From: Omar Kezimbira <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: ugnet_: Uganda Has No Facilitities to Treat this Paranoia-Dr. James Rwanyarare
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 13:51:16 -0700 (PDT)
Opinion - East African - Nairobi - Kenya Monday, October 13, 2003 ---------------------------------
JAMES RWANYARARE Uganda Has No Facilities to Treat this ParanoiaPresident Yoweri Museveni's recent outburst in defence of the abuse of the presidential jet to fly his married daughter to Germany to deliver her baby is the latest in a series of paranoid acts and utterances that are becoming the hallmark of his rule.
This paranoia has caused President Museveni to overstate himself as all-knowledgeable, all-important, all-valuable and indispensable, such that any institution of the people of Uganda is regarded as at best a nuisance and at worst an obstacle that must be demolished.
The medical profession in Uganda has earned a reputation around the world for producing some of the best doctors. Currently, there are over 300 Ugandan doctors in the Republic of South Africa and over 500 in other parts of Southern Africa.
A similar number work in Europe, mainly in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Ugandan doctors are well trained and are conscientious. Museveni has been basking in their success in the battle against HIV/Aids.
Ugandans will recall that Museveni was advocating moralistic abstention and at times vilified patients with Aids. But when the health sector made a breakthrough on positive living by people with HIV/Aids, Museveni adopted their feat and has received all sorts of awards and accolades for successful management and prevention of HIV/Aids.
The recent revelation by Museveni that he does not trust Ugandan doctors is thus as heartbreaking as it is ridiculous. All the doctors who have treated the Museveni family over the past 17 years are Ugandans and they must be feeling horribly betrayed.
It is outrageous of Museveni to claim that some doctors in Uganda administer poisons or harmful substances to their patients, which is against the internationally recognised Hippocratic Oath.
If Museveni can produce the evidence of a doctor who wanted to amputate the healthy leg of a soldier to the Uganda Medical Council, that doctor's licence to practice will be cancelled and other charges preferred against him. He will be made an outcast in the profession.
We believe that the claim about Nigeria [that a famous general was infected with incurable biological agents by the late President Sani Abacha's doctors, finally dying a painful death] is a figment of Museveni's imagination.
The Uganda People's Congress calls upon the Uganda Medical Council to come out with a better position on President Museveni's claims which, if left unchallenged, will damage the image and reputation of the Uganda medical profession irretrievably.
There has been a well-orchestrated onslaught on public institutions by the paranoid Lt-Gen Museveni. The first victim was the national army. Members of the Constituent Assembly (CA) noticed this eventuality and demanded that the National Resistance Army change its name to the Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces (UPDF).
They also provided for the transformation of the NRA, which was a rebel force, into UPDF as a national army to follow laws made by parliament in conformity with article 210 of the Constitution.
However, since the promulgation of the Constitution in October 1995, no Bills have been presented to parliament to operationalise the all-important constitutional provisions.
The result is that the UPDF remains the personal army of Museveni, and is now so demoralised that he has to resort to commanding its operations personally and to rely on an illegal and untrained militia to fight the rebellion in the north.
The police force was the next victim. Out of distrust, Museveni's government denied police funding for their operations and gave them poor pay. Besides the distrust, the Museveni/police relationship was characterised by intrigue and incessant verbal attacks.
When Justice Julia Sebutinde was appointed to inquire into police affairs, she appeared to presume them to be a rotten lot who did not deserve an opportunity to defend themselves against the charges levelled at them. Many long-serving and skilled officers were laid off.
Several were recommended for prosecution, although none up to now has been produced in a court of law. Several have simply been given early retirement to save the government's face and avoid litigation. A major general of the military was appointed to head a professional civil police force, diluting its character as a civil institution.
The other institution that suffered the effects of one man's paranoia was the co-operative movement. NRA soldiers bled societies of coffee, tea and cotton produce as well as cash until they were driven to bankruptcy. The co-operatives' bank was run down and eventually sold off, in spite of protests from its owners, at a throwaway price.
The judiciary has had its share of abuse and ridicule. It has been roundly accused of corruption, lack of patriotism and being insensitive to the wishes of the people. What "the people" in this context actually means are those in power.
We suspect that the Cabinet recommendations to the Constitutional Review Commission regarding the judiciary are intended to break the back of the judges who have withstood pressure from NRM/NRA to subjugate their profession to the whims of Museveni.
Uganda's civil service was the envy of the whole of Africa and even provided international civil servants of repute, skill and proficiency. Since Museveni's government came in, the civil service has been destroyed.
On the pretext of downsizing the establishment, competent individuals were retired and replaced with chaka mchaka (political appointees), whose main function is to sing the praises of Museveni and steal votes for him.
Once any institution tries to do its mandate as expected, it is called names. Museveni's wrath can take the form of open abuses and ridicule, but it can also be expressed by way of sacking or worse.
Museveni is Uganda's problem number one and any dreams that we have of democratic governance, enjoyment of human rights, freedom and the rule of law under his regime is unlikely to be realised.
Dr James Rwanyarare is chairman of the presidential policy commission of the Uganda People's Congress
Comments\Views about this article
--------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
-------------------------------------------- This service is hosted on the Infocom network http://www.infocom.co.ug
