In his New Vision article of April 19, 2006, Prof Semakula Kiwanuka asks why donors are in love with the opposition. But surely donors' motivations in putting a light thumb on the scale in favour of the permanent underdogs that constitute Uganda's opposition should be obvious to all, even those feverishly making a case for inclusion on that cabinet list reportedly resident in
President Yoweri Museveni's back-pocket.
What is the motivation for donor and western NGOs helping out in favour of the opposition? Maybe because, since the Movement has had a head-start of twenty years of building its capacity, unrestricted access to state coffers, and free rein to demonise, starve, stunt and cause the opposition to shrivel, a sudden "freeing of the political space" would not create a level playing field.
Maybe because the sole organising principle of Uganda's constitutional system (Movement to multiparty, term limits to kisanja) has been to perpetuate Museveni in power. Maybe because no institution, bureaucracy or public procurement process in Uganda works except with a nod from Museveni.
Maybe because the charging and incarceration of the primary contender for the presidency against Museveni in the heat of the elections, supposedly based on air tight state legal cases, has yielded prosecution cases that can only be described as
âtragical-comical-historical-pastoralâ entertainment.
Maybe because an opposition MP contending against hoards of money, the PGB, God, not to mention the First Lady, could really use a little encouragement from wherever he can get it.
Maybe because a government sending Black Mambas to courts of justice to interfere with the trial of political opponents, causing prisoners otherwise duly granted bail to prefer jail to the risk of being subject to the government's harassment outside prison, probably needs a little push towards recognition of the rights of the opposition.
Maybe because while the opposition might hurl abuses at the President, the President is a worse culprit. He uses force (tear gas and live bullets, I mean, sticks and stones will break my bones,
but words will never hurt me.).
Maybe because partisans of a government advancing despicable logic to justify its strong-arm tactics might not be best placed to honestly broker the rules of the political game.
Maybe because in most circumstances, a country can never really become a normal democracy till there has been an iteration or two of peaceful transitions of power from governing party to opposition, when, in biblical terms, the first become last and the last become first.
Kiwanuka sets up the straw-man of nefarious western donors and NGOs railing against governments of non-developed countries. But this is not true. Has the professor heard western agitation against elections and the political climate in South Africa, Botswana or Tanzania, all of which are de facto single-party states? No.
The concerns are directed against countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia, Belarus, Ukraine (prior to the Orange Revolution) and Turkmenistan. The
president of Turkmenistan, President-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov deserves special mention here. He has decreed that he be called Turkmenbashy (meaning Father of the Turkmen) and his image and visage are ubiquitous in the country.
He has, apparently inspired by God (does this remind us of anyone?) penned his political philosophy in a book called the Rukhnama which is taught in all schools and to which a weekly study hour is dedicated by every government office.
I suppose Movement partisans will tell us that we should be thankful our own dear leader is not as ardent. The tragedy is that Museveni's government says volumes about how low his international stature has sunk. Museveni tells us, though, that he does not care, that he is a man on a mission, in search of a cause (at 62), that he prefers to serve his people, who he has apparently successfully encouraged to convert from subsistence to commercial milk production. But I digress.
Most disturbing of
all is the good professor's signing onto a theory of Ugandan democracy currently being peddled by some in government. First articulated by General David Tinyefunza, adumbrated by the army spokesperson and reinforced by Minister Jim Muhwezi that military "historicals" can pull rank over all others, including judges, in Uganda's hierarchy of citizenship. The professor asserts that "President Museveni, the Movement and the UPDF" are "the fathers of democracy in Uganda", only disagreeing with the UPDF spokesperson as to the sex of the parentage of Uganda's democracy.
Memo to Professor Kiwanuka: It is the sovereign people of South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya, and not the ANC, CCM or Kanu parties respectively that are the fathers and mothers of those democracies. No responsible political actor would claim otherwise.
The dear professor should know that claims that individuals or parties are the mothers or fathers of a country's political system have been but veiled
assertions of fascist states.
Otherwise, western donors, NGOs and all who wish the nascent Ugandan democracy well have every reason to be concerned.
Regarding the views of Prof Tarsis Kabwegyere, expressed in his April 28, 2006 Daily Monitor article, âBesigye is a liability to FDC and a problem to multipartyismâ, the professor is either a genius at turning Orwellian phrases or thinks that readers are imbeciles. Now Besigye might have his problems in one legal basket, erring in his reaction to the Supreme Court election petition decision and being a little too angry, though God knows he has reason to.
With all due respect to Kabwegyere, based on any standard of objectivity, the person who is an obstacle to multipartyism and democratic development in Uganda and who does not believe in processes, legal or political, unless he comes out on top is President Museveni.
Whatever happened to professors' faculties when they ate of the fruit of the yellow
bus?
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