Retired Ugandan army Major Rubaramira
Ruranga, once a big supporter of President Museveni, is leading
the battle against HIV and political corruption in his country. He speaks
to Martin Flynn in the first of our three part series on
HIV activism in Uganda
Photos Piers Allardyce
Uganda
is hailed as one of the great successes in fighting HIV and Aids, with US
presidents praising President Yoweri Museveni for the way he has tackled the
virus. But speak to HIV positive activists and you get a different story.
They say their president, a one time liberation hero, is becoming an authoritarian
dictator and foreign aid to fight HIV is disappearing amid allegations of
widespread corruption. HIV rates are climbing again while few HIV positive
people have access to life-saving medications.
Uganda was among the first countries to be hit by the epidemic in the 1980s.
It has lost more than a million people to HIV and almost two million of its
20 million population are living and dying with the virus. Meanwhile foreign
aid for treatment is disappearing.
Major Ruranga once saw President Museveni as his hero. He followed him into
the bush in the guerrilla war against former dictator Milton Obote and fought
alongside him for years. But now Ruranga has joined the opposition and is
fighting for political reform and for the rights of the country’s marginalised
HIV positive people. Ruranga, 58, stayed in the Ugandan army for 22 years,
rising through the ranks from private to major.
“I joined the army because of anger,” he explains. “Idi
Amin had created a very ugly dictatorship.” The Major joined Museveni’s
National Resistance Army in 1980 after a rigged election following the 1979
overthrow of Amin.
“The civil war went on for years. It was rough and tough. It was survival
of the fittest. Many died and we were unpaid. Finding food was a matter of
luck. We were rebels determined to remove a government that had come to power
illegally.” When Museveni became president in 1988, the Resistance Army
became the national army.
A new battle
The Major says his life changed forever when in 1988 he found he was HIV positive
but his wife wasn’t. “We had a lot of fear and misunderstanding,”
he says. “Like many other army people I thought I was smart and strong
and could defend myself against anything. But after I found out, I was really
humbled for the first time in my life and I got really scared.
“At that time people didn’t know the difference between HIV and
Aids. When you had HIV you were supposed to die and you were regarded as completely
incompetent.” On World Aids Day 1993 he announced his HIV status at
a large meeting. “I’d trained as an HIV counsellor and learned
it was important to talk about the problem rather than keeping quiet.”
People bent their heads and cried but he told them: “Look, I don’t
look different. I haven’t got very slim. If you’ve ever removed
your pants and had unprotected sex, you could be like me.”
The stigma was so bad people refused to greet him and kept their hands in
their pockets.
The Major did his first HIV and counselling training with TASO, the Ugandan
Aids support organisation, and eventually joined the board. But he began to
feel TASO was creating a dependency culture so he set up his own organisaiton,
the National Guidance and Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV and
Aids (NGEN).
“People preferred to stay in TASO’s safe enclave and were not
strengthened to go and fight for themselves. I wanted to involve people capable
of running their own lives but who needed knowledge to survive Aids.”
Kids with HIV
I first met the Major in 2003 when he helped organise the Global Network of
HIV Positive People (GNP+) conference in Kampala. Had it been a success, I
wondered.
“It was a great success. It brought together all sorts of people with
HIV including gay men from around the world. What surprised people was the
involvement of children. For the first time we had children saying exactly
what they were feeling. Till then there hadn’t been much emphasis on
the effect HIV had on children.
“We also heard about the way women were suffering and the kind of stigma
and discrimination they faced even within our own HIV community. The lowly
status of women in African society makes the chances for women with HIV much
worse.”
ABC
is discriminatory
I asked why his view of Museveni had changed.
“President Museveni definitely used political leadership by talking
openly about HIV and Aids. But ABC (Absitence, Be faithful, but if you can’t,
use a Condom) is discriminatory. To put condoms last implies people who fail
to abstain or remain faithful are not good people.” Most African women
had little choice about whether their husbands were faithful and were unable
to make their men use condoms, he added.
The Major is continually amazed by people who oppose condom use while simultaneously
talking about reducing HIV and stemming the population explosion. He says
that doesn’t work because most African families still have between seven
and 10 children, and Uganda has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates
in the world. He points to the fact that 40 per cent of Ugandans are Roman
Catholic.
“The Church preaches against birth control, apart from the rhythm method,
which no one understands.
“Most people survive through subsistence farming. And the health service
doesn’t reach them. Politicians tend to stage- manage what is happening
and all we hear about is the success of ABC among those in the cities with
work and money.”
A 40-year war
Uganda seems to have been at war continually since independence from Britain
in 1962. And now there is the civil war in the north with the Lords Resistance
Army kidnapping children at night and forcing them to fight and kill.
“Many horrible things happen away from the TV cameras during war. You
only usually hear the information the government wants you to hear.
