War on corruption can’t be won since govt lacks will to fight vice - Mafabi

Hon Speaker, the President spent good time on national security, ranked it high among the major issues on his desk. The NRM-led government defines security in terms of acquisition of sophisticated arms, storage of large quantities of teargas and muzzling of independent voices.

They believe that with those in place, citizens will have peace, and be able to have good sleep. That is why Defence was previously allocated Shs947.9 billion in the Financial Year 2011/12, and another Shs913.9 billion in FY 2012/13. Health, on the other hand, received a meagre Shs217.3 billion in the FY 2011/12 and only Shs268.1 billion in FY 2012/13. While State House got Shs204.4 billion in FY 2012/13.

The youth have said they are tired of sleeping; they have grown and got married, and that they now need jobs to take care of their families. There is also growing discontent amongst the population for want of equity, relevant education and an economy that sees all citizens through the same lenses. But the NRM-led government insists that Ugandans must clap for the security, peace and the sleep, never mind that the same are now being reversed through military policing and economic denial. Uganda police continues to take supplementary allocations in each schedule brought to Parliament. Yet, at least 30,000 police officers live in terrible conditions we have described before.

Security concerns
In November 2012, wives of policemen residing in Kireka, Mbuya and Naguru barracks attempted to demonstrate against these conditions demanding better services, but their own husbands were forced to brutalise their wives and stripped them naked. The situation today has not changed. So, we question any talk about security, when our own police officers have no security for themselves and families.

The President bundles all this in what he calls ideological disorientation, yet the same NRM-led government is the party responsible for this. There is enough evidence showing ministers, legislators, and many others, dressed in army fatigue undergoing systematic ideological disorientation in Kyankwanzi, as if they belong to a communist dictatorship!

By the time they return to Kampala, most of them will have abandoned, and sworn never to try again, all the critical thinking they went with. State institutions in this country have been stripped of their legitimacy and denied the mandated functionalities intended in the Constitution. Several run-ins between Parliament and the Executive are clear testimony to this – whether on Parliamentary recalls or approval of budgets and appointments; the courts have been raided by the military, court orders are disregarded, the Treasury has become a private purse of a few individuals and Bank of Uganda (BoU) is now valued at Shs750 billion, implying that BoU is under liquidation.

During the FY 2011/12 BoU made a loss of Shs600 billion. This year the projection is even worse, imagine! Where is this country heading? As if that is not enough tragedy, Kampala Capital Council Authority (KCCA) is being run like someone’s private quarters: in total disregard of the laws. Where are the systems, transparency and institutional frameworks? Why shouldn’t the NRM-led government allow these institutions to function properly?

Why should the military be involved in the running of constitutionally mandated institutions, including meddling in elections? Why does the NRM government fear true democracy? When the President stakes his own dead body on national issues, that confirms to you how personal interests have overthrown the Constitution of Uganda.

We continue to witness violation of media rights in this country, where police and other security agencies continue to abuse and suppress media freedoms. On May 20, 2013, two major media houses were raided by police and closed down for 10 days and declared ‘’crime scenes’’. Their crime was to publish a letter from General [David] Sejusa that was requesting for an inquiry into the alleged plot to kill senior officers opposed to the “Muhoozi Project”.

Journalists who protested the closure of these newspapers and radio stations were tear-gassed. So, where is the difference between Amin’s 1970’s and these times, which supposedly ushered in a fundamental change?

The ills of this country will not go by just wishing them away or by the mere passage of time. They need action. Corruption does not need a special address from the President. It needs action. Politically-backed fraudsters and swindlers must be smoked out. Why should they be allowed to masquerade as whistle blowers? If indeed the NRM has handled bigger problems than a bunch of public servants, why has this sickness refused to cure? This government has lost moral authority to lead due to the long list of corruption scandals and electoral frauds that have mired its rule.

Hon Speaker that is why we agree with the Deputy Speaker, Hon Jacob Oulanyah, who, while addressing NRM cadres in Nwoya District recently, is quoted to have said: “The war against corruption in Uganda cannot be won because the government lacks legitimacy to fight it, and that corruption has become so endemic, and is an accepted way of life, that even the police, IGG and the courts of law are unable to stop it.”

