The Military factor: Can Maj Gen Muntu bring change?

FDC Politics

I am not FDC card carrying member but I am fond of my contemporaries in that Party. FDC is the largest opposition Party today in Uganda and should any misfortune happen to the NRM, certainly, the odds for FDC to become the next managers of state affairs would get enhanced enhanced. When Thursday November 22nd, 2012 comes to an end, someone will have been declared FDC President. Three candidates are vying for the position of FDC Presidency to replace the charismatic and courageous Rtd Col Dr Kiiza Besigye Kifefe. The candidates are: Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu; Toronto County MP Geoffrey Ekanya; and Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Hon David Mafabi.

The above established, my purpose is to discuss the implication(s) of the candidacy of Maj General Gregory Mugisha Muntu. Proponents of the candidacy of Muntu have argued that since he was a decorated soldier and an army commander for eight years, then he is the best suited candidate to replace Dr Besigye as if FDC is a military regiment. They also argue that given Muntu’s military background, he is best suited for challenging President Museveni’s tenure.

The implication of these arguments situates the military at the heart of governance of Uganda. It tells us that unless you wear uniforms, your chances of becoming President of Uganda are much diminished. I have issues with this kind of attitude. World over, democracy has required constitutionalism to prevail in countries where the power is vested in the common people. The military is not expected to be partisan as it has been in Uganda since independence. Uganda has never had a truly national army and this has always given our democracy a lot of stress.

It is this culture of militarizing politics and civil life that has placed Uganda in vicious circles of violence and conflict. Unfortunately, as real as it is, I find it very obnoxious that a section of FDC still believes that they can win away a composite of Museveni’s personalized military support when a person with military background becomes its leader.

The contrasting reality does prove this to be a classical form of an intellectual fallacy or simply put an informal logic. Col Besigye was a decorated general in NRA with a lot of clout, influence and prestige. When he fell out with President Museveni, his army connectedness was decapitated. His record of service in the army became a reference that only appealed to the civilians who have bore the brunt of chaos and have deeply seated apathy towards the army.

If being in the army could create a balance of power, certainly FDC’s fortunes could have improved each of the years they contended for state power. To the contrary, Besigye’s percentages waned and so was his real support, even among intellectuals because such expectations were never realized.

FDC could have thought about these unfortunate developments to enable them transform the candidacy of Col Besigye to that of a civilian victim of state machination. I still believe that the true support for Besigye struck the highest pitched when he was manhandled by that tiny, ruthless infamous warped undercover cop Gilbert Arinaitwe.

So, does being a military man or having military past make one a viable Presidential candidate? This is debatable but it is also a cultural thing borne out of fear and yet we all know that Muntu would never dare challenge the system as Besigye did. This is because none of the Presidents of Uganda have been able to effectively demilitarize Ugandan politics. Instead, they have ridden on the backs of their armies to procure long and cumbersome tenure in power.

From an etic perspective, FDC has lacked in few aspects. I think FDC may need a leader who is grass-root oriented and is as astute in mobilizing the grass-root as in reaching out to the middle class, the unemployed and the wealthy. I am certain that across the Ugandan society, everyone bays for personal safety and that of their property (for the hard working). I also believe that Besigye was positioned and gifted in with such peculiar trait.

Although Muntu is calm, sobre minded and disciplined person, his military background alone may not inspire many to guarantee their allegiance to FDC. Further, sustaining the militarization of our politics provides a recipe for commotion and confrontation leading to loss of life.

I contend that past membership in UPDF has never been a successful and prudent on its own as an asset in shaping our democracy without other pertinent traits. Indeed, there is a strong degree of agreement across our society against the NRM regime. The real challenge is that we have failed ourselves by always opting for small pushes towards the windows of opportunity that beckons on us for change.

 END

 

 

 

The creation of modern day Gomorrah

CORRUPTION SOCIETY

 

For many years, the public has endured increasing levels of corruptions in Uganda. By international standards, Uganda has one of the most elaborate anti-corruption laws but this has not deterred corruption. This article reiterates that corruption is the very function of the NRM regime but distinguishes old forms of corrupt practices from organized crime that has transformed Uganda into modern day Gomorrah!

The 2009 Anti-Corruption law may as well have become an instrument not worth the paper on which it was written on. Corruption is widely defined to include the tolerance or acceptance of influence, let it be material, monetary or otherwise, for personal gratification, that may lead to acts of or omission of the duty for which one is an authority (Anti-corruption Act 2009 Part II: 2(A)(a-i). Ugandans know the simple, basic and functional definition of corruption, as “the lack of opportunity for have-nots”. In this sense, most Ugandans look at those with money, power and guns as those who are corrupt. The 2009 Anti-corruption Act does not describe moral corruption, an aspect that makes corruption pervasive in our society. To an extent, corruption has become a sub-culture in every society.

This article argues that Ugandan’s problem is no longer corruption but organized economic crime. Corruption has transformed itself from the infinite to the finite and it manifests in every walk of life. It embodies the very opposites of what society should be. The government which should act as mediator for distribution of public good, under the influence of corruption, has become the agent provocateur of widespread inequalities. Ugandans no longer experience the life of sanity; they thrive under insanity like it was in Gomorrah. Uganda has become a state equal in stature and character as the Biblical Gomorrah with some components of “Soddom” in it!

Every day one opens the online version of the Ugandan Dailies; there must be a stunning revelation about new acts of embezzlement. Each story which appears on the subject out compete the previous one in the amounts and the sophistication of rubbery of taxpayer’s money. Corruption has now grown to full maturity and has become organized crime. What we read now in the media about Pension scum, Prime Minister’s office siphoning of billions through network of technocrats and others, have in character outcompeted what we knew already in Gavi and Global Fund, which in turn, had outcompeted previous scums involving government agents.

So, how did we reach here and where are we headed? The transformation of what would have passed as sheer negligence of duty into fully blown corruption was facilitated by the NRM ideologies. In the early 90s when Parliament fought corruption, Museveni complained that Parliament was on vendetta against his Ministers and his economic plans. His cadres went on radio to argue that the rampant corruption acts were indicators of economic growth. The establishment treated anti-corruption agencies, groups and experts as enemies of the state and members of the opposition who were inclined at diverting their revolution’s pathways.

Not long after that, the men who came broke from the Bushes of Luwero started appearing in the media for wealth accumulation as super rich. All of the NRM top cadres and so-called “governors of state affairs” had embarked on primitive accumulation of wealth at the expense of the so-called liberated. Through their wealth, they were certain that they had enough to procure significant portion of the public will to govern. In combination with the use of state instruments of coercion to secure the rest of they will, they became too insensitive, arrogant and indifferent to the plight of the ordinary Ugandans. Assured of their strength, they returned Uganda to Multi-party elective politics. Ever since then, corruption and coercion have become the two most famed methods of securing tenure for the President and his henchmen.

