GUEST WRITER |Omar Kalinge Nnyago
I am not sure this NRM can recognise January 26
January 26, 2007
On this day 21 years ago, much of Uganda was filled with excitement and optimism. A bad regime had fallen and a promise of a new Uganda was made. The heroes were unassuming simple folk from villages, with their children in tow, also known as Kadogos (child fighters), who had been taught how to shoot at the national army.
There were a few elites, who were the real owners of the revolution though. Many of them spoke a common language, which was perhaps a coincidence and on this we don’t dwell. The new leader presented himself as a reluctant politician.
The Kadogos are now men and women. Children born on the day Kampala fell are at university. Many more have died of preventable diseases. Those associated with the struggle have made immense personal progress: money and influence. Others have been forgotten and can only make a few noises occasionally to remind their commander that they also fought.
Three things about the National Resistance Movement (NRM) struggle stood out. First was the intellectualism that characterised the new liberators. The picture of a brainy president who loved his chalk and board and good, if badly pronounced English, and Kiswahili to emphasise the Moshi tradition.
Today, to survive in the NRM you must not be seen to be smart enough to have a mind of your own. NRM has the largest number of educated people whose common actions cannot motivate any child to go to school. There is no serious intellectual activity even at universities. There are fewer academic quizzes at colleges, only more beauty contests.
Thanks to the mal-managed universal primary education scheme, a whole generation of Ugandans who will never be able to grasp anything of intellectual value has been created.
Second was the distaste for materialism, consumerism and capitalist ways. The picture of a youthful president dressed awkwardly in a (short sleeved) Kaunda suit worn over a long sleeved shirt, drinking out of a plastic mug, was re-assuring.
Yet, NRM’s twenty years have given to the nation a unique ‘gift’ of consumerism and materialism that can only be fuelled by graft and wanton theft of public funds. An unacceptably high percentage of Ugandans live beyond their means, a situation that can only compromise their integrity. Legislators will receive bribes. Teachers will sell marks. Married women will be ladies of the night too. Decent businesspeople will be crushed and disgraced for refusing to offer bribes.
Third was the new revolutionaries’ debasement of religion and spirituality. These were the days of Chango-Macho and company whose belief in God had been a subject of speculation. In the name of austerity, he once urged churches to resort to Malwa (a local brew) to save money spent on importing wine for the holy communion. Often religion would be mentioned as part of a joke.
Today, Museveni, the leader of the NRM revolution is remembered for two things when he speaks. A quote from the Holy Book and an abuse against deceased former leaders. Parliament has set aside two days: one for prayer and another for fasting.
One of the president’s offsprings and her spouse went the other day to pray for Haji Nasser Ssebaggala, the Mayor of Kampala. Many influential leaders in the NRM today remind whoever cares that they belong to a certain religious sect. Religiosity is “cool” these days. “Prayer works” declared the president, as the nation ‘prayed for oil’ last year.
Today what we celebrate is not the achievements of a revolution, but the funeral of the three most outstanding characteristics of that struggle: intellectualism, austerity and wanton display of religiosity in public life. NRM cannot recognise itself now.
Uganda has no doubt made a lot of progress under the NRM in quantitative terms. There are more buildings without approved plans that could collapse any one of these days.
More pupils in their seventh grade who cannot spell their middle name. More universities and more graduates who cannot write a decent job application. More cabinet ministers whom the president thinks sleep most of the time. More districts without resources.
More tarmac roads with a life of six months. More vehicles which were meant to be thrown away if somebody had not removed them from Tokyo. More foreign debt for the nation. More radio stations without a sense of programming.
