Time to Call in the Big Guys
According to the constitution, article 110, the powers to declare an area a disaster zone lie with the president. Parliament can only make recommendations to the president.
Adolf Mwesigye, Minister of State in the Office of the Vice Presidency, advised parliamentarians that they do not have powers to declare any part of Uganda a disaster area. This followed the declaration of northern Uganda as a disaster area by parliament last week.
Legislators are also of the view that the government should seek foreign military help in order to deal with the Joseph Kony rebellion, which has been going on for the past 18 years.
Seeking foreign military help will not be new for Uganda or the region. President Joseph Kabila's government in Congo is still in place because it sought foreign help when rebels supported by Rwanda and Uganda were about to capture power.
The 1979 liberation war that deposed Idi Amin was fought with the help of the Tanzanian army. So seeking help this time to deal with rebels, as legislators have advised, will not be a new departure but one of the tried and tested ways to end a rebellion.
All sides in the war have lost, but it is the country that is paying the heaviest price. Schools, development programmes, farming and transport systems have been badly disrupted.
The war is painting a bad picture of the country and its people. The international press has covered it widely and those who have never been to the country think there is chaos in the whole of Uganda, which is not true. Other parts of the country are as safe, or even safer than some areas of Europe and the US.
The war is depriving the country of energetic young men. So if declaring northern Uganda a disaster zone is one of the solutions to end the rebellion, there is no reason why the government should resist such moves.
Otherwise it should be open and explain to the public why it does not want to declare the north a disaster area.
As legislator Aggrey Awori humbly put it during the debate in parliament last week, the government should do away with ego and seek military help from the region. Even the US, the world's superpower, seeks foreign military help when dealing with terrorist groups. So why not Uganda, which cannot even purchase all the military hardware it wants?
If we are not ashamed to ask for financial help from the World Bank and the IMF, the same should apply to military aid. When people are dying in their hundreds, as happened last week, anything and everything to end the rebellion should be tried.
The government says it has done all it can, but as things are now, foreign help can expeditiously deal with Kony. Innocent people are dying for no reason.
The good thing is, legislators have already got the support of the donor group in Uganda. The donor group, that brings together key donor agencies in the country, last week met with the Speaker of Parliament, Edward Sekandi and expressed support to the legislators.
"We are not concerned about the technicality of the law as cabinet has said, our concern is the plight of the people in the northern region, so we support the resolution" said Sigurd Illing, Head of the European Delegation in Uganda.
If declaring the north as disaster area, will attract foreign military help and other forms of Aid, it should be done instead of looking at technicalities.
For sure the government has done all that it can and no one will blame it for failure to end the war, but as things are now foreign help can expeditiously deal with Kony. Innocent people are dying for nothing and time will tell who is to blame.
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Search - Find what you�re looking for faster.
