Is the government an ‘enemy’ of the people?

William G. Naggaga

What you need to know:

  • Protection. A Constitution, as Jefferson said, should restrain the government and stop it from becoming a criminal since it has all the tendencies to become one.

Thomas Jefferson, a former US president observed that, “the two enemies of people are the criminals and the government, so let us tie the second one down with chains of the constitution so that it will not become the legalised version of the first”. Jefferson, an astute statesman, was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the legal brain behind the American Constitution. He had the foresight to know that government can be a ‘monster’ if the people running it are not tied down by the Constitution.

Just before Christmas, Uganda witnessed the passing by Parliament of the age limit bill, which abolished the presidential age limit as provided for in Article 102(b) of the Constitution by a vote of 317 NRM MPs for, with only 97 mainly opposition MPs against. These put up a spirited and very commendable fight to defend the Constitution from defilement but to no avail. A few NRM brave souls refused to be streamrolled and voted against the bill and have now been warned of dire consequences . As for the 317 who voted for defilement, they have been hailed as heroes! Well history will judge if indeed they did anything heroic or were just greedy souls looking out for their own selfish interests. It is not surprising that they threw in an extra two years for themselves and the President prolonging their stay in parliament to seven years although they were voted in for five years. Given the attrition rate of MPs of 85 per cent at any given election, these ‘no- gooders’ know that a majority will not see Parliament come next elections except as visitors. They were therefore willing to sell their souls for a few coins of silver and some ‘overtime’ as honourables.

If the example of the 2005 lifting of term limits is to go by, this breed of people has a habit of apologising to the people after the event and when they find themselves in the bad books of the regime. I will not be surprised if a few years down the road some of the “heroes” of the lifting of the age limit, turn around and say they were mislead into taking a wrong decision or were only responding to ‘’collective responsibility’’. There is no such thing like collective responsibility when it comes to usurpation of people’s supremacy on how they should be governed. Stories are bound of Ministers and NRM MPs who tried to dodge the vote but they were smoked out of their hiding places and ‘marched’ to parliament! Others said they did it only to, “ensure services go to their constituencies”. This speaks volumes about what transpired prior to the infamous vote.

I believe 2017 will go down in our rather miserable post-independence history as probably one of its worst years, when we deliberately destroyed the possibility of true constitutional rule. A Constitution should be sacrosanct and should never be amended except when absolutely necessary.

A Constitution, as Jefferson said, should restrain the government and stop it from becoming a criminal since it has all the tendencies to become one. Using 317 people to overturn the wishes of the majority is in itself criminal. The MPs not only desecrated Parliament but also proved what some have voiced that our legislature acts on ‘orders from above’ and therefore its absence would not be missed at all by the people. While on a campaign trail recently in Ntungamo, the President said Parliament was like a bus - park where people come to talk while real work is done elsewhere!

Turning to 2018, I was impressed by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s message to fellow Kenyans on New Year’s Eve. In a well delivered speech, Kenyatta outlined the achievements of 2017, the failures and the trying moments for country before delving into what his government plans to achieve in 2018, which included extending free universal medical care to all Kenyans! At no moment did Kenyatta abuse his opponents or dwell on the political crisis that had engulfed Kenya in 2017. There is no doubt Kenya faces a lot of political problems but he used the occasion to pull the country together and not push it apart. Some of his colleagues in the region should have borrowed a leaf from him instead of berating the opposition and religious leaders.

Amb William G. Naggaga,
Economist, Administrator and Retired Ambassador.
Email: [email protected].