When military leaders overthrew governments in the Horn of Africa and Great Lakes region beginning with Yoweri Museveni in Uganda in 1986, those who didn’t understand their real motives quickly christened them a new breed of African leaders in search of peace, democracy and development led by private sector and market forces. The new leaders hired lobbyists in western capitals and received support from sympathetic reporters especially after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. In Rwanda, Bahutu were depicted as “bad guys” behaving like wild beasts that should be punished en masse. And Bahutu were hunted down with millions of lives lost in jungles and in camps of displaced persons. Reports of atrocities perpetrated by Rwanda and Uganda were ignored by the international community or issued statements of condemnation that were meaningless without the force of law.
Museveni and Kagame have been showered with western money and technical assistance. Their troops were trained in modern techniques which they have used to destabilize the region. Change of governments by military means didn’t bring about peace and security. Museveni and Kagame have violated with impunity the sovereignty of neighbors apparently in hot pursuit of elements intent on disturbing peace and stability. In some cases including Hema and Lendu of Ituri forest, inter-tribal conflicts were instigated and provided a pretext for neighbors to enter DRC for purposes of exploiting the country’s resources in collaboration with external interests. Militias were created or supported to provide a cover for the continuation of plundering Congo’s resources. Instead of creating peace and stability, Museveni and Kagame have simply planted seeds of instability in the Great Lakes region as the majority of the population has come under minority authoritarianism of Batutsi leaders in pursuit of Tutsi Empire, not peace, democracy and development. There is no way the situation in the Great Lakes region can be described as peaceful, secure or stable.
Democracy can happen only when eligible voters can exercise their right to freely and fairly elect their representatives at various levels and hold them accountable for commissions and omissions made. Elections in these countries are conducted simply to meet the requirement for continued donor assistance. In Uganda Museveni refused to conduct elections for ten years. When he did so in 1996 under international pressure, he used force and rigging to get elected. The presidential opponent was not allowed to campaign in western Uganda which was considered Museveni’s back yard. Security forces were used widely to intimidate voters and candidates. When Museveni realized he might lose, he threatened to go back to the bush and cause mayhem Uganda had never seen. People got scared. Some stayed away, others voted for Museveni under duress.
Subsequent elections were marked by more violence especially in 2001 when some people lost their lives and others were injured as in Rukungiri district where security forces conducted a house-to-house search and confiscated cards for voters believed to be supporters of the presidential opposition candidate. In 2011 presidential and parliamentary elections, the ruling NRM government refused to appoint an independent electoral commission because indications were that it might lose the vote. The Commonwealth Observer Mission reported that the electoral process from voter registration to the announcement of results lacked a level playing field. This finding by a credible observer mission should have served as a basis to declare elections null and void. Instead important western development partners sent to Museveni messages of congratulations. Electoral outcomes are similar in other states of the region and are highly flawed. Thus, like peace and security, democracy does not exist. Even if it did, poor governance in the region would render it valueless. To have meaning democracy and good governance in terms of transparency, popular participation and accountability must go hand in hand.
Development can take on meaning when programs equitably lift all sectors of the population. In the regions under consideration, the benefits of economic growth have been highly skewed in favor of a few already rich. Poverty is spreading as former middle class employees were retrenched creating a category of the “new poor” and deepening as an increasing number of households are consuming less than before. The Great Lakes region is marked by food insecurity, job insecurity, education insecurity, health insecurity, housing insecurity, ecological insecurity and human rights insecurity. You can’t have peace, democracy and human rights in a situation like this.
The defining problem is that all the leaders came to power by military means. Soldiers are trained to handle challenges differently from civilian leaders. Changing from a military uniform to a civilian suit does not teach a former army general how to listen to people’s grievances, negotiate and come to a consensus. Generals don’t discuss with rank and file. They issue orders which must be obeyed without question. That is why they don’t respect separation of powers and independence of the judiciary and resist distribution of power between the central and regional and district administrations. Since the generals came to power in Uganda, the economy and society have declined. Before 1971 Uganda performed much better than Kenya and Tanzania. Now Kenya and Tanzania are way ahead of Uganda in large part because Kenya and Tanzania have had civilian governments since independence in 1963 and 1961 respectively.
To have peace, democracy and development, we need a new breed of African leaders from the civilian community, with good education and character; experience in public and/or business management to be able to design, implement and monitor location specific policies, strategies and programs that will significantly enhance freedom from want; freedom from fear and freedom to live in dignity. In the continued absence of these three freedoms the Great Lakes region will continue to be problematic no matter what domestic and external supporters of Kagame and Museveni might say.