You do not need fascism to clean a city or country

There are two intriguing statements President Museveni made recently. Thoroughly impressed by the adventures of Ms Jennifer Musisi, the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Executive Director, the President declared that if Uganda had 2,000 Ms Musisis, corruption would be history.

Museveni’s second statement was an event, the award of the Excellent Order of the Pearl of Africa Grand Master medals to Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema; a grand photo-op at the 26th anniversary since his NRA seized power.

No Ugandan can think of an honourable reason why Nguema was decorated. But then President Museveni thrives on contradictions. He promises to go when he is planning to stay. He sings about regional integration when his true passion is amassing more power at home. He vows to crucify the corrupt when opening escape routes for them. A letter writer (Amon Mbekiza) in last Sunday Monitor has suggested a truly cynical explanation, that Nguema’s presence was calculated to undermine Kagame’s stature, to render Kagame as just another African president, not some special breed.

Maybe; but in spite of his display of self-confidence, President Museveni could be genuinely feeling vulnerable and isolated. So, perhaps, he is saying to Gen. Kagame: “You and I have tied fates. We fought together for what you, too, will eventually discover are elusive ideals; and there are moments when I fear that both of us may depart from the scene without sufficient glory.

This Nguema, this Equato-Guinean dinosaur you see here, is our spiritual ally. Thirty two years ago, he dreamed of a better country than his uncle gave his people. Tomorrow, I will be where he is, and you will arrive where I am now; one year at a time. I have 26 under my belt; you have 18. We have different enemies and potential enemies, but our destiny is the same. And we may need each other again when it is a matter of life and death.”

But the threesome exhibition has another level of meaning. Obiang Nguema is perceived as a very corrupt dictator. Paul Kagame is perceived as a very hard disciplinarian. Museveni juxtaposes these two men and stands beside them. Which of the other two would Uganda’s crafty and undisciplined citizens choose?

Do not for goodness sake attempt to answer that damning question. It is entirely loaded with poison. For you are being guided into the mindset that if you are revolted by Nguema’s horrendous corruption, then you must have Kagame’s hardness of method; and if you are frightened of Kagame’s hardness, then you must live with Nguema-styled corruption.

While President Museveni was approaching his bumpy 27th year journey, one of Jennifer Musisi’s right-hand men, George Agaba, and another functionary had already fired live bullets as they demolished the kiosks of some poor folk in the Luzira area on a Sunday. Begging for one day of mercy had no effect. At the end, one or two people were dead; several were injured.

Yes, people want a cleaner, more organised city; but is it absolutely true that all clean organised cities were beaten into shape with the tools of fascism?
The decay of Kampala rolls in the rot of the republic. Many Ugandans have bought the myth that you can clean Kampala, a city with massive unemployment and informal underemployment, even as it sits at the heart of a corrupt and cruelly unequal republic.

Or maybe you can. Put one million unemployed in gas chambers; drive another million to the mountains; bulldoze the whole of that down-town area below Luwum and Ben Kiwanuka streets. Demolish Katwe, Kisenyi, half of Wandegeya, Bwaise, Nateete, Makindye, Nakawa, Kireka and so on. Use the land to extend the leafy Kololo and Nakasero residential area.
When the job is done, clone Ms Jennifer Musisi and unleash 2,000 copies of the lady to sort out the rest of the country.

President Museveni’s years in power have given us the Uganda we have today. Some parts are good, some parts are obnoxious; but that is the country his power-play and management skills give you. Dangling 2,000 Musisis is a distraction. During the 26 years, he consciously allowed his other senior officials to evolve into vampires instead of anti-corruption hawks. Is Musisi a revolutionary who will line up all of them before the firing-squad?

Allan Tacca is a novelist and socio-political
commentator. altacca@yahoo.com