THE CURSE OF LIFE
PRESIDENCY
Uganda gained her independence on 09th October,
1962. Post independence politics has been characterized; by ideological
confusion and bankruptcy where political party affiliation depended and to some
extent still depends on tribal and religious leanings, and dictatorships that
came to power by the power of the gun either by means of a coup d’état or by
waging a guerrilla war and consequently defeat those in power. No President in
Uganda has left power through democratic means. All of them have been forced
out violently. With the exception of King Fredrick Mutesa who was the first and
last ceremonial President of Uganda, all Presidents in Uganda have been
overthrown because they had indicated their intention to overstay their terms that
blocked the opportunity for others to ascend to power through democratic means.
In 1986, President Museveni ascended onto the Uganda
Presidency and rightly diagnosed Uganda’s problem as not the people but the
leaders who overstay in power. When he came to power in 1986 he had a ten point
programme that was to be guided by a constitution with limited terms. Due to
his greed for power, it is this disease that he has since deliberately refused
to treat and it is slowly but surely eating up Uganda. After completing his two
five terms, driven by greed, drunk with power and blinded by ambition he lifted
the two five year Presidential term limits. He is indifferent to corruption has
no willingness to fight it. He has learnt and forgotten nothing from our
violent political history. The violation of the two most important principles
of the ‘Ten point programme’, that is; Restoration of democracy, and
elimination of corruption and misuse of power has led to the collapse of the
dream of eliminating poverty by doing away with the two old-age bottlenecks
that have held back the African continent and Uganda in particular.
The violation of these
two cardinal principles has killed all the other eight principles. As I write,
President Museveni has since ruled this country for 26 years and has just
purchased another 5 year mandate which if completed he will have ruled Uganda
for 30 uninterrupted years. Worse still, there is no indication of his
retirement ever since he raped the constitution to allow him to rule for life.
His decision to cling onto power has led his regime to deliver diminishing
returns, undoing all the good things and leading to the suffering of Ugandans.
His rule is characterized by the same injustices that took him to the bush to
fight a guerrilla war.
To achieve his objective of ruling for life, he has
deliberately resorted to Machiavellian politics that dictates that for one to
rule people for as longer as he wants he must make them poor but appear to
support them but not strengthen them. He must not allow any semblance of
equality. However, “he must enrich a few and make them a privileged class with
respect to both property and subjects; so that around him will be those with
whose support he may maintain himself in power, and whose ambitions, thanks to
him, may be realized. As to the rest they will be compelled to bear a yoke
which nothing but force will ever be able to make them endure. Between force
and those to whom it is applied a balance will thus be set up, and the standing
of every man, each in his own order, will be consolidated.” Secondly, for a
person to rule a multi-cultural, multi-lingual, and multi-religious society
complex society like Uganda he has to constantly bribe individual prominent
personalities, promote divisions, and weaken the strength of institutions. This
is because force/brutal means alone cannot consolidate his power- “Divide and
Rule”
A desire to cling onto power promotes corruption and makes it
inevitable for the following and more evils to prevail in our society;-
-
-Political
corruption and a sham democracy characterized by vote buying and rigging,
political persecution in form of intimidation and illegal arrests, torture,
imprisonment, murder, and selective prosecution
-
Poverty
-
-Unemployment
and high cost of living.
-
-Sectarianism
- -Poor
service delivery especially in the health, education, Judicial sectors among
others.
-
-Poor
development infrastructure
-
-Weakened
public and civil institutions
-
-Insecurity
and political instability
-
-Poor
living conditions
-
-High
cost of living
The uncertainty created by corruption and overstay in power
has prevented genuine investors to consider Uganda as an investment
destination. No serious and genuine investor can have the confidence to invest
in a high risk country like Uganda whose stability depends on one visionary
mortal man. The situation is made worse when during election campaigns and in
the face of both local and International news media the President and the
ruling NRM campaign advertisements emphasize the fact that should President
Museveni lose an election, the country will descend into chaos. This scares
away potential investors.
Recently on a visit to
neighboring Rwanda, the President loudly confessed that his government is full
of thieves and he went ahead to credit President Kagame for his zero tolerance
to corruption. In effect he was directing investors to Rwanda; and secondly, he
passed a vote of no confidence in himself. During the 2011 Presidential
campaigns the President traversed the country campaigning like an opposition
politician confessing the corruptness of his government but he went ahead to
appointed Prime Minister, a man whom so many people believe to be corrupt. He
appointed him because of his loyalty to him but forgetting that by the fact
that he is corrupt he is an enemy of the NRM ideology and development. Maybe he
is a loyal partner in crime because he has always defended him when Parliament
tries discipline.
Without tangible investments, a country will experience high
rates of unemployment, inflation due to scarcity of locally produced
commodities, and poverty. A poor people will never live at peace with each
other. The resulting conflict of poverty in most cases takes a sectarian
dimension especially when the poor see themselves living on a lonely Island of
abject poverty while their few rulers perceived to come from the same region,
tribe, or rather from the same family swim in the vast ocean of ill-gotten
wealth. The frustrated poor tend to shift their frustration and anger toward
the poor and powerless that seem to come from the same region and/or speak the
same language as their powerful oppressors. This sectarian path is a threat to
National security and political stability and development.
To sum it all,
corruption and overstay in power due to the resulting negative consequences is
first class treason to one’s country and such a person clinging on to power and
promoting or acting indifferent to corruption must be forced out of power by
any means available and be brought to face justice for the great misery he has
caused his own people. The African culture is that a witch and/or night dancer
is always ex-communicated from the village. So should be with the corrupt and
dictatorial regimes but by nonviolent strategy (“PEOPLE POWER”) because it
empowers the people to fight future dictatorships and though not risk free it
is less costly in terms of life, property, environment among others.
