Tag Archives: system

Clarifications regarding London federal conference

Some issues have been raised that call for explanation.

1. A federal government system doesn’t mean elimination of central government. It means sharing power between central (federal) government and local administrations (state, province, region or district, etc). How much power is shared depends on negotiations and adjustments overtime. A federal system is not an event but a process subject to amendments to accommodate the new reality.

2. Under a federal system of government, it doesn’t mean that local administrations can do whatever they want. They will be guided by federal and international norms and standards. For example, individual and collective human rights and fundamental freedoms can’t be abused. The local government can’t use its natural resources irresponsibly but sustainably for present and future generations.

3. A federal government isn’t about creating new kingdoms, strengthening or weakening existing ones.

4. A federal system of government isn’t about creating pure ethnic or tribal units. It is about empowering all people in a particular geographic area to use their talents, resources and traditions to develop themselves. For example when a federal system is finally adopted, it doesn’t mean that people say non-Baganda or non-Banyankole will be chased out of Buganda or former Ankole district. Also in areas where there are minority groups the federal government will ensure that their interests are protected.

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Democratization of Uganda

A special Message

on the Problem and Causes of Political Apathy,

Lack of Unity and Corruption in our Community[1]

PROLOGUE

As I write this message the United Democratic Ugandans (UDU) has been in existence for almost ten months. No political miracles were anticipated or promised by the founders of UDU at the time it was formed in Los Angeles, California, on July 9 2011. None has happened so far. The year in which UDU was born has long expired and a new year in which we expect to accomplish some of our primary objectives as enshrined in our constitution has inevitably been ushered in by the irreversible natural stream of time to which all cosmic events and life are subject. The original psychological Euphoria is slowly wearing off and the reality and complexity of our political task is gradually sinking in. These circumstances dictate the urgency of my message. What we need most now is courage, determination and creativity to forge ahead and liberate ourselves from the irrational fear (timidity) of our enemy and the claws of (military) dictatorship that are ruthlessly suppressing liberty in our motherland.

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Corruption, poverty and the 1848 French Revolution

Lessons for Uganda

King Charles X was overthrown in large part because he wanted to reintroduce the ‘divine right of French kings’, indemnify French nobles at state expense for property lost in the 1789 Revolution and impose press censorship. On July 26, 1830 Charles attempted to remove the legislature and to abolish all freedoms to discuss royal authority. The king had become too much even for the poor, tired and revolutionary-weary Frenchmen. He had to go. For three days – July 27, 28, and 29, 1830 – the French people rose up and served notice that the royal services of Charles X were no longer required. He abdicated and departed for England on July 30.

Democracy became the buzz word in France. The middle class that had long complained about the abuses of political power by the aristocracy felt that its moment had come to take charge of France’s public affairs. In the discussions that ensued, some French wanted a republic, others a monarchy. In the end they opted for a restricted monarchy and Louis Philippe, a member of the Orlean’s family and cousin to the Bourbons became the “Citizen King” or “The July Monarch” (G. Roche 1993).

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