We have a saying in my culture that a child who does not cry, never gets fed. Those who have taught know that attention of teachers goes disproportionately to students who raise their hands in class or follow the teacher after class with questions. In a world with so many problems, attention is being directed to hot spots. Those who remain silent regardless of the extent of suffering will be sidelined. Going to church to seek God’s help is necessary but not sufficient. Calling for outside help is fine but you have to demonstrate what you have done. From time immemorial, freedom and prosperity have been earned by individuals, communities and nations through sweat and sacrifice. By and large those who succeed work the hardest and longest and sacrifice a lot. They reject what they don’t like and go for what they want. The poll tax was dropped in England in the 14th century because the peasants opposed it and revolted. The poll tax was again rejected in the 20th century because the British opposed it and removed from office the champion who wanted to reintroduce it. The English civil war was waged against the excessive demands and behavior of the king. So was the French Revolution. Americans rejected taxation without representation. So the descendants of these people know the value of fighting for rights and freedoms. History is full of examples in all places on earth that unless you raise your voice and show your presence, you will not get heard and noticed. So the message for Ugandans is clear: organize, raise your hand and your voice, show your presence in the streets and wherever you are sit in front of targeted embassies or capitals peacefully and if necessary silently with placards conveying the message to get international attention! Ugandans in London have been doing an excellent job of demonstrating and we congratulate them. But don’t relax. Others should emulate this noble show of determination to make change happen at home. Museveni (the name will be used in official capacity with no personal criticism) is sensitive about Uganda’s image abroad which is already damaged. That is why he is skipping important conferences. He is afraid of demonstrations and reporters’ questions about rigged elections and when he will step down. In our struggle we should aim at involving everyone willing to cooperate including NRM members because the changes we are seeking will benefit everyone.
No one should be victimized when the struggle is over but those who have committed crimes against humanity will be dealt with according to national and international laws. And we are compiling evidence of atrocities and those who ordered and committed them. So those in security forces who have not committed crimes yet do not start because you won’t escape the long arm of the law. And those who have committed crimes already stop immediately to reduce the severity of punishment. Ugandans should enjoy the freedom to march, associate, assemble and express their opinions without tear gas, broken bones and car windows, arrests and detentions. In return when you demonstrate do so peacefully, identify those who attempt to disturb the peace, report them to appropriate authorities because you have no power to try, sentence and punish them.
Sadly, we Ugandans have remained silent for too long and have been ignored by the international community. Because of this, Uganda is regarded as one of the most stable countries; stable because there are no serious demonstrations for example against rising fees of all sorts (look at the escalating cost of education, intended to keep students from poor families out of school and keep them enslaved!), denying children school lunch of maize and beans so they drop out of school and stay enslaved, women dying in child birth everywhere including in the nation’s teaching and referral hospital even on Christmas Day when the world is watching, bodies found in mass graves, children suffering from nodding disease, land grabbing, etc. However researchers and commentators have objected to this characterization of Uganda being stable and have instead declared it a failed state under military dictatorship disguised as democratic because of fraudulent elections. But Ugandans have failed to seize the opportunity commensurately and make a strong case for legitimate and peaceful regime change. Nobody is going to do it for us. Make no mistake about that. We shall do it ourselves with or without a helping hand from friends and well wishers. Remember that at all times. Thankfully, Ugandans are beginning to question, to organize, to act. We have entered the age of enlightenment to reason and understand why we are so poor in the midst of plenty.
To find a lasting solution to the suffering we have endured for so long we need to identify the problem. For a start, Ugandans need to understand why and how Museveni and NRM came to power. The false view held by many Ugandans is that Museveni came to power to remove an illegitimate regime of Obote because Baganda and Catholics rejected the results. The correct view is that Museveni was drafted, groomed and installed by outside interests to serve as their agent including regime change in the Great Lakes region starting in Uganda (Peter Phillips 2006). To repeat, Museveni assumed power to serve the interests of those that installed him, not Uganda’s interests. That is why he quickly abandoned the ten point program which had been drawn up by Ugandans as a blue print for the development of Uganda after the fall of Obote and Okello governments. Look at those who funded his guerrilla war, who provided media cover and diplomatic representation. That is the beauty of gathering accurate information because nobody can deny facts.
