[Ugnet] M-7 Must Win; Will Democrats Still Go Down With Guns Blazing?

Something unusual is happening in the Uganda Parliament. President Yoweri Museveni's ruling Movement accounts for nearly two-thirds of the MPs in House, but a fortnight ago they failed to marshal 147 votes to pass the Referendum Bill.

Though the bill was rejected because of a vote deficit, it was not a serious political wound as such, because the government side still had the majority. It was just that not enough pro-regime MPs showed up, so it ended up six votes short. If passed, the Bill would allow the Electoral Commission to hold a referendum to end one-party rule and introduce multiparty politics.

President Museveni was not amused, and said if parliament does not pass the Bill, he will find "another way" to have a referendum. Last Thursday, the government returned to the House. This time it had the numbers. The House was so full that an opposition MP alleged that ministers were squatting for lack of enough space on the front bench. A senior minister was literally wheeled in from his sick bed to vote. The session was adjourned prematurely after it degenerated into chaos.

THE GOVERNMENT had two motions; one to rescind the previous week's decision, and another reviving the Referendum Bill and seeking to put it to the vote. That one was caught out by technicalities. But it was just another in a series of government missteps.

The Referendum Bill was initially part of an omnibus piece of legislation seeking to abolish term limits and create a president-for-life, end one-party rule and increase the power of the executive over the courts. It gave up that approach because, as Kenya's Transport Minister Chris Murungaru might have said, it would be mixing the affairs of goats with those of sheep.

But the government's ineptness is telling. This would not have happened five years ago. It seems that as the government's push to create a presidency-for-life went into high gear, two things happened. One, the moderate and more intellectual elements who were opposed to or were uneasy about it were sidelined or purged from the Movement ranks altogether. These were the people who used to be finicky about the fine details of the law, and brought some subtlety to the government's management.

With their departure, reliance on brute political force and disregard for fine appearances has increased.

Parliament is no longer a platform where the government engages in dialogue with MPs who might have a different view, or to improve policy. It has become something like the ancient Roman arena, where the weak are brought in for slaughter by the strong - the gladiators. Outnumbered, outspent, and outshouted, the beleaguered opposition has fallen back on wit, and the two great refuges of the weak - the rulebook and the technical manual.

MEANWHILE, THE progressive elements in the government have resorted to hiding. They can't support the government's excesses and can't oppose them, but nor do they dare to be neutral. So they don't show up. In throwing technical hurdles in the path of the Referendum Bill, the small opposition in parliament is preparing for the fight over the big one - the constitutional amendments to create a presidency-for-life.

They are set to lose that one, but can do a little damage by stamping it with illegitimacy. But this is also the moment for the democratic elements in the Uganda parliament to define their legacy. They can go out fighting in a blaze of glory. Then, like the proverbial tortoise in Chinua Achebe's Anthills of the Savannah, they can show their political scars as badges of honour, and declare, "We were outnumbered, our hands were tied behind our backs, and the opponent was far bigger. But we gave it our best shot." It takes a special type of courage to stake so much, to achieve so little.

Charles Onyango-Obbo is Nation Media Group's managing editor for convergence and new products.

[Ugnet] M-7 Must Win; Will Democrats Still Go Down With Guns Blazing?

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