Uganda’s future at a new bridgehead

In three years Uganda reaches a decisive point. At 75 years-plus, President Museveni will not be eligible for re-election under present constitutional provisions. He has signalled a disinterest in any discussion about lifting constitutional age limits.

In that welcome inclination is reflected a responsible acceptance of new realities inspite of the unseemly urgings of self-seeking courtiers.

In this, the coming sixth general election, we have a bridgehead for transition to a more stable future filled with the promise of progress.

In the Opposition, Dr Kizza Besigye presses on, his calls for talks apparently no longer considered total anathema in State House with Sweden now appearing in the frame as possible mediator. From defiance to his latest pet project, the ‘My Land My Life’ campaign against land grabbers, Dr Besigye is tapping into things which touch souls across Uganda.

Even in the most marginal of areas, the government senses this and, as such, the police are under orders to ensure that he does not reach those souls; his rallies being routinely broken up. But the police action has not dimmed public enthusiasm for Opposition activities. As elsewhere, this is another affirmation of the truism that force cannot suppress mass discontent on its own.

As we approach 2021, dubious police restrictions on political activity will either be harder to sustain or could spin out of control, resulting in unnecessary bloodshed.

To head off potential unrest, we must confront the feelings of disaffection rippling around us. The poverty-stricken Ugandans bristling with the pain of deprivation cannot be denied forever. Assuaging their thirst for political freedom, equal opportunities and economic justice will engender a stable, prosperous Uganda which we all desire.

The countrywide agitation around land rights that has been seized upon by people like Dr Besigye is merely the latest manifestation of what is a much deeper national angst.

Our future may appear uncertain, but those fears can be swept away by a genuine effort to do good. It will require delicate political work to reach that end. There are many reforms to be contemplated which are of an electoral, legal, administrative and political nature.

Though fraught with many pitfalls the path of reform should lead to a stronger, more healthy, democratic and accountable State. One where the people’s choice is reflected in the result of elections; where their sovereign right to choose is no longer tarred by the disfiguring brush of disenfranchisement.

An environment where this nation’s tax revenues must be used for the social benefit of all, no longer recklessly consumed by a corrupt cabal of co-conspirators.

The issue: Political freedom.
Our view: Though fraught with many pitfalls the path of reform should lead to a stronger, more healthy, democratic and accountable State.