National dialogue should start at grassroots - study

Kampala- Ugandans want the national dialogue to be held in a bottom-up approach by starting at the grassroots level to enable peoples’ participation, a study conducted by the East Africa Centre for Constitutional Development, commonly known as Kituo Cha Katiba, has revealed.

The study conducted by Makerere University law dons: Prof Fredrick Jjuuko and Prof Sam Tindifa, was published in a book titled: A people’s Dialogue: Political Settlements in Uganda and the Quest for a National Conference, that was launched in Kampala on Wednesday.

Funded by Open Society Institute, an international grant making network, the purpose of the study was to generate background information for future initiatives towards a political settlement and to define means and ways of democratising Uganda’s governance process.

People participation
“The study found that there is a need for the people’s participation that involves the stage of the people organising themselves around their interests, in such forms as clans, nationalities, production, economic organisations, religious bodies, trade unions, businesses, different professional bodies, organised groups, associations, geographical administrative units, among others,” said Prof Jjuuku while summerising the findings.

Prof Jjuuko said a national dialogue has been long overdue because its successful outcomes would help determine a peaceful nation after President Museveni leaves power.

He said it is difficult to tell what will happen when Mr Museveni leaves power because Ugandans have never seen a peaceful handover of leadership and they deserve to be prepared for that through a national dialogue.

“You can expect a post-Museveni disintegration if nothing is done in terms of dialogue because we have a regime that is 30 years-old and you have a country that has never had a peaceful hand-over of power.

Therefore, you need dialogue that is bottom-up,” Prof Jjuuko added.

According to the study, majority of the respondents suggested that the dialogue should address socio-economic and political history, character and future of Uganda, and all economic, cultural and political issues, as well as regional and international relations.

While launching the book, Mr Apollo Makubuya, the Buganda Kingdom deputy prime minister, said a national dialogue is inevitable because Ugandans have since pre-colonial times never agreed on how they should be governed.

“From Capt Lugard (British rule) to Gen Museveni, Uganda has been under military occupation and if not addressed through dialogue, the country will remain like that. All these questions will not be resolved without a well structured dialogue,” Mr Makubuya said.

However, Mr Ofwono Opondo, the Uganda Media Centre executive director, disagreed with the findings of the study, saying there are several ongoing dialogues in the country that only need to finally be integrated in a national conference.

Mr Opondo, who also accused Prof Jjuuku and the team that conducted the study of “intellectual dishonesty”, said there are ongoing dialogues among the religious institutions, civil society, cultural institutions, and also through the courts and administrative systems in the country.

“I think his (Prof Jjuuko) motivation is to create fear among the population that we are going in a wrong direction. If indeed the state was failed, we wouldn’t have run 30 years. There is an ongoing dialogue and our view as government is for all these platforms to converge at one place to agree on the issues,” Mr Opondo said.

Mr Kalundi Sserumaga, a political analyst and columnist with New Africa Magazine, said a national dialogue should not be organised by the current government as it has been muted in other efforts because it is in charge of all institutions of the state.

He reasoned that there is need for a systematic lobbying secretariat that would determine who will be involved in the dialogue and what will be discussed.

Participants said there is need to sensitise all Ugandans through dissemination of the study findings so that everyone knows their role in a participatory national dialogue. They also said the ongoing plans for a national dialogue being championed by Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda may not be effective because from the onset, it looks to be targeting to address a political question.

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