyone who didn’t support them, and dismantling everything in and around the stadium.
If they are still energetic they will go prepare themselves for the next race. But there is a time when age just won’t allow them to compete and win. They just have to bow out and let the younger ones race.
Now, when it comes to poli-militray conquests, you, the supporter, will cheer and dance to the win. Shortly after, you will see a change in the winner’s mood. They suddenly go quiet and gloomy. They know you are going to demand what they promised you.
Next you see is them thanking their family members, relatives and tribemates for the win. They sit and dine together – no place for you at the table.
With your tail between your legs, you sit back and wait from a distance.
The winner jumps around as those at the table cheer. When you don’t get up to cheer from wherever you are he or she comes at you:
“Why are you not cheering, don’t you know that things are tough? Eh! If you don’t cheer you are the loser.” There he or she is actually telling you that your cheering doesn’t matter. He or she is the winner.
Now they don’t want any further competition. If they can’t stop the competition then they will change the rules. In the end it is just the win that matters, no matter how.
Those are the characteristics of what I am calling a poli-military state, a state whose politics and military are strongly intertwined. In such a state, rules don’t matter, time does not matter, age does not matter, and the cheering and ululations don’t matter. It is just the win that matters.
They have a day every year when they award heroes medals. This is my question to you: Who of the living poli-militants would receive a medal and the whole nation bursts into jubilation?
Congratulations Chemutai, congratulations all those who have given Ugandans those little moments of unity and joy over the past many years!