Today, this corruption has entrenched its roots into the very soul of the system like the grasp of the weed called Wondering-Jew. Because, at the nucleus of this organized crime is situated the Ugandan political class as enablers and profiteers. This is also the reason that Museveni may be an astute tactician in guerilla warfare, but the war on corruption is one which he cannot defeat without self capitulation. President Museveni has tolerated corruption for so many years as a beneficiary, whether directly or indirectly. After all, the most corrupt people are members of the ruling elite or of the First Family.

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How transportation system contributes to maternal death

TRANSPORT & MATERNAL-CHILD HEALTH

In my previous elicitation I argued that Uganda’s healthcare system is one that could be fixed with political will to enforce intersectoral collaboration at governmental levels. I educed that the healthcare system requires leadership, ideology and funding. This article is a continuation of the articulation of the Delay Factors responsible for high maternal-child mortality in Uganda.  It is premised that the persistent failures of the healthcare system is attributable to general system wide failures in public the public transportation that impede access. In evaluating the efficacy and efficiency of the public healthcare system we must include the contribution of other functions of governments that provide social security and enhances equity. The healthcare system is part of the fabrics of what constitute social services and a driving force for a robust economy that does not function in isolation.

The health of pregnant women and children largely depends on mobility potential. One of the delay factors that lead to the death of pregnant women and children is the delay to reach healthcare facility. The World Health Organization estimates that 40-60 percent of the people living in developing countries live more than 8kms from healthcare facilities. Poor roads and mobility resources including high transportation costs are the key delay factors that facilitate mortality among vulnerable children and pregnant mothers. When a pregnant woman experiences complications, she has between 6-12 hours before she can access qualified emergency care and yet most perinatal deaths occur during labor and delivery or within the first 48hrs.

The timely access of healthcare services is predicated on availability of emergency means of transportation, good acess roads and ready reception at the point of care. Transportation facilitates access to health care facility and determines well-being of maternal child dyad. Moreover, one’s ability to be mobile comes with power and prestige. The World Bank recognizes that mobility, power and well-being are closely link to gender inequalities. The ability of the male to own and control modes of transportation also controls the mobility of members of the family and that determines the health of that family.

No matter how well resourced a healthcare facility is, if it is not accessible the people will not use it. There grows apathy and sense of alienation between the people and the facility. This is why most hospitals operate ambulance services at a minimal access fee, to consolidate community connection and bridge the service gap. The Millennium Development Goal recognizes that a robust healthcare system is a critical and fundamental social service necessary for the attainment of economic goals. However, the slow trends in achieving MDGs in sub-Sahara Africa are premised majorly on access to healthcare facilities.

Further, a robust healthcare system is key driving force to any economy and therefore integral to the very functions of the state. Healthcare system’s failure is then not the organic dysfunction of the system itself, but the capitulation it faces from the mainstream - that is how well integrated it is, in the economy. To appraise Uganda’s healthcare system we must pay due regards to issues of access, public health policies, government funding priorities, leadership and underlying ideology. There is need to appraise the healthcare system within the performance context of the incumbent regime.  A failed healthcare system signifies failures on the part of that administration as a whole, not of the system per se.

There are crucial areas that a twenty-first century healthcare system can fail; when the system adheres strictly to outdated biomedical models which views health as the interplay between infirmities or lack thereof and; when the system selects downstream approaches to healthcare and neglects the fundamental upstream aspects. Investment in public health systems and deliberate focus on social determinants of health poses the greatest opportunity for strengthening the healthcare system in Uganda and lessens the burden of downstream biomedical care.

To improve healthcare service delivery to the population, the government must enforce and encourage all sectors to place health thinking in its planning agenda. When building roads, the driving force is not how much to be made in profits per kilometer, but rather, how useful the road will be in facilitating access to nearby social services. The obsession for highways and superhighways underscores the needs for rural access and at local levels. There must be increased mapping of mobility entitlements and accessibility patterns as recommended by the WB. Improvement of information technology in the meantime could tremendously fill gaps poised by distance.

I have established that there is a strong relationship between transportation and maternal-child mortality in Uganda and by extension in sub-Sahara Africa. The world over, governments have invested in infrastructure to kill “distances” and to avert from “womb to tomb” episodes that characterize the experiences of reproductive women in Uganda.  Healthcare is integral and primal aspect of the functionalities of the government. Its failures reflect the failure of the system as a whole.

END.

Challenges and opportunities in reducing maternal-child deaths

Pregnancy, pregnant women, maternal- child health

In my last article, I attempted to discuss the three delays in the maternal-child health discourses. I offered insight into their implication in practice and research. In this article, I will share briefs of some of the outstanding issues from my scoping review for a research project.

I have chosen to expound on the issue of maternal child health as stipulated in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to elicit public debate. The purpose of which, is to shed light on the predicament of pregnant women in the inaccessible and deteriorating antenatal and emergency services in Uganda. The health of a woman is a key determinant of the health of the household. Undermining the health of women equally diminishes the society’s pursuit for economic prosperity.

MDG goals four and five are specific to the reduction of maternal child mortality rates among expectant mothers.  This topic interests me because in many studies and prevailing literature, Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) has been found to be a commonplace for women to die during the course of pregnancy (54% of all global annual maternal deaths due to pregnancy). There are many causes for the malignancy of this problem, but what is important to note is that most of the underlying causes of these deaths are easily avoidable or preventable.

I have carried out an extensive but preliminary literature review on this subject of maternal –child health dyad. Out of the over 600 peer reviewed research articles, I found common and recurring themes. Top among these are; lack of political will to prevent, arrest or reverse deaths associated with pregnancy; that although fertility among poor and rural SSA is high, pregnancy related complications and deaths are associated with conditions of poverty. Communities that are isolated due to lack of infrastructure (Roads and telecommunication) and those that lack access to professional Emergency Obstetric care (Emoc), incur more deaths whether due to pregnancy or any ailment and; certain cultures, traditions and customs are enablers in facilitating these deaths.

Success stories have been registered where women have been able to generate household income and to support their pregnant peers to seek professional care. Other areas of success recorded involves rural communities indulging in cost sharing for public health services, where minimal membership fees is paid at village and sub-county levels, like in Rwanda which promotes performance based financing to healthcare. In some places, women incentivize Gaenecologists and Midwives to frequent their local health centers, like it is in Zegoua town of 22,000 people, situated 500 miles south of the Capital Mali, Bamako. Groundbreaking works have been reported in Bangladesh, Sri lanka, Tamil Nadu in India, South Africa and Egypt.

The high maternal-child mortality rate in Uganda is one that is very shameful. Our neighbor Rwanda, with functional 395 peripheral health centers, 40 district hospitals and three referral hospitals, have registered far better health outcomes than Uganda and they could inspire us to suceed.

