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Uganda has never escaped the trap of being led by one strongman since the times when Mr. Obote abrogated the Uganda Constitution in 1966. This trend continues to date. Today, we are even experiencing the leadership of even a much stronger person whose personal influence is unrelenting because of militarism which has made him totalitarian.
President Museveni is not an exception to leaders with an obsession to remain in power in perpetuity. Previously we solely blamed him but today the beneficiaries of this perpetuity have also allowed him to be fronted as a single candidate by denying others a chance for 4 decades.
The politics of strongmen always hinge and thrive on patronage and dynastic politics. In such politics, leaders pursue deceit and it becomes difficult to prevent incompetent people and sycophants from being appointed to sensitive positions. This explains why descendant and founder influence can compromise national
development and governance.
Democracy and Constitutionalism: The way events keep unfolding, it appears the government is abandoning the basic principles of democracy that it cherished to restore; liberty, equality, and justice. Levels of democracy are steadily declining and are at their lowest and the respect for the rule of law is fading.
The democratic institutions are increasingly being weakened, the democratic space is getting narrower and is instead being replaced by militarism and dynastic politics. A sizeable section of the voter population is being lured into believing in this direction. Uganda today has dropped further to the 25th position among the Fragile State index and is drifting away from Constitutionalism and respect for the rule of the law.
The Three Arms of Government have been contaminated and compromised by the Deep State. Institutions are no longer independent. The doctrine of separation of powers that ensures good governance is not realistic. The clean leadership we cherished while in UPM is now a dream.
The good principles and intentions in sanitizing the governance of our country have been thrown in the dustbin of history and have been replaced by the personal interest of a strongman who now does not befit the title of being called the President but an Emperor. Because a President is a servant of the people but an Emperor is a conqueror.
The Electoral body is dominated by the incumbent, the sitting President of the nation. It is only he who decides and chooses those who can comprise the Electoral Commission. The opposition and other stakeholders don’t participate in the appointment of the members of the Electoral body.
The Army that is supposed to be nonpartisan, to remain national and professional, is partisan. Unfortunately, whenever it comes to voting, they participate in partisan voting where they are compulsorily mandated to vote for the party in power. The army should instead not have voting rights but play the role of observers to protect democracy and constitutionalism.
The developmental challenges the country faces are a result of the political structures that entertain patronage and corruption. These structures are not meant for the national interest but for regime survival.
The founder and owner politics that gradually transform into dynastic politics shape and influence the formation of policy. This is because the leadership normally feels threatened to lose its grip on power. This fear is evidenced by the heavy protection accorded to the leaders.
This also explains why they formulate policies that are restrictive intimidating and militaristic to enable them to exercise coercion like it is in the Military Court Martial which makes it not different from President Amin who used the same method called the Military Tribunal. Please take note that such policies are meant to subdue critical and dissenting voices which always turns out to be counterproductive.
Aging leadership and regimes can become a time bomb for national cohesion when they come to their end. The ending result can be the disintegration of a nation. Recently we have witnessed it happen in Libya, Iraq, Syria now Sudan. The puzzling question is, why do leaders fail to learn from past mistakes?
In 1986, President Museveni himself in his maiden speech at the Parliamentary stairs pointed out that the main obstacle to the growth of democracy in Africa is when a leader comes to power they do not want to leave.
This one has become a hard one for Mr. Museveni to explain today. Because his longevity in power contravenes what he said in 1986. This has made our Constitution a joke and punching bag for opportunists and sadists. Our Constitution is the most raped and amended document in Africa.
Uganda now, for national cohesion will need accountable leaders who will respect the Constitution, be accountable and respective to their citizenry, and be subordinate as servants to their voters.
Therefore, I make this appeal to my dear President to live his dream of leaving power when Uganda is a better place to allow fair competition within NRM that can see new leaders emerge. Those who support the idea of a single candidate are selfishly protecting their eating spree forgetting that they’re sitting on a powder keg and heading for a political disaster after they have long gone.
Leave a legacy like that in Tanzania with the Chama Cha Mapenduzi. Every two terms, they have a new leader but the party remains dominant not an individual. Give Uganda and Ugandans a chance to see new faces of leadership with new ideas.
Uganda is yearning for a new leader. We have brilliant young men and women within NRM of sound prime minds who are capable of steering and managing Uganda. Lastly, I would like to thank the Hon. Minister of Youth, Balaam Barugaha for his reconciliatory speech in Parliament in his eulogy while paying his last respects to the late Ssegrinya.
He behaved as a civilized statesman by conceding that mistakes had been made by the government, unlike Hon. Macho who displayed an attitude of intransigence, vengeance, and of being pugnacious and arrogant towards a dead colleague which is primitivity and medieval. We need quality contemporary leaders, who have a sense of humor, and remorse and to add, people who can voluntarily resign in the public interest if they have wronged the taxpayer.
Finally, those in power should stop to fear that the opposition is an immediate threat to the seat of power but the truth of the matter is that the threat is always from within. The opposition only takes advantage of weaknesses within the government.
NRM members involved in subversive activities such as corruption and those who sabotage the NRM Manifesto while pretending to be patriotic yellow should be regarded as infiltrators. It is only President Museveni who has the key to wish Uganda well or hell.
Polly concerned citizen and a peace monger.
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