The US and other civilized members of the International Commununity are finally begining to get the light , so to say, regarding The NRM Military dictatorship. All said and done, the Museveni regime, political analysts believe, will end up like the Mobutu dictatorship in the then Zaire, and now Democratic Republic of the Congo. The question is when will the US jamp ship?
MK
Uganda: Personal Rule in Uganda a Risk Says U.S.
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The Monitor (Kampala)
August 16, 2006
Posted to the web August 16, 2006
Posted to the web August 16, 2006
Angelo Izama & Emmanuel Gyezaho
Kampala
Kampala
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has consolidated personal rule in Uganda, a new report by the United States Agency for International Development, has said.
The 92-page document recommends that US aid should prioritise increasing political competition in the country.
The report titled; "Democracy and Governance Assessment: Republic of Uganda 2005; is a periodic document that guides the country approach of the United States Agency for International Development (Usaid).
"The consolidation of the neo-patrimonial state in Uganda is reminiscent of patterns of regime consolidation in such diverse African contexts as Mobutu Sese Seko's Zaire, Daniel arap Moi's Kenya, and Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe" the report says.
The report said the NRM government had cleverly adapted to pressure to reform while maintaining the President at the helm and castigates the regime for corruption that benefits a few around the President.
The report said the NRM regime is "one dominated by an individual leader whose personal authority is indistinguishable from that of the State, in which political power is "maintained through a combination of patronage and the selective use of intimidation and force".
But the Director of the government's Media Centre, Mr Robert Kabushenga, said' "These kind of conclusions cause despondency and undermine public confidence in the
democratic process that we and our partners are trying to promote.
He said the report dwells on "outdated stereotypes about politics on the African continent and should be ignored."
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The report recommends that a "consistent effort" should be made by Usaid on " developing capacity in areas which are not subject to the logic of the overarching neo-patrimonial regime, and have a meaningful chance of resisting it".
"At a minimum, efforts should be made to avoid sending signals that suggest that present trends are acceptable," the report notes. It is not clear whether this means that US aid will be focused on democracy and governance targets as a result of the assessment of the report. The report is not officially binding on the agency. While dealing with governance issues, according to Usaids's Ugandan website, current programmes, based on a plan from 2002-7, are focused on supporting the government eliminate poverty.
The reports warns that the consolidation of Museveni's power has come at the
expense of other institutions meant to check the executive thereby weakening the system as a whole.
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