It is for this abundance that perhaps many Ugandans may not be celebrating this Friday as they pray for another “liberation”. Some will be singing along with the late Franco when he sang for Marshall Mobutu in his hey day in his song: “Candidat Mobutu” (Candidate Mobutu). Mobutu azongisa la paix na Zaire (Mobutu has returned peace to Zaire). Abebisa ata moke te (he has not made any mistake). Alembi naano te (he is not tired). Nzoto naye ezali naano makasi (his body is in good health). Pona nini toluka candidat mosusu? (Why should we look for another candidate?).
demtac1963@yahoo.com
0752 656 352
Why I feel more tear gas could help our democracy
February 2, 2007
Last Thursday was FDC’s tear gas day yet again, after a short break from DP’s Kayiira report episode. Having been disappointed that the 11 PRA suspects had for the fourth time in a row been denied their freedom, Dr Kizza Besigye led a peaceful demonstration on the streets of Kampala from Nakivubo stadium where he had addressed a rally.
The arguments for tear gas have been consistent. Political agitators should never be allowed to disrupt business. Pro-teargas advocates have sought to make a stronger case, by labelling all protesters as idlers and common criminals, looking for every opportunity to break into shops.
Appearing on WBS’s Issues at Hand the other Monday, Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura asked an annoying question: “If you don’t want us to use tear gas, should we use bullets instead? It was not surprising that opposition MPs staged a walk-out.
Happening on the eve of the NRM/A’s 21st anniversary, the recent teargas incident could not have come at a more inappropriate time. The “freedom that the NRA fighters, some dead, some alive fought for can surely not be expressed by volleys of tear gas and occasional water canons at crowds “suspected” of “contemplating” to loot shops.
Demonstrations are a key feature of any functional democracy. They seek to attract attention. In fact police in a civilised country should be more concerned with “For how long are you going to demonstrate?” than “Why are you demonstrating?” This, to ensure that valuable time is not lost to business unnecessarily. To ask a political party to hold a demonstration in a stadium is to display the highest ignorance of democratic expression. A demonstration must be able to attract the widest attention. A demonstration is not a rally.
Government is probably trying to drive a wedge between opposition politicians and the business community, by presenting the former as thieves. This could work, but for a while, and for a small percentage of businesspeople whose businesses are patronised by the state. The majority of Kampala businesspeople vote for the opposition. They vote against run down infrastructure, a discriminatory tax regime, corruption and rent paid in US dollars for filthy, run down buildings owned by well-connected landlords.
Government is perhaps trying to train its riot police by turning every peaceful demonstration into a practical exercise. This nasty interaction cannot be of any long term benefit to a democracy. But as the police learns, so does the population learn to beat the police. Experiences of much of Asia and Eastern Europe abound. It would be fair therefore, to look at the ongoing teargas episodes as training sessions for both sides.
What doesn’t sound right is the anger that is building among well meaning Ugandans against their security agencies. Hardliners in the police hierarchy want to evoke the Stalinist dictum “Fear is a stronger emotion than love”, but must be reminded that love is a more lasting emotion than fear. A single incident alone can demystify an object of fear. And when that happens, the events that follow are often irreversible.
If we understand the current spate of tear gassing to be natural consequences of the pursuit of democracy in a non democratic environment, then we must count on the police to ally with the people sooner or later, for policemen also live here. We don’t see a police force of the 21st Century willingly accepting to turn itself into colonial police whose first duty was to quell dissent from pro-independence agitators.
As democratic activity grows, we see more coordinated demonstrations that will seek to involve not only political activists but businesspeople, teachers, drivers and other trades. This would demolish government’s rationalisation of tear gassing as a necessary measure to protect mobile phone shops, now that before every demonstration the shop owners will accept to close their shops for the two hours of the demonstration.
Opposition activists will learn with time that to pursue democratic activities like demonstrations, more homework will have to be done before each event to bring as many stakeholders as possible on board.
However, between the high handedness of the police and the immaturity of the opposition lies an important peep hole for the global press. Tear gassed demos are recorded for a global audience.
The hardliners in government will say that they do not care for international opinion. This would be the height of contradiction for a government that has been spending billions of shillings to prop up its image abroad. For the opposition, contradictions like these in a sitting government are good news.
They expose the vulnerability of the system and its susceptibility to democratic pressures. As experience shows, armed rebellions are out-fashioned. It is sustained civil action by an unarmed populace that can liberate nations from dictators and their more dangerous variants: the pseudo democrats.
demtac1963@yahoo.com
0752 656 352