I contend that Uganda has capacity to contain and eliminate maternal child deaths through its elaborate health institution structures. The problem which undermines the efficiency of the healthcare system is chronic lack of political will to invest in area of the economy that matters the most. Our healthcare system is easy to streamline and to strengthen, especially under the local government system. Lack of funding, poor leadership and lack of political will remain the key impediment to healthcare service delivery.

If all local authorities were encouraged to place health as priority on their political agenda, most of the health problems could have been eliminated. Most of the ailments in Uganda are primarily associated with poor hygiene and poverty as a consequence of lack of resources at the rural and peri-urban Uganda. If these fundamental components of health were addressed, the pressure on the healthcare system would be significantly alleviated.

According to WHO studies, on the average, a rural SSA woman spends 4 hours of the day looking for water and requires same time to collect firewood for preparing meals. The woman has no time to attend to her own health, such that when pregnancy comes, it finds her body already weakened. Unfortunately, the plight of the ordinary Ugandan woman of child bearing age will never be addressed until tragedy befalls a daughter or wife of a politician while giving birth at home or abroad.

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Blinding loyalty to NRM is recipe to Societal Poverty

ELECTIVE POLITICS & POVERTY

This week presented yet another onslaught of NRM from a by-election in Butambala.  The DP Party has made a significant inroad in a place once considered a bastion of ruling NRM. Butambala is a remote district where every elected person claims to be NRM. The tales of Butambala also illuminate a relationship between supporting NRM and increasing economic disparity. People in Butambala are among some of the poorest in peaceful Uganda and Butambala stands as a replica of places with blinding loyalty to the NRM.

The victory of a former UYD firebrand and the founder of Popular Resistance Against Life President (PRAP), Mr. Muwanga Mohamad Kivumbi in Butambala is a defining moment for the NRM.  It illustrates a growing consciousness that in the last 26 years of monopoly of power, the NRM has not been honest to its followers. The NRM treated those that opposed it with much contempt and detestation and considers any forms of opposition as an act of rebellion. In retaliation, opposition figures are harassed, arrested in a manner not befitting of modern human treatment and jailed without charge, just to humiliate and disengage.

What has also been evident is that most of the areas that have offered blinding allegiance to the regime have remained in perpetual state of poverty. The areas that have been actively engaging the regime have attained better results in reducing their poverty levels and self-sustenance.  Many cases are there to illustrate this; take for instance Karamoja, Busoga, Bunyoro and Toro. These areas have been the poorest and most neglected regions in Uganda. Had it not been for the recent buzz in oil exploits, Bunyoro would remain a neglected region of Uganda. What Bunyoro has shared in common with Busoga are the stunning number of people living below the poverty line; those demobilized by jiggers and other adverse living conditions. Moreover, these regions have been very peaceful for the most part of the last 26 years and they have supported the NRM overwhelmingly for the same period of time.

What then are the theoretical underpinnings that can explain the similarities in regional decadence if it is not closely associated with the rather deceptive and exploitative nature of the NRM regime? There are few explanatory models to this dilemma; first, we could advance the theory of Acquired Helplessness to explain the presumed relationship between variables “supporting NRM” and “increasing levels of poverty (societal decay). Secondly, we can advance the theory of resilience to explicate the ability for self-sustenance and sporadic socio- economic growth in those areas that have maintained a mixed blend of anti/pro NRM methodology.

The theory of Acquired Helplessness is prevalent in health sciences and more so in rehabilitation sciences especially among the seniors, those recovering from illness or those enduring prolonged illnesses such as stroke and so forth. This theory posits that to provide all round support to a person in need only helps in his/her deterioration of functional abilities. It urges caregivers to promote functional skills for self-help among those whose functional abilities have been impaired by illness. The typical “NRM society” is presented in this model as one that has been demobilized by many illnesses, most importantly, corruption, injustice and impunity. The NRM is the causal agent in society that wreaks havoc on society’s functional ability to exercise their will and rights. By stealing votes, it impairs that faculty of society that should be making competent choices, thus leading to marginalization. Just like a sick body, a society riddled with such malaise, cannot function. Given the patronage, these societies quickly acquire a mindset of helplessness, the conviction that no amount of self-exertion can produce results - their true voices will never be heard and they have nothing to do about it. Their allegiances are therefore manufactured and their functional abilities thwarted remorselessly. So they are conditioned to support the regime at a cost of sheer negligence.

To the contrary, the regions that have utilized mixed methods by tolerating both NRM and opposition among its ranks have fared much better. These communities like Buganda (Luwero), Acholi, Teso, Lango etc., have developed competent faculties upon which they regulate their aspirations and strategize for national resources as serious contenders. One would assert that these regions are more conscious politically and economically to understand the true nature of the NRM. These regions have also endured the worst forms of vertical violence in the last 26 years to become resilient. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity. Generally, these societies have illustrated self-reliance, independence of thought and higher levels of accountability.

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Maternal Mortality: The Three Delay Model and maternal “near-miss” concepts

Maternal Health

On August 22, 2012, the New Vision Newspaper, also the government’s mouthpiece, published an optimistic overview of the 5^th Uganda Demographic and Health survey, 2012 released by the Uganda National Bureau of Statistics (UBOS). This report cast a surprising appraisal of the health sector that disputed the increasing apathy among Ugandans towards healthcare services.
Of particular interests were maternal health and mortality rate. According to UBOS, there are more pregnant women visiting antenatal clinics and are receiving preventive care such as immunization against tetanus and regular monitors of vital signs such as blood pressure; more women delivered in public health facilities in 2011 than the previous years and; a decline in the number of women who delivered from home or in transit, were recorded. Most notable is the reported decline is maternal deaths - from 550/100,000 in 2001 to 438/100,000 in 2011. By any standards, this report exceeded expectations and should be received with much delight.
The United Nations’ 2012 “The Millennium Development Goals Report”, indicates that the antenatal care for pregnant women has improved significantly across the world and that for Africa; Southern Africa continues to lead in achieving concrete gains in this aspect. Despite general improvement in antenatal care across the world, Sub Sahara Africa’s achievement in all the Millennium Development Goals was the slowest.  For instance, in 2010, an estimated 287,000 maternal deaths occurred worldwide, which is 47% decline from 1990. Of these maternal deaths, Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) accounted for 56% and Southern Asia 29%. This is 85% of global burden of maternal death (245,000 deaths) between SSA and S. Asia.
Given the colorful status of the 5^th Uganda Demographic and Health Survey report, many Ugandans who have endured challenges to access basic health care services will have to ask many questions. Such baseline demographic reports are often not very representative. Attaining credible statistics that is representative of maternal status in Uganda is nearly impossible because of adverse culture of record keeping; most deaths in Uganda are not reported, and even those that are reported, may not be accompanied by exact cause of death. Obtaining credible statistics requires stringent and massive resource allocation, for which, with the pervasive nature of corruption and incompetence in supervision, collection, monitoring and verification of data, one doubts the credibility of such demographic or health data.
The International Classification of Diseases, in its 9^th and 10^th Revisions (ICD-9, ICD-10) defines maternal death as “the death of a woman while pregnant or while within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of pregnancy, from any cause related to, or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes”. ICD discerns maternal death from direct obstetric death which results purely from obstetric complication of the pregnant state (pregnancy, labour and puerperium), from interventions, omission or incorrect treatment, or from the chain of events resulting from the aforementioned.
It is of utmost imperative for frontline health care providers to understand the above classification of the causes of maternal deaths if UBOS and other researchers are to ever get credible data. There are conceptual models that have helped us to explicate the underlying preventable and avoidable causes of maternal deaths. Most practitioners are aware that pregnant women die from complications of heamorrhage, sepsis, abortion complications, hypertensive disorders, obstructive labour, ruptured uterus, ectopic pregnancies and complications resulting from HIV/AIDS, Malaria and waterborne diseases, among many.
However, for public health policy and ethics of practice, the three delays and “near miss” model developed by Thaddeus and Maine (1990) should help to reinforce the knowledge of challenges that pregnant mothers endure trying to access antenatal care. According to Thaddeus and Main, many pregnant women do reach health facilities in such a poor condition that they cannot be saved, and the time taken to receive adequate care is key factor in their deaths. The three delays; delay in deciding to seek care by the woman and/or her family feeds into the delay in reaching an adequate health care facility and, the delay in receiving care at that facility.
Each of these delays is facilitated by certain key factors motivated by poverty or attendant socio-economic inequalities. Thaddeus and Maine named women who survive death from pregnancy complications, either by chance or by receiving timely care as maternal “near-miss” and argued that these woman share similar experiences with those who died due to pregnancy complications.
The three delays model has profound implication for practice and research. First, that the establishment of public health facilities and infrastructure that is supportive and accessible to the child bearing woman is a collective virtue. Further, it calls on the moral imperatives and ethical responses from health care workers to prioritize the care accorded to women, whether pregnant or not. This also has major implication for health policies, funding and leadership to ensure a reduction in the interval between onset of a complication and its efficient management in all health facilities.
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Structural deficiencies explains the health sector’s failures

