Institutionalised political parties will insure Uganda’s future

What you need to know:

Personalising power. One of the most enduring shortcomings of Uganda’s rulers since independence is the failure to institutionalise political leadership.

Last Sunday, we illuminated on the importance of institutions and values in as far as transforming Uganda after the long rule of Gen Museveni is concerned. Today, we want to focus on the relevance of political institutions in ensuring that Uganda can indeed be transformed. We are going to focus primarily on political parties. This is because competent, functioning and institutionalised political parties are the vehicles that drive the transformation of nations.

Over the past 55 years since Uganda’s independence, we have as a nation been grappling with the building of viable, inclusive and democratic political parties in a bid to ensure that we have a more stable and prosperous country. Our efforts have, however, not yielded the kind of results we have always been looking for. Consequently, we have as a nation been at war with each other and failed to transform our country.

Lest we forget, at the time of independence in 1962, Uganda was at the same level of economic development as many of the East Asian nations; Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, etc. But today, these countries are among the most developed economies in the world. Uganda has, however, stagnated or even retrogressed.

The reasons for the astronomical growth and development of the Asian Tigers are many and varied. In fact, some of the leaders who propelled these countries to first world economic status were called dictators by Western media and governments. prime minister Lew Kuan Yew of Singapore, for instance, was variously labelled a benevolent dictator. However, he did one thing for Singapore, he institutionalised his party, People’s Action Party and in turn, agencies of government and the State.

One of the most enduring shortcomings of Uganda’s rulers since independence is the failure to institutionalise political leadership. Our rulers have and continue to personalise political power and institutions. Worse of all, they fuse institutions of government and the State with those of the ruling party. This was our founding father, Milton Obote’s main failure. This is Gen Museveni’s main shortfall.

This same bug, unfortunately, has permeated all political parties in Uganda currently. Individualism and or personality cult is the Achilles’ heel for all political parties today. FDC, the biggest Opposition political party in Uganda is mired in this problem. UPC, DP, PPP, CP, etc. are all in one way or another suffering from this malaise.

We have, therefore, to agree as a nation to go back to the drawing board and create conditions that are conducive for building competent, viable, inclusive and democratic political parties. Thus, we need to create the necessary legal and institutional frameworks for ensuring that a new political culture is introduced and practiced in our political parties. A political culture that embraces democratic practices and espouses key and basic human values such as honesty, respect, humility, tolerance, etc. The current laws and institutions governing Uganda’s political parties, have like all other legislation and institutions, been bastardised and lost relevance.

They need to be reviewed and enhanced to relate with Uganda’s future aspirations. For instance, at the time when multipartyism returned to the country, all political parties that were legally registered should have been given seed funding. But this was not done. Yet, State funding is imperative in ensuring that political parties function well.

Certainly, one of the main reasons why Uganda’s political parties suffer from personality cults emanates from the absence of consistent and adequate funding to these political parties. So, wealthy individuals take advantage of this and manage these political parties whimsically. The future of Uganda will only be insured against undemocratic tendencies and its transformation achieved when political parties that function as institutions are built.