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Letter to A Kampala Friend:
By Muniini K. Mulera In Toronto |
Why lift the restrictions on terms alone, not age?
Feb 9, 2004
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Dear Tingasiga: Once again one hovers between tears and laughter as one reads reports of the latest offerings from some of the ruling National Resistance Movement party's good cadres. Former Prime Minister Kintu Musoke, a man whom I admire and respect for reasons that are not entirely clear to me, had me cracking up with uncontrollable laughter. Worried by rumours that some long-term members of the NRM were about to form a new political party, Mr Kintu Musoke reportedly urged them not to leave. "The Movement was built from the grassroots and is the closest we have had to a political institution not built around personalities." The former prime minister, now a senior presidential advisor on something or other, was probably auditioning for a retirement role as a humourist. Surely he cannot be unaware that the NRM is a political party where anyone critical of President Museveni is instantly labelled a traitor, where a man is in forced exile because he dared to lawfully challenge him [Museveni] for the presidency in 2001. Has Museveni himself not urged those who do not agree with him to take a hike and form their own political party? The surprise is that the unwanted former NRM stalwarts are still insisting that they are members of Museveni's personal organisation. Loss of party members is not National Political Commissar (NPC) Crispus Kiyonga's problem. He is worried about the dangers of a relatively free press. "You hear all sorts of things on radio," Kiyonga said in Kampala. "We gave people the freedom to develop that industry, but they keep saying wrong things. You are the people in charge of these areas and you should monitor them." In other words, freedom of the press is not a right. It is a favour that can be taken away by the NRM regime. Of course we understand where the NPC is coming from. It is dangerous to have an informed population. In any case, the Ugandan public cannot be trusted to use their own judgment. Feeding them contrary views and information ["the wrong things"] can only "confuse them" and "excite them," to use two of the popular phrases that good NRM cadres like to use in reference to the public that they despise. As one begins to despair after reading Kiyonga's threat, a statement attributed to Health, Minister Jim Muhwezi brings comical relief. According to a Kampala newspaper, Brig. Muhwezi told his fellow countrymen last week that advocates of multi-party democracy were a power-hungry bunch. One imagines Muhwezi saying this with a straight face, confident that his listeners will surmise that he and his colleagues in Museveni's 18-year regime are merely selfless volunteers, devoid of any interest in power, humble servants of the people. Oh, Tingasiga, the cynicism! The contempt for "the people" whose name is taken in vain by politicians bent on subverting democracy and the rule of law. They whom we give credit for "voting wisely," but consider them not to be intelligent enough to decide what to believe and what to reject out of the verbal diet served by the FM radio stations. So far, my favourite line about "the people" is the one currently merchandised by those beating drums in the Third Term Project. "The people of Uganda have a right to decide who should lead them," the President's praise singers recite in unison. Perhaps this will come as a surprise to you, but in fact I am one with them on this one. Yes, I agree that the people must decide. Always. That is why I believe that the people's decision 10 years ago to limit the presidential terms of office must be respected. Article 105 (2) of the 1995 Constitution was the people's choice, enacted by popularly elected Constituent Assembly delegates. The cynical attempt to use "the people" to fulfill one clique's political, economic and military ambitions may deceive some, but most of us will see through it. The facade of "giving" the people the freedom to choose who governs them is quickly exposed when one examines the other restrictions imposed on whom the people can elect as President. Is it not the height of hypocrisy that the people are free to amend the Constitution to keep Museveni in power, but they are not allowed to elect a president who is younger than 35 or older than 75, or one who has been living outside Uganda for some time? Why limit the people's right to choose? If Museveni and his courtiers really believed that the people had a right to choose their ruler or leader, why did the President annul the people's democratic choice in Kibaale district two years ago? Presumably the people of Kibaale did not have a clue about what was good for them. None of this should be misconstrued to mean that I blame Museveni, Muhwezi, Kiyonga and their colleagues for the anti-democratic scam that is being perpetrated against Ugandans. These folks are simply doing what they must do to serve their personal interests. After all, they have not lied to Ugandans. It is just that many people have not been listening to them carefully. Did the President not tell you that he had gone through a baptism of fire to capture power? Did he not argue that revolutionaries like him and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe do not give up power easily? Did he not say that he would not hand over power even if he was voted out of office? Has he not been ridiculing all his colleagues who did not fight with guns? They have reminded us that since the Movement was not born through legal means, it can "not be removed legally." Their words, not mine. In other words, they view the rule of law as a joke. To them the Movement government can only leave the way it came in. This should sober you up, Tingasiga. Yet I still hold on to the hope that this need not happen. Peaceful political change is both desirable and still possible. However, it will demand great courage, sacrifice, setting aside personal egos, and collaboration among all Ugandans at home and abroad who seek democracy in Uganda. All within the two short years that remain before the 2006 elections. |
© 2004 The Monitor Publications
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