A tribute to Dr. Kizza Besigye’s branding

TRIBUTE

A few political commentators tend to under-state the efforts of Dr. Kizza Besigye (KB) in reclaiming the political space we have today. Although bravery is a scant virtue among any oppressed population, KB's gallantry has concrete achievements. The oppressed people often adapt to their state of oppression by submitting or emulating the ways of their Oppressors. KB's successes in resisting all these mechanism are monumental.

Oppression tends to deform its victims – compromising their senses of reality, self-worth, and imaginations by impeding both mental and physically developments.

You can identify oppressed people by their dependency, timidity, and low confidence when navigating their environment – many become socially obscure, coarse, and duplicitous in their dealings.

To appreciate KB’s achievements, one has to understand such environments and obtaining circumstance where untruth operates as the truth and violence as state symbol. After three decades of systematic oppression, people become weary, aloof, and distrusting. Gallant men like KB only sustain their paradoxical existence of hope/hopelessness.

The anti-KB sentiments represent those on the side of hopelessness. It is a prerequisite for holding a pie from the state's breadbasket.

The internalization process of oppression is appealing because it attracts such rewards as Presidential appointment. Interpret the terse environment in an imperceptive manner helps to validate their failures to thrive independently, and thus, accosting providence.

In that way, KB is a unique brand – a self-sacrificing living legend with a vision for good governance and equality for humankind by breaking the traditions of oppression. 

However, after decades of oppression, any prospects of obtaining a state of liberation is daunting to the oppressed. They have never known freedom - how to live free of state patronage. To them, every aspect of life's glimmer arises from the "glorious" benevolence of the tyrant.

There are Ugandans who, without reservation, claim that KB's activism has not moved Uganda far. Some even claim that KB is a spent force because he has not dismantled the dictatorship. There are many strange explanations in dismissing KB; all compromised versions of the truth, all of which help to rationalize the ascendancy of the tyranny.

These apologists never confront the social, political, and structural imbalances and commonplace restraints mounted against a free society - the very conditions upon which they are meticulously dominated, exploited, and oppressed.

There is imperceptible fear to recognise sham rituals such as fake elections, corruption, over-zealously militarised police, and personalised armies, all of which conflate to the perpetuation of unequal society and oppressive states.

How can an army or police forces that are functionaries of dictatorship become professional?

The KB success story cannot be told as a singular narrative isolated from the complex and adverse political context in which it obtains. The roles of his colleagues and institutions they built, without which, they could not have claimed the political space that we have today must also suffice.

KB tested and exposed the lack of professionalism in the various personalized institutions that hold the tyranny in place and found them all wanting. The army is a personalized instrument of power of Mr. Museveni, culpable to the highest levels of nepotism, sectarianism, and corruption in as much as the Police, and other departments in abeyance with that regime.

The Kayihura Uganda Police, I think, is modeled after Adolf Hitler's notorious Gestapo.

Profoundly, KB exposed the Museveni’s gibberish talks about constitutionalism and rule of law – revealing that the people control neither the power nor the will to decide on how they want to be governed.

And, KB exposed two contradicting societies – one that is above the laws with command over every resources; and the other, constructed in the sub-state zone under oppression and exploitation. It experiences egregious laws requiring the state to decide for them when to associate, talk to each other, laugh, play, and make merry or gloomy.

END.

Uganda: State undermining suffering Workers

UNDERMINING UNIONS

The doctors opted to strike over poor remunerations, which compromise their work ethics. The doctors’ plight is understandable. Doctors in public facilities earn on average, about US$300 per month.  This abuse is unheard of anywhere in the world. In Kenya, the recent doctors’ industrial action ended with a decent settlement where interns earn US$ 1,900 and the highest consultants earn about US$5600 a month. The state’s insensitivity to income inequality and widespread rent seeking signifies deliberate undermining of labour and their unions.

The doctors are seeking for equitable pay and improved work conditions. Public resources should not only fund political expediences. The decaying public institutions need fixing, too. Too much politics of self-aggrandizement has deteriorated critical social services.

Ugandans are dying too often from conditions caused by social inequities.

Industrial actions are commonplace these days and perceived to target the state actors, rather than the private sector employers (corporations and businesses).  This is largely because the Ugandan liberal market is under-developed, and atypical. The market-labor relations are equally atypical due to patrimonial indulgences by the state and sub-state actors who constantly distort the markets.

