On Tuesday next week Uganda will celebrate the Heroes Day, an annual event held to remember and recognize the gallant sons and daughters who have done this country proud through their unrelenting efforts.
In most countries heroes are celebrated for their valour in accomplishing either political, economic and social landmarks and it is good Uganda has taken up this issue as a matter of national importance, according those people who have excelled in particular fields, some living, others dead, a Public Holiday on June 9.
As a country Uganda has since Independence in 1962 encountered several challenges, brought about by numerous factors including political greed and debauchery, corruption, state-orchestrated murders and violence, to mention but a few. This needs reversal if we are to achieve our national objectives.
The National Resistance Movement (NRM) was the first government to come up with the idea of naming the various gallant children of Uganda, as we know them through the years. For that the NRM scored highly and deserves to be lauded for the notion because earlier, the Heroes Day, celebrated on July 27, was attributed to only one man, Apollo Milton Obote, the day being the one on which he returned from exile in Tanzania. It was a shame!
But that anomaly notwithstanding, the list of Uganda’s Heroes is supposed to be long. Unfortunately, every time the issue of these people comes up, there are murmurs of favouritism, in respect to the ruling government.
So, in order to disprove the skeptics and as we continue to recognize our heroes, there is need to effectively disseminate information about the procedures through which one is named a hero, and why one is named a hero. Against this background, arguments of political bias in naming of the heroes will become a thing of the past.
Indeed, when that happens Ugandans will not scratch their heads to remember that the good men and women were with us and the temperance, frugality, sincerity, justice, humility, honesty and integrity exhibited by our Heroes will be panacea for the rest of the citizenry, in respect to the challenges they face and expect to surmount.
However, Ugandans will forget the ‘bad’ men and women who had ‘almost everything’ but lacked virtues.
