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It was purposely formed to liberate Uganda from both tyrannical leadership and poor governance systems. Unfortunately, the Revolution that started growing way back from the early 70s through the early 80s has been betrayed by greed, loss of focus, and age. Movements age. The longer they are in power, they tend to lose focus.
Today, we have standing challenges that work as obstacles to the well-being of Uganda.
1. NRM is fussed with the State. Accountability becomes a problem.
2. The Constitution of Uganda has been amputated several times and it can no longer stand on its own feet to defend Ugandans. Many important Articles were not entrenched, for example, the Term Limits.
3. As a result this has made the Presidency more powerful than the Constitution. He is among the most powerful Presidents of Uganda, only second to Amin.
Revolutionaries betrayed:
Many of our comrades who had good intentions for this country died in vain and some of us who are still breathing are in shock and disbelief at how this country is being governed. NRM of today is completely a different thing from the one today. This one of today has veered off track. The original principles of NRM are nowhere to be seen.
There is a staggering shift and deviation from the original ideals of the Revolution. Revolutionaries do not primitively amass wealth by the exploitation of the masses. Patriotism and discipline are now just lip service. Enforcement agencies are at their weakest performance.
Corruption and impunity:
Revolutionary ideals do not condone corruption and impunity. Corruption is a cancer. It is destructive like acid. For example, Ministers implicated in the Mabaati scandal, to our surprise, are still serving and some were removed from the case by the DPP in a suspicious manner. In law, once one is found with a stolen item, one becomes an accomplice in crime. The reasoning that one unknowingly received the stolen items does carry any logic. This is proper impunity being abated. Unfortunately, today it’s a modest operandi of doing business. This has to stop if the legacy of NRM is to be preserved.
Why did the Revolutionary War take place by waging a protracted bloody war that took thousands of lives since the early 70s?
The reason for the war was to restore sanity and correct the mistakes that continued to happen regime after regime. Some of the mistakes were tyranny and brutality against people who thought otherwise. The intervention by the NRM coming in was to bring in a fundamental change not merely a change of guards. Unfortunately, the very wrong guys we fought have overwhelmed NRM and are now in charge. This explains why grave mistakes continue to be committed. These wrong guys have no spirit of Patriotism.
Human rights:
The issue of abuse of human rights was one of the critical reasons that caused the first liberation of Uganda by TPDF and UNLF led to the exist of the life President of Uganda, Field Marshal Idi Amin. This war cost thousands of lives.
There was gross abuse of human rights and no dignity to the citizens. The other reason was the lack of democracy. Elections were rigged and opponents of those in power were brutally subdued during Obote 2.
This prompted Mr. Yoweri Museveni to launch a second liberation war in the Luwero triangle that lasted 5 years. I remember as a District Youth leader of UPM in the Bugisu by then Mbale District, I was among those invited at Luweza Church of Uganda to be addressed by Hon. Yoweri Museveni as the Vice Chairman of the Military Commission and as the President of UPM. At this moment there was no NRM.
His message was short. He said “that because of the rigging of elections and abuse of the citizen’s human rights, he was going to the bush and he said that those willing to join and follow him in the bush were free to do so and those willing join him but preferred to remain behind are welcome.
” You can see that the issue of rigging elections and abuse of human rights are no simple issues to play with. The 2 issues can destabilize the country and cause a Deja Vu. Today, the Parliament of Uganda should not stoop so low and politize the disappearance of citizens because next time these victims can be your relatives even yourselves.
To Members of Parliament:
Please when legislating and passing Bills, look at the country not your political Parties because the country is bigger than Parties. Parties will fade away but the country never goes away.
Stick and Carrot Approach:
My concern to write about the current status of politics is a reminder to those who were there at that time and to those who were babies or not born by then, that we can have a Deja Vu or a repeat of the past if we tread carelessly or recklessly.
NRM has to abandon the stick approach to managing politics and instead go with the carrot approach. The government has to increase its governance effectiveness not only in regime survival but for effectiveness in service delivery as well.
The State has to transition from militarism to a full-fledged democracy. Militarism has nothing to do with democracy.
Transactional Politics:
There are benefits of commercialization of politics and it’s disadvantages; to lure and woo opponents you can provide the carrots but there are also disadvantages:
If NRM makes it a trend of offering carrots to win back political opponents, it’s not wrong but it becomes dangerous to provide sanctuary to thieves and murderers. It also becomes more serious to give political appointments to such people. Once you begin recruiting “Kawukumi” then those are big problems.
Conclusion:
Because African democracy is still too young, for purposes of cohesion, I welcome the multiparty approach on sensitive issues such as reforms in our electoral systems and a review of the Constitution more specifically on term limits. These limits are purposely inserted as shock absorbers to avert contradictions in governance. They should be entrenched to avoid being amputated in the future. I take this opportunity with due respect to thank His Excellency The President Of Uganda, Gen. YK Museveni for stabilizing the country.
Paul Polly Mugoya
The Writer Is Concerned Citizen
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