David Booth and Frederick Golooba-Mutebi studied the formation and influences of developmental patrimonialism in Rwanda where state’s legitimate interests in the market helps to shape the direction of the economy, reduces devastating rent seeking tendencies, and spur real economic growth as measured by reduction in poverty rates . How does patrimonialism shape Uganda’s liberal market?

Interestingly, the Uganda’s market economy is not the main employer of the fledgling youthful labour force. Therefore, externalities (concentrated political interests), rather than the market, regulates and moderate labour- capital relations. According to the 2016/17 Uganda National Household Survey (UNHS), the general unemployment rate was high, 9.5%, to signify that the economy was probably liberalizing fast without expanding, or diversifying in proportions to the growing labour force; and, about 60% of Ugandans are employed informally.

The high-end investors in manufacturing, agro-processing, Information technology, banking, energy, tourism, infrastructure development, and mining avoid chaotic Uganda. The local or crooked investors have come and run out of business due to political patronage, pervasive rent seeking, restricted liberal rights and freedoms, making Ugandan market highly risk-prone.  The political instability signals high potential for large-scale disruptions of the market, risks that investors avoid.

Today the major institution of the economy is not the market – rather, the state – the Presidency and political class who live off rent seeking. In this sense, the Ugandan economy is atypical in the real sense of a liberal economy as those shaped under ideologies of neoliberalism. 

Incidentally, the state tends to distances itself from social spending, especially in critical areas of childhood development, education, health, agriculture, and social securities. For instance, the budgetary allocation to social sector has declined from 37% in 2002/2003 to 19% in the 2017 budget. This expenditure is far below the global and emerging marketing standards where health social coverage remains as low as under 3.0%.

The striking civil servants fall in the social sectors where the state has reneged on its fiscal obligations. The state wishes to cede social service obligations to the private sector or liberal market.

Evidence shows that working and living conditions are far better in economies with high labour union densities.  Where unions thrive, pay inequities and poverty are reduced, and the sense of social justice supersedes that of economic justice. However, where the market is the dominant force, liberal rights are enforced but labour unions are suppressed. The objective of the capitalist class is maximization of profits by paying low wages and limiting benefits.

The 2014 Uganda Labour market profile identifies 40 workers unions, covering only 440,000 workers, or 3% of the labour force, constituting 13% of workers in the formal workforce.

Therefore, the state deliberately undermines labour and their unions just as it does to any forms of social and political rights.

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Are we Museveni's commodities?

BUYING UGANDANS

The manner in which Mr. Museveni has commercialised politics and perfected the art of buying Ugandans or selling them abroad for money needs highlighting. The NRM has built a mindset, and practice of bribing for political power. Incidentally, if they cannot buy your loyalty, then they will sell you to the Arabs or hoard you out of your country. Ugandans are gullible, impoverished, exploited, deceived, repressed, deprived and commodified.

The money culture has eroded important traditions and social capital, the very foundation upon which citizen elected credible, sensible and caring leaders. Before this regime, Ugandans believed in, and practiced nationalism, integrity and accountability. Today, Uganda politicians lack integrity, honor or a sense of patriotism and are political commodities. Uganda is deprived of impeccable and credible leaders who could resist selling their conscience. The better quality leaders were those elected when this money craze was still at infancy. Back then, society had a sense of pride, relevance and purpose about its collective visions. Today, leadership is for personal gains; bribery is like a jackpot. We have leaders who are crooks, who sell the country and its resources far cheaper than Judas Iscariot sold Jesus!

The social, political and economic transformation that will buttress the NRM legacy is the monetization and militarization of politics, ethnic stratification, commanded by strong sectarian positioning, and rent seeking. These also herald the transformation of National Resistance to National Robbery Movement.

Generally, the transition into the money nexus is Uganda's undoing as it spurred inflation in costs of nearly every social aspect of life. People want to work less, delivering lower quality for inflated labor fees; Thinkers and planners are unable to deliver results, but demand for colossal thinking fees. Jobs and community services that used to get done on camaraderie or on social co-operational basis are now defunct. Villagers cannot fill a pothole potion of the road in front of their homestead because they need bribes or pay. People are living in isolation even within homes, and suspicious over each other's source of fortunes.

But, the drive towards money nexus also exposes the widespread socio-economic inequalities along ethnicity considering the manner in which the economy is tightly controlled by the regime and its cronies. This control has ensured that the top 20 per cent wealthy and powerful, are of monolithic nature, and control 80 per cent of the wealth, power and privileges. The masses are accorded very sparse unequal opportunity to share in the overall wealth of the nation.