Well said, Hon Deputy Speaker, but our concern is, if a strategy or policy does not work, why has this government not changed its strategy in fighting corruption? Our belief is that this is impossible, because those that should change it have gotten too entangled in the game, and the solution cannot lie among them. And whoever fronts alternatives must first flee and leave the country, before they can speak, and brew political uncertainty for the country. We will not accept this.

Electoral Reforms
We are moving towards the 2016 general elections. The elections we have had in this country since 1996 have been disputed, hostile elections, characterised by rigging and violence. This country yearns for general elections in which all Ugandans have confidence right from the start.

General elections must be held under laws acceptable to most Ugandans and conducted by an Electoral Commission that enjoys the trust of the country, and not seen as partisan and agents of the President or the ruling party. The situation obtaining in the country calls for constitutional and electoral reforms. We wish to give notice that very soon we shall table on the floor of the House some electoral reforms proposals.

The office of the LCI is very important in the administration of our villages. But for more than 10 years now, these offices have not been occupied legally. The terms of the occupants expired in 2000. It is disturbing to us that the President does not see this matter as worth mentioning in his State-of-the-Nation address. We need to be told when LCI elections are going to be held.

For the last 13 years, the government has failed to carry out population census which is a key determinant in proper national planning. This is deliberate, so that managers of this government can have freewill to do what they please, rather than being exposed by grim poverty demographic realities. We demand for an immediate population census to guide national planning.

In the past 10 years of the NRM government, agriculture has been growing at an annual growth rate of 1-3 per cent compared to an annual population growth of 3.3 per cent over the same period. This trend creates a food insecure population due to decreasing productivity. In our previous responses, we gave comprehensive proposals to improve agriculture and move Uganda forward.

We do not want to repeat them in this response because that record is there, for members and the government to refer to. But it is shameful that people today still die of hunger, while many children are malnourished and stunted.

Hon Speaker and colleagues, we must stop burying our heads in the sand and restore cooperatives. We must advocate for inclusive growth which is agricultural growth, employment generation and poverty reduction, improve the social sector (education and health) and reduce regional and other disparities. Saccos and Naads are nothing beyond NRM campaign tools.

Costly investments
The so-called services-led economic growth will not lead us anywhere, unless they are properly anchored and linked with the sector, which is still a backbone of this economy. Naads was a milk-cow for NRM and we demand for forensic audit for Naads to expose the mega corruption scandal of the century.

The President again threatened to cause an amendment to the Investment Code to criminalise malicious sabotage of investments in Uganda. Rather than run into legislation, the President should weigh-in on his cronies who keep manipulating investors. What the investors want is to work where there is less interference by the State and an assurance of political stability for them to put their huge sums of money.

The cost of doing business in Uganda has remained high and worsened recently, as reported by the recent Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013. Uganda is ranked for ease of starting business at 144th position, compared to Kenya at 126th, Tanzania at 113th and Rwanda at the 8th position. This is what we have sown by our own acts. Our business environment is riddled with corruption, nepotism, frequent clump downs of the media houses, and other interferences at the highest levels.

The cadre police have consistently announced the presence of terrorists, and imminent attacks from them, by parading all sorts of military hardware on road junctions. These and many other gimmicks only serve as disincentives to foreign investors who prefer investing in the peaceful countries.

Energy and infrastructure
Once again the President emphasised the need for energy and infrastructure as critical for development. However, his proposals were not smart at all. The President says Karuma will be built (600MW), Ayago will be built (392MW); Kiba will be built (388MW) and Isimba will be built (188MW); and the railway will be built. When will these be built? What are the committed timeframes and resources?

How can the whole President give out a US$3 billion Karuma project to one company without competitive bidding? Isn’t this corruption of the highest order? How will he fight corruption when he is the same person encouraging it?
While the road sector has taken a lion’s share of the Budget for the last four years, our roads remain in a sorry state, even after the longest serving minister in the sector was removed. This year, the President only says some of the roads will be built by use of our own resources and others by financing from outside.