HealthCare

The article, “Irresponsible living partly to blame for straining Uganda’s health sector” by Dan Kimosho in Daily Monitor edition of August 23^rd, 2012 needs an urgent rebuttal. Mr. Kimosho argues fervently from a rather skewed perspective that Ugandans who get ill or those who find themselves in need of medical care, are the ones who strain the health care because of their irresponsible living. In his views, if Ugandans were to live a more carefully crafted lifestyle and were to take responsibility for their health situations, then the health care system would not be strained! He cites examples of rampant accidents and injuries secondary to road accidents and others.

I spent a number of years at Mulago, in the rehabilitation department as trainee. I must state categorically clear that from my own perspective as practitioner, the real causes of the rampant ill-health, accidents and reasons for seeking health care services in Uganda and elsewhere are associated with structural deficiencies at all levels of government.

I do not have to be technical in my analysis here. Take for example road accidents. I do not have current statistics on how many people die on Uganda’s roads or how many accidents occur in a year. But we all know that road accidents which are completely avoidable remains the top killer and cause of injuries as well as disabilities in Uganda. When we look at the statistics of accidents involving boda boda, either motor-bike or regular bicycles, the figures will stun you. Why?

There are many other situations that are inevitable and yet the ordinary Ugandan has no power to overcome, just by merely living responsibility. Let us look at hygiene among slum dwellers. The drainage systems and the facilities in slums around the urban centers all over Uganda are not adequate to contain the ever rising population. In fact, the UN has estimated an exponential rural to urban influx in most of Africa in the face of population explosion by 2030. It is even evident that most of the migrants end up in low accommodation areas that are quickly transformed into squalid slums. Are our urban planners taking heed of such significant policy matter?

Notwithstanding space limitation, both cases of increasing road accidents, disabilities, and the surge in urban population have profound public policy implications. These are areas that we have neglected, thus, the failures of structures and mechanisms to regulate opportunities for safe and responsible living.

We must agree that victim blaming is a very unfortunate and superficial way of diagnosing a social problem. Symptoms are not causes but manifestation, we must not forget this. The transportation infrastructure in Uganda is very poor, as such; people have tried to navigate the system despite its discrepancies to eke a living. Where public transits, buses, omnibuses or taxis cannot reach because of poor roads, Ugandans will devise means to reach, inevitably.

When we see people acquire avoidable water borne diseases, or get disabled, we must think first that they did not choose such a destiny. As public servants, we should be critical and sensitive to causal factors to enable us remove such barriers. I contend that the health care system has not been expanded to meet the ever expanding and chaotic situation of human living in Uganda today. This is primarily due to two factors; lack of political will to strengthen the health care system and lack of healthy public policies on a wide variety of human discourses, including transportation, housing and accommodation, sanitation, equity and equality as well as culture and cultural practices.

Further, the health care system in Uganda is too biomedical and we must diversify to embrace alternative practices. I have advocated for investment in more upstream health care approach where people are given skills to make healthy choices and decisions before they become ill. The Ugandan system still narrowly defines health as presence or absence of infirmity, this is very limiting.

The government should adopt health promotion strategies, principles and practices in all its policies. Every decision we make profoundly impacts on the health of individual or communities amidst us. When families or communities lose their bread winners in road accidents, such event redefines life experiences in such households and impacts negatively on the health status of the community. The existence of socially structured inequalities and inequities in society implies that the health of the population is thwarted. The real problem is with us, the technocrats; we blame the victims of our shortsightedness for their predicaments.

I contend that there has not been a systemic and critical study of the failures of our healthcare system in supporting its population. But any healthcare system that over relies on biomedical paradigms are failing world over, so paradigmatic shift is inevitable.
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Is Obama robbing surburbs to pay for cities?

This is a rebuttal to Conservative writer whose article appeared in the Forbes Magazine insinuating that Obama is a modern day Robinhood. The link to original article is included at the end of this rebuttal

Dear Prof. Stanley Kurtz,
I am hoping that you are fine. I am writing to you in response to your article in Forbes Magazine and perhaps a book with the title: “How Obama is robbing suburbs to pay for the cities” (link included below). I read this article with much pain in my heart. I am not intending to drum sentimentalism here but to share with you my honest feelings about the so-called Conservative values espoused in this article, considering how skillfully you presented your case/ observation.

I am not an American but I may qualify as a global citizen. I find glaring and widespread social inequalities and inequities in most of the communities where I have visited and worked in public life. I suppose that most of these inequalities are socially and historically entrenched and in your country, it is even etched in America’s over 400 years of brutal history. I have seen the poor people and I have failed to understand how the right wing American Conservatives, somehow, constantly blame these wretched of the earth, for their predicament.

