Of the several CHOGM 'forums' that took place in Kampala, I happened to attend the Business Forum and also visited the People's Forum. My observations on these later were in response to Her Majesty the Queen's opening remark. ‘...a healthy Commonwealth...’

The Commonwealth, its relevance apart, is not at all healthy. It can not be healthy, when its dismembered Pakistan and Zimbabwe are ‘cut off’.

The irony of it all is that everybody who knows the truth about the Zimbabwe land issue wants to sweep it under the carpet and use 'mass hysteria' to 'rein in Mugabe'.

I saw a clip of President Chissano talking of the Lancaster Accord, where, on the eve of Zimbabwe's Independence, it was agreed that land would return to the rightful owners-the Africans-, with Britain compensating its citizens, the descendants of the land-grabbers. Can someone out there have the courage to dig up this all-important truth and publish it for the entire humanity to see?

Thereafter, we can then ‘rein in Mugabe'. Mugabe could be wrong, but let's face it! The current 'support for democratic change' will not solve the problem.

 Pakistan is steadily degenerating into an anarchy that may go beyond the Indian subcontinent, given the intricate nature of the conflict. Gen. Musharaf didn’t 'produce himself'!

He is a product of a nuclear arms race between Eastern Hindustan (India) and Western Hindustan (Pakistan).

The bone of contention in this nuclear race is Kashmir, an enigma left unresolved by Britain on departure form the region. Presently, the bitter truth and reality is that Pakistani politics is and will be determined by the army for the foreseeable future and Musharaf is a sine-qua-non element in that army. Anybody would dread a 'democratic president', who will be overthrown by the Pakistani 'Talibans' and then take charge of the country's nuclear arsenal!  Musharaf's capture of power in 1999 was a self-saving instinct, after Nawaz Sharif wanted to commit mass murder by refusing a plane to land, in an attempt to kill Musharaf.

 Uganda, the host country, is engulfed in a political and land wrangle that can only be traced to Britain.

Words like federo, mailo that have now been privatised by Buganda, never featured in the original vocabulary of this language until after 1900. And what they stand for still remains unresolved.

 A Commonwealth with these and similar infections cannot be deemed healthy.

And for a CHOGM to emphasise rule of law, democracy... in abstract terms is both a betrayal of people's expectations and an affirmation of the irrelevancy of a body of such diverse countries as India, with its over 1 billion people and Tuvalu with 3,400 inhabitants, let alone the geographically disjointed expanse.

Arguments about ICT, Global Village will not sink this reality.

Addressing us as students soon after NRM ascent to power, firebrand revolutionary SDA Major Victor Bwana (RIP) posed the rhetoric question: Commonwealth? Which   'Wealth' and 'Common' to Who?

Perhaps President Museveni defined it well in his CHOGM opening speech when he said that it is the only forum where he does not have to speak through an interpreter! Just a 'feel-good' club, where Wakina Abdou Diouf and Boutros Boutros Ghali, retire as Secretary-General to enjoy the evening of their life.
 
kAMPAla.