Back to the News 2007 page.THE MONITOR, Kampala, Wednesday, 31 October 2007.
Franklin Okot
So interesting and laughable, I first dismissed it
as Mickey Mouse. Never did I expect circumcision to
become a national policy, leave alone an 'international
arsenal' in the war against HIV/Aids. Modern scientific
research risks losing relevance through half-measures
and conflicting theories.
It's now part and parcel of President Bush's politics
and weapons of mass deception. Instead of focusing on a
cure, authorities are tagging African men to undergo
rituals once reserved for Muslims and few ethnicities
after "rediscovering circumcision." It's obvious,
nothing short of a cure will only lead to the
proliferation of HIV.
But why get rid of the virus now when there's so much
money to be made? I'm blowing the whistle on this
mundane conspiracy theory as Uganda, my country of
birth, considered as having a "rosy" Aids record
qualifies for President Bush's $15b anti-Aids fund to
make circumcision readily available.
President Museveni deserves accolades for prevailing
over all his rivals and hanging on for over 20 years,
but as a champion in the war against Aids? Forget!
Whose soldiers spread HIV like bushfire all over the
Great Lakes? Who's notorious for stigmatising people
with HIV/Aids, recently blasting victims as
"treasonous"? It's a golden handshake to a fellow
"Warrior President" and his mercenary elites who have
hitched their wagon to the U.S "global war on
terror."
Two of Uganda's health ministers charged with
embezzling millions meant for immunising children are
allowed to laugh all the way to the bank while millions
burn in poverty. President Museveni was merely posing
as a champion of the war on corruption in order to
placate the Queen who had threatened to cancel a royal
appearance at the forthcoming Commonwealth summit this
month due to "growing corruption."
Not only that, the president is apparently
curry-flavouring with donors, eyes set on even bigger
proceeds, America's $10.4b anti-corruption money under
the Millennium Account. In what's reminiscent of The
River Between, neighbouring Kenya has jumped in with
such zeal that uncircumcised students were barred from
school.
Like Uganda, scavenging politicians competing for
American patronage are in the final stages of
developing a circumcision policy. I'm warning against
the imposition of a tradition many consider
alien.
To the Acholi and other Nilotic groups, circumcision
arouses bitter resentment and reminds them of slavery,
ethnic cleansing and forced Islamisation. A circumcised
phallus, according my people, resembles somebody
donning a red fez or tarboush headgear, an indirect
reference to Nubian agents who operated in ways
resembling today's Janjaweed (1860s-80s), ravaging
Equatoria Province, covering southern Sudan and
northern Uganda. Idi Amin opened the old wounds, but
nobody will beat Joseph Kony, though a kinsman, armed
by Khartoum Islamic government to counter
Museveni/Bush's support for the SPLA.
People like Dr Elioda Tumwesigye, chairman of the
"prostituted" parliamentary committee on HIV/Aids,
who's supposed to know better, are tagging even small
children. Is he aware that even advanced countries like
Canada are backtracking on what was once compulsory at
birth, to give infants freedom to decide as adults?
Child Circumcision is a form of child-abuse, much like
Female Genital Mutilation as research has proved that
newborns suffer more pain than adults.
Soon ignoramuses will be jumping up and down with
euphoria: "They're now immune to HIV because they've
shed blood. Gullible ones who believe that the latter
have an edge over the uncircumcised, beware:
Circumcision isn't worth the pain. After visiting
Uganda in 2003, I too fell into circumcision mindset
and decided to defy tradition.
Back in Toronto, I approached my doctor who stopped me
in my tracks: Circumcision doesn't increase sensation;
quite the opposite. The myth that the low rate of
HIV/Aids infection and death in the Islamic world is
due to circumcision is beyond naivetÉ. Are the
Bagisu, the Kikuyu, and homosexuals faring any better?
It's Islamic austerity and discipline. While others
have stood up bravely in the clash of cultures, Western
lifestyles ride roughshod over our cultures and
traditions.
Egypt, once known as "the flesh-pot," has cut back on
bourgeois decadence, African pros keep a high-profile
African using skin lighteners, preferring Whites who
give them freedom to flirt, drink and smoke even bhang.
There are some Egyptian mistresses with trademark
mobiles trying to make ends meet.
So ignorant, they throw condom in your face, "What's
this?" Though a desert, Egypt is able to take care of
its population, unlike "black" Africa where mosquitoes
feast mercilessly on bodies wrecked by alcohol and
malnutrition. Accidents, another major African killer,
are a rarity in the land of pharaohs despite thundering
traffic (or mild) as drivers are sober).
Whatever its merits, circumcision alone, without
tackling corruption of the mind, body and soul, is a
roadmap to more trouble. The new "discovery" is a
tsunami that will spread, not counter HIV/Aids. It will
also roll back Museveni's "rosy record" on HIV/Aids, as
simple-minded Africans will throw caution to the
wind.
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