I think as a Health Promoter and someone who is neither democrat, conservative nor liberal, I find that the main cause of insecurity in the world is desperation as a consequence of deprivation (unequal distribution and access to resources). And we know that our society is one that is not a perfect one, it is that made of balanced acts in life (the poor, very poor, the rich, wealthy, middle class, thieves, scoundrels, jesters etc). This variation is in itself the reality of the inequalities that humanity endures. There is no utopia or exception anywhere on earth. So, the conservatives should face this reality with much courage!

Now, from your article, you make it obvious that there are no poor in suburban America. I would like to contest this misleading attitude. Most Conservatives make it sounds as though by the order of providence, only the middle class and the 1% occupy American suburbs, such that any attempts to alleviate the social conditions of the urbanites (read the poor) constitute a major violation of the conservative conscience.

I read that you are interested in ethics and position of religion in modern society. I wonder how you would interpret Kantian ethics, due diligence or utilitarian ethics for me as someone who is passionate about uplifting and alleviating humans from the humiliating poverty and destitution in which they are ensnared - a fate that they may not have willingly chosen. Are there Conservative thinkers who really believe in the principles of Health Promotion in America?

I think and I believe that you will be enticed to rethink, that whatever the actions taken by those community mobilizers in Chicago, including Barack Obama, were noble causes – a compassionate cause to reduce, arrest, revert or deter the institutional perpetuation of inequalities - for those people who are already powerless (lacked the means to access education, legal representation, property rights, justice etc). I contend that the reason why most of you so-called middle class people are ensconced in surburbia is the paranoia of the destitute. It is also that strange greed (sense of utter entitlement), where those who have are afraid to share openly and honestly with those who don’t. But how do people like you accrue so much wealth, control so much resources and wield so much power without exploitation of workers and those consumers in the abyss of society? In other words, most of the entrepreneurs reach out to the impoverished to procure their labour and/or compromise their virtues.

It is also strange but true that the typical right wing Conservative is obsessed with Christian and family values and yet, ironically, they do not walk the Christian talk. So, when I hear John McCain, Paul Ryan, Sarah Palin, Limbaugh and all the right wing Conservatives disparage and make mockery of the poor, I feel the strange wiggling of the Christ in utter protest.

I think that the Obama administration has performed remarkably well in light of the government they inherited from the Republicans. In as far as reducing the loopholes that permit exploitation, especially on Wall Street and in small alleys, they have done remarkably well. They have reversed to some significant extent the threat of foreclosures. But you cannot blame the Obama administration for outsourcing of American jobs overseas that created the foray of joblessness either. Neither can you blame him for being a modern day Robinhood simply for helping in alleviating urban destitution.

Otherwise, I enjoyed reading your well articulated article. I only felt that you were not being intellectually honest and socially compassionate for blaming Obama for his role as community mobilizer. I hope this piece will be received in good faith. I must state that I have been humbled in composing this email to you and it represents my very honest opinion

http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/08/13/how-obama-is-robbing-the-suburbs-to-pay-for-the-cities/

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Where does Museveni’s vision originate?

THE OLD VISION

Every time that the issue of succession and power transfer comes up for public discussion, somehow we are quickly and sternly reminded that Uganda, a population of over 34millions does not have visionaries. This position is delusional and one tinged with nothing but utter fear. This fear is not about how Uganda will do post Museveni, it is a situation where a man becomes fearful of his pictures in the mirror. The old Museveni with vision now fears the new Museveni without vision.

Museveni has been in power since 1986. The children who were born in 1986 are the ones running amok in the streets of Kampala jobless and realizing sadly that their promised future has been squandered. Museveni must be wondering and asking himself, what kind of a father breeds his children and conditions them to rely on his vision until they are past the age of twenty six? Most properly groomed African families expect their children to have their own lives and dreams at the tender age of 18 for liberals and 15 for conservative individuals.

Now given that Museveni has publicly and privately chided his comrades in the struggle, that none of those people have a vision and are not trusted with the country, the question we should be asking is, where does this peculiar Museveni vision come from? Is it divine?

Here is a theory that may perhaps explicate this vision mystery. The 1980 Museveni who had morphed from Fronasa claimed that he had a better vision for Uganda. Later he politically seduced a bunch of indolent youths into the bush to form his original 27 guerillas. One would assume that in the process, they shared a common vision and aspiration. The NRM ideology and the many point programs that came to pass were supposedly not created by Museveni alone. There were ambitious young men in his tow, who shared vision, shaped and reshaped the path to what they considered good governance and a better Uganda. They all aspired for a Uganda that would treat everyone equally and on merit.

These men for sure espoused similar vision with that of Museveni. If they didn’t, then how come Museveni never shared this strange vision with the rest of his men? I have argued again that it is very difficult to trust Museveni because he has no commitment to anything, not an agreement, not to conscience either. It is further humiliating and annihilating for the men who have supported this regime at every possible opportunity, only to be humiliated in public that after all, they are as mediocre as every other peasant – with no vision.

One really wonders where and when Museveni acquired this gold standard vision upon which every other contender’s ability to govern Uganda is being measured. Clearly the Museveni of 1986 did not envision Uganda with potholes, corruption, nepotism, tribalism, barbarianism, dilapidated healthcare system and all that we live by now. This is perhaps the reason that Museveni of today, lives in the shell of the Museveni of 1986.

But for Museveni, he will soon realize political isolation. This is when he will revert to the heightened use of brutality for companionship. Ugandans are making strong statements through the numerous bi-elections against his disastrous vision. If he is not listening, then he will realize late that his vision has faded. Uganda is no longer a bastion of hope, but of gloom. It is a place where the fundamental principle of reciprocity has long been traded for the very ills of vanity.

But my confidence is that Ugandans are very visionary. This is how they were able to hold their turf against colonialism, Idi Amin and all the other brutalities that they have endured. The same way other leaders have left the scene will most likely be replicated, because even Idi Amin didn’t believe that there were visionary Ugandans. That is primarily the reason he prematurely declared himself President for life.

Finally, let us be truthful and honest to you, Mr. Visionary President. Uganda is ready for change if you are not. Do not hold us hostage to your vulnerability. Ugandans have resorted to civil mannerism to seek for this change. Do not under-estimate the simplicity embedded within this civility; it is a deviation from your mindset of genocidal strategies.

END.

NRM revolution reproduces our painful past, fundamentally

FALSE REVOLUTIONS:

As we head towards our 50 years of “independence”, it is important to recognize that the essence of “revolution” has been truly assaulted by liberation movements. This article is an indictment of the NRM since 1986 when it took over power. Here, I will attempt to analyze the failed premise of the initial ten point program and the “fundamental change” promise which were the underpinnings of the so-called NRM liberation struggle.

The mainstay of this article is that the NRM ten point programs have become the ten commandments of failures, a peregrination similar to most socialist-cum-marxist political organizations in Africa. The “fundamental change” promise of near utopia has degenerated such that the NRM is fundamentally reproducing the conditions of the painful past and it’s very opposite - the “No Change.”