What does such a statement mean to the peasant from Kanungu whose only bridge, that connects him/her to the outside world, collapsed in May 2012? Or the peasants from Butambala, Kibale and Mukono districts where the Mpigi-Maddu, Kyenjojo-Hoima and Mukono-Katosi roads respectively, have appeared on the lists of the roads to be tarmacked for the last 10 years? We believe these allocations are ceremonial to enable the President and his people to access that money for other purposes.

Unemployment
Uganda is characterised by a young unemployed population. Just as the President admitted while speaking at the Golden Jubilee celebrations at Kololo, youth unemployment now stands at over 83 per cent. This is not only a security risk, but also the cause of massive poverty the country wallows in. Whereas the government recognises this problem, no tangible interventions have been put in place. The government has instead hoodwinked the youth with a youth venture capital fund whose accountability we are yet to get.

The President is known to have resorted to carrying money in sacks and paper bags to distribute to the youth himself. The President also one time dreamt of a student’s grant scheme, as a solution to unemployment – and he announced it. How can student loan-bonding create employment for the youth? How can you ask a youth to produce a land title before getting a loan when his/her parents have never owned a land title?

For the last decade of Universal Primary Education, young people are being taught to cram 20 per cent of their curriculum in order to pass exams. What is needed in our view is greater training in entrepreneurship. The government should partner with successful entrepreneurs to talk to and inspire the youth. In addition, we should ease financial access for them, and celebrate business role models, instead of war heroes.

We have seen many pledges in Vision 2020, 2025, 2030 and now 2040. In Vision 2020, Uganda’s target was to eliminate the river blindness disease in the selected districts by 2015, and the rest of the country. Vision 2030 promised to turn around the fortunes of five million productive Ugandans to ensure they earn Shs20 million annually. Today, it is Vision 2040, projecting to transform Uganda from a peasant to a modern and prosperous country within 30 years.

After nearly 30 years in power, the NRM now recognises that Uganda is still a peasant country, and that it now requests for another 30 years to transform it into a modern and prosperous country.

This is the sad reality of the fundamental change! Ugandans need to be told the truth. Ugandans are never involved in this business of dreaming, just like the National Development Plan, which has now fallen in the footsteps. What happened to the Shs20 million per year per household promised in 2006? Hon Speaker, as I come to the conclusion of this statement, I wish to mention this:

Firstly: We must remind ourselves that “power belongs to the people”. It is our responsibility, as Parliament, to ensure that this power remains with them. It is delegated to us by our electorate to be used for purposes that promote their good, not anybody’s good. We must use it to allocate resources without fear or favour.

We must expose those who misuse these powers. We have to ensure that the government departments responsible for delivering services have resources and enabling legal and implementation frameworks.

We can only do this when we refuse to be bullied into silence; when we refuse to act victims; and when we define ourselves; rather than allowing others to define our lives.

Hon Speaker and colleagues, you were elected to represent your constituents. However, it would appear some of us here have turned their allegiances to their party leaders, even when it contradicts with the interests of their electorates.

We don’t want to see, in the upcoming Budget debates and appropriations, members backtracking on matters that are close to the hearts of citizens, as though the Holy Spirit has appeared to them.

This will be neglect of duty at its highest, and we hope we stand the test of time. We should remain energised by the words of Martin Luther King who said; “Some of us who have already began to break the silence of the might, have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.” That is where national power lies.

Secondly: Many of us here are just about to waste away our time. Our time here is meant to add value and cause change in the wellbeing of citizens. However, our view as the opposition is that as a country, we are getting off-track, and have lost our course. There is, therefore, an urgent need to re-table the national agenda for fresh validation. There are things we must rethink, and this House must lead in rekindling the debate around these matters:

(i) Parliament: Rt Hon Speaker, there are things that are happening in the Appointments Committee which are causing concern to the public and on this side of the House. The frequent visits and meetings with the President are undermining the independence and credibility of the Appointments Committee and Parliament as a whole.