And here is the story as reported in various sources. From the start to the present Museveni has been guided by and is accountable to foreign interests including launching of structural adjustment program (SAP) in 1987, invading neighboring countries with alleged so many deaths and destruction of property with impunity. That is why Museveni has done things that under normal circumstances are unthinkable. How does a loving parent acting under normal conditions deny school kids lunch of maize and beans while he is shipping out mountains of maize and beans and fish to feed kids of other nations? How does a loving leader allow maternal mortality to rise so high and children wards to turn into hospices as reports claim? These are disturbing stories that have to be told painful and risky as they are in order to drive a point home. Dying early for a good cause might be better than doing so in silence with a few extra years. We are doing this because we want to put an end to the suffering of our fellow Ugandans who are voiceless and powerless. They need selfless champions to pave the way. Opponents can say whatever they want using whatever language they choose. This is a struggle for a good cause: nothing more and nothing less. And it should be supported by Ugandans, friends and well wishers who want to see a better future than Kampala floods, slums and pollution, better schools for all children, better health facilities for all Ugandans particularly women and children, shoes for everyone, a decent and balanced meal three times a day etc. In order to engage in a constructive policy discussion, we have to trace the history of the problem.
All the troubles intensified in the wake of launching structural adjustment program (SAP) in 1987. Here is the instruction Museveni got from outside sponsors “… the opinion of major creditors [is] that the solution to Uganda’s problems depended on reaching agreement with the IMF” (New African Year Book 1987-88). Indeed an agreement was reached and structural adjustment of the severest kind (shock therapy) was imposed on Uganda in 1987 and the ten point program was dropped abruptly and unceremoniously. Ugandans who raised objections were dismissed or sidelined. Suggestions to revisit SAP after its launch in order to minimize social impact were dismissed out of hand as sabotage. The subsequent poverty reduction action plan and modernization of agriculture meant to mitigate the social impact were never implemented although funds were allocated some of it from debt relief. Since 1987 Uganda has been managed by foreigners through NRM framework. One of the requirements of structural adjustment is to “… rely heavily on foreign experts to guide development and ensure efficient project selection” (John Brohman 1996). To create room for foreign experts Museveni kept out experienced Ugandans in the diaspora (The Courier September/October 1993) and marginalized those at home. Key and strategic ministries, departments and institutions especially the ministry of finance and central bank were filled with young foreign experts (Mallaby 2004) and the international community which usually insists on hiring nationals did not object.
It was expected that structural adjustment would be resented because of its many adverse side effects. That is why Museveni was exempt from elections after taking power for ten years while other leaders were forced to hold them or would lose foreign aid if they did not. It was feared Museveni would lose the election to a successor not trusted by foreign interests. He was tacitly allowed to increase budget for security and defense purposes to crush resistance to the draconian changes he was directed to implement. There was not much external outcry when the constitution was changed to remove presidential term limits. There was not much external outcry when NRM allegedly invaded the treasury and central bank and took public development money and used it to bribe voters in 2011 campaigns. That is why rampant corruption has not received commensurate external condemnation and alleged corrupt officials are scot free enjoying what they stole from the public now dying of diseases that could have been prevented or cured among other things. John F. Clark (2002) observed that “… the Museveni regime is forgiven its trespasses because of its ‘good’ economic policies” which included privatizing public enterprises, opening Uganda markets to foreign imports and services, exporting food and hiring foreign experts to manage Uganda’s economy.
To keep these draconian policies in place, Museveni has instilled a sense of fear in Ugandans. Although he retired from the military he has insisted on wearing military fatigues. When there is trouble he addresses the nation on TV in full military uniform because Ugandans fear the military (which should protect them). He speaks with scary facial expressions to intimidate Ugandans. He threatens to go back to the bush if Ugandans insist on getting rid of him. He has divided up the country into so many unviable districts and communities independent of each other essentially killing the idea of national unity making no sense when he talks about patriotism. Similarly, he has created so many ministers that Uganda cabinet has turned into an assembly like the United Nations General Assembly where ambassadors represent their countries. That is why each group is demanding a minister. This is a typical illustration of divide and rule. In Uganda these actions have been tolerated which cannot be allowed elsewhere where donor money is involved. Uganda is an exception because Museveni is the president taking care of foreign interests so he has to be allowed sufficient room to operate. Impoverishing Ugandans and dividing up the country is part of the strategy.
