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!!
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