We expect that social and national liberation movements have the potency of fundamentally transforming society in the stewardship of men of abundant good will. The NRM came to power through castigating the UPC regime of Dr Milton Obote on many fronts. But Ugandans today can now take stock to realize that between Dr Obote, Idi Amin (both RIP) and Lt. Gen. Dr. Yoweri Museveni, the previous leaders were more patriotic and proper to the common aspirations of the nation to the extent and within context of their time. It is only in Museveni’s regime that comparisons of Idi Amin’s performance surfaced, because Ugandans now know very well that the NRM and Museveni are self-seekers intent on advancing personal interests at the expense of the masses.

The ten point programs were very meaningful to many Ugandans and indeed, it articulated the fundamental aspirations of many Ugandans. But the eisting programs of the UPC regime were tested and unrivaled. That Museveni’s fundamental change never arrived, because the contestation of this was murdered in 1996 when Ugandans had to go through that severe election. The year 1996 for many of us was the landmark point of deviation from liberation of “the wretched” as Franz Fanon once put it.

The nature of campaigns, the reaction of President Museveni to democratic challenges and the amount of bribery, brutality and use of force at that time and in subsequent elections illustrated that the NRM will never have a credible credential of commitment to Ugandans.

Henning Melber, the Executive Director of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation in Uppsala, Sweden has done significant and elaborate works in studying the nature of African liberation movements in southern Africa; how they grow, succeed and quickly degenerate to become worse than the establishment they uprooted from power.

Melber argued that liberation organizations never overcome their militaristic mindsets of categorizing their citizens as pro- or anti- liberation once in power. In essence there is this element within them that glorifies violence as a purifying force. The absurdity is that most of these liberation armies have similar organizational structure and operations as the establishment that they aspired to replace. Once in power, they quickly replace, rather than cause change. In the long run, they transmit the same stressors that their predecessors experienced.

In Uganda, the RC system was not any different from the Mulango kumi concept of UPC government and so were the Resident District Commissioners (RDC) system from Special District Administrators (SDA). In essence, the fundamental change slogan was indeed a change of guard and that change of guard became the no change once all the guards were effectively changed.

Melber argues that there has never been legitimacy of claims of prudence with any military movements since the French revolution. It is common place that liberators quickly become oppressors, victims of yesterday turn into perpetrators and the regime starts to degenerate, to resemble and surpass the old one. This betrayal of trust is etched in the psychology of perpetuating fear as Indian psychologist Ashis Nandy eloquently put it “liberators tend to reproduce the past rather than offering genuine alternatives”.

We the people of Uganda have the right to say that the NRM regime has truly reproduced the past in a more profound and perhaps, fundamental way. If the political ills that they accused the Obote and Amin regimes for have not been overdone, then somehow, in the next few years, we shall live in awe.

In both the pre-Museveni regimes, social services were very operational, today; the malls have taken over such that our hospitals have become a supermarket for vending death. Our poor infrastructure has become determinants of our precarious lives. The political space and human liberties are at its worse conditions; there is more apathy among Ugandans today towards the central government over corruption and inefficiency than at any time in our history of existence.

When the fundamental change became “no change at all”, the NRM had written the ten points of failures for Uganda. In its tenure, they have deliberately executed it to reproduce our painful past.

END.

Patriotism and Nationalism: What do these mean to Ugandans? I

PATRIOTISM and NATIONALISM

It was a little wonder that the NRM government spent walloping billions of taxpayer’s money in promoting patriotism among the youths in Uganda. It is true that most Ugandans are feeling a sense of dire fatigue of living under this despotic and repressive regime. The youths continue to carry the scars of broken system that offers them much of dwindling hope than a prospect for brighter future.

Ugandans today have to endure a life in which the very systems that should otherwise liberate them from backwardness, continues to vault out of place to serve it’s very opposite purpose. The justice system stands against justice, the Police oppose civil liberties and banking system expropriates from the economy. Ugandans live in a country where the Police incentivize anarchy and chaos; the army disrupts the peace and the government is the key stumbling block against the interests of its citizens from obtaining basic and fundamental social services. In Uganda, the corrupt are the heroes and honesty is treated with utter travesty.

For the youths, the education system is a trap that offers them the same old recipe of knowledge that helps to their dysfunction. The system is against the indigenous cultures, traditions and society, and that which strives for mis-educating the youths. Given this forlorn of predicaments, the young people feel as though they are outside the shades of this Country.

The basis of Patriotism talk is inherent in the provision of the 1995 Constitution which stipulates the duties of Ugandan citizens as “The exercise and enjoyment of rights and freedoms is inseparable from the performance of duties and obligations; and, accordingly, it shall be the duty of every citizen to be patriotic and loyal to Uganda and to promote its well-being”. And the NRM, on its website, described Patriotism as “love for Uganda and its people, as well as the readiness to sacrifice for them.”

It is true that Ugandans must love their country and their fellow citizens and must strive to protect the image and products of Uganda. Such feat could be easily attained if the rulers believed in that principle. Ugandans believe that it was sheer mockery for the government to launch such a wasteful and expensive venture, well knowing that money alone and club membership in schools will not procure patriotism.

The young people want to feel the physical presence of the hands of government, in improved education and sports facilities, in security for their parents at work and in their homes, a just system that supports democracy and the flourishing of justice system. They want to stand shoulder-by-shoulder with a civil police force and take pride in victorious military that defends the liberty of every citizen indiscriminately and consolidates the territorial integrity of Uganda. In these very formal and noble frontiers, the regime has failed. As such, it is the Ugandan government that has served the very opposite for which it forged a social contract with the people of Uganda and thus, the mutual exclusivity of the interests.

But what really is Patriotism, is it merely the love for a country or merely sentimentalism being fronted to justify a budget? Many authors and scholars have pronounced themselves on this subject of patriotism. Most captivating is the work of Paul Gilbert in a book “The Philosophy of Nationalism.” In that book, Paul Gilbert eloquently contrasts Nationalism and Patriotism. Nationalism, he argues, is the belief about the proper object of patriotism, namely, one’s nation (p.5). Accordingly, Patriotism is merely a sentiment that is given rise to by nationalism. Patriotism is love, the passion that one directs towards their country and nationalism is a core set of beliefs, reason for which one adheres to his country. Gilbert refuses to equate Nationalism with Patriotism and clearly illustrates that the latter is the products of the former – Patriotism is the manifestation of Nationalism.

This subject is imperative and although this may not be an exhaustive treatment of it, this piece serves to elicit debate on the causes of the erosion of loyalty to our country. It may create an alternative and viable lens through which the continued destruction of our country can be assessed. The significance of this debate belies the very notion that Ugandans feel a continuous sense of being deprived of their citizenship. The opportunity to perform their constitutional role as citizens of Uganda is limited under repression because of the narcissistic personalities in government.

Uganda is harvesting the dividends of NRM's Siasa.

