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THE WRITER: Kabushenga |
Dear John,
IT was good to exchange greetings at a wedding
recently. I hope you recall asking me in Runyankole what we were doing in
âour mashanshaâ (dry banana leaves that symbolise the removal of
the presidential term limits). I did not respond at that time because you
had to attend to a phone call. Now I do.
Your remark reminded me of
another encounter with one of your colleagues who referred to me as
kisanja boy. You get what I mean. I took all this in good humour, although
in both cases I found the attitude rather patronising. This attitude
assumes that we are misguided in our thinking, blinded in views by young
age or immaturity or driven by opportunistic self-interest. In a word:
sycophants. Well, there are those who thought the same of you as a young
revolutionary in the eighties and others who do so today. But that is for
another day.
I have written to let you know that I intend to vote
again for Yoweri Kaguta Museveni if he stands for president. I want you
and your fellow MPs to give me the opportunity to do so. Whether you do so
by complete removal of term limits or the Namibian option (suspending the
operation of Article 105/2 on term limits for five years or until Museveni
retires voluntarily or is defeated in an election) is up to you. I know
many other people who are of the same view and are simply waiting to
pronounce themselves on polling day. Let me share with you our thinking.
As you know very well, Museveni is the chief architect of the rebirth
of this country. The rest of you played a supporting role in various
capacities. For this we are grateful. Now he has the obligation to midwife
a new order through the transition. It is regrettable, but not fatal, for
the country that he has not done it in this term as promised. It would be
worse if he was not the one to do it and anyway, we are loath to trust
anyone else.
You need to take into account that the transition from
Museveni to another individual as president is a process, not an event. It
is one that needs sufficient preparation. Look at Ghana. They moved to
partisan politics for ten years and then felt sufficiently confident to
let go of Rawlings. The same goes for Daniel arap Moi of Kenya. In Burundi
they were stampeded into a multiparty, winner-takes-all electoral
arrangement. The rest is violent history.
We have to be cautious
because any slight complication can cause a miscarriage or even a
stillbirth. If it is nothing serious, just a bit of pressure perhaps, then
we can get away with a caesarian. We are interested in a normal process,
otherwise we risk losing either the mother (stable country) or the child
(advancement of democratic process) or both. In any case, none will live
happily after such an experience.
Some of you are saying that
amending Article 105(2) to lift term limits is intended to create a life
presidency for Museveni. This argument is as contradictory as it is
defeatist. For starters, the Constituent Assembly did not see this as such
crucial provision for democracy in Uganda, otherwise it would have been
entrenched like the others. They would have made it very difficult if not
impossible to amend it. As it is, they thought it simple enough to be
resolved by two-thirds majority vote in Parliament.
By the way, none
of you in Parliament has since sponsored an amendment seeking to entrench
this provision. It may be a desirable but not a primary component of the
democratic process but if some people think it is, then why should it not
apply to MPs as well to allow for a wider process of renewal? So all the
noise about life presidency is just hot air. If the principle of lengthy
incumbency in elective office is bad then it should be prohibited across
the board not restricted to only the presidency.
This argument also
contradicts your actions in the opposition. The way you are organising to
take part in the 2006 election shows you have confidence in the process.
You must believe that you can win, otherwise why are you bothering to put
a party together to contest for power? So it is possible after all, in the
Uganda of today, for the voter to get rid of an incumbent through an
election. In any case the entrenchment of the LC system ensures that the
people are sufficiently enfranchised. Indeed quite a few LC offices are
occupied or dominated by opposition politicians.
Let us not delude
ourselves, a tyrant can take power and abuse it irrespective of whatever
legislation is in force. Our history offers a rich illustration of this
point. However, the issue is what the person seeks to do with another term
in office, not the mere wish to have it.
Most, if not all of you
opposed to Museveni at the moment have actually been in public office for
as long, if not longer than him. The alternatives we have are in reality a
throwback from our political history both recent and past. So if Museveni
has overstayed then so have others, certainly those of you who came with
him. If he is driven by greed for power surely the same argument can be
said of those of you who are now seeking more of it or those who have
retired and yet seem as if they want to return. Others have even said that
they were forcefully conscripted into politics! So what are they still
doing there even if they are on the other side now? If I am going to deal
with anyone from the past, then it will be surely with one that has proved
the most successful of you all. No money for guessing who that is.
Museveniâs view of value-added export-led growth is very compelling
both in its substance and manner of articulation. Even you cannot argue
against this or better still his record on the economy. Some of the stuff
I have read from your people is largely theoretical. Moreover, the authors
have a mixed record on economic matters. The centrepiece of your economic
policy is ending corruption and better usage of public resources. If the
corruption is a hallmark of NRM as you argue, then all of you are equally
culpable.
To argue as if you were innocent bystanders is an insult to
our intelligence. Some of the characters I see in your political quarters
make one cynical. We only have to look next door at your role models and
their behaviour in power to know what is in store. I am not persuaded that
your people will be any better.
When we speak like this, we are
said to be seeking to secure our jobs. Like hell we should and there is
nothing to be ashamed of. Everybody should have the opportunity to work
and support their own. For me, Museveni guarantees the environment in
which I will be employed in the long-term as will my children. A lot of
you people made it a habit to fight policies that would have brought more
jobs for us. Do you remember UCB, Uganda Airlines, Bujagali Dam and many
others?
For many of you, a job is exactly why you are setting up your
own political structure to take power. You are looking for ways to regain,
entrench or even increase the positions of power and privilege that you
have enjoyed over the last 18 years. Right now, this option is not
available to you because of Museveni whom you say has changed, which is
why you want him to go. So for all of us it is essentially about jobs, the
rest is propaganda.
By the way, I have said nothing about matters of
national defence.
Yet there is a possibility that the man may decide
not to stand. In that case we expect him to be a powerful chairman at the
helm of the ruling party. In whatever case we still expect him to play a
pivotal role on the way forward for this country. He owes it to us, having
brought about this dispensation.
I hope you appreciate our position
and we look forward to robust debate on issues from your side rather than
insult and condescension.
I wish you a Happy New Year.
Ends
Published on: Sunday, 2nd January, 2005 |
