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Mugabe treats his people worse than beasts By Rev Grace P Karamura A FEW weeks ago, the BBC showed the picture of a woman in Zimbabwe who was so badly tortured that she could hardly walk. Uncharacteristic of an African woman who would rather take an injection through her dressrather than expose her nakedness, she stripped naked for the world media to see the horrendous wounds inflicted on her by the government that fought the independence war to protect her. Her crime wasn't because she may have or not voted for the opposition but because she lives in the opposition stronghold. The following evening I was leading a Parish Junior Youth club when a few nine-year-olds ran to me as if they had something troubling them. “Rev Grace, why does Mugabe beat women?” one of them asked. Children can be unpredictable at the best of times but I must confess I was caught off guard this time. As I scratched my head to tactfully respond, another child cut in, “It’s not fair Rev Grace, is it'?” “No it isn’t darling”, I responded as I looked away at the youth worker who had just come in. I tried to hold back the tears and I rushed for the door back to the Vicarage. All night I pondered over those innocent questions and concerns. What pricks my conscience even now is not my failure to give them a satisfactory answer but how I have tried as much to avoid these children in case they demand an answer. Every day I ponder about these children’s questions and wonder how many more children in Zimbabwe that may be asking the same. I suppose it’s the same situation in which the Archbishop of York found himself when he cut his clerical collar on live TV and vowed never to wear it again until Mugabe is gone. By the way things stand, it seems it will be awhile before my brother Sentamu wears his collar again! Presumably he must be asked from time to time what he thinks of the Zimbabwe situation. Cutting his collar was a clear indication of what he thinks of Mugabe’s regime. I must however take off my hat for Mr Mugabe who at 84 years, still has his faculties intact (or does he?) and can still manage such hectic and demanding political campaigns. He is obviously a very bright man with seven degrees many of which he acquired when he was in prison fighting the oppressive Ian Smith’ regime. As bright as he may be, he is still convinced that he has something special to offer Zimbabwe, even at 84! This is where I find the irony. He is such an intelligent man who endured the dangers of the guerrilla war, who witnessed first-hand the torture inflicted on his people in prison and on his first wife, in particular. How could such a man allow his people to endure similar if not worse suffering under his regime. I am using the word “under his regime” deliberately. Many people who perished during Amin’s regime were not necessarily killed by Amin. Some of them disappeared as a result of unscrupulous individuals keen to settle family and personal political feuds. It defeats the imagination that ordinary people whom Mr Mugabe was sworn in to protect can be treated worse than beasts simply because they exercised their constitutional right to vote. (Originally published in The Monitor in Kampala on May 5, 2008)