Cutting People Power open: Open letter to Nubian Li

By now you have probably noticed the bullying that has engulfed Uganda’s political discourse. What might shock you is this is neither new nor unique to Uganda. Uganda’s political landscape has always had a trigger-happy extremist section.

All that has changed is the tools of expression and the persons involved.
Before 1986, the extremist section could easily find a military vehicle to express their anger (among them the NRA). And boy did they cause havoc with the gun!

When NRM captured power, Uganda became highly militarised, and extremists could no longer freely express themselves. Whereas elements like LRA leader Joseph Kony still managed to express themselves militarily, Uganda, for the most part, lacked consistent expression of extremism in mainstream political discourse.

This doesn’t mean that the extremist section had been completely eradicated. Instead, it had retreated to the background, from where it re-emerged, most notably, under the auspices of former Kampala mayor Nasser Sebaggala.

Well-meaning politicians seeking quick wins have always courted this section and yielded to their value system in a bid to win them over only to end up trapped in their extremism. Politicians do not have control over these extremists, it’s they that control the politicians. Secondly, they are not interested in any particular ideology; they just want the freedom to wreak havoc.

But as politicians grow, they realise that they can’t maintain social order by allowing extremists to operate unhindered. Yet if you backtrack, you end up losing them to the next person who can give them more freedom to wreak havoc.
At first, they allied with Mr Ssebaggala, then Rtd Col Besigye before moving to your friend Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine.

The reason they associate with People Power (PP) today is not because PP has marked ideological differences compared to other Opposition parties. It is because People Power gives them more freedom to wreak havoc with impunity. Today, they have an extra tool in the cyber world, where they lash out at anyone and everything that demands engagement from them. They insult, demean, and bully those they disagree with, convinced that they have the sole truth, and so they can’t be questioned.

The psychology that underpins such bullying is well known. It involves, among other things, psychopathy (a lack of empathy and a propensity for risk-taking), sadism (a tendency to derive pleasure from inflicting pain on others), and narcissism (obsession with self and a belief by the bully that they are better than everyone else).

Once this dark psychology is coupled with the anonymity provided by social media and a reduction in face to face interactions, we end up with the present storm of cyberbullying that is more pronounced in the People Power camp.

Understand, the extremist section will always stay with us. They are our children, parents, siblings, and friends. However, allowing them to take over mainstream political discourse spells doom for our country. It happened with Idi Amin (and Adolf Hitler), and if things continue as they are, it will occur with People Power.

Remember, a small group of extremists can plunge society into chaos, and once they capture the instruments of violence, they are much harder to stop. It is, therefore, important for moderates to speak up and stand up to extremists within their ranks. To save Uganda, we must all help to tame their savageness.

Mr Kibudde is a sociopolitical thinker
[email protected] Twitter: @kkaboggoza