The last couple of weeks, Uganda’s media space has been
awash with controversies and scandals, one after the other. The storm created
by the powerful Byanyiima family during the Kanyumunyu murder bail hearing, and
Hon. Odonga Otto’s antics rivalled and suppress the topical “Presidential
Handshake” involving pillaging 6 billion Shs for officials of the Uganda Revenue
Authority and their corollaries.
All these events came at the heel of one another, and
therefore, each missed its proper place for public scrutiny, given their
relevance. The one event that remains unsurpassed in magnitude and impact is
the scandalous Presidential handshake. Apparently, the President is in panic
mode over it too. He has summoned the NRM MPs to discuss the matter with the probable
aim of suppressing it.
Incidentally, my motive is not to scrutinize any of the
aforementioned. Spending time scrutinizing each of these events only leads to a
foregone conclusion – the curse of an illegitimate regime. I therefore thought it
worthy to leave such inquiries to reductionist and flame fighters or experts
of treating signs and symptoms with buckets of water, or aspirins.
The emergency of mafia networks we see in public service,
governance, justice system, policy community, media, and so forth, all attest
to the end of a meaningful democracy for us.
Not that we had any meaningful democracy to start with.
However, in fairness of all things, the fundamental change promised over 30
years ago, had ingrained in us such a false hope. And, with a constitution upon
which we are fluxed, one would imagine an orderly society. We can sit back now
on our haunches and agree that such promises have faded and a new reality stares
at us with an ugly face. Not only have we lost our civic, political, and
economic rights to the mafias in the last 30 years, we lost our citizenship
rights, too.
We learned that African regimes have the same tendencies
played out by different characters. They start well and tapper off at some
critical point, then degenerate. We need to study and catch that critical point
when they tapper off. Maybe it will provide some scientific evidence in support
of term limits.
Clearly, few similarities
tie together our post-colonial regimes; longevity, personalities, and legacy. All
our post-colonial Presidents have espoused some fringe desire of ruling Uganda
for life. All of them exhibited a degree of tyranny and episodes of turbulence,
suffering, and insurgency in Uganda. All of them presided over remarkable
corruption and nepotism – magendo, mafuta mingi, and now mafias. All of them
were masters in intrigue and sectarianism, although Museveni has surpassed all
of them!
The balancing act for Mr. Museveni is longevity. At 30
years, he has ruled twice the combined tenure of all post-colonial leaders
before him. Having outlived each of his predecessors, Museveni is now a captive
of state mafia that sustains him in power. At this point, Museveni is more
afraid of the Mafia in his regime than a life in retirement.
With an entrenched mafia in every institution of the state,
the Republic has dissociated into distinctive societies; the state, monopolized
by a nexus of mafias, in the Army, Banks, Police, Judiciary, Parliament, Media,
Statehouse, Border Services, Revenue Authority, telecommunication, Construction,
Wildlife, Local Government, Foreign Missions, Oil, Minerals, Education, Finance,
etc.
Everywhere you go, individuals with mystifying powers emerge
at strategic and critical points of the economy, like shadows with long arms,
to tap into every monies that comes into Uganda’s economy. They even plot
apriori, what kind of capital and investment ventures should get lured into
Uganda, and how they can use such entities to fleece off Ugandans. Everyone has become a dealer, broker, and
shark, all simultaneously.
This complex network of mafiaso holds Museveni at ransom,
and keeps his regime in place; therefore, they are one with yellow regalia. These
Mafias have now emerged full-throat, in cahoots, and taken over our country,
rights, and our citizenship.
The second Republic is you, and I, outside the shades of the
state. The third Republic is their victims, deprived or resources to live a
meaningful life.
End.
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