Uganda has become a curse for Ugandans because it is a strategic country sitting at the source of the Nile and heart of Africa and in one of the richest regions on earth. During the cold war Uganda sat at the intersection of the red (communist) and blue (capitalist) belts. That is why Obote was swept away in 1971 because western powers thought he had introduced socialism when all he wanted to do was to launch a mixed economy what we are now calling public and private partnership. Tanzania was more to the left but Nyerere was spared because he was far away from the danger zone. Obote came back in 1980 but was not trusted and was swept away again in 1985 because he wanted to lead for the benefit of the people of Uganda first and foremost (People who argue that Obote was weak do not understand the forces he had to deal with). So foreign control of the region through Uganda became important and installing and sustaining a leader they can trust even more so. But this control has come at a high price.
The introduction of neo-liberal economics based on market forces and private sector ideology has allocated resources and outputs in such a way that the citizens have been severely disadvantaged. While market forces and laissez faire capitalism in and of themselves should not be rejected they need to be managed for equitable distribution of benefits to all. There has to be fairness, hence the struggle we have begun. We have prepared a National Recovery Plan (NRP) based on public and private partnership to serve as a replacement of the failed and abandoned structural adjustment. The Plan is accessible at www.udugandans.org. But NRM does not have the will and capacity to implement it. The NRM staff is of the old, abandoned neo-liberal school of Milton Friedman. NRP needs to be implemented by staff of the neo-Keynesian school that combines state and private sector in strategic and mutually reinforcing manner. The formulators of the Plan need to be part of new arrangements. So NRM winner-take-all attitude needs to be changed to accommodate others on the basis of parity and a new organizational face.
To achieve parity and equal participation, Ugandans unhappy with the status quo need to come out and demonstrate consistently and throughout the country against what is wrong in Uganda. Organizations of farmers, workers, professionals (lawyers, teachers, students and youth, women, religions, etc), urban poor and unemployed etc should be formed and harmonize their activities of dissent. The demonstrations that have taken place since last year have received international notice. We need to do more to win international support. Do not be afraid. There is no free lunch. Freedom and prosperity won’t come to Uganda on a silver platter. Those sitting on the fence with all sorts of excuses need to realize that those who have stuck their necks out are Ugandans like you. It is not fair to let them labor alone, take all the abuses as some of you are reading in the newspaper and on the internet and threats and then you join them at the conference table when the struggle is over and you begin to set conditions. Museveni and his core team will not depart voluntarily. They have to feel the wrath of those opposed to his regime. Museveni will not allow his party to lose an election. He believes the gun is more powerful that a ballot paper and a pencil to mark the opposition candidate in instead of him. So don’t pin your hopes on the next election and waste scarce resources preparing for it. You won’t win on Museveni’s watch. So get the idea of election out of your mind in order to be free and work out an alternative. Put differently, change of regime in Uganda through the ballot box while Museveni is still in power won’t happen. Those who think Museveni will level the playing field and then lose the election simply don’t understand him.
All that can be said with confidence is that the winds are blowing in the opposition favor. The world is tired of dictators who stay in power too long like Museveni and see their countries and societies disintegrate. Uganda as a country is disintegrating under the weight of so many districts and still counting, the demographic landscape is changing with uncontrolled immigrants, property ownership is changing as the rich grab the land forcing landless into urban slums where they are easier to control than in scattered rural settlements should a guerrilla warfare break out. The society is disintegrating through the invasion of disease, alcoholism, human trafficking and sacrifice and moral decay. Uganda may even disappear completely as a sovereign state if Museveni succeeds in forcing East African community leaders into the East African political federation which is ill-defined particularly in terms of sovereignty of member states. The signs of Uganda’s disintegration and possibly disappearance as a nation are there for all to see. Because East Africa is afraid of Museveni and his generals, it wants to give him what he wants virtually on a silver platter. Fast tracking political federation is an admission that Museveni is getting his way. Museveni won’t be satisfied with that: he will ask for more. And those experts who argue in favor of political federation ahead of economic integration need to recast that scenario because you do not build a house starting with the roof.
Against this background, Ugandans have enough reasons to launch a preventive rebellion against NRM regime. Prevention is always better than cure. So let us go out in large numbers in all parts of the Republic and demonstrate with a common purpose of regime change. Addressing other demands will follow. Starting with war is not a wise strategy because there are many domestic and external forces against it. Besides you do not attack an enemy starting with where he is strongest. But the military option must remain on the table as a last resort. The ball is in our court. Let us use it wisely to get what Uganda wants.