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BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA — She is back! Makerere University’s Dr Sylvia Tamale is reported to have urged feminists to form a political party that would be more sensitive to their interests (“Women Urged to Form Party,” The Monitor, November 18).
A senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law, Dr Tamale has in the past caused a stir with her calls for legal protection for homosexuals, as well as the legalisation of “commercial sex” (prostitution).
However, one hopes that the more fundamental issues she raised in her keynote address at the marking of the 18th anniversary of Action for Development (ACFODE) are not lost in a subsequent impassioned debate about “a women’s party”.
This idea was not even part of her formal speech, according to sources who attended the meeting.
From what I have heard and what was reported about her address on the theme, “Fanning the Flame of Women’s Activism in Uganda,” two issues that Tamale highlighted are of particular significance to the women’s movement and Ugandan civil society generally.
The first is what she called the challenge of “careerism.” It would appear that many officials from the myriad community-based organisations, professional associations and NGOs that have crystallised into Uganda’s women’s movement are largely treating their positions as any other job (simply something from which to earn a living).
They seem to have allowed this consideration to substitute the anger and passion that drives social justice movements.
The other challenge is the tendency of many women’s organisations to steer clear of politics. Tamale reportedly challenged women to promote their cause through coming out with positions on the major political issues of our times.
The explosion of civil society activity has been one of the defining features of post-1986 Uganda. The National Resistance Movement (NRM) deserves some credit for this phenomenon, all the glaring contradictions notwithstanding.
Although most voluntary activity has been restricted to social service delivery, some of these organisations have defended and promoted the rights of ordinary people, particularly marginalised sections of the population.
Perhaps of all the institutional civil society actors, the women’s movement has registered the most phenomenal growth. The NRM adopted women’s empowerment and participation in politics as one of its key platforms, and over the years numerous women’s organisations from the local to the national level sprang up.
Of course, this growth was also a reaction to the global political renewal that put the question of gender at the forefront of democratic and development discourse.
Ugandan women have made several gains in the last decade, including an unprecedented increase in women’s participation in politics. In fact, Uganda’s women’s movement is often cited internationally as an exciting example of the coming into age of African civil society.
The notion of civil society (defined most commonly as an intermediary sphere between the state and private citizens) has become highly fashionable because it is believed to provide special opportunities for, among others: citizen participation in politics; checks and balances on government and accountability of the state.
Yet, as Tamale and others—notably Makerere University’s Dr Joe Oloka-Onyango, Dr John- Jean Barya and Mr Frederick Jjuuko, the late Bazaara Nyangabyaki, as well as Prof. Mahmood Mamdani—have pointed out in the past, the vibrancy of Ugandan women’s organisations in particular and NGOs in general masks the dark side of our civil society.
For starters, many women’s associations and NGOs accepted the NRM’s political blackmail and came to consider that they owed their existence to President Yoweri Museveni and his Movement.
Subsequently, the women’s movement—with very few exceptions—has not engaged in any radical challenge to the exercise of state power under the Movement system, most notably the NRM’s monopoly over politics.
That is how government wants it. It wants to de-politicise citizen associations and NGOs so that their activities are limited to “safe” services that complement government efforts in development (some of these organisations do a terrific job at that).
That is why the NGO statute prohibits the registration of non-profit organisations that have “political objectives.”
However, the buck does not end with government. Although many NGOs and other civil society organisations claim to be the voice of the marginalised majority, they have very shaky, if any, grassroots bases. They are mostly in the urban areas and their biggest constituency is foreign donors.
Show me one national women’s association that has a membership of even 1,000 women.
That is why I cannot help breaking into chuckles every time I hear Kampala-based women’s organisations issuing such threats like “No Domestic Relations Act, No Women’s Votes.” Which votes do they control? Museveni’s government has conveniently ignored such threats because they have seen through this illusion of influence.
The point is that even without their own political party, women can do better to build on their recent gains. One of the real challenges of Uganda’s women’s movement is to mobilise local and national membership that reflects the broader population that many voluntary associations and NGOs purport to represent.
Once they have done that, they will have the real power to turn the tables on the ruling Movement or other political organisations that seek to capture state power.
They would use the strength of their membership and resources to influence the platforms of ruling and opposition political parties. The Nsubuga Nsambus (Makindye West MP) and others, who are not responsive to the demands of gender equality, would have real trouble garnering women’s votes.
Imagine how powerful ACFODE would be if it had a contributing membership of 500,000 registered female voters.
Now, if each one of these members contributed an annual subscription of Shs 1,000 that would bring ACFODE’s yearly subscription income alone to Shs 500 million.
Which political party or organisation would afford to ignore an association that speaks for such a significant percent of the voters? Which party would afford to ignore an association with such locally generated resources?
That is how interest groups influence politics in this country. Admittedly, it is a complex process and American politics has its dark spots too. Although they are informed by different socio-political contexts, we can learn a lesson or two from this country’s associational life and its influence on politics.
For instance, this week the American Association of Retired People (AARP) endorsed a highly contested Medicare Bill. It was a preliminary victory for the Bush administration and his congressional Republican majority because both the major parties understand the power of such endorsements. The AARP has 35 million members.
American women’s organisations such as the National Organisation of Women (NOW) also have high contributing memberships and are highly influential in electoral and legislative politics as well as policy execution.
The world over the women’s movement has been very much a part of politics. While I do not think women should form their own party, it would be self-defeating if they remained on the fence of our politics, especially at times like this when the country is at new crossroads.
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