A Critical Look at Francis Zaake’s Violent History

For most people, watching the video of the violence that happened in Uganda’s parliament, on September 26^th 2017, an event that was covered by the media outlets around the world, It’s difficult to conceive any idea of how Hon Francis Zaake was going to be restrained by any member in the House through talking to him. Probably it would have been possible, however, it’s also not farfetched to say that Hon Zaake could only be restrained using force.

Hon Francis Zaake’s political career can be defined with two words: Violence and deception. Here is a politician who is exposed to the same environment as his colleagues in the opposition, however, the level and frequency of bouts of violence both within and outside the precincts of parliament are unmatched. Perhaps there has never been any other member of parliament that either saw violence as a tool to achieve political ends or was predisposed to engage in violence of extreme nature and and high frequency.

In September 2017, during the debate of the amendment of the constitution, a fight broke out in parliament and Hon Francis Zaake was at the fore of the assault from opposition members who took part.

A year later in August 2018, following an incident where Hon Kyagulanyi’s driver was shot and killed by unknown people in Arua during a byelection to replace the late Hon Abiriga, security made an attempt to capture the culprit by executing a cordon and search operation. In the process, Hon Francis Zaake who was  of interest to security because of the need to protect him, he staged a determined physical resistance and security had to use force to remove him. Hon Zaake sustain bruises and lacerations especially in the hand when he was yanked away from a rough object he was holding onto and it tore his palm.

Hon Robert Kyagulanyi also made an attempt to resist extraction but not to the level of Hon Zaake’s scale. Hon Francis Zaake’s violent and delinquency nature was in full exhibit when he managed to escape from security forces in Arua, only for him to be found in Rubaga Hospital where he exaggerated his illness and trauma to involve the cervical spine, a potentially fatal injury, paralysis of both legs and failure or difficulty in breathing, for which he was treated with Oxygen.

When he was finally examined by a team of senior consultants from Mulago, at Kirudu Hospital, he was reportedly found to have sustained superficial injuries only. He didn’t have any paralysis of the legs, he had no injury whatsoever of the spine and had no injury that would make it difficult for him to breath. Yet he had been on Oxygen therapy, had a cervical collar and all images that were published, he looked to be in comma. This was a grave deception activity.

He continued to exaggerate his injuries even following thorough examination by Mulago Hospital specialists, went to India where he was admitted in a hospital in New Delhi ( names of the Hospital withheld), for two days and discharged for there was no indication for him to be in the hospital. He flew to Dubai from where he launched a social media campaign that was pushing a story line of him in a critical condition in India. Scaring medical conditions like liver failure, the need for a kidney for transplant, being on a life support machine, were all littered on social media. It took government’s intervention when the truth was shared with responsible parties who then asked Hon Zaake to stop alarming the general public.

Following this, Hon Francis Zaake quietly came into the country and immediately began living a normal life. This was another deceptive effort to put the government of Uganda in bad light both at home and internationally to possibly attract sympathy.

The current incident is not any difference. There is no doubt that Hon Francis Zaake’s violent nature caused the police to restrain  him, which again resulted into superficial injuries for which he is again exaggerating and admitted at Rubaga Hospital.

The same cervical collar is recycled to simulate the look of a patient with cervical spine injury.

The Oxygen therapy is also meant to simulate severe trauma with either severe loss of blood or severe chest infection or paralysis of respiratory muscles due to cervical spine injury, a condition which would more often lead to death than prolonged hospitalization

In the end, all of Hon Francis Zaake’s troubles with the law, and they are many,  have been derived from his violent nature and he only has one method to avoid facing the law, which is deception. He executes this deception by exaggerating his superficial injuries which he sustains in situations where security is only attempting to restrain him.

Why does security always need to restrain a member of parliament, one would ask?

Ugandans need to know that when it comes to Hon Zaake and the police which is responsible for enforcing the law, Hon Francis Zaake causes violence that puts at risk his own life and the life of officers involved in enforcing the law.

There may come a time when Ugandan law will cease to apply against Hon Francis Zaake and he lives as an outlaw and a honorable member of parliament.

A casual look at his background easily discovers tell tale signs of an individual plagued with a violent character. Hon Francis Zaake was born January 12^th 1991 Emmanuel Ssembuusi Butebi and Teddy Naluyima. He is first born of 12 children, four boys and eight girls. Zaake was born in Butebi village, Mityana municipality.

Hon. Francis Zaake attended St Mary’s Fairway Primary School in Mityana, went to St Lawrence schools. He was dismissed from St Lawrence Secondary School violent related misconduct in his S 2. He shifted to Mityana Modern Secondary School where he completed his O-level in 2010. He went to Maryland High School Entebbe for his A-Level, completed in 2012 then joined Ndejje University where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Procurement and Logistics Management.

When Hon Francis Zaake became an MP in 2016, he remained unknown to the general public until, through violence, he distinguished himself on the floor of parliament, not through debate but violence, a phenomenon that has continued to define him three years later.

On September 26, 2017 – the day Raphael Magyezi, MP Igara West, was to table his constitutional amendment bill, Hon Francis Zaake was the most outstanding in orchestrating the rancour that forced the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, to adjourn that day’s session without any done business. Hon Zaake led his fellow opposition MPs in shouting, jeering, taunting that followed which ended in fighting. Hon. Francis Zaake, like his name says, let them burn, was the most outstanding amongst the opposition. He threw anything that was near him at NRM MPs and his voice was at the ything his hands could land on. He joined the impromptu choir singing the first stanza of the national anthem again and again, until Speaker Rebecca Kadaga was so irritated she adjourned the House, but not before noting down the names of the noisemakers.

Hon Francis Zaake led the opposition to turn the floor of parliament into a English fans violent scene. They turned chairs,desks and microphones into missiles threw chairs, leaped onto tables and pulled off Karake antics against NRM MPs tables with their attackers in hot pursuit. Hon. Zaake continued to distinguished himself from the rest by removing his belt and shoes, turned them into weapons against those on the government side who had come to restrain him.  As it had been for the last three years, he was restrained by an MP and a military officer.