Uganda: Uganda Politically Unstable
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The Monitor (Kampala)
November 2, 2006
Posted to the web November 1, 2006
Posted to the web November 1, 2006
Peter Nyanzi
Kampala
Kampala
Uganda is politically more unstable as a State this year than it was a year ago, a new
global survey has shown.
According to the Failed States Index (FSI) 2006, the country has now moved six places from 27th last year to 21st this year in political instability among the 148 countries surveyed.
Sudan and the DR Congo top the list while Norway at the bottom is rated the most stable country in the world.
Now in its second year, the annual FSI is compiled by the Fund for Peace, whose mission is to prevent war and alleviate the conditions that cause war.
The government spokesman and Minister of Information and National Guidance, Hajji Ali Kirunda Kivejinja (pictured), declined to comment when contacted yesterday, saying he needed to see the report first.
While Kenya (34) and Tanzania (71) have now moved out of the red 'Alert' section of the FSI, Uganda is still stuck there, along with Sudan, DRC, Somalia,
Liberia and Ivory Coast.
Basis of survey
The survey is based on 12 indicators in the social, economic and political sectors.
Some of the social indicators include mounting demographic pressures and massive movement of refugees or internally displaced persons creating complex humanitarian emergencies and groups seeking vengeance as a result of victimisation.
Some of the economic indicators include uneven economic development along group lines, patterns of progressive economic decline of the society and increase in levels of corruption and illicit transactions.
Political indicators include criminalisation and/or de-legitimisation of the State, widespread loss of popular confidence in State institutions, disappearance of basic State functions that serve the people, widespread violation of human rights and emergence
of authoritarian, dictatorial or military rule in which constitutional and democratic institutions and processes are manipulated.
The IMF warned Uganda that its external debt was approaching the upper level of what could be considered manageable.
"While the economy is currently performing relatively well, Uganda remains poor and its economy is very vulnerable to external shocks, sucha as commodity price fluctuation, which accounts for the ratings in the economic indicator," the report adds.
There were no sharp changes in the political and military indicators between 2005 and 2006, although all ratings were high.
"President Yoweri Museveni's repression of the opposition and the altering of the constitution to allow him to run for a third term also negatively affected the government's legitimacy, despite the stated intention of the government to transition to
multi-partism," the report says.
It says Uganda's health indicators "are some of the worst in the world due to the lack of funding for healthcare and the fact that many doctors have left the country in search of better jobs."
On human rights, the report says Uganda's record "was poor," with restrictions on opposition parties, unlawful killings by security forces, use of torture by security forces and arbitrary arrest as the key issues.
Human rights
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However, it says the government took steps to improve the human rights situation which account for the slight improvement between 2005 and 2006.
All the five core State institutions which include the Military, Police, Judiciary and Civil Service are rated as 'Weak' though leadership is rated as 'moderate.'
It says the UPDF is "under-equipped and corruption is a problem among the officers", while
the police force has also suffered from insufficient resources, including low pay and a lack of training and equipment.
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