“Nobody has been able to explain to me why we’ve been at civil
war for 40 years. It is not the rebel’s fault alone and the government
has contributed to it. Why hasn’t it persuaded people to stop this fratricidal
war? It’s as if the government wants to stay in a state of war to spend
millions on arms and to stay in power.”
Power
corrupts...
What is your personal relationship like with President Museveni? You spent
years fighting with him to gain power and now you oppose him.
“For a long time President Museveni was my hero. But when he came into
power he changed and eventually moved towards dictatorship. Power has corrupted
him. But at the beginning he was a great help to me. I went to him and told
him how I could contribute to the fight against HIV. The first funding I got
was from him.”
In 2005, following complaints from HIV activists, the Global Fund suspended
its grants to Uganda amid serious concerns about where the money for Aids,
TB and malaria was being spent. Losses were said to be more than $200 million.
The Fund has since reinstated the grants but activists are still concerned.
“The President has been able to play his cards very well internationally
and has hoodwinked the international community and the funders. He was President
Clinton’s favourite and now he’s President Bush’s favourite.
The civil war in the north allows him to hide so much of what is going on.
“The Global Fund losses are just a drop in the ocean. The Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation had problems and the British Department for International
Development (DFID) has redirected some aid too.
“Amazingly the government’s budget has no component to finance
HIV/Aids programmes. They spend so much money on defence. But far more have
died as a result of HIV than from the fighting.”
Acquired Income Dependency
The Major calls the current situation in Uganda, Acquired Income Dependency
Syndrome.
“That’s the real problem in Africa. Countries rely on foreign
aid and use it for everything. A lot of HIV money went into institutions,
into the army, even into the president’s private office.
“Power corrupts. People get power when they are poor and their first
concern is to amass wealth for themselves. Then they get scared and develop
a strong defence and spend more and more on the army and police. We haven’t
developed the country. The tax base is so narrow with few people in work.
So our leaders cause even more poverty. They are creating a vicious circle.”
Should HIV positive Ugandans in Britain support President Museveni?
“People in Britain should support and partner civil society and experienced
non-governmental organisations because they account for the money. If you
give money to the government they will misuse it and still ask for more.
“When people started seeing the foreign aid coming to fight HIV, it
went from being a disaster issue to an economic one. People believe only Aids
can bring in the international money. Throwing money at African governments
is a waste.
“Museveni has promised to do so much and failed so now he’s becoming
more and more aggressive. He sends the riot police to attack the opposition.
He’s using the military and the police to stay in power.”
Defiant
against stigma
Is the problem of HIV stigma and discrimination getting better in Uganda?
“Personally, I didn’t face it because I’m too strong. No
one would dare. I wouldn’t take any shit from anyone. But HIV discrimination
is still strong everywhere, in hospitals, in rural communities, in the army,
in marriages. But because of the good PR, people abroad think everything’s
fine in Uganda.
“Twenty per cent of Ugandans have HIV but the government says it’s
only seven per cent. So PR that says Uganda is reducing HIV is nonsense.”
I wondered what happened to HIV positive Ugandans deported from the UK?
“A Ugandan deported from Britain after being on HIV drugs does not fit
in anywhere. And they will not get the drugs. It is like euthanasia. It’s
just sending them home to die. There’s no hope for them. The health
service is so poor in Uganda. Employment opportunities are non-existent. There
are no free drugs. To buy ARVs is very expensive.
“I don’t know what has happened to Britain. And I’m shocked
by what I see right now with all the racism. A person comes to you with a
problem and it is diabolical and unchristian to turn your back on them.”
What can we do to help?
“People with HIV have to take on activism themselves. We have to fight
our own battles. HIV/Aids has become so commercialised and the HIV campaigns
are now just about getting money. We need to go back to the drawing board
and find strategies that will help us. Otherwise we will stagnate.”
And what about the people in Uganda desperate to get ARVs?
“Few Ugandans can afford more than one meal a day so if we’re
asking people to take drugs with food twice or three times a day, it’s
impossible. And the testing facilities are very poor. There’s only one
health centre per 200,000 people. One doctor in Uganda represents about 25,000
people.”
And what about gays in Uganda? “No one has the figure. It is illegal
and no one talks about it. If you’re caught in the act the minimum prison
sentence is about seven years. But it exists, like everywhere. And there’s
no prevention for gays or bisexuals.”
Survival tips...
“It is always better to find out if you have HIV or not. HIV is not
only spread by those who have it but also by those who catch it. Having it
does not mean the end of your life.”
Next month: Beatrice Were, Aids activist and women’s rights championl
• Ugandan Forum for Democratic Change, www.fdcuganda.org
• Uganda National Guidance and Empowerment Network of People living
with HIV, email muranga@ngen.co.ug