To ascertain these state of inequities, one needs to examine the nature and motives of crimes in Uganda.  Major crimes are petty - associated with basic survival such as stealing food, clothing (under-wears); grabbing or depriving others of their properties (display of power); and rape and murders (passion). The alternate indicator of inequities is the height of adults in a region, compared with those of same age a decade or two ago, or of their parents. Repressed Ugandans are generally shorter, unhappier, dehydrated, malnourished, and fearful. These are symptoms of pathologies of power.

 Mr. Museveni has prioritized his political expedience above all aspirations of the people of Uganda. He has garrisoned the country's resources for personal use - bribing adversaries, undermining national institutions, and lavishing lobbyist abroad.

Since the focus of economy is to finance Mr. Museveni's political vision and excessive lifestyle, investments in public goods and services have suffered neglect. Public servants are poorly remunerated, making work places precarious. Pay inequities between political cronies and frontline public service providers are simply glaring and unacceptable.

We are a generation of deeply commodified – deprived, undermined, impoverished, exploited, and bought. We are also sold to the Arabs. Either way, we are either wholly or partly a commodity to be sold and bought in the free market with the very money we produce.

End.

Togikwatako Campaigners are truest friends of Mr. Museveni

Togikwatako

The intent to remove Art 102b from the 1995 Constitution to pave way for life-long presidency should be halted for the good of Uganda. There is no excuse for Mr. Museveni to prolong his rule. After 35 years, if Mr. Museveni has not accomplished his aspirations as a leader, then he will never.

In the last couple of decades of Mr. Museveni's rule, Uganda has experienced declines in social service delivery, social investments and in public institutions. Corruption, nepotism/sectarianism and deceptions rose exponentially. The Presidency has concentrated all the powers, prestige and privileges, leaving the masses and those at the periphery deprived of fundamental rights, and excluded from the mainstream where national development agenda is discussed.

Museveni's adherents are blinded to the glaring social inequities deliberately. The personalisation of state, and individualism have superseded the call for collective commons. People think in silos and everyone dies to grab for personal aggrandisement what should be shared nationally. As such, the spirits of nationalism and patriotism have faded. Ugandans are bitter, exhausted and frustrated with this regime.

I have observed that indigenous Ugandans have ceded their birth rights, and the various incontrovertible rights to the state. A continued Museveni's rule will do all of us in, worse – such that our citizenship will depend on loyalty to the cult leader that Museveni has become; our rights to property, land; and basic services, quality health care and education are already inaccessible.

The last thing we all need as Ugandans, is another year of a Museveni's rule past 2021.

Recently, the military Police arrested criminal suspects, a job that the Police should perform. This phenomenon was unheard of until now. The arrest of Mr. Gashumba and his brother, Kasumba over suspicion of extortion and fraud demonstrate a total collapse of the Uganda Police, under Gen Kale Kayihura. Concurrently, the onslaught on Kayihura's "Generals" within the Police is an indication that the Police, far from being a civil force that should have exercised its mandate of maintaining peace and tranquil, protecting the law and reigning in on criminals, itself, became culpable to syndicated crime.

The presence of Military Police, symbolises a vote of no confidence in the Police. The crooked Police force needs urgent cleaning and rehabilitating.

Nonetheless, we must read the political pulse right. The socialising of Military police with a civilian institution is an indication of how our society has become militarised. Kayihura militarised the Police but also politicised it way too much to align it as an instrument of NRM power brokerage.

Ugandans should worry of the take-over of policing work by the men with red tops. It is clear that in an event of defeat of the President's agenda to rule for life by the Togikwatako campaign tide, we are likely to experience a repeat of the February 19^th, 2016 scenarios in Kampala – a military takeover.

The Togikwatako movement is indeed a challenge to Museveni and yet his truest of friends. A new pattern has emerged where traditional opposition leaders are surpassed by the Togikwatako wave. This movement has set a clear divide between the state (read, Museveni) and the masses. Many NRM adherents recognise that this removal of Art 102b is the most unpopular political move that could end in a revolution to topple this government. However, they are too deformed by dishonest to advise the dictator to retire.

The people on the Togikwatako side are people who mean well for Mr. Museveni. They are asking him to retire at the end of his zenith term in 2021 so that his legacy and lifelong work benefits those who value it. This is a noble request because Mr. Museveni has a chance of setting a new record, as the President who served for so long, retired and found solace inside Uganda.

END