Every person interested in writing and sharing opinion in Ugandan media has at one point in life written about the subject of corruption. In essence, corruption as a subject has gained celebrity status. It is even strange that being corrupt in Uganda today is considered trendy. The corrupt are honored and respected by many Ugandans who carry them shoulder high or relishes in the material consequences of corruption. In Ugandan society, corruption is a relative and a very hypothetical concept.
All Ugandans don’t like corruption. They know it and identify it easily when it happens. Diabolically, corruption is a means; it also has character. It appears that corruption is a cultural way of the people upon which they procure favors. I long concluded that the white collar bureaucracy is an impediment to African development and its demand for accountability is an alien concept in the African brain far from being realized.
I will be accused of being Eurocentric and an avid anti-African mindset. I am actually Pan Africanist professing Afrocentrism. My defense is obvious. Africans are no longer Africans in the real sense of African traditions and have never been for the last three hundred or so years. This is obviously projected in the mindset. Africa is a dichotomy of West or East; Arabs or Euro-America. They are either Christians or Muslims. They are all afraid of identifying with negated African traditions considered backward and primitive in the purview of the Western civilization.
Generally, Karl Marx ascertained that religion is a poor man’s opium. Africa is a highly polarized place in terms of religion, but it is also a place for the wretched and largely illiterate. “Illiterate” as determined by the western standards, an imperial calibration. In those terms, majority of Africans are illiterate and minority, usually those educated in the western system are considered elites. Here is where they learn social and political philosophy – the mode of western reasoning, so alienating to the African social realities and the basis of Siasa.
Corruption has never been a sole problem of Africa, but that of humanity as a whole from time immemorial. Corruption persists in every continent of the world but manifests in different forms. We are only rich, poor, corrupt or accountable in as far as we meet or fail, thereof, to meet the standards of the West. No matter how varied their history and social evolution, we as Africans must conform!
The manifestation of “corruption” in a contemporary society like Uganda thrives on its socio-political culpability to this vice. The origins of corruption in Uganda is entrenched in NRM/Fronasa  ideology being espoused by the likes of Yoga Adhola and Museveni, also called “Siasa”. Siasa is a concept upon which Kyankwazi was founded and it implies mass mind manipulation using lies and deceitful techniques– simply put, a grand scheme of brainwash.
Common sense dictates that when a social contract is cultivated on the foundation of falsehood, then it is naturally shaky. Ugandan society is now reaping the dividends of Siasa and that is evident by the lack of conscience among NRM cadres in public service who arrogantly debase public trust. First and foremost, the NRM regime is not legitimate entity since it forcefully usurped the majority will to secure a social contract. As a consequence, the justification of continued tenure of the regime is encumbered upon excessive use of sophisticated forms of brutality. This also sustains the lifeline of the regime’s cultivated corrupt, inept and kleptomaniacs. Every regime in Uganda has proven to provide its own scalawags; Rapscallions or Scoundrels.
Given the natural order of things, the compendious choice of action is to persist in regime overhaul. With it might comes the unfortunate collapse of the predatory pseudo middle class set on the public purse. Previous regimes had its own corporate bases and they too collapsed immediately upon the advent of the NRM fascism. The challenge is ours since every generation has an obligation to stand up to be counted or winnow into submission. The Siasa harvest is ours to pick and dry or uproot and discard. Its debilitating impact on social services remains a social threat as it diminishes our humanity. I loathe saying the obvious but a false social contract is simply untenable!
END

I doubt UPDF captured Maj Gen Ceasar Acellam

LRA: Insurgency in Northern Uganda

A statement associated with the Whitehouse that was reported in the Ugandan tabloid - The Redpepper, and published on May 17, 2012 edition indicate that President Barack Obama has recognized the highly hyped capture of Major General Ceasar Acellam as an achievement for the UPDF and their US military allies. Indeed, if it is true that this LRA third in command was actually captured by UPDF, then the Ugandan Army deserves all the big-ups.

However, the circumstances surrounding the so-called capture of Maj General Acellam are very suspicious because of the many facts that have emerged so far. I doubt whether UPDF really captured Maj General Acellam. Apparently, it is easily sustainable to argue that Acellam simply negotiated his way out of LRA to freedom, contrary to the bluffs and media bleeps that UPDF is perpetuating about an ambushed capture and so forth.

Examining the scenes of capture, one does not need a forensic scientist or special investigator to conclude that Ceasar Acellam was a man on his way to surrender. First, he was holed up with his family, a 21 years old wife, a child and housekeeper (I wonder where their house was). Secondly, a full Maj. General had no escorts and was armed with AK 47 containing few rounds of ammunition as if going for a hunting expedition. Given the fact that the Acellam is clearly inefficient in gait mobility due to the gunshot on his left leg, he was clearly limping with the help of a stick and could not outmaneuver UPDF ambush all by himself. The confidence and utterances by the “captive” during press conference illustrated clearly that the “capture” was pre-planned and conscientiously executed.

The UPDF spokesperson claimed that there were few fire exchanges, who shot at who, for what reasons? There is no way that a person with a properly constituted mind can believe that UPDF made any efforts to capture, other than receiving the Major General. Period!

Nonetheless, it is proper to give credit where it is due. I could agree that the pressure mounted on the LRA by a combined UPDF and US Marines’ special units could have yielded an opportunity for Acellam.  Further, as strategist, using a language of “capture” by UPDF protects and encourages the other commanders/fighters to consider jumping ship.

We know that since the killing of Otti by Kony, the relationship between Joseph Kony and Ceasar Acellam has not been the same. Acellam was confidante of Ottii and vice versa, but Acellam was also less brutal in the frontlines as depicted in various narratives and confessions from former LRA fighters and captives. These traits endeared Acellam to various political kingpins and it is the reason he is associated with liaising between LRA and Khartoum (intelligent coordinator) and his name does not appear among the top LRA commanders indicted by ICC.

It is imperative to understand that how the government handles Maj General Ceasar Acellam will set pace for other LRA remnants to surrender or not. For many years, UPDF has had the least interest in dismantling LRA. Any efforts shown towards rescuing the captives and reducing the field strength of LRA, including capturing its leadership should be highly regarded. 

Fortunately, the Acholi community would wish to forgive Acellam, and government of Uganda should heed to this inner plea by availing him Amnesty privileges. This will encourage othe LRA fighters to exploit the existing opportunities and to quit jungle life. The message is that they (LRA) should embrace peace and reclaim their life when this opportunity still exists.

In conclusion, it is very improbable that UPDF way laid and captured Maj General Ceasar Acellam. I strongly believe that UPDF negotiated with the Acellam for easy route out.  It is also apparent that Acellam’s capture is being used as news fodder to illustrate that UPDF and US Marines are delivering on their missions. This kind of media neediness may mislead the public but most fundamental is that the chief architect of LRA – Joseph Kony is still at large. The real test of potency of this mission will emerge when Joseph Kony and his other rag tag fighters are captured and brought to justice.

Uganda as a State is an illusion right now!