(ii) State House and President’s Office staffing: We have noted that there are many staff on the list of State House and Office of the President who are not doing any work but just serving NRM party interests. These are in the names of Presidential Advisors/Assistants.

(iii) Funding of Political Parties: We passed the Political Organisations Act in 2005 to fund the political parties. Up to now, seven years later, this has not been put into place. This is total lack of commitment to democracy. Other political parties have been suffocated while the NRM party is being funded indirectly through State House.

(iv) National Policy Vs implementation: There is an observed mismatch between policy setting and their implementation. Some policies that are good have been deliberately misapplied on the ground. A few examples might be useful here:
(a) Decentralisation: The aim of the Constitution and the Local Government Act (LGA: 1997) was to improve service delivery through the transfer of decision making power to the local governments.
(b) Affirmative Action: While the objective was to “remove women from the kitchen”, women have remained glued to the kitchen.
(c) Cooperatives, Health, Education and Privatisation: We killed cooperatives and started Saccos.

(ii) National Value System: Why is there a great wave of moral decadence in Uganda? Someone steals public funds, and people are just unbothered, while others are cheering on. The leaders are participating in the loots. The youth have no sense of direction from their leaders.

(iii) Constitutionalism: The 1995 Constitution provides for National Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy.
Therefore, Hon Speaker and Colleagues, we want to encourage you to start an open debate over these matters because if we do not, we will phase-off from this Parliament and positions of leadership without causing the desired change in the lives of Ugandans. We warn you.

Conclusion
In her book, Laying Ghosts to Rest, Maphele Ramphele said: “Successful people are those who make and admit mistakes rather than those who fail to confront failure.” We need to acknowledge where we have fallen short as a nation and get enough determination to take corrective action as Ugandans. It is against this background that we call upon the government to change its work-methods.

It is not enough for the government to keep saying they are doing their best. That is not what they were put in office for. The government must simply deliver services. It must change its expenditure priorities from stock-piling tear gas to scaling up resources in the agricultural sector. The government must do more research and training, it must focus on basic agro-based industries and scale up marketing of the farmers’ produce.

The government should respect and pay teachers. They must pay health workers. People need access to clean water, protection from draughts and other disasters. Think and act outside the box. Develop the true will and urge to serve Ugandans. Abandon greed for once, and remember the poor and down-trodden. We have been honest with you in the past and shared with you our thoughts. This country can be fixed, it is not too late.

We challenge members and government to start a new debate on where this country is going. National Policy, National Values and Constitutionalism are under severe threat. We must rethink our priorities and recommit to the rule of law and good governance. The insatiable appetite by police to clobber, intimidate, humiliate and muzzle opposition is bad.

On our part as Parliament, we must use the oversight function mandated of this House to cause change in peoples’ lives. That power is clearly stipulated in the 1995 constitution. If we fold our hands, we will become the biggest traitor to Ugandans, in our view.

May god bless you all. For God and my country.

Challenges in the social sector

Health and education play a vital role in improving productivity and economic growth. Education is widely agreed to affect economic outcomes. It is also agreed that health affects education. The wealth of any nation can be measured by the health status of its citizens. Whenever families lack money, it is health and education that are the first to be given up. Since the two are interrelated and are important contributors to economic growth, government must invest in them adequately.

However, in his address, the President suggested that the challenge in the health sector is attributable to male midwives, forgetting that in the current system, where thousands of doctors and nurses positions are unfilled, patients are increasingly turning to private facilities and witchdoctors.

Hon Speaker, when the President proposed to slap an 18 per cent VAT on water, he forgot that we had a reason for removing it in the first place. It is a matter of health, sanitation and rights. The government must seriously review this proposal. Health policies must be revisited to address the chronic problem of shortage and remuneration of health workers. It makes no sense to continue constructing structures without personnel, equipment and drugs.

Uganda has been at the forefront of pushing for the EAC. But without quality education, Ugandans will not reap the benefits that will accrue from the EAC and other regional and global partnerships. Youth education must be strategically remodeled to make it relevant to this century and beyond.”