The geopolitical dynamics in Eastern African is one that must be of interest to the members of the civil society. The many violent conflicts in the region have changed the political fortunes of Yoweri Kaguta Museveni by giving him a huge advantage over his competitors. The wars in Somalia and Sudan have given Museveni unprecedented relevance in the region at the time when Ugandans are fed up with him. Both the African Union and the United Nations will agree that Museveni has become very resourceful and useful person in their efforts to pacify Somalia and Sudan.
It is important to understand that President Museveni’s many years in power have come at a very high human cost. The sum total of all the lives lost in Luwero, Northern Uganda, Teso, Karamoja, Congo, Rwanda, Sudan in the last 26 years, and now in Somalia, all speaks to the success of a man that has been fueled by blood and iron. Museveni comes across as a great emperor of his time, but in essence, he is an imperial agent.
Museveni has benefitted militarily from his active participation in proxy wars in the region. He has been able to build one of the most proficient armies in the region and at high cost, he has equipped them well. The Uganda Peoples’ Defence Force is one of the most sophisticated armies according to international military intelligence. Its partisan leadership ensures loyalty to the person of the President. The majority of officers in that army are from the ethnic group of the President and that makes it easy for his control.
The other significance of the persisting violence is the political fortune that Museveni enjoys over his opponents. The very same UPDF and its affiliates in the Police have become brutal instruments of political repression at home. Because of the regional juxtaposition, Museveni finds himself in no position to empathize with the opposition. After all, it is clear that his UN, AU, US, EU colleagues for whom he has served relentlessly, cannot question his human rights credentials as yet.
Recently, a member of the British Parliament was quoted to have insinuated that the British embassy in Uganda is too afraid to point out the precarious conditions of the opposition to Museveni.  Museveni, with his pomp, has not been shy to intimidate and threaten these foreign dignitaries and the so-called donor community into subservience. The ill treatment, rampant arrests and outlawing of political groups in Uganda signifies the dearth of political freedom. Ugandans once again have found themselves under the claws of a vicious tyrant and warmonger. The dictates are that we have to invest in removing oppression imposed by a state over the people and not the social conditions that thwart human progress.
We must understand that wars in this neo-liberal era have become a commodity in the free market. Armies and leaders like Museveni become mercenaries and merchants in these wars. The dividends accruing from such a war translate into repression on the common man. The profits from such wars furnish luxurious lifestyles for the warmongers. The rest gets reinvested into the war. The ordinary person is staked and suppressed so that their taxes are expropriated violently.
The over reliance on war for political survival can inspire an additional explanation for the rampant corruption and decline in quality of human resources. The government has significantly reduced its spending on education but has quadrupled its expenditures on the Defence. The defence budget is not to protect the territorial integrity of Uganda, but the political interest therein.
Regional peace is an inevitable utopia; to attain it at the expense of social services for our citizens is as treacherous. A vibrant Eastern Africa economy without competitively skilled manpower only furthers the disempowerment of the people and speeds the process of neo-colonialism. In the liberal markets, Ugandans supply Agricultural products like tomatoes and okra in unprocessed forms. Foreign agents like MacDonald and Nandos will supply fried chicken with ketchup and mayonnaise at high value.
Without properly funded education sector we are doomed. At the moment, the essence of the State is obscure and the apathy accruing towards the State makes the charges of terrorism even for a journalist holding a pen, inevitable. Uganda as a State is an illusion to many of us!!
END

Ban on A4C is Bad for our Political Stability

The NRM’s Attorney General, Mr. Peter Nyombi has moved swiftly to outlaw the A4C (Activities for Change) political pressure group and all their activities. By doing this, Mr. Nyombi has scaled the Ugandan regime to a full blown Military autocracy. For the A4C, they have been personified and elevated in profile to the popularity of ANC in Apartheid South Africa. What transpires from here onwards will define the political future of Uganda and perhaps, challenge the sustainability of so-called political stability in the country.

The NRMO regime has been masquerading as a government which promotes democracy and rule of law. No democratic government bans the political activities of its opposition and that of civil society. The regime has abrogated many provisions of the 1998 Constitution of Uganda; most notable are provisions in Chapter 4 (Protection and promotion of fundamental and other rights and freedoms)

By creating an environment that promotes discrimination based on ethnicity in national resource distribution, the imbalances in distribution of public officers has become alarming. The regime has specialized in arbitrary arrests, detention and torture of Ugandans; it has promoted corruption and exemplified it throughout the society. The regime’s monopoly on power and organizing of phony elections has deprived it of any democratic credentials. Museveni now relies on brutality and invocation of ancient colonial rules to subdue the opposition.

Our history shows that the Ugandan society is a dynamic one that will constantly evolve through innovative ways to oppose and remove dictatorship. If Uganda is to consolidate some of its so-called economic gains, the current leadership must embrace dialogue.

We cannot celebrate lopsided economy skewed to one region and to cronies. Uganda as a whole deserves a fair share of national resources at every level of participation and decision making. This is not happening. We witness senseless extra-judicial killings and humiliation of innocent Ugandans daily. The continued use of White Boers machineries to suppress Ugandans is very heartbreaking. It reveals that the regime has adopted colonial modes of repressions and dehumanization of Ugandans.

This reprehensible brutality should enrage the international community and neo-liberal ideologues who have continued to invest in sustaining these brutes. Good governance is a requisite condition for sustaining economic growth and social development. We have learnt from many situations that when the pillars of society collapse, that society literally decays and takes longer to rebuild. We could avert such dangers through dialogue, accepting civility and humility by treating opposition groups with due respect.

President Museveni has become staunch regional collaborator and agent of neo-liberalism. His government has reneged on all its obligation to provide services to the population in preference for enriching few of his cronies. Our institutions have collapsed because of incompetence, deliberate negligence and corruption perpetuated by the very establishment.

Ugandans have been deprived of their rights to enjoy a reasonable standard of living because their souls have been sold to the capitalists. The luxuries that President Museveni enjoys are derived from mortgaging Ugandans and their assets. The moneys that he lavishes to his cronies and those stashed away in foreign capitals are the price money for the heads and property of Ugandans.

In return, the space for expression has become narrower by the day as the militarized Police unleash terror on Ugandans.  The situation is pushing many Ugandans underground, to a place where they have to make tough decisions; whether to accept living under servitude or move towards liberation to once again free our besieged country and our commodified people.

Banning A4C pressure group and prohibiting their activities only points to the direction that this government has no intentions to end its impunity. Our history is overloaded with examples of regimes that lasted for many years by subduing its’ people but eventually collapsed. The Kampala regime is worse than Kamuzu Banda’s and Mobutu’s Sse seko’s regimes combined. But Ugandans are very resilient and resolute: as you close one door, they will struggle graciously to open the next door of optimism.

What I fail to understand is why we never really learn from our tragic history. This regime has decayed and degenerated such that conceptualizing an alternative shade